"This Fuse-Fuse Fruit you mentioned… can it really fuse anything?" Bege asked, voicing his lingering doubt.
Ben Kosa nodded affirmatively, his expression confident. He stood up. "Captain Bege, allow me to take you to my laboratory. I will demonstrate the power of the Fuse-Fuse Fruit for you personally."
Bege rose immediately, his curiosity thoroughly piqued.
Kosa's main laboratory was located deep underground, a sprawling complex constructed entirely of metal. He led Bege to a section lined with rows upon rows of sturdy metal cages. Inside each cage was a different kind of beast, all appearing listless and subdued.
Kosa held out his hands, and a soft light emanated from each palm – the power of the Fuse-Fuse Fruit. With a wave of his hands, beams of this light shot into two adjacent cages – one containing a large tiger, the other a massive python. Under the light's strange influence, the two beasts began to slowly, unnaturally, merge together. When the light finally faded, a bizarre creature stood where the two animals had been: it possessed the lithe, scaled head of a giant snake atop the powerful, striped body of a tiger.
"This…" Bege and his crew stared, utterly dumbfounded by the impossible sight.
"This is the core ability of the Fuse-Fuse Fruit," Kosa explained, gesturing towards the strange hybrid. "It can fuse any objects, including living organisms. Furthermore, the fused entity retains abilities and characteristics from both original components. For instance, this snake-headed tiger monster now possesses certain traits and instincts from both the tiger and the python."
A sudden thought struck Bege. "Wait," he asked urgently, "does this mean Ingram, Kira, and those other strange modified people I saw… are they all products of fusion using this fruit?"
Kosa nodded. "Correct. They are all what I call Fused Humans. Ingram, for example, was originally a shipwrecked pirate I found stranded on this island. Using him as the base subject, I fused him with an eagle, a bear, a deer, and even genetic material from two different types of Sea Kings – five distinct beasts in total. That is the source of his incredible strength and unique physiology. Kira… Kira was an even more complex fusion, incorporating elements from eight different ferocious beasts."
Shock! Bege was completely floored by this revelation. If the Fuse-Fuse Fruit truly possesses such heaven-defying power, couldn't one easily create an entire army of incredibly powerful, monstrous soldiers?
As if reading Bege's thoughts again, Kosa interjected, "Actually, Captain, the Fuse-Fuse Fruit has significant drawbacks."
"What drawbacks?" Bege asked immediately.
"Bege," Modi suddenly spoke up, pointing towards the cage, "there's something very wrong with that monster."
Bege looked back just as the snake-headed tiger's eyes flashed with savage violence, and it let out a furious roar at them. Then, just as quickly, it collapsed to the ground, slithering sinuously like a snake, its forked tongue flicking out rapidly. Its behavior was erratic, shifting, utterly bizarre.
Kosa explained, "While the Fuse-Fuse Fruit can merge the physical bodies of different life forms, it cannot fuse their souls. So while this snake-headed tiger appears to be a single entity, within its mind, the souls of both the original tiger and the original python continue to exist independently. These two souls are constantly battling for control over the shared body."
"So… like multiple personalities?" Bege asked, surprised.
"Exactly. Similar to dissociative identity disorder," Kosa confirmed with a nod. "In the past, within the WG Science Unit, other scientists who possessed the Fuse-Fuse Fruit attempted to create the ultimate being through fusion. However, they could never overcome the soul-fusion problem. Furthermore, when previous scientists experimented using pirate prisoners as test subjects, they often created individuals with severe mental instability or fractured personalities. On one infamous occasion, an experiment went horribly wrong, resulting in a fused monster of incredible power that went berserk and nearly wiped out the entire science facility. A Marine Admiral had to be dispatched personally to destroy the creature. The scientist who had eaten the Fuse-Fuse Fruit also perished in that incident. After the World Government somehow retrieved the fruit again, they became extremely cautious, forbidding anyone from easily using its power."
"What if," Bege mused, "you fuse a living person with a dead body? A corpse shouldn't have a soul, right? Wouldn't that leave only the living person's soul in control?"
Kosa shook his head grimly. "I attempted that very experiment long ago. Unfortunately, when a living being fuses with a corpse, it also fuses with the residual 'Death Energy' inherent in the dead body. This infusion of death energy invariably causes the resulting fused creature to perish very quickly."
"Then how are Ingram and your other Fused Humans seemingly stable?" Bege pressed, thinking of the guards he'd seen earlier.
