Naturally, no one from the Charlotte Pirates dared to disobey Vegapunk's orders, especially after they learned of his identity.
Although Vegapunk was not known for his combat strength, Egghead Island had once managed to trap and kill an Admiral! In everyone's eyes, Vegapunk's own power was not far behind that of the Four Emperors.
Especially now that Vegapunk had replaced his entire physical body, no member of the Charlotte Family would think that the current Vegapunk was still the helpless scientist of the past.
Vegapunk did not hold most of the Charlotte Family in high regard. The only ones who caught his eye were those with special Devil Fruit abilities like Charlotte Pudding, Charlotte Brulee, and Charlotte Newshi, or those with "decent" strength like Charlotte Katakuri and Charlotte Smoothie.
However, although Charlotte Pudding and Charlotte Brulee had powerful Devil Fruit abilities, their personal combat strength was worrying, so they hadn't participated in this expedition at all.
Fortunately, since the entire Charlotte Pirates had been subjugated, it would be easy to bring them over, and Vegapunk was in no rush.
"There are two things that need to be dealt with right now. One is to find Big Mom, alive or dead."
"The other is to handle the World Government's probes in the short term, to avoid them discovering my existence and launching an attack with an Ancient Weapon to wipe out all of Wano Country."
Of course, in Vegapunk's estimation, the possibility of Wano Country suffering a dimensional strike from Imu was not high—in fact, Vegapunk even suspected that the chaotic magnetic fields of the New World could interfere with such a super weapon falling from the sky.
Otherwise, the Four Emperors could not have remained carefree for so many years. Not to mention the Red Hair Pirates, who roamed everywhere and rarely stayed in one place for long, the other three Four Emperors' crews all had their own bases. It was impossible that the World Government hadn't considered using super weapons to wipe these guys out.
Since the several Emperors of the Sea in the New World were still doing fine, it meant that the World Government definitely had certain restrictions on the use of these super weapons.
Perhaps those super weapons had an extremely long charging or standby time and could not be used continuously, or perhaps Imu herself bore some burden when using them. But the most likely reason was that the New World's magnetic fields interfered with the super weapons' targeting functions.
Even though Vegapunk had made these estimates, he could not ignore the danger based on such speculation.
Maybe Imu was just a lunatic, or perhaps she was too arrogant and looked down on the Four Emperors, which was why she hadn't attacked them?
Or perhaps this Imu had some ability to foresee the future, and thus was not interested in the "petty squabbles" of those Emperors of the Sea?
Under these circumstances, Vegapunk was unwilling to take the gamble. Wano Country was, after all, part of his sphere of influence now. Although the Sea Stone had already been mined out, it could still provide plenty of other resources.
Even if he took a step back and said that Vegapunk didn't care about the lives of the people of Wano Country, the Pluton warship was still hidden beneath it!
Before Vegapunk could conduct a complete analysis and research on the entire Pluton warship, he didn't want Wano Country to be blown to pieces.
However, it was obviously better to let a professional handle this matter, so Vegapunk quickly handed it over to Stella.
Stella, the sophisticated multi-faceted spy, was the best candidate for the job. With her abilities, after coordinating with the Charlotte Family, she could completely cover up the existence of Vegapunk and Hancock.
It just so happened that the current ruler of Wano Country, Kozuki Hiyori, was a member of the Kozuki Clan. "The orphan girl of the Kozuki Clan stages a return of the king, defeats Kaido and Big Mom in succession, and occupies Wano Country" would be enough to deal with the World Government.
Kozuki Hiyori's strength was actually not weak; she had originally almost reached the level of a Yonko Commander. After obtaining a chakra seed, her strength had improved significantly, and she could barely hold her own as a top-tier powerhouse.
Furthermore, Vegapunk had later opened up his own Ninjutsu library to her. As long as Kozuki Hiyori could learn some powerful Ninjutsu and integrate the chakra system with the Haki system, becoming a top-tier powerhouse on the high seas would be easy.
Even if the World Government continued to probe, it would take them quite some time, and this period was enough for Kozuki Hiyori to undergo a transformation.
As for Vegapunk himself, after obtaining Big Mom's Vivre Card from a member of the Charlotte Family, he began to use it to build a detection machine to go and search for her.
...
Dressrosa was a country near the entrance to the New World. For a long time, it had often been harassed by Pirate Crews that had just entered the New World and didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth.
However, ever since Doflamingo had ruled this land, such occurrences had become much rarer. After all, while the Shichibukai might not carry as much weight as the Four Emperors, crushing some small-time pirates who had just entered the New World was still a piece of cake.
Because of this, for many years, the country had become accustomed to a peaceful atmosphere. Until today, when a meteor falling from the sky smashed through a large district of Dressrosa, throwing the entire country into chaos.
After the chaos broke out, the Donquixote Family reacted extremely quickly. Several family executives soon arrived at the area where the meteor had landed, but when they saw the true face of the meteor, their expressions all changed drastically.
They first sealed off the area where the meteor had landed, forbidding anyone else from entering, and then hurriedly contacted the leader of the Donquixote Family, Doflamingo, via Den Den Mushi.
Upon receiving the report, Doflamingo, who was on his pirate ship, was taken aback. He didn't hesitate to take off using his sky path, returning to Dressrosa in almost the shortest time possible.
A pink, bird-like figure descended from the sky. Gladius, dressed in leather and sporting a hedgehog hairstyle, hurriedly went up to meet him upon seeing this.
"Alright, enough small talk. Gladius, besides you all, does anyone else know about this news?"
Doflamingo waved his hand, signaling Gladius not to waste words, and Gladius nodded sensibly, saying concisely:
"At first, some people in Dressrosa saw her appearance, but it should be hard to associate her with that Four Emperor."
"What I want is for the news not to leak out! Take care of those people!"
"Rest assured, Young Master, those people have already been locked up, and Sugar has gone to deal with them!"
"That's good! How are that monster's injuries?"
"Very bad. Most of her internal organs have ruptured, two-thirds of her bones are fractured or shattered, and she has lost more than half of her blood... Honestly, the fact that this monster is still alive is already beyond our imagination!"
Hearing Gladius's exclamation, Doflamingo twitched the corner of his mouth:
"Otherwise, why do you think they are called monsters? Because these guys, in every aspect, are no longer human at all!"
"And I wonder why such a monster would suffer such heavy injuries? Big Mom shouldn't have the suicidal tendencies that Kaido has... And even if she did, the defensive power of this'Steel Balloon' body is not inferior to Kaido's at all!"
Indeed, that meteor was none other than Big Mom, who had been punched away by Hancock and had flown all the way from Wano Country to Dressrosa!
Only a figure at the level of an Emperor of the Sea could make Doflamingo so nervous, even while unconscious!
-------------------------
If you enjoy this story, you can read 70+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
Webnovel will keep getting 1 new chapter every day but Patreon readers can stay far ahead.
Maybe it's not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
[email protected]/Rexlent
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"