"What a shame. I never imagined you knew Mr. Dragon too."
Robin sighed.
Shaka shook his head.
"There's nothing to regret. I'm a scientist, not a weapons inventor."
"Back then, Dragon had just left the Marines. The army he'd founded was either fighting a war or on its way to one."
"Although I agreed with his goals, we were on different paths."
Shaka spoke calmly. Even now, he remained absolutely certain that he had made the right choice all those years ago.
An impoverished army couldn't produce anything worthwhile. No matter how many inventions he designed, they would only gather dust in the Revolutionary Army's hands. He had already experienced that helplessness once in his homeland, Baldimore.
Vegapunk disliked the World Government, but only they had enough resources to support his research and turn his wildly imaginative designs into reality.
"Come with me. The original is waiting for you at the scrapyard."
"Hahahaha! Thanks for the compliment."
"That's right. That bastard of a father of mine, Queen, worked with you in MADS too, Vegapunk."
Thump, thump!
Robin's expression remained composed. She glanced at Luffy, taking some interest in his words, then stepped inside too.
At some point, tears had slipped down her cheeks and soaked her collar. Robin instinctively raised a hand to wipe them away and gently shook her head.
Sanji glanced at Usopp.
"Whoa-it's a laser sword!"
White clouds drifted lazily across the sapphire-blue sky. All around, the overlapping shadows of coconut groves encircled an open clearing.
"Let's go. We won't understand him any better if we refuse to meet him, right?"
"What do you think of this place? With all this technology, it's practically a world of the future, isn't it?"
Vegapunk rolled his eyes and bared his teeth at Luffy, shouting angrily.
"How rude, you brat!