Once everyone had finished changing, they wasted no more time and quickly headed toward the laboratory prepared for Kuma's operation.
"You damn old man, are you serious?!"
The moment Bonney stepped into their destination, she immediately planted a foot on Vegapunk again and ground her heel against him.
"This is a garbage dump! Where's the laboratory?! Are you screwing with me?!"
What lay before them was the same enormous scrapyard where Luffy and the others had first encountered Vegapunk in the original timeline.
Except this one was several times larger than Cain remembered.
Mountains of discarded machinery, broken components, and unidentified devices were piled everywhere.
"Wait, wait! It's underneath! Underneath!"
Vegapunk yelped beneath Bonney's foot.
"I built a hidden laboratory beneath the scrapyard specifically to stay out of the World Government's sight! The real facility is down there!"
As he spoke, a head suddenly popped out from behind a nearby heap of junk and looked around.
The moment he saw the group, his expression brightened.
"Bonney! You're finally here!"
"Oh! Sentomaru!"
Bonney immediately ran over to him, completely forgetting that Vegapunk was still lying beneath her foot.
Vegapunk didn't seem particularly offended. He simply dusted himself off, slowly got back up, and watched Bonney hurry away.
"As expected, even if she can make herself look like an adult, mentally she's still every bit as innocent as her real age."
He rubbed his aching body.
"Though she's awfully rough on old men…"
Then he turned toward Cain before calling over to Sentomaru.
"How are the preparations coming?"
"Everything's ready except for the final crucial step. I'll go get that set up now."
Sentomaru immediately broke away from his conversation with Bonney and answered seriously.
Vegapunk nodded, then gestured toward Cain and the others.
"Take Cain and Uta with you. You'll need their help anyway."
"Got it!"
Sentomaru turned and headed toward another section of the laboratory.
Cain and Uta still weren't entirely sure what they were about to do, but they followed.
"Hey! Why can't I come too?!"
Bonney immediately complained.
"I just don't think it's a good idea for you to see what's in there," Vegapunk tried to explain.
"You don't want me to see it? Then I'm definitely coming!"
Bonney stretched out both hands and instantly turned Vegapunk into a child again.
She crouched, deposited the miniature old man beside Kuma, then waved toward Bella.
"Watch them for me!"
And without another glance back, she chased after Cain and the others.
After spending the last several days together, Bonney and Bella had already become friends. Bonney knew exactly how strong Bella was, and there was nowhere she trusted more to leave her father.
Besides—
the harder Vegapunk tried to hide something from her, the more likely it was connected to the truth she had been searching for.
…
As they made their way deeper inside, Cain and Uta couldn't stop staring curiously at the strange equipment lining the route.
Sentomaru repeatedly told them not to bother asking questions.
After all, he was the man with the tightest lips in the world.
He wasn't going to tell them anything.
Strangely enough, however—
whenever Uta asked a question, Sentomaru somehow found himself answering it anyway.
Especially when they reached several enormous cultivation tanks.
"These are…"
Uta stared through the glass.
"Hancock? And Jinbe?"
"They are not!"
Sentomaru puffed out his chest, apparently unaware that he was already giving everything away.
"I definitely won't tell you that these are secret weapons Uncle Punk created for the World Government to replace the Seven Warlords of the Sea!"
The instant the words left his mouth, Sentomaru froze.
Then he slapped both hands over it.
Too late.
Cain and Uta exchanged a look.
They understood completely.
"So these are the clones."
Cain examined the figures inside the cultivation chambers with genuine fascination.
"They really do look exactly like the Warlords."
His gaze moved from one tank to another before pausing.
"Though it looks like there isn't an Ace version."
"Well, development on this batch of Seraphim started about a year and a half ago," Sentomaru answered honestly, even though his hands were still covering his mouth. "They didn't have Ace's Lineage Factor recorded at the time, so naturally there wouldn't be one. Besides, back then there were still questions about his lineage…"
Sentomaru gestured for them to keep moving.
"And don't let their appearance fool you. They might look seven or eight years old, but they're already capable of entering combat."
As he spoke, he led everyone to an independent control station and opened the chamber stored there.
