Chakra Seed

"The reason I told you about this was only to give you a clear understanding of the hidden dangers of Chakra. In reality, as an almost perfect biological energy source, we naturally can't throw out the whole thing just because of its flaws."

With an unconcerned tone, Vegapunk said to Nico Robin, "As for those hidden dangers—don't forget, I'm Vegapunk!"

His tone was extraordinarily arrogant. At least, the two Snow Ninja being studied behind Vegapunk thought he was really good at boasting. They did not really believe all that talk about Chakra's hidden dangers or the Ninja World being a nursery—after all, frogs at the bottom of a well could only see a patch of sky as large as a bucket.

However, Nico Robin did not think Vegapunk was bragging in the slightest. After all, in the Pirate World, she had been Vegapunk's assistant and understood his research ability better than anyone. She knew exactly how monstrous the Blond Boy before her truly was.

Hancock, standing nearby, twisted her body, her face flushed red and her eyes practically turning pink as she gazed at Vegapunk with infatuation. "Lord Vegapunk is so handsome!"

Vegapunk did not pay it much mind. In truth, research in the Ninja World was far easier than in the Pirate World, because the final answer had long been placed before him—the Chakra-fused Kekkei Tōta, as well as the complete Otsutsuki reverse-engineered through genes. That was the endpoint of the Ninja World's system.

Setting Chakra research aside, Vegapunk had long accumulated a wealth of knowledge in genetics, so getting started was effortless.

What was more, the Ninja World possessed Supernatural Power in the form of Chakra. With that power, many black-box technologies could be created.

In a world without Supernatural Power, building the edifice of science was like constructing a skyscraper model entirely out of matchsticks. Every single matchstick was incomparably important and had to be placed exactly where it was needed to support the model.

If even one matchstick was missing, or if one was placed crookedly or imprecisely, the scientific edifice could not be built. In such a precise system, casually pulling out a single matchstick could cause the entire structure to collapse in an instant.

In a world with Supernatural Power, however, that power was like an all-purpose adhesive. Science was like building a skyscraper, and thanks to the adhesive's effects, people in supernatural worlds could bypass countless difficult problems and use vast amounts of adhesive to easily build the scientific edifice ever higher.

Of course, technological development in ordinary worlds meant understanding not only that something worked, but why it worked. Though progress was slow, its foundations were deep and its theories clear. Sometimes theory even came before practice. In terms of long-term potential, it was actually stronger than a supernatural world.

The reason Vegapunk had achieved so much more than his original self was undoubtedly due in large part to the theories of the real world. Even though he had not been a Scientist in his previous life, he at least had a rough grasp of those cutting-edge theories, and that was enough to serve as a direction for progress.

"All right, the Chakra extraction and compression are complete!" Vegapunk said a moment later. "You can try out the newly extracted Chakra Seed. It should directly grant you the ability to use Ice Release."

The originally pure blue Chakra inside the machine had been extracted from Kazahana Dōtō. Yet even this strongest man in Snow Country did not possess a true Ice Release Kekkei Genkai.

More precisely, a pure Ice Release Kekkei Genkai should be formed by fusing Wind Release Chakra and Water Release Chakra. It would even alter the genes of the user, making their descendants naturally more likely to awaken Ice Release.

The Ninja of Snow Country had merely mixed Wind Release Chakra and Water Release Chakra together. They had not come anywhere close to true fusion. Only by relying on Snow Country's unique climate did this bastardized ninjutsu display effects similar to Ice Release.

In fact, in another location, their Ice Release would merely be slightly colder Water Release mixed with a few chunks of ice.

After extracting Kazahana Dōtō's Chakra, Vegapunk used the machine to fuse and compress it anew. In the end, he completely turned it into an Ice Release Chakra Seed. By his estimate, it should allow its holder to directly awaken Ice Release.

That was because neither Nico Robin nor Boa Hancock originally possessed Chakra. If it were someone from this world, they would already have Chakra. Once this Chakra Seed entered their body, it would be directly contaminated and would instead have little effect.

The Snow Ninja standing behind Vegapunk curled his lip. How could Ice Release possibly be developed so easily? The Snow Ninja of Snow Country had poured their hearts and souls into developing true Ice Release. Yet after several generations, they could only produce such a half-finished product. One could easily imagine how difficult it was to develop a Kekkei Genkai.

Just fiddling with this piece of junk machinery could directly make someone awaken Ice Release? If that were true, I'd eat this junk machine on the spot!

"Let me try it!" Nico Robin reached out and grasped the rotating Chakra Seed within the machine, which looked like a glowing orb.

The Chakra Seed instantly fused into Nico Robin's body. She shuddered violently, feeling a force continuously moving through her body, as though it had awakened some dormant ability within her cells.

A moment later, Nico Robin felt the Chakra within her body completely dissolve. Then she gently closed her eyes, recalled the Chakra extraction technique she had only learned recently, and began extracting Chakra within herself.

Unlike when she had first learned the Chakra extraction technique and gained nothing from extracting Chakra, her previously lifeless cells seemed to awaken in an instant. Stimulated by her mental energy, threads of energy revived within her cells and blended together into Chakra energy.

"S-So much Chakra energy! Chakra can actually be this powerful! This is several times stronger than a Jonin, isn't it? No, it might even be more than ten times stronger!" the bit-player Snow Ninja cried out in shock, his face filled with disbelief.

Vegapunk was not surprised. Without Otsutsuki blood, a person's Chakra reserves were closely tied to their physical strength.

Although Nico Robin had also undergone scientific training and modification, her Physical Body was only considered decent in the Pirate World. Among true powerhouses, she could not even rank. But compared to the constitutions of people in the Ninja World, she was far stronger.

After all, people in the Pirate World were truly human tanks. For any somewhat notable powerhouse, having bullets and blades fail to pierce their bodies and using their flesh to withstand guns and cannons was basic stuff. Even ordinary people being blasted or knocked seven or eight meters into the air, then getting up, wiping away some blood, and being perfectly fine was a common sight.

Meanwhile, aside from certain monsters enhanced through bodily modifications, even someone like the Third Raikage would still be stabbed to death by a Kunai without his Lightning Release Chakra Armor. Nico Robin's physical strength might only be considered good in the Pirate World, but in the Ninja World, it was already close to the ceiling.