Facts had proven that simple high school knowledge was nowhere near enough to tackle a graduate-level research topic.
When Franky asked Vegapunk for the technology and blueprints related to cyborg modification, Vegapunk did not hesitate in the slightest and directly transmitted all of that knowledge into Franky's smart brain in the form of data.
However...
Even with a powerful processing system and a considerable store of knowledge, Franky was still left dumbfounded when faced with the blueprints created by Vegapunk and the rest of those top-tier scientists.
It couldn't be helped. He was not a true robot, after all. He could not directly convert data into knowledge and store it in his brain.
And in order to achieve the results he was chasing as quickly as possible, Franky, who had only just obtained his brand-new abilities, did not even take the time to fully familiarize himself with them. He immediately asked Vegapunk for a huge amount of technical books and data related to the field, then shut himself in his room day after day, cramming himself full of knowledge.
Meanwhile, on the other side...
After settling the Straw Hat Pirates' recent affairs, Red entered the former entrance area of Thriller Bark together with Vegapunk and the others.
By now, the place had already been expanded by the construction team under the Straw Hat banner into a massive dock connected to the sea outside the island.
Only, what was moored there at the moment was not a ship.
Instead, it was a gigantic island whale, its entire body a deep ocean blue—
Laboon!!!
"Red, you've finally come!"
The flames in Brook's eyes flickered at once when he saw Red and the others arrive.
At the same time, the anxious Laboon suddenly let out a bright, ringing cry.
"Pyooo~!!!"
"Haha, sorry to keep you waiting, Brook." Red waved as he greeted him.
"Dr. Vegapunk and the others are almost fully prepared."
"Are you ready to evolve, Laboon!?"
"Pyo~"
Laboon let out another excited cry.
He had waited a very long time for this day. He had been impatient beyond measure!!!
The Straw Hat Pirates' forces were growing larger and larger, and the crew members themselves were becoming stronger and stronger. Looking at his own body—one that could neither train nor rapidly grow stronger—Laboon's heart had long been burning with anxiety.
Even Usopp, who originally needed to farm inside his body and cultivate insect swarms there, had stopped coming for quite a while after acquiring a brand-new experimental base.
And on top of that, the Straw Hats had gone out on missions at sea several times recently. He had desperately wanted to join them.
But the speed at which he could swim through the ocean was nowhere near the Going Merry's flying speed. If he went, he would only become dead weight and waste the crew's time.
During this period, Laboon had felt miserable beyond words.
Thankfully, all of that was about to end.
Laboon had already heard from Brook just how strong Franky had become after his modifications.
So now, he was filled with anticipation for what was about to happen.
"Looks like you're ready."
Using telepathy to perceive Laboon's thoughts, Red smiled lightly. Then, without any further hesitation, he ceded the stage directly to Vegapunk behind him.
"Doctor, I'll leave the rest to you!"
"No problem."
Vegapunk nodded calmly.
For someone like him, who had already created quite a few Sea Beast Weapons, modifying an island whale was as easy as pie.
As he spoke, the entire dock suddenly blazed with light.
A gigantic platform slowly rose from beneath the sea, lifting Laboon's enormous, heavy body into the air.
"Awu?"
Startled by the sudden change, Laboon let out a confused cry.
Brook hurriedly comforted him from the side:
"Relax, Laboon. This is your exclusive operating table. Just get some sleep first."
"When everything is over, you'll become even stronger, just like Franky!"
"Awu~"
A glimmer of light flashed through Laboon's eyes upon hearing those words.
Then he went completely still, waiting as the platform beneath him fully lifted him out of the water. At the same time, dozens of rubber belts suddenly extended from both sides of the platform, firmly securing Laboon's body in place.
Immediately afterward, a large swarm of butterfly-like bugs flew out from the various compartments of the dock and scattered huge amounts of Sleep Powder over the front half of Laboon's body.
Even dust strong enough to forcibly control the Five Elders worked instantly, causing Laboon to lose consciousness and fall fast asleep.
Seeing this, Vegapunk began operating the Personal Terminal in his hand and issued a series of commands.
"All right, we can begin the modifications now."
Vegapunk spoke, but he himself did not step forward at all.
Unlike Franky's delicate modification work, Laboon's modification plan was more like a highly refined civil engineering project.
