In the span of seven years, many events unfolded across the world.
For instance, in the year 1502 of the Sea Garden Calendar, the Infinite Pirates held the second Swordsmanship Competition, which attracted far more participants than the one held a decade ago.
At that time, nearly every renowned swordsman in the world came to participate, but notable figures like Golden Lion and Rayleigh did not continue their involvement in this edition of the competition.
Aside from the Red Count and Li Yuan, no other famous and powerful swordsmen took part in this year's event.
As expected, the final outcome was a duel between Li Yuan and the Red Count, and there were no surprises—Li Yuan claimed first place.
After this competition, Li Yuan announced that he would no longer participate in future swordsmanship contests, but the winner of each competition would have the right to challenge him! This statement instantly thrilled swordsmen around the world.
If Li Yuan continued to participate, other swordsmen would have no chance of claiming first place. Moreover, the opportunity to challenge Li Yuan was an irresistible temptation for swordsmen everywhere! However, for most swordsmen, the prospect of reaching the finals was slim, making this change largely irrelevant to them. They primarily needed the platform of the swordsmanship competition to battle against various swordsmen from around the world and thus improve their own skills.
A year ago, Princess Shirahoshi of Fish-Man Island was born. At the request of the Infinite Pirates, Shirahoshi was relocated to Flower Island in the Limitless Sea Area, where her mother, Otohime, also moved to care for her, spending a year on Flower Island.
During this time, Li Yuan specifically instructed the officers stationed at Fish-Man Island to eliminate certain threats to ensure Otohime could live safely on Flower Island for a year without anyone attempting to assassinate her upon her return to Fish-Man Island.
After seven years, the World Government gradually regained some vitality. However, many kingdoms across the Four Seas had been overthrown by the Revolutionary Army, leaving the entire region in a state of panic.
Seizing the opportunity, the Infinite Pirates took control of numerous affiliated and non-governmental states. The kingdoms under the control of the Infinite Pirates were stable, with no rebellions occurring.
Currently, the World Government appeared to have regained some strength, but internally, it was riddled with issues due to the influence of the Infinite Pirates.
The Four Seas region was no longer the World Government's backyard; it had also become the backyard of the Infinite Pirates. With the navigation technology of the windless zone, the Infinite Pirates, along with the Law Network that had expanded to the Red Land over the years and the Quicksand Guild spread throughout the Four Seas and Grand Line, faced no obstacles in the Four Seas.
During these seven years, the Infinite Pirates expanded recklessly in secret, reaching an exaggerated level in terms of both territorial influence and personnel.
On the surface, the Infinite Pirates had already amassed 700,000 members, with an additional 2 million operating in the shadows.
If other factions wanted to support such a large number of people, they would not know how much it would cost, but for the Infinite Pirates, it was easily manageable.
If it weren't for Li Yuan's pursuit of perfection, this number could have surged by three to five times!
"Infinite Pirates: 'Captain, look! This is the combat-type robot we developed. It has passed all our experimental tests and is ready for mass production and deployment in battle!'"
Soros and Caesar, rarely working together, invited Li Yuan to see their experimental results.
Upon arriving, Li Yuan saw a towering eight-meter-tall robot. Its shape resembled a humanoid figure, but many aspects were distinctly different.
For instance, it had not two but a ring of eyes surrounding its head, its feet were large and claw-like, and its hands were similar to those of a human, except for the cannon ports in the center of the palms.
This robot exuded a strong sense of technology and intimidation.
"Tell me, what exactly is this robot like?" Li Yuan asked curiously.
"Ha ha ha, Captain, let me start! The weapon system of this robot is designed by me. In terms of long-range attacks, it can fire Laser Cannons like those of Prince Faraday from its mouth, hands, and feet."
"The Laser Cannon has three firing modes: instant fire, charged fire, and ultimate fire. The instant fire has the least power but is very practical. The charged fire requires two seconds to charge and is three times more powerful than the instant fire. The ultimate fire requires four seconds of charging and unleashes all the energy within the robot, with its power depending on the amount of internal energy. Once this move is fired, the robot will lose all mobility due to energy depletion."
"In close combat, it can condense into a laser sword to fight. The key is that its hands can change shape, transforming into claws, hammers, or swords. Its best close combat mode is one hand wielding a laser sword while the other uses primitive attacks."
"Additionally, the robot is equipped with biochemical weapons and Sea Stone weapons to deal with different enemies."
"Aside from the weapon system, the materials used for its entire body were inspired by the materials on the robot Emet, and the hardness of the produced materials is even greater than that of Emet's own materials. Not even a full-force strike from an officer of the Infinite Pirates can destroy it!"
Caesar said proudly.
In other areas of research, Caesar might not be as skilled as Soros, who possessed the Brain-Brain Fruit, but he was very confident in weaponry.
It was precisely because Soros had so many things to research that, with Caesar taking on the burden of weaponry, he had not continued to focus on weapon research.
"Well, that's an excellent design!"
"Soros, now it's your turn to speak!" Li Yuan nodded in satisfaction and turned to Soros.
