Vegapunk, who was still conducting various research projects on Egghead Island, naturally had no idea that two Emperors of the Sea and one future Emperor of the Sea had set their sights on him.
But...
He wasn't in a particularly good mood either.
"Damn it! If I'd known, I would have destroyed that Artificial Devil Fruit!"
Looking at the cherry-pink dragon in the newspaper, Vegapunk slapped his thigh in frustration.
Of course, he wasn't frustrated over a minor flaw like "the wrong color"... well, at least not entirely.
Rather, now that the fruit he had deemed a "failure" had been exposed, the World Government would definitely come looking for trouble.
Being held accountable by the World Government wasn't much of a problem, but Vegapunk could foresee that he would definitely have to replicate more Devil Fruits for them next, or simply hand over the method for cultivating Artificial Devil Fruits.
Actually, replicating a few Artificial Devil Fruits for the World Government or handing over the cultivation method wasn't much of an issue for Vegapunk. After all, this had been one of the conditions in exchange for their support of his research. Vegapunk wasn't naive enough to think he could get World Government funding for free.
What truly bothered him was that this meant he would have to make more "failed" Artificial Devil Fruits, or hand over a cultivation method that hadn't "succeeded"...
That was what Vegapunk found most unacceptable.
"And this 'Sapphire Star' too! Fine, you took the Artificial Devil Fruit, but as long as you kept quiet, everyone else would only think you'd obtained a Devil Fruit of the same type. Why did you have to reveal every last detail about yourself?"
With his head aching, Vegapunk developed a little resentment toward Xie Wen, whom he had never met.