By the time Cain returned, Uta had already fallen asleep.
It was the middle of the night, after all, and she had long since exhausted herself staying awake this late.
So Cain returned to the Going Merry first.
He carefully tucked the blanket around Uta, quietly gave Bella a few instructions as she kept watch beside the bed, then picked up the chunk of gold he had brought back from Hachinosu and headed out again with S-Bear.
The moment he stepped into the laboratory, Vegapunk immediately started complaining.
"Are you out of your mind?! I told you to capture pirates, not send them here like that! Do you have any idea how terrifying it is when hundreds of frozen pirates suddenly start falling out of the sky?!"
Vegapunk irritably scratched at the few hairs remaining on his head.
Ever since York had been dealt with, all the responsibilities she normally handled had fallen straight back onto him. Exhaustion was crashing over him in waves, but with Kizaru still on an IV and Kuma only just out of surgery, Vegapunk didn't dare sleep.
Then Cain had added this on top of everything else.
Hundreds of pirates frozen solid had come raining down from the sky without warning, nearly scaring the soul out of him.
"Fortunately, it's nighttime and the Marines didn't notice. Sentomaru helped clean everything up too, so none of the patrols spotted them."
Knowing he was at least partly in the wrong, Cain coughed awkwardly and carried the gold inside.
The chunk was nearly five meters tall.
The moment he set it down, the entire laboratory was bathed in golden light.
Vegapunk's exhausted expression vanished instantly.
Cain saw his reaction and grinned.
"Besides the pirates, I brought this back too. This should be enough as compensation, right?"
Vegapunk's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
"You should've told me you had gold from the start! This old man can keep going!"
Cain covered his face.
"Money really can make people do anything."
"Of course it can. Scientific research costs an astronomical amount of money."
Vegapunk was already circling the gold as he answered.
"I used another identity to cash in the bounties on those pirates you brought back. A little over a billion Berries sounds impressive, but compared with Egghead's daily operating expenses, it won't last very long."
"Besides, the Marines don't even have enough money available right now. They still owe us part of the payment."
Vegapunk patted the enormous block of gold with a delighted smile.
"But since you were planning to use this to compensate Kizaru anyway, there's no way one man could spend all of it."
"How about I take a portion as reimbursement for the Pacifistas and Sea Beast Weapons you damaged?"
"Sure. Take whatever you want."
Cain didn't care in the slightest.
Money had never meant much to him.
A single Uta concert could potentially earn enough to fill the Going Merry from bow to stern, never mind a pile of gold.
Still, thinking about it carefully…
Cain was technically a pirate, yet he didn't burn towns, rob civilians, or pillage ships.
His only reliable source of income was Uta.
And above him was a father-in-law who happened to be one of the Four Emperors.
The more Cain thought about it, the more it felt as though he had somehow become a kept man living off a rich young lady.
'Hehehe.'
What Cain didn't know was that Vegapunk had already included every damaged Pacifista and Sea Beast Weapon in the official losses from the fabricated "Bullet Attack Incident" and submitted the entire bill to the World Government.
In other words—
someone else had already paid for everything Cain broke.
The gold Vegapunk was now taking from him was pure additional profit.
While Cain was still entertaining himself with those thoughts, S-Bear followed him into the laboratory.
Vegapunk immediately guided the Seraphim toward a machine.
S-Bear cooperatively activated the Paw-Paw Fruit and pushed out all the data he had recorded during the battle—
including his own combat information and Cain's.
Vegapunk's specialized equipment began reading the extracted data, and streams of information poured across the monitor like a waterfall.
He checked S-Bear's results first and nodded repeatedly in satisfaction.
"Excellent. The Seraphim's real-combat performance completely meets expectations."
"Most of the pirates were handled by Cain, but based on the available data, S-Bear can already match Kuma at his peak."
Vegapunk adjusted several parameters and switched to the next dataset.
His smile immediately froze.
"Now let me see Cain's…"
He stared.
"Wait. What is this?"
"These readings…"
"You didn't use your full strength at all!"
Vegapunk looked closer.
"No, forget full strength—you barely fought!"
"There wasn't any reason to."
Cain looked entirely unapologetic.
"Once I remembered Hachinosu had a gold mine, why waste effort catching pirates?"
"That's not the point!"
Vegapunk hurriedly protested.
"This data is supposed to help analyze your Devil Fruit and your current combat capabilities."
