Just then, the stage lights shifted dramatically, and colorful lasers swept across the venue.
Queen, holding a microphone, moonwalked onto the stage. His sunglasses reflected the neon glow.
"Yo! I'm Queen, been training for two and a half years straight!"
He twisted his rotund body into a robot dance, his head momentarily detaching from his shoulders. Even his fingers morphed into microphones.
"I love singing, dancing, rapping, and mechanical modification! Music!"
"Let's get hyped!"
The viewer count on the livestream surged. The stream itself wasn't the main draw, but Queen kept dropping lucky bags—he was ridiculously generous with his Berries!
As netizens flooded in, the atmosphere instantly lit up.
Suddenly.
A bolt of green lightning flashed across the screen.
["North Blue Vinsmoke Family sent 'Elf's Hat 🎩×1'."]
A flashing animation of a green hat instantly appeared on Queen's head. Paired with his jerky robot dance moves, he looked like a fat penguin struck by lightning.
The bullet comments exploded:
>"Hahaha, I'm crying!"
>"Germa 66 supremacy!"
>"Queen-sama's glowing green!"
>"Green Hat Man, Queen!"
Before Queen could react, over a dozen hats were flung at him one after another. Every step he took, a new hat appeared on his head, endlessly stacking!
["North Blue Vinsmoke Family sent 'Elf's Hat 🎩×1'."]
["North Blue Vinsmoke Family sent 'Elf's Hat 🎩×1'."]
["North Blue Vinsmoke Family sent..."]
The Vinsmoke Family's message floated to the top: "Trash-tier mechanical mods 🤣! Real tech is genetic engineering! 👎"
Backstage, King facepalmed. Behind his mask, the corners of his mouth twitched from laughter.
"Hahaha... someone's finally putting this guy in his place."
Jack snorted his drink out through his nose. He couldn't believe they'd run into Queen's arch-nemesis at the banquet, and they were spamming green hats no less.
Kaido, on the other hand, downed another barrel of sake with interest.
"Kullolololo... Now this is entertaining."
Only Orochi remained slumped in his chair, everything around him feeling alien and out of place—he was like background decoration.
"Damn it! Real tech is mechanical modification!" Queen roared from the stage, voice tinged with fury.
"What do you scrubs know? Flesh is weak! Mechanical ascension is the future!"
He kept dancing, drenched in sweat. The green hat effect flapped wildly with his movements, making him look like a chubby green-headed fly.
Meanwhile, the gift value in the livestream had already shot past 200 million Berries, with the Vinsmoke Family's green hat spam still flooding the feed...
The name Green Hat Man, Queen was now cemented in pirate internet history.
———
Egghead Island.
Inside a towering lab high above the island, Vegapunk's main body stood inside a massive spherical device. The interior radiated a cold metallic sheen—an independent high-security zone.
Dozens of holographic screens floated around, glowing with streams of complex data in all directions.
Vegapunk wore a protective hood, transparent lenses flashing with rapidly scrolling information.
"Still no good…" he muttered, his voice weary.
It was his eighth attempt to dismantle the mysterious phone using a laser cutter.
He'd run countless simulations and carried out endless trials, always with high hopes, only to be met with the same disappointing result.
Slowly, he raised the laser cutter in his hand. The beam glowed like a sliver of lightning, sharp and blinding.
He steadied his breathing and carefully aimed the laser at the phone.
The entire lab fell into a deep silence. Only the soft hum of the laser cutter and his slow, steady breaths remained.
But the instant the high-energy laser touched the phone casing, something bizarre occurred.
The seemingly ordinary surface turned into a mirror-smooth reflection, perfectly bouncing the laser beam away.
The reflected beam ricocheted uncontrollably across the lab and eventually scorched a deep hole in the thick alloy wall, leaving behind the acrid smell of burnt metal.
Vegapunk blinked, confused and stunned.
Before he could process what just happened, the satellite Shaka broke the silence from behind him.
"Main body, the Four Emperors' banquet livestream has started," Shaka's voice came in low.
Vegapunk sighed lightly. He reached out and swiped his finger through the air. Instantly, the livestream feed opened before his eyes.
Queen's unmistakable figure took up most of the screen.
With his head full of green hats and his exaggerated dance moves, the ridiculous image clashed completely with his usual arrogance.
He jabbed his mechanical arm at the Vinsmoke Family's bullet comments and shouted:
"My mechanical modifications are the pinnacle of science!"
Germa 66 immediately fired back, lightning graphics flashing across the screen:
"Genetic technology reigns supreme!"
"Ignorant," Vegapunk muttered softly.
He adjusted his hood slightly, the motion calm but full of scorn.
His fingers danced across a virtual keyboard. A comment appeared on screen:
"True technology is neither mechanical nor genetic. It's the key to building a future for all of humanity!"
But that insightful comment was instantly buried under the tidal wave of bullet spam.
Back in the lab, the other satellites watched in silence and sighed in unison.
Suddenly, Queen did something new on-stream.
He excitedly flung out several lucky bags worth ten million Berries each. The chat exploded once again!
The viewer count, which had just started to dip, skyrocketed once more.
Lilith couldn't help but mutter:
"This fat guy really understands human weakness."
Her voice was full of irritation and contempt, clearly disgusted by Queen's money-grabbing antics.
York licked her lips, eyes flashing with greed.
"If only we could monetize scientific research this way…"
But Vegapunk's main body remained unfazed by the chaos. His gaze stayed locked on the mysterious phone, deep in thought.
Behind him, the latest quantum computer was still whirring, trying its best to crack the device's core algorithms.
But no matter how hard it worked, the result was the same—nothing.
"What's the origin of this phone?" Vegapunk murmured, baffled.
"I have absolutely no clue…"
For the first time, the world's most brilliant mind was at a complete loss—brought to his knees by a single smartphone.
(To be continued.)