The two young Fallen Angels could be said to be fighting more and more fluidly.
Although they were still fighting purely on instinct, as Judge had said, this instinct, engraved deep within their Lineage Factors, came from two of the most legendary monsters on the high seas!
The young Shiki, wielding twin swords, had his golden hair flying. The two famous swords, Oto (Cherry Ten) and Kogarashi (Withered Tree), were like two dazzling streams of light in his hands, leaving behind spectacular trails in the air.
The young Roger, his adversary, was equally impressive. The Supreme Grade Meitō, Ace, which had not been drawn for over twenty years, now revealed its sharp edge once more. Every swing tore through the sky, compressing the air to release a sharp vacuum wave.
As the two fought with rising excitement, the flames behind their heads even extinguished. The terrifying speed derived from the Lunarian race was unleashed to its fullest at this moment!
Those with slightly weaker abilities couldn't even clearly see their movements, hearing only a rapid succession of crisp explosions, like large and small pearls dropping onto a jade plate.
It wasn't just speed; the boys' strength was equally astonishing. A single sword strike could tear open the specially hardened floor, and one kick could shatter the equally tough walls.
Robin watched the clash between the two boys. The more she watched, the more solemn her expression became.
Their strength was not much weaker than hers!
Moreover, they hadn't even eaten a Devil Fruit, nor had they mastered Haki like the Calamity Knights.
If these youths evolved to their complete state—if they could also be mass-produced like the Calamity Knights—
Robin dared not even imagine how despair-inducing such a future would be!
"Fantastic!"
Roa, who was wrapping an arm around Robin's slender waist,眯* squinted his eyes in pleasure. It was unclear if his "fantastic" referred to Robin or the two young men engaged in combat.
But truth be told, it wasn't hard to understand why these two Artificial Humans inherited the battle instincts of Golden Lion and Roger.
In the original work, the young Boa Hancock clone even inherited the original's obsession with that boy, Luffy.
If so, just as Judge said, these boys and girls truly were the most perfect humans.
As for himself, Roa was quite self-aware.
His only unique trait was being a transmigrator who also brought the ability of the Qiongqi.
Otherwise, no matter how much of a genius he was, he would never have reached his current level.
"Bullet,"
Roa said, "I'm leaving them to you. No problem, right?"
"Of course!"
Bullet, who stood silently behind Roa like a straight javelin and a steady mountain, spoke with solemnity.
"Leave it all to me, Boss. I will train them into truly flawless warriors!"
"Then I'll rely on you."
Roa, the perennial hands-off manager, smiled softly.
Bullet was essentially the chief instructor of the Calamity Company. Teach, Loki, and the others were all trained by him.
Roa felt completely at ease entrusting these Fallen Angels to him.
"As for the Devil Fruits,"
Roa chuckled, "The replication of Logia and Mythical Zoan types is still very unstable. We can't just fob them off with ordinary Paramecia and standard Zoan types. Dylan, you need to speed up the progress of collecting ability users."
Each of these Fallen Angels was a monster in the true sense, and ordinary Devil Fruits were simply not worthy of them.
"Understood, Boss!"
Dylan also nodded solemnly.
"By the way, Judge,"
Roa remembered something and turned to look at Judge, who was standing beside him, "How is the energy research coming along?"
They had received the research data from Vegapunk over a year ago. Why hadn't there been any progress for so long?
"Uh, about that..."
A few cold beads of sweat instantly appeared on Judge's forehead. "It probably can't be completed in a short time."
"Oh?"
Roa raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Did the data sent by Vegapunk not help?"
Vegapunk?
Robin was stunned again upon hearing Roa's words.
That name was certainly not unfamiliar to her.
Or rather, there were probably very few people in this world who didn't know that name.
The world's number one scientist, the leader of the Navy's Scientific Unit under the World Government, the great scientist who claimed to possess technology centuries ahead of the world!
How was Vegapunk involved in this?
She could understand the Revolutionary Army, but did this mean that Vegapunk was also one of Roa's people?
"Regarding this matter,"
Caesar interjected, "If the data related to Artificial Devil Fruits weren't genuinely real, we might even suspect that the data Vegapunk gave us was fake."
