Karakuri Island · Baltimore!
The wind and snow on the island had lessened considerably, leaving two sets of footprints of varying depths in the snow.
Vegapunk looked at the research institute before him with a hint of reluctance in his eyes, but more of it was determination.
Rector watched as Vegapunk placed a farewell letter on the gates of the research institute.
The letter only mentioned that he was leaving Baltimore, telling everyone not to worry about him, and that the day he returned, he would bring back scientific instruments to remodel his hometown.
In the original plot, Vegapunk would leave Baltimore the year before the God Valley incident.
The MADS team he formed carried out weapons research and development under the sponsorship of the underground ruler of darkness, the “King of Loans” Du Feld.
Among the team members, Caesar Clown, Vinsmoke Judge, and Queen were addicted to research on lethal weapons and human modification.
Vegapunk focused on various researches that could promote peace, while Buckin was mostly responsible for secretarial and experimental subject-related work.
The later Queen of the Pleasure District, Stussy, was cloned using Buckin as a prototype.
Vegapunk also invented the flower that could bloom amidst gunpowder, [GP Flower], winning the Ebell Peace Prize for this achievement.
The MADS team discovered the Lineage Factor and the Blueprint of Life—a technology sufficient to rewrite life structures, achieve cloning, racial modification, artificial life, and ability replication.
The World Government launched a comprehensive crackdown on the MADS team.
Vegapunk and Caesar Clown failed to escape and ultimately joined the World Government’s direct Science Unit under coercion and inducement.
Vinsmoke Judge, who successfully escaped, returned to North Blue and began researching his clone army and the Devil Fruit gene human implantation project.
Queen joined the Beasts Pirates and became the renowned All-Star, Queen the Plague.
Buckin disappeared with some technical data, and didn’t reappear on the seas with Whitebeard’s redacted version until after Whitebeard’s death.
(MADS Team Picture!)
…
Skypiea, Upper Yard Center.
A bolt of lightning struck vertically down onto the training ground, revealing Rector’s figure.
Vegapunk, who was being carried by him, had it miserable.
For someone who never exercised, this journey was simply a torture.
He currently felt like he had just come out of a front-loading washing machine.
Feeling the sky and earth spinning, the high-speed flight brought immense pressure to his body.
If Rector hadn’t deliberately attached an electromagnetic force field to Vegapunk, Vegapunk would have passed out long ago.
“Big Brother!
You’re back!”
“How come you brought back a big head too?”
Katakuri looked at Vegapunk with a scrutinizing gaze, but Vegapunk was lying on the ground and didn’t hear Katakuri’s words clearly.
At the distant training ground, the Shandians and Sky Islanders who had been training all stopped their actions and raised their heads uniformly to look at Rector—their Emperor had returned.
“Lord Thunder Emperor!”
The Sky Islanders and Shandians immediately knelt on one knee toward Rector in the distance, their tones full of reverence.
“All of you, rise!
Are you the ones selected by the chieftain and Ganford?”
Rector’s gaze swept across the crowd present.
These people were the first batch of candidates selected to go to Totto Land, and also the first generation of Thunder Emperor Guards.
In the era of Rocks, what mattered was the combat power of the top powerhouses; no matter how many people there were, they were just cannon fodder in the face of absolute power.
The selection criteria for the Thunder Emperor Guards had only one rule: awaken at least one type of Haki within a year.
These people’s physical qualities had already met the requirements for awakening Haki; what they lacked was just the correct guidance method.
“Yes!
Lord Thunder Emperor!
I am the captain of the Sky Islanders, my name is Carem!”
Rector looked at Carem kneeling on one knee.
He was the former captain of the Birka guards, and he had even gone to his house for dinner before.
But Carem was already married, yet for the life of him he couldn’t remember what Carem’s wife looked like.
“Lord Thunder Emperor!
I am the captain of the Shandians, my name is Vane!”
“Very good!
Once you completely master your own Haki, that will be the time for you to head out to the sea.”
Rector stared at Vane, feeling inexplicably strange in his heart—he actually had an impression of Vane’s wife, which was simply too abnormal.
He had great confidence in his observation skills; logically speaking, it was impossible not to remember a person’s appearance.
“Lord Rector, you’re back.”
Mivier was followed by Compote.
Regarding this eldest daughter of the Charlotte Family, Rector didn’t have excessively high strength requirements for her; she at least needed the strength to protect herself.
Compote’s future positioning was the family’s intelligence director, overall managing the entire intelligence network.
