"No... no problem," Luffy managed through gritted teeth.
Alpha immediately brought her fingers to her mouth and let out a triumphant laugh that echoed through the dining room. Compared to her smug satisfaction, Luffy felt like a complete clown. He wished he could run away to Gotham City and let Batman lock him up.
He wasn't alone in his misery. All the women at the table shared the same regret. They'd thought this bet was a guaranteed win with zero chance of failure. But who could've guessed Vegapunk would actually have mastered such an impossible technique? Was there anything that crazy scientist couldn't do?!
"I'm sorry, I was wrong, Miss Alpha is a genius!" Koala suddenly blurted out, breaking the awkward silence. She quickly repeated it two more times.
Alpha gave her a pass since Koala had shown her some support earlier. But the others weren't getting off so easily.
One by one, Alpha cornered them all, forcing them to repeat the humiliating phrase three times each. Luffy, Gion, Hina, and even the proud Hancock had to honor the bet, though Hancock could barely get the words out.
"I'm sorry, I was wrong, Alpha..." Hancock whispered, her voice barely audible.
"Nope, try again! Too quiet!" Alpha taunted, cupping her ear dramatically.
"I'm sorry, I..." Hancock said a bit louder.
"Still can't hear you!" Alpha practically shouted.
"I'M SORRY! I WAS WRONG! MISS ALPHA IS A GENIUS!" Hancock finally roared, her face burning with humiliation.
"Much better! Now two more times!" Alpha said with a satisfied grin.
Just you wait... Hancock thought murderously as she forced herself to repeat the phrase.
After everyone had followed Alpha's demands and loudly proclaimed her genius three times, she finally seemed satisfied. She knew she might face retaliation later from some of these vindictive women, but who cared? This moment of triumph was worth it. She could die happy now.
Thanks to this little incident, the temperature around the dinner table dropped to sub-zero. Yamato, who normally loved competing with Alpha, sat in stony silence. Kalifa, who typically kept her younger sister in check, was fuming. The arrogant Hancock and the usually composed Robin had both retreated into sullen silence after their forced apologies.
With everyone giving each other the silent treatment, Luffy decided he'd better break the ice. After a thoughtful pause, he cleared his throat and spoke in a calm tone.
"Well, a loss is a loss. It's only right to accept defeat gracefully," he said, trying to sound mature about it. "Let's talk about what Vegapunk said. If word got out about this technique, it would cause an uproar across the world."
His words gradually pulled the women out of their sulking. They suddenly realized there were bigger issues at stake. This was no time to be nursing wounded pride – Vegapunk apparently had a way to extract Devil Fruit powers from users!
Once again, the eccentric scientist had completely shattered everyone's understanding of what was possible. They couldn't help but acknowledge that Vegapunk's reputation as the world's greatest mind and most brilliant scientist was well-deserved.
After a moment of reflection, Luffy turned to Kalifa. "Send a message to Ain, Nami, and the others. Ask them to try capturing a pirate with Devil Fruit abilities. If Dr. Vegapunk can successfully extract those powers..." He trailed off, not needing to state the obvious implications.
A brief silence fell over the table before the women started chatting excitedly. The conversation grew louder and more animated as the possibilities sank in, and expressions of excitement and joy returned to everyone's faces.
Even the slowest person could understand what this meant. If they could hunt down enough Devil Fruit users among the pirate ranks, they'd be able to equip Marines with those same abilities. The combat potential of their G-66 branch would skyrocket overnight.
They could reward their best-performing soldiers or academy graduates with powerful Devil Fruits. Of course, they'd need to be discreet – if they wiped out a pirate crew and suddenly their own people started displaying those exact same powers, the World Government would definitely get suspicious about where those fruits came from.
But those were concerns for later. Right now, the priority was for Ain and her team to capture a Devil Fruit user for the initial experiment.
Kalifa quickly pulled out her Den Den Mushi and briefed Ain on the situation, keeping the details vague. She simply explained that they needed to bring back a Devil Fruit user alive for some important research.
With that taken care of, the dining room's atmosphere lightened considerably. Gion, Hina, and Hancock resumed their drinking contest where they'd left off.
Hina's body had started to sway noticeably, and she looked about ready to collapse at any moment. Still, the stubborn woman refused to give in. Even if she lost, she was determined to go down fighting – she'd rather be carried away blackout drunk than surrender voluntarily.
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