In the next second, countless flying robots carried all sorts of construction materials resembling steel beams and concrete over to Laboon's side.
Sharp laser cutting devices easily sliced through Laboon's tough outer hide, and a large number of robots rushed forward at once, using freezing methods to seal the bleeding.
Perhaps it didn't feel as shocking when he was lying on an operating table.
But seeing such a huge mass of robots cutting into Laboon's body, prying apart flesh, dismantling bones...
At that moment, not only Brook, but even Red felt his heart tremble. Unable to hold back, he asked Vegapunk, who was watching the worksite intently:
"Doctor... these modifications won't damage Laboon himself, right?"
It was not that Red didn't trust Dr. Vegapunk. It was just that the sight of flesh being carved apart and bones dug out made it impossible for him to stay calm.
As clever as Vegapunk was, he had clearly anticipated that Red and the others would have trouble accepting this scene. With one hand, he continued operating his Personal Terminal and directly projected a display into the air.
"Don't worry. I'm monitoring Laboon's vital signs in real time. So far, all of his life signs are stable, and there are no abnormalities whatsoever."
"Judge and the others and I already completed Laboon's modification plan long ago, and we designed a perfect operating program for the robots."
"Now all we have to do is wait for them to carry out the procedure according to the established steps."
"Haa... so that's how it is." Realizing he had been worrying for nothing, Red let out a sigh of relief.
Then he closed his mouth and silently waited for the results of Laboon's modifications.
And that wait lasted a full seven days.
It couldn't be helped. Laboon's modification process involved quite a few organ replacements.
Just like with Franky, Vegapunk and the others had used Laboon's Lineage Factor, combined with several gentler Lineage Factors, to develop brand-new organs that made Laboon stronger than ever from the inside out.
And adapting to those organs naturally required time. On top of that, they also had to equip him with a Fruit ability conversion device, which made the process especially time-consuming.
Fortunately, with ample resources, everything was ultimately completed smoothly after seven days, and the dust finally settled.
And now, Laboon's entire outward appearance had completely changed.
His originally deep-blue body had, due to the integration of special metallic characteristic substances, not only become as hard as metal and begun to radiate a gleaming metallic luster, but also grown darker and deeper in tone, as though wrapped in Armament Haki.
If one looked closely, one could clearly see the concealed cutting seams on the surface of Laboon's body.
And every single one of those segmented layers represented a complete laser weapon system!
The laser energy within them all originated from none other than the former Marine Admiral, Kizaru.
Even if an enemy tried to exploit their small body size to land on Laboon's back, the smart brain inside Laboon's body would detect them instantly and then use the hidden weapons embedded in his body to strike back.
And beyond that, the inside of Laboon's body had undergone a complete upheaval as well!
The island that had once provided resources and farmland for the Straw Hat Pirates was now gone.
His belly cavity, once like a miniature world, was now packed with all kinds of metallic components, looking for all the world like a forest of steel.
And at the very center of Laboon's body was an enormous fusion reactor—
the exact same Mother Flame fusion reactor model as Franky's.
Only, at this moment, the inside of the reactor was pitch-black, making it clear that Vegapunk had not yet added a Mother Flame to it.
That, too, had been deliberate on Vegapunk's part.
Franky's previous evolution had happened too suddenly, leaving him no time at all to prepare.
But this time, he planned to recreate the earlier process and use the act of loading a Mother Flame to stimulate Laboon's evolution, hoping to probe the secrets behind Pokémon evolution in the pirate world.
Red strongly supported this idea as well.
If the professors and scientists of the Pokémon world could produce all kinds of miraculous and powerful results, then there was no reason Vegapunk, who possessed the Brain-Brain Fruit, should fall behind them.
Red believed that, given enough samples and enough time, Vegapunk would one day be able to uncover the mysteries of Pokémon.
And all of what was described above was only the portion of Laboon's changes that Red and the others could understand by reading the modification blueprints.
In truth, sixty percent of what was on those blueprints was stuff he could not even begin to comprehend.
All he could do was marvel at how terrifyingly capable those research people were and feel even more hope for the future of the pirate world.
Still, Laboon's modification plan had pretty much drained all of the Straw Hat Pirates' resource accumulation from the past few months.
Going forward, they had no choice but to think up some even more profitable ideas.