"I need that information before I can proceed with the next stage!"
Cain blinked.
"Oh."
Then he remembered.
"Right. I almost forgot about that."
Sabo really had mentioned that escorting Kuma wasn't the only reason Cain had been asked to come to Egghead.
There was also something related to his Devil Fruit.
Cain's expression turned serious.
"So what do you need my combat data for?"
"Is it related to Awakening?"
"I…"
Vegapunk suddenly became evasive.
"I don't know."
Cain frowned.
Then, almost automatically, he lifted one leg.
Vegapunk instinctively glanced back at the spot on his back Cain had stepped on last time.
Then he turned and tried to run.
Predictably—
Cain's foot came down and planted him against the floor.
"You're screwing with me, aren't you?!"
"You called me all the way over here, and now you're telling me you don't even know why?! What the hell is going on?"
"I really don't know!"
Vegapunk protested from beneath Cain's shoe.
"After the Summit War, the World Government launched a series of investigations into this place."
"To eliminate any possible evidence, we erased most of the important information regarding your Devil Fruit, along with key records connected to you personally."
"That included data inside Punk Records…"
Vegapunk grimaced.
"…and even portions of our own memories."
Cain's expression changed.
"The only one who still knows all the details is Lilith."
"She was the one who told you to come here. I'm merely cooperating with her instructions."
"Although yes, what she's investigating definitely has something to do with Awakening."
Vegapunk caught his breath before continuing.
"My role is simply to compile all available combat data about you and send it to her."
"As for the actual conclusion…"
His expression became awkward.
"Lilith said she isn't telling you anything yet."
Cain stared at him.
"Why?"
Vegapunk hesitated.
"Revenge against Uta."
"She said that every time they meet, Uta either beats her with a whip or does something humiliating to her, so she has absolutely no intention of giving you the answer anytime soon."
Cain's face slowly went blank.
"So…"
He stared at Vegapunk in disbelief.
"You're saying…"
Vegapunk sighed.
"You really did come here just to serve as Kuma's bodyguard."
"You got played."
'You got played.'
'Got played.'
'Played.'
The words echoed mercilessly through Cain's head.
Exactly as expected.
Cain immediately called Lilith to demand an explanation.
She had already prepared a recorded message for him.
Serves you right. Hehehe.
Cain slowly lowered the Den Den Mushi.
His expression darkened.
"That woman pisses me off exactly as much as she did the first time we met."
Then his eyes shifted.
Slowly.
Toward Vegapunk.
"You keep saying the Satellites are parts of you."
Vegapunk stiffened.
Cain smiled.
"So doesn't that mean there's also a part of you deep down that wanted to screw with me?"
"No, no, no!"
Vegapunk immediately waved both hands and retreated faster than he ever moved during an experiment.
"I've completely figured out the Satellites over the last few days!"
"They may have originated from individual aspects of my personality and inherited my complete memories, but the personalities that developed afterward are independent!"
"So this has nothing to do with me!"
"Nothing at all—AAAAH! Stop pulling my beard!"
"NOT THE HAIR EITHER!"
"I DON'T HAVE MUCH LEFT! AFTER I CUT OFF MY HEAD, THIS IS ALL I'VE GOT!"
…
Cain administered a small amount of punishment to Vegapunk.
Unfortunately, the old man's screams were loud enough to wake both Bonney and Kizaru.
Bonney slowly raised her head, rubbed her eyes, and grumbled irritably,
"What the hell, old man? It's the middle of the night. Can you shut up already?"
At almost the exact same moment—
Kizaru's eyes opened.
Cain reacted entirely on instinct.
His weapon appeared in his hand.
The Seastone mechanism shot out.
He grabbed Vegapunk by the clothes, and the two of them lunged toward Kizaru's bed together.
Kizaru was only just beginning to wake up and hadn't even focused his eyes when—
a Seastone rod was shoved straight into his mouth.
"MMMPH?!"
Cain held the weapon firmly in place and shouted toward Vegapunk.
"Quick!"
"More anesthetic!"
"Use a bigger dose!"
"PUT HIM BACK TO SLEEP!"
"MMPH! MMMMPH!!"
Kizaru struggled desperately beneath them, disbelief filling his eyes.
Vegapunk frantically searched through the medicine nearby.
And only one thought ran through his mind.
'Were you ever actually serious about apologizing to this man?'
Because from where Vegapunk was standing—
it sure as hell didn't look like it.