Chapter 701: 701 The Smartest Man in the Pirate World

The pirates retreated, but the Marines did not leave.

Egghead Island had been discovered, and now the World Government was left with only two choices—

Find another location to rebuild the Science Unit research base, or reinforce the defenses of Egghead Island.

But no matter which option they chose, they could not leave anytime soon, because no one knew when those pirates might double back.

As the primary person in charge of Egghead Island and currently the only remaining scientist, Vegapunk naturally had to discuss the upcoming arrangements with the Marines.

As for those two elders from the Five Elders, they had already fled back to Mary Geoise as if avoiding a plague.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

After concluding his discussion with the Marines, Vegapunk returned to the top-floor laboratory of Punk Records, accompanied by his "Wisdom" clone Pythagoras and "Thought" clone Edison.

"I’ve discussed it with the World Government. Considering that it easier to be attacked during a relocation, we decided to have the Science Unit remain on Egghead Island to continue our research. They will be sending back the scientists who were evacuated earlier before long."

After briefly explaining the World Government arrangement to Sherwin, Vegapunk immediately followed up with his own request,

"So, during this period, could we trouble little Klee Meow to continue optimizing the Mother Flame for us? In exchange, all the research data on Egghead Island can be opened to you, and furthermore... I can also give you a Devil Fruit, not the artificial kind."

"...Why?"

If it were just sharing technology, Sherwin could understand. After all, Vegapunk did not guard his own technology all that strictly. But directly offering a Devil Fruit seemed a bit too eager.

Not to mention that recently, the prices of Devil Fruits had been continuously rising.

Vegapunk did not answer Sherwin question immediately, but instead glanced at the Felynes pressing close to Sherwin side.

"At first, I was just curious about that Felyne in your crew who looks so much like Kaido, and for a time I thought he was a Felyne-version clone of Kaido.

So, I specifically went to gather intelligence about you. But I quickly discovered that these Felynes around you... or rather, should they be called Felynes? They all seem to have appeared out of thin air." 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Somewhat missing the point of the question, he began talking about the strange nature of the Felynes.

"You like to collect famous blades and Devil Fruits, but you don’t treasure them very much. You even trade them for famous blades and Devil Fruits of equal or even lesser value.

And every time you collect some famous blades and Devil Fruits, new Felynes immediately appear around you. Therefore, I have a very miraculous hypothesis..."

Vegapunk, his face full of inquisitiveness, stared into Sherwin eyes and spoke slowly: "They are not some cat Mink Tribe at all.

Rather, they are ’manufactured’ or summoned’ by you through some special means, and the key to this lies in your behavior of collecting famous blades and Devil Fruits."

Then, regardless of whether Sherwin admitted it or not, he continued with his speculation:

"You collected several famous blades in the West Blue and East Blue, and then Hiko Seijuro and Huamei, who are skilled in swordsmanship, joined your team.

After visiting a swordsmanship dojo in the East Blue, Haibara appeared. After bidding on a Devil Fruit in the Spring Queen Town, Link appeared..."

Vegapunk counted down the pattern of the cat appearances. Although some of the cats from the map banner and the monster banner were miscategorized into the weapon banner and the fruit banner, his guess was still mostly accurate.

Sherwin raised his eyebrows, feeling slightly surprised in his heart.

Since Vegapunk in the manga didn’t seem particularly smart in other areas aside from his various miraculous inventions, Sherwin had often complained about this "smartest man in the world" when reading the manga. But looking at it now...

As expected, one really couldn’t underestimate a guy with such a title.

"So, what is your reason for giving me the Devil Fruit then?"

Sherwin did not directly respond to Vegapunk guess, but instead repeated the question from just now.

"I want to confirm if my guess is correct. If possible, I would also like to see how they appear."

Vegapunk had no intention of hiding it and spoke his mind bluntly. Furthermore, he proactively promised:

"Regarding the matter of the Felynes, I will not upload it to Punk Records, so you don’t have to worry about the World Government finding out. I haven’t even mentioned this guess to the other satellites."

As for Pythagoras and Edison, there was nothing he could do, because this speculation was discussed and formulated by the two of them together with the Stella body.

Aside from this, they had also discussed another possibility...

"You should have a way to steal other people Fruit abilities, right?" Vegapunk glanced at Purah Meow.

"The Snow-Snow Fruit is the ability of a certain officer in the Donquixote Family, and the previous user of the Bomb-Bomb Fruit appeared in Crocodile Baroque Works... Did you obtain the Dark-Dark Fruit?"

Obviously, Vegapunk also knew about the abilities possessed by the Dark-Dark Fruit, but it seemed his understanding of it was quite limited.

"No, my success rate for stealing Devil Fruit abilities is very low, it can’t compare to the Dark-Dark Fruit." Sherwin shook his head, answering honestly.

At this stage, denying it was pointless, and Sherwin didn’t think Vegapunk would actually believe him if he did deny it, so it was better to just admit it frankly.

Furthermore, regarding Vegapunk desire to observe the summoning of the Felynes, Sherwin also intended to agree...

He still remembered that quite a few Felynes actually wanted to go back and visit the Monster Hunter world.

If he could get Vegapunk to help, it would be much more likely to find a way to get to the Monster Hunter world.

Of course, Sherwin had no intention of exposing the existence of the Hunter Handbook and the Hunter Knife.

At most, he would let him know about the existence of the summoning vouchers. As for where he obtained the summoning vouchers, he would just let Vegapunk keep guessing.

And then...

"Zoan, huh... Then I won’t be able to let you see it anytime soon."

Sherwin weighed the Zoan Dog-Dog Fruit Vegapunk had handed him, asking somewhat helplessly, "Are there no Paramecia ones?"

After summoning Kaido Meow, the fragments in the Zoan pool were completely depleted, whereas the Paramecia pool was only one fragment away.

"No," Vegapunk shook his head, replying with equal helplessness, "Whether it Artificial Devil Fruits or Elemental Beasts, only Zoan Fruits are needed, so the World Government only gave me Zoan Fruits..."

"I quietly kept this Dog-Dog Fruit under the pretext of experimental loss. It no longer possible to keep doing this using the same excuse. Now that elemental beasts can be created, the World Government won’t agree to me ’wasting’ Devil Fruits like this."

Sherwin had only just opened his mouth a little when Vegapunk guessed what he wanted to ask and immediately explained ahead of time.

Sherwin, with his mouth half-open, was stunned for a moment, and then shrugged.

"Alright, one last question... what kind of dog exactly is this Dog-Dog Fruit?"

"Uh..." Vegapunk scratched his cheek, shifting his gaze slightly, "A husky."

Sherwin: "..."

No wonder the World Government agreed to let Vegapunk use it for experiments!