Shadow

The Devil Fruit exposed to infrared light began to break down, though the process was slow.

At the same time, the Mecha Seed began to change, gradually consuming the Devil Fruit. This was Wang Gao's Devil Fruit armament manufacturing technology.

Although he did not know how Vegapunk had created Devil Fruit weapons, Wang Gao himself understood the essence of Devil Fruits very well.

Zoan Devil Fruits were the easiest to modify because they contained a Beast Soul. By stimulating the Devil Fruit, it could be fused with an inanimate object. In essence, this activated the Devil Fruit's Beast Soul, equivalent to a half-awakening.

However, Paramecia and Logia types did not possess Beast Souls. To turn these types of Devil Fruits into weapons, the issue of the soul had to be resolved.

Thus, Wang Gao modified the Mecha Seeds anew, creating blank artificial intelligences with relatively independent traits and implanting them into the Mecha Seeds.

This gave the mecha the foundation to "eat" Devil Fruits.

However, there was still considerable uncertainty, and the Devil Fruit had to be activated further.

That was why the machine before him existed. Under certain special conditions, the Ability Waves residing within a fruit could be disrupted, causing instability.

The clearest example was Chopper's later-developed Rumble Ball, which could create various transformation effects by interfering with the frequency of Ability Waves.

The existence of Seastone Factor was another means of disrupting Ability Waves.

Based on this information, Wang Gao developed his own Devil Fruit weaponization technology.

Under the interference of infrared light, the Shadow-Shadow Fruit gradually merged with the Mecha Seed.

As for why he had developed Devil Fruit-type mecha, one reason was to further unlock the potential of mecha, while the other was to ensure safety.

Wang Gao intended to end this era. Devil Fruits, which could easily create powerful individuals, had to be brought completely under control rather than allowed to continue randomly reincarnating.

So how could Devil Fruits be controlled?

Wang Gao's preliminary plan was to create Devil Fruit-type mecha and house the Devil Fruits inside them. Mecha would not Die of Old Age and could also serve as a form of inheritance.

Furthermore, the highest authority over the mecha remained in Wang Gao's hands. Even if a user wished to rebel, the mecha could be reclaimed, completely stripping them of their abilities.

Finally, mecha did not have the Devil Fruit's "one person, one fruit" restriction. One person could use multiple sets of mecha, which was equivalent to eating several Devil Fruits.

At the same time, using Devil Fruit mecha avoided some of the drawbacks of Devil Fruit users. There was no need to worry about interference from Seastone Factor, so they could naturally go into the sea and swim.

If a composite mecha was used—one ordinary mecha and one Devil Fruit mecha—then even in the sea, its Fruit abilities could still be activated, or it could withstand Seastone weapons head-on.

This was because ordinary mecha could form another protective layer around the Devil Fruit mecha, directly isolating Seastone Factor.

With all these advantages, Devil Fruit mecha were far superior to simply having people eat Devil Fruits.

Three hours later, the Shadow Demon Mecha was complete, but Wang Gao did not immediately take it out.

Instead, he used a special Skynet to connect to the mecha's intelligent core, further strengthening his highest authority.

Finally, he put on the Devil Fruit mecha.

Unlike ordinary Devil Fruit users, Devil Fruit mecha would grow stronger and stronger with each inheritance.

Simply put, the mecha itself possessed memory. Every skill and degree of awakening developed by users through the Devil Fruit mecha would be preserved, even if the previous user died.

As long as the next user's physical and mental strength could keep up, they could quickly master it and successfully replicate their predecessor's skills.

After putting on the Shadow Mecha, Wang Gao became its first user.

He was not Moria, forcibly turning an ability with limitless potential into a Zombie Fruit.

Shadow Dive!

Wang Gao's figure merged into the shadow at the corner of the wall.

Shadow Realm Expansion!

At that moment, he opened a dimensional space belonging to shadows—the Shadow World. There were only three colors here: gray, white, and black. Everything around him consisted of those three colors.

The black outlines, upon closer inspection, were the shadows of objects in reality; the white regions were areas illuminated by light in the real world; and the gray regions were transitional zones where light and darkness intermingled.

Shadow Tunnel!

Standing in a Dark Zone, Wang Gao spread a patch of shadow beneath his feet. It crossed the Light Zone and connected to another Dark Zone.

Shadow Manifest!

He instantly flashed into the other Dark Zone because, within the Shadow World, shadows moved at the speed of light—true light speed.

Using the special connection between his Clone and his main body, Wang Gao appeared directly from the Underground Laboratory on Gourmet Island in the laboratory at Camel Island Base.

Lucifer, who was guarding the place, sensed an eerie presence suddenly appear inside the laboratory. Startled, he was just about to act when a voice rang out in his mind.

"Lucifer, it's me."

"Father God?!"

"I'm testing the mecha."

After saying that, Wang Gao's Clone entered the Shadow World again and arrived at the base in the Black Reef Archipelago, where he saw Leviathan, whom he had not seen in a long time.

Next, he went to Starfish Island in the West Blue and met with Belfinger.

Finally, he returned to the underground base on Gourmet Island. With light-speed movement in the Shadow World, the Shadow Mecha was practically invincible.

If Moria had developed this ability, then forget the Fierce Beast Camp soldiers—even Wang Gao would find him extremely troublesome to deal with.

With this ability, as long as one did not court death and stayed hidden within the Shadow World, even Star Destroyer Level attacks might be avoided.

After all, Star Destroyer Level was divided into different tiers. If it merely destroyed the surface or smashed the planet into several pieces, the planet's Shadow World would not be completely destroyed. Users of the Shadow Mecha could still hide within it.

As for the area of the Shadow World, it was actually more than a dozen times larger than Blue Sea Star's surface area.

This was because a planet's normal Material World was mostly measured by surface area.

But the Shadow World was different. It contained three major regions: the Flowing Realm derived from the surface, the Starry Sky Realm where the night connected to the Night Sky, and the Eternal Night Realm formed by shadows underground and beneath the sea.

The Flowing Realm experienced the greatest changes due to the alternation of day and night on the surface, as well as cloudy and sunny weather and the waxing and waning of the moon. It was constantly changing.

The Starry Sky Realm was the portion of the planet's shadow that extended outward. Theoretically, it could even encompass the moon and asteroids in nearby orbit.

The Eternal Night Realm existed in the depths of the sea and underground. Whether it was day or night, sunlight could not reach these places, forming nearly permanent shadowed regions.

Of course, the shadowed regions beneath the sea had a strong sense of three-dimensionality. The underground Shadow World, meanwhile, had to exist in gaps between rock strata, such as Underground Rivers and subterranean caverns. Compared to the shadows beneath the sea, its area and scale were far smaller.

Using the shadow speed of the Shadow World, Wang Gao conducted a preliminary exploration of its three realms.

Without a Skynet system like his, it would be easy to lose one's way after entering the Shadow World.

All of these were support abilities. As for offensive methods, the Shadow Mecha's attacks were not weak at all—in fact, they were terrifying.

Thank you all for your support (ω｀). Thanks to the readers "Tyrant Bear Ring," "Gardenia Golden Wall," "Eternal Grace," "Silent Him," "Find Slippers," "A Bit Dazed Then," "Dream Ant," and "Recall Time in Dreams" for your donations!