As everyone knew, Devil Fruits also came in varying ranks.
In the eyes of ordinary people, Logia Devil Fruits were the strongest, followed by Zoan and Paramecia Fruits.
The fundamental reason for this was likely that the Three Admirals had thoroughly made the power of Logia Devil Fruits famous.
Because Mythical Zoans were so rare, most ordinary people might never witness their power in their entire lives.
Rarity did not necessarily equate to strength, but Mythical Zoans were an exception.
Bang!
A punch smashed open the thick iron door.
Smoke instantly billowed in every direction.
Piercing alarms and red lights filled the laboratory.
Roy had undoubtedly triggered the alarm in this laboratory.
But at a moment like this, no one cared.
Roy was staring at the enormous glass enclosure in the middle of the laboratory with the look of an obsessive fanatic.
Crack!
The sturdy glass shattered outright.
Clouds swept away every shard of broken glass.
He impatiently picked up the strange fruit resting on the velvet cotton.
"So this is Vegapunk's masterpiece, an Artificial Devil Fruit that cloned Kaido's Devil Fruit ability?"
His fingers rubbed the protrusions and fine patterns on the Devil Fruit's surface.
As he looked at the fruit streaked in dark and light blue, Roy knew that the one in his hand had the potential to create a fighter at least on the level of one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
Its upper limit, however, was impossible to predict.
No matter where it was taken, this thing would count as an absolute treasure.
Roy tightly gripped the Artificial Fish-Fish Fruit in his hand.
He knew he had struck it big this time.
After all, this Devil Fruit had only been created not long ago.
Even Vegapunk did not have enough confidence in this Artificial Devil Fruit.
And that was the biggest reason Roy had been able to obtain it.
After all, if the World Government or the Navy learned that this Artificial Devil Fruit created by Vegapunk could actually rival Kaido's Fruit ability...
Then Roy believed that no matter how dangerous this research facility was, the World Government would certainly turn the place upside down to find this Devil Fruit.
He raised the Devil Fruit in his hand beneath the red alarm lights.
Under the crimson light, its captivating appearance and the power it contained made it Roy's greatest haul of the year.
"Huh? Who are you? Why are you here?"
Just as Roy was admiring the Artificial Devil Fruit in his hand—
A sudden voice interrupted his private moment of appreciation.
He turned his head.
Two men holding weapons and dressed in prison uniforms stood at the laboratory entrance.
"Oh, prisoners from this place?
You're lucky. I'm in a good mood today, so I don't feel like killing anyone."
Bang!
Roy, holding the Artificial Devil Fruit, directly dissolved into misty clouds.
"Where did that guy go? Why did he suddenly disappear?"
The two pirates rubbed their eyes as they stared at the empty space ahead.
"Forget it, don't worry about it. Let's just say we imagined it!
Hurry up, the poison gas is about to spread here."
The piercing alarm immediately jolted the two prisoners awake.
Their frantic footsteps headed straight toward the depths of the research facility.
Roy was in an excellent mood as he clutched the Devil Fruit in his hand.
With white clouds clearing the way, Roy quickly stepped out through the facility's gates.
He looked up at the poisonous haze that still made the sky impossible to see.
He carefully placed the Devil Fruit into an iron box cut out with a blade.
Through the Echo Map, Roy could determine how far away the World Government and Navy personnel were.
After confirming that, just as he had expected, no one was approaching this area where the poisonous gas was densest—
Roy's thoughts stirred.
Sky City, floating ten thousand meters in the air, sent a patch of snow-white island cloud plummeting rapidly downward.
Because explosions kept occurring, the entire island was currently shrouded in dark clouds and poisonous gas.
Thus, the World Government personnel failed to notice the cloud island falling rapidly from the sky and absorbing the poison gas.
A vast expanse of island cloud now floated above the research facility.
At the same time, Roy created a large amount of mist to envelop the entire facility.
The poisonous gas was absorbed in great quantities by the white clouds.
When Roy sensed that the concentration of poisonous gas around them was no longer lethal—
Another island cloud drifted down from the sky.
Albert, Torres, and the others stood fully armed atop this island cloud.
The poison gas that had previously flooded into the research facility had already driven all the prisoners down to its lowest level.
Roy now controlled the poisonous clouds that had absorbed the gas, forcing them deeper into the facility.
Roy would not leave behind a single piece of equipment in this research facility.
At Roy's command, the Sky Islanders atop the island cloud began pouring continuously into the facility.
Small pieces of equipment were carried directly onto the island cloud.
As for the large assembly lines and even more precise research instruments—
Since Roy did not know how to dismantle some of them, he fully put his strength as a Great Swordsman to use.
If he could not take them apart, then he would simply shave them away together with the floor.
Every piece of equipment in the World Government's laboratory was precious.
As Roy and his people began working overtime to dismantle the place—
It was no exaggeration to say that in the only research facility remaining on all of Punk Hazard, Roy and his people would turn over even the ground itself.
Their dismantling speed grew faster and faster.
The prisoners who had originally been forced into the deepest part of the facility all became Roy's captives without exception.
Faced with immediate death or becoming prisoners and losing their freedom—
These prisoners who had been used as lab rats decisively chose to submit.
At the same time, it was precisely because Roy had this group of criminals familiar with the facility's interior to guide them.
The sun in the distant sky set, then slowly rose again.
At last, as he looked at the faint rays of sunlight on the far horizon—
After a full day and night of dismantling and transporting, Roy looked at the hollowed-out hill behind him.
The smile on Roy's lips could not be suppressed.
He quietly returned to the base by Punk Hazard's shore.
The gains from the previous night had greatly exceeded Roy's expectations.
Based on Roy's guess, the supplies stored in that research facility had likely been prepared for Punk Hazard's explosion by Caesar Clown long ago.
Otherwise, a single research facility could never have contained so many supplies and unopened scientific instruments.
All of it plainly told Roy—
The explosion Caesar Clown had created was the result of his painstaking planning.
What had really happened was not an accident caused by a dispute with Vegapunk.
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