Hearing Ian’s question, Drake didn’t imdiately respond. Instead, he pointed to the X-shaped eye patch he wore over his eye and then began to speak. “It was about four years ago, I was around twenty-five or twenty-six. My appearance was becoming more and more like my father’s. Realizing this, to prevent anyone who knew my father from recognizing , I started wearing this eye patch to cover my face as much as possible.”
“No one suspected , so I passed the examination and joined the Naval Science Unit. The day after receiving the transfer order, a ship ca to pick
up and took
to Punk Hazard Island…”
Before he could finish speaking, Ian’s eyes widened, and he suddenly stood up. “Wait a minute! Did you just say Punk Hazard Island!?”
Drake was puzzled by Ian’s strong reaction but still nodded to confirm. “Yes, Punk Hazard. Why?”
Ian realized his reaction was a bit much but quickly found an excuse and asked, “I heard that island was destroyed by a terrible accident, wasn’t it?”
“When I arrived there, the accident at Punk Hazard hadn’t happened yet,” Drake explained. “At that ti, Punk Hazard was still the main research base for the Naval Science Unit. Because it was there, I saw Dr. Vegapunk!”
Ian’s pupils contracted, and he quickly asked, “Vegapunk!? The genius scientist? What kind of person is he?”
“Hmm?” Drake looked puzzled and asked, “Why are you so interested in him?”
Ian waved his hand dismissively. “You might not know this, but there’s a scientist in my pirate crew who used to be a colleague of Vegapunk’s. I’ve only heard about Vegapunk from him and never t the man himself, so I’m very curious.”
“Oh, I see. No wonder you can control the Pacifista…” Drake understood and then described, “Dr. Vegapunk is about forty or fifty years old, but for so reason, he looks sowhat aged. Maybe that’s common among those who use their brains a lot. He has a large head and likes to wear a checkered shirt under his research coat… But overall, I think he’s quite a gentle person, not the mad scientist type you might imagine. It’s the other scientist in the lab, soone nad M. Caesar Clown, who made
feel very uncomfortable…”
Ian sighed. Damn, it’s Caesar, that guy… At that ti, he must have still been working with Vegapunk.
“My job in the Science Unit was to provide security!” Drake spread his hands. “It was a position that allowed
to move around a lot, so within about six months of joining the Naval Science Unit, I roughly figured out what was being researched at Punk Hazard.”
“It’s the Pacifista project, right?” Ian asked.
“Yes!” Drake nodded. “When I joined, Dr. Vegapunk’s Pacifista project had already made significant progress, but that wasn’t what I was interested in. My father worked in the Naval Science Unit many years earlier, so I started looking for older records from Punk Hazard.”
At this point, Drake’s fists clenched tightly, and he spoke with a mix of anger and anxiety. “Then, I discovered sothing shocking. About twenty years ago, there was a massive incident at Punk Hazard!”
“Twenty years ago?” Ian frowned and asked, “What kind of incident?”
“An experintal subject escaped from Punk Hazard and destroyed most of the research facilities on the island, taking so research data with it…” Drake said. “Punk Hazard was almost completely ruined at that ti, and the current facilities were rebuilt after that incident.”
“An experintal subject? What kind of experintal subject?” Ian suddenly had a vague premonition.
Drake looked deeply at Ian and finally spoke. “It was Kaido! The current Yonko, Beast Kaido! He was once an experintal subject at Punk Hazard!”
Wha… what the hell?!
Even though Ian had so premonition, hearing it directly from Drake still shocked him.
Oyaji had always said that he thought Kaido wasn’t a naturally born human, which is why he was called the “strongest creature.” Ian had previously suspected that Kaido might be a cyborg like Franky, but hearing Drake’s account now, it didn’t quite seem that way.
Drake was talking about sothing that happened over twenty years ago, around the ti before Pirate King Roger’s death. At that ti, the Pacifista project likely hadn’t even started yet.
“What exactly happened?” Ian frowned and asked Drake. “Don’t keep
in suspense; just tell
everything at once!”
Drake nodded and said, “In fact, I’m not entirely sure why Kaido beca an experintal subject. I pieced it together from scattered information. It seems that the research on Kaido as an experintal subject started even earlier. It was a top-secret project by the World Governnt, but the progress of this research was slow. Until… until Dr. Vegapunk discovered the ‘Lineage Factor,’ the World Governnt imdiately ordered the Navy to arrest Vegapunk, shut down his research facility, and buy out his research team. They then transferred Dr. Vegapunk to Punk Hazard to take over this research project…”
Ian suddenly realized, understanding why the World Governnt and Navy responded so swiftly based on Varua’s description. Back then, if the World Governnt and Navy hadn’t already had so understanding of Dr. Vegapunk’s discovery of the Lineage Factor, how could they have imdiately recognized the significance of Dr. Vegapunk’s discovery?
In other words, even before Dr. Vegapunk joined the Navy’s Science Division, the World Governnt and Navy were already researching life forms…
“What exactly were they researching on Kaido?” Ian asked Drake with confusion.
“I don’t know,” Drake shook his head. “I just vaguely understood that at that ti on Punk Hazard Island, there were many special races, and the Navy’s Science Division seed to conduct experints based on these races… Oh yes, I rember now, there was a very large giant, similar to the one you encountered on the battlefield, Little Oars Jr. at that ti. That might have been another biological sample. However, during my ti on Punk Hazard, that giant had long been dead, and his remains are still on Punk Hazard Island. You could probably still see them if you went there now.”
“A descendant of Oars!?” Ian couldn’t help but widen his eyes. “So, if Kaido was the final subject of these experints, does he really have the bloodline of a descendant of Oars?”
Ian knew that the term “descendant of Oars” didn’t refer to a specific race; Oars himself was actually a branch of the giant race, but his body was much larger than other giants, and the term “descendant” only described his evil actions.
Hearing Ian ntion this, Drake suddenly realized and slapped his thigh. “Exactly! That must be it. No wonder when I first saw Kaido on the live broadcast, I felt like I’d seen those horns on his head sowhere before—it was on Punk Hazard! The giant skeletal remains there also had similar horns! Oh, I rember now, in Punk Hazard’s research base, many entrances were marked with a skull pattern with curved horns, which strangely resembles Kaido’s pirate flag pattern…”
It seed clear now. Kaido was undoubtedly one of the experintal subjects on Punk Hazard Island back then. No wonder Whitebeard had once said that before this, there had been no ntion of Kaido, who erged only after the death of Pirate King Roger, using his formidable strength to rival Whitebeard and others, thus becoming one of the Four Emperors.
“Damn, I finally figured out this guy’s background…”
Ian rubbed his chin, calculating the tiline. “So, this unnad research project by the World Governnt began long before Vegapunk beca the Navy’s chief scientist, but it was only completed after Vegapunk joined?”
“That’s right, but there’s sothing off about it too!” Drake said. “Because in the end, it seems like this experint failed!”
“Huh!?” Ian frowned, suddenly recalling the enormous life force orb extracted from Kaido. He seed to understand now. If the World Governnt’s research on Kaido was about achieving immortality or eternal life, then Kaido’s lifespan of over five hundred years might actually be considered a failure!
“Kaido managed to escape in the end!” Drake continued. “No one knows exactly how the accident happened. Although the research facility was destroyed by Kaido, Dr. Vegapunk himself was unhard. After that incident, he apparently persuaded the World Governnt to abandon that research and instead focus on Devil Fruits and human modifications…”
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