Chapter 637: Hard to Think of a Title
Now, with everything Ian had learned, he could piece together a significant part of the truth.
After sorting through his thoughts, Ian arranged the timeline and reconstructed what had happened over twenty years ago, roughly as follows:
After Vegapunk, Gaji, Waldo, and their team of scientists discovered the Lineage Factor at the original research institute, the Marines got wind of it and immediately declared their research illegal. They dispatched Marine warships to forcibly shut down the institute and took Vegapunk away, while Gaji, Waldo, and the other scientists either died or fled.
With a genius scientist like Vegapunk in their grasp, the World Government couldn't just lock him up and waste his talents. So they provided him with research funding to work for the Marines, even establishing the Marine Science Unit specifically for him.
The first research institute Vegapunk joined was the secret facility on Punk Hazard, an island unreachable by Log Pose, ensuring both safety and confidentiality.
Once Vegapunk took over, his first research project was undoubtedly related to the application of the Lineage Factor. Based on the information Ian had gathered, it was the RT Project involving Kaido. Using prisoners of various races secretly provided by the World Government, he created the super-powerful lifeform known as Kaido.
This experiment also seemed to have a byproduct: Vegapunk used the Lineage Factor to create a creature that had only existed in fantasy—dragons!
Yeah, the winged, lizard-like evil dragons.
It had to be said, Vegapunk was a true genius. This science of creating life from scratch was truly touching the realm of gods...
The Celestial Dragons, for some reason, seemed to like the dragons Vegapunk created. However, the research on Kaido appeared to have failed. Due to some unknown reasons, Kaido caused an incident on the island and took the opportunity to escape.
Vegapunk likely never liked this kind of research from the start. As a scientist, how could he not understand the implications of such forbidden studies? So after the incident, he persuaded the World Government to terminate the RT Project.
But although the research was stopped, the data obtained couldn't be destroyed. This was why later on, X Drake's father and Drake himself found clues about the old research on Punk Hazard. This project was probably so significant that it forced both Drake and his father to leave the Marines and become pirates.
With the RT Project halted, the World Government couldn't let Vegapunk sit idle. Just then, Dragon attacked Mary Geoise, revealing his Devil Fruit ability.
His Devil Fruit likely sparked immense interest among the Celestial Dragons, but they couldn't kill Dragon to make the fruit reincarnate. So they settled for the next best thing and funded Vegapunk to research Artificial Devil Fruits.
Vegapunk might have been genuinely interested in this research, so he threw himself into it. As his studies deepened, he figured out the principles of Devil Fruits and the conditions for transferring abilities, even developing a method to make inanimate objects or machinery eat Devil Fruits...
Ian remembered that the Artificial Devil Fruit sealed in Punk Hazard was later eaten by Momonosuke, granting him the ability to transform into a dragon.
Assuming that Vegapunk's initial research on Artificial Devil Fruits was based on Dragon's fruit, then the nature of Dragon's ability became clear!
It had to be a Mythical Zoan-type, like the Azure Dragon Fruit or something similar!
If creatures like the Phoenix, which can be reborn from flames, exist, then the Azure Dragon Fruit isn't far-fetched. In mythology, the Azure Dragon can summon wind and rain, ride clouds and mist. This would explain Dragon's ability to control storms.
Ian guessed that when Dragon infiltrated Mary Geoise alone, he was discovered and surrounded, forcing him to use his Devil Fruit ability and transform into a dragon. The Celestial Dragons witnessed this. Since they call themselves "Celestial Dragons" and their emblem is the "Hoofprint of the Soaring Dragon," it shows they have a natural affinity for dragons—whether evil or divine. Anything associated with dragons might be worshipped as a symbol or totem.
But Dragon, the Revolutionary, was their enemy. Having their own symbol as an enemy was beyond terrible, so they spared no expense in funding Vegapunk's Artificial Devil Fruit research, hoping to replicate Dragon's fruit.
In the end, Vegapunk's Artificial Devil Fruit research failed! The manufactured dragon fruit was sealed in the Punk Hazard lab.
Why did it fail? Even Ian could figure that out!
