East Blue, the Court-Plowing Operation fleet.
It was another restless day, with News Coos scattering newspapers across the sky.
Sakazuki emerged from his cabin and looked at the shocked soldiers holding newspapers on deck, then at the unconcerned Enel and Bullet.
"What happened this time?"
Enel shrugged.
"The pirates' third emperor has been born."
"Kaido of the Beasts Pirates."
"He fought Charlotte Linlin and Hale Nock in the New World, one after the other, and seized some territory."
"Not long afterward, the other two both acknowledged his title as emperor."
Bullet stared at the newspaper with a savage grin.
"Bet he'd be a blast to fight."
Looking at Kaido's bulging, knotted muscles in the newspaper, Bullet felt eager to give it a try.
Sakazuki took the newspaper Enel handed him.
"So he's already reached that level."
"Your teacher Vegapunk won't be getting much peace now."
He chuckled.
Enel looked puzzled.
"What does he have to do with Teacher Vegapunk?"
Sakazuki said leisurely,
"Plenty, of course."
"The relationship between a scientist and his material."
"I captured this guy once and dumped him on Punk Hazard for experiments."
"The research team collected quite a few cells and flesh samples back then."
"But later, he 'accidentally' escaped."
Enel raised an eyebrow. Well, well... accidentally.
"Now that's interesting."
"Flesh samples from a pirate emperor. The only ones of their kind."
"They'll probably be hard to fool now."
"Those guys in the science team are a lot dumber than me."
"But they're still scientists. Even if they just follow the instructions."
"Sooner or later, we won't be able to hide the progress of the lineage factor research."
Sakazuki chuckled.
"Don't worry."
"Your teacher Vegapunk is the one writing the textbooks."
"What they get to research depends entirely on what he puts in those textbooks."
"He