Starting as a pirate, he rose to become the strongest Shinigami in Soul Society.

Chapter 255 Bane: How could I refuse my partner's request?

He left Sakazuki's office and walked out of the headquarters building.

Bane glanced at Borsalino, who was preparing to head to the port to wait for Satan Saint to go to Egerhard, and after a moment said, "If you need any help, feel free to contact me. We're all in the New World anyway, and I'll come to your aid."

"We might actually need it," Borsalino said with a helpless expression. "The Science Corps also has a group of Seraphim, each one incredibly powerful. Although I and Saint Satan have higher authority, well, who knows, Dr. Vegapunk might have already changed them."

Bane thought to himself, if he doesn't change, he's a fool.

But then again, if there's a traitor among Vegapunk's clones, then it's really hard to say.

Just as Bane was pondering these things, Borsalino said again, "Didn't Sakazuki also send you to the front lines? Why don't you go together? It's a little more convenient."

"No rush. I have an appointment with Mr. Karp. Let me take care of things at headquarters first, then I'll set off," Bane waved his hand and refused.

"Alright then, I'll take my leave first." Borsalino didn't linger any longer after hearing this, and after saying goodbye to Bane in a dashing manner, he headed towards the naval port.

Looking at his back, Bane felt inexplicably lonely. Was Borsalino a lackey of Mary Geoise?

Based on his interactions over the past two years, Bane felt that Borsalino was not like that. Compared to Sakazuki and Kuzan, Borsalino was actually an easy-to-understand admiral. He didn't have any higher ambitions, nor did he constantly talk about his sense of justice. In fact, Bane had never seen him actually carry out his sense of justice.

He's just a lazy guy who works like a laborer, going to work every day to get paid, and acting like a sly old fox.

But even such a seemingly unassuming naval admiral inevitably got caught up in this vortex, and even had to personally eliminate his closest friend.

Borsalino must have been far from as carefree as he appeared, and his heart must have been filled with pain and complex emotions.

"It's never easy being an adult, not even for a high-ranking naval admiral." Bane sighed softly, stopped thinking about it, and turned to walk towards the living quarters.

After crossing the street separating the residential and military areas, Bane said to Ain, who was following behind him, "You have the Den Den Mushi, right?"

"Of course, when Nami isn't with you, she always leaves the Den Den Mushi to me to take care of." Ain replied, taking a Den Den Mushi from her handbag and handing it to Bane.

"This is my personal Den Den Mushi! You just casually put something this important in your bag? Aren't you afraid of losing it? What if someone picks it up and then calls for important business?" Bane said, feigning criticism. "In this regard, you should really learn a thing or two from Nami."

Ain sensed something was off when Bane said those words. After listening, her lips twitched a few times, she rolled her eyes at him, and didn't say anything.

What does it mean to learn from Nami?

You mean you want me to keep this Den Den Mushi in that valley, just like Nami?

It's not that I, Ain, don't want to, it's just that I don't have the conditions, okay? Damn it! I'm clearly a few years older, so why is Nami so well-developed? And I haven't made any progress at all?

Without bothering to tease his little follower Ain any further, Bane casually dialed the Den Den Mushi.

A moment later, the call was answered on the other end of the Den Den Mushi, and Dr. Genus's somewhat impatient voice came through: "What is it? I'm busy right now."

"What are you busy with?" Bane asked casually.

"Thanks to Miss Robin, she is indeed a rare and outstanding linguist. Many cosmic scripts that I couldn't understand before are now being gradually deciphered. I am currently studying the propulsion system of this spaceship." Dr. Genus seemed quite excited when he talked about this.

Bane, also very interested, asked, "How's it going?"

"Progress isn't great; it's only just begun. But there's no doubt that the power core of this wrecked ship is obsolete, and it's estimated that this technology will be difficult to replicate, or rather, it may be impossible to find suitable materials for testing. So, most likely, we'll need to replace the power unit. But driving a warship of this level undoubtedly requires an enormous amount of energy, which won't be easy. However, I do have some ideas. As I said before, although this world doesn't have many advanced technologies, it still has some. Among the strange technologies that Vegapunk researched, there's something called the Mother Flame, also known as the 'Mother Flame,' which can be used as a reference. It has an extremely high energy utilization rate," Dr. Genus casually explained.

"I didn't expect to find technology here that you'd be interested in," Bane said, slightly surprised.

In this world, Genus is always criticizing this and that, and he never utters a good word. He's always talking about trash or garbage. It's quite rare to see someone like that.

"Even a piece of toilet paper has its own value," Dr. Genus said with a touch of arrogance.

