Chapter 1049

Lin Cheng no longer wished to stay; he had the accompanying Star Guards disguise Caesar, then left the Vanguard with him.

"Do you want that woman?" Caesar suddenly said to Lin Cheng: "She's a Snow-Snow Fruit user, and her appearance isn't bad either—I'd be tempted if I were younger."

"Shall I help you? Modifying memories is easy—I can erase her memories of Doflamingo."

Lin Cheng stopped walking and turned to Caesar: "I have no interest in her—only in her combat power. Every Logia user is a scarce resource."

"If you can modify her memories, erase all of them."

"She dislikes this world, and even more so, dislikes herself now."

Caesar fell silent; he realized his understanding of Lin Cheng had been slightly wrong—this man was unlike any of them.

"You're unusual—a deviation within our group."

Lin Cheng didn't press further, because he already knew the answer.

He had been in the Pirate World long enough; some of his views had changed, and he had adapted to groups like Elma, striving to align with his current identity.

But some things were in his bones—his compassion for the downtrodden, his reverence for life—differed from everyone around him.

To Caesar, Monet was merely a tool and an experiment; he had no need to know her thoughts or past—only that she worked well.

Caesar wasn't alone in this view; even Lin Cheng's father, Kage, held the same coldness.

"Unlock these handcuffs for me—I won't cause you trouble." Caesar raised his hands beneath his robe; the Star Guard escorting him hastily pressed them down.

"We're about to meet Vegapunk—I don't want to face him as a failure."

Lin Cheng looked at Caesar, who met his gaze directly.

In this gaze, Lin Cheng saw a hint of Vegapunk—Caesar, too, was a man obsessed with science.

Too bad, in this era, Vegapunk existed—he loomed like a great mountain overhead; this era would not preserve Caesar's name.

"Give me the key—you go ahead and lead." Lin Cheng walked to Caesar's side, took the key from the Star Guard, and unlocked the Seastone handcuffs on Caesar's wrists.

At this distance, even if Caesar tried anything, Lin Cheng could react instantly.

Caesar, freed, rubbed his wrists and looked at Lin Cheng beside him, doing nothing else.

Thus, they quietly transferred to the port, and Lin Cheng brought Caesar to the Dreadnought.

Vegapunk cleared all bridge personnel, leaving only Caesar and Lin Cheng there.

"Nooma, I've brought Caesar—do you have anything to tell him?" Lin Cheng said to the bridge chamber.

Since Lin Cheng had previously told Caesar about Nooma, Caesar was eagerly anticipating this so-called AI, dreaming of meeting it.

"Long time no see, Caesar." Though the voice was emotionless electronic, it carried the joy of old friends reuniting.

"Do you still remember Chapter Two, Section Three of the Life Design Diagram? Your idea was good—but too fantastical, so I opposed your theory."

Caesar's face beamed at the first half, but the second half sent him into a rage.

"It's you and Gatz who are too conservative—that theory is absolutely correct."

"Damn it, you really are Vegapunk!" Caesar, mid-argument, suddenly realized something, his expression turning horrified.

"You wouldn't create an AI like this—you are Vegapunk!"

"You know better than anyone how terrifying the Life Design Diagram is—you wouldn't implant such knowledge into an AI unless you wanted to destroy this world."

Caesar's accusation shattered his original assumption.

Nooma was Vegapunk—not the AI Lin Cheng had imagined—but she had indeed communicated with him underwater at the Thousand-Meter Mermaid Island.

Could Vegapunk's communication technology penetrate ten thousand meters of ocean? That was impossible.

Or another possibility: Vegapunk had left himself aboard the Dreadnought—the Vegapunk in Mary Geoise was fake.

But that didn't fit either—Lin Cheng had later met Vegapunk in Mary Geoise and detected no difference from the one before.

Lin Cheng's head throbbed—he couldn't tell which Vegapunk (Nooma's) was the real one.

"I am Vegapunk—but only a part of him." The electronic voice resumed. "From the moment you arrived, the Ideal State project began—I will assist you in completing the Apocalypse."

"You assist me?" Caesar laughed heartily. "Let Vegapunk be my assistant? I never dared imagine such a thing."

"If you'd told me this earlier, I wouldn't have needed to come to Punk Hazard—I'd have just run away."

Seeing Caesar's triumphant, liberated expression, Lin Cheng hesitated to tell him what "Vegapunk's assistance" truly meant.

In no more than three days, Caesar would be crying and fleeing the lab, swearing never to cooperate with Vegapunk again.