CHAPTER 280: [280] : NO LONGER ALONE! SKY SOVEREIGN ROWEN, PLEASE GET ME OUT OF HERE!

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"The Awakened Door-Door Fruit plus the Revive-Revive Fruit, and Big Mom’s Soul-Soul Fruit ability... to think they could achieve such an effect when combined... INCREDIBLE! ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!"

Vegapunk exclaimed repeatedly after Rowen explained the principle behind bringing Kuma’s soul from the underworld to the real world.

No one in this world understood the nature of Devil Fruits better than he did.

After all, while Vegapunk had almost no combat ability, his research had led him to discover Lineage Factor, allowing him to truly begin to understand the essence of Devil Fruits—and even of life itself.

Using Lineage Factor, Vegapunk had first created artificial Zoan Devil Fruits, the first of the three types he had managed to conquer.

Then, his research progressed further. Using Green Blood derived from Lineage Factor, he created replicas of Paramecia Devil Fruits, allowing the same Paramecia ability to exist in the same era.

This was why, back in Alabasta, when Rowen first demonstrated the Flare-Flare Fruit ability—the Five Elders were concerned but not overly shocked. Vegapunk’s research had already entered the realm of Devil Fruit replication.

Although Vegapunk had yet to crack Logia-type abilities, the fact that Paramecia replication was possible meant that the appearance of a replicated Logia, while worthy of their attention, wasn’t enough to completely overturn the balance of the seas at the time.

After all, the combat power Rowen displayed back then was, at best, on par with Vice Admiral Gion. Compared to the Emperors, even with a replicated Logia, he was still in a different league.

This was a complete domination in terms of information.

Rowen understood the Five Elders, and even knew of Imu’s existence.

But the Five Elders... they knew nothing about the true extent of Rowen’s power. Even Saint Jaygarcia Saturn, the Warrior God of Science and Defense, had dismissed Rowen at the time due to his own absolute arrogance.

Only Vegapunk, who had delved deep into the essence of Devil Fruits and had been repeatedly stumped by Logias, understood just how unbelievably miraculous Sky Sovereign Rowen’s feats were.

This was also why, after learning that Smoker had survived having his Logia Smoke-Smoke Fruit taken by Rowen, Vegapunk had immediately brought Smoker to Egghead for study.

But the results of his research had shocked Vegapunk to his core.

There wasn’t a single trace of the Smoke-Smoke Fruit ever having existed in Smoker’s Lineage Factor. It was as if he had never eaten the Fruit at all. And while Smoker’s physical strength had atrophied, all his other bodily metrics were completely normal.

This discovery stunned Vegapunk...

No matter how he studied it, the results always came back as "NORMAL."

This made Vegapunk desperate to meet Sky Sovereign Rowen.

Or even just to get a single drop of his blood.

Unfortunately, shortly after that, Sky Sovereign Rowen rapidly acquired the Rumble-Rumble Fruit—one of the most invincible Logia abilities—and rose to prominence on the seas.

In the end, not even Marine Headquarters could touch him.

And now, he was the Strongest Emperor, the man who had wiped out an entire generation of Marine Admirals.

In the era before Roger... Rocks had only managed to kill a single Admiral.

The achievements and combat power of that man—who had nearly overturned the world, were now far surpassed by Sky Sovereign Rowen.

And with the Door-Door Fruit, Sky Sovereign’s movements were completely unpredictable.

Vegapunk had thought a meeting with him was a distant dream, but now, it had happened so quickly. And he had witnessed firsthand the miraculous power of combining multiple Devil Fruits.

He could even open the Gates of the Underworld and bring the souls of the dead back to the world of the living.

Of course, the difficulty of such a feat was immense.

Just opening the gates of the underworld required the powers of both the Door-Door and Revive-Revive Fruits, both in their Awakened states. And to make the soul truly usable, the power of the Soul-Soul Fruit was also needed.

The combination of three Awakened Devil Fruits was required to achieve this—the difficulty was unimaginable.

Vegapunk’s previous research, no matter how deep, had only focused on a few Devil Fruits. After all, the desires contained within Devil Fruits clashed with one another. Without a special bloodline, not even two, let alone three, would cause the user’s body to explode.

AND THAT WAS JUST THE PROBLEM OF COEXISTENCE! NOT COMBINATION!

To combine two Devil Fruits with different desires was, in Vegapunk’s view, no different from lighting the fuse on a bomb.

But miraculously, Sky Sovereign Rowen had done it. And the Devil Fruit powers hadn’t exploded in conflict; they had stacked on top of each other, even breaking through the inherent limits of a single fruit.

This was so incredible that Vegapunk felt an overwhelming urge to start researching it immediately.

Vegapunk could see it... the dawn of completely conquering the secrets of Devil Fruits.

But—

"I’d love to see the ultimate secrets of Devil Fruits myself, but we’re running out of time."

Rowen’s eyes suddenly sharpened.

"Hm?? What’s wrong?"

The crew looked at him, confused.

"COMING FROM THE SEABED, ARE THEY? THE FIVE ELDERS!" Rowen said, his eyes flashing with an astonishing crimson-black light.

With the massive detection range of his Rumble-Rumble Fruit combined with his Observation Haki, it was impossible to surround this island from the sea without being noticed.