"Ingram is, in the truest sense, the first successful Fused Human subject where I managed to mostly overcome the multi-soul problem," Kosa stated, though he didn't elaborate on how. "Aside from Ingram, all the other Fused Humans I have created do suffer from the multi-soul issue. They can only maintain a semblance of stability through the regular use of special suppressive drugs I developed."
"There's a drug that can suppress multiple souls within one body?" Bege found this almost as incredible as the fusion itself.
Kosa nodded, a flicker of pride crossing his face. "I have dedicated over a decade to researching the Fuse-Fuse Fruit and its effects. I've finally made some significant progress, yes. I successfully developed a chemical compound that can inhibit the conflicting souls."
He quickly added the caveats, "However, this drug can only effectively suppress one or two extra souls at most. And it requires daily, precise injections to maintain its effect. For Fused Humans created from three, four, or more fusions, like Kira, the drug is much less effective. Furthermore, as with many substances, repeated injections eventually lead to immunity. Kira, having undergone eight fusions, became completely immune to the suppression drug long ago, making his rampages inevitable."
"Doesn't that make all your Fused Humans ticking time bombs?" Bege asked skeptically, his initial enthusiasm for the fruit's military potential significantly dampened by the prospect of unstable, uncontrollable soldiers.
"Naturally, I have countermeasures in place," Kosa replied with a faint, chilling smile. He reached into his lab coat pocket and produced a small, metallic object resembling a miniature bomb. He activated his Fuse-Fuse power again – one beam of light struck the bomb in his hand, while another struck the snake-headed tiger monster still writhing in its cage. A brief flash of light, and the bomb seemingly vanished, having fused with the creature.
The monster showed no outward change. Kosa now held a small, simple detonator device with a single red button. He pressed it gently.
BOOM!
The snake-headed tiger instantly exploded from within, showering the cage and surrounding area with gore and viscera.
"I take the precaution of fusing each Fused Human I create with a special explosive pack of my own design," Kosa explained calmly amidst the gruesome aftermath. "This Fusion Bomb, as I call it, fuses directly and inextricably with the subject's heart and brain tissue, making it virtually impossible to remove safely without killing the host. If I simply press this button," he gestured to the detonator still in his hand, "the Fused Human immediately self-destructs. Therefore, the possibility of sudden rebellion is not a primary concern for me."
Bege finally understood why Kira had suddenly self-destructed earlier – Kosa must have triggered the implanted bomb remotely.
A predatory gleam entered Bege's eyes. This 'Fusion Bomb'… it was an ingenious, albeit brutal, method of ensuring absolute control, somewhat analogous to how Trafalgar Law could control others by removing their hearts with his Op-Op Fruit.
"Captain Bege," Kosa added, noticing the look in Bege's eyes, a knowing smile playing on his lips, "the Fusion Bomb can be an invaluable tool for helping you maintain… absolute control over any particularly disobedient subordinates you might acquire."
Moria and the other crew members present glared suspiciously at the scientist.
"Hahahaha! My own loyal men, of course, require no such drastic measures," Bege laughed dismissively, though his mind was already considering the possibilities. "However," he added thoughtfully, "as we expand our territory and influence in the New World later on… such special methods might indeed prove quite useful."
Modi nodded calmly beside Bege. "Despicable methods are often the most effective in maintaining order."
"Is this Fusion Bomb truly impossible to remove?" Bege asked Kosa directly.
"I cannot entirely rule out the possibility that other Devil Fruit users might possess abilities capable of dismantling or neutralizing it," Kosa admitted seriously. "Since a Fuse-Fuse Fruit exists, it stands to reason that a corresponding 'Defuse-Defuse Fruit' or perhaps a 'Decomposition Fruit' might also exist somewhere in the world, capable of counteracting the fusion. Furthermore, I cannot be certain if some unique Devil Fruit powers might simply render the internal bomb inert. And then, of course, there are the scientists back in the World Government's employ… especially that genius Vegapunk. It is conceivable they could eventually develop scientific countermeasures or weapons capable of inhibiting the Fusion Bomb."
Bege nodded thoughtfully, absorbing the information. The world of Devil Fruits was indeed vast and filled with unpredictable, often bizarre powers; Kosa was right, nothing was truly invincible or without potential counters. And the World Government's scientists, particularly Vegapunk – a man reputed to possess knowledge 500 years ahead of current technology – could certainly not be underestimated.
Nevertheless, Bege was already extremely satisfied with the terrifying potential offered by Kosa's Fusion Bomb technology.