"Ahh... mm... the sun... it's coming up..."
Smoothie felt her very soul lift into the air along with her body in that moment.
Utterly exhausted, she couldn't help but part her red lips slightly and begin gulping down fresh oxygen.
Doflamingo turned his head to look at the crimson horizon outside the window, a satisfied, confident smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"The rising sun, the setting moon—this is a good omen."
Their airborne ship, after several days of travel, had finally arrived at the Ute Sea.
...
Egghead.
Beep!
A machine adorned with colorful buttons and images emitted a mechanical chime.
A hamburger and a cup of soda popped out from the dispenser.
Pasu, one of the researchers waiting nearby, grabbed the food and started eating as he watched the new scene unfolding on the monitor.
The feed displayed the inside of the massive egg-shaped dome atop Egghead.
A specially preserved brain was suspended in a central container, slowly expanding at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Slurping from his drink, Pasu murmured to the hacker beside him.
"Hard to imagine the sheer volume of knowledge it must take to make a brain grow that large."
"What kind of dumb thing is that to say? We're talking about the man who's five hundred years ahead of his time! That's Dr. Vegapunk's brain! Of course it's huge!"
Pasu tore off a bite of his fresh chicken wrap, eyes burning with zeal.
"Vegapunk is my god!"
"Relax, I was just saying." Knowing his partner's temperament, Pasu shrugged.
"Don't focus on pointless stuff. Observe closely—if we can extract even a sliver of data from that brain, we could make serious breakthroughs."
As he spoke, Haipa had already devoured his entire meal in just three bites.
"You've got a point. But how long has this experiment been going? Ever since he separated his brain, Dr. Vegapunk's been missing."
Pasu glanced at the towering gate leading to the cloud layer above, the word PUNK etched across it.
"No idea. I just got a new idea though—wanna help?"
Without looking back, Haipa headed toward his lab.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming!"
Above that tightly sealed gate lay Vegapunk's laboratory in the clouds.
At that very moment, Vegapunk himself was hunched anxiously over a computer, reviewing surveillance footage.
He was terrified his old friend might've been recorded.
If the World Government's CP agents saw his friend, there'd be no way he could continue staying on Egghead.
"Wha—!!! Kuma?! You came out of nowhere! Did Dragon send you?"
Vegapunk turned, surprised.
Beside him stood the nearly seven-meter-tall, massive figure of Bartholomew Kuma, his body wrapped in bandages.
But Kuma wasn't concerned about his injuries.
All his attention was focused on the tiny figure cradled in his arms.
The girl he held shifted rapidly between the features of an infant, a young woman, middle-aged, then elderly.
Her tightly furrowed brow and clenched limbs made it clear—her condition was far from stable.
As Vegapunk wrapped up what he was doing, Kuma spoke urgently.
"After our last mission with Dragon, we returned to the Sorbet Kingdom... only to find that Bonney had accidentally eaten a Devil Fruit. Since then, her body's been fluctuating between different ages."
"Hmm! Fascinating transformation, but certainly not ideal for Bonney."
Tapping the apple-shaped antenna on his head, Vegapunk gently took Kuma's daughter into his arms and walked toward a nearby test chamber.
"Let me take a closer look."
Considering it was his daughter, it was no wonder that Kuma—usually composed and steady—had shown up so abruptly.
Time passed quickly as Vegapunk busied himself with diagnostics.
When Bonney's brow finally relaxed, her breathing calm and steady in sleep, Kuma let out a long sigh of relief.
"Thank you, Vegapunk. I owe you."
"Hahaha, think nothing of it!"
Vegapunk stuck out his tongue, casting a mischievous glance at Kuma.
He looked like some eccentric uncle as he launched into an explanation.
"Bonney ate a Fruit with enormous potential. She activated the power unconsciously and can't turn it off—hence the continuous age shifts. Mmm... she's probably going to be a kid with a massive appetite from now on. If something like this happens again, just toss her into the sea."
That method, honestly, Kuma could've figured out himself—it was just that his concern clouded his thinking.
"I understand," Kuma nodded, then added,
"Sorry for the trouble, Vegapunk. Once Bonney wakes up, I'll take my leave."
On the surface, he was still king of the Sorbet Kingdom. In the shadows, a high-ranking member of the Revolutionary Army.
In either role, showing up in Egghead—under strict World Government surveillance—was highly dangerous.
"Hahaha, no worries!" Vegapunk waved it off.
If it weren't for the government funding his research and not interfering with his work, he would've joined Dragon long ago.
Once he'd calmed down, Kuma finally noticed Vegapunk's missing head.
Pointing at his friend's skull, he asked,
"What happened to your head?"
"Oh, this?"
Vegapunk perked up instantly, tapping his apple-shaped antenna.
"Ah, after I visited Elbaf and reviewed Ohara's data, my brain just kept growing. It got so huge it started interfering with my experiments. So... I lopped it off."
Kuma: "..."
You make it sound like getting a haircut.
But Kuma knew Vegapunk well enough not to ask further. He quietly waited for the explanation he knew was coming.
Sure enough, Vegapunk pointed up toward the massive eggshell above.
"I stored my brain up there. I call it PUNK RECORDS. Even though it's far away, I can still connect to it through this antenna by emitting thought waves."
That... was basically the same as a Den Den Mushi. Even someone as calm as Kuma looked visibly shaken.
His eyes drifted to the massive experimental chambers at the center of the lab, where several humanoid figures of varying sizes floated in suspension.
Before Kuma arrived, Vegapunk had been buzzing around those tanks.
Remembering what he'd been through, Kuma asked with a slightly troubled expression:
"Are those bodies more of the World Government's experiments?"
He, too, had once suffered under them—captured by the Celestial Dragons on the Red Line, tortured simply because of his race.
"No, no, not at all! These are the result of a new wave of inspiration that hit me after I removed my brain."
Noticing Kuma's interest, Vegapunk's excitement grew. He rushed over to explain.
"These are my six clones! My genius brain used to be limited to just me. But once they're fully developed, they'll be able to share access to my brain and take over some of my workload. Once that happens, it'll be like having seven of me at once! My ideas, my projects, my research— they'll all advance at an unprecedented pace!"
He paused dramatically, then stretched out his arms wide, his voice rising with passion.
"And this—this is only the beginning! One day, if humanity can universally access my brain... Learn everything I know... or upload their own knowledge into it freely... Then humanity will ride the rocket of progress!! And truly surpass all limits!!!"
Vegapunk's vision burned brightly in his eyes.
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Fanfic is finished 527 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg