"Using the expansion of the World Government's military strength and pushing forward the Pacifista project as a cover, while secretly leveraging Vegapunk to research giant robots and… what a brilliant move," Valthior thought to himself with a sigh.
Turning something that was originally highly forbidden into something openly justified—and even funding it with the World Government's research budget while gaining support from fellow officials…
That was undeniably impressive.
Thinking further, the moment Vegapunk's team developed the Lineage Factor, Saint Saturn—War God of Science and Defense—immediately moved to bring Vegapunk under government control.
On the surface, it was because the technology touched upon the "God's Domain" and was of immense value.
But in reality…
Saturn had seen his own path forward.
The later cloning technologies were likely just one of Saturn's experimental attempts.
And after that, the replication of the Seven Warlords and the emergence of the Seraphim project were probably Saturn's final efforts to create a body he found satisfactory.
Combine that with Vegapunk's consciousness and soul separation technology…
A perfect shell game—shedding one's skin and being reborn.
No wonder.
No wonder that once the Seraphim technology matured and the separation of consciousness and soul was fully realized, Saturn immediately moved to eliminate Vegapunk.
The excuse that Vegapunk was researching ancient script, technologies, and knowledge—and thus deserved death—never really held up under scrutiny.
The Mother Flame itself was derived from the energy technology of the Ancient Weapon Uranus. It was a rediscovery, not an innovation.
There was no way Saturn and the other Five Elders didn't realize Vegapunk had already grasped ancient technology.
At the end of the day, Vegapunk was executed because he had fulfilled Saturn's purpose.
He had outlived his usefulness.
"From what I can tell, Imu's level of play is actually pretty mediocre. Unless there's some deeper meaning I haven't noticed, their actions feel almost senile—like someone with dementia. Aside from overwhelming personal power and control methods, there's nothing particularly tricky about them. And that control method might even be breakable at the Final Island. Compared to that… if my reasoning is correct, the old man is the truly terrifying one," Valthior mused inwardly.
He even felt that if his deductions about Saturn were correct, then if Saturn had been the one sitting on the Empty Throne, issues like the D Clan and the Poneglyphs might have already been resolved.
The old man really had that level of ability.
At least in terms of intellect, he probably crushed Imu.
The fact that he could orchestrate so many schemes behind the scenes without the other Five Elders—or even Imu—catching on already proved his caliber.
"D really is the enemy of the gods… That Straw Hat brat basically countered someone as brilliant as Saturn just by fate alone?" Valthior thought with some emotion.
Then a stray thought crossed his mind—
Roger wouldn't end up getting me killed too, would he?
…Probably not, right?
As Valthior sank into his thoughts, Spandine stood quietly to the side, not daring to interrupt.
Once Valthior finished his internal analysis, he turned to Spandine and asked,
"By the way, who's currently handling the investigation into Professor Clover?"
Spandine was briefly stunned, but quickly replied,
"As it happens, I'm in charge of that matter."
Valthior raised an eyebrow.
As expected—things had shifted again, though still in line with what he remembered.
Back when he was handling it, the operation was mainly under CP-5. Now, it had been handed over to Spandine, the commander of CP-9.
What did that mean?
It meant Professor Clover had successfully met Saturn's expectations—and been "upgraded."
The CP agencies were hierarchical. Aside from CP-0 overseeing everything, the rest were ranked from 1 to 8—the higher the number, the greater the importance.
CP-9, however, was special. They operated as a CP unit but were completely classified. Most people on the seas didn't even know a ninth unit existed.
The fact that Spandine was now in charge of the scholars meant Clover had become even more important in Saturn's eyes.
"Where have they been active lately? Any progress?" Valthior asked.
"At the end of last year, Professor Clover was released for the sixth time by the World Government and declared innocent. This led scholars worldwide to believe he possesses exceptional leadership charisma and deep, mysterious backing. Compared to his previous years of working alone, he has now formed a mature scholarly team of thirty-six members. They've received funding from various forces in the underworld. Of course, CP-9 has also provided covert financial and intelligence support, along with planting some agents within the group," Spandine explained.
Back when Valthior was still in Mary Geoise, Clover had already been arrested three times.
And now?
Six times released.
What was this—playing "capture and release" like some kind of experiment?
And if nothing unexpected happened, there would probably be more to come.
Looking at it now, the Ohara Incident was practically a staged performance from the very beginning.
Even now, Spandine was secretly funding Clover while planting operatives within his ranks.
It was almost laughable.
No wonder that when the time came to eliminate them, their group was always located with perfect precision—and wiped out every time.
The team had been compromised from the start.
Clover having "charisma"?
What a joke.
This whole world really was like a poorly run theater troupe—Saturn playing Imu behind the scenes, Clover playing the lead on stage. And the absurd part? Both Imu and Clover seemed utterly confident in themselves.
Ridiculous.
Valthior found it amusing, though his expression didn't change.
Spandine continued reporting.
"According to our latest intelligence, Professor Clover's team is preparing to head to Wano Country. It seems they've obtained some information suggesting that Wano may contain clues related to Poneglyphs or other ancient knowledge."
"Do you have any intel on whether they've acquired new Poneglyphs?" Valthior finally asked.
Aside from the known Poneglyphs yet to be copied and those already obtained by the Roger Pirates, there were still four missing.
And the closer they got to the end, the harder they would be to find.
So Valthior decided to "cheat."
Clover's scholarly team was far more professional than the Roger Pirates—who only had Valthior himself as a scholar and Spencer as a half-baked one, more of an intelligence officer than anything.
Some things were better left to professionals.
Their ability to decipher ancient script and locate lost knowledge far surpassed the current Roger crew.
Valthior knew this well—he had personally arrested Clover before.
Rather than searching aimlessly for the remaining four Poneglyphs, why not take a shortcut through Clover?
What if they already had translations of those missing stones?
Then the Roger Pirates wouldn't need to waste time searching—they could just verify the information, locate the remaining known sites, and complete the set.
And then—
They could head to the Final Island and throw one hell of a party.
"We do," Spandine replied immediately. "Per the great lord's orders, we've loosened our surveillance on Clover recently while providing significant support. Combined with his expanded team, their efficiency has improved greatly. I don't yet know how many they've found, but we do have reports that they obtained a new Poneglyph not long ago."
A grin spread across Valthior's face.
"Looks like it's time for me to pay the professor a visit," he said. "Perfect timing—Wano was already one of our planned destinations."
Of course, if they were going to Wano…
They wouldn't just be sightseeing.
There were other matters to settle.
Like killing Kozuki Oden.
Compared to finding Poneglyphs, Valthior almost cared more about whether Oden lived or died.
After all—
Life on the seas was about one thing:
Doing whatever it took to feel satisfied.
...
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