One day.
In Mama's Laboratory.
"""Well, hello there, Sue-chaaaan! Sorry about thiiiis, my hands are a bit tied right noooow, I'll wrap things up soon so just wait around wherever you liiiiike!"""
"...The SAN-draining scenery hasn't changed one bit..."
Before my eyes, racing around every which way through the rather spacious Laboratory, were... multiple Mamas.
I think I mentioned this briefly a while back, but Mama can create clones of herself and put them to work using a combination of her Termite powers and her Mold powers.
So lately, in order to secure the manpower needed for research, this kind of scene has become a common sight.
The "combination" part is a little hard to understand, but... did I explain this before?
A termite Queen can produce clones with identical genetic information and biological functions through her eggs. That's simply how termite biology works.
And Mold can propagate by extending its roots and spreading, or by releasing spores that take root wherever they land.
By combining these two propagation mechanisms, the result is something like "generating and multiplying her own clones" in "the way Mold spreads and multiplies."
When you can combine multiple Devil Fruits like that, the things you can pull off get even more incomprehensible...
Well, setting aside the Clone Mama Multiplication System, I came by today because Mama said she had a report and something to discuss... I wonder what it is?
As I was thinking that, one of the Mamas came trotting over with (outwardly, at least) cute little steps. She plopped down on the sofa across from me.
"The thing I wanted to talk about is pretty straightforwaaaard! The research I've been doing just hit a stopping point so I wanted to report on that, and I want to start on some new research, well, an experiment really, so I need your permissiooooon! Oh, and also, his treatment and modifications are done so that's another repooooort!"
Hmm. A research-related report and permission for the next project, sure, but... "treatment and modifications" means...
"Could it be... Absalom?"
"That's riiiiight! His post-operative recovery is going smoothly, so he should be discharged in a few daaaays!"
Now then, let me explain what this is all about.
While our crew, the Golden Lion Pirates, has been looking after them, we couldn't just keep freeloaders around, so Moriah and the rest of the Thriller Bark gang have been doing various things for us as a nominally "affiliated" Pirate Crew... I think I've mentioned this before.
Hogback puts his medical expertise to use helping Mama in the Laboratory.
Perona is on the Training Island, Lubots Island, handling miscellaneous tasks that also double as her own training.
Moriah, I don't know. Papa took him somewhere. Probably scheming something no good.
And Absalom has been assigned intelligence work and such, making use of his Clear-Clear Fruit powers.
Recently, he's been frequently paired up with Nero, who's also skilled at covert operations... or rather, is flat-out a former Government Intelligence Agent. The two have been performing quite well together, and despite being a newcomer, Absalom's reputation within the crew has been high.
But just the other day... Absalom came back with injuries so severe he was on the brink of death.
It wasn't because he'd failed an intelligence mission. He'd gotten caught up in a completely separate incident.
Or rather, it was more like he'd been attacked almost entirely unprovoked.
To cut to the chase, the ones responsible were the Blackbeard Pirates... or more precisely, a Pirate Crew under their umbrella.
Nero and Absalom, who had been operating separately on another matter, ran into them and were attacked. The Clear-Clear Fruit's power, while simple, is formidable, so they must have wanted it for themselves, or figured that bringing it to Teach would earn them praise and raise their standing.
In that fight, the enemy was both reasonably strong and numerous, making it difficult to win through combat. Even turning invisible wasn't enough to escape... and Absalom was critically wounded.
As for that affiliated Pirate Crew... afterward, every last one of them was cleanly erased without a trace.
This was another coincidence, but... at the time, Mama and I happened to be out on separate business, visiting a certain location, and we were passing through nearby.
That's when we received an emergency transmission on the Confidential Den Den Mushi and went to rescue the two of them.
After swiftly recovering them... as for that Blackbeard-affiliated ship, like I just said, we properly "erased" it.
Sorry, but we couldn't afford to let anyone live to tell the tale.