The key issue with Artificial Devil Fruits was the conflict with original Devil Fruits!
According to common understanding, though no one knows exactly where Devil Fruits come from, it's known that two identical fruits cannot exist simultaneously. Only when the original user dies does the same fruit reappear somewhere in the world.
If even natural fruits follow this rule, Artificial ones are no exception. If Vegapunk tried to replicate Dragon's fruit while Dragon was still alive, even if he succeeded, it would be flawed—an absolute failure! Momonosuke's dragon fruit, though allowing transformation, was likely a defective product, like a lower-tier version of the original.
This applied to all Artificial Devil Fruits. If there was a conflict with an existing fruit, any man-made version would be a failure with defects. That's why Kaido's Beast Pirates had so many weird ability users!
The consequences of eating such fruits were unpredictable...
Once Vegapunk understood the principles of Devil Fruits, he naturally wouldn't continue this research. The manufactured dragon fruit was sealed in his office, and he stopped making other Artificial Devil Fruits.
However, the process for making Artificial Devil Fruits was known to one person.
That person was Caesar M. Clown! He was originally the Marines' chief scientist, but Vegapunk took his place as the head of the Marine Science Unit.
Caesar believed he was the most brilliant genius scientist, so he always hated Vegapunk and rarely entered his office. That's why the dragon fruit remained preserved, never destroyed by Caesar.
Jealous Caesar might have learned the process while assisting Vegapunk. He knew how to produce SAD, the essential raw material, and how to use it to cultivate Artificial Devil Fruits. But he didn't understand their defects—either Vegapunk didn't tell him, or he knew but couldn't resist the temptation to continue.
After the Artificial Devil Fruit research failed, Vegapunk moved on to studying gigantification, while Caesar focused on the poison gas weapon "Deathland." Their research directions differed.
Vegapunk strongly opposed such cruel weapons as poison gas, but Caesar went his own way. When the institute's staff couldn't dissuade him, Vegapunk finally had enough and planned to fire Caesar.
Enraged, Caesar forcibly activated his poison gas weapon, causing the massive explosion on Punk Hazard over two years ago!
A mushroom cloud rose, destroying the Punk Hazard lab. The Marines had to urgently evacuate Vegapunk and the other researchers. The island became devoid of life, remaining uninhabited for a long time.
Caesar, being a Gas-Gas Fruit user, survived the poison gas explosion. But he couldn't return to the Marines. As the main culprit for such a disaster, he had no choice but to seek cooperation with Doflamingo, manufacturing Artificial Devil Fruits stolen from Vegapunk's research. He even accepted Big Mom's research funding to continue gigantification studies.
This guy always picked up Vegapunk's leftovers, yet still thought he was the best scientist...
After sorting out all these cause and effects, Ian let out a long sigh.
Perhaps due to the Punk Hazard explosion, Vegapunk was transferred to another lab, where he started the PX—Pacifista Project. For some reason, Kuma voluntarily offered his body for Vegapunk's research.
Ian's intuition told him that Vegapunk was very important. From what he'd learned so far, he didn't believe Vegapunk was truly serving the World Government. Since he had stopped Caesar's research on "Deathland," there was no way he would continue developing powerful weapons like the Pacifistas for the government.
Thinking about how Kuma had specially sent him a "key" to control the Pacifistas, allowing him to successfully seize control of three of them, Ian realized that the Revolutionary Army must have reached some agreement with Vegapunk, and Kuma was the one who made it happen.
As for what Dragon was secretly searching for when he infiltrated Mary Geoise, Ian would need Dragon to tell him.
But Ian felt it might be related to the Celestial Dragon identity chip he had obtained. Could it be the so-called "national treasure"? If so, it wasn't just Doflamingo who cared about it—the Revolutionary Army did too.
What was the national treasure? Was it really the Ancient Weapon Uranus?
Wait! Uranus? The RT Project?
Could it be that the RT Project stood for "Replica Uranus" or something!?
Ian's heart skipped a beat. Was Kaido actually a product of the Replica Uranus Project!?
Damn! I always thought it was some "Rise to Heaven" project for the Celestial Dragons and the World Government...
(End of Chapter)