After leaving the Whitebeard Pirates, Rowan made another trip to Baltigo. After putting on his mask, he traveled with Dragon to Vegapunk's laboratory.
In the conference room on the top floor, Rowan looked at the brain floating in the solution and asked, "Why does it feel like it's gotten even bigger?"
Before Dragon could answer, the automatically activated identification system opened the door, and Vegapunk answered directly,
"The storage of knowledge is infinite. Ohara's knowledge gave me a tremendous amount of inspiration and benefit. The processor is still a problem that needs to be solved. The six separated bodies are still like idiots."
Dragon, standing nearby, said helplessly, "Compared to ordinary people, they're already qualified researchers. Calling them idiots is only because you're comparing them to yourself."
Rowan looked at Dragon and pointed at the two of them. "So, in the doctor's eyes, that means we're idiots too?"
Vegapunk pointed at Rowan. "Not you, sir. Regardless of anything else, you possess wisdom because you were able to enlighten the people of the world and awaken their minds for the sake of liberation."
Well it seemed that thanks to the vague understanding he had retained from his previous life, he had managed to avoid being classified as an idiot as well.
After taking his seat, Vegapunk was the first to ask about the thing he cared about most, the giant mechanical soldier.
After Rowan explained the situation, Vegapunk also understood that there was no need to rush things for now.
"So, what did you come here for this time, sir?"
Hearing this, Rowan took out the newspaper he had bought aboard the Whitebeard Pirates' ship earlier and placed it on the conference room table.
A minute later, Dragon and Vegapunk had passed the newspaper between themselves.
As the Revolutionary Army's leader, intelligence from the Four Seas and the Grand Line was constantly gathered by Dragon, so he naturally already knew the contents of the newspaper.
"Just a title that doesn't require anyone to pay any actual price is enough to make every pirate on the sea risk their lives fighting for it. This news most likely originated from the World Government's higher-ups who proposed the Seven Warlords system."
Dragon looked at Rowan as he spoke.
"This situation is similar to the Seven Warlords system. It doesn't have much impact on us."
At this moment, Vegapunk, who had just finished reading the newspaper, spoke.
"Are you saying you want to create our own newspaper? The printing technology is very simple. As for typesetting and the like, any researcher at the laboratory could handle it."
As a scientist, Vegapunk's first thought was how to produce such a newspaper.
But Dragon immediately understood after hearing this.
"Our own newspaper? Letting the world truly understand the Revolutionary Army?"
Rowan replied, "Not just letting them understand the Revolutionary Army. The ideological enlightenment being spread by our lecturers is still far too slow. We need to tell everyone the truth about this world."
"The truth?"
Dragon frowned.
"Based on what we know about the World Government, the truth may not be something people are willing to accept."
Rowan shook his head slightly.
"We can tell our own true stories in the form of fiction. Through long-running serialized stories, we can let the world learn about Ohara's perseverance and what happened there, gradually influencing people's minds, just like the Germa Evil Empire influenced the North Blue."
Rowan paused before continuing.
"People who can't survive have only one thought at first, to become pirates. Because throughout the lives they've experienced, they see no other choice besides becoming pirates."
Rowan thought of Trafalgar Law and Tesoro from the original timeline.
After Flevance, Law had nowhere left to go. In the end, he chose a path where he intended to kill as many people as possible during the final three years of his life.
If not for Corazon's salvation, Trafalgar Law would have become one of Doflamingo's most useful subordinates and eventually a sacrifice for the Op-Op Fruit's immortality surgery.
Tesoro was much the same.
The experiences they had endured had twisted their personalities.
But now, Rowan wanted to place another choice in front of people like them.
After experiencing a life worse than death, instead of falling into darkness, they could rise up and resist.
And the Revolutionary Army would be the choice to resist.
With stories that allowed people to truly empathize with those experiences, their original choice to go to sea and become pirates could instead become a choice to go to sea in search of the Revolutionary Army.
"However, right now..."
Rowan looked at Vegapunk.
"What we need is a channel, a way to spread our voice across the world. Newspapers or something else, it doesn't matter. The important thing is finding a method that can create a certain amount of influence without exposing us."
The conference room fell silent.
Vegapunk leaned back and began considering the laboratory's current projects, thinking about which ones had already made progress and could be put to practical use.
The instant communication devices already equipped by the Revolutionary Army should have no problem expanding their range.
But the machines needed to receive the signals would have to be distributed throughout the entire world.
And as Sir had just said, the information was primarily intended for the poor masses. That meant the receiving devices had to be cheap enough. Otherwise, whether they were distributed for free or sold at cost, widespread adoption would be difficult.
After thinking for a while, Vegapunk took out some blueprints and began drawing and writing. Eventually, he presented an idea.