I doubt it would happen, but if, by some chance, Teach learned that I had rescued those two, and he used the "your people engaged my subordinates' ship" angle as a pretext for conflict or even all-out war, that would be a problem. Having the whole thing blow up and revealing Absalom's whereabouts, and by extension the location of Moriah's entire group, would also be bad.
Moriah was practically about to be erased by the Government, after all. If they found out that I, a Shichibukai, am currently sheltering him, that could get messy.
No, worst case, Moriah himself would be fine. I could strong-arm my way through with "Everyone thought he was dead, but he's alive. He's not a Shichibukai anymore, so he's got nothing to do with you people, right?" and it'd probably fly.
What would truly be the worst is if, during all the probing that would follow, they discovered the existence of people like Bonney and Zoro, whose protection absolutely cannot become known.
So I had Mama use her Op-Op Fruit powers to "scan" the entire enemy ship, confiscating all communication equipment like Den Den Mushi, as well as every document and record whose contents were unknown.
After that, she deployed lethal Mold using her Mold-Mold Fruit, much like a certain "therrre therrre therrre therrre therrre" individual, and finally, I punched a hole in the ship's hull.
The sight of the ship sinking into the sea while Mold consumed everything, people and vessel alike crumbling and rotting away, made it abundantly clear that not a single survivor remained.
As for the two we rescued... like I said, Absalom was critically wounded and near death.
Nero, on the other hand, was relatively unharmed and had no problems moving or fighting. He'd been training with us and had properly acquired New World-class combat ability.
That Nero... maybe after working alongside Absalom for a decent stretch, he'd developed some attachment.
He got down on his hands and knees, bowing his head, and pleaded, "Please, I'm begging you, save my partner, Miss!"
I'd intended to save Absalom regardless, but when someone is that desperate, you've got to answer with everything you've got. So we immediately returned to Merveille for emergency surgery.
...If things had ended there, that would have been fine, but then things took a turn.
Absalom's life was saved for the time being, but this incident had driven home just how lacking his strength was.
For the sake of his partner, who had gone that far for him, he needed to become stronger too.
He fully intended to redouble his training efforts, of course, but at the same time... he submitted a request to have his body modified even more extensively.
As things stand, Absalom has already been fully modified by Hogback, possessing a body packed with the condensed muscular strength and durability of various animals. So having his body cut open for modifications wasn't something he had any resistance to.
And through Hogback, he'd learned that Mama, or rather the Golden Lion Pirates' research division as a whole, had extensive expertise in the field of biological modification and enhancement, not limited to human bodies.
That's why he offered himself up as a test subject, asking to be made stronger.
Mama agreed to it, getting approval from me and Papa only after the fact, and carried out the modifications alongside Absalom's treatment. Working jointly with Hogback, who had been Absalom's original... attending physician, I suppose?
And just the other day, the work was completed.
As for what kind of modifications were made, I was shown a summarized spec sheet, but...
"It's impressive Absalom even agreed to this... You've operated on practically his entire body. Not just transplant surgeries, but heavy-duty weaponry embedded throughout... This goes beyond a Pacifista."
Muscle density and properties had been adjusted, resulting in superior arm strength and durability... physically alone, he was a considerable step up from before.
Not just muscles, but bones too. Reinforcement measures applied to parts of his skeletal structure, giving them the toughness of super-alloy.
Materials with Dilatancy fluid properties embedded beneath the skin for enhanced defense.
On top of that, his arms and mouth were equipped with the Laser firing mechanisms favored by Pacifista and Seraphim alike. No need for the bazooka he used in the Original Work anymore.
His mouth... or rather, his Fangs had been fitted with a mechanism based on shark biology, so that even if his Fangs broke, they'd regrow into even sturdier ones, again and again. Like Arlong in the Original Work.
Furthermore, weaponry fashioned from Dials had been installed at various points across his body. He could now exhale flammable poison Gas and launch surprise slashing attacks.