The hatch slowly slid apart.
Inside stood a copy of Kuma.
Seraphim S-Bear.
Sentomaru pointed toward him, his expression becoming more serious.
"They still need some final adjustments and Green Blood before they're completely finished, but Uncle Punk prioritized this one because we needed him to save Kuma."
"This is why we came here."
His gaze softened slightly as he looked toward Bonney.
"Kuma left a copy of his memories here before."
"If we can transfer those memories back into his body and use the other equipment to assist with the process, there's a chance we can wake him up."
"The problem is that Kuma's current body can't properly use his Devil Fruit ability anymore."
"So S-Bear has to take his place."
"That was a surprisingly detailed explanation," Cain said sincerely. "Thanks, Sentomaru."
Sentomaru immediately rounded on him.
"I didn't tell you any of that!"
His face turned red.
"Where the hell did you hear all those classified details?!"
Cain stared at him.
Then he understood.
So this was what the self-proclaimed "tightest-lipped man in the world" meant by keeping secrets.
Apparently, his method consisted entirely of telling everyone everything—
and then convincing himself afterward that he hadn't said a word.
"Ah…"
Bonney looked up at the towering yet childlike version of Kuma before her.
"So that's why the old man didn't want me coming in here."
Her expression became complicated.
At that moment, S-Bear seemed to sense something.
His eyes slowly opened.
Then he looked toward Bonney—
and smiled.
The expression in his eyes was gentle.
Exactly like Kuma's.
Bonney froze.
Her lips moved slightly, but no words came out.
Cain, meanwhile, had already become distracted by something else.
His eyes landed on the smaller version of Yoru prepared for S-Hawk.
He picked it up and gave it a few experimental swings.
It wasn't a Black Blade yet, but the weight felt surprisingly authentic.
While Cain was still examining it, Sentomaru suddenly tossed a circular device toward him.
Cain caught it reflexively.
Before he could ask what it was, Sentomaru spoke first.
"You head over there."
"Just remember to bring back the head intact."
"We're going to move Kuma's memories."
With that, Sentomaru left with S-Bear and Bonney.
Uta quickly followed them as well, apparently planning to ask Bonney for something.
Cain remained standing there.
"…What?"
He looked down at the device in his hand.
"The head?"
At that exact moment, Vegapunk's voice came through Cain's headset.
The old man had switched to a private channel, clearly having held back while Bonney was nearby.
"Bonney was there earlier, so I couldn't explain it openly."
"We verified what you said about York."
Cain's expression sharpened.
"I need you to go deal with her."
Vegapunk paused.
"But bring her head back intact."
"Whatever she's been hiding, whatever false information she's inserted into Punk Records, all of it is stored inside the memory unit in her brain."
Then Vegapunk suddenly remembered something important and spoke faster.
"Oh, and don't just kill her!"
"If her brain is destroyed, her memories and consciousness will automatically transfer into one of the backup bodies she prepared in advance."
"There's even a chance she could upload herself directly into Punk Records."
"If that happens, catching her again will become much harder."
After another short pause, Vegapunk added,
"Don't worry too much about it. The Satellites aren't humans in the ordinary sense."
"To a certain extent, they're robots."
"The memory-storage devices in their brains are designed to function almost exactly like human brains, but they're still mechanical."
"So you don't need to feel guilty about removing one."
"…I think I understand."
Cain looked down at the round device Sentomaru had thrown him.
A tracking map was displayed on its screen.
And the target shown on it—
was York.
Well, that certainly saved him the trouble of searching the entire island.
Cain put the tracker away and turned, preparing to call Uta over so they could go together.
Then he realized the room was empty.
Everyone had disappeared.
A moment later, something gently tugged twice on the hem of his shirt.
Cain looked down.
His pupils instantly contracted.
A little girl stood there staring up at him.
Her skin had the same dark complexion as the Seraphim.
She wore a small white dress.
Tiny black wings fluttered behind her.
White hair framed her face, while a flame flickered brightly at the back of her head.
And a pair of enormous sparkling eyes gazed innocently up at Cain.
It was Uta.
Cain jumped.
Not metaphorically.
He literally jumped into the air.