"What do you mean?"
Roa raised an eyebrow.
"We originally thought that the energy Vegapunk was researching only differed from ours in its approach, and we thought that a deep dive into his research might provide us with some helpful cross-references."
Judge said cautiously, "But as we delved deeper into the research, we gradually discovered that Vegapunk's hypotheses seem to have flaws!"
"It's impossible to develop a functional energy source based on that data."
"So,"
Roa asked in surprise, "The data was fake?"
"It can't be said to be completely fake. It can be used to research an energy source, but it is insufficient to power the Ancient Weapons!"
Judge looked troubled. "It just isn't the kind of data that a scientist of Vegapunk's caliber should be providing!"
"Is that so?"
Roa curled his lips into a smile. "So, I was deceived, right?"
Judge and Caesar instantly fell silent, not daring to utter another word.
Although they hadn't immediately spotted the issues in Vegapunk's data, thankfully, no time had been wasted.
Otherwise, they wouldn't dare to tell the Boss about this at all.
"Forget it, it doesn't matter,"
Roa chuckled softly. "Continue the research normally. It's not important anymore."
"Yes!"
Judge and Caesar let out a genuine sigh of relief.
But Robin was slightly bewildered.
What did he mean, "not important"?
Weren't the Ancient Weapons still important?
According to this guy's statement, without a powerful enough energy source, neither the Pluton left by Joy Boy nor the newly manufactured one would be able to perform its intended function, right?
What was this guy thinking now?
Did he really believe he could evolve to a point where he could stand alongside the Ancient Weapons?
Roa didn't care what Robin was thinking. He simply took his newly acquired kitten to meet someone else.
This was a special area inside Calamity City, a huge pool dotted with many small man-made floating islands.
"Yo, Shirahoshi, I've come to see you!"
Robin watched Roa stand on one of the small rocks, cupping his hands like a megaphone, and shouting toward the distance.
Shirahoshi?
Robin knew that name!
Soon, ripples appeared on the water's surface.
A giant figure emerged from beneath the water.
It was a mermaid princess with beautiful, cherry-blossom colored long hair.
Although her size was a bit excessive, her beauty was beyond doubt.
"R-Roa-sama..."
The round-faced little princess greeted Roa timidly, her eyes lowered, not daring to look at Roa for even a second.
Princess Shirahoshi!
Robin subconsciously clenched her fists.
She had heard this name from Mr. Gaban.
The princess of the Ryugu Kingdom!
That is, the true form of Poseidon, the Sea God!
"How is it?"
Roa stepped forward on the air.
Robin looked closely, and ripples appeared in the air beneath his feet, allowing him to walk as if on solid ground in the void.
This was probably the effect of this guy's abnormal Haki, wasn't it?
Roa walked up to Shirahoshi, raised a hand to stroke the child's enormous head, his tone as gentle as an older brother from next door.
"Did you make any progress today?"
Robin saw the little princess's body visibly tremble.
She seemed truly terrified!
Then, the little princess nervously twisted her long, slender fingers into the hem of her clothes, lowering her head to answer softly, "I can... already hear their voices more clearly."
"Well done."
Roa happily rubbed the little girl's cheek again.
The girl, who was not yet fourteen, had a face full of collagen. Her skin felt incredibly smooth, just like a freshly peeled egg.
Of course, Roa's intimacy only made the little princess's body tremble more violently. Her big, wide eyes were now filled with unshed tears.
"Keep up the hard work, Shirahoshi,"
Roa encouraged, acting as if he hadn't seen the little girl's fear at all. "You have to fully master your ability soon, you know. You are my trump card."
"Y-yes, yes, Roa-sama!"
The little girl nodded repeatedly, so quickly that one might worry her slender neck would snap.
This scum!
Robin couldn't help but curse him in her heart.
This monster, Roa, probably didn't possess human emotions at all!!
But besides anger, Robin noticed another, more important thing!
Shirahoshi hadn't fully mastered her power yet, which meant the Sea God hadn't completely awakened!
Although Roa had three Ancient Weapons in his possession, all three were in an incomplete state!
This discovery made Robin's heart leap with excitement!
