"That's why we have standards! Cadet 26 didn't know I would be here this morning, but he knew he needed to adhere to the standards! And look what happens when those standards aren't upheld. You're lucky your life wasn't in the hands of this irresponsible boy, or else what?"
Having said this, Zephyr returned to the barber chair.
If Miss Zima had shown the respect her superior demanded, she wouldn't have faced punishment. Had Mr. Occhiali not joked about his comrade, her lack of respect might have gone unnoticed. But this is what happens when standards aren't maintained—do you understand?"
To his question, twenty-eight cadets shouted, "Sir, yes, sir!"
As for Sasha, she knew Ricky had lied but didn't respond to it. Both cadets ended up being shaved bald and lost one rank. This made their situation more difficult and cast doubt on whether they'd endure to the year's end. Yet, strangely, Ricky felt better. Without needing to worry about his rank, he even enjoyed carrying out this survival mission.
The Academy even brought in Sea Kings, one of which was a giant eel that Sasha almost sliced in half. As the day came to an end, the two bald friends were sitting in the dining hall. Ricky was only thinking about how perfectly round Sasha's head was when a letter was delivered to her.
Ricky: "You received a letter?"
Sasha didn't reply and opened it. Inside were several sheets of paper, and after scanning them, she said, "It's from Bill. He wants us all to meet in Vallipo in a few months."
Thinking it was odd, Ricky simply responded, "Oh, sounds fun."
While conducting diagnostics next to the Cerebral Capsule, Bill checked his device and read the indicators, which showed everything was operating within expected parameters.
Today would mark an important milestone in the SATELLITE program. This program aimed to address the ongoing problem of insufficient qualified assistants by splitting Vegapunk's consciousness into several advanced cyborgs. This idea had long occupied Vegapunk's thoughts, but the brilliant scientist was constantly distracted by new discoveries.
Finally, after the funding for the Scientific Division was significantly cut, Vegapunk decided it was the perfect time to start working on this program, assisting Bill in completing his training—killing two birds with one stone.
By completing the SATELLITE program, Vegapunk could achieve more in the laboratory and gain a mobile force to generate much-needed income.
At this time, Bill was not just a messenger or observer. He helped develop many projects for this capsule, including one called "Golden Throne," which never produced tangible results. Gold was a good electrospiritual conductor, but it was significantly inferior to synthesized conductive alloys and emitted too much heat. The fact that it deteriorates over time was only a minor drawback compared to many others.
Now, looking at the capsule before the test began, Bill thought that this device was so advanced its capabilities were almost magical. It didn't matter that he had been there every step of its creation.
For the past two years, he had worked almost every minute of every day with Vegapunk on the SATELLITE program. Today, they were planning to lock Vegapunk's consciousness into the system and activate one of the seven cyborgs that were meant to house the scientist's divided consciousness.
The cyborg to be activated today had the codename Edison and was configured to handle Vegapunk's problem-solving spectrum.
Among the many things Vegapunk taught his apprentice, the concept of the personality spectrum was the most fascinating. Simply put, Vegapunk showed Bill that "free will" does not exist in a strict sense. At first, this was very difficult to accept, but the data proved that personality is a spectrum of emotions and experiences. If this spectrum could be accurately read, one could predict movements and actions with scientific precision.
What kept Bill from completely rejecting this science, which contradicted everything he believed in, was that Vegapunk demonstrated that willpower, or Haki, was a way for the soul to resist the spectrum binding it to apparent reality.
Bill, of course, knew about the existence of the soul because nothing else could explain his reincarnation, but hearing Vegapunk speak about it so calmly was a major revelation for him. The lesson was that "Haki" is the manifestation of the soul in the physical world, and this was important because it showed Bill that, despite causal relationships, there is more to the human experience.
It was during the development of this capsule that Bill learned Vegapunk's explanation regarding Devil Fruits.
After completing the first project, the scientist casually mentioned, "This is good work, and it functions without the spiritual intervention of a Devil Fruit."
When Bill inquired about this, Vegapunk again casually said that Devil Fruits are extraterrestrial entities born of emotions.