"By the way, Punk, you said the ship's wiring was being repaired, right?"
"Yeah. The lines near your lab were basically completely ruined. Even the ship's main power room was affected."
"The reaction from combining the Devil Fruit with the energy core was greater than I expected. It's a good chance to upgrade the wiring, but have them stop first. Otherwise, all their work will be for nothing."
Oran's gaze remained fixed on Frankenstein and Caesar on the deck, but Vegapunk understood what Oran meant. Since Frankenstein had ultimately been created through their earlier research, the power she unleashed was likely to be even greater.
"I understand what you mean."
Vegapunk picked up a Den Den Mushi and issued new orders. At the same time, he gestured for the researchers watching nearby to retreat, clearing out a more open space for the fight.
With that warning, most of them obediently found cover. MADS had not been sailing for just a day or two; the ordinary researchers already knew exactly how much destruction these people could cause.
They themselves might not have been particularly strong, but the things they researched were each deadlier than the last.
Some people did not go very far, such as Queen and Judge. They might refuse to admit it aloud, but they knew their abilities were far behind Oran's and Vegapunk's.
Especially after Oran gained control over part of the funding, the already fragile alliance between the three of them instantly fell apart. Their goal had changed from joining forces against the others to fighting for third place on the team.
Besides, they only disliked people; they did not reject technology. Vegapunk's and Oran's research results had always been among their main references for study.
"Judge, got anything to say?"
"The body is too small. It's supposed to be a mechanical bionic human, but that size already limits the internal space. Oran has locked the upper limit of this creation himself. If it were me, I would have made it bigger."
"Don't you think this size suits her energy core best? Besides, you couldn't make one even if you wanted to."
Even a jack-of-all-trades had a field they excelled in most, and Oran's core technology was the Hex Core. No one besides Oran could understand how that device supplied energy, not even Vegapunk.
Giving a machine life such advanced intelligence was especially a full stage ahead of MADS. Still, Judge did not agree with Queen's opinion.
"I think he just made it to suit his own tastes. Even the hair color is nearly the same. He and Vegapunk are cut from the same cloth, both with that weird obsessive-compulsive streak."
Vegapunk was an extreme perfectionist. Whenever he replicated something, even a difference in color would make him deem it a failed product. Judge and the others did not know whether that was true, but Vegapunk had already established that image for himself publicly.
Oran, on the other hand, had a particular obsession with aesthetics, and his tastes changed constantly. It did not necessarily have to be elegant or handsome; even something ugly-cute was fine, as long as it looked acceptable.
"If I think something I use is ugly, how am I supposed to enjoy using it?"
Those had been Oran's exact words back then. If he made something he did not even like himself, it was definitely the version meant for sale.
"Wait, you're speaking up for Oran? Has something really gone wrong with your brain?"
"Hmph. As you know, I have always been Oran's most steadfast supporter. I was only fooled by you before, which led me to do a few irrational things."
"You really have no shame when money is involved."
"Actually... what I can't accept even more is that that bastard Caesar got his hands on a Logia Type Devil Fruit! That asshole obviously went out to chase women. It would have been lucky enough if he didn't catch some disease, yet he still found a Devil Fruit? Why him?!"
When a rich man earned even more money, ordinary people generally would not feel much about it. At most, they would sigh a few times.
But when a beggar saw the beggar beside him stumble into sudden fortune, his mentality immediately became unbalanced.
Queen could accept that Vegapunk's technology was better than his. He could accept Oran finding a Devil Fruit. But that person could not be Caesar.
After all, before Caesar went looking for Oran, he had specifically come over to brag to him once.
"Then what are you doing now?"
"I'm sincerely praying that Caesar gets beaten senseless. Only then will I feel balanced."
At that moment, Queen had his hands pressed together, looking utterly devout. For some reason, Judge suddenly felt that Queen made a lot of sense, and he eventually joined him.
Meanwhile, a new battle had already begun on the deck.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Frankenstein swung the war hammer in broad, sweeping arcs. Every swing tore through the air with a howl, but it was useless against Caesar. Purely physical attacks could not hit a Logia Type body.
"Shurorororo, is brute force all you have? So this is all Oran's invention can do. What a pity it's just a robot."
The toxicity of gas was also a major aspect of Caesar's Devil Fruit ability, but Frankenstein was different from a human. Her special structure rendered the gas's poison completely ineffective.
"If I break you, Siderial won't have anything to say in a situation like this. Combustion-type 'Miok Gas'!"
Caesar flew into the air, a lighting stick appearing in his hand. The instant it touched the air, tiny sparks flared across it. At the same time, under Caesar's control, massive amounts of gas sprayed toward Frankenstein.
As the sparks ignited the gas, waves of flame surged toward Frankenstein, and the deck was instantly swallowed by a sea of fire.
"So what if you're a machine? Let's see just how much heat your body can take!"
Not far away, Vegapunk put on a pair of sunglasses and observed the situation through the flames.
"Oran, it looks like your invention is having some trouble dealing with a Logia Type Ability User."
"No, she's just analyzing her opponent's exact condition. And Punk, don't forget that Frankenstein is an Ability User too. The problem with this child right now is that she's a little too frugal."
Boom!
Before Oran could finish speaking, a thunderous roar interrupted him. The flames Caesar had released vanished like a fleeting blossom, absorbed entirely by Frankenstein's war hammer in the blink of an eye.
After absorbing those flames, several bolts of lightning flew from the tip of the war hammer and struck toward Caesar, who hovered in midair.
Frankenstein had always possessed the ability to actively release lightning. The Absorb-Absorb Fruit integrated into her core could do more than absorb external energy as recorded in the encyclopedia; it could also convert that power.
A human who ate it could only turn power into stamina, but Frankenstein could release that power in another form without consuming her original energy supply, achieving her own unusual form of "perpetual motion" through external force.
This was the conclusion she had reached after her war hammer swept through Caesar's body and absorbed the leaking gas, and it was also the source of Oran's comment about her being frugal.
She had stubbornly waited for Caesar to finish charging her up before releasing those bolts of lightning.
Physical attacks could not touch Caesar's body, but lightning was different. Caesar's earlier fire attack had used the gas's propulsion to ensure that the flames did not spread to his own body.
But Frankenstein's lightning directly ignited his true body, turning Caesar into a human torch in an instant.
"Ah! You bastard, Void World!"
Caesar swung his arms, madly absorbing the surrounding air. He quickly created a vacuum zone without oxygen and used that principle to extinguish the flames on his body.
However, the pain from the burns had already sent Caesar crashing to the ground. While he was putting out the fire, Frankenstein charged in front of him again. Void World posed no obstacle at all to Frankenstein, who did not need to breathe.
Watching the war hammer swing toward him, Caesar had not felt afraid at first. After all, he still possessed a Logia Type body. But before the hammerhead even touched him, an invisible force of suction appeared and firmly locked down his body.
Command: Shockwave.
The Absorb-Absorb Fruit converted the absorbed energy into kinetic force, then released a powerful shockwave through the Hex Core within the war hammer.
Under the influence of that force, Caesar's body entered a special high-pressure environment. The gas changed under those conditions, making it impossible for him to elementalize as he normally did.
Boom!
Without elementalization to rely on, Caesar was just an ordinary man. Facing Frankenstein's heavy hammer, he was sent flying with a single blow.
(End of Chapter)
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