Salto Kingdom.
Inside an Umbrella Corporation research facility bearing the red-and-white umbrella logo, within a laboratory whose walls were covered in a special alloy.
Sephiroth, Jim, and Isaac stood in white lab coats beside an expressionless Isaac made of Soul Crystals. They were discussing the possibility of combining Soul Crystals with robotic technology.
"Boss! We discovered that this project of ours isn't creating intelligent robots at all... We're creating an entirely new concept of life!" Isaac looked slightly crazed, his voice brimming with excitement.
"Oh? Go on..."
Sephiroth's face showed an interested expression at those words.
"There was once a scientist in West Blue who said that after death, a person lost 21 grams of weight... After repeated research, he determined what that lost weight was... the soul! Twenty-one grams is the weight of the soul! Boss, do you know...? When I recorded my own memories and personality into a Soul Crystal, then compared it before and after, I found that the Soul Crystal had actually gained 21 grams. When I deleted my memories and personality, it returned to its original weight, losing 21 grams! The technology used to create Soul Crystals has already touched upon the domain of the gods! If we can use Soul Crystals as human brains and mechanical parts as torsos, then we would effectively be creating a mechanical life-form! I even suspect that Devil Fruits are technological creations derived from Soul Crystal technology... After a Devil Fruit user dies, the Devil Fruit's power transfers and is reborn in another fruit. This is actually the same principle as what we want to do by placing a Soul Crystal into a mechanical body. Even if the body is damaged in the future, so long as the Soul Crystal remains intact, it can continue functioning simply by being