Vegapunk's Amazement at Shui Di!

Marineford, Marine Headquarters fortress.

Fleet Admiral Sengoku sat in his office, grinning from ear to ear.

It used to be nothing but a pile of messes, but now having the Droplet made things genuinely convenient, and Chinjao had already been locked up in Impel Down.

"Are you really this happy? This is only just beginning."

Garp was sitting nearby, crunching on Senbei and sipping tea. Seeing Sengoku looking so joyful, he sneered.

"You bastard, what do you know? A good start makes the road ahead much smoother. From now on, fierce and bold pirates roaming outside will have to think twice before crossing the Marines!

Besides, didn'Golden Divine Punishment you let Chinjao go back in the day?!"

Sengoku felt zero pressure when chewing Garp out, pointing straight at him to pick a fight.

"Didn'Golden Divine Punishment I cave his head in and decide to cut him some slack? Look, he hasn'Golden Divine Punishment done anything since then anyway."

Garp gave an awkward chuckle, not daring to say that Chinjao wasn'Golden Divine Punishment a bad guy who preyed on civilians, terrified that Sengoku would pick on him for it.

Sengoku glared, his voice rising a few notches as he barked, "He's a violent syndicate, a wanted criminal!"

"Right, right, right... The Droplet is seriously fierce, though. I honestly have no idea how that kid Lynn came up with it. Are the Celestial Dragons really that smart?"

Garp brushed it off with a laugh, smoothly changing the subject.

"Is Lynn someone you should be calling by his name? You only ever talk like that in front of me."

Sengoku let out a helpless sigh at Garp, knowing that among the Marines, only Garp dared show such disrespect toward the status of the Celestial Dragons.

He then couldn'Golden Divine Punishment help marveling about Lynn. "He truly deserves to be someone who even forced the Gorosei to lower their heads, ease their attitude, apologize, and make an exception. His technological talent is probably far beyond this."

A single Droplet was already this formidable, so there would definitely be more inventions in the future.

After all, which scientist ever invented only a single thing? Never. Scientists would always touch upon even greater possibilities through the results of a single technology!

"Who knows? The guy is still so young. Under twenty-five, right?"

Garp nodded, saying with rare agreement.

But right at that moment, a report suddenly came from outside.

"Fleet Admiral, Dr. Vegapunk has arrived!"

"Vegapunk? He has free time?"

Sengoku and Garp exchanged glances in mild surprise, immediately telling someone to show him in.

Actually, there was no need to invite him; Vegapunk was already striding into Sengoku's office with big steps.

Vegapunk, the Nomi Nomi no Mi user and "man with the greatest brain in the world"—even a Marine fleet admiral wouldn'Golden Divine Punishment dare treat a figure like that carelessly.

Moreover, he was also the head of the Marine Science Group, making him strictly a member of the Marines.

However, the one who came to see Sengoku wasn'Golden Divine Punishment Vegapunk in person, but rather one of his satellites: Lilith.

Her physical appearance was that of a cute, short-haired beauty with large eyes, one eye covered by her bangs, wearing a jumpsuit with the number 02 on it, an outer jacket, and long boots.

"Where is the Droplet?"

The moment she stepped through the door, skipping even basic greetings, she asked Sengoku directly, catching him completely off guard.

Sure enough, Vegapunk had come for the Droplet, especially since rumors were currently spreading outside that Vegapunk himself had invented it.

The Droplet was invented by Lynn, and given his special identity as a Celestial Dragon, the Gorosei's stance was that the Droplet technology could not be handed over to Vegapunk for research for the time being, and they even refused to let Vegapunk contact it.

Therefore, Sengoku intended to refuse. All of this had to wait until Lynn finished his current research, after which they would ask for Lynn's personal opinion before allowing Vegapunk any contact.

As it turned out, before he even had a chance to refuse, a commotion erupted outside. It wasn'Golden Divine Punishment very loud inside the office, but with the door open, the sounds carried clearly.

"The Droplet is back!"

It was the cheers of the Marine Headquarters soldiers who had witnessed the Droplet fighting Kaido.

Clearly, Onigumo and Dalmatian had led the troops back.

Vegapunk's satellite, Lilith, immediately dashed out without even waiting for Sengoku's answer.

Garp and Sengoku could only exchange helpless looks and follow them outside.

Down at the Crescent Moon Bay port, Onigumo and the others were being mobbed and admired by the troops.

Because they had taken the Droplet out, they had scored a massive achievement in one fell swoop, wiping out the Happo Navy—even though the Droplet deserved the main credit.

The Droplet, that pure and exquisite form, followed half a meter behind the Controller as Onigumo walked. The surrounding Marines all stared with burning excitement.

At that moment, Lilith rushed over, walking straight up to the side of the Droplet.

"Dr. Vegapunk..."

The Marines recognized the satellite and froze in astonishment.

Sengoku and Garp also walked over, left with no choice but to let Lilith inspect the Droplet.

The satellite, sharing Vegapunk's mind, observed the Droplet. In this bustling setting surrounded by thousands of people, her eyes held only the Droplet.

Pure and ethereal, beneath its absolute smoothness, its surface warped and reflected the surrounding environment, creating a variety of dreamlike patterns across the Droplet's exterior.

Lilith, the satellite of Vegapunk, trembled.

"Is it... really a technological product?"

She wanted to reach out and touch it, yet felt a sense of extreme caution. At that moment, Vegapunk was experiencing wave after wave of shock.

An expert takes one move to show what they're made of. In Vegapunk's eyes, this drop of mercury was like the most beautiful existence in the world, filling him with obsession.

"That's right, it is indeed a technological product. The inventor says its exterior is absolutely smooth and at absolute zero, possessing unimaginable hardness. Tests so far show that even Kaido cannot damage the Droplet in a short time."

Since it was already there for all to see, Sengoku didn'Golden Divine Punishment hide anything and spoke up.

"Its constituent materials... I have never seen them in my entire life..."

Lilith, including Vegapunk himself far away, was already struck with indescribable shock.

What he hadn'Golden Divine Punishment spoken aloud was that he couldn'Golden Divine Punishment make out even a shred of the Droplet's composition.

Most importantly, let alone the composition, he couldn'Golden Divine Punishment even understand the material itself, comparing it against all the knowledge inside his brain and failing to comprehend a single bit!

This simply drove Vegapunk from shock into a state of excitement. For a scientist and inventor like Vegapunk, what was the most exciting thing in the world?

It was encountering something that clearly existed and could be touched, yet remained entirely unknown!

As for the constituent materials, Sengoku didn'Golden Divine Punishment know either. Terms like the strong interaction force mentioned by Lynn were even more obscure and difficult to understand, so he offered no answer.

Vegapunk didn'Golden Divine Punishment care. He stared at the Droplet with infatuation, mustering the courage to reach out and touch it, only to withdraw his hand as he remembered the absolute zero temperature.

In the end, he turned his burning gaze toward Fleet Admiral Sengoku and asked, "Its inventor... just who is he?"