The battle was raging on the shore, and below were four somewhat familiar faces, clearly division commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates.
Moreover, in the original story, there were rumors that Aokiji had joined the Blackbeard Pirates!
How could Taro possibly believe that!
The gaze he directed at Aokiji grew increasingly cold.
"We were both Marines before; you should be very clear about my attitude toward the Blackbeard Pirates. I don't care what your reasons are...!"
Aokiji reached up to push his small sunglasses onto the top of his head, interrupting Taro.
"Vegapunk told me!"
Taro was stunned for a moment. He stared intently at Aokiji for a while before eventually shaking his head.
"I don't care right now if it was Dr. Vegapunk who told you; the fact remains that you're mixed up with Blackbeard!"
"Right now, I only want to know: I'm going to go kill that guy. Are you going to stop me?"
Aokiji looked Taro straight in the eye.
"Blackbeard cannot die yet; he knows some secrets!"
Taro let out an angry roar.
"What the hell does that have to do with me!"
His chest heaved violently as he exhaled a breath.
"Fine, I'll listen. What exactly do you want to know!"
Aokiji's brow furrowed tightly, his gaze filled with a mix of regret and confusion.
"Twenty years ago, I killed my own best friend with my own hands to protect the justice I believed in..."
"For twenty years, things have become increasingly unclear to me. I just want to know, over these past decades, what exactly have I been protecting?"
In the end, he was simply lost!
Taro sighed inwardly, then felt a bit curious.
"What secrets could Blackbeard possibly tell you?"
Aokiji shook his head. "Your turn. First, tell me what's inside. Why are you able to enter?"
Taro remained silent for a moment.
"This is a factory—a Devil Fruit factory, I suppose. Only Non-ability users can enter!"
Hearing this, a frostiness rose in Aokiji's eyes.
"Blackbeard told me he had a way to get inside. Was he deceiving me?"
Taro's expression shifted. "What way does he have?"
Aokiji's eyes flickered several times.
"Your reaction tells me that you believe Blackbeard indeed has a way to get in! Why are you even more certain than I am?"
Why?
Because hundreds of years ago, this factory was still on God Valley.
Rocks had attacked God Valley.
And Blackbeard had a deep connection with Rocks.
They must definitely know something!
Taro thought for a while and decided to reveal this information to Aokiji.
"This mountain-like factory was once on God Valley!"
Aokiji's expression was very surprised, but he quickly composed himself and nodded.
"So that's how it is!"
"How what?" Taro raised an eyebrow. Seeing Aokiji's hesitation, he added, "Let's talk openly. I can pretty much give you the answers you want. I'm also in a hurry to go hack Blackbeard to pieces. We're all busy!"
A strange glint flashed in Aokiji's eyes. He glanced toward the shore and spoke softly.
"Before you went to see Vegapunk, I had already visited him once. Because you... make things unclear to me."
"A twenty-year-old young man with staggering strength, rapid progress, and who is seemingly omniscient—that is enough to be astonishing!"
"What puzzles me most is your... way of thinking, which is far removed from this era! Your choices exceed what this world is supposed to look like!"
Hearing this, Taro was quite dismissive and let out a sneer.
"What this world is supposed to look like? Heh, the world was never supposed to be like this!"
Aokiji didn't feel any aversion to Taro's mockery; instead, he quite agreed.
"Exactly, that's what I was puzzled about. You seem to know very clearly what the world should look like!"
"So, I went to see the wisest person in the world and mentioned you to him!"
Only then did Taro realize why Vegapunk, despite meeting him for the first time, had used rhetorical techniques and psychological suggestion to bait information out of him!
It turned out Aokiji had sold him out long ago!
"And then? What did Vegapunk say?" Taro asked.
Aokiji shook his head. "He didn't say anything that time!"
"However, before the Punk Hazard incident, he took the initiative to contact me and asked me to see him. That time, he told me some things!"
Taro's brow furrowed. Before the struggle for the Fleet Admiral position?
"What did he say?"
Aokiji's tone was serious, his face solemn.
"He said that a few years ago, he finally understood why his research on Artificial Devil Fruits was labeled illegal by the World Government!"
"He said he finally knew that the things he wanted to restore actually still exist in this world!"
"He said he was going to undertake a grand venture!"
Hearing these words, Taro could imagine how fervent and crazed Vegapunk's demeanor must have been at that time.
Taro was also beginning to figure some things out now.
What Vegapunk wanted to restore was the technology of the Giant Kingdom!
This could be seen from the fact that his laboratory equipment was similar to the Origin Factory and that he had restored part of the Pluton's bombardment effects.
The World Government labeling Vegapunk's research as illegal was clearly an order from Lord Imu!
Imu held the Core functional modules of the Origin Factory.
He certainly would not allow anything equivalent to the "Implantation" effect of the Origin Factory to appear!
That was why CP0 was so concerned about whether Vegapunk had created "high-end" Artificial Devil Fruits!
The defective products Caesar made weren't even worth mentioning.
Vegapunk had truly created "qualified" Devil Fruits!
This was equivalent to possessing the Core functional modules of the Origin Factory!
Such a thing was intolerable to Lord Imu!
Fortunately, everyone believed that what Vegapunk created were also failures; thus, he hadn't been "eliminated for good"!
It seemed Vegapunk had realized, through the World Government's reaction, that "that thing" was held by the World Government!
So, was his "venture" aimed at the World Government?
Aokiji noticed Taro falling into deep thought. He knew that Taro must have connected many dots—far more than he himself knew before!
"Now, it's your turn...!"
Just as Aokiji spoke, Taro interrupted him.
"Your desire to destroy Punk Hazard—was that on Vegapunk's instructions?"
Aokiji gave Taro a deep look and said something seemingly irrelevant.
"'Hazard' means 'danger' or 'adventure'! Why do you think that island is called by that name?"
Taro was taken aback.
"Punk Hazard... Vegapunk conducting dangerous experiments?"
He felt a bit confused. "Explaining it that way is just a bit of dark humor; it doesn't really represent anything..."
As he spoke, Taro stopped, his expression becoming solemn.
After a long while, he said seriously,
"Vegapunk asking you to destroy that laboratory was a sign that his adventure has ended?"
"What exactly is he trying to do?"
Aokiji shook his head. "I don't know!"
Taro faintly sensed a hint of Vegapunk's scheme.
Overthrowing the World Government indeed required the resolution to die. It seemed that Genius scientist was mentally prepared.
Now, all that was lacking was the hardware preparation!
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.