If that was the case! If that was the case! When Nidhogg was fully matured, victory would be close at hand!!
"Alright, go continue practicing."
Roa gently patted the little princess's forehead.
"Yes!"
The little princess's voice finally held a hint of excitement. After respectfully bowing slightly to Roa, she plunged into the water with a splash and disappeared.
She was clearly eager to get away.
"Isn't she cute?"
Roa looked at the still-rippling water's surface, smiling without lifting his head.
"Roa, you are too arrogant."
Robin said flatly.
He was displaying all these secrets openly in front of her.
He was acting as if he didn't care about her at all.
"Arrogant?"
Roa merely stretched lazily. "You don't understand, Robin, because I genuinely can't figure out how I could possibly lose!"
Robin twitched her lips.
Go ahead and be arrogant, Roa.
Those who are carried away by success cannot see the world at their feet. When you are finally tripped by the weeds you deemed insignificant, I hope you won't regret it!
And so, time continued to flow.
The Calamity City's parade around the Red Line continent ultimately returned without success. Even Viola's Glare-Glare Fruit did not find the whereabouts of that bastard, Im.
They could only place their hopes on the Artificial Human Satellite Project or on Rosinante and his team.
Then, nearly another year passed.
The current time was the second half of the Sea Calendar Year 1520.
In the original work, this was a very important year. Straw Hat Luffy set sail in this year, gathered his crew, and charged straight through the first half of the Grand Line.
However, Roa waited for several months and did not find any pirate named Luffy appearing in this world.
Perhaps, Luffy didn't exist in this world?
It wouldn't be the only butterfly effect.
Even if that boy did exist, having already lost the Nika Fruit, what right did he have to be the chosen one?
There was no stage left for him in this world!
Roa, who was lounging under the sun in a certain sky in this world, with Robin on his left and Hancock on his right, thought this to himself.
While Roa continued to swell with confidence.
In another part of this world's sky.
The highest authority in the world, the Five Elders—now only three of them remained—hurriedly rushed into a certain laboratory.
As soon as he entered, the current Godhead of Scientific Defense, Garling Figarland, shouted at the top of his lungs, "Vegapunk! You said the research is complete, is that true!"
It wasn't just him; the other two remaining Five Elders, Warcury the Wild Boar and Mars the Horse Bone, also had intense looks in their eyes.
Although the World Government was currently being tormented by the Pirate Alliance, with their actual territory of control reduced to only half the world.
To prevent another attack from Roa, they themselves had been forced to disappear from public view, having to issue various political decrees cautiously.
This led to a visible decline in the World Government's control even in the remaining half of the world, despite their efforts to recruit many non-affiliated nations.
But it didn't matter. All the patience and endurance paid off today!
The three Five Elders stared intently at Vegapunk!
"That is correct!"
Vegapunk nodded heavily.
He stepped aside, allowing the three Five Elders to see the massive metal tank behind him.
The front of the huge metal tank was a circular glass window.
Looking inside through this window, they could see a small flame burning quietly in the center of a transparent liquid.
"Excellent!!"
Warcury had never been so excited. His undisguised smile made the two large mustaches on his lips tremble.
"Vegapunk! You have done well!!"
"However..."
Just as the three highest authorities of the World Government were beside themselves with excitement, Vegapunk suddenly spoke with hesitation.
"However?"
The smiles on the faces of the three instantly froze, and they simultaneously turned to look at Vegapunk.
"Because the time was too short,"
Vegapunk scratched his head, saying with a hint of embarrassment, "This energy source is actually still in an incomplete state."
"Incomplete?"
Garling had subconsciously placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, practically wanting to draw it and cut down Vegapunk immediately. His tone was full of anger,
"Then why did you say it was successful? Are you playing games with us?"
"No, no, no!"
Vegapunk shook his head repeatedly, saying, "The incompleteness lies in the fact that it is not the endless energy source I had envisioned!"
"It is finite!"
"However, fully utilizing the power of the ship beneath us until it is depleted should not be a problem!"
The three Five Elders paused and looked at each other simultaneously.
They then saw a flash of excitement in each other's eyes.
If that was the case, maybe it wasn't a bad deal after all.
The moment for the true war seemed to have arrived!
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