Enel took out his Den Den Mushi and glanced at it.
"Soter?"
He picked up and answered lazily, "What is it, Soter? Materials? What materials? I see. Alright, leave them at headquarters for now. I'll come by later."
Hanging up, he stretched with a sigh. "Such a pain."
Just thinking about having to return with the warship made him lose all motivation. Watching the robots still busy moving goods, he scratched his head and turned to the largest one, saying, "Take this warship with you."
The massive robot tilted its head, confused.
Enel waved a hand dismissively. "I'm heading out first."
Zzzap!
A flash of lightning split the sky, leaving behind the stunned giant robot and its smaller companions…
* * *
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
In the principal's office of the Marine Academy, Morris stood by the window, smiling as he observed the graduating cadets train. "Not bad, not bad at all. The whole academy's enthusiasm has been fired up. I think we should do this every year."
The cadets, terrified after Zephyr's previous intimidation, truly believed they might not graduate. Now, they were training like maniacs. Seeing their seniors push so hard, the underclassmen didn't even dare rest either.
Zephyr sat on the couch, reading through some files.
"Agreed," he said. "It's necessary to have someone play the role of a powerful enemy and launch a surprise attack. If things go too smoothly, it won't help their growth. This time, a lot of flaws were exposed."
Morris turned around. "Then it's settled. We'll make that a regular thing." He looked at Zephyr, who still hadn't looked up and became curious. "What are you looking at? You've been reading that same file forever."
Zephyr's brows furrowed as he put the file in his hand down. "Too close for comfort. If Soter hadn't been there this time, I might not have made it back alive. We need to strengthen our security protocols."
He hadn't thought much about it at the time, but after returning and reviewing the data on those two pirates, combined with Soter's description of that man's monstrous physiology, the more he thought about it, the more it unsettled him. If he had been alone, he'd be dead for sure.
Morris walked over, sat down across from him, and picked up the report. "That so..."
After flipping through a few pages, even his brows twitched. "Good grief... even with a broken spine, the guy was fine? Whitebeard's son? Seriously?"
Zephyr let out a short laugh. "Of course not. That guy Whitebeard could never have such an idiotic son. But his strength might not be any less than Whitebeard's in his youth. No idea where that woman found him."
Morris picked up the page labeled "Miss Buckin," and muttered, "Miss Buckin? Whitebeard's lover? She's even clinging to the dead now. Interesting. Said she once sailed with Whitebeard... oh wait, the Rocks crew?"
He ran through the list of Rocks Pirates in his head and shook it. "No memory of anyone named Buckin."
Zephyr chuckled. "You think you can remember all of them? There were too many in the Rocks Pirates. Even their subordinate fleets were countless. She probably just borrowed the name to stir up trouble."
Crash!
The window suddenly shattered as a bolt of lightning burst in.
Enel stepped out of the crackling sparks and greeted, "Yo, Grandpa. Instructor Zephyr."
Zephyr gave a nod, and Morris barked a laugh. "You little brat. Pay for my window!"
Enel grinned. "Hey~ hey~ I've got a lot of these already. Once I break a hundred of them, I'll pay for them all together. Where's Soter? I don't sense him around."
"He took a team to assist at Sabaody," Zephyr replied. "Sakazuki caused too much destruction. There's nothing important going on here, so most forces were sent to handle the aftermath and reconstruction. By the way, that guy's body is in the training warship's cold storage. You can pick it up later."
Enel made an "OK" sign. "Got it. Then I'll go see Uncle Sakazuki first."
He turned into lightning and shot out of the room.
Watching him rush off, Morris quickly called after him, "Tell Sakazuki to come over for dinner tonight!"
The lightning vanished into the distance, leaving only a fading reply. "Understoooood~~~~~"
Morris shook his head with a chuckle. "That kid..."
Zephyr smiled faintly as well. "Be grateful you even get to see him at all."
* * *
Grand Line, Sabaody Archipelago.
At the marine branch hospital, Demora lay on a bed, speaking respectfully into a Den Den Mushi, "Yes, sir. No problem. Understood."
Click.
The sound of the line disconnecting came from the other end.
Demora sighed in relief and set the Den Den Mushi down. Then he called for his second-in-command. "About that warship we sent away earlier, come up with a reason and report it later. Make sure there are no gaps."
Seeing Demora's serious tone, the man nodded heavily. "Yes, sir!"
Falsifying records wasn't hard, after all. He had plenty of experience.
* * *
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
At Sakazuki's home, in the second-floor study, the admiral hung up his Den Den Mushi and looked at Enel, who was lounging on the sofa and said, "Alright. Tell me, how's the research progressing?"
Pa!
Enel responded while tossing an orange up and down in his hand, "The overall structure's done. All that's left is simulation. Once we've run enough of them, we can start building. It might take a while, though."
Sakazuki nodded. "That's fine. We have time."
Enel hummed softly. "Oh right, Bullet, let's see your Devil Fruit in action."
He tossed the orange to Bullet.
Enel had always been curious about the fruit's ability to multiply objects. The new design for the Pluton main cannon that he and Vegapunk were working on had been scaled down several times, and the key to its final form lay in the man's More-More Fruit.
Pa!
Bullet caught the orange, paused for a moment, and said, "Thirty times."
A faint translucent aura enveloped the fruit.
Bzzzz!
The orange instantly swelled and slammed onto the floor, expanding so huge it nearly reached the ceiling.
Enel's jaw dropped. "Hiss... No way! Thirty times can't make it that big! It must be multiplying by layering the increase!"
Recovering from the shock, his face grew serious. He stood up and examined the giant orange, sliding his hand under it. "No, no, something's off. Bullet, you're coming with me. We need to run precise tests on the amplification ratio and the scaling rules."
Their current calculations were based on a direct hundredfold increase; enough to pierce the Red Line itself. But this result didn't match that. The fruit's effect seemed to compound with each stage, yet something about it was still off.
If they couldn't calculate the multiplier correctly, and the power went out of control… that would be a disaster.
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