The One Piece

Chapter 10

"Nika? I've never heard that name before..." Nami trailed off.

"No wonder. It was erased from history." Vegapunk replied. "But as long as people yearn for it, its existence will never disappear! All things are brought into this world because they are desired! For example... The Devil Fruits!"

"No way..." I trailed off, widening my eyes.

Vegapunk spun around, throwing his arms into the air. "The Devil Fruits... are manifestations of the people's aspirations for human evolution! 'I wanna be like this.' 'I wanna be like that.' All the different powers represent the diverse futures of humanity! And so, that 'unnaturalness'... comes with the punishment of being loathed by the mother of nature, the sea! The power-users... are the ones who live in different realities... that someone dreamed up! That is my theory! You don't even need to think about whether or not there is a god! Isn't this world interesting?!"

After dropping us with that bombshell, all of us were left speechless. I mean, what does one even say after that information is revealed. But the more you think about it, what he says makes some sense.

I glanced down to my hands, getting lost in thought. The ability to be invisible, to be revived after death, to manipulate fire and ice, and so many more... I thought of those I have met and their Devil Fruit abilities. It's something anyone would dream of. But for it to manifest into a fruit to give one who eats it, abilities...

I glanced away from my hands and to the others. "Gotta admit, that's a lot to take in."

"You're telling me... I mean, to come to a conclusion such as that..." Nami trailed off, placing her hand up to her chin in thought.

"That's crazy!" Usopp gasped out, grabbing his head.

Sanji nodded alongside him. "Though I can't say it's too surprising. With all the types of Devil Fruits in the world, some, more ridiculous than others."

"Like some of Big Mom's kids..." I nodded, remembering some of the crazy abilities they had before I tilted my head, watching as Luffy dodged another attack, laughing. "Although, you gotta admit that this God Nika Vegapunk mentioned oddly suits Luffy exactly."

Robin let out a chuckle. "He looks like he's having fun, no?"

"Maybe a little too much fun." Franky spoke up.

———

The battle seemed to be going well, with Sentomaru and the Seraphim's fighting CP-0 per request of Vegapunk. That was, until Sentomaru was struck down by Lucci.

Luffy charged forward to punch Lucci, only to be punched in the gut. Lucci smirked as luffy flew into the air from the force of the punch. Taking the opportunity, Lucci went after Sentomaru once more to finish him off for good.

Luffy landed on the ground, sending a kick to Lucci's face, spinning to put more power behind the kick. Lucci crashed into a building as Chopper and Jimbei grabbed both Bonney and Alta's, making a run for it.

"What is he doing?!" Nami gasped out as we watched Luffy spin around non stop, laughing. We watched as he started going into the ground, disappearing completely, only leaving a hole in the place he was once in.

I let out a sigh, shaking my head. "Who knows... what I'm wondering about, are those Seraphim's." I replied, glancing as they fought CP-0.

"Sentomaru..." I heard Vegapunk whisper out solemnly as he stared at the condition the man was in.

"Hey, Vegapunk!" Franky shouted, gaining all of our attention.

Vegapunk looked to Franky in question. "What the matter?"

"That power is what's the matter! The power that brat Jimbei is using!" Franky exclaimed, tears in his eyes. "Isn't that the Swim-Swim Fruit Power?!"

"The Swim-Swim Fruit?" Nami asked him, all of us confused at what the problem was.

Franky nodded. "That's right. That's my sworn brother from the Donquixote Family... Senior Pink's power!"

I widened my eyes at his reply. They gave that thing the abilities of someone's Devil Fruit?!

Franky balled his fists up. "There can't be two of the same Fruit in this world! Does this mean he died?!" He began to cry out. "My bro!"

Vegapunk looked back at the screen. "You've noticed it. He is currently being held in Impel Down."

At the revelation, Franky stopped crying. "So he's alive?! Gee! Don't make me worry! Then... you duplicated the Devil Fruit?!"

I glanced over at Vegapunk, wanting to know as well. "That's right. The Devil Fruits... can be made artificially, but only the Zoan type! Well, Caesar's Smiles are ridiculous..."

Nami let out a huff. "Yeah, he can go to hell."

I closed my eyes., nodding. "Yeah, he gave us a lot of trouble."

"The Smiles are too risky." Vegapunk spoke up.

"Only one out of ten people at most will gain power by eating one. The ones who didn't receive power will be forced to smile all the time... How awful." Robin stated, knitting her brows together, referring to those in Wano.

"Caesar..." Franky trailed off. "Just hearing that name makes me wanna puke."

Vegapunk looked at us for a moment. "Well, putting that aside... Probably even the special types of Fruits can be replicated... given tons of money and time! Though I'm not sure if they'll awaken!"

"No way..." I gasped out, shocked at his statement.

"I did all I could to replicate the Logia types, but it's impossible... But... for the Paramythia types, I found if I can get its users Bloodline Elements, I can create a special blood infusion and by administering it, I can let someone have its power!" Vegapunk explained, pointing to one of the screens. "That's... the blood flowing through their arms! The Green Blood!"

Glancing at the Seraphim that looks like Boa, we could see a green substance on one of the arms.

"Did you create blood?!" Franky gasped out in shock.

Vegapunk laughed as we watched the Seraphim fight. To our surprise, the Boa one used the exact same Devil Fruit ability the real Boa can use, turning some of the CP agents to stone.

I turned my gaze to the Kuma one as he made the same air bomb he used on all of us back on Thriller Bark. "The Seraphim are the peak of what our science can achieve as far as I can deduce!"

The air bomb went off, sending the men flying in all different directions. "It can be said that they are... the strongest form of humanity in the history of the world!"

"The strongest form of humanity?!" Nami asked. "Is that why the Seven Warlords were demolished?!"

Usopp grabbed his head, crying out. "How dare you create something stronger than the Seven Warlords! Damn!"

Sanji looked at Vegapunk. "They're essentially the Navy's weapons..."

"More than likely to take pirates like us, who's gained a lot of attention, out." I crossed my arms, staring down at the screen.

"Yeah." Robin agreed with me. "They are a threat to us."

I frowned as I thought more about what that actually meant. Does that mean they have more of these that have the same powers as the rest of the Warlords? I can't imagine having a weapon walking around with Moria or Doflamingo's ability....

And now with Luffy being recognized by the Navy as one of the Four Emperors, they're going to be sending these things after us non stop. Just how much did things change while we were in Wano?

I blinked a couple times as a thought ran through my head. "Vegapunk... How long have you been able to do this? Replicating the powers of Devil Fruits?"

———
Published: 04/20/2024