While the world was in an uproar over ONE PIECE and the Pirate King, there was one place that remained calm and undisturbed.
In the latter half of the Grand Line, in the waters of the New World, lies the island of Punk Hazard.
At this time, there had been no gas explosion incident, nor had there been a battle for leadership between Akainu and Aokiji. The island had no volcanoes, lava, icebergs, snowstorms, or even a large lake at its center.
At a glance, the island was covered in dense green jungles, where prehistoric creatures and modern animals could be seen. It resembled the "Little Garden" from the first half of the Grand Line, but it was much larger in size and had a richer variety of species.
The research base of the former Marine Science Force, now the Academy of Science, stood tall amidst this vast jungle. Its height far exceeded that of the trees, making the tower-like structure easily visible from a distance.
To prevent wild creatures from entering, the research facility was surrounded by a steel wall and gate, equipped with electric fences and pipelines.
Soldiers in army uniforms, armed with firearms, stood guard and patrolled the area.
The atmosphere of the entire research facility was extremely serious, solemn, and focused, with the occasional roar of beasts echoing in the background.
"Fusion of Zoan-type Devil Fruits with Objects"
In a research room filled with monitors, a middle-aged man, standing just under two meters tall but with an unusually large and elongated head like a radish, was dressed in a loose white lab coat. His bespectacled eyes scanned the contents of the document in his hand, line by line.
He was the current head of the Academy of Science and the director of the Devil Fruit Research Institute—Vegapunk.
"Interesting."
This document had been delivered three hours ago by members of CP6 in a secure briefcase. He had initially thought it was a professional report from other researchers.
But as he read on, he found the content to be rather disorganized and lacking in rigor. There were no experimental data, only various conjectures.
Yet, these seemingly chaotic conjectures had completely captured his attention.
The first part of the document discussed embedding Seastone into the hull of warships to mask the presence of Sea Kings by emitting the aura of the sea. This would allow the warships to avoid attacks from Sea Kings to the greatest extent, enabling them to navigate smoothly through the Calm Belt.
In the original timeline, this was a technology he would come up with nearly two decades later. Seeing it now naturally piqued his interest.
However, this alone wasn't enough to fully capture Vegapunk's attention.
What truly immersed him were the later sections discussing the origin, essence, and cyclical mechanisms of Devil Fruits, their relationship with Lineage Factors, the Vortex Language resembling ability coding, and the idea of "feeding" Devil Fruits to objects. These were all things he would research in the future, but now they were being "spoiled" to his past self.
"Zoan-type Devil Fruits inherently contain Lineage Factors—something I only recently discovered. As for the Beast Soul-like will within them, I hadn't thought of that before..."
"But where did the World Government get this information?" Vegapunk furrowed his brow, deep in thought.
He didn't believe there was any researcher who had delved deeper into the fields of Lineage Factors and Devil Fruits than himself. After all, he was the one who first discovered the Lineage Factor.
Vegapunk continued flipping through the pages, only to find that the subsequent content had nothing to do with Devil Fruits.
There were ideas about paddle wheels installed on the sides of warships, power plants utilizing sunlight, wind, and geothermal energy, as well as various conjectures about long-range missiles, satellites, and the internet.
"Hmm?"
On the last page, he found a drawing of a rather large humanoid robot emitting bright yellow laser beams, accompanied by various explanations and a rough outline of the manufacturing process.
Though the outline was indeed very rough, Vegapunk keenly noticed the key terms.
"Shape Memory Alloy with inherent Lineage Factors, and a human heart!"
To be honest, even for someone like him, who was said to possess intelligence five hundred years ahead of humanity, this was momentarily baffling.
"Let me think. Zoan-type Devil Fruits inherently contain Lineage Factors, so 'feeding' them to metal would essentially give the metal a Lineage Factor. Is that how Shape Memory Alloy is created?"
Vegapunk felt something was off. He didn't think Shape Memory Alloy could be so easily manufactured. However, there was one point he somewhat agreed with.
That is, 'feeding' Zoan-type Devil Fruits to objects might actually work!
He decided to conduct experiments to test this. For a scientist, no matter how outrageous an idea might seem, its feasibility could only be determined through experimentation.
"Although this document is filled with all sorts of speculative and non-rigorous conjectures, it does point me toward a relatively clear research direction."
This also made Vegapunk's mood more complicated. He was now somewhat worried that the World Government might have found a researcher who could replace him.
It wasn't that he had any particular fondness for the World Government—after all, he had been essentially forced into working for them. But he had to admit that conducting research here came with no restrictions. Whether it was money, equipment, or research materials, he could get as much as he wanted.
Devil Fruits, which were treasures worth at least a hundred million Beli in the outside world, could be summoned in batches of five or six whenever he needed them!
"Huh? There's more?"
Just as he was about to tidy up the documents, Vegapunk was surprised to find another file folder in the safe. He casually opened it and pulled out the contents, his pupils trembling as he read.
"A Climate Improvement Plan for the Future Kingdom of Balgimoa!"
After reading the contents of the plan, his hands shook slightly. The World Government was actually planning to help solve the extreme cold climate of his homeland.
According to the plan, if necessary, they could even deploy the current Admiral candidates, Admiral Akainu and Admiral Kizaru, to forcibly alter the island's climate using their Awakened Logia abilities.
However, doing so would cause the island's ice and snow to rapidly melt due to the sudden warming, leading to widespread flooding. Therefore, it was suggested that the residents be evacuated beforehand. Once the environment of Balgimoa Island stabilized, the Construction Division could be dispatched to build the necessary facilities.
Vegapunk understood the World Government's intentions.
The latter was willing to mobilize the greatest financial resources, manpower, technology, and even high-level combat power for his hometown. However, the specific plan needed to be devised by him personally, as he was the top expert in this field.
Of course, if he needed assistance from scholars in related fields, that was no problem either. He simply had to list out the talents he wanted!
"..."
Silence. A long silence. Vegapunk sat in his chair, looking at the documents in his hand. He was deeply moved, but his reason told him that this was the World Government's attempt to 'buy him off.'
So the question arose: Could the happy future of his hometown buy his loyalty?
"Dr. Vegapunk, the ship from CP6 has arrived at the port. They've brought Buggy, a former intern of the Roger Pirates."
This was a report from the monitoring room.
"Buggy? That kid who's said to have a talent for explosives, right? Take him to the guest room first and give him a day to familiarize himself with the environment. Arrange a teacher for him starting the day after tomorrow."
To be honest, Vegapunk had no interest in explosives, nor did he have the time to personally teach Buggy. Right now, he only wanted to continue his research on the Devil Fruits.
"Understood."
"Also, bring me two Zoan-type Devil Fruits and two famous swords. I need them for experiments."
"Yes, sir!"