Hachinosu Laboratory.
Dr. Gracia had been notified by Roy in advance and had prepared the experimental equipment well in advance.
When Roy appeared at the laboratory door carrying the unconscious Blackbeard, Gracia pushed up his glasses, a hint of undisguised excitement flashing in his eyes.
"Is this the person with the special physical abilities?"
"Right."
Roy threw Blackbeard onto the lab bed, Seastone chains automatically locked, firmly securing Blackbeard's limbs and torso to the bed surface.
"Marshall D. Teach, Devil Fruit User."
His physique can accommodate the power of multiple Devil Fruit —at least two.
I need to know why.
Gracia put on gloves and approached the lab bed.
The light illuminated Blackbeard's fleshy face and the still-healing wound on his left shoulder.
The Seastone chains emitted a cold, eerie blue light, continuously suppressing the Devil Fruit power within him.
When Blackbeard woke up, it took him a full ten seconds to realize that he wasn't having a nightmare.
His last memory was of the ball of light from Roy's fingertip striking his brow, and then all was darkness.
He's awake now, but the world he found himself in was worse than a nightmare.
Above me was a cold, alloy ceiling, and beneath me was a hard, bone-deep metal bed.
His hands and feet were firmly secured by Seastone chains, the joints of which were welded tightly, without even a millimeter of looseness.
The surrounding walls were covered with various instruments he couldn't name, their indicator lights flashing a dim green and red light in the darkness.
An old man in a white coat was standing by the bed, holding a syringe in his hand, the tip of which gleamed coldly under the light.
"You're awake?"
Dr. Gracia's voice was so kind, so kind, that it sent chills down Blackbeard's spine.
"Don't be nervous, let's just have a blood test. It's a routine checkup, it won't hurt."
"Get out of my way! I'm Shichibukai! Recognized by the World Government— "
Blackbeard's roar echoed through the laboratory, but Gracia paid no heed.
The needle pierced a blood vessel in Blackbeard's arm, and dark red blood was slowly drawn into the syringe.
Blackbeard struggled desperately, his Seastone chains rattling loudly, but this only tightened the chains further.
He could feel the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit still within him, but it was suppressed by the magnetic field of the Seastone, like a wild beast locked in a cage.
Gracia placed the drawn blood sample into the analyzer, pressed a few buttons, and the instrument emitted a low hum.
He adjusted his glasses and began recording data.
Who exactly are you people?!
What do you want?
I can give you money!
I'm now Shichibukai!
Lao Tzu has an appointment letter from the World Government-- "
Blackbeard's voice changed from a roar to a plea for mercy, then from a plea for mercy to cursing, and finally to a near-collapse of incoherent ramblings.
He had schemed against and betrayed countless people in his life, but he never imagined that one day he would be lying on an experimental bed and being used as a test subject.
Roy leaned against the wall by the lab door, hands in his pockets, without saying a word the entire time.
His expression was calm as still water, as if everything before him was just a routine experiment.
Gracia took the data report from the analyzer, his brow furrowing slightly.
He drew another vial of blood, did another test, and then a third.
The three results were completely consistent.
"How about it?"
Roy finally spoke.
"Incredible."
Gracia put down the data report, took off his glasses, wiped the lenses with the corner of his shirt, and put them back on.
" Teach's body structure is completely different from that of ordinary people."
First, there are the cells—his cell activity is more than four times that of an average person, with a faster division rate and stronger self-repair capabilities.
Moreover, he has three hearts in his body, unlike any other race; he's practically an anomaly.
"Get to the conclusion," Roy said.
Simply put, an ordinary person's body can only hold one Devil Fruit. Eating a second fruit will result in death, which will then lead to conflict.
When two demonic forces clash within the body, the body cannot withstand the conflict and will disintegrate.
However, Teach's body lacked this rejection response; the three hearts allowed him to possess multiple Devil Fruit abilities.
Gracia picked up another data report,
"More crucial is the gene sequence."
Teach's genes contain a large number of segments that are not normal human genes. After comparison, these segments matched the genes of three completely different organisms.
Simply put, this guy is a mixed-race individual, with multiple bloodlines forming a unique balance within him.
This balance makes his body a natural energy reservoir.
Roy nodded. "Continue."
"And there's the most crucial discovery."
Gracia walked to the lab bed and pressed a button on the wall.
A pale blue scanning beam descended from the ceiling and slowly swept over Blackbeard's entire body.
The screen displayed a diagram of Blackbeard's internal structure, with bones, blood vessels, and internal organs layered on top of each other.
Gracia tapped the display screen, zooming in on the chest area.
"Look here."
The structure inside Blackbeard's chest cavity was clearly reflected on the screen.
It's not one heart. It's three.
The three hearts are arranged in a perfectly regular triangle within the chest cavity, each beating independently with a different rhythm.
Roy straightened up from the wall and walked closer to the monitor. He looked at the image of the three hearts, and a slow smile appeared on his lips.
That smile wasn't one of excitement, but rather the relief that came after a mystery that had troubled him for years had finally been solved.
"Three hearts," Roy said softly.
"Yes. The continuous operation of three hearts makes his blood circulation speed more than three times that of an ordinary person."
Their energy recovers extremely quickly, resulting in exceptionally strong mental power.
Based on my calculations, he probably doesn't need sleep to recover his strength at all.
"No need for sleep."
Roy repeated the word, looking at Blackbeard who was tied to the lab bed.
Blackbeard trembled violently after being scanned by the beam of light, muttering something unintelligible.
"He was able to remain silent and unsuspecting on Whitebeard's ship for over twenty years without arousing anyone's suspicion."
Whitebeard was an extremely shrewd man, and Marco was not someone who could be easily fooled.
But Teach managed to hide right under their noses for decades without anyone noticing anything amiss.
This forbearance stems partly from cunning and partly from the advantage of not needing to sleep.
If someone has a few more hours of activity time each day than others, over the years, they can accomplish so much.
Blackbeard's body jolted violently.
Every word Roy spoke peeled back the layers of his deepest secrets.
He thought these secrets would never be known, he thought he had hidden them well enough.
But to Roy, he was nothing more than a specimen placed on a lab table.
"Thief... thief..."