Now, Soros's head had been detached, much like Vegapunk in the original story. His brain capacity was too large for his physical body to contain all that knowledge, so he placed his head outside, creating a massive technological brain connected to his body via signals.
Soros had even created six robots to assist him in experiments, similar to Vegapunk in the original story.
However, under Li Yuan's guidance, those six robots were merely machines capable of conducting experiments but lacked any emotions or human-like intelligence.
All their data would be transmitted through Soros's brain, eliminating any potential risks.
"Captain, in addition to what Caesar mentioned, the robot is equipped with a generator. When its energy drops below eighty percent, the generator activates to provide power. There is also a backup energy storage for emergencies."
"Furthermore, it has a solar energy converter that collects sunlight and converts it into the energy the robot needs. These two charging methods greatly solve the robot's energy issues."
"The robot's feet can not only fire Laser Cannons but also serve as propulsion for flight, meaning our robot can fly!"
"On the robot's head, there are 360-degree detection instruments that can lock onto enemy positions from all angles."
"The core combat instructions of the robot are based on data collected from multiple battles with Infinite Pirates members. Each robot will be a battle-hardened entity, and in the future, the combat instructions can be updated, making their fighting methods increasingly powerful, potentially even reaching the level of predicting opponents' actions."
"The core control instructions of the robot have a first sequence for the Captain, a second sequence for the three ladies, and a third sequence for me and Caesar. In the future, we can continue to add control instructions based on the user's situation."
"The robot also has a self-destruct program, which we can remotely control for each machine to self-destruct. Of course, only the Captain can execute the self-destruct command in the first sequence."
Soros briefly explained the other features of the robot.
"Is there any area where this robot can be improved?" Li Yuan inquired.
He needed the most elite robots and did not want to produce too many transitional products; if they were to be produced, they should be the final form of the robot.
"The areas for improvement in this robot are limited to materials, energy, and the weapon system," Soros replied.
"The materials are currently the hardest that Caesar can produce, and the energy is the most powerful available. The weapon system relies on energy; as long as the energy becomes stronger, the weapon system will also become more powerful."
"So, for now, there isn't much that can be improved. Future opportunities for modification will arise," Soros said.
"Since that's the case, let's start production based on this robot's standards. The exact number to be produced will be determined by Yadina according to the situation of the Infinite Pirates," Li Yuan nodded.
Such robots would be far more powerful than those clones and could be deployed in many battles.
Li Yuan had produced very few clones recently; their primary use was for secrecy.
For example, many of the Infinite Pirates' secret laboratories and the operation of the Mirror World were managed by clones. In terms of combat, clones were unnecessary, as the Infinite Pirates never lacked low-level combat power like clones.
The robots before him could be considered mid-tier combat power, with each one likely on par with an ordinary Navy vice admiral.
The robots' lack of pain, fatigue, fear of death, and their mass-producible nature made Li Yuan value them highly. The only drawback was their high resource consumption, which even the Infinite Pirates had to manage based on actual conditions rather than blindly mass-producing them.
This was why, in the original story, the World Government did not produce large numbers of Pacifistas, only deploying them in critical areas.
Moreover, the robots before Li Yuan were far superior to the Pacifistas in the original story, meaning the resources required for production were astronomical, not to mention the subsequent maintenance and support.
"Captain, this robot still doesn't have a name. Why don't you give it one?" Soros suggested.
"Since it's a combat robot, its emergence will inevitably bring endless warfare. Let's call it Tiel, ranking it by its production serial number. This one should be the first, so we'll call it Tiel No. 1!" Li Yuan thought for a moment and said.
"By the way, your contributions to the development of Tiel are invaluable, so Caesar, your salary will be doubled this year, and you'll also get a half-month paid vacation to rest well."
"Soros, you too! Don't just bury yourself in the lab; go out and relax with Caesar!" Li Yuan said with satisfaction.
Li Yuan was somewhat concerned about Soros, fearing he might wear himself out, as this guy was a complete science fanatic who could go a year and a half without leaving the lab.
Thus, Li Yuan had arranged for a dedicated doctor to check on his health daily to prevent any sudden health issues.
If that were to happen, Li Yuan would feel he had suffered a great loss!
"Ha ha ha, thank you, Captain!"
"Soros, let's go out and have some fun! I promise you'll enjoy a wonderful life of indulgence!"
Upon hearing Li Yuan's words, Caesar instantly became excited. He loved this kind of paid vacation, where he could play to his heart's content while still getting paid. It was like a holiday made just for him! Without waiting for Soros to respond, Caesar dragged him out.
Although Soros was highly skilled in research, he was no match for Caesar in terms of strength, especially since Caesar had consumed the Gluttony Fruit.
Caesar was adept at developing the Gluttony Fruit, using it to enhance his body by consuming various materials, making his physique increasingly exaggerated.
If he were to fight, he could very well become an officer of the Infinite Pirates, but unfortunately, this guy was a scientist and did not enjoy combat.
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