On Cake Island,
the Trafalgar family and the Portgas family stared at their growing number of descendants, unsure whether to be worried or happy.
Vegapunk had used the seed of the two D clan patriarchs, Trafalgar D. Wattir and Portgas D. Lupan, for in vitro fertilization and found dozens of women to carry the children.
Every year, more than a dozen babies were born into each family. After six or seven years, each family now had close to a hundred children.
Jaguar D. Saul had never expected that, after being handed over to Brook by King Odin of the Giant Kingdom, he would be used as a breeding tool on Cake Island. Over these past years, Brook had gathered more than a dozen giant women in Giant Soldier City, and together they had produced over twenty test tube babies.
Saul was nearly in tears. In only six or seven years, he had become the father of more than twenty children. The gestation period of a giant was three to four years, so if he had followed a normal, monogamous marriage, how many decades would it have taken to have so many children?
Looking at these children, he no longer wanted to return to the navy. After all, they were his own blood.
Even Kozuki Sukiyaki's seed had produced seven or eight descendants, which meant that Kozuki Oden had seven or eight younger brothers and sisters.
If Oden were not a cadre of the Hell Pirates, everyone would still be trying to help him have children as well. But now, Kozuki Oden had been completely taken over by his three Mink tribe maid warriors.
Through schemes, seduction, and drugging, they had taken Oden's virginity when he was only sixteen. Peggy of the pink pig Mink tribe had been the first to succeed, but she had not managed to conceive for a long time.
Even so, the three mink maids refused to give up. They were determined to bear healthy heirs for the Kozuki family.
The cloning technology progressed even more slowly, taking five full years to succeed.
Now, in Vegapunk's highest level laboratory, there was already a clone of Dragon, who was slowly learning all kinds of knowledge like a newborn infant.
··
Today, the PH laboratory once again caused a massive stir. The three dragon eggs that had been brought back from Dragonstone, once nearly dead, had finally reached the point where they could hatch.
Daenerys Targaryen, the Mother of Dragons, watched this closely. With Vegapunk's technology and Mamixee's Ripe Fruit, the dragons of Dragonstone could finally see the light of day again.
The largest and most active giant egg had grown close to hatching after countless cycles of ripening. That meant Sky Island would soon welcome four giant dragons, one large and three small.
Daenerys believed the dragon blood of the Unburnt within her would let her communicate with the dragons. She had also specifically asked Brook to let her daughter Shana, who was still in training, return to witness the birth of the dragons with her, since Shana also carried dragon blood.
In this way, the dragons would naturally grow close to the mother and daughter.
After hearing the news, Brook left the young boys in the care of Abefu and his giant zombies, then took his third daughter Shana and flew to Sky Island.
Brook was also curious about how strong these dragons would be, especially the egg so highly valued by Roger's crew.
Some fans had speculated that, in the original history, this giant egg had landed in the hands of Red Hair Shanks, which allowed him to block Kaido at Wano's gate, then fly straight back to Marineford and end the war with using his face.
From Wano in the New World to Marineford on the Grand Line, the Red Line lay between them, yet the Red Hair Pirates had arrived in less than a day.
What kind of speed was that?
No wonder the navy admirals and intelligence officers had been terrified. One day they were reported in the waters of Wano in the New World, and the next they were suddenly at Marineford. It was downright bizarre.
Or had the reports claiming the Red Hair Pirates and the Beasts Pirates were facing off near Wano been false?
Had those intelligence agents believed anything they heard?
Brook hoped this dragon's speed would live up to its reputation, perhaps even comparable to Uranus. If so, the mobility of the Hell Pirates would take a huge leap.
Karas, the Northern Army commander of the Revolutionary Army, had once used a flock of crows to carry Sabo and his men from Baltigo's Island in the Grand Line to Dressrosa in the New World in only a few days.
Along with that, all Revolutionary Army cadres were equipped with goggles. In addition to Karas' flight ability, their leader Dragon seemed to possess a Devil Fruit power that granted flight as well, suspected to be the natural type Wind Wind Fruit or the Mythical Beast type Wind Dragon Fruit.
Inside Vegapunk's massive laboratory:
"Hello, Captain Brook."
