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After clearing out the machines, Zishu continued walking down the corridor of the research facility.
The further he went, the stranger his expression became.
He realized that within the pipes blasted open during the earlier battle, he could still discern another layer of structure, a layer consistent with the ancient, visible bedrock of the island itself.
This led Zishu to a startling conclusion.
"It's not that the Research facility has a simple structure. Rather, some building originally existed here, and Vegapunk simply added to it after arriving?"
His guess was confirmed when he reached the end of the tunnel.
At the tunnel's deepest point were three doors.
The central door shared the same ancient stone texture as the island above.
Yet it wasn't Zishu's primary focus.
In fact, his attention was drawn to the leftmost of the three doors.
The door was marked with a symbol of a fruit and a dog, and it was the only one of the three doors that was open.
Zishu could see a doghouse, dog bowls, and even a chew toy in the corner of the room.
"No doubt about it, this is the room where Mr. 4 discovered Lassoo."
"The fruit on the door must represent Devil Fruit, and the dog represents Lassoo?"
Zishu immediately made his deduction, even deducing the meaning behind the symbol.
Without hesitation, his gaze immediately shifted to the rightmost door.
On that door was a similar symbol, a fruit and a person!
"A person? Could there be a Devil Fruit User inside?"
Even as this thought crossed his mind, Zishu didn't hesitate. He immediately used the Door-Door Fruit to enter the room.
Then he discovered... that the room was completely empty.
The only furnishings were a research table, upon which lay a document and a box containing a pair of gloves.
Inside, there was only a research table. On it were a document and a box. Inside the box was a pair of gloves.
There were no Devil Fruits inside, nor was there any weapon.
This immediately disappointed Zishu.
"Could Vegapunk have taken it?" He muttered, approaching the research table.
But at that exact moment...
{Devil Fruit consumer detected}
The voice ringing in his ear made Zishu's heart leap. Almost instinctively, he glanced around—was someone else here?
A moment later, however, when he understood the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia's words, he froze in place.
Because...
{The Devil Fruit user is the 'Giant Soldier's Hand.'}
"...Huh?"
Zishu couldn't process it for a moment. 'Giant Soldier's Hand? What kind of kid comes up with such a cringey name?'
Wait... could it be...?
The next instant, realization dawned on him, and his gaze snapped to the gloves.
Sure enough, the skin on the gloves was undulating like a living creature.
{Devil Fruit confirmed: Zoan · Human-Human Fruit · Giant Humanoid Form}
{Analysis and storage in 'Devil Fruit Encyclopedia' in progress.'}
{Devil Fruit Ability: Allows incarnation into a Giant Race member. Grants autonomous learning of Giant Tribe combat skills.}
{Effects at Each Level}
{LV1: Grants minor Devil Fruit effects, slightly enhancing all physical attributes.}
{LV2: Grants partial Devil Fruit effects. Allows incarnation into a Half-Giant form, significantly increasing body size and greatly enhancing all physical attributes. Requires 80 million to permanently unlock}
{LV3: Grants full Devil Fruit effects. Allows incarnation into a full Giant Race member, gaining the immense size and strength equivalent to an elite Giant race warrior. Requires 500 million to permanently unlock}
{LV4: Profound Devil Fruit Development: Grants Hero-level strength comparable to the Giant Tribe. Requires 1.5 billion to permanently unlock}
{LV5: Devil Fruit Awakening - Regression to Ancestry: Enables the Zoan Fruit's unique 'Awakening Transformation,' incarnating as an Ancient Giant Tribe member with vastly greater size, strength, and vitality than typical Ancient Giants. Requires 8 billion Beli to permanently unlock}
{Analysis Progress: 0%}
"So that's what the symbol on the door meant!"
Zishu finally understood at that moment.
The "person" marked on the door wasn't a Devil Fruit user.
It was the Human-Human Fruit · Giant Humanoid Form!
But the problem was...
"These gloves... they don't look like a weapon at all?"
Zishu stared at the pair of gloves, hesitating slightly.
As far as he knew, Vegapunk's fruit-based weapons could only consume Zoan-type Devil Fruits. After consumption, the weapons would transform into the corresponding animal form to assist in combat.
But these gloves in front of him...no matter how he looked at them, something felt off.
Out of caution, he didn't immediately pick up the gloves. Instead, he reached out and picked up the document on the research table.
{Lineage Factor Research Laboratory - Devil Fruit Weapons - Development Log}
{Experiment Subject Name: Giant Soldier's Hand}
{Experiment Summary: After studying the ancient Lineage Factor technology on this island, we successfully triggered the Lineage Factor of a Zoan-type Devil Fruit in an object for the first time. The Fruit was the Human-Human Fruit, Giant Form.'}
{As the initial prototype, testing revealed two unexpected flaws in the experimental subject.}
{Defect 1: Although the experimental subject successfully awakened the Fruit Ability and could "feed" the glove by grinding food and water into a paste and applying it to the glove, it lost the basic intelligence inherent in Zoan-type Fruits. Its act of devouring food was driven solely by biological instinct.}
{Additionally, lacking intelligence, the experimental subject's transformation ability was uncontrollable. Simply wearing the glove would automatically trigger transformation, limited only to the hand covered by the glove.}
{Defect 2: The Fruit Ability of this experimental subject affects the wearer—transforming them into a member of the Giant Tribe. However, due to Defect 1, the transformation is limited to the hand. The massive increase in size would instantly tear the wearer apart. Testing revealed that even machinery made of steel cannot withstand the strain.}
{Possible Causes: The leather glove's excessive snugness or the Human-Human Fruit's uniquely specialized intelligence among Zoan-type Fruits.}
{Conclusion: While this experimental product represents the first successful attempt to grant an object a Fruit Ability, it must still be considered a failure. For future experiments, it is recommended to use a Zoan-type Devil Fruit other than the Human-Human Fruit, and to employ non-formfitting weapons such as guns, cannons, or swords for subsequent trials.}
The document's contents were crystal clear.
