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Early Sea Circle Calendar 1510.
The Thunder God Pirates, having concluded their all-out war with the Whitebeard Pirates, finally returned to their stronghold—the Thunder God Sea—under the leadership of the Thunder Emperor, Arthur.
Returning shrouded in glory after a campaign alongside their Emperor, the crew's cohesion reached unprecedented heights. The territory entered a phase of vigorous, booming development. The "Four Emperors and One Sovereign" now stood at the pinnacle of the New World, becoming the ultimate goal for every pirate on the ocean.
Within the crew itself, Arthur didn't need to issue many orders. Under Stussy's governance and with the assistance of the nine Division Captains, it was virtually impossible for chaos to break out in the Thunder God Sea.
Thus, upon his return to Raijin Island, Arthur enjoyed a massive feast of Jessica's delicious cooking before diving headfirst back into his research.
..............
The Underground Laboratory.
Arthur walked alone to the laboratory entrance. He opened the heavy doors and, guided by the soft, clinical lighting, saw thousands of cultivation vats lining the innermost layer of the facility.
Peering through the glass covers, he saw thousands of bodies identical to his own submerged in translucent green nutrient fluid. They were connected to various tubes, which pumped unknown substances into them.
"Have you finished researching it? My Lineage Factor?" Arthur asked, stepping into the lab. Behind him, the doors shut with a heavy thud. Vegapunk was, as always, absorbed in his work.
"It's simple enough, though creating them is no easy task," Vegapunk replied without looking up. He knew exactly who had entered. He gave a cursory response and continued his experiment.
On the table before him lay a "corpse." It was the very first Lineage Factor soldier to emerge from the vats—the one that had driven away Gildo Tesoro and Mad Treasure's group.
"In truth, if one simply wants to mass-produce combat power, mechanical bodies are superior to flesh. However, while robots are easy to manufacture, they require a constant energy supply. Once they run out of power on the battlefield, they cease functioning immediately, leaving them at the mercy of others."
"On the other hand, clones created from Lineage Factors are flesh and blood. Modeled after your monstrous physique, once they are successfully created, they are indistinguishable from real humans. Using their abilities in battle only consumes their own stamina."
"The only drawback... is that training powerful Lineage Factor soldiers takes a great deal of time."
Vegapunk pointed to the "dead" soldier on the table. "This is the consequence of an early birth. They can only serve as disposable weapons."
From the start of the project until now, only one had left the vats, primarily to test if their combat effectiveness was up to standard. But after repelling the Warlords, that soldier—born prematurely—instantly lost the vitality inherent to a living body. It was as if his life force had been utterly drained.
Any soldier who did not emerge naturally from the vats could only participate in a single battle before their energy was exhausted, leading to immediate death. For a soldier to be successfully cultivated, they needed time—time to absorb energy and grow.
Arthur's physical strength and abilities were simply too immense. Soldiers modeled after him were destined to be difficult to produce, and their cultivation was incredibly resource-intensive.
"Fine, handle it as you see fit," Arthur said nonchalantly, walking toward his own experimental area.
Whether these Lineage Factor soldiers existed or not made little difference to him personally. If they did, they would simply be extra troops to guard his territory; if not, the Thunder God Pirates remained the strongest force regardless.
"Oh, by the way!" Arthur suddenly stopped as if remembering something. He turned back to Vegapunk. "Can you change the appearance of these soldiers? Facing thousands of versions of myself... I don't exactly mind, but it feels a bit awkward."
Anyone would feel a bit unsettled if they looked up from their work to see thousands of their own faces staring back.
"Are you obsessed with appearances? Looks are meaningless; utility is what matters," Vegapunk remarked, shaking his head. Nevertheless, he prepared to modify the genetic soldiers' features. For a scientist who had discovered the "Blueprint of Life," such a task was trivial.
"It's not a matter of appearance... everyone in the world wants to be unique," Arthur explained.
Only someone like Vegapunk, who was so obsessed with scientific research that he disregarded everything else, could calmly face an army of his own clones.
"Unique? I don't quite understand the concept..."
"Kaido has his army of Zoan ability users, and Big Mom has her Soul Homie guards plus her sons' 'Sweet Commanders' army. So, for our Thunder God Pirates, shall we call this the Thunder God Guard or the Thunder Emperor Legion?"
"Whatever..." Arthur replied. He couldn't wait any longer. He pulled the flesh he had carved from Kaido out of his "castle" and placed it on the experimental table to begin his research.
The prospect of increasing his strength provided him with a long-lost sense of excitement.
..............
As the "Four Emperors and One Sovereign" dominated the ocean, no other pirate crew could hope to compete with them. Consequently, the seas fell into a period of relative calm.
Perhaps because the era had just undergone a major shift, the terror of these five rulers became deeply ingrained in the public consciousness as news of their power spread. For the next two years, the number of new pirates setting sail dwindled significantly.
With fewer people becoming pirates, the Navy was understandably delighted.
Whether it was the five hegemons of the New World, the Seven Warlords, the World Government, or the four blues, the world settled into a rare state of tranquility.
The sea is often like this—alternating between periods of drunken indulgence and all-out war.
As for the Thunder Emperor, once he entered his laboratory, he became like a man possessed. Aside from eating and resting, he never left the underground facility.
The Whitebeard Pirates remained under the steady hand of Newgate. His crew's reverence for him remained unchanged, regardless of him losing the title of "World's Strongest Man." They didn't care. They continued to wander the world aboard the Moby Dick, their days filled with laughter.
After the war between the Beasts and the Red-Haired Pirates, Kaido's all-Zoan army had naturally suffered losses. Jack the Drought, one of the Three Disasters, personally sought out Doflamingo, using death threats to pressure him into finding more Zoan Devil Fruits.
Caesar Clown, now working with Doflamingo, finally became useful. He began researching artificial Devil Fruits using SAD and resumed his giantification experiments.
Big Mom's intelligence network caught wind of these giantification experiments and dispatched her crew to negotiate with Doflamingo...
Time flew like a river. The surface calm of the New World persisted for two years. Soon, the calendar turned from Sea Circle Calendar 1510 to 1512.
Arthur remained deeply immersed in his research. He experimented frantically, determined to push his physique to the next level—to reach a state where his body could finally sustain a seventh Devil Fruit.
After two full years of effort, his research finally showed signs of a breakthrough...
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