It wasn't just the Artificial Devil Fruit project—Yuri had also tasked Caesar with an even more challenging experiment.
This project aimed to combine the artificial Devil Fruits with Monster Cells to create even more powerful Devil Fruits. This idea was somewhat similar to Vegapunk's Devil Weapons or Garp's mechanical arm, but Vegapunk had only found a way to have the two forces work together. Caesar, on the other hand, was tasked with genuinely fusing Devil Fruits with other materials—not just Monster Cells.
The materials also included the Super Soldier Serum that Vegapunk had previously replicated. In essence, Yuri wanted Caesar to create something far more powerful.
Though Vegapunk was indeed a genius, he was only one person and couldn't conduct all his experiments simultaneously. The World Government couldn't provide him with unlimited funding either. Delegating certain tasks to others helped alleviate some of Vegapunk's pressure.
Currently, Vegapunk's primary focus is on creating artificial humans. In a peaceful world without interference, this project would be known as the Seraphim Project. However due to external influences like the Right Hand of God and Backwater, the World Government had to show respect to the Cross Church, and thus they couldn't refer to these creations as "angels." Instead, the project was simply named the Artificial Human Project.
Thanks to interference from Genichi, this project had also evolved significantly.
Now, the Artificial Human Project was split into two branches. The first involved modifying existing humans, and these could not be called "artificial humans" but rather "cyborgs."
Most of the participants were individuals who couldn't achieve great power through traditional superpower training but still weren't entirely useless. They had some strength but desired more power and higher status. These individuals volunteered for the project, allowing Vegapunk to modify their bodies to enhance their strength.
After the modifications, these cyborgs lost their past identities and were reborn as machines. Vegapunk implanted various bloodline factors into them, along with supercomputers and energy cores inside their bodies, giving them powerful new lives.
They no longer had names—only cold designations.
Currently, eight such artificial humans exist, labeled as "Artificial Human No. 1" through "Artificial Human No. 8." The higher the number, the stronger the artificial human.
The second branch involved creating superhumans from scratch using materials like bloodline factors, Devil Fruits, and Monster Cells. This branch was the original intention of the Seraphim Project. The body of Adam was waiting for this experiment to progress further.
Adam's true form was the brain of Gremmy, a brain that had died long ago. Genichi planned to reuse it by finding a suitable body to reactivate the brain.
Thus, a powerful body was needed, and the Artificial Human Project aimed to create the perfect body for Adam.
To build such a body, Vegapunk created countless nanomachines that floated in the air, collecting cells from strong individuals around the world, along with their bloodline factors and battle data. He combined these with top-tier scientific technology to create the ultimate lifeform.
Vegapunk believed that once this lifeform appeared, it would bring peace and unity to the world.
He named this lifeform "Cell"—after the fusion of all the strongest cells from the greatest fighters in the world.
However, because this project required gathering information and samples from across the globe, it would take a long time to complete Cell. Yet, no matter how long it took, the day would eventually come when Cell was finished.
This was Vegapunk's current primary focus. Since one person's energy was limited, and Genichi valued what Vegapunk was working on, other tasks were left to others.
Caesar was still working on the Artificial Devil Fruit project. Even with the wealth of information Yuri had provided from the World Government's research on Vegapunk, Caesar still needed time to mass-produce and cultivate the fruits.
Kaido left after discussing this with Yuri, but what Kaido didn't know was that while they were talking about the Omnitrix, someone else was listening in on their conversation.
Kozuki Oden…
Or rather, it was the shadow army of Kozuki Oden.
After Oden transformed into Naraku, he entered a deep sleep to absorb and adapt to the immense power inside him—a terrifying power.
The power of Vajra's flesh, vast amounts of Monster Cells, his fusion with shadows, and his internal twisted emotions—all of these factors contributed to Oden needing time to fully undergo his rebirth as Naraku.
In the shadow world where Oden slept, a part of his consciousness remained active, allowing him to continue making plans.
This part of Oden's consciousness was awakened by certain people in Wano who still revered him.
Yes, despite Wano's deep hatred for the Kozuki clan and Oden, there were always dissenters who opposed the mainstream narrative.
Some believed that Kozuki Oden had been wronged, that he had been framed, and that Yuri, the current king, had rewritten history through violence. These people worshiped Oden and were influenced by his power.
This is how Oden's idol-like worship worked: as soon as someone began to admire him, they became influenced and controlled by his power, growing increasingly fanatical. However, Oden did indeed provide them with some returns.
Oden's dark power made these individuals stronger, even granting them abilities they never had before. This only deepened their devotion, as they now believed that Oden wasn't dead and that they were his loyal followers tasked with reviving him.
They formed a secret society in Wano, hoping to be the force that helped Oden return. Yamato was in a similar state but was quickly imprisoned by Kaido, preventing her from meeting her like-minded comrades.
These followers served as an anchor for Oden, allowing him to stay connected to the outside world even as he transformed into Naraku. Through this connection, Oden could set plans in motion—such as having his shadow army spy on the world outside.
From the shadows, Oden's forces were able to observe everything happening in Wano, including the discussions about the Omnitrix.
They concluded that they couldn't let Yuri successfully develop the Omnitrix. If completed, it would pose a serious threat to their master. Therefore, they resolved to steal the Omnitrix or, if that wasn't possible, destroy it.