The only possible method was the one the Whitebeard Pirates had used at the Summit War.

Coat the ships and travel under the sea.

Rowen had already anticipated this.

He wanted the Five Elders to come to this island.

"From the seabed?" Ace’s thoughts flashed back to the Summit War, to the moment his Pops had led the Whitebeard Pirates to rescue him. He had been so immature and willful back then.

If it hadn’t been for Rowen and the others, the situation would have been irreversible. Even so, his Pops had died on the battlefield. Thankfully, Rowen’s ability allowed Whitebeard to continue watching over them as they grew.

Ace power and mindset were a world away from what they were at the Summit War.

He wanted to wipe away that shame!

Hearing that the world’s highest authority, the Five Elders, had arrived, the crew’s expressions flickered, but there was no panic.

Before they even arrived, Rowen had already laid out all the war plans for them. The possibility of the World Government and the Marines coming from the seabed was something he had foreseen and informed them of.

So, they were all prepared.

In fact, they were eager for a fight.

After all, on the path to supporting Rowen to become the King of the world, the Five Elders were an obstacle that had to be removed.

With the arrival of the world’s highest authority, it meant that the road to Rowen’s coronation was nearing its end.

"THE FIVE ELDERS??" Vegapunk broke out in a cold sweat.

"You’re a government-employed scientist. Why are you so nervous about them arriving?" Robin asked, looking at him.

"Because... the government is after me," Vegapunk said, his expression complicated.

"Looking at everything on this island, what are your thoughts?" Vegapunk asked the crew.

"IT’S INCREDIBLE! It’s like a future civilization!" Franky, who deeply admired Vegapunk, exclaimed excitedly.

"But all of this... is just a fraction of the civilization left behind by the Great Kingdom. Even I can’t replicate some of it,"

Vegapunk’s voice grew somber.

To be unable to recreate a known, advanced civilization... for any true scientist, it was a great regret. Even more so for a top-tier scientist like Vegapunk.

"The more I try to recreate the glory of that advanced civilization, the closer I get to that buried history... that forbidden knowledge that must not be touched."

At his words, Robin was visibly moved...

"What do you mean? Do you know about the Void Century? Those documents... they should have all been destroyed in the Ohara Incident!" Robin stared intently at Vegapunk.

"Ohara was indeed destroyed by the Buster Call. But at the time, the scholars of Ohara hid all those precious materials underwater. Those foolish Marines and government agents had no idea of their value. All of those precious materials were carried to Elbaf by a Giant,"

Vegapunk explained, then looked at Luffy. "At the time, your father also went to Ohara with me to pay respects to those honorable history researchers."

Vegapunk sighed with emotion.

"My father??" Luffy blinked.

"That’s right. Dragon and I are old friends. Witnessing the tragedy of Ohara, Dragon finally founded the Revolutionary Army that year." Vegapunk reminisced.

"How nostalgic," Kuma’s voice also held a hint of reminiscence.

"I was also deeply interested in those materials, so I went to Elbaf. I read all of them in the care of that bandaged giant. Which means... all the research results of the Ohara scholars have been inherited by my brain, and I have continued to study them to this day," Vegapunk said, pointing to his head.

Even though his brain had been removed and turned into Punk Records, the biological instinct remained.

"WAIT! VEGAPUNK! I ONLY HAVE ONE QUESTION," Robin said, tears streaming from her eyes.

"That bandaged giant... the one who carried all the documents from Ohara to Elbaf—"

"—Was his name... Saul?"

Robin was crying, but she was also smiling, a smile of pure, unadulterated joy.

"Listen well, Robin! Even if you’re alone now, one day you’ll definitely find friends! No one is born into this world to be alone forever!"

Saul’s words were still etched deep in her memory.

I found them, Saul.

I found so, so many friends.

And I found the love of my life.

Robin bit her lip.

"He has always hidden his true identity. I wouldn’t reveal it to anyone," Vegapunk said.

But his lack of denial... was an answer in itself for Robin.

"He must know everything. Your wanted poster would surely have reached Elbaf," Rowen said gently, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Luffy’s wanted poster was watched by Foosha Village, by Shanks, by Dragon.

Usopp’s was watched by the kids in Syrup Village and by Yasopp.

Sanji’s was watched by the Baratie.

Nami’s made everyone in Cocoyasi Village proud.

Vivi’s was treasured by the entire Alabasta Kingdom.

Chopper’s was watched by Dr. Kureha.

Franky had his underlings and Iceburg watching his.

Zoro’s was watched by his master, Shimotsuki Koushirou.

Only Robin...

But now, she knew.

Saul was definitely in Elbaf, smiling as he looked at her wanted poster.

"Mm!"

"Thank you, Vegapunk," Robin said with a brilliant smile. Seeing her like this, all her friends smiled as well.

"Thank you... for not letting the struggle of Ohara in Elbaf be in vain. But we can talk about this later," Robin said, having regained her composure.

"Yes, we’re out of time! In short, because I touched upon the forbidden, the government is coming to erase my existence, just like they did with Ohara."

"Sky Sovereign Rowen... could I ask you to take me away from here?"

Vegapunk looked at Rowen.

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