Anyway, back to the main question.
With all these materials in hand…
What exactly could they be combined into?
High above the world, icy winds howled, but they could not touch Ozz. Compared to this, flying in a plane would have felt clumsy and bumpy. He stood on top of the clouds, looking down over the entire world.
It really was cold at the top. Every now and then, he could even understand how Imu must feel.
When a single pointing finger is enough to erase a country, to wipe out the lives of millions as casually as flicking away dust, then in a sense you are no longer human.
If such a being got a little arrogant and started calling themself a god, it would not be completely incomprehensible.
Ozz had long since reached that height and perspective, but his personality meant he was destined never to step away from the world entirely. On the contrary, he enjoyed being in the middle of it all.
Especially when he was with people he liked. Doing interesting things with them. Playing with the world like a game, sitting in the player's chair while nudging the future of this era along with his fingertips.
And so, a thought had slowly taken shape in his mind.
Why, exactly…
Did the final boss have to be Imu?
Of course, it was still just an immature idea. Even if it failed in the end, it would not matter much.
New World, Egghead.
With a clear, piercing cry, Ozz descended at last.
Compared to the last time he was here, the island had changed yet again. The feeling of advanced technology was even stronger now. Every corner was filled with impossible machines and sci fi structures.
The moment Ozz touched down, Vegapunk sensed his presence and rushed out of the lab.
"You are back, Ozz."
"Sashi buri dana, Dr. Vegapunk."
The last time he disappeared from Egghead, Ozz had gone straight back into the past, and when he returned, he had appeared out at sea.
This was his first time meeting Vegapunk again since then.
The two of them walked side by side toward the main lab. Along the way, Vegapunk could not hold back his curiosity and kept peppering Ozz with questions about his journey to the past.
"It went well. I really did go back to those two years around the God Valley incident, and I changed a lot of things. But after I came back, nothing here had changed."
"I see. Just as I suspected. So it really branched into a parallel world."
Ozz sat in the lab, lounging in a chair with a cup of tea, watching Vegapunk scribble notes off to the side, clearly documenting everything.
Ozz did not mind. Mad scientists were like that.
He wandered around the huge lab space, taking in the various experimental devices and samples. He did not recognize most of them.
Only when his eyes fell on a few glass cylinders that looked like giant water tanks did he finally speak up, interrupting Vegapunk's train of thought.
"You should have the lineage factors for my Warlords of the Sea on file here, right?"
Ozz knew about this already.
Every Warlord had to go through a similar process when they joined.
He did not oppose it either. His control over things was in no way weaker than that of the Five Elders.
"Yes. Including the most recent additions, Jinbe and Boa Hancock. Both have been recorded."
Vegapunk stuck out his tongue in his usual absentminded way and stole a curious look at Ozz, who was pinching his chin and studying the lab as if he were inspecting a museum.
He had no idea what Ozz was planning.
"So, how is the progress?"
Over the years, Ozz had poured a lot of money into Vegapunk, on top of the funding from the World Government.
He had made that proposal about the Seraphim ten years ago. Ozz did not believe Vegapunk would have made no progress at all.
"Well…"
Vegapunk scratched his head, surprised Ozz would suddenly ask about that.
"You are asking about the Seraphim Project, right? We already have preliminary experimental results, but they are far from perfect."
These were man made monsters. There were too many aspects to refine. Vegapunk had no choice but to lead Ozz into another lab.
Inside were rows of sphere like units.
According to Vegapunk, these were the embryonic forms of the first generation prototypes. To reach fully perfected deployment would still take at least ten years.
"It is fine. I am not in a rush."
Ozz looked around at the environment that could have come straight from a sci fi movie, a facility for cultivating biological weapons. He really did not understand most of it, so he stopped asking.
Instead, he sat down at a nearby table and gestured for Vegapunk to take a seat as well.
"I brought you some materials. I want to know if you can, like with the Seraphim, fuse them into a completed entity for me.
"I am not in a hurry. Name whatever budget you want. As long as you can finish it within ten years, I am satisfied."
Vegapunk's eyes lit up at once. His tongue was practically hanging out of his mouth, jaw slack with excitement.
"Materials?"
Because Ozz had just asked about Seraphim progress, Vegapunk instinctively thought Ozz had finally agreed to his proposal from ten years ago.
That Ozz would finally provide his own lineage factor.
He had already been extracting Green Blood for the Seraphim and replicating Devil Fruits one to one.
If he added more on top of that…
A little Ozz, with Lunarian genes, who had eaten the Teleport Fruit.
In his mind, a design for Seraphim Ozz's appearance had already taken shape.
A sharp faced boy with a handsome, almost cruel beauty, bare chested, wearing military pants and boots, carrying a black rifle, with white long hair and dark brown skin. Black wings spread from his back, wreathed in flames.
A Seraphim like that would be the greatest, most perfect creation of his entire life.
It would even surpass the Mother Flame weapons the World Government wanted from him.
Not to mention the limitless funding that would surely come with it.
But Ozz's next words dumped a bucket of cold water over his fantasy.
"No. I am not asking you to make a Seraphim of me."
Ozz turned his head slightly and shattered Vegapunk's dream in one sentence.
"I see…"
Vegapunk lowered his head in disappointment, but Ozz's next line made him snap his head back up so fast his neck almost cracked. His heart thudded violently, and his eyes were soon shot through with red.
"But…
"Are you interested in making a Seraphim of Joy Boy?"
"Nani?"
Clatter.
The pen and notepad in Vegapunk's hands fell straight to the floor, but he did not even glance at them. Instead, he hurriedly looked around at the walls.
Ozz understood what he was worried about. He simply snapped his fingers.
Crackle, pop.
Every monitoring device in the room instantly went dead.
In the blink of an eye, Ozz, now robed in black, was sitting on the opposite side of the lab bench, one leg crossed over the other, his chin resting lazily on his hands.
He wore a faint, teasing smile, obviously very pleased with Vegapunk's reaction.
With another light snap of his fingers…
Several objects appeared on the tabletop.
A sample of Ancient Giant blood. The Nika Fruit. The Dark Dark Fruit.
For most things, as long as Ozz wanted them, there was almost nothing in this world he could not obtain. Even the four Road Poneglyphs for the future race to Laugh Tale.
If Ozz truly cared to try, he could speedrun One Piece, collect all four and become Pirate King in a single day.
That was what a dimensionality reduction attack looked like.
Vegapunk stared at the items in front of him. He had read the documents from Ohara and his own brain was basically a living library, so he recognized everything at a glance.
Seeing the Nika Fruit and the Dark Dark Fruit together already had cold sweat running down his back. Combined with what Ozz had just said…
"Ozz san, what exactly are you trying to do?"
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