And as a finishing touch, Plaga tissue had been incorporated to enhance his raw vitality and neural transmission. Thanks to this, minor wounds would naturally heal in a short time.
"At one point I think Hogback was tearfully saying 'Um... maybe that's enough...' but since it was the patient's own wish, I pushed through with iiiit!"
...From what I remember, Hogback was quite the scumbag in the Original Work... and even he tried to put a stop to this, albeit for a comrade's sake...
Of course, this is assuming Absalom can learn to use all those mechanisms, but... he might turn into something truly formidable.
"Modifying his Lineage Factor was beyond what we could do, thooooough! To do that, you'd need to make alterations before birth like with Sue-chan, or at the very least while the subject is still a young chiiiiild! Tampering with the Lineage Factor of a body that's already fully matured puts way too much strain on iiiiit!"
So that's how it works.
Maybe that's also why Caesar was kidnapping children from surrounding nations to conduct the Giantification Experiment in the Original Work.
"And alsooooo, I'd like to think it won't be necessary, but I've built in precautions in case he ever betrays uuuuus!"
"Huh, what? Did you embed a self-destruct device?"
"No need for anything like thaaaat! His body has Plaga embedded in it, even if it's an improved version that doesn't cause loss of consciousness or cognitive decliiiiiine! And as long as that's the case, he can't defy orders from me or Sue-chan, since we both carry the power of the Dominant Strain Plagaaaaa!"
...Wait, hold on. What did she just say?
I mean, I know Mama has the Dominant Strain. She told me about that before, so I already knew.
But me? I... No... I don't remember ever having anything like that put inside me.
"...You didn't secretly slip an egg IN me at some point, did you, Mama?"
"I would never do something like thaaaat! Besides, there's no need tooooo!"
"What do you mean?"
"Sue-chan, have you forgotten that you're a modified human to begin wiiiith? When I was modifying you in the womb, I incorporated a body structure identical to the Dominant Strain Plaga into your neural system for reinforcement purposeeeees!"
"That's news to me!?"
"It suuuuure is! So while you're technically a modified human, you're still properly human, and there's no Plaga actually inside your body. You inherently possess the power to dominate Plaga as a native biological functiooooon! And you've already experienced other Plaga-derived abilities firsthand, you knoooow!"
"What do you mean?"
"You were tortured pretty extensively in Impel Down, weren't youuuuu? During that time, didn't you gradually develop a tolerance to pain and fatigue themselveeeees?"
...Ah, yeah. That happened. That definitely happened. I remember it vividly.
The agonizing torture was repeated over and over. At first, I couldn't bear the pain and would cry, and after being thrown back in my cell, I'd lie there unable to move for a while. It was just that, again and again, but... gradually, the pain, the exhaustion, the hunger all became less noticeable, or at least bearable.
The swelling went down faster. Wounds healed more quickly.
"The improved healing is a different matter, that comes from the Awakening of your innate Superhuman speeeecs! But the tolerance to pain and fatigue is from Plaga's power, specifically its resistance to harsh environments and optimization of your body's constitutiooooon! Pretty useful, wouldn't you saaaaaay?"
...As much as I hate to admit it, back then, yeah... that helped me enormously.
Thanks to that, I endured a decent stretch of prison life... and my mind didn't break or warp.
Knowing that power came from a parasite makes me feel a bit conflicted right now, but... I should be grateful.
...I would have preferred to know about it beforehand, though.
"Still, this is... I'm not surprised Mama would go this far, but you're clearly using technology you picked up from the exchange during your meeting with Vegapunk, aren't you?"
"Of course I aaaam! As expected of the world's greatest scientist, it was one revelation after another, and even though it was brief, it was an incredibly productive tiiiiime! I'm truly grateful to Sue-chan for arranging that meetiiiiing! The information I disclosed on our end had him surprised and delighted tooooo!"