Vegapunk and the other scientists greeted him, then returned to their stations to monitor their data. Their salaries and benefits were extremely generous, and their families had even been settled on Cake Island.
"Vegapunk, your head is getting bigger and bigger. If this keeps up, you will be as big as a giant. Can your body and neck really handle that?"
Brook spoke with real concern. Vegapunk was only twenty six years old, yet ever since he had studied the knowledge of the Tree of Knowledge, his brain had grown into this alarming, swollen state.
And that was before he had fully explored the islands of the past, Egghead, the final island, the ruins of the great kingdom, the moon, and the countless high tech secrets of the Endless Earth.
Would Vegapunk's head grow so large that it reached the size of a small island, forcing him to cut off his own head and create the punk record on Egghead Island?
In that case, he would use an apple shaped signal receiver to communicate with his brain, and all of his clones would receive signals through the punk record.
That would also mean that neither he nor his clones could leave Egghead unless the punk record core of his head was transported with them.
And there were not many people in the world capable of moving a device the size of a small island.
"Do not worry, Captain Brook. I have installed an exoskeleton stabilizer on my head. It will not affect my mobility for now."
Hearing Brook's concern, Vegapunk felt somewhat moved, but his thirst for knowledge still burned too hot. Even as his head grew, he could not bring himself to stop.
"Captain Brook, we have made significant progress in the bloodline factor and life blueprint projects. We can begin developing artificial Devil Fruits. Which Mythical Beast ability should we start with?"
Vegapunk's excitement was obvious. For him, reviving the dragon egg was only a side project. Cracking the secret of Devil Fruits was the true main objective.
"Very good. I will have Kaido cooperate with you. The first artificial Devil Fruit will be the Mythical Beast type Azure Dragon Fruit."
Brook was also excited. The era of artificial Devil Fruits was about to begin. He only hoped Vegapunk's artificial fruits would surpass Caesar's SMILE failures, at least in terms of success rate.
Otherwise, high potential rookies like Killer might fail and end up as SMILE laughers, which would be a huge loss.
"Understood."
Vegapunk's expression turned serious. The artificial Devil Fruit project was a monumental milestone, and there was no room for carelessness.
------------
Brook followed Vegapunk to the star of the day, where three dragon eggs, one large and three small, were laid out together, the most eye catching being a spotted egg as big as a small sailboat.
This spotted egg was the mysterious dragon egg that had once occupied most of the deck of the Oro Jackson in the original story. No one knew what kind of dragon would hatch from it.
In the original work, the artificial red fire dragon on Punk Hazard was seventy meters long. So, how big would the true dragon inside this egg become once it reached adulthood?
The Going Merry was only about thirteen meters long, and the Thousand Sunny was slightly larger at fifty six meters. If a dragon grew past one hundred meters, it could easily carry those pirate ships on its back.
The Red Hair Pirates' ship, the Red Force, had a dragon head on its bow. Brook wondered if it was related to this mysterious dome Roger had once possessed. Was that dome actually a red dragon?
All of these questions would be answered today. Brook's arrival in this era had already changed many things. With Vegapunk's cultivation technology and the Ripe Fruit's catalysis, this spotted giant egg had finally reached the point of hatching ahead of time.
The White Dragon Queen, Daenerys Targaryen, and her daughter, Shana, stood before the four huge dragon eggs with great anticipation, hoping to be the first living beings the baby dragons would see.
Brook watched from behind them. Through his life detection, he could sense that the vitality within the spotted dome was incredibly strong. No wonder Gol D. Roger had valued it so highly.
Soon, the largest spotted egg moved first, beginning to shake violently. Daenerys, Shana, and the others quickly stepped back.
"Pah."
A crack split across the shell. A pair of ferocious dragon horns pierced through first, then a red dragon head, blazing like living flame, pushed out. It twisted its neck, snapping and gnawing at the hardened shell with its young teeth, full of energy.
Moments later, four powerful claws began tearing at the shell from within, ripping open a large gap. The red hatchling then kicked hard with its strong hind legs, splitting the egg completely in two.
Just like that, the red baby dragon entered this world. It looked at Daenerys and Shana standing before it, then at Brook and Vegapunk behind them.