"These gloves... are Vegapunk's first 'Fruit Weapon'?"
"Due to the immaturity of the technology and the problematic nature of the Human-Human Fruit used in the additives, Vegapunk classified them as a failure?"
"That makes sense. It's somewhat understandable for animals to gain enhanced intelligence after consuming the Human-Human Fruit, but for an inanimate object to possess human-like intelligence... I've never heard of anything like that before."
Zishu could understand why Vegapunk had labeled these gloves as a failure.
According to the document, these gloves would activate the user's form change ability upon being worn. However, due to the uncontrollable nature of this ability, the form change would only affect the wearer's hands.
Imagine an ordinary person's hands suddenly transforming into those of a Giant Tribe member, while their body remained human. The consequences would be catastrophic.
Such a dangerous contraption was naturally deemed a failure.
"So, it seems Vegapunk's next experimental subject was 'Lassoo.' This one was actually successful—well, arguably successful?"
Recalling the agonizingly slow movements of Mr. 4's Dog Guns, Zishu mentally converted his statement into a question.
Yet, he couldn't help but feel a genuine sense of pity.
"Human-Human Fruit, Giant Humanoid Form. This Devil Fruit's ability is remarkably potent," Zishu mused.
The Giant race is one of the strongest combat races in the world.
Any elite warrior from the Giant race could easily become a Vice Admiral in the Marine Headquarters, and a group of Giants forming the 'Giant Warrior Pirates' could become legends of an era.
Moreover, this Devil Fruit's Awakening level could even trigger a Regression to Ancestry, transforming the user into an 'Ancient Giant'.
The strength of the Ancient Giants was completely legitimate and undeniable.
Harald, the former Giant Tribe King, was a Giant who had Regressed to Ancestry into his Ancient Giant Bloodline. His power was so immense that he could clash with Rocks, the 'King of the World' who had dominated an entire era, and hold his own.
"If this gauntlet could be controlled, it would be an incredibly powerful weapon," Zishu mused, genuinely feeling a sense of regret. If he could use it, his clone would essentially gain an additional Level 3 Devil Fruit slot, drastically boosting its combat prowess.
But as this thought crossed his mind, Zishu suddenly froze.
He had just realized something.
"If it's a Zoan Fruit form-change problem, then maybe there is a solution after all."
He thought of something: that thing was extremely effective at controlling Zoan Fruit transformations.
With this in mind, Zishu swiftly gathered the research notes and the Giant Soldier's Hand from the research table. He casually opened a portal, stowing them safely in an alternate space before leaving the room.
After that, he suppressed the excitement in his heart.
Forcing himself to suppress his excitement, he knew he desperately wanted to tackle the glove's form change issue immediately, but...
"Since I'm already here, how could I possibly skip exploring the Research facility's most Elite area?"
He looked at the unique, ancient stone door before him and gently raised his hand.
"Creak!"
Passing through the door, he entered the true elite zone of the research facility.
In the next instant, he froze in place.
He had imagined many possibilities for what the elite area of this mysterious facility might contain: perhaps a laboratory filled with precision devices, an archive of ancient documents, or a storage site for Poneglyphs.
But what lay before his eyes was something he had never expected.
Behind the stone door was an enormous spherical space.
The walls and dome were coated with the same "plating" Zishu had observed on the outer surface of the Research facility's island. This plating formed an enormous bubble, making the entire chamber feel submerged in the ocean depths.
Inside the bubble were research instruments and numerous bookshelves filled with books related to Devil Fruits, all scattered in disarray.
But that wasn't what made Zishu freeze; after Zephyr's training, he had grown accustomed to the sights of the deep sea.
What truly made him pause was what lay beneath this space.
He could clearly see...
Beneath the island itself, in the dark depths of the sea, there existed a vast forest of steel.
Unimaginably massive metal pillars crisscrossed below.
They were clearly ancient and covered in patches of rust with seaweed and barnacles growing all over them.
From the faint outlines below, Zishu could already tell what the area was.
The enormous mechanical arms, massive platforms, and scaffolding...
"Is that a shipyard?"
Even as Zishu made this judgment, he found it absurd. Could something of this scale truly be a "shipyard"? If so, how enormous must the ships built within it be? Not even the ships of the Giant race would qualify.
"Wait a minute..."
But as the thought crossed his mind, Zishu instantly realized something.
Near Water 7, deep beneath the sea, lay a vast shipyard from ages long past...
A bold idea formed in his mind.
He quickly walked over to the scattered research equipment and bookshelves.
"It's been cleaned up, but the cleaning was sloppy."
With just a glance, he could tell that the documents had been processed, but not thoroughly.
Clearly, Vegapunk had left in a hurry.
"Was it because the "high-ranking official" from the World Government mentioned in the earlier information arrived?" Zishu wondered.
"Hm?"
Soon, Zishu noticed something.
On a research table that had fallen to the ground, there were several words seemingly scribbled casually with a pen. They were inconspicuous enough that the hastily departing Vegapunk seemed to have overlooked them.
{Pluton}
{Material? Pluto Alloy}
{Infinite energy?}
Zishu could barely make out these words.
But those words alone were already enough to confirm his suspicions.
"Pluton."
In his heart, Zishu was almost certain now.
"This shipyard… is the very dockyard where the ancient shipwrights of Water 7 once built Pluton!"
(End of Chapter)