Chapter 402: Farewell
Ian looked around and saw that this plantation was quite large. In the farmland, over a hundred fruit trees were neatly planted along a ditch. At the uppermost part of the ditch stood a tall iron tank with a huge sign on it: SAD!
Below the iron tank, there was a valve outlet. It seemed that SAD was released from this outlet, mixed with water to dilute it, and then this SAD-infused water was used to irrigate the fruit trees. Under the careful cultivation of the Tontatta Tribe, the fruits from these trees had a chance of becoming artificial Devil Fruits with surface patterns.
Perhaps because Ian arrived in Dressrosa right during the harvest season, the trees were densely covered with patterned Devil Fruits, looking quite spectacular.
However, if one observed closely, they would notice that many of these spiral-patterned Devil Fruits had incomplete surface patterns—some only had one or two patches, others were half-covered. Even Ian knew these were definitely defective artificial Devil Fruits.
Moreover, Ian noticed another phenomenon: the appearance of these artificial Devil Fruits was very similar, all resembling apples in shape, giving a mass-produced feel.
But even so, the quantity seemed considerable. If Waldo's data was correct, Ian estimated that even with only a 10% success rate, this plantation could produce hundreds or even more Devil Fruits in a single harvest.
He began to understand Waldo's point. If these artificial Devil Fruits could grant Devil Fruit abilities in one go, then one season's harvest here could create hundreds of Devil Fruit users!
Damn, if that were true, and Ian hadn't come here early to drive Doflamingo away, within a year or two, Kaido of the Beasts could obtain thousands of Devil Fruits from Doflamingo and create thousands of Devil Fruit users!
Would he then have to call him Kaido the Sky-Defying!?
"See what I mean?" Waldo was quite satisfied with Ian's surprised expression and said, "So I think these planted artificial Devil Fruits probably have defects. After eating one, you might gain a Devil Fruit ability, but it won't be stable, and you won't be able to control it freely. These Devil Fruits could mass-produce a batch of ability users, but the abilities gained from consuming artificial Devil Fruits likely can't be trained or enhanced. To maintain their abilities, they would have to keep consuming these artificial Devil Fruits continuously."
Ian understood and couldn't help asking, "So, do these artificial Devil Fruits cause addiction? What happens if someone stops taking them? Would they die?"
"Hard to say," Waldo shook his head. "I don't have records from test subjects right now. We'd only know for sure once someone actually eats one. But I doubt they'd die—at most, their abilities would be limited to a very low level."
Ian nodded and stopped pressing Waldo. He picked up a finished artificial Devil Fruit and held it in his hand. As expected, the system had no reaction to this artificial Devil Fruit—it didn't prompt him to absorb any special power from it.
Counterfeit was counterfeit. The greatest black technology in this world was Devil Fruits; they weren't so easily replicated.
Since these artificial Devil Fruits all looked the same, Ian also had a suspicion: maybe after someone ate one, the ability gained was random, but limited to Zoan-type Devil Fruits.
If the ability was random, then continued consumption of artificial Devil Fruits might lead to so-called "hybrid" ability users. That would be very dangerous...
So, after understanding the effects of these artificial Devil Fruits, Ian lost all interest.
A genuine Devil Fruit contained complete energy, so after eating one, you couldn't eat a second—the energy would burst you. An artificial Devil Fruit, however, seemed to split the ability of a complete Devil Fruit into ten or even twenty parts, allowing multiple to be consumed.
Ian didn't know if his speculation was correct, but he figured it was something like that.
These incomplete Devil Fruits would create ability users with defects. Perhaps over time, with repeated consumption, they might achieve the effect of genuine ability users, but no one knew how long that would take. Artificial Devil Fruits required not only SAD as a catalyst but also the Tontatta Tribe's cultivation techniques and talent. Only Doflamingo could meet both conditions. For Ian, they were completely useless.
"Compile the data on the artificial Devil Fruits," Ian said. "I'll have Aokiji take it back to the Marines and the World Government later."
"Captain, you're planning to hand over the artificial Devil Fruits to the Marines?" Waldo said with some surprise. "Wouldn't it be better to keep them for ourselves?"
"There's no need," Ian shook his head. "If I'm not mistaken, your old friend Vegapunk has also researched artificial Devil Fruits, and his achievements are probably better than Doflamingo's. That means the technology we found here might be inferior, not even matching Vegapunk's research. What use is that? It's better to give it to the Marines and the World Government to increase our bargaining power for the Pacifista. Even if the Marines get it, they'll mostly use it for reference and won't necessarily follow Doflamingo's methods, so it won't affect the Tontatta Tribe."
Ian said this for a reason. He remembered that the mad scientist Caesar wanted to research artificial Devil Fruits because he had obtained one made by Vegapunk—a rare Zoan-type Mythical Zoan, the Azure Dragon Fruit. This artificial fruit was originally meant for Caesar's research, but by some twist of fate, it would later be eaten by a brat named Momonosuke...
Since such an artificial Devil Fruit existed, it meant Vegapunk was indeed researching artificial Devil Fruit cultivation, and his work was likely better than Caesar's.
If so, Caesar's research was definitely inferior...
"True!" At the mention of the Pacifista, Waldo perked up.
Actually, the Pacifista project was top secret within the Marines, but as Kuma's body modification gradually progressed, many people noticed something unusual. So, the Pacifista project wasn't a big secret among the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Even Jinbe and others vaguely knew about this cyborg plan.
Waldo wouldn't have known if he hadn't joined Ian, but once he did, he was naturally interested. He had heard Vegapunk mention the concept of human modification plans long ago, so he wanted to see how far Vegapunk had progressed.
Mentioning Vegapunk reminded Ian of a question. He asked Waldo, "By the way, is Vegapunk a Devil Fruit user?"
Waldo was taken aback by the question, then said, "I don't know... but I don't recall ever seeing him swim or anything. I didn't find it strange at the time, because we scientists often go ten days or half a month without bathing, let alone swimming or exercising..."
Ian nodded and said nothing more, turning to leave the underground cultivation factory.
When he reached the surface, he ran into Crocodile and Jinbe.
"Ian, my friend, I've come to say goodbye!" Jinbe said as soon as he saw Ian. "This time on Dressrosa, we've rescued many of my Fish-Man compatriots. They're eager to return to Fish-Man Island. Now that the island's issues are resolved, I've come to bid you farewell."
"Alright, Jinbe, my senior!" Ian nodded. "Thank you for your help this time. Please pass on my regards to the brothers of the Sun Pirates. If you ever need anything from me, just say the word."
"Certainly!" Jinbe nodded, ignored Crocodile beside him, and turned to leave.
Ian looked at Crocodile and asked with interest, "You're not here to say goodbye too, are you?"
"Damn it!" Crocodile gritted his teeth, cigar in mouth, and said to Ian, "I've fulfilled my promise. When will you return my soul!?"
Over the past few days, he had heard from Ace and Boa Hancock about how Ian crushed Perospero's soul orb. According to their description, after Ian crushed that soul, Perospero immediately coughed up blood, weakened, and fled. Clearly, damage to the soul was no trivial matter—it wasn't just a loss of lifespan.
So, to avoid further complications, Crocodile had waited for a while but finally couldn't hold back and came to demand his soul back from Ian...