Chapter 112: 112. Successful Plundering Of Fruits, Expansion Of Alloy Technology

Check out advanced chapters on P@treon: [email protected]/CosmicKaminari ---------- Sea Circle Calendar, December 1510 Following the breakthrough in the development of the new alloy, Alex's research teams shifted focus to explore its full potential. While the SMILE production line continued operating, the researchers specializing in artificial Devil Fruits redirected their efforts to this revolutionary technological material. As their understanding deepened, the possibilities for integrating biological factors with the alloy expanded. Key avenues of research included: Zoan Alloy Legion: By combining the alloy with the factors extracted from artificial Zoan Devil Fruits, the team envisioned an alternative SMILE Zoan Legion. These mechanical creations could mimic the transformative properties of Zoan fruits, creating formidable hybrid warriors. Toxin Machines: Incorporating Caeser's expertise in chemical warfare, the alloy could be used to craft deadly machines capable of emitting powerful toxins. Laser Energy Weapons: The alloy also presented opportunities for energy storage and discharge. Yamato's experiments with energy powers such as thunder beams and lasers served as inspiration for developing advanced laser weaponry. Although these ideas remained in early development, the alloy's potential assured Alex that their realization was merely a matter of time. Sea Circle Calendar, March 1511 With greater proficiency in the Munch-Munch Fruit, Comps began experimenting with a direction proposed by Alex—integrating Devil Fruit powers into his abilities. Using Devil Fruits obtained in advance from the Grand Line, he tried upgrading his powers. These experiments didn't involve "human trials" in the traditional sense but were unsettlingly close. The process required a psychological resilience few possessed. Comps' ability to reframe the act of "eating" living beings into a technical operation was one of the reasons Alex had chosen him to wield the Munch-Munch Fruit. By thinking his transformed mouth as both a weapon and a craftsman's workbench, he overcame the challenge of consuming living creatures. And after he swallowed the first one, subsequent swallowing were more easy. By swallowing the user into his Munch-Munch space, he gained control over the subject's matter and abilities. Remarkably, his physical form showed little change, aside from new powers derived from the consumed individual, who ate the Sonic-Sonic Fruit. For instance, after consuming a terrified Caeser, Comps created a dual-ability being with both sonic and gas-based powers, dominated by Caeser's capabilities. This experiment confirmed the terrifying potential of the Munch-Munch Fruit. It enabled Comps to not only merge powers but also create users with dual abilities, seemingly breaking one of the fundamental laws of the sea. Despite this success, attempts to synthesize dual-Devil Fruit abilities directly within a single fruit failed. Even with advanced biological manipulation and the Munch-Munch Fruit's unique properties, the ironclad rule of a single ability per Devil Fruit could not be overcome. Two days after the failed dual-fruit experiment, the same sonic-based Devil Fruit user became the subject of Alex's next critical test for the Munch-Munch Fruit: the ability to capture and transfer Devil Fruit abilities. This experiment aimed to explore one of the fruit's most promising aspects—extracting a Devil Fruit's essence from a consumed user and repurposing it. If successful, it would mark a groundbreaking development in the control and redistribution of Devil Fruit abilities. At this point, Alex believes that there are two fruits that can be do this, one is Munch-Munch Fruit, and the other is Dark-Dark Fruit. The Munch-Munch Fruit allowed for temporary combinations of abilities, creating a pseudo "double-fruit" user. However, its limitation lay in the inability to permanently steal or retain another's ability. The Dark-Dark Fruit, on the other hand, offered a much more sinister potential. Using its gravity-based powers, it could manipulate the very biological and soul-level structures of a Devil Fruit user, enabling the outright theft and permanent acquisition of their abilities. While these two fruits operated differently, they shared a crucial commonality: the transformative potential to control and redistribute Devil Fruit abilities. Alex believed that by combining the Dark-Dark Fruit's gravitational properties with the Munch-Munch Fruit's spatial reorganization, it might be possible to achieve something even greater—a way to "loot" and "reassign" Devil Fruit powers entirely. Inspired by Alex's imagination, Comps began conducting experiments based on these theories. The First Trials The initial experiment, conducted on a living and intact subject, ended in failure. The process proved too stable for the transfer to occur. The second experiment took a more daring approach. When the Devil Fruit user was on the verge of death, Comps utilized the Munch-Munch Fruit's transformative properties to manipulate the fruit's essence within the subject. This time, the results were astonishing. A fruit bearing unique patterns—a clear indication of a Devil Fruit—was ejected from Comps' mouth, having been synthesized within the Munch-Munch space. Alex was elated. This marked a monumental breakthrough in the ability to forcibly extract and reassign Devil Fruit powers. With this knowledge, his ambitions expanded, and his gaze turned seaward with a dangerous glint. The powerful Devil Fruit users of the world had just become potential resources. A New Target: Big Mom Her power was a treasure trove—her Soul-Soul Fruit offered unparalleled abilities, and her biology, with its "steel balloon" resilience, was equally priceless. If her traits could be extracted and synthesized, and paired with Wanokuni's alloy-based mechanical army, such an army, bolstered by memory-shape alloys, could rival the Seraphim projects of the World Government in both power and innovation. Sea Circle Calendar, July 1511 The Shadow Guard achieved another critical success this month. While tracking the pirate and a former Marine general, Dies Barreiros, they uncovered the whereabouts of the Op-Op Fruit. The fruit was secretly stolen. Meanwhile, the Alloy Machinery Corps officially entered its production phase. The integration of Devil Fruit bloodline factors deeper than Zoan-class abilities began in earnest. Yamato regularly used her thunder-based powers within the research facilities, providing invaluable data for further development. Sea Circle Calendar, August 1511 The personality of Baby-5 .Using her Arms-Arms Fruit, she absorbed power while simultaneously feeding knowledge back into the research process. Progress was also made in the creation of advanced battle suits. Drawing inspiration from the shape-memory armor of Germa 66, the First Generation suits boasted: Exceptional durability: Resistant to high temperatures and capable of withstanding immense pressure, including heavy hammer strikes. Mobility enhancements: Acceleration and suspension devices integrated into the feet, enabling swift movement in battle. Aquatic adaptability: Borrowing technology from Fish-Man Island's bubble films, the suits were made waterproof. This allowed Devil Fruit users to operate in naval combat scenarios with reduced vulnerability to seawater. These suits represented the first generation of a groundbreaking innovation. Once the diversity of biological factor coding was refined, their potential would expand exponentially. Future iterations promised to imbue wearers with elemental powers such as toxins, flames, thunder, amplification, and even invisibility. In essence, these suits would transform their users into pseudo-Devil Fruit wielders, a revolutionary leap in warfare. The Fruits of Science The combination of the Munch-Munch Fruit's capabilities and alloy-based technologies had led to unprecedented advancements. Alex watched the rapid progress with immense satisfaction. "Science," he mused, "is truly one of humanity's greatest powers."