Seeing Queen's erratic behavior, Kate tapped her temple, her years with Oran building tacit understanding. Her meaning was clear.
[Is this guy nuts?]
Simultaneously, she gripped her custom firearm, wary of Queen's outburst, sensing a plot.
"What's wrong with you? Experiment fail and fry your brain?" Oran's eyes dripped with disdain, but he signaled Kate to lower her weapon. He wanted to see what Queen was up to.
"Queen! You bastard, forgot our deal?" Judge snapped.
"Past is past, now is now. Oran, I've always admired your tech. It was Judge's lies that caused our misunderstanding!" Queen ignored their fury, acting as if he were cutting ties.
Oran didn't buy a word. These spineless opportunists could do anything without surprising him.
"It's the funding. Du Feld said before leaving that the doubled budget is yours to allocate," Buckingham explained, leaning by the door. To Feld, a businessman, Oran promised greater profits, so he handed over control of the extra funds.
Feld hadn't returned to tell Oran, but the ship's crew knew.
"Make your own budgets worthwhile first. If you produce something valuable, I don't mind sharing," Oran said, neither agreeing nor refusing, leaving an open-ended answer before departing with Kate. His experiments weren't done.
The others' reactions were mild—Oran left a crack of opportunity. But soon after, Queen, Judge, and Caesar brawled again, sparked by Caesar mocking Queen's groveling failure to secure funds, enraging him.
Time passed. While Feld hyped MADS's achievements for the Ibel Awards, research continued. In Oran's lab, a humanoid frame was complete.
Unlike Blitz's bulk, this robot was sleeker, more human-like.
As gears turned, its joints moved. Blitz's eyes flickered nearby, sensing this unborn life as kin.
Gears whirred, metal clanks music to Oran's ears.
"Kate, remember my unfinished words from before?" Oran asked.
"The gray lady? Yeah. Queen's freakout cut you off. You said we'd borrow their power for now, prepare for later," Kate recalled, scratching her chin.
"Exactly. Like these gears—interlocked, moving as one. If one jams…" Oran stopped a small gear with a wrench, halting the entire system.
"…the whole machine stops. The World Government is such a machine, armed with immense force. We can't face it head-on yet. So, we pose as an ordinary gear, 'understand' them, blend in, become integral to their interests. Then, at the right moment, we reverse."
As the gears shifted direction, the frame moved differently.
"We'll reshape the system. Truth lies at the sword's edge. When it's sharpened and drawn, we reap."
"I'm your sharpest sword, Oran. No matter what, I'm with you!" Kate declared. Minks are stubborn—once committed, they don't waver.
Bound by gratitude and vengeance, Kate and Oran were tied.
"Blitz too," the robot added, extending a massive hand, echoing her loyalty.
The frame's construction was just part of it. With MADS's equipment, it rivaled Blitz's handcrafted form, each with unique strengths. The key was always the core.
Blitz's core and Kate's heart were Hextech Type I. Today, Oran tested the upgraded version.
MADS tackled many projects, including granting inanimate objects Devil Fruit powers.
Some research needs only a spark of insight, which Oran's memories provided—like Zoan fruits' unique trait.
While Paramecia and Logia fruits' sentience was unclear, Zoans had independent consciousness, allowing fusion with weapons to create sentient arms.
Vegapunk recently achieved this. Oran pursued another path.
Paramecia sentience was uncertain—perhaps absent or subtler than Zoans. But Hextech cores could grant machines consciousness. Combining them would birth Hextech Type II cores, matching Zoan-infused weapons' effects.
"But Oran, where does her core go? It's sized for Blitz," Kate said, eyeing the testbed frame. Oran hadn't left a slot.
"Hextech is peculiar science, sometimes defying logic. The core doesn't need to be inside."
Oran fitted the core onto a prepared metal handle, forming a warhammer-like structure. As currents surged on the testbed, the core at the hammer's head glowed.
"Open your eyes to this new world, Frankenstein."
(End of Chapter)
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