The Den Den Mushi connected, and Vegapunk's voice came through. It was intermittent at first, but gradually stabilized.
"Has the signal stabilized? Sorry, Annus. The experiment just ended, and I was far too busy to see you off."
The Den Den Mushi Annus used was one of Vegapunk's research achievements, called the "Long-Distance Communication Den Den Mushi."
Den Den Mushi used biological radio waves as a transmission medium. Every individual Den Den Mushi possessed unique radio waves, but there was also a channel used to transmit public information waves.
Following the principle that larger bodies produced stronger signals, the larger a Den Den Mushi was, the stronger the signal it released on the public channel between Den Den Mushi, making it easier to detect.
The "Long-Distance Communication Den Den Mushi" was a specially mutated breed cultivated by Vegapunk based on that principle. According to Vegapunk, as long as two Long-Distance Communication Den Den Mushi were no farther apart than more than half a planet, they could communicate.
"It's fine, Doctor. I just finished up here as well," Annus said.
Vegapunk chuckled. "Hahaha, that's for the best... I've already studied the latest Lineage Factor you provided. Your line of thought was correct. The Lunarians and Skypieans truly do have a close connection. I'll contact you immediately once there's any progress..."
"Also, I carefully considered the question you asked before. If you want to achieve a breakthrough in combat strength now, I'm afraid it will be difficult from a biological standpoint.
"You've developed the Rumble-Rumble Fruit to an unprecedented degree. In essence, you're nothing more than a mass of lightning, yet you can in turn draw in and control thunderclouds, create heavenly thunder that only nature can produce, and even use lightning to influence and manipulate magnetism...
"While all of this is theoretically possible, from the perspective of an ability user, it is simply inconceivable. If you wish to continue developing and improving, perhaps you can only further strengthen your control over magnetism, or try condensing lightning to create a more powerful form of force," Vegapunk said.
"I understand, Doctor. That's why I asked you to look into whether there's a way for me to eat more Devil Fruits," Annus said.
During his time in Water 7, Annus had discussed this subject with Vegapunk many times. As one of the strongest people in the world, Annus found it difficult to make any substantial progress in a short period. Rather, it was precisely because he was too powerful that any improvement seemed so slight.
For the people living in this world, aside from training their bodies, learning more combat techniques, and accumulating battle experience, there were only two paths to becoming stronger...
One was Haki, and the other was Devil Fruits.
Top-tier powerhouses often possessed both. While there were also severely unbalanced monsters such as Roger, Garp, and Rocks, in theory, Devil Fruits still provided tremendous enhancements.
No matter how strong someone who purely cultivated Haki became, they could not alter the nature of objects like a Paramecia user, become natural elements themselves like a Logia user, or transform into beasts like a Zoan user.
What Devil Fruits granted their users was not merely power, but countless possibilities across broader fields.
Annus had now reached a bottleneck in his Haki training. To break through, he could only persist, but that was a slow and grinding process. It would be difficult to see results without ten years.
By comparison, for Annus, who had already developed his Fruit ability to the limit, eating more Devil Fruits and gaining abilities in other fields naturally became his first choice.
Just like Blackbeard in the original timeline. His strength had originally only been somewhat greater than Fire Fist Ace's, but after seizing Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit, he leaped into the ranks of the Four Emperors. The boost provided by top-tier Devil Fruits to combat power was obvious.
Yet throughout the entire world, Blackbeard was the only exception known to have eaten multiple Devil Fruits. The secret behind it remained unknown to this day.
The only vague clue was that Blackbeard's body was structured differently from that of ordinary people.
If Annus wanted to replicate Blackbeard's path now, he would need to overcome many difficulties.
Devil Fruits could not be eaten two at once.
Scholars on the Grand Line had once conducted experiments—the body exploding into fragments was the only outcome of eating two Devil Fruits.
To gain the tremendous power of Devil Fruits, one was bound to pay a terrifying price. Fools with excessive greed would destroy themselves.
As long as one considered the price paid for eating a single Fruit, it was not difficult to imagine the curse one would suffer after eating a second.
How could power gained so easily fail to inflict terrifying side effects upon its user?
Even the Celestial Dragons, who held the secrets of the world, had never mastered such technology.
However, Vegapunk did not pour cold water on Annus's idea. Instead, he was deeply interested. He liked such bold concepts.
Geniuses were always like this. Only things ordinary people deemed impossible could stimulate their dopamine and awaken their desire to take on a challenge.
Difficult problems would not stop geniuses. Instead, they acted as stimulants.
"Allow me to first explain the principle... Annus.
"Devil Fruits are the possibilities of 'human evolution' born from humanity's 'wishes.' These 'unnatural existences' are hated by the sea, the 'mother of nature,' and thus must bear punishment...
"Ability users are, in truth, people imagined by someone else, living in another dimension.
"As for the fundamental reason one cannot eat two Devil Fruits, there are many explanations. The most famous folk legend is the Devil Theory—
"Every person who eats a Devil Fruit becomes inhabited by a devil. Someone who eats two Devil Fruits at once will die when the devils clash and cause their body to explode.
"From a biological perspective, it is because Devil Fruit users undergo alterations to their Lineage Factor. When two different sets of alteration instructions take effect at the same time, the human body cannot endure them and explodes from the inside out.
"To successfully obtain the power of multiple Devil Fruits, theoretically, one would need the mental strength to suppress multiple devils, as well as a special constitution capable of withstanding conflicts between them.
"But no matter how I think about it, eating multiple Devil Fruits directly does not seem realistic. We would need a gentler method."
In the original timeline, Blackbeard only conceived of betrayal after the Dark-Dark Fruit appeared. That showed that even with a special constitution, it was difficult to endure the consequences of directly consuming a second Devil Fruit.
Hearing this, Annus finally spoke slowly. "Doctor... if I provide you with a blood sample from a so-called 'special constitution,' can you make me possess the same special constitution?"
Vegapunk fell silent for a moment on the other end of the Den Den Mushi before answering seriously, "I can't guarantee it, but we can try. Theoretically, it's possible."
Before you continue