Bane ignored the topic; he wouldn't understand the technical jargon anyway, so he quickly said, "Something's going to happen at Vegapunk's. One of the Five Elders, Satan, just led Borsalino straight to Eghard. His research on ancient scripts, the Void Century, and ancient technology has been discovered. I remembered you spent some time there too; you didn't leave any trace, did you?"

"You warned me about the problems long ago, especially that his clones are unreliable. How could I possibly make such a basic mistake?" Dr. Genus said calmly. "I've taken care of everything. As for the information that might be exposed, it's just related technologies like limb regeneration and gene fine-tuning. As long as Vegapunk himself doesn't betray me, there won't be any problems."

"I'm relieved to hear that," Bane said with a smile.

As for the exposure of some technical information, that doesn't matter. There's no technical residue, which would be abnormal, right?

But just then, Dr. Genus suddenly asked again, "Will he die? Vegapunk?"

"Probably," Bane said after a moment's thought.

This time, the Straw Hat Pirates aren't involved, so Egohad probably won't be able to withstand Mary Geoise's power, not to mention Borsalino is with him.

It's likely that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, both Vegapunk's original self and his clone will perish there.

Unless he's already run away.

Not being a sentimental person, Dr. Genus said with a hint of regret, "Isn't there any way to help him?"

"You've taken a liking to his talent?" Bane laughed and teased.

"That's true to some extent. Although he's far inferior to me, he's still a rare scientist who can keep up with my train of thought. He's barely second-rate," Dr. Genus said with a hint of arrogance.

After a pause, he continued, "However, sometimes his exaggeratedly big head does produce some pretty brilliant ideas, and I actually have high hopes for him."

Hearing these words, Bane fell silent. After a long while, he scratched his head and said, "It's not easy to handle."

"If it's too difficult, then forget it." Dr. Genus didn't insist on anything, and changed the subject, saying, "If there's nothing else, I'll hang up now. I still have some work to finish."

"Ah, take care and get some rest. Don't put yourself under so much pressure," Bane said with a smile.

"Mind your own business regarding the two nutritional supplements and the relaxation injections," Genus said casually.

Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!

Then, as an employee, he very assertively hung up on the Den Den Mushi (a type of telephone phone) from the big boss, Bane.

Looking at the wilted Den Den Mushi in his hand, Bane shook his head and smiled helplessly at Ain beside him, saying, "When he first started working under me, he was so timid and fearful, but now he doesn't respect my authority at all."

"Isn't this a good thing?" Ain asked with a hint of doubt. "I see that you, young master, are quite enjoying it, aren't you?"

“That’s right,” Bane said without denying it. “It’s certainly something to be happy about, because it means that he genuinely considers me a trustworthy partner, and no longer an exploiter who forcibly brought me under his control.”

Compared to the previous relationship, Bane prefers the current situation.

To be honest, whether it's Nami, Fubuki, or Zoro and the others, they all treat him very casually in private and don't seem to show him any particular respect as their leader.

Even Ain has become sarcastic now, and she'll say a few sarcastic things to him every now and then.

However, in any public or formal setting, they have never embarrassed themselves and have always taken great care of their leader's reputation.

That was enough for Bane.

We're all on the same side, so he'll be happy no matter how much we fool around. As long as we don't embarrass him when we're doing serious business, that's fine.

"Do you recall Genus ever making any personal requests to me?" Bane asked softly as he walked to the gate of the Karp family's courtyard, lit a cigarette, and asked.

Ain paused for a moment, then raised her hand to touch her delicate chin as she pondered. At the same time, Bane rang the doorbell.

After the doorbell stopped and Karp's loud voice came from inside, Ain finished thinking and shook his head, saying, "No, thinking about it carefully, Dr. Genus has never made any personal requests. He's like a machine, completely devoted to scientific research. Even if he has any requests, they're all related to scientific research."

"Yeah," Bane said, exhaling a puff of smoke. "This guy has never made any personal requests of me before; this is the first time he's done this."

At this point, Bane paused slightly, then grinned and said, "How could I possibly refuse?"

At the same time, Karp pushed open the door, looked at Bane's cheerful smile, and asked with a slightly puzzled, "What are you laughing at so happily?"

"Just thinking about some interesting things that are about to happen," Bane said casually, and without waiting for Karp's invitation, he walked in nonchalantly.

Looking at Bane's condition, Karp scratched his head in slight confusion and looked at Ain, asking, "Did he take the wrong medicine?"

"Perhaps. It's normal for the young master to occasionally have a fit of madness, since he eats all sorts of strange things all day long," Ain replied earnestly.

The update is late, but thankfully it's still on time and there's no break in updates. There will be another chapter later!

(End of this chapter)