chapter 60 part 2
"Due to immature technology and the problematic Human-Human Fruit used, Vegapunk classified it as a failure?"
"That makes sense. After all, it's understandable for an animal to gain enhanced intelligence after eating a Human-Human Fruit, but a lifeless object acquiring human intelligence after consuming one... that certainly seems unheard of."
Rat could understand why Vegapunk listed these gloves as a failure.
According to the document, these gloves would activate their transformation ability as soon as they were worn, but because the transformation ability was uncontrollable, it would only transform the hands.
And if an ordinary person's hands suddenly transformed into a Giant Race's hands, while their body remained that of an ordinary person... the outcome was imaginable.
Such a dangerous item was, of course, a failure.
"It seems then that Vegapunk's next experimental product should be 'Lasso.' That one was successful, wasn't it? Or at least, mostly successful?"
Thinking of Mr. 4's slow-moving dog-gun, Rat silently changed his affirmative statement into a question.
But at the same time, he genuinely felt a bit of pity.
"Human-Human Fruit, Giant Form... this Devil Fruit's ability is quite strong."
Rat sighed.
The Giant Race—they were one of the strongest fighting races in the world.
Any elite Giant Race warrior joining the Marines could become a Vice Admiral at headquarters, and a 'Giant Warrior Pirate Crew' composed of a group of Giant Races could even become a legend of an era.
Not to mention the Awakening level of this Devil Fruit, which could even revert to an 'ancient Giant Race'.
And the power of the ancient Giant Race was even more substantial.
Harald, the previous Giant Race King, was a giant who had experienced an 'ancient Giant Race lineage' regression. His strength was even enough to fight against Rocks, the hero who once dominated an era and was known as the 'King of the World', without falling behind.
"If these gloves could be controlled, they would definitely be an incredibly powerful weapon."
Rat sincerely felt it was a pity—if this item could be used, his Clones would effectively gain an additional LV3 Level Devil Fruit slot, and his combat power would greatly increase.
But as he thought of this, Rat was suddenly startled.
Because he suddenly realized—
"If it's a transformation problem with a Zoan Type Devil Fruit, it seems there might be a way?"
He suddenly thought of something—that thing was very effective for Zoan Type Devil Fruit transformations.
With this thought, Rat quickly picked up the document from the research table along with the 'Hand of the Giant Warrior', casually opened a door, put them away in his spatial dimension, and then left the room.
Subsequently, he suppressed the excitement in his heart.
Although he couldn't wait to solve the problem of these gloves' transformation right now, still...
"Since I've come all this way to the research facility's core, how can I not take a look?"
He looked at the unique ancient stone door in front of him, and gently raised his hand.
"Creak!"
Passing through the large door, he entered the true core area of this research facility.
Immediately after, he froze in place.
He had imagined what the core area of this mysterious research facility might be—perhaps a laboratory filled with precise instruments, perhaps an archive containing ancient documents, or perhaps a storage place for the Poneglyphs.
But he hadn't anticipated the scene before him.
Inside the research facility's core area beyond this stone door, he saw a massive spherical space.
The entire space's walls and dome were covered in the 'coating' that Rat had seen on the island outside the research facility.
They formed a giant bubble, making the entire space appear almost submerged in the sea.
Inside the bubble, some research equipment and a considerable number of bookshelves lay haphazardly.
But this wasn't what stunned Rat—he had long grown accustomed to the scenery of the deep sea during his training with Zephyr.
What truly made his breathing falter at this moment was the area beneath this space.
He could clearly see—
Within this bubble, or rather, deep beneath this island in the abyssal deep sea, there was a vast jungle of steel!
Unimaginably huge metal pillars crisscrossed below.
They were clearly ancient, with mottled rust on the metal, overgrown with seaweed and barnacles.
And through the faint outlines below, Rat could deduce what that area was.
Those colossal mechanical arms, massive platforms, and scaffolding...
"Is that a shipyard?"
As he made this judgment, Rat himself felt it was absurd.
Could something of this size be a 'shipyard'?
How enormous would the ships built in this shipyard have to be—even Giant Race ships wouldn't qualify, would they?
"No, wait..."
But as this thought crossed his mind, Rat instantly reacted.
Near Water 7, a colossal shipyard that existed in the deep sea long ages ago...
He had a bold idea.
So, he quickly walked to the vicinity of the scattered research equipment and bookshelves.
"It's been cleaned, but the cleaning method was very crude."
With just a glance, he could tell that the documents here had all been processed, but not very thoroughly.
Clearly, Vegapunk left in a hurry.
"Was it because the 'high-ranking official' of the World Government mentioned in the previous intelligence arrived?"
Rat guessed in his heart.
"Hmm?"
And soon, Rat discovered something.
On a research table lying on the ground, there were a few words seemingly scribbled casually with a pen.
They were clearly inconspicuous, so much so that Vegapunk, who left in a hurry, seemed not to have noticed them.
[Pluton.] [Material? Pluton Alloy.] [Infinite energy?]
Rat could barely make out these few words.
But these few words were clearly enough to confirm his guess.
"'Pluton'."
Rat was almost certain of his conjecture deep in his heart.
"This shipyard... is the shipyard where the ancient shipwrights of Water 7 built 'Pluton'!"
(end of chapter)