Seeing what lay before him, Roya finally let out a quiet breath.
If even these malformed experimental types were still being stored inside cultivation pods, it meant Vegapunk had yet to master the ability to construct a perfect genetic sequence for top-tier beings.
Otherwise, what would be resting here wouldn't be a malformed "Kaido with the Kirin Arm," but a fully deployable Prototype No. 1, like Whitebeard Jr.
With a flick of his finger, Roya sent a thread of Observation Haki into the Kirin-arm Kaido's body.
Just as expected, the gene sequence was an absolute mess—twisted and chaotic.
The fact that it had even managed to form a vaguely humanoid structure was likely the result of all of Vegapunk's luck and effort.
Who knew how many times he had failed before even reaching this point?
Roya originally intended to destroy this bio-weapon immediately, but as his Haki thread wrapped around it, he realized—
Unless it was removed from the cultivation pod, he couldn't sever its life-support system.
But forcibly dragging it out might trigger unknown consequences.
And since he had yet to locate Vegapunk himself, he couldn't risk alarming the facility prematurely.
Abandoning the idea of destruction, Roya moved forward.
Inside one cultivation pod after another lay faces all too familiar.
—A disturbingly skinny Charlotte Linlin with three arms and barely any flesh clinging to her bones…
—A grotesquely oversized infant-headed version of Shanks…
And then, an empty cultivation pod—clearly where Whitebeard Jr. had been stored prior to activation.
With that, all Four Emperors had been accounted for.
But the next ones were even more shocking.
In the following pod was a massive clump of golden fur.
It was so thick and voluminous that, at first glance, one could mistake it for nothing but hair.
Roya was momentarily confused before realizing—this was a clone using the gene template of the legendary pirate Golden Lion Shiki.
Except, the bio-weapon's life force seemed to have pooled entirely into his signature hair, making the rest of the body practically useless.
Continuing forward, the next pod showed two long legs sticking straight up where a head should have been.
It was impossible to tell whether this thing had developed its head in the wrong spot—or just preferred standing on its head.
Helpless, Roya sent in another Haki thread to investigate.
Only then did he identify it—Rocks D. Xebec, the once-feared captain of the