Then it lowered its head and began to crunch down on the eggshell, while the other three dragon eggs started to shake inside the flames. Their shells, shaped like overlapping dragon scales, were black, green, and pale gold.
The black egg cracked first, followed by the green, and finally the pale gold. All three hatched almost at the same time.
The instant the black hatchling crawled out, it opened its jaws and spat a wisp of black flame. Its fire was the same color as its scales, pitch black and ominous.
The green dragon's scales were emerald and bronze, reflecting a jade like luster, as if it were carved from raw jade.
Most of the pale golden dragon's scales were milky white, but its horns, wing bones, and crest gleamed gold, giving it an elegant and noble appearance.
As soon as they were born, the three little dragons also began gnawing on their eggshells, just like the red one, replenishing themselves with some special hard substance.
"So cute, I love that little milky white one."
Shana fell for the graceful pale dragon at first sight. She already wanted to "claim" it. Bringing it out in the future would be unbelievably cool.
At this moment, Brook stepped forward as well.
"Can we give them names?"
He asked Daenerys, his gaze fixed on the largest and most powerful red dragon.
"Let the captain name them."
Daenerys smiled softly. She knew winning Brook's favor was the most important thing. A small matter like naming the dragons was nothing compared to that.
"Then I will not hold back."
"The red dragon will be RedForce, the black dragon will be Drogon, the green one will be Rhaegal, and the platinum one will be Viserion."
Brook laughed as he spoke. The red dragon directly stole the name of Red Hair Shanks' ship, while the other three were named after the Mother of Dragons' own dragons from Game of Thrones.
"Sir…"
Daenerys looked at Brook with emotion and leaned gently against his shoulder. Those names were almost exactly what she had in mind. Clearly, Lord Brook still cared about her thoughts.
"Hehe, then the platinum hatchling, Viserion, is mine."
Shana grinned and immediately claimed the pale golden dragon. She hurried over to it, the dragon blood in her veins making her feel a natural closeness to the hatchlings.
"Yohoho, raise them first. It will probably take several years before they are strong enough to carry people in flight."
Brook had no idea how fast these dragons would grow. Since the incubation period had been so long, the growth period should not be short either.
Should he have Maxine hit them a few more times with the Ripe Fruit?
But would this kind of forced growth damage their potential and strength?
"The little dragon is already big. As long as it learns to fly, it can carry us."
Shana said excitedly, running over with a huge bottle of milk. She was the first to feed Viserion. Even at only eight years old, she could easily carry something the size of a seven or eight meter crocodile.
Brook went to feed the talented red dragon, while Daenerys favored the domineering black dragon. In the end, Vegapunk took it upon himself to feed the green dragon.
They patiently repeated the dragons' names while feeding them. The baby dragons were not stupid. They quickly learned which name belonged to which of them.
"Lord Brook, I want to fuse the blood of these young dragons into Kaido's bloodline to see whether we can create an even stronger artificial Devil Fruit."
Vegapunk suddenly had an idea and asked for Brook's opinion.
"For the first one, focus only on Kaido's bloodline factor. For later experiments, you can make a few more and mix them if you like."
Brook thought for a moment before answering. He was worried that mixing the dragons' bloodline into the first batch might lower the quality of the Mythical Beast Azure Dragon Fruit, so it was safer to prepare several separate experimental fruits.
"Understood."
Vegapunk considered his words carefully. It was indeed better for the first artificial fruit to be as pure as possible.
"By the way, Captain Brook, the experiment Judge proposed, injecting bloodline factors into embryos, has an extremely high failure rate. I also feel it is a bit cruel. Should we really continue?"
Vegapunk asked again. Judge's experiments had not produced a single success, and several pregnant women had already been harmed. This made Vegapunk deeply uncomfortable, and he wanted to halt Judge's research.
"Then warn him. Tell him he is to improve his technique with animals before he even thinks about human experiments. Right now, he is only allowed to use mice and sows, those kinds of animals. If he keeps this up, you will have to deal with him."
Brook was also a bit speechless. Shouldn't experiments start with animal testing before moving on to human subjects?
Judge was getting more and more out of line.
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