After all, future plans like space travel, ocean water discharge, and the creation of a massive army of ability users... all of them would require enormous manpower, material resources, and money.
Without sufficient resources, it would be difficult for those plans to proceed smoothly.
"I never thought the Straw Hat Pirates would one day actually have to worry about money."
As he watched large numbers of flying robots remove the temporary equipment from Laboon's body, Red's thoughts could not help but drift toward ways of making money.
In truth, with the resources and technology they currently possessed, earning a quick fortune would be extremely easy.
Whether it was loading Pokémon templates onto people, artificial Devil Fruits, modification programs, or custom-designed babies through Lineage Factor engineering...
If even a hint of any one of those projects got out, a huge number of wealthy merchants and nobles would definitely sail ship after ship loaded with Beli straight to the Pokémon Sea.
However...
"With a great war approaching, wasting too much time and too many resources on enhancing other people's combat power doesn't seem very wise."
Red thought rapidly.
"If we want true long-term development, we still need to come up with some legitimate business."
Although the Straw Hat Pirates' forces now spanned the world and their commercial empire was thriving, the very reason for that was also why so much of their money was tied up in various industries and could not be turned into liquid cash for the crew to use directly.
From a normal perspective, this was unquestionably the correct development path for a commercial empire.
But for Red, the speed at which that generated money was simply too slow.
So they had to develop new industries.
At present, the Straw Hat Pirates' logistics and shipping, news media, and manufacturing sectors were already among the very best in the world.
Their fame, too, had spread across the globe with the title of Pirate Emperor Sovereign.
Aside from a few nations that remained staunch supporters of the World Government, there was no one left who would refuse to let their businesses enter their territory.
In other words...
To a certain extent, the Straw Hat Pirates already practically dominated the entire world.
So...
"Looks like it's finally time to launch that plan."
A gleam flickered through Red's eyes as he looked toward Vegapunk, who was directing the robots' withdrawal.
Come to think of it, the very first time he had lured Vegapunk to Whole Cake Island, it had been for this exact matter.
That was—to make use of Uta's Sing-Sing Fruit ability to develop a true world founded on the mind itself.
And then...
To create an entirely new Pokémon game in the pirate world!!!
That's right. Red's money-making plan was to create virtual reality games and use those games to rake in Beli!
He knew better than anyone just how profitable games could be!!!
Spending several, dozens, or even hundreds of top-ups on a lively, tangible, 6IV Pokémon that one could actually touch sounded completely normal, didn't it!?
It was just that after Vegapunk arrived in the Pokémon Sea, he had been constantly occupied with other matters, so this original virtual world project had been delayed again and again.
Now that Franky and Laboon had both completed their modifications, it was finally time for them to restart that plan.
"Pyo~"
Just as countless thoughts raced through Red's mind, a faint and heavy cry suddenly rang out, instantly interrupting his train of thought.
He immediately looked up—
and saw a crimson gleam flash into view before his eyes, then vanish like a swift arrow.
Clearly, now that the lingering effects of Sleep Powder had worn off, Laboon's consciousness was beginning to awaken.
Still restrained by the rubber belts, Laboon first looked around in confusion, then suddenly let out a bewildered cry.
"Pyo?!"
The moment his awareness returned, he immediately sensed that something was wrong.
Within what had once been his broad field of vision, there were now all sorts of strange icons floating in front of him. And as his consciousness shifted, those markers moved around as well.
What was more, a subconscious impulse had appeared in his mind, as though he could launch an attack in whatever direction his awareness focused at any time.
This sudden sense of control, as natural as moving his own arm, left him utterly confused.
"Laboon, you're awake!?"
At that moment, a familiar voice sounded, causing Laboon to momentarily set aside his exploration of this new world.
He turned his head and immediately saw Red and Brook, both wearing looks of delight.
"Pyo!"
Laboon let out another excited cry.
Though he was still bewildered by the changes in the world as seen through his eyes, when he saw the smiles on their faces...
He knew that his modification plan had most likely succeeded!
That meant he could finally become part of the Straw Hat Pirates' combat strength and help his companions fight.
Rather than hiding off to the side every time a battle broke out, afraid of being hurt by the enemy.
Those days were gone forever!!!
Of this, Laboon had no doubt.
(End of Chapter)