"Getting permission for that was quite a hassle, but well, I'm glad it made you happy."
I might have mentioned this briefly before, but... I've already met the holder of the world's greatest intellect, Dr. Vegapunk, once.
And at that time, I brought Mama along as an escort and advisor.
We didn't go to the other side's headquarters, though. Not Egghead, the home base of the Marine Science Unit. Instead, we met at a different island, also Government-owned, under the guise of an "interview."
The reason is simple. Egghead is one of the Government's most critical Facilities, and even a Shichibukai can't just waltz in. Same as Impel Down in the Original Work.
I figured I'd try requesting access on the off chance they'd say yes, and the response was, "We'll permit it if you agree to have your powers sealed with Seastone handcuffs." I said, "Then never mind," and declined.
Even with the standing I currently have as a Shichibukai, I fundamentally dislike and distrust the Government, so being rendered powerless in their home territory? No thank you.
Apparently, though, it's normally a place where no Pirate would ever be granted access, regardless of any conditions. Powerless or not.
So why did they come back with a "conditional OK"? Because Dr. Vegapunk himself, the central figure of Egghead, happened to want a meeting with me at that very time.
The reason was to get detailed information about the Seraphim that had been witnessed during the Neo Marines incident. If something they were currently in the middle of researching suddenly appeared elsewhere and engaged a Shichibukai and a Former Marine Admiral in combat, of course they'd want to know more.
For my part, I was also interested in, or at least concerned about, that topic.
How far along Vegapunk was in developing the Seraphim at this point, what kind of technology he was using, what principles were guiding his research... I wanted to confirm all of that if possible.
The result was a "meeting" held at a location that was neither Egghead nor Merveille.
As for bringing Mama along as an expert consultant... given the objective, I don't think the personnel choice was wrong, but... yeah, in hindsight, it was definitely a "do not mix" situation.
Mama's research has been accelerating even further ever since.
...My own creative drive has been accelerating too, though.
I mean, come on, after being shown all that stuff... what was I supposed to do?
So on this matter, I'm not really in a position to scold Mama.
We couldn't go to their headquarters at Egghead, but... whether to entice us or for whatever reason, the Vegapunks brought and showed us all sorts of inventions.
A real-life Beam Saber, a portable auto-cooking machine (does that mean stationary models exist too?), something-or-other shoes that were light, comfortable, and let you fly...
Among various other things, the lineup rivaled fiction... honestly, it was a blast.
I'd applied for the meeting for fairly serious reasons, but I completely forgot about all that and got carried away.
Now, as a gesture during that visit, I had Mama conduct some technological exchange and sharing, but that was strictly limited to relatively benign and peaceful fields like Dials.
Plaga and Kadu were obviously off the table, and the various other modification technologies couldn't be made public either.
In return, the other side didn't disclose particularly deep information either... but according to Mama, just by combining and analyzing the information she obtained and the things she observed, she was able to figure out quite a lot.
As a result, while there's no definitive proof, Mama's prediction was... that it's highly likely the Seraphim will be unveiled in this world too, before long.
The underlying technologies already exist in various places, and considering the development timeline of each individual component... the Seraphim, being an aggregate of all those technologies, should already be in the final stages of development.
If that's the case... in terms of the Original Work, it would be around sometime after the start of the New World Saga when they'd be deployed and start wreaking havoc...
Presumably after the Dressrosa Arc, the last arc I remember seeing.
...And thinking about that, there's something that's been on my mind...
"Hey, Mama, my Seraphim... do you think it would actually be created?"
"Yours, you saaaaaay... you mean a clone of Sue-chan made using your Lineage Factooooor?"
"Yeah. And on top of that... whether the Paper-Paper Fruit's powers could be replicated using Green Blood. The abilities that were replicated with GB during that recent incident were all Paramecia types... so could my powers, also being Paramecia, be replicated too?"
