Who Is Vegapunk?
The young Dr. Vegapunk was arrested by the World Government after discovering “lineage factors.”
Rather than being executed, he now stands at the center of the World Government’s science division. His flagship creation: the human weapon “Pacifista.”
Beyond that, he’s also developed technologies one after another: a sea route through the Calm Belt by lining warship hulls with Seastone, artificial Devil Fruits, and the ability to feed Devil Fruits to objects.
Vegapunk’s Great Discovery
The World Government saw Vegapunk — who had discovered “lineage factors” — as a threat, and immediately bought out his entire research team.
So what exactly are lineage factors, important enough to warrant that response? The lineage factors depicted in the panel where Yonji explains them look unmistakably like DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid).
Why is human genetic information dangerous? And why did the World Government buy out Vegapunk along with his entire research team?
It must have been because they contained crucial clues for obtaining the military force they had been experimenting on for hundreds of years.
Giant Soldiers
On Punk Hazard, the World Government had been conducting experiments to gigantify humans. The goal: to create giant soldiers and dominate the world with overwhelming military force.
Given the large number of ancient giant corpses stored frozen, we can infer that the World Government’s experiments had been ongoing since at least when the ancient giants were still alive.
A giant with braids, one frozen with folded arms, one with an unusually large face…
It’s hard to believe that so many giants gathered in one place and froze naturally with their arms folded — so they were probably flash-frozen using a power like the Ice Ice Fruit.
Then they extracted as much lineage factor (DNA) as needed for experiments.
Vinsmoke Judge’s Application of Lineage Factors
Vinsmoke Judge, who escaped the World Government even after Vegapunk’s arrest, went on to successfully mass-produce clone soldiers and modify his own children.
Cloning and genetic manipulation of unborn children would be impossible without knowledge of lineage factors (DNA). This means Judge was also present at the discovery of lineage factors but managed to escape the World Government.
By that logic, anything Judge managed to do, Vegapunk would naturally be able to do as well. Let’s briefly summarize what Vegapunk seems capable of:
- Genetic manipulation of living beings through application of lineage factors (DNA)
- Cyborg surgery performed on animals in Baldimore
- Cloning and prenatal genetic manipulation — the same research Judge successfully completed
So, could the World Government actually create the “giant soldiers” it had been researching for hundreds of years? The answer: “Giant creation was possible, but not at a level of completion that could be called soldiers.”
The Failed “Ancient Giants”
Most likely, they managed to extract lineage factors from the Punk Hazard corpses and use cloning techniques to reproduce ancient giants up to a point.
Those were the “Numbers” who became Kaido’s subordinates. Big Mom called them “failures,” and the reason was probably production cost.
For example, Germa’s clone soldiers take five years to reach adulthood. So how many years would it take to produce an adult giant clone?
Giants in One Piece average 20 meters tall — ten times the height of a normal human. And their lifespan is three times longer than a human’s.
In other words, a clone giant finished in five years would grow into an adult-sized body, but its brain never fully matured.
It must have become clear that creating giant soldiers with both adult bodies and adult minds would take three times as long and cost three times as much as Germa’s clone soldiers.
The ancient giants called “failures” in Wano showed signs of immaturity — chasing after General Franky to use as a toy, being unable to speak.
Ironically, the genius scientist had ended up proving that the World Government’s long-cherished dream was impossible.
But Vegapunk immediately proposed an alternative plan for the ultimate soldiers.
Cloning Technology × Cyborg Technology
Vegapunk’s verification brought the World Government’s Giant Soldier Corps plan to an end.
Watching the project managers sink into despair must have puzzled Vegapunk.
“Isn’t the whole idea that the ultimate soldier has to be a giant outdated? Surely the appearance of a Seven Warlord × a cyborg × a Logia would be stronger by any measure. And if you just mass-produce them with cloning technology, isn’t that even better?”
Whether those were his exact words or not, the mass appearance of the Pacifista may be the answer.
※ This is speculative analysis.
Caesar’s Application
Caesar, who had been part of the same research team as Vegapunk until the Punk Hazard explosion incident, used the research materials Vegapunk left behind and the World Government’s research facility to mass-produce SMILE.
The Artificial Devil Fruit “SMILE”
They say Punk Hazard was a lush, life-filled island before Caesar’s explosion incident and the duel between Akainu and Aokiji.
That means the artificial Devil Fruit that Vegapunk created — the “tree that bears Devil Fruits” — probably also existed on Punk Hazard at the time.
But after the explosion and the climate change caused by the duel, the island became incapable of sustaining life, which is why the SMILE farm in Dressrosa became necessary.
How SAD Is Made
Trees in the farm absorb water dissolved with SAD, which causes SMILE Fruits to grow. But how was SAD itself made?
This is probably the same mechanism as pork bone broth. The spinal cord or brain of captured animals — the part packed with genetic information — is ground up or boiled down into liquid form. The leftover parts were probably disposed of in an incinerator.
The genetic information-dense parts are crushed or simmered into liquid. The leftover portions were likely disposed of in an incinerator.
Then Law arrived, now a Warlord of the Sea, and seeing the large stockpile of animal carcasses slated for disposal — along with the immobilized, paralyzed Brownbeard Pirates — he must have seen a way to put them to good use.
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