Starting a year ago, Caesar Clown felt that his luck had begun to take a turn for the worse…
First, the weapon of mass destruction he had developed was abruptly halted by that jealousy-ridden bastard Vegapunk.
Then, under Vegapunk instigation, the World Government arrested him for forcibly detonating an unfinished prototype.
Although he later managed to escape from the prison ship transporting him, in order to avoid the bounty on his head, Caesar Clown had no choice but to change his identity and lie low on a remote island for quite a long time.
After finally evading the Navy search and sneaking back to Punk Hazard, he discovered that the contingency he had left behind—Smiley—had already vanished.
Even many of the island facilities had been dismantled and taken away. As for any prisoners who might have survived, that went without saying—there wasn't a single person in sight.
This left Caesar Clown, who had originally planned to take advantage of Punk Hazard special environment to secretly continue researching his unfinished "Land of Death," completely dumbfounded.
What made him even more speechless was that, because the poisonous gas on the island had dissipated, when he landed, he happened to run into CP agents who had come to investigate the situation…
Although he managed to shake off the CP agents thanks to his greater familiarity with Punk Hazard, Caesar Clown also ended up conveniently taking the blame for Sherwin "theft of Scientific Force experimental results and equipment."
As a result, Caesar Clown bounty instantly soared from three hundred million Beli to five hundred million Beli.
In short…
It was all that Vegapunk bastard fault!
That said, this level of setback was not enough to crush Caesar Clown. Though he was a cruel, cunning scumbag who bullied the weak and feared the strong, he was also a mad scientist.
In order to create the "Land of Death" he had been obsessed with, and to prove that he was an even greater genius than Vegapunk,
Caesar Clown carefully evaded pursuit by the Navy and CP agents while reaching out to the former major backer who had funded the creation of MADS—the "Loan Shark King," Du Feld—hoping to secure another round of funding to continue his research.
However, after MADS had been forcibly disbanded back then, Du Feld, as its primary financier, had also received a warning from the World Government. There was no way he would step into that minefield again.
Although the title "Emperor of the Underworld" sounded extremely domineering, in reality it was nowhere near comparable to forces like the "Four Emperors," who were truly capable of standing against the World Government.
Still, under Caesar shameless persistence, Du Feld ultimately decided to look past their old relationship and introduce him to a patron who was not afraid of retaliation from the World Government.
That was how today came to be—Du Feld bringing Caesar Clown to attend BIG MOM tea party, and running into Smiley, which had been taken in by Sherwin and the others.
"Hmm, looks like you've got the wrong one, meow."
Haibara Meow, the little schemer, had of course already guessed that the person in front of her was the true culprit behind the Punk Hazard gas leak.
However, taking advantage of her age, she pretended to know nothing as she placed Sherry back on top of her head.
"Besides, her name is Sherry, not Smiley, meow."
(=ˇˇ=)
The little kitten nodded seriously, and Sherry atop her head nodded along in perfect sync.
Caesar Clown face twisted with anger. That Axolotl Devil Fruit had been something he personally applied for from the World Government back when he was part of the Scientific Force—how could he possibly have mistaken it?!
But anger aside, Caesar did not lose his reason. Leaving aside what kind of consequences causing trouble at BIG MOM tea party would bring,
just the fact that the recently famous Hunter was standing right there made him someone Caesar absolutely could not afford to provoke.
Someone who always bullied the weak and feared the strong would naturally never clash with Sherwin and the others over a mere "pet."
Anyway, as long as he could secure research funding from BIG MOM, recreating the poison gas would be an easy matter.
That Devil Fruit had also been obtained from the World Government in the first place, so in truth, he hadn't really suffered a loss…
Unable to cause trouble for Sherwin, Caesar could only console himself this way.
As for where all the missing equipment from Punk Hazard had gone, Caesar had no intention whatsoever of asking Sherwin about it.
Even if he found out, what difference would it make? The World Government would never listen to his explanation, and after the poison gas had dispersed,
any remaining large-scale equipment on Punk Hazard would certainly be reclaimed. His original plan had already become basically impossible to realize.
"Shurororororo… so I was mistaken after all."
After quickly weighing the pros and cons in his mind, Caesar Clown swiftly put on a genial, approachable expression.
Rubbing his hands together, he chuckled and said, "Actually, I wasn't very certain before either. The color and size of Smiley are quite different from this sherry.'"
There was another purpose behind his words: he wanted to find out exactly how Sherwin and the others had removed Smiley toxicity.
Compared to anything else, this was what Caesar cared about the most.
If the kitten wearing Sherry guise had been Klee Meow, he might really have managed to coax it out of her… at least part of it.
Unfortunately for him, the one wearing Sherry guise was Haibara Meow, the little schemer.
"Is that so, meow?"
(=ω=)
The little milk kitten tilted her head innocently. "When I picked up Sherry, it was only this big, meow. Maybe the Smiley you know are its fully grown kind. As for the color…"
She lifted a paw and gently poked Sherry body, then took out a bottle of blue potion and poured it into its mouth. Sherry body immediately turned the exact same blue as the potion.
"See? This strange creature can change colors, meow."
"Huh?"
After Haibara Meow demonstration, Caesar really did start to feel uncertain…
Could it be that he had really mistaken it, and the "Sherry" in front of him was actually some kind of special creature similar to Smiley?
No! That had to be Smiley— even its cry was exactly the same!
After his thoughts fell into brief confusion, Caesar finally wasn't completely led astray by the scheming little milk kitten, but he was still thrown off course…
He truly believed that Haibara Meow had merely picked up Smiley, and that Smiley current condition might be because something had happened to Punk Hazard, causing its bodily traits to change.
And it was very likely that Smiley had lost its memories because of this, which was why it no longer remembered him!
Caesar went wild with speculation, and at the same time grew intensely curious about Smiley present state…
Damn it! I really want to study it!
Staring at Smiley, which was obediently resting on top of Haibara Meow head, Caesar ground his teeth in resentment.
Caesar wasn't angry that Sherwin and the others had taken his Smiley away, nor was he angry that Smiley had turned its back on him as its master. The person he truly hated, from beginning to end, was only one…
That right— Vegapunk!
If Vegapunk hadn't meddled and been jealous of talent, how would he have fallen to this state? Smiley wouldn't have been taken by others either!
So…
It was all that bastard Vegapunk fault!
(While checking references, I discovered that Smiley should have been created only after Caesar fled back to Punk Hazard, but the earlier updates are already hard to revise…
Originally, I wanted to patch it here— for example, having Caesar return to Punk Hazard first to create Smiley, then get discovered by CP and flee again, and Sherwin and the others land on the island during that gap.
But that felt too forced and not very reasonable, so I can only let the mistake stand.)