Mama pondered the question for a moment before answering.
"Well, I think just creating one would be possibleeeeee? If they have the Lineage Factor data, clones are relatively easy to make, and while it takes budget and effort, the same goes for GBeeee! In fact, for GB specifically, my own Laboratory should be close to successfully replicating a similar version sooooon!"
'Easy from the perspective of people at Mama's level,' I thought.
But Mama continued.
"Even if you gave Sue-chan's clone Sue-chan's powers... in other words, even if you created a Seraphim with the Paper-Paper Fruit's abilities, the chance of it being able to fight like Sue-chan is zero, I'd saaaaaay!"
"Hm? And why's that? Because it wouldn't have trained in swordsmanship or its powers?"
"That's certainly part of it, but the biggest factor is what's insiiiiide! The reason Sue-chan can manipulate Paper so freely and do all those things is entirely because of Sue-chan's own world-class imaginatiooooon! If they could perfectly replicate your inner self, that'd be a different story, but the power you've cultivated over 35 years of life, seeing the world with your own eyes and walking it with your own feet, isn't something that can be achieved by growing something in a test tube for a few yeeeears! Knowledge and Experience are different thiiiiiings!"
...Hearing that made me feel... incredibly happy.
From Mama's perspective, she may have just been stating facts, but the way it sounded to me... it felt like she was praising my career as a writer, saying it was "something no one could ever replicate." Yeah. I'm in a good mood.
"By the waaaaaay, Sue-chan, we seem to have gotten sidetracked at some point, but can we get back to the rest of what I called you here for todaaaaaay?"
"Oh, right, yeah. Sorry, Mama. Let's see... the report about Absalom is done, so... it was the research report and permission for new research, right?"
"The research report is mostly covered by our conversation just nooooow! What I wanted to tell you was that the GB research is almost at a stopping poiiiiint!"
Oh, that's what it was. What a coincidence.
When I asked for more details, she explained that in terms of artificially replicating Paramecia abilities using similar technology, in addition to the "blood" approach, there was also a promising different approach in development.
The specifics of that would wait until the research was properly compiled, apparently.
"As for the final item, the 'permission'... this is actually something I wanted to discuss with the Boss, you seeeeee! It's probably more his domain than Sue-chan'sssss!"
"What specifically?"
"It's about the modified human technology that's really starting to come together after all the things we tried during Absalom-kun's modification surgeryyyyy! Sue-chan, did you know there are people among the affiliated Pirates who've been saying they want to be modified like Pacifistaaaa?"
"Really? First I've heard of it. Some people have unusual tastes... or maybe... they're just hoping to get stronger the easy way?"
"Probably both typeeees! Plus, there are also Pirates who can't move their bodies properly anymore due to injuries, old wounds, or other reasons, but still want to fiiiiight! That type has actually been around since before Sue-chan was even boooorn! So now that this latest project has given us a reasonable handle on modification technology that could be applied more broadly, I was going to ask the Boss whether we should set up a system for those who genuinely want it to receive modificatioooons! If we go through with it, there are all sorts of things to confirm too, like how much physical alteration each person is willing to acceptttttt!"
"You're sounding like Sh*cker over here..."
...Yeah, that's definitely not something I can approve on my own... Let's wait for Papa to recover.
And when we have that discussion, I'll need Mama to either properly dismiss her clones or have them on standby in another room. Otherwise Papa's going to pass out again.
"And there's one more thiiiiiing! Remember during the recent End Point destruction attempt, we recovered some scrapped Seraphim, riiiiight? It's about thoooose!"
"Ah... the ones Alice and the others retrieved? With the GB and everything installed, you said you'd use them as research material."
Mama had been absolutely ecstatic about it, calling them a treasure trove of future technology.
Well, they're spoils of war, so I had no objection, but... given what they look like, I did tell her to handle them with the utmost care.