Rowan stared intently at the design, while Dragon, with his enormous head, leaned over to look at it as well.
Although Rowan didn't understand much about technology, he understood the basic principles.
"Miniaturizing the receiving device isn't a problem. But this signal tower, which sends out signals for the receivers to convert into sound, needs to be high enough if we want to expand its range. So the most suitable place in the entire world would be the Red Line, right?"
Vegapunk glanced at Rowan before turning back to his drawings.
"Installing it in Baltigo isn't a problem either. I can solve that part. Covering the entire world won't be an issue."
"It's just a matter of energy. As long as..."
He didn't finish the sentence, but Rowan knew exactly what he was talking about.
That giant mechanical soldier.
For now, they could only wait for Borsalino's intelligence. With so many secret research facilities belonging to the World Government, where else could they possibly look?
The only one they currently knew about had been deduced from Vegapunk's abandoned research project. They had later gone there and confirmed its existence.
But soon, both Rowan and Dragon realized the problem.
"If the signal needs to cover the entire world, then a signal that powerful would be detectable even by those cheap receiving devices. The World Government would be able to track it as well."
Rowan frowned.
"No matter where we build the signal tower, once the World Government discovers it, they'll inevitably investigate. If the Revolutionary Army is exposed, at the very least, they'll deploy forces on the level of a Buster Call to wipe us out."
Dragon looked at Rowan.
"And if they confirm that you're there too, they might even launch their strongest attack and eliminate everyone in one surprise strike."
"Slap!"
Vegapunk slammed his pen onto the table and glared angrily at the two of them.
"If you two are so free, go outside and have a cup of coffee! Or do you think that if a problem is obvious to the two of you, I wouldn't have thought of it?"
"I need a quiet space to think about the problems involved here. It won't take long, so could you two please go outside and wait for a while?"
"Uh..."
One was the leader of the Revolutionary Army.
The other was the Revolutionary Army's instructor, Sir.
Yet at this moment, neither dared say another word.
"Come on, I told you to stop nagging. Let's go, go, go!"
Dragon took the initiative and pushed Rowan out of the conference room.
The automatic sensor door opened before they had even gotten to their feet, sending them out.
Clearly, Vegapunk considered the two of them nothing more than an obstruction to his train of thought.
The two exchanged a glance.
Dragon snorted.
"You too. Looks like we're in the same boat. We've both been rejected."
The moment he finished speaking, the sensor door behind them slammed shut.
"Looks like we really were rejected..."
Rowan scratched his head, found a place to sit down, and waved at one of the sliding robots to bring him a cup of coffee.
Dragon ordered one as well. At the same time, he took a tablet from inside his clothes and began looking through some documents.
Rowan stared at it in surprise.
"When did they make this thing? Why don't I have one?"
This was a touchscreen tablet, with a huge screen. It would be perfect for playing games!
"What do you need this thing for? You don't need it for your work at the G5 Branch, do you? And if someone finds it, what are you going to tell the Marines when they ask where you got it?"
Work?
Oh, right.
This world didn't have Honor of Kings, let alone PUBG.
Rowan immediately lost most of his interest and returned to the main topic.
"Using the short-range communication devices already equipped by the Revolutionary Army, we can indeed transmit sound. But that means there's no way to preserve the content."
"Preserve it?"
Once the conversation returned to business, Dragon put away the tablet he had just taken out.
"You mean that after receiving the signal, ordinary people won't be able to save our daily broadcasts and listen to them again later?"
Rowan nodded slightly.
"Without a way to preserve the broadcasts, there's no possibility of going back and listening to them again. And people won't necessarily have free time at the same hour every day to listen to us."
"There's another problem. No matter how well we conceal it, anyone with a receiving device will eventually know our broadcast schedule."
"Once our purpose is exposed, they'll use that information to arrest the people listening to us. Don't assume they wouldn't go to such lengths. Ohara is proof of that."
Dragon frowned after hearing this. After thinking for a moment, he replied, "Once we distribute the receiving devices, the World Government will inevitably become suspicious. That's unavoidable. In that case, we also need a way to distribute our newspapers throughout the world."
Rowan spoke up.
"And without exposing our location, while still being able to deliver the newspapers to every corner of the world. Staying hidden is essential. We aren't ready for the final battle yet."
Delivering newspapers to every corner of the world within a short period of time...
Without any risk of exposing themselves.
The more Dragon thought about it, the more he felt Rowan was talking about the bird from the World Economy News.
That newspaper had always been one of the pirates' primary sources of information.
Although according to the Revolutionary Army's intelligence, most of its contents were nonsense, clearly subject to World Government control, the way that bird distributed newspapers genuinely avoided many risks.
One News Coo was insignificant.
The World Government and Marines couldn't possibly spend every day hunting down every News Coo in the entire world. They simply didn't have the manpower for that. It would be a waste of resources.
