Chapter 31: Black Gold Modification

"His name is Shimizu, we were in the same squad in the Puppet Corps."

Scorpion spoke concisely.

Ebizō nodded slightly.

He didn't deny the term "friend," which meant he acknowledged Shimizu as one.

It seemed his initial decision was correct—two geniuses of similar age and shared interests would naturally connect.

"Hmm, Shimizu, I saw your information in Jōnin Ishito's report. You're a good kid. If you have time, feel free to come hang out with Scorpion more often. Now, come on, you haven't had dinner yet, right? I'll take you both to the best restaurant in the village."

......

Three days after visiting Scorpion's home, which also marked the last day of vacation, Shimizu used some of his previously earned military merit points to exchange for two ninjutsu training scrolls:

A C-rank Wind Release technique: Turbulent Air Dance

A C-rank Lightning Release technique: Lightning Release: Earth Walk

This had been planned for some time.

His goal wasn't to simply learn Turbulent Air Dance but to study its principles.

Previously, Shimizu had considered whether the mechanics behind Wind Release: Gale Palm could be applied to assist his puppet upgrades—specifically in collecting and compressing gas for pneumatic punches, to reduce charge time and increase power.

He began studying Lightning Release to eventually use the chakra-conducting properties of lightning to better integrate modern engineering with puppet techniques.

Back in the day, his graduation advisor, Jōnin Mami, had remarked that Shimizu's ninjutsu talent was average compared to genius-level peers and predicted that if he didn't pursue puppetry and followed a standard ninja path, he might become a Special Jōnin, or luck, a full-fledged Jōnin.

Basic C-rank techniques were within his reach if he committed the time—but B-rank or higher was another story.

"Too bad my chakra attributes are only Wind and Lightning. If I had Earth as well, maybe I could try to learn the Third Kazekage's Magnet Release one day. Magnet Release with an Iron Man-style suit—that would be a sight to behold."

Still, Shimizu thought his chakra nature was a good fit for engineering puppetry.

Wind Release could enhance pneumatic systems, and Lightning Release needed no further explanation.

"Also, the Fatty puppet should be due for another upgrade."

......

While Shimizu's main body was busy learning new ninjutsu, his avatar in the DC universe was hard at work at the Cole Gang's abandoned factory base.

With growing technical knowledge, Shimizu's design panel for upgrading Fatty and Black Gold continued to progress. While his real body was studied, his avatar handled fabrication.

The Black Gold upgrade differed from that of Fatty.

"Great—dual-layer bulletproof lenses, a transparent photosensitive material in the middle, and wired directly to the microcontroller's pins. Now it can display sensor data from different modules."

Shimizu put away the welding torch, satisfied with the tiny DLP chip, no larger than two thumbnails, installed in Black Gold's eye sockets.

Inside Black Gold, a microcontroller was embedded.

The controller was connected to a communication chip and an analog-to-digital converter. The former received signals from various sensors, and the latter converted those signals into digital data, which was then sent to the DLP chip.

The DLP chip transformed the data into visual output, which was projected through a mini projector and lens array onto the glass eye display.

The method wasn't exactly ingenious or creative—it was just a standard integration of industrial components.

But it worked—and thanks to this world's advanced industrial capabilities, all the needed parts were available for purchase.

Of course, this required money.

If it were just a college-level engineering capstone project, the parts might total less than USD 200.

But the performance would be poor—borderline useless.

For example, what good is a one-meter infrared detector or a five-meter sonar sensor in a real fight?

On the other side of Gotham, Batman's Batsuit used sensors capable of scanning entire buildings. Shimizu didn't expect that level—but he wanted at least 20–30 meters of range, with some wall-penetration capability.

Unfortunately, high-range detectors were military-grade and not sold publicly. Even if available, they were often knock-offs.

They were also bulky, which conflicted with his goal of miniaturized integration.

Luckily, he had a good friend—Penguin.

With enough money, Penguin could get you anything. Even real military gear or a tank if you asked.

"Cutting-edge tech from Star City's Queen Industries—sensors built for underwater scanning and mid-range thermal detection, miniaturized to centimeter scale. Amazing stuff. I wonder if my main body can recreate any of this without an industrial base?"

Shimizu put away his soldering iron, nodding with satisfaction.

Due to limitations in display devices and his amateur coding background—most of his algorithms came from copy-pasting online snippets—the system couldn't deliver Batman-level X-ray vision.

But it could still display data—like the direction and distance of detected heat sources.

That was more than sufficient in combat.

He picked up the welding tools again and began disassembling Black Gold.

Next, he planned to install a full pneumatic system—not just pumps in the arms, but also in other joints.

The focus was on the hips, knees, and ankles—installing dual-action pneumatic cylinders and metal linkages.

These would be small cylinders, meant to enhance movement speed via pneumatic propulsion.

To maintain balance and agility, the cylinders wouldn't be overpowered—but would still significantly boost Black Gold's mobility.

He also planned upgrades to the arm pneumatics.

Shoulders and elbows would receive similar dual-action cylinders.

These would not only increase punch strength but also speed up striking motion.

Of course, these upgrades placed higher demands on Shimizu's puppet control skills—but thanks to studying Monzaemon's notebook, his chakra control had greatly improved.

Even if the avatar's chakra was weaker than the main body's, it was still enough to operate this puppet.

Just not enough to control another powerful puppet in parallel.

Clang, clang—the sounds of hammering metal. ZZ—the buzz of welding tools. These echoed throughout the abandoned factory all afternoon.

Until deep into the night, when the accountant came running in.

"Boss, Mr. Cobblepot is here!"

(End of Chapter)