"I heard everything you two were saying just now."
York looked at Gern, her entire face lighting up with a sly smile. Her eyes curved into crescent moons, brimming with smug confidence as she lowered her voice.
"The Seraphim's highest authority… and the Mother Flame."
"So?"
Gern looked at the satellite who, in the original course of events, was destined to betray Vegapunk. He frowned slightly. His tone remained calm and unreadable.
"So?"
York repeated the word as if she had just heard the funniest joke imaginable. She spread her hands dramatically.
"Supreme Commander Gern… you don't seriously believe that old man Vegapunk will obediently hand those things over to you, do you?"
Her gloved finger tapped meaningfully against her temple.
"He's the man with the 'greatest brain in the world'!
The Mother Flame is a physical energy source—sure, you might be able to forcibly relocate it with manpower.
But the Seraphim's highest authority?"
York scoffed and shook her head.
"Vegapunk will never truly relinquish that!
At most, he'll just generously add your name to the authority hierarchy above the Five Elders.
But he himself…"
Her voice carried a trace of mocking certainty.
"He himself will always remain the one hidden at the very end—the ultimate authority controlling everything!"
After saying this, York looked at Gern expectantly, wearing the satisfied expression of someone who had just exposed the truth. She waited for the moment he would awaken to the deception—whether with anger or at least surprise.
However, Gern simply looked at her without any expression at all.
Then he calmly uttered a single word.
"Oh."
"…Oh???"
York's smug smile froze instantly. Her pride vanished, replaced by complete confusion.
"He— that old man is lying to you! A blatant lie!
And your reaction is… just 'oh'?!"
"Because I'm not an idiot."
Gern's eyes were calm as he regarded York the same way one might look at a clown performing on a stage.
"And Vegapunk isn't one either."
"If the smartest man in the world could be so easily deceived or coerced… then all the things he's created—"
Gern's gaze swept across the laboratory's technological wonders, devices that were centuries ahead of their time.
"—wouldn't be something the Marines would dare to use."
Then his eyes returned to York's face, which had grown slightly pale.
"The authority over the Seraphim that I want only ever needed to be one level higher than those five old fossils in Mary Geoise.
As long as I can bypass them and issue orders directly, that's enough."
His tone suddenly shifted, his next words striking straight toward the deepest secret hidden within York's heart.
"The truly important thing has always been the Mother Flame."
He paused, his voice suddenly turning sharp.
"And in this entire matter… weren't you also using that very thing to strike a deal with the World Government, York?"
"…!!!"
The sly amusement that had filled York's eyes vanished instantly.
In its place surged an overwhelming terror.
She instinctively stepped back half a pace, the heel of her DOM boot striking the metal floor with a crisp yet panicked clack.
"You… how could you…?"
Her voice trembled uncontrollably, filled with disbelief.
"That thing… it was only four days ago…"
Her secret deal with the World Government had only been finalized four days ago.
Part of the Mother Flame had even been secretly transported out using artificial sea beasts.
It had been a betrayal she believed to be flawless—unknown to anyone.
So why…?
Why was the Supreme Commander of the Marines—who should have been completely unaware while stationed far away between Marine Headquarters and the New World's G-10 base—speaking about it so casually?
Gern looked at York's expression, as if she had just seen a ghost.
He merely tugged the corner of his mouth in a cold half-smile.
He offered no explanation.
Nor did he press further.
Yet that silent gaze was more terrifying than any threat.
York felt as though she were standing naked inside an ice cellar.
Cold seeped through her entire body.
But instead of increasing the pressure, Gern suddenly did the opposite.
He casually pulled over a metal chair that had miraculously survived the destruction and sat down comfortably.
Resting his chin in one hand, he looked down leisurely at York—who had collapsed onto the floor, her legs too weak to support her, now forced to look up at him.
His tone carried a hint of amusement.
"Let me guess something."
"Our ambitious Miss York… what exactly did you trade that generous 'gift' of the Mother Flame for with the World Government?"
Gern leaned forward slightly.
"Infinite wealth? No… that doesn't sound right. Vegapunk's resources alone would be enough for you to squander for several lifetimes."
He shook his head gently.
Then he voiced a guess that struck like a thunderbolt.
His tone was light, but the weight behind the words was immense.
"Don't tell me… you're trying to exchange it for the status of a Celestial Dragon?"
"…!!!"
The moment the words "Celestial Dragon" left his mouth, the last of York's strength drained from her body.
Already stunned and sitting on the floor, she trembled violently. Now she could barely support herself with her arms as she stared up at the man seated before her, smiling with his chin resting in his hand.
Although York's physique was slightly taller than Gern's—
In terms of presence and position, she had become the one completely looked down upon.
"You… what are you? Human… or ghost?!"
Her voice was filled with absolute terror.
It felt as if every secret she possessed had been laid bare before this man.
"Even Vegapunk doesn't know that! How could you know?!"
Gern didn't answer her question.
Instead, as if confirming something to himself, he let out a soft chuckle filled with faint mockery.
"So you really do want to become a Celestial Dragon."
Those words struck a nerve deep within York's heart.
The fear inside her seemed to be momentarily overwhelmed by a twisted surge of anger and resentment.
She suddenly raised her head.
Her face flushed with a feverish intensity as she nearly shouted the words.
"Why shouldn't I?!"
"Vegapunk—that man! He looks smart, but in truth he's unbelievably stupid!"
York finally found an outlet for the resentment she had been suppressing, her voice spilling with pent-up frustration.
"What's wrong with having supreme privilege?!
Why pretend to chase some hypocritical nonsense about equality for everyone?!"
"He created satellites like us to handle all the tedious work—to shoulder his desires—while he himself sits above it all, focusing on his research!"
She sneered bitterly.
"Tell me—how is the original Vegapunk any different from those Celestial Dragons?!
He's nothing but a dictator!"
"My desires were given to me by him! My thoughts were programmed by him!"
York pointed angrily at her own chest, her emotions surging out of control.
"If he created me, gave me desire, gave me the ability to want things—
Then if I want to stand at the top of the world, if I want to become someone above everyone else—what's wrong with that?!
I'm just living according to the nature he gave me!"