The most convenient way to obtain intelligence was to rely on the Dango Fruit to control animals to gather information, but that fruit still had no news whatsoever to this day.
Currently, the first person in charge of the family intelligence organization was Rector, the second person in charge was Perospero, and Compote was still following along to learn and gain experience.
“Oh, Mivier, has Bullet been obedient lately?” Rector raised a hand and greeted.
“Bullet is very healthy, and has already fallen asleep at this time.”
Mivier covered her mouth and chuckled softly, her eyes curving into crescents, a gentle aura exuding all over her body.
“Big Brother!
Who is he?”
Compote poked her head out from behind Mivier, her long blue hair draped over her shoulders, holding a half-eaten apple in her hand.
“His name is Vegapunk, and he will be the family’s chief scientist from now on.
You can go to him if you have any questions.”
“Compote, grant him the highest-level unlimited funding access, and satisfy all the supplies he needs as much as possible.”
Compote looked at Vegapunk in astonishment.
Since she took charge of the family’s funds, this was the first time Big Brother had given someone unlimited funding limits.
“Really?”
Vegapunk, who had already recovered, was full of excitement.
He was no blind man; right in the center of the distant palace sat a large clock crafted from gold.
A force that could use gold to cast a large clock certainly wouldn’t lack Berries, and he could already imagine how wealthy his future research funding would be.
“Really!
But during this time you can only stay on Skypiea.
Wait until the situation on the sea stabilizes a bit after a while, and I’ll take you down.”
Rector lifting the funding restriction was precisely to allow Vegapunk to advance the research on the baby cultivation system as soon as possible, ideally producing results before the God Valley incident.
“Big Brother!
Second Brother Perospero sent word, Mama is about to give birth!” Compote handed the intelligence slip in her hand to Rector.
“I know.”
Rector took the intelligence and glanced at it.
It recorded Hachinosu’s recent movements, as well as which desserts’ inventory were running low.
Rocks had already left Hachinosu, and one didn’t need to think to know where he had gone.
It was definitely Elbaf, for that Devil Fruit in his plan.
The Zoan-type · Mythical Species · Dragon-Dragon Fruit · Nidhogg Model was stored deep within Elbaf.
Rocks wanted Harald to eat this Devil Fruit and fight the World Government together with him.
Over the years, he would go to Elbaf every once in a while, but not a single time was successful.
“Katakuri, prepare the items on the list.” Rector handed the supply list in his hand to him.
Right now, the three Katakuri brothers had not grown up completely at all, but dealing with some enemies with a bounty of tens of millions of Berries was still very easy.
After giving instructions for everything, Rector turned around and walked toward the Thunder Emperor Palace.
Entering the hall, he picked up the Munch-Munch Fruit placed on the table.
“Lord Rector!
It’s good that you’re okay!”
Zeus floated over to Rector’s side, looking at him completely unharmed, a smile appearing on his face.
“Zeus!
Go help Katakuri prepare the things!”
“After packing up, we’ll go to Mama’s place!”
“Great!
We can see Mama!”
Zeus disappeared within the palace, and only then did Rector look at the Munch-Munch Fruit in his hand.
On its deep purple skin, the spiral patterns radiated a bizarre luster.
He prepared himself in his heart, tilted his head back, and swallowed it in one bite.
Tasting that indescribable weird taste once again, Rector’s expression changed instantly.
He could clearly feel that the power of the Munch-Munch Fruit was slowly gathering in one of the hearts within his body, fusing with his body bit by bit.
The next second, a tiny lightning particle drifted out from within his body.
Amidst the flashing thunder light, the particle continuously expanded and grew larger, gradually condensing into the appearance of another Rector.
This was a lightning clone he created by referencing the clone ability Kizaru used when fighting Nika Luffy.
This clone didn’t have overly strong combat power; what it carried mostly within its body was the power of the Munch-Munch Fruit.
“Let’s test the ability of the Munch-Munch Fruit.”
Lightning Number One nodded, casually picked up two stone chairs in the palace, and stuffed them into his mouth.
As he chewed continuously, faint white smoke seemed to rise from the top of his head.
Soon, a chair whose appearance was no different from the original was “spat” out.
Rector manipulated the surrounding electromagnetic field, causing the newly forged chair and another original chair to collide with each other.
After a muffled sound, the chair manufactured by the Munch-Munch Fruit was completely undamaged, while the other chair directly snapped apart, shattering into a pile of stones scattered on the ground.
“Let’s try other things.” With a thought from Rector, Lightning Number One transformed into lightning particles and integrated into his body.