Pirates: I Maxed Out Conqueror's Haki First Because I Can't Die

"If you ever get the chance, and you can afford to fund my experiments, you could try kidnapping me."

"I'd work for you, too."

He turned and smiled at Xia Le.

Xia Le paused, then smiled and nodded. "If I get the chance, I'll do it."

Vegapunk poured the liquid from one test tube into another. Crackling filled the air, as though electricity had sparked between them.

Xia Le worried the experiment might end in a massive explosion.

"I actually know quite a lot about you, Rear Admiral Xia Le."

Vegapunk spoke again.

"I made those gloves you're wearing."

"Well? Are they useful?"

Vegapunk smiled at him.

Xia Le raised a hand and smiled back. "They're excellent."

"Making a material as hard as Seastone flexible wasn't easy."

"They're the first pair in the world. Perhaps the last, too!"

Vegapunk nodded.

"I'll take good care of them!"

Vegapunk nodded, then turned to look Xia Le in the eye. "We're friends now, aren't we?"

Xia Le stared at him. He couldn't follow the scientist's leaps from one thought to the next.

Still, he nodded without hesitation.

"Yes, we're friends."

Vegapunk let out a breath and smiled.

"Good!"

"The truth is, I've looked into everything about you!"

"You're from Ohara in West Blue, the famous center of archaeology!"

"I'm very interested in some of the ancient knowledge recorded there. If I get the chance, I'll certainly go and see it."

"The wisdom of the ancients is truly astonishing."

Those words brought Xia Le up short.

His hometown was Ohara, in West Blue?

Even he hadn't known that.

"You killed a Celestial Dragon at the Sabaody Archipelago two years ago, didn't you?"

Vegapunk went on.

Xia Le's heart jolted. He stared at Vegapunk in disbelief. How did he know about that?

In the space of a few days, people who knew about things he'd thought were secret had appeared one after another.

"Few people in the world would dare do that."

"Being able to do it and daring to do it are two different things."

"You're unusual. Different from most people in this world!"

"That's why I was willing to make those gloves for you."

Vegapunk spoke rapidly.

"If there's anything I can help you with, just ask."

"I like doing things for my friends."

Xia Le was puzzled by Vegapunk's generosity, but he gladly accepted it.

Something had already come to mind.

"You've been researching Devil Fruits lately?"

He set the wooden box he was carrying on the table.

"Yes. I'm studying how to give objects Devil Fruit powers!"

"The Elephant-Elephant Fruit you brought is a test subject for that research."

Vegapunk nodded.

"Is there an instrument, or perhaps a method, for locating nearby Devil Fruits?"

Xia Le was thinking of the Logia Devil Fruit on Sky Island: the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, which Enel had yet to eat.

"Locating Devil Fruits?"

Vegapunk blinked, then answered at once.

"Of course there is!"

"But I shelved that project almost immediately. The results weren't very useful."

"It can only pinpoint a direction within two or three thousand meters. Against the size of the world—even a single island—that's next to useless!"

"Besides, I'd much rather create things than find them!"

Xia Le's eyes brightened. "Could you tell me how it works, or give me the instrument?"

Vegapunk smiled and nodded. "I don't know what you intend to do with it, but of course you can have it."

"Just don't get your hopes up. Even with the instrument, your chances of finding a Devil Fruit are very small."

Xia Le nodded.

Vegapunk searched the laboratory for some time before finding an object about the size of a palm. It glowed, bore strange patterns, and looked rather like an orange.

"A green light means it hasn't detected a fruit."

"A red light means one is nearby."

Vegapunk handed it over.

Xia Le took the instrument and smiled. "Thank you very much."

"On another note, I'd be even happier if you let me study your body!"

"I hear you're immortal?"

"I've never encountered a lineage like that!"

Vegapunk licked his lips. His eyes shone as he stared at Xia Le.

That look sent a shiver through Xia Le.

He had no doubt that, given the chance, Vegapunk would cut him into slices for study.

"You don't seem keen on being studied."

"What a shame!"

Vegapunk sounded genuinely disappointed.

Only then did Xia Le relax. He managed a strained smile.

"How time flies."

"You have to go, but I'm glad we became friends."

"To be honest, you're the first friend I've made in years!"

Vegapunk turned and handed him several sheets of paper that had been lying on the table, each covered in drawings.

"If you get the chance, make sure you kidnap me."

"I know you'd dare. You might be the only one who would."

"And don't worry about the Celestial Dragon. There should be very few people in the world who know."

"I only made a guess. Your expression just now confirmed it."

Xia Le blinked, then smiled and nodded.

"All right."

"I like helping my friends, too."

Their eyes met, and both men smiled.

"I'll be waiting!"

Vegapunk watched him go.

Xia Le turned to leave. The guards at the door were already urging him along.

The meeting with Vegapunk had brought him far more than he'd expected.

Winning Over Douglas Bullet

Winning Over Douglas Bullet

After leaving the research facility, Xia Le soon encountered the Vice Admiral at the harbor again. As Xia Le nodded politely in farewell, the man pointed to the drawings in his hand.

"Those drawings are more important to this mission than the box you brought, Rear Admiral Xia Le."

"Don't let carelessness damage them."

Xia Le paused and looked down at the drawings.

The pages were covered in strange, winding lines, along with formulas, numbers, and letters. At a glance, he could make out the outline of a warship.

"Thank you for the warning."

With a smile and a nod, he boarded his warship.

The Vice Admiral watched him leave, then looked away.

Xia Le still didn't know the Vice Admiral's name, but he had gained a great deal from this trip.

Friends with Vegapunk?

A smile touched his lips. That was something he'd never expected.

Vegapunk's intelligence, combined with the power of the Brain-Brain Fruit, had to be beyond comprehension.

If Xia Le hadn't been so strong himself, facing a scientist of such extraordinary intellect might have made him tremble.

After all, Vegapunk could grasp everything about a person with barely a thought. In a sense, someone like him stood alongside the gods, on an entirely different plane from ordinary people.

And Xia Le knew just how terrifying Vegapunk's future research would become.

Artificial Devil Fruits. Pacifistas. Seraphim!

Each was a technological creation of unimaginable destructive power.

He then took out the instrument that could roughly locate nearby Devil Fruits and considered it.

A range of two or three thousand meters was tiny compared with the vastness of the world. No wonder Vegapunk had dismissed the instrument as useless and tossed it into a cluttered corner.

But Xia Le thought it would be enough. From what he knew, he could roughly work out where the Rumble-Rumble Fruit was. With enough time, he should be able to find that Logia Devil Fruit.

As for the drawings in his hand, a closer look told Xia Le that they depicted one of Vegapunk's latest technologies.

A Seastone warship!

It was the technology that allowed Marine warships to cross the Calm Belt safely and with ease.

It would let the Marines travel and send reinforcements across the Grand Line—and the wider world—far more quickly. By cutting the time and cost of their voyages, it would greatly improve their mobility.

Having a scientist on your side comes with a lot of benefits!