Wait...Birds...the Revolutionary Army wasn't exactly lacking in Bird-Bird Fruit users.
They just didn't have an albatross-type ability like Morgans.
Thinking of this, Dragon stood up and began searching through his belongings for the Northern Army Commander's Den Den Mushi.
Even though he had come to Vegapunk's laboratory this late at night, he still carried several important Den Den Mushi with him. He was afraid that something might delay his work.
Compared with getting some rest, he was more worried that a delayed response might result in members carrying out missions losing their lives.
"Brrr... Brrr..."
"Commander, is something urgent happening this late at night?"
A deep voice, almost as if electronically amplified, came through.
Clearly, Karasu also carried his commander's Den Den Mushi with him at all times.
Dragon immediately said, "I'm sorry for disturbing you this late, but Headquarters needs to know something. That Bird-Bird Fruit user under your command who has the owl form, can he train owls to deliver newspapers?"
"Deliver newspapers?"
The Den Den Mushi imitating Karasu's expression clearly froze in surprise.
He then told Dragon to wait a moment while he tried contacting the squad commander under the Northern Army who was responsible for that subordinate.
He would give them an answer by the day after tomorrow at the latest.
Rowan, who had listened to the entire conversation, had a rather strange expression.
Owls delivering newspapers for some reason, it reminded him of Harry Potter.
Still, if it worked, it really would be a viable option.
The only problem was that compared with News Coo, they probably wouldn't be able to acquire enough owls in such a short period of time.
The two continued discussing the matter for a while before Dragon returned to his own work.
Rowan, meanwhile, continued thinking about the Revolutionary Army's future mouthpiece.
Three hours passed.
At last, the automatic door to the conference room opened, and Vegapunk's voice came from inside.
"Come in."
Hearing this, Dragon put away his tablet, rubbed his eyes, wiped his face, and walked inside with Rowan.
Vegapunk was already organizing his blueprints, but he had no intention of showing them the process.
"I already have a specific solution. You can choose from the options now. However, considering you two can't understand any of this anyway, I'll spare you the details."
Vegapunk immediately hit them with a brutal roast.
Dragon, however, seemed completely accustomed to it and didn't show the slightest embarrassment.
Soon, Vegapunk continued.
"First, the signal transmitter can be made sufficiently concealed. That's the first issue. However, the magnetic fields of the Grand Line are extremely chaotic, so I still need to solve the biggest problem, which is the energy supply."
"Second, the receiving device can be miniaturized and made cheap. We have accumulated a considerable amount of gold reserves, so we can sell them at a low cost."
"Third, if you want to use this as the Revolutionary Army's mouthpiece, once the people behind it are discovered, the fact that the receiving device produces sound isn't particularly difficult to trace. The World Government could confiscate the devices and then accuse their owners of spreading dangerous ideology. That's very easy for them to do."
After hearing this, Rowan lowered his head and thought for a while.
As expected of Vegapunk.
This was the scientist who, in the future, would even be able to deduce things like the Mother Flame from remnants of ancient technology.
Judging from the images in his memories, the character was clearly modeled after the great scientist who had created that thing called a nuclear weapon.
"I discussed this with Dragon outside just now. Considering both preservation and concealment, newspapers are still the more suitable option."
Rowan looked at Vegapunk.
"Of course, since you've solved the concealment problem with the wireless receiving devices, we should still deploy them as well. At the beginning, we can focus the content primarily on stories and use them to conceal our existence."
"We can change all the specific place names and character names in those stories. I can prepare some material later. After all, it seems like I'm the only one who's actually free right now."
Vegapunk glanced at Rowan.
"Good. At least you know it. Dragon's position is that you're leading all of us, while he only needs to handle the trivial matters."
Rowan gratefully glanced at Dragon.
He had truly witnessed how busy this man had become. Compared with several years ago, Dragon's workload was completely different.
"There is a Bird-Bird Fruit user in the Northern Army who has an owl form. Perhaps we can imitate Morgans of the World Economy News and have owls deliver newspapers around the world."
Rowan looked at Vegapunk.
"However, the number of owls probably won't compare with the News Coo, and if we start training them from now, it'll take a long time."
"This is something I failed to consider properly. The importance of a mouthpiece is self-evident, but I didn't think about it several years ago. It wasn't until the World Government manipulated the newspapers this time, using the title of the Four Emperors as bait and deliberately intensifying the chaos among the pirates, that I finally understood how important a mouthpiece is to the Revolutionary Army."
Dragon sighed.
"I didn't realize it either. Even after seeing this newspaper, I initially thought it was insignificant and didn't think much further about it."
[Note: Radio communication had already appeared during the earlier battle in Flevance.]
----------
Advance Chapters: patreon .com/OneFic