After knocking out all the Marines gathered around Kizaru, Cain wasted no time. He grabbed the Admiral and dragged him straight toward Vegapunk's private laboratory.
Inside, Kuma was lying quietly on the operating table. His vital signs were stable, and he had entered a recovery-induced coma following the surgery.
Bonney had remained beside him until exhaustion finally caught up with her. Her head rested on her folded arms, breathing slow and even as she slept.
That was also why Uta had returned to her normal adult form on the way over.
Sentomaru, meanwhile, had already left to resume his patrol.
Vegapunk was organizing the surgical data when he looked up and saw Cain dragging Kizaru into the room. One glance at the Admiral's pale yet flushed face and the cold sweat pouring from his body made the old scientist freeze.
"…What the hell did you two do to him?!"
"Questions later! Save him first!"
Cain dumped Kizaru onto a nearby diagnostic table.
Vegapunk immediately pushed over a scanner and began examining him.
The longer the examination went on, the stranger his expression became.
Severe dehydration.
Electrolyte imbalance.
And an extremely high concentration of synthetic hormones circulating through his bloodstream.
Vegapunk looked at the dosage reading.
His eye twitched violently.
"How much did you give him?"
Cain guiltily looked away.
Uta, still clinging to Cain's back, poked her head over his shoulder and quietly explained.
Vegapunk fell silent for three full seconds.
Then he immediately began treatment.
…
"Uncle Borsalino! I've failed you!"
Cain grabbed Kizaru's arm and wailed with such grief that anyone listening might have assumed they were attending a funeral.
"You were perfectly fine just a little while ago! How could you leave us so suddenly?!"
Uta walked around to Kizaru's other side and poked his cheek.
"He's still breathing. Stop crying."
Vegapunk sighed helplessly.
"All right, that's enough! I've already diluted the drug in his system. He's just badly dehydrated."
"He isn't actually dead. Do you really need to put on this much of a performance?"
Vegapunk glanced at the IV bag hanging above Kizaru, then back at Cain.
"And since when did Borsalino become your uncle? Sometimes I genuinely can't follow the Monkey family tree."
"It's just a nickname."
Cain wiped his face and immediately became serious again.
"What I'm wondering now is whether I should go capture some pirates for their bounties."
"I could pretend to be a pirate hunter for a while, earn some money, and use it to compensate Uncle Borsalino."
Cain glanced at the unconscious Admiral.
"Otherwise, when he wakes up, I'm definitely getting blamed for this."
"Oh, so you do know fear."
Vegapunk raised an eyebrow.
"Then go catch some pirates. Leave the bounty collection to me. Lilith used to handle that kind of thing all the time."
He thought for a moment.
"Take S-Bear with you too. You'll travel much faster that way, and I can use the opportunity to gather some real combat data on the Seraphim."
"Just make sure you hide his wings and the flame on his back so nobody recognizes what he is."
Vegapunk grinned.
"And while you're at it, I can see how strong you've become."
Cain gave him a suspicious sideways look.
"Every time you say something like that, I get the feeling you're secretly planning something terrible."
Uta nodded vigorously beside him.
Vegapunk was struck speechless by how accurately they had read him.
Naturally, he wasn't going to admit that keeping Kizaru cooperative would probably require certain benefits as well. Vegapunk was still counting on the Admiral to help Egghead squeeze several more research grants out of the World Government.
When Vegapunk refused to elaborate, Cain glanced around the laboratory instead.
His gaze settled on Kuma and the sleeping Bonney.
"Still, is it really okay to leave Kizaru here?"
"Relax. He won't be waking up anytime soon."
Vegapunk waved dismissively.
"And if he does, I can always give him a little more medicine."
Cain stared at him.
"How is that any different from what I was doing? You were criticizing me five minutes ago!"
"At least I understand dosage!"
Vegapunk immediately shouted back.
"Unlike you, I don't pump someone full of enough drugs for a Sea King—and an aphrodisiac at that!"
"That was an accident! An accident!"
The two started arguing again.
Uta wisely kept her mouth shut.
After all—
she was the one who had drugged the drink in the first place.
Then a slightly excited voice suddenly came from nearby.
"Can I… go outside now?"
Cain and Vegapunk both turned.
Uta looked toward the voice as well.
It had come from S-Bear.
Even Vegapunk froze.
He had deliberately preserved a degree of individuality in every Seraphim, but according to his behavioral models, they shouldn't have developed this level of autonomous awareness yet.
Their personalities were also supposed to be relatively quiet and reserved.
So why had S-Bear suddenly started speaking on his own?
…
"I see…"
Vegapunk stared thoughtfully at the data on the screen.
"During the process of transferring Kuma's memories, S-Bear came into contact with fragments of those memories."
"Did that trigger an accelerated stage of learning and development?"
He sighed.
"How did it end up like this?"
"Is that actually a bad thing?"
Cain leaned closer to the display.
"Does this mean S-Bear is basically another Kuma now?"
"Not at all, Cain."
Vegapunk immediately corrected him.
"S-Bear already possesses his own independent personality. Coming into contact with Kuma's memories won't turn him into Kuma."
"It's like someone reading a collection of stories. The experiences written in those stories don't replace the reader's own life."
Vegapunk gestured toward the data.
"What happened here is that exposure to Kuma's memories unexpectedly accelerated S-Bear's learning process. His personality has simply developed much faster than my projections predicted."
"Oh."
Cain nodded.
"Well, if there's nothing wrong with him, then we'll go catch pirates."
He casually pulled a long list from inside his clothes and handed it to Vegapunk.
"While we're gone, take a look at these too."
Vegapunk unfolded the list.
His eyebrows climbed higher with every line.
"Hypothesis on Awakening-Based Multiplication Through the More-More Fruit…"
"Testing the Effects Haki Can Exert on Technological Constructs…"
"Compatibility Between the Age-Age Fruit and the Return-Return Fruit, Including the Possibility of Stacking Their Abilities With Pure…"
The final portion of that entry was incomplete.
Vegapunk continued scanning downward.
"…This is quite a collection of problems you've dumped on me."
He rolled the list back up and rubbed his temples.
Then something else caught his attention.
"Hm?"
His expression changed.
"This metal…"
"You actually have some of this?"
"Yeah. We happened to find it at sea."
Cain paused.
"Well, saying I found it isn't entirely accurate. It was more Uta…"
Uta naturally picked up the explanation.
"Well, Cain and I are going to get married eventually."
She smiled.
"So I thought I should prepare a present for Grandpa Garp."
Inside, however, her thoughts were considerably less innocent.
'Once Grandpa Garp has this, Luffy will never be able to set sail again.'
"I see."
Vegapunk nodded, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.
He decided that investigating whatever those two were scheming would probably give him a headache.
"For now, I can only make theoretical predictions."
"But I should have an answer for you soon."
"Good enough."
Cain took Uta's hand and turned toward the door.
"Wait!"
Vegapunk suddenly remembered something and called them back.
"I haven't given you command authority over S-Bear yet!"
"Without authorization, nobody can issue him orders."
Vegapunk handed Cain an experimental, single-use command key carrying the lowest level of Seraphim authority.
Cain hadn't even looked down to see what the device looked like when Uta suddenly became quiet beside him.
She remembered what Vegapunk had just said.
The Seraphim possessed personalities of their own.
They weren't like the Pacifistas—empty machines that simply executed commands.
Which meant Vegapunk's statement that nobody could control a Seraphim without the proper authority wasn't entirely accurate.
If Uta really wanted to—
she could control a Seraphim herself.