Stussy and Keiko began conversing inside Enkanomiya. Both of them were professionals, and they found plenty of common ground.
Stussy's first order of business after joining was to lay everything bare. She disclosed every detail of the research she had conducted alongside Vegapunk and the others.
That included the speculation surrounding the origins of Devil Fruits.
"So you're saying that when a wish becomes overwhelmingly powerful, a Devil Fruit will simply appear?" Keiko felt deeply unsettled after hearing Stussy's explanation for why Devil Fruits existed.
The idea that they could exist solely because of human expectation—no matter how you looked at it, that explanation made no sense.
"It's precisely because it's unreasonable that Devil Fruit powers are rejected by the sea," Stussy replied. "The sea represents the mother of all that is natural."
"And precisely because Devil Fruits are born from human 'expectations,' there emerge many counter-intuitive relationships—ones that seem to follow 'common sense' but actually contradict reality."
"If that's really the case, then wouldn't the world eventually gain a Human-Human Fruit: Mythical Zoan—Pirate King Model a few hundred years from now?" Keiko still found the whole thing absurd.
"I have no idea about that. When we were in MADS, Devil Fruit-related research was essentially all handled by Vegapunk."
"Making inanimate objects 'consume' Zoan-type Devil Fruits—only he could pull that off. He also studied the Lineage Factor. That man is a true genius."
Stussy went through all of Vegapunk's research achievements, including the successful case of an Artificial Devil Fruit.
The fruit that had been replicated came from none other than Kaido, who had died not long before.
"According to Vegapunk, though, that fruit was apparently a failure." In truth, Stussy's knowledge was quite limited—while they all belonged to MADS, their relationships with one another were anything but friendly.
People like Caesar and Queen mostly believed their own genius was second to none, naturally dismissing and belittling everyone else.
As a result, a socialite like Stussy only ever caught fragments of information. When she heard Vegapunk call that fruit a failure, she assumed it had some kind of defect. Who could have imagined it was simply a matter of the color being off?
"A failure? I'm actually quite interested." Keiko very much wanted to get her hands on it for research.
Unfortunately, Stussy had never paid much attention to that Devil Fruit either. She had no idea where it had ended up.
The World Government still didn't know they had gained yet another traitor. But thanks to Stussy's arrival, Enkanomiya had launched into new research.
Calling it a new research topic wasn't quite right either. Research into the Lineage Factor had been ongoing for some time—it simply hadn't produced many results.
Ren hadn't just found Stussy. Before the year ended, he also tracked down Queen—who should have originally joined the Beasts Pirates.
Given Queen's combat strength, however, the Orochi Seal had no real chance of controlling him. This meant that while Queen could technically be considered a member of Inazuma now, he wasn't granted access to Enkanomiya.
That left him feeling rather frustrated.
Queen, who specialized in body modification and virus cultivation, was actually deeply interested in the scientists who had developed the Relic Series. To be honest, the level of technological modification across his body was still rather primitive. The armaments built into his wrists and mouth were downright ancient.
...
The time came to Sea Circle Calendar 1501.
Moria wore Seastone shackles on both his wrists and ankles, toiling away in the Udon quarry like a walking corpse.
Ever since his defeat at the hands of Inazuma's Ryuki, Moria had spent months in a daze.
He had no idea how much time had passed. Every single day was spent drowning in endless self-reproach.
If he hadn't been so reckless—provoking Inazuma the moment he arrived in the New World—he probably wouldn't have fallen to such a state.
His companions wouldn't have died because of him, either.
Moria hated his own recklessness and weakness. He hated Inazuma's cruelty and ruthlessness. He even resented his companions for simply leaving him behind like that.
If only he could escape from here...
If he could escape, he would build an undead army and march against Inazuma for revenge!
"Yes!"
"I have to get out of here!"
A glimmer of light flickered once more in Moria's eyes.
After drifting through so many days in a fog, he had finally pulled himself together. The fear of Inazuma rooted deep in his heart might prevent him from ever setting foot in the New World again, but at the very least, he was now actively thinking about how to break out of this prison.
After Inazuma's reconstruction, the one serving as Daimyo of Udon was Kujou Yayoi.
However, Yayoi and Shichigatsu now spent most of their time overseas. The actual administrator of Udon was a subordinate they had appointed.
The current Udon prison was quite different from the one under Kaido's rule. That bastard had given prisoners barely any food at all, but Yayoi didn't follow suit.
To be honest, Moria's prison meals over the past few months hadn't been bad. They weren't exactly delicious, but the portions were sufficient.
At first, Moria had assumed that after being captured, Inazuma's Raiden Shogun would personally execute him. Yet more than half a year had passed, and he hadn't even laid eyes on her once.
Clearly, the Raiden Shogun didn't consider him worth her attention at all.
Moria noticed that the number of pirates in the prison kept increasing at regular intervals—clearly captured from overseas. He wondered if these poor bastards had provoked Inazuma just like he had, and ended up captured for it.
He realized that the quarry didn't actually have that many guards. Perhaps because they all wore Seastone shackles, Inazuma saw no need to station a large force to watch over them.
That was good news for Moria.
With his abilities, he would only need to free himself from the Seastone shackles to escape with ease.
But achieving that was the greatest difficulty of all.
...
Several more months passed like this, and Moria still hadn't made his jailbreak attempt. But in the New World, something major happened first.
A group of rookie pirates formed an alliance and launched a challenge against the Big Mom Pirates, led by Charlotte Linlin.
At first, the whole world assumed it was just another case of New World Syndrome among rookie pirates. Those idiots always thought they were invincible—marching into the New World and immediately challenging the great pirates, only to be defeated almost without exception.
But this time, something seemed off. Even the Big Mom Pirates' long-renowned greatest masterpiece had been defeated.
[
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