Chapter 17: Vegapunk
"Vegapunk? What do they want me to learn from him anyway?"
Mark calmly asked while sipping his tea.
His father wanted to know about it as well so he read further.
"Remember when they checked your brain's neural response yesterday? They concluded that your intelligence was upgraded together with your body."
"The elders think you can rival the man named vegapunk if given the right tools."
Putting down the letter, his father gave his advice.
"I don't know what this is about, I'll use my connections to find out."
"But son, the way they are acting, they probably want to replace the man named Vegapunk and make you incharge instead."
Luna was a bit confused with the words Charles used, so she asked him for clarification
"Replace? You mean fully replace?"
She gestured at her throat, to ask if he was being killed off.
Charles nodded grimly, his years of experience was telling him the elders didn't like this man anymore.
"He is definitely within their kill list, they just needed a replacement for him."
"I guess that's where you come in."
"Maybe this is why you were given the title of warrior god of science and defence so early on."
Looking down at the letter, Charles raised his head, as if he had made a decision.
"Mark, son, if you believe me, you should agree to replace Vegapunk."
Luna interjected straight away.
"Why dear? This vegapunk seems to be someone they want to kill."
"If Mark gets that kind of status, what's stopping them from seeing him as a threat in future?"
In response to Luna's concerns Charles let her know the true reason.
"This is a test of loyalty, if Mark can learn from him, that will definitely put him on the same status."
"But it also puts him at the same risk, unless he proves to be loyal, he might be..."
Charles stopped mid sentence, he cautiously looked around everywhere, then asked his family to come closer.
He bent down and whispered in their ear at his lowest volume.
"This test of loyalty isn't as simple as it seems."
"I'll tell you a secret, I don't think the elder stars are actually incharge of everything."
"This was erased from the records, but my father, Lord Rose, had kept a copy."
Luna quickly put her hands on her face out of shock while Mark's eyebrows jumped.
"An elder 200 years ago, was killed in his home."
"It was said to be the act of a rouge cp agent, but that's not true."
Mark gulped, yo, his father has some reach, but 800 years was a long time after all, finding clues about Im wasn't out of the question.
A young doflamingo found something very scary inside castle Pangaea, while Sabo and Wapol straight up strolled into the throne room, saw Im and left casually for some reason.
Hell, even random guards have to be disposed off regularly because some of them happen to see Im.
'Castle Pangaea's security definitely needs some upgrades.'
Charles didn't know about Mark's cranky thoughts, he continued to tell what he knew in a low voice.
"The Elder who died was from Rose family, so we have a copy of what actually happened."
"He seems to have gone against the other four elders on something, that was what got him killed."
After saying this Charles quickly sat up and pretended that nothing happened, while Luna just hid her face with her handkerchief, so that her shocked expression wasn't seen by anyone.
Mark meanwhile managed his expressions by his sheer calmness.
It wasn't only doflamingo who found something throughout these years, humans are inherently curious, living together for so long, some information was bound to leak.
"I see, then it seems I must learn from this man named Vegapunk."
"I'll see if he's worth the trouble."
Mark waved his hand carelessly, this was enough to tell Charles what his decision was.
He was agreeing to the invitation.
It's not like he wasn't interested in learning from Vegapunk either, he had a feeling that his body had more potential to tap into, he wanted Vegapunk to have a look into that.
It's true that he had reached the absolute peak of his body after this month of non-stop eating and strengthening.
But that was his peak, not peak of humanity, his genes still had the option to optimise further.
Sure, his body was as strong as Grap's now, but that was not enough for Mark, his upgraded brain had given him the ability to do more, so much more.
He needed to use everything if he wanted to achieve his dream of replacing Im.
And his first step was exactly what he told his father, learning from Vegapunk.
Learn about lineage factor, or DNA, learn about devil fruits, learn everything Vegapunk had to offer.
"Father, I'll study under this Vegapunk but I want to look around the lower realm for a bit before that."
"Tell the naval headquarters that I am coming for a visit."
Hearing this his father was surprised and a little confused, he wasn't sure what was going on in Mark's upgraded brain that he decided to do something so weird out of nowhere.
But he knew his son the best, so he caught onto Mark's plan rather quickly.
His son was trying to show that he was loyal to this secret ruler above the elders, the one who was testing him, while also showing that he wasn't that interested in Vegapunk's science.
This would prove that he was loyal to the celestial dragons and wasn't going to bring the same threat to them that Vegapunk does.
Mark was especially using this as an excuse to get out of holy land for a while, he wanted let things cool off for a bit before returning.
'My son's mind has really upgraded, with just one decision he managed to solve all of his problems at once.'
Luna and Charles Rose thought simultaneously.
They could see that this one decision of Mark had many layers stacked on top of each other, Charles wasn't sure if he understood all of them either.
Rose family had birthed an uncontrollable monster, their family was bound to change it's status after this.
Now it depended entirely on Mark if they will reach the top of the world or degenerate to the level of Nefertari family in the future.
'And no matter the results, we will be there with you Mark, always.'
Charles Rose thought grimly, but then he suddenly remembered something important.
"Oh Mark, before I forget, Saint Saturn told you to meet him at the arena immediately."
"He didn't say what he was calling you for, but as far as I understand, he might want to check your fighting skills."
Charles said this with a disgusted face, and Luna made the same face after understanding what Mark was being told to do.
Although Mark was still calm, Charles assumed he didn't like it either, so he tried to explain to his son.
"I know, I know, fighting is barbaric and beneath us celestial dragons, I understand it as well Mark."
"Fighting and killing is something lower creatures do, but every Elder needs to know how to fight, it's a tradition."
Charles said this with disgust apparent in his tone.
Luna patted Mark on the head as well before telling him.
"Just go ahead and show your strength to Saint Saturn, then think of it as a bad dream and forget about it."
Mark meanwhile was smiling helplessly, this wasn't what he was worried about at all.
He was much more worried about fighting Saturn of all people, that too in his first fight.
'I haven't unlocked armament haki yet!'
'How am I gonna survive against Saturn man? Much less damage him!'
'This is going to be a massacre.'
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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