The Laboratory Floor hall before them could only be described as bare.
Everything had truly been cleared out except the walls.
There was nothing left to suggest it was a laboratory floor.
But since no dust ever accumulated here, there was naturally no way to tell how long it had been uninhabited.
"What's going on? There aren't any signs of human activity here!"
Emporio Ivankov rummaged here and searched there like a starving dog looking for food.
He darted through the various rooms on the Laboratory Floor, his expression growing grimmer each time he reappeared.
Clearly, he had found nothing.
"Why? Why is no one here? Where's Vegapunk? Where are Kuma's memories? Where's Kuma's experimental data?"
He returned to the Laboratory Floor hall, looking utterly dejected.
Luo also swept the entire Laboratory Floor with his Devil Fruit powers, then shook his head at Emporio Ivankov.
At that, Emporio Ivankov's heart sank.
This truly confirmed his suspicions.
It seemed there wasn't a single living person anywhere on Egghead Island.
He punched the floor again and again.
"Did that old bastard Vegapunk really catch wind of this and run away?"
Luo offered a guess. "Could the World Government be taking precautions against us?"
Beep-
Just then, a mechanical beep rang out.
The sound immediately drew all three men's attention.
"What was that?" Emporio Ivankov assumed an attacking stance, his face full of wariness.
Luo slid Kikoku partway out of its sheath, its piercing cold gleam lighting up the entire Laboratory Floor hall.
Lott shook his head, then activated Super Mantra, blanketing all of Egghead Island.
His brows furrowed slightly.
He knew that beeping like this usually signaled a machine's self-destruction or detonation.
Could this be a program set to activate when the Laboratory Floor detected intruders?
But a program like that usually