The Infinite Hell

January 1, 1499, Grand Line Era.

Let us expand our view to the entire world.

Following Roger's final words, which were gradually fermenting across the Four Seas and the Grand Line, an increasing number of criminals and those who could no longer survive began to participate, either actively or passively, in the Great Pirate Wave.

Many high-spirited individuals also began their own voyages.

For instance, Gecko Moria had already entered the Paradise of the Grand Line, recruited many crew members, and was planning to advance into the New World.

Whitebeard held firm to his own small patch of territory.

Kaido and Big Mom began to bare their fangs, while Shanks and Buggy parted ways, embarking on their own new paths.

As for the Navy, although they had been played by Roger, their strength remained at an unshakable level.

Fleet Admiral Kong, Admiral Buddha Sengoku, Chief Instructor Black Arm Zephyr, Navy Hero Vice Admiral Mad Dog Garp, Chief of Staff Tsuru, and those three Logia Vice Admirals were undoubtedly a massive fighting force.

However, all of this had little to do with Wang Gao.

Perhaps the only related event was the hunt for bloodlines of sin in the South Blue, one of the few incidents that concerned him.

According to intelligence from Lucifer, the lackeys of CP6 were still searching in that sea area, and it was estimated that they would continue their ten-month mission until around April of this year.

On the other hand, Wang Gao had begun further planning regarding Impel Down.

This year was destined to be an era of surging winds and clouds.

At this moment, he summoned three of his subordinates.

Lucifer and Samael arrived at the conference room, while Leviathan, who had to oversee the Third Base at the Black Reef Archipelago, could only participate via video conference.

Lucifer wore an arrogant expression, his face set in a permanent scowl.

Samael, meanwhile, was spewing profanities while discussing various matters concerning Impel Down.

As for Leviathan, the fellow said with a hint of envy, "The Third Base is too boring; I really want to continue exploring the ocean."

"Alright, Samael, stop it!" Wang Gao felt a bit helpless regarding his diverse artificial humans, so he turned his head and asked Lucifer, "What is the current situation in Infinite Hell?"

"Reporting to Father God, World Destroyer Byrnndi, Red Count, Golden Lion, and others are all there; it is only Douglas Bullet who has not been imprisoned," Lucifer replied humbly.

Wang Gao tapped his fingers lightly on the table. "Red Count is of little value; he is not a Devil Fruit user. However, Golden Lion and Byrnndi are both worth planning for."

After a Devil Fruit user dies, their ability transforms into a space-time wave, which he simply called an "ability wave." These waves randomly reincarnate into fruits, becoming new Devil Fruits.

There was one characteristic to this: randomness.

According to his analysis of certain situations in his memories, among the traits of Devil Fruit reincarnation, if there is a large quantity of fruit nearby when the user dies, the ability wave has a certain probability of reincarnating directly in the vicinity.

Furthermore, Wang Gao speculated that Blackbeard's ability to plunder fruit powers lay in the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit.

So, what was the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit?

It was a Logia that could not elementalize, capable of nullifying other fruit powers, absorbing, and enhancing pain—this included two side effects and two effects.

If his guess was correct, the functions of nullification and absorption should be complementary.

That is, one effect was used to imprison the fruit power, preventing it from escaping as an ability wave, and then absorption was used to strip the Devil Fruit from the user.

This stripping of fruit power likely originated from the Dark-Dark Fruit's effect, which was similar to a black hole and could imprison ability waves.

Then, by utilizing release, one could forcibly stuff the ability wave into a fruit or a living body, turning it into a Devil Fruit or directly making someone a user.

In that case...

If Fujitora's Gravity-Gravity Fruit were developed to the extreme, it should also be able to control ability waves.

It was just that simulating gravitational intensity on the level of a black hole would likely require full awakening to be possible.

But that did not mean there were no other methods.

One effect of the Dark-Dark Fruit was the ability to nullify other users' powers through physical contact, effectively acting as a human Seastone.

In other words, Seastone could substitute for this effect.

In fact, over the past six months, he had conducted extensive experiments on dozens of Devil Fruit users and had basically figured out the situation.

After the meeting.

Wang Gao returned to the laboratory.

He prepared to make his final attempt.

A prisoner soaking in a life support pod had been injected with a large dose of anesthetics, and the life support fluid contained a high concentration of Seastone Factor.

These Seastone Factors were extracted by Wang Gao from seawater.

When a user touches seawater, they experience weakness and the failure of their abilities, not because of the water itself, but because seawater contains the Seastone Factor.

So, what exactly was the Seastone Factor?

According to Wang Gao's observations and research, the Seastone Factor was a pure neutron-type atom, consisting of exactly 23 neutrons.

This was the miraculous substance he had observed through his atomic-level observation haki.

At the same time, he had discovered why the Seastone Factor suppressed Devil Fruits.

The reason lay in the atomic mass of the Seastone Factor; it was nearly identical to the stable isotope of sodium. Sodium-23 is composed of 11 protons and 12 neutrons.

The nearly identical atomic mass of the two causes the Seastone Factor to be easily mistaken for something similar to a Sodium Ion in seawater, subsequently forming a weak bond with Chloride Ions.

During this bonding process, the Seastone Factor continuously releases a type of neutrino; this neutrino is the reason why Devil Fruit abilities are suppressed, as it disrupts the power of the Devil Fruit.

However, this neutrino also possesses a drawback: its range is extremely short. After being emitted from the Seastone Factor, it decays into an Electron Neutrino after traveling a distance of approximately 0.27 millimeters, losing its ability to cause disruption.

Yet, this distance can change under special circumstances, specifically when it comes into contact with a living organism; in such cases, the range of the Seastone Factor is no longer limited to 0.27 millimeters.

Because the Special Neutrino comes into contact with Sodium Ions, it forms a resonant superconducting state, allowing the Special Neutrino to use the Sodium Ions as a relay to maintain its original state rather than rapidly decaying into an Electron Neutrino.

Furthermore, Sodium Ions are an essential life element found within the bodies of most living organisms.

This is the reason why, when Seastone comes into contact with a user, the user feels weakness throughout their entire body; it is because the Special Neutrino rapidly spreads throughout the entire body via the Sodium Ions inside.

At the same time, this is the fundamental reason why seawater can suppress ability users.

Because the ocean contains a massive quantity of Sodium Ions, even a tiny amount of Seastone Factor will rapidly diffuse a large number of interfering neutrinos.

However, there is a certain distinction between Seastone and the Seastone Factor; Seastone is a compound of the Seastone Factor and Chloride Ions, similar to Sodium Chloride.

Yet, despite Wang Gao repeatedly distilling seawater, he has been unable to extract Seastone from it; clearly, while Seastone is a compound of the Seastone Factor and Chloride Ions, the conditions for its formation are definitely not found in an ordinary environment.

If Seastone could be synthesized so easily, there would be no reason for the World Government to remain dependent on the raw Seastone ore from Wano Country instead of manufacturing it themselves.

Through repeated experiments, Wang Gao discovered that the formation of Seastone requires high temperature and high pressure; such an environment only exists deep underground.

Thank you all for your support (ω｀)