Clone or not, if Bonney ever saw them... it wouldn't sit well with her.
I mean, Bonney would almost certainly never come to this Laboratory, or this island for that matter, and I haven't given her permission to, so it should be fine.
...Or so I thought, but,
"I'm not talking about those, I mean the two 'pre-modification' oneeeees! You know, the ones that S-Ibis or whatever apparently deemed defective after stealing them from Egghead and just dumped, still in their cultivation pods, carelessly sunk in the nearby seaaaa!"
...Ah, those.
Right, we did find and recover those too... by having the Fish-Man Unit under our command handle it. Mama had been progressing her research on those as well.
The four Kuma-type units deployed in the battle near Pirio Island, along with the other Seraphim besides Ibis... according to Mama's analysis of what we recovered, they appeared to be hastily modified replacement forces.
Presumably, test models or failed prototypes discarded from Egghead were stolen and then modified for combat use.
And in the process... they'd likely grabbed whatever they could get their hands on, then selected the usable ones from the lot. Those became the four units, Zero One through Zero Four.
Anything deemed "unusable" even after modification, even on a disposable one-time-use basis, was simply thrown away.
That's what we found and recovered. Mama had analyzed the situation: "If they were traveling from Egghead to here, the shortest route would be this, and if they needed to perform modifications and such along the way, the best location would be here..." She had the nearby waters searched, and bingo.
The discarded Seraphim, having been sunk while still inside their sealed cultivation devices, actually ended up in better condition than the four units captured after battle. Setting aside their baseline level of completion as Seraphim, that is.
I'd heard they were recovered and placed in storage, but...
"Since they were sealed and filled with cultivation fluid, their condition was really excellent, to the point where they looked like they could start moving at any momeeeeent!"
"...Is it possible to revive them as they are?"
"No, that's beyond what we can dooooo! Even though they were preserved, they'd been disconnected from life support systems, so there was some internal deterioration, plus they were apparently 'defective' to begin with, so functional life activity wasn't really in the cards eitherrrrrr! But even so, I believe there are ways to make use of theeeeem!"
"Such as?"
"This is still in the experimental, or rather verification stage, but... what do you think a deactivated Pacifista or Seraphim would be classified aaaas?"
"Classified as... what?"
"They were alive despite being weapons, so once they've stopped, would they be a 'corpse,' I wonderrrrr? Or since they've been modified and packed full of weaponry, would they be a 'broken weapon,' I wonderrrrr? Would they be treated as human or not, I wonderrrrr? Depending on the answer, the potential uses would change, don't you thiiiiink?"
Hearing that, I thought for a moment, then let out a sigh.
'She comes up with incredible things, as always...'
"If they're treated as 'corpses,' then Moriah's powers could turn them into Zombies. If they're treated as 'broken weapons,' then Iris's powers could turn them into Homies, or alternatively, we could use TABOO. Whether they're treated as human or not... that would also factor into whether it's Zombies, Homies, or TABOO."
"Regarding TABOO, we already have a precedent in Shizu-chan, so expectations are hiiiigh!"
Shizu, one of the members of the Maid Squad Pleiades... was born when a humanoid weapon developed by Dr. Indigo was turned into an Ability User through TABOO.
As such, unlike Lupus and Nabe, she possesses characteristics that are clearly non-biological, such as gunfire capabilities and thruster-powered flight.
Originally, it was apparently a byproduct of research into weapons designed to be embedded into and used to modify Merveille's animals, similar to how Pacifista are modified.
By having TABOO anthropomorphize the weapon, there was no longer any need to worry about power sources or a controlling brain, so it was simply loaded up with as much weaponry as possible, converted into an Ability User, and that's how Shizu was born... or so the backstory goes.
And now Mama wants to do the same thing, this time using Seraphim.
I don't know what kind of "utilization" it'll ultimately turn out to be, but... whichever way it goes, something outrageous is bound to be born.
To be continued...