Pirate: I was just slacking off, do you really think I'm bad?

Looking at the huge submarine made of steel, everyone relaxed and calmed down.

"We're saved this time."

Quinn relaxed and started joking with the people around him.

A glint of light flashed in Judge's eyes; he immediately recognized the strategic value of the submarine.

He joined the MADS organization and worked with Vegapunk to research weapons and lineage factors because he harbored a deep-seated dream of establishing the Germa Kingdom. Because of this, he left the Vinsmoke family to seek opportunities.

Fortunately, he met Vegapunk not long after leaving the family. If Vegapunk hadn't refused to return to the Vinsmoke family with him, Judge's dream would have come true long ago.

Now that Judge has seen a submarine he has never studied before, his deepest desire has resurfaced. If they weren't about to leave, Judge would definitely want to study it.

Vegapunk walked to the submarine, entered the code, and activated the hidden control switch.

Immediately afterwards, he placed his hand on the huge red button, ready to press it.

Just then, a lazy voice came from the back of the line.

"Dr. Vegapunk, you'd better not press this button."

Immediately afterwards, a tall, dark-haired, fair-skinned navy officer appeared in everyone's sight. He was wearing a navy justice cloak.

A lazy and relaxed smile.

Although he appeared harmless, none of the people present were fools; they knew who the person behind him was.

"How did you find us so quickly?"

Vegapunk was completely baffled.

He believed that he had put a lot of effort into building the base, and even people who knew about the base wouldn't rush over so quickly.

Not to mention Raleigh.

Unless there's a mole inside!

Judge punched Quinn in the stomach in an instant, the severe blow causing Quinn to let out a cry of pain and kneel on the ground, panting heavily.

A black pistol was pressed against Quinn's head.

"Did you betray us, Quinn!"

"It wasn't me, I didn't!"

Quinn was completely bewildered; he had no idea how Raleigh had found him.

He had been in a relaxed mood ever since he left the forest, thinking he was safe from Raleigh.

He never expected to be ambushed by Judge.

He wasn't the mole, but it was indeed thanks to him that I was able to find this place.

Raleigh opened his palm, on which floated a gray scrap of paper, moving toward Quinn.

Quinn was taken aback when he saw a corner of Raleigh's Vivre Card in his palm.

Judge seemed to understand something as well. He reached into Quinn's back with his right hand and pulled out a Vivre Card with a corner missing. His face darkened.

Vegapunk understood what was going on.

The navy man in front of him didn't know where his base was, nor was he sure if Quinn would take him there.

So they hid the Vivre Card on Quinn beforehand. If Quinn escaped, they could use the Vivre Card's reaction to find the base's message: "We surrender."

Vegapunk surrendered decisively. After witnessing the power of the Raleigh nonhumans in the surveillance footage, he had no intention of resisting.

The reason he wanted to run away was that he felt that although he couldn't win, running away shouldn't be a problem.

Raleigh sauntered from the back of the line to the front, and asked in a daze:

"Why are you running? I'm not here to arrest you."

"What???"

Not only was Vegapunk dumbfounded, but everyone else present was also completely stunned when they heard this.

Oh, bro, you smashed all the mechanical beasts in our base to pieces, and then you told us it wasn't to arrest us.

No, are you sick?!

Vegapunk was also speechless at Raleigh's actions, and asked with a helpless expression:

"So, what brings the Navy officer here?"

Raleigh shrugged and pointed to Quinn kneeling beside him, saying:

"This guy is suspected of plundering the people of Beihai. I'm here to arrest him and take him back for trial."

The people inside the base were utterly shocked by Raleigh's remarks.

In theory, there's nothing wrong with what Raleigh said.

Queen broke the Navy's laws, so it was normal for Raleigh to take him away. However, the reality was that Raleigh wasn't in a hurry to arrest Queen; instead, he let him go like a cat playing with a mouse.

Finally, with Quinn's help, they entered the base and gathered all the researchers together.

Vegapunk gave a wry smile:

"We were too nervous; we thought you were here to arrest us."

What is your name?

Raleigh replied:

"Christine Raleigh."

Vegapunk took a deep breath, composed himself, and extended his right hand, saying:

"My name is Vegapunk, and I am the leader of the MADS organization."

Their hands clasped together.

Immediately afterwards, Vegapunk abandoned his plan to board the submarine and instead led everyone back to the now-closed base.

After entering the password and fingerprint again, Vegapunk reopened the sealed laboratories.

As he directed the lab researchers to put the equipment and data back in the distance, he led Raleigh into a small room that Vegapunk used for receiving guests.

"Do you smoke, Mr. Raleigh?"

Vegapunk opened the cabinet, inside which were boxes of fine cigars.

"One will do, I'll take one."

Raleigh didn't stand on ceremony with Vegapunk; he took the cigarette from Vegapunk and lit it.

"Mr. Raleigh, I've been thinking a lot on the way here. You definitely didn't come here just for Quinn."

I think you're here because of the bloodline factor that Judge and I are researching.

"We're all smart people, so let's just say what we want to say."

Vegapunk looked like he had seen right through Raleigh.

Raleigh nodded, then shook his head and said;

Dr. Vegapunk, I don't know what you're thinking. In my opinion, no matter how useful lineage factors are, they're not as important as you.

"Any power that possesses you will have a technological advantage that will be a century ahead of the rest of the world."

Vegapunk didn't mince words when faced with Raleigh's praise.

He was a peerless genius from a technologically advanced country, and after eating the Brain-Brain Fruit, he became a "brain man" with unlimited storage capacity.

Vegapunk's innate genius and boundless mental database allowed him to conduct research far beyond his time.

However, due to funding issues, Vegapunk was unable to implement many of his excellent solutions.

"But I still want to research some things freely."

Vegapunk has been courted by various forces; in fact, organizations frequently provide funding to MADS in an attempt to uncover his past.

However, in Vegapunk's eyes, these forces had too little funding and their only goal was weapons manufacturing, which was unacceptable to him.

Raleigh took a deep drag on his cigar and slowly exhaled the smoke:

"Doctor, as far as I know, the lineage factor you are researching is a substance known as the blueprint of life."

"Do you think the world government would allow you to research such terrifying and forbidden knowledge?"

"For world governments, more advanced technology is not necessarily better; what they need is stable rule!"

Instead of blindly improving technological levels.

Vegapunk nodded, agreeing with what Raleigh said.

In fact, it was precisely because they were afraid of being captured by the World Government that the MADS organization wasted a lot of time raising funds and technical capabilities to overcome the technology of sailing in the doldrums.

They then selected a small island in the doldrums and built the fully equipped base we see today.

To be honest, Vegapunk really doesn't want to give up this base. After all, it was all the money he painstakingly earned from selling weapons and equipment that built it. However, if the World Government sees your abilities, they will definitely try to recruit you into their ranks. Then, Doctor, you won't have to worry about funding anymore.

Raleigh said with a relaxed expression.

"Really?"

Vegapunk looked on incredulously.

"Of course, the rulers of the World Government are not short-sighted fools."

People like you, Doctor, are talents that governments around the world are actively seeking.

Vegapunk let out a long sigh and took a small sip of tea.

If it weren't for the final step, Vegapunk wouldn't want to become an object constantly hunted by the World Government's CP organization and the Navy.

In particular, Vegapunk doesn't like fighting at all; he only likes doing research.

Then what brought Mr. Raleigh here? If it was merely to warn me of my safety, it seems our relationship doesn't extend that far.

Upon hearing Vegapunk's voice, Raleigh stood up, his eyes seemingly burning with flames.

He placed his hand firmly on a world map, pointed to the location of Mary Geoise, and whispered:

Doctor, have you ever thought about doing something that could change the world?

The port of Chanialar Island at night.

A gentle sea breeze blew, and a female sailor stood on the harbor, gazing expectantly at the distant sea. A ship without sails, yet powered, sailed in from the darkness.

Upon seeing the ship, Gion's eyes lit up.

Standing on the deck at the bow of the ship was Raleigh, who had called Gion. Before the ship even docked, Gion leaped up from the harbor and flew to the deck using the Moonwalk technique.

"Rayle, you can't leave me out next time."

Gion grabbed Raleigh's arm and bit it hard, then gently pulled Raleigh's arm into her arms.

Raleigh didn't refuse; instead, he pulled Gion into his arms.

"Okay, I understand."

The two lingered for a while, then parted ways amidst the commotion of the naval soldiers below.

Let's send this criminal back and lock him up with Caesar Courland.

Raleigh directed the naval soldiers to take Quinn, who had already been tied up in the cabin, away to be with Caesar Cullen.

Gion curiously raised her head and asked:

With your abilities, he shouldn't be able to escape into the Calm Belt.

Raleigh ruffled Gion's hair and said softly;

"Yes, but I recognized them; they were all members of the MADS organization."

'The MADS organization is an organization of mad scientists, whose members are among the world's most outstanding scientific geniuses. However, the reason I'm interested in MADS is because...'

The man who went back to being Vegapunk? I've heard of him; he's a very famous scientific genius from the Kingdom of Baltimore.

However, I left that kingdom a few years ago.

Vegapunk became famous very early on, so the Navy naturally took notice of him long ago.

In fact, the Navy had secretly sent people to contact Vegapunk, but at that time Vegapunk looked down on everyone, whether it was the Navy or other organizations, he was unwilling to pay attention to them.

After leaving the Kingdom of Baltimore, even fewer people knew of Vegapunk's whereabouts.

What is he doing now?

Gion asked curiously.

Raleigh remained silent on the matter and did not answer Gion's question.

He knew Gion's personality, so he couldn't tell the truth and anger her, nor could he lie, because Gion was getting more and more familiar with him and could see through his lies.

In fact, in Vegapunk's laboratory, Raleigh saw more than just blueprints and devices far ahead of their time.

I also saw many experimental subjects used to study life factors.

The lives of those people had become extremely miserable, but Raleigh could only harden his heart and pretend not to see that the experiments conducted by these crazy scientists often violated the bottom line of human morality.

However, Raleigh needed their help, so he kept all of this to himself.

Did those people do something that can't be said?

Gion asked this question with remarkable insight.

Raleigh looked at the sea and said:

We do not have the authority to try or arrest them until the world government issues an arrest warrant.

Moreover, I don't believe the world government would be willing to wipe them out.

Although they were a group of mad scientists, they also possessed technology far ahead of their time, and any organization would be scrambling to acquire it.

Because whoever controls their destiny can control the changes in the future.

What would you choose?

The bright moon that was originally hanging in the sky was obscured by a drifting dark cloud.

Darkness descended, enveloping the figures of Raleigh and Gion.

Gion was deeply conflicted; she opened her mouth several times, but couldn't say what she wanted to say.

In my opinion, when no one is watching, these scientists will freely explore all sorts of knowledge based on their wildly imaginative ideas.

"But if we control them, we can use them to research devices that can stabilize and change the world."

The Calm Belt hindered communication between the four seas and the Grand Line.

But the ship we're on now can...

Traveling through the doldrums is just the tip of the iceberg in their research.

"If we enable them to develop high-yield grains and crops that are highly adaptable to different environments, then the people will no longer go hungry."

What would you choose?

Gion gritted her teeth, but she couldn't utter those two words.

Because everyone, regardless of who they are, will consider value.