Chapter 18

January 1, Grand Line Era 1499.

Let us broaden our view to encompass the entire world.

As Roger's final words continued to ferment across the Four Seas and the Grand Line, more and more villains and people unable to make a living were actively or passively swept into the great pirate era.

Many spirited people also began their own voyages.

For example, Gecko Moria had already entered Paradise on the Grand Line, recruited many crew members, and was preparing to advance into the New World.

Whitebeard held firmly to his own territory.

Kaido and Big Mom began to bare their fangs, while Shanks and Buggy went their separate ways and embarked on their own new paths.

Although the Navy had been played by Roger, its strength remained difficult to shake.

Fleet Admiral Kong, Admiral Buddha Sengoku, Chief Instructor Black Arm Zephyr, the Navy Hero Vice Admiral Mad Dog Garp, Chief of Staff Tsuru, and the three Logia vice admirals formed an absolutely formidable force.

But none of this had much to do with Wang Gao.

Perhaps the only related event was the Evil Bloodline Search-and-Capture Incident in the South Blue, one of the few events connected to Wang Gao.

According to Lucifer's intelligence, CP6's hounds were still conducting searches in those waters. The ten-month operation was estimated to continue until around April this year.

Meanwhile, Wang Gao was making further plans regarding Impel Down.

This year was destined to be an age of turmoil.

He summoned three of his subordinates.

Lucifer and Samael had arrived in the meeting room, while Leviathan could only participate by video conference because he had to hold down Third Base in the Black Reef Archipelago.

Lucifer looked arrogant, his face stern as ever.

Samael, meanwhile, spewed profanity as he talked about all manner of matters concerning Impel Down.

As for Leviathan, he said somewhat enviously, "Third Base is far too boring. I really want to continue exploring the ocean."

"Enough, Samael!" Wang Gao was somewhat helpless when dealing with Androids of such varied personalities. Turning His Head toward Lucifer, he asked, "How is the situation in Infinite Hell?"

"Reporting to Father God, World Destroyer Byrnndi, Red Count, Golden Lion, and the others are all there. Only Douglas Bullet was never imprisoned," Lucifer replied humbly.

Wang Gao lightly tapped the tabletop with his fingers. "Red Count has little value. He is not an ability user. Golden Lion and Byrnndi, however, are worth planning around."

After a Devil Fruit Ability user died, their ability became a Space-Time Wave. He had simply named this wave an "Ability Wave." Ability Waves would randomly reincarnate inside fruit, becoming new Devil Fruits.

There was one characteristic to this: randomness.

Based on the information in his memories, if an ability user died near a large amount of fruit, there was a certain chance that the Ability Wave would reincarnate directly nearby.

Wang Gao also suspected that Blackbeard's ability to seize Devil Fruit Abilities lay in the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit.

What exactly was the Dark-Dark Fruit's power?

It was a Logia that could not become elemental, could nullify other Devil Fruit Abilities, devour, and amplify pain. Of these, two were side effects and two were actual effects.

If he had guessed correctly, the ability-nullification and devouring functions should have complemented each other.

One effect was used to imprison a Devil Fruit Ability, preventing it from becoming an Ability Wave and escaping; then devouring was used to strip that Devil Fruit from its user.

This stripping of Devil Fruit Abilities likely originated from the Dark-Dark Fruit. Its black hole-like effect could imprison Ability Waves.

Then, through release, the Ability Wave could be forcibly stuffed into a fruit or living organism, turning it into a Devil Fruit or directly making someone an ability user.

If that was the case...

If Issho's Gravity-Gravity Fruit were developed to its limit, it should also be capable of controlling Ability Waves.

However, simulating black hole-class gravitational intensity would likely require complete awakening.

But that did not mean there were no other methods.

One effect of the Dark-Dark Fruit was that, through physical contact, it could nullify another ability user's powers, essentially making its user human-shaped Seastone.

In other words, Seastone could replace that effect.

In fact, over the past half year, he had conducted numerous experiments on dozens of Devil Fruit Ability users and had basically figured out some of the details.

After the meeting.

Wang Gao returned to the laboratory.

He was preparing for his final attempt.

A prisoner soaked inside a Life Support Pod was injected with a massive dose of anesthetics. The life-support fluid inside the pod also contained a large amount of Seastone Factor.

Wang Gao had extracted this Seastone Factor from seawater.

When ability users came into contact with seawater, they became weak and their abilities failed. This was not because of the seawater itself, but because seawater contained Seastone Factor.

Then what exactly was Seastone Factor?

According to Wang Gao's observations and research, Seastone Factor was a pure Neutron-type Atom consisting of twenty-three neutrons.

He had observed this miraculous substance through Atomic-level Observation Haki.

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

The reason lay in the atomic mass of Seastone Factor. It was nearly identical to that of Sodium's stable isotope. Sodium-23 consisted of eleven protons and twelve neutrons.

Because their atomic masses were so similar, Seastone Factor was easily treated as something akin to a Sodium Ion in seawater, forming weak bonds with Chloride Ions.

During this bonding process, Seastone Factor continuously released a kind of neutrino. This neutrino was the reason Devil Fruit Abilities were suppressed; it disrupted Devil Fruit Abilities.

However, this neutrino also had a flaw. Its range was extremely short. After being stimulated from Seastone Factor and traveling roughly 0.27 millimeters, it decayed into an Electron Neutrino and lost its disruptive properties.

Yet under special circumstances, this distance changed. When it came into contact with a living organism, the range of Seastone Factor was no longer 0.27 millimeters.

This was because Special Neutrinos came into contact with Sodium Ions and formed a resonant superconducting state. Using Sodium Ions as relays, the Special Neutrinos retained their original state instead of rapidly decaying into Electron Neutrinos.

And Sodium Ions were one of the indispensable life elements inside ordinary organisms.

This was why ability users became weak all over after coming into contact with Seastone: Special Neutrinos rapidly spread throughout their entire bodies via the Sodium Ions inside the body.

It was also the fundamental reason seawater could suppress ability users.

The ocean contained an enormous quantity of Sodium Ions. Even with only a tiny amount of Seastone Factor, it could rapidly spread a large number of disruptive neutrinos.

However, Seastone and Seastone Factor differed to a certain extent. Seastone was a compound of Seastone Factor and Chloride Ions, similar to Sodium Chloride.

Yet despite repeatedly distilling seawater, Wang Gao had never been able to extract Seastone from it. Clearly, although Seastone was a compound of Seastone Factor and Chloride Ions, its bonding conditions were anything but ordinary.

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

Through repeated experiments, Wang Gao discovered that Seastone required high temperatures and high pressure to form. Only deep underground possessed suitable conditions for such an environment.

Thank you all for your support. (ω｀)