The Fear of Being Ruled by the Lightning Dharma King
"Does the higher one flies, the smaller one appears in the eyes of those who cannot fly?" Vegapunk murmured to himself. "You're right, our world is destined to be incomprehensible to those mediocre people."
"Believe me, you will see a much wider world..."
"Heh, as expected of the man known as Nightmare, you've swayed me with just a few words. Well, it seems I have no other choice now." Vegapunk chuckled. "What do you intend for me to do? Dream... oh no, Captain."
"What I need you to develop is a signal relay station, similar to a Den Den Mushi (Den Den Mushi Signal Tower," Roy said succinctly.
"Signal Tower?" Vegapunk seemed puzzled, but nodded slightly and said, "The bio-waves emitted by Den Den Mushi cannot reach every corner of this world indefinitely, and they are also easily affected by the chaotic magnetic forces on the various islands. The function of Signal Tower is to receive and transmit those bio-waves to achieve wide-area communication. But I think the signal relay station you mentioned is probably not that simple..."
"There are many people in this world who can build Signal Tower, but if you want to build the kind of thing I envisioned, only you, Doctor, who has mastered the essence of Devil Fruit," Roy said, making no attempt to hide his high regard for Vegapunk.
In fact, he had shared his ideas with Judge and his Science Unit. Unfortunately, this was far beyond their capabilities. After three months of fruitless research, and without finding any starting point, Roy decisively halted their research.
"Control the essence of Devil Fruit? Captain, you think too highly of me. Devil Fruit are the original manifestation of Gaia Consciousness on this planet. If someone can truly absorb the power of Devil Fruit, it might mean that he is not far from the legendary gods." Vegapunk said with longing.
"Gaia Consciousness?" Roy was somewhat surprised. "I didn't expect that you, Doctor, would also be a supporter of the Gaia Hypothesis. That's quite unexpected."
"I have sent many probes into the vast universe and even discovered traces of other life forms. Some of them live in a primitive era where they eat raw meat and drink blood, while others live in a future era where they traverse the universe. Without exception, they all rely on technology or physical strength. There are no strange powers like Devil Fruit. Therefore, even in the entire universe, our world is an extremely special existence. And this specialness may originate from the Gaia Consciousness of the planet."
Vegapunk's eyes were filled with fervor. A super genius like him would normally disdain to interact much with ordinary people. Now that someone was listening to his proud discovery, he naturally became more and more excited as he spoke.
Roy's lips twitched weakly. Everyone else was still in the Grand Line, but you alone had already entered the Age of Space. No wonder ordinary people regarded you as a monster. If he didn't have memories of his past life, he probably would have had a hard time accepting this statement.
In his memories from his previous life, it was indeed mentioned that those interstellar pirates who could travel through the universe were no match for Enel, who came to the Uninhabited Land. If explained by Gaia Consciousness, it would indeed make sense.
After all, for those "aliens" who have never witnessed the power of Devil Fruit, this power originating from their own strength is indeed too astonishing.
"Alright, let's get back to the point..." Roy forcibly steered the topic back on track. "The reason I brought this up is that I hope you, Doctor, will build a Dream Signal Station."
"Dream Signal Station?" A rare look of doubt appeared on Vegapunk's face.
"That's right. I'm sure the Doctor knows that I ate the Dream-Dream Fruit, which gives me the ability to freely transform and control dreams. In its extreme state, my dreams can cover an entire continent, but that's still far from enough. I need more power. Only by covering the whole world with my dreams and having everyone contribute their power to my dreams can I achieve the goal I envision."
"Hiss... Radiating the dream to the whole world, Captain, do you want everyone to be trapped in an eternal dream?" Vegapunk took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil in his heart. Although he didn't know the exact strength of Roy, the World Government's fear of Roy showed that Roy's strength was absolutely terrifying. Yet, such a person said that his power was far from enough. What exactly was he planning?
"It's alright to tell you, Doctor. I call this plan the Dream Web Project." Roy spoke eloquently. "The development and progress of civilization cannot be separated from communication and exchange between countries and regions. However, this world is blocked by the sea, and pirates roam the sea. Not to mention communication between countries, even normal commercial relations are difficult to maintain. This has forced many countries to close their doors and become stagnant. This is the root cause of the huge gap in the level of civilization in this world and the ignorance of the people."
"But... if a platform suddenly appeared in this world that would allow countries and regions to communicate without any barriers, to conduct commercial transactions through dream manifestation to exchange goods, and to hone skills through life-or-death battles in dreams, Doctor, do you think people would flock to it?"
Vegapunk gasped. He could already imagine that if such a dream platform really appeared, the level of civilization in this world would likely experience a leap forward.
However, while he was shocked, Vegapunk also felt increasingly strange. Although he didn't know Roy very well, no matter how you looked at it, Roy didn't seem like a saint who only cared about others and never for himself.
"Captain, aren't you worried that your enemies might also use dreams to rapidly grow stronger?"
"Hehe, that's exactly what I'd love to do. The more they grow in the dream world, the more power they contribute to me. Besides, how could one person's progress possibly compare to my progress, which is constantly being supplied with power by countless people?"
"However, Captain, I still think you're too optimistic. After all, your reputation on the high seas isn't exactly stellar. Now that you know the Dream Network is your domain, I think most people probably wouldn't have the courage to Dream-Enter a second time." Vegapunk wasn't optimistic about the future of the Dream Net.
"No, believe me. Once they feel the allure of the Dream Net, nothing, not even my reputation or death, will frighten them." Roy smiled calmly. Even if Vegapunk possesses wisdom 500 years ahead of the world, his imagination is still limited by his limited perspective. He has a deep understanding of the allure of the virtual world to humanity. It's time for this world to experience the fear of being dominated by internet addiction.