Two days later, Cain and the others arrived at the sky island.
The Revolutionary Army's new headquarters had already been completed beside the Golden City of Shandora.
As revolutionaries, they held themselves to certain principles and had not simply taken the gold they found there.
Instead, they offered the Shandians—the descendants of Shandora's survivors—scientific support, construction materials, supplies, and all manner of practical assistance, trading fairly for the gold they needed.
"I see… That does sound like the Revolutionary Army."
After handing the documents to Dragon, Cain glanced around the headquarters before asking,
"Where's Sabo? I haven't seen him anywhere."
"Sabo returned to Windmill Village with Koala some time ago," Dragon explained.
"What? Looks like we arrived too late."
Cain shrugged.
"Well, they can experience Windmill Village's hospitality together. Hopefully, they don't end up fighting anyone."
"Fighting?"
"Yeah. Shanks is there too."
Cain quickly explained the current situation in Windmill Village.
"Fortunately, the old man was reassigned to the New World. Knowing how much he enjoys chasing pirates, he's probably busy hunting someone down right now."
"At least that keeps him from causing trouble everywhere else. If he were still in Windmill Village, the house might end up—"
Cain abruptly stopped.
The house was already gone.
The moment he remembered that Uncle Dragon had once lived there too, Cain visibly wilted.
Dragon assumed Cain was disappointed about missing Sabo and worried about the situation he might encounter in the village.
"Don't worry. Sabo isn't the sort to cause trouble without reason."
"And thanks to the Rumble-Rumble Fruit you provided, his strength is already approaching that of a Marine Admiral."
Dragon led them toward an area filled with sleek, futuristic technology.
"Missing him now isn't a problem either. His leave lasts an entire month, so you still have time to return."
"Besides, there's someone else here who has been eager to see you."
As soon as he finished, a nearby door slid open automatically.
Lilith stood on the other side.
The instant she saw Cain, she froze. Her entire body began trembling, her fists clenched, and her eyes locked onto him.
"I finally found you again, Cain!"
"You abandoned me in a place like this! I really… I really…!"
Uta immediately stepped in front of Cain.
She manifested a whip with her Devil Fruit power and was already preparing to lash Lilith when the woman suddenly burst into tears of joy.
"Thank you so much!"
"Even my original body has never seen this much gold!"
"I may have been responsible for managing the money, but even the funding provided by the World Government was nowhere near what they have here."
"And all I have to do is offer a little technological assistance in exchange for mountains of wealth!"
"I can finally spend as much as I like on research without the World Government restricting me!"
"Just thinking about it is exhilarating! Even my original self never enjoyed treatment this good! Hahaha! It all belongs to me now!"
Cain could not tell whether it was merely his imagination.
Perhaps disconnecting from Punk Records had changed her, but Lilith was acting more and more like a genuine person.
Unfortunately, she was also becoming increasingly shameless.
"So?"
Cain looked her over.
"Uncle Dragon said you wanted to see me. What for?"
"You ignored every Den Den Mushi call I made before. Why are you suddenly so eager now?"
Lilith did not answer.
Her attention had been completely captured by Bella, the icy cloud floating behind them.
Her eyes lit up.
She rushed over in three long strides and began circling Bella, rubbing her chin as she marveled at the girl.
"This is why! I saw the little thing during your performance, but I never expected you to actually succeed in creating her!"
Uta instantly went on alert.
The whip in her hand cracked through the air without hesitation, wrapped around Lilith's waist, and hoisted her off the ground.
"Hey! What are you planning to do to Bella?!"
Uta glared at her fiercely.
Lilith swung helplessly in midair and waved both arms in a panic.
"Wait, wait! Don't attack me! I only want to study her!"
"Remember that theory we had about Homies? I just want to examine Bella's structure and see what she's actually made of!"
Hearing Lilith refer to Bella as though she were a research specimen only made Uta angrier, and she immediately began whipping her.
Lilith did not particularly care.
Ever since Uta had suspended and beaten her during the Summit War, she had quietly installed numerous defensive upgrades throughout her body.
In reality, the blows now felt like little more than a mild itch.
As the tingling sensation spread across her backside, Lilith casually produced a compact scanner from her waist and aimed it at Bella.
The device beeped rapidly.
Lilith watched the data streaming across its display, her eyes growing brighter with every passing second.
A short while later, she clapped her hands together.
"It's exactly as I predicted! She's practically the perfect vessel for a Devil Fruit ability!"
"So what exactly are you planning?" Cain asked.
He stepped in front of Bella protectively.
If Lilith had any dangerous ideas concerning his daughter, he would beat her into scrap without hesitation.
Lilith grinned and thrust the scanner's results toward him, unable to wait another second before showing off her discovery.
"Listen carefully, Cain."
"Under normal circumstances, when a Devil Fruit user comes into contact with seawater or Seastone, their strength is drained and they lose the ability to properly use their powers."
"You know that already, right?"
"But Bella is different."
"Bella is an elemental being—a body composed entirely of a natural element. She has no physical stamina in the conventional sense and therefore can't become exhausted."
"On top of that, she can transform into her element."
"As a result, the only thing capable of genuinely threatening her would be direct damage to her soul."
"In other words, neither seawater nor Seastone can prevent Bella from using her abilities."
"If she were given an especially demanding Devil Fruit power, she could continue using it without worrying about the normal physical cost."
Lilith held the report directly before Cain and smiled until her eyes narrowed into slits.
"Do you understand what that means?"
Cain immediately understood.
Most Devil Fruit users had a limited reserve of stamina—a bar that emptied whenever they used their abilities.
Bella simply did not possess that bar.
Take the More-More Fruit Cain intended to give her, for example.
Increasing an object's size would normally consume stamina.
But Bella had no such limitation.
Magnifications of a thousand or even ten thousand times—far beyond anything Byrnndi World had ever achieved—might genuinely become possible.
The same applied to something like Uta's Sing-Sing Fruit.
Without the limitation of stamina, Bella could drag the entire world into Uta World and maintain it indefinitely.
Merely imagining the possibilities was terrifying.
When Lilith saw Cain nod, she shouted excitedly,
"You understand, don't you?! Of course you do!"
"So hurry up and get me down! I need to demonstrate it properly!"
"No. You can stay up there."
Cain crossed his arms.
"You frightened my daughter."
"Wait, wait—!"
Before Lilith could finish, a sharp pain erupted behind her.
She twisted around to look at her backside.
At some point, Uta had abandoned the whip.
She was now using an electric drill.
And she was drilling directly into Lilith.
The uniform was utterly incapable of enduring that kind of punishment, and a shower of sparks immediately burst from the impact point.
"Wait! Stop! My uniform can't withstand something this powerful—!"
"Ohhhhh!"
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