Chapter 600: Eternal Life Research
Hearing Ian’s pressing question, Drake didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he first pointed to the X-shaped eyepatch over his eye, then spoke: “That was about four years ago, I think. I was already twenty-five or twenty-six. My face was becoming more and more like my father’s. I realized this, and to prevent anyone who had seen my father from recognizing me, I put on this eyepatch to cover my face as much as possible.”
“No one suspected me, so I passed the review smoothly and joined the Marine Science Unit. The day after receiving my transfer orders, a ship came to pick me up and took me to Punk Hazard Island…”
Before he could finish, Ian’s eyes widened. He suddenly stood up and said, “Wait! Did you just say Punk Hazard Island!?”
Drake found Ian’s reaction a bit strange, but he still nodded and confirmed, “That’s right, Punk Hazard. What’s wrong?”
Ian realized his reaction was a bit too strong, but he quickly found an excuse and asked, “I heard that island was destroyed by a terrible accident?”
“When I arrived there, the Punk Hazard accident hadn’t happened yet!” Drake said. “At that time, Punk Hazard was still the main research base for the Marine Science Unit, because there, I saw Dr. Vegapunk!”
Ian’s pupils contracted. He pressed on, “Vegapunk!? That genius scientist? What kind of person is he?”
“Hmm?” Drake was a bit puzzled and asked, “Why are you so interested in him?”
Ian waved his hand and said, “You might not know, but there’s a scientist on my pirate crew who used to be Vegapunk’s colleague. I’ve only heard about him from my crewmate, but I’ve never seen the real Vegapunk, so I’m curious.”
“I see. No wonder you can control the Pacifistas…” Drake understood. He thought for a moment and described, “Dr. Vegapunk looks to be in his forties or fifties, but for some reason, he seems a bit aged. Maybe that’s how it is for mental workers. His head is a bit large, and he likes to wear a striped plaid shirt under his research coat… But overall, I think he’s a pretty gentle person, not the kind of mad scientist you’d imagine. On the other hand, there was another scientist at the lab named M. Caesar Clown who made me very uncomfortable…”
Ian sighed. Damn it, it really was Caesar… At that time, he must have still been doing research with Vegapunk.
“My job in the Science Unit was security!” Drake said, spreading his hands. “It was a job that allowed me to move around, so within half a year of joining the Marine Science Unit, I had a pretty good idea of what they were researching on Punk Hazard.”
“It was the Pacifista Project, right?” Ian asked.
“Yes!” Drake nodded. “When I joined, Dr. Vegapunk’s Pacifista Project had already made substantial progress. But that wasn’t what I wanted to find out. My father had worked in the Marine Science Unit many years earlier, so I later tried every way to find older documents from Punk Hazard.”
Saying this, Drake clenched his fists, feeling both angry and anxious. He continued, “Then I discovered something shocking. About twenty-something years ago, there was another huge accident on Punk Hazard!”
“Twenty-something years ago!?” Ian frowned and asked, “What kind of accident?”
“A test subject escaped from Punk Hazard, and that test subject destroyed most of the research facilities on the island and stole some research data…” Drake said. “Punk Hazard was almost completely destroyed at that time. The current facilities were all rebuilt after that accident.”
“A test subject? What kind of test subject?” Ian suddenly had a vague premonition.
Drake gave Ian a deep look and finally said, “It was Kaido! The current Emperor of the Sea, Kaido of the Beasts! He was once a test subject on Punk Hazard!”
Holy… Holy shit!!
Although Ian had already had some premonition, he was still shocked when he actually heard Drake say it.
Old Man Whitebeard had once said that he always felt Kaido wasn’t a naturally born human, which was why he was called the “Strongest Creature.” Ian had once suspected that Kaido might be a cyborg like Franky, but hearing Drake’s story now, it didn’t seem to fit.
Because Drake was talking about twenty-something years ago. Calculating the time, that was probably before Pirate King Roger had even died. At that time, the Pacifista Project probably hadn’t even started yet.
“What exactly happened?” Ian asked Drake with a frown. “Don’t leave me hanging. Tell me everything at once!”
Drake nodded and said, “Actually, I don’t fully understand why Kaido became a test subject. I only inferred it from scattered documents. It seems that the research on Kaido as a test subject had started much earlier. It was a top-secret research project of the World Government at the time, but the progress of this research seemed to be going poorly. It wasn’t until… until Dr. Vegapunk’s lab discovered the ‘Lineage Factor’ that the World Government immediately ordered the Marines to arrest Vegapunk, shut down his lab, bought off his research team, and transferred Dr. Vegapunk to Punk Hazard to take over this research project…”
Ian suddenly understood. No wonder, from Waldo’s description back then, the World Government and the Marines had reacted so quickly. If the Marines and the World Government hadn’t already had some understanding of the Lineage Factor, how could they have immediately realized the significance of Vegapunk’s discovery?
In other words, even before Vegapunk joined the Marine Science Unit, the World Government and the Marines had already been researching life forms…
“What exactly were they researching on Kaido?” Ian asked Drake in confusion.
“I don’t know!” Drake shook his head. “I only roughly understood that at that time, many special races were gathered on Punk Hazard Island. The Marine Science Unit seemed to be conducting experiments based on these races… Oh, I remember now. There was a very huge giant, just like that Little Oars Jr. you saw on the battlefield. That might have been a biological sample too. But during my time on Punk Hazard, that giant had already died. Even now, his skeleton is still on Punk Hazard Island. If you go there now, you might still be able to see it.”
“A relative of the Demon Giant Oars!?” Ian couldn’t help but widen his eyes. “So, if Kaido was the final test subject, does that mean he really has the bloodline of a Demon Giant?”
Ian knew that the so-called “Demon Giant” wasn’t actually a race. Oars was also a branch of the Giant Tribe, but his body was much larger than other giants. The term “Demon Giant” just described his evil deeds.
Hearing Ian mention this, Drake suddenly understood as well. He slapped his thigh and said, “That’s right! That must be it. No wonder when I saw Kaido on the live broadcast, I felt like I had seen those horns on his head somewhere before. They were on Punk Hazard! The skeleton of that huge Demon Giant also had similar horns! Oh, I remember now. Many of the entrance signs at the Punk Hazard research base were skull patterns with curved horns. Come to think of it, they do look a bit like Kaido’s pirate flag pattern…”
It seemed there was no mistake. Kaido was indeed the test subject on Punk Hazard Island back then. No wonder Old Man Whitebeard had once said that before this, he had never heard of Kaido’s deeds. Kaido had suddenly appeared after Pirate King Roger’s death, relying on his overwhelming strength to stand alongside Whitebeard and the others as one of the Four Emperors.
Damn it, he finally figured out this guy’s origins…
Ian stroked his chin, calculating the time, and said, “So, this unknown research project of the World Government had already started before Vegapunk became the Marines’ top scientist. It was only completed after Vegapunk joined?”
“That’s true, but there’s something off about it!” Drake said. “Because in the end, this experiment seemed to have failed!”
“Hmm!?” Ian frowned and suddenly remembered the huge life force light sphere he had extracted from Kaido. He seemed to understand something. If the World Government was researching an immortal body or eternal life on Kaido, then Kaido’s lifespan of over five hundred years might actually be considered a failure!
“Kaido escaped in the end!” Drake said. “No one knows exactly how that accident happened. Although the research base was destroyed by Kaido, Dr. Vegapunk was unharmed. After this accident, he seemed to have persuaded the World Government to abandon this research and instead focus on researching Demon Fruits and human modifications…”