York wrapped an arm around Stussy's slender waist, and the two of them walked into the tavern together, sitting down across from Vegapunk.
Vegapunk's eyes were fixed on the hand York had around Stussy, and he quietly licked his lips.
Seeing this, York smiled and extended his other hand toward Vegapunk.
"Nice to meet you. My name is York, and I'm Stussy's husband."
"Husband?"
Vegapunk froze.
The moment those two words came out, the mental preparation he thought he had done crumbled, and his mood instantly became impossible to describe.
What made it worse was that, judging by York's face, the man even seemed to be a few years younger than himself.
His mouth tasted bitter, but Vegapunk still had no choice but to extend his hand and lightly shake York's.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Vegapunk."
After the introductions, York went straight to the point.
"Let's skip the small talk. I want the MADS research institute to work for me from now on."
Vegapunk was stunned again, this time not because of Stussy, but because of York's words.
"Um… this is our first time meeting, right? And you're opening with asking us to work for you…"
Isn't that a bit impolite.
He didn't say the last sentence out loud, but the meaning was obvious.
York pressed his lips into a smile and silently took his own wanted poster from his coat, placing it on the table.
"Your intel work isn't very good. You didn't even bother to find out who Stussy is following these days before coming to meet her. I have to say, you scientists do have some courage and spine."
Vegapunk's gaze dropped to the wanted poster York had put down. Looking at the bounty amount with a 3 followed by nine zeros, he swallowed hard.
"S-So you're the so-called Lord of Depravity…"
Cold sweat burst out across Vegapunk's forehead. His alcohol-fogged brain sobered up completely.
Only now did he realize that, after the dissolution of the Rocks Pirates, Stussy hadn't gone solo but had instead joined the Lord of Depravity, York, to form a new pirate crew.
"How much research funding did Du Feld give you?"
York asked, and Vegapunk hurriedly shook his head.
"I can't say."
York smiled faintly.
"No matter how much he gave you, I can give you more."
"That's not a question of more or less money."
Vegapunk struggled to argue. "We've already signed a cooperation contract with him. Breaking it would ruin our credibility."
"I see."
York put on a look of sudden realization.
"So what you mean is, as long as Du Feld is the one who breaks the contract first, you'd be willing to come over to my side, right?"
"N-No, that's not it."
Vegapunk denied it in a panic.
But faced with such a direct form of pressure from York, he honestly didn't know how to respond.
The main problem was that York's terrifying bounty had scared him, making him instinctively believe that while Du Feld was certainly capable, in front of York he would probably have no choice but to bow his head.
That assumption was, in fact, more or less correct.
But Du Feld was not entirely without means of resistance.
At the very least, even if he couldn't win, he could run. With the full backing of his immense wealth, hiding himself would not be too difficult, and tracking him down would be a troublesome job even for York.
Seeing Vegapunk so rattled that he looked completely lost, York quietly shifted his attention to the other three men in the tavern.
Queen was still singing and dancing, but his focus was now entirely on what was happening over here.
Elsewhere, Judge and Caesar had paused their previous argument and were likewise watching York in silence.
Just like Vegapunk, cold sweat had appeared on their foreheads.
Clearly, even though York and Vegapunk hadn't spoken very loudly, the two of them had heard every word.
After a moment's thought, York simply rose from his seat.
"All right, you've all had quite a bit to drink today. Your heads probably aren't too clear. Get some rest for a day, and we'll talk about the important matters tomorrow."
With that, he turned and walked out of the tavern, calling Dragon and Ivankov to go with him. Only Stussy stayed behind.
Gulp.
Watching York and the others' departing backs, Vegapunk swallowed again.
A moment later, once he had calmed down a bit, Vegapunk patted the shapely rear of the girl beside him, signaling her to leave.
The tavern owner, seeing this, tactfully slipped into the back.
Queen stopped singing and dancing, and Judge and Caesar left their original seats as well. They all gathered around Vegapunk, eyes locked on the wanted poster on the table.
"T-Thirty… thirty billion Berries…"
Judge read the number on the wanted poster with some difficulty, and Queen, who hadn't heard York clearly earlier because he'd been singing and dancing, jumped on the spot.
"H-How much? A thirty billion Berries bounty?"
He snatched up the poster and began counting the zeros.
"One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million, ten million, hundred million, billion… It really is thirty billion."
Queen's pupils shook.
"The Lord of Depravity, Adolph D. York."
As that name was spoken aloud in full, the atmosphere grew heavier once more.
Vegapunk then recounted the conversation he had just had with York.
Queen, who had known nothing beforehand, listened, his expression changing several times, and then suddenly burst into loud laughter.
"Muhahaha! Vegapunk, what are you even struggling with? This is a good thing."
"Compared to a greedy coward like Du Feld, following the Lord of Depravity is obviously much better."
"At least we won't have to worry about those messed-up Marines coming to interfere with our research anymore."
The moment he said this, the youngest of them, Caesar, immediately chimed in.
"He's right."
"The Lord of Depravity said it himself. No matter how much Du Feld gives us, he can give us more."
"With more funding, we can conduct more research."
"You two…"
Judge raised a hand to his forehead.
"All you think about are the benefits, not a word about the price we'll pay."
"Right now, our cooperation with Du Feld is equal and mutually beneficial."
"He provides the funding, we handle the research. We just toss him some nonessential results now and then, and the rest of the money we can use entirely on the projects we ourselves want to pursue."
"If we follow the Lord of Depravity, do you really think we'll still have that kind of freedom?"
"Even if the funding is greater, all of our results will have to serve his purposes. Is that what we want?"
But as soon as he finished, both Queen and Caesar just curled their lips.
"Doesn't matter. The more money I have, the more research I can do."
"The Lord of Depravity might be strong in a fight, but does he understand science? In the end he won't be that different from Du Feld."
"You two…"
Looking at the pair who seemed so utterly carefree, then glancing at Stussy, who had stayed behind and listened silently the whole time, Judge could not help feeling exasperated.
Once the three of them had almost argued themselves out, Vegapunk finally turned to Stussy and asked,
"Stussy, why does the Lord of Depravity want to recruit us? What exactly is it for?"
"You didn't leave with him, so I'm sure you're willing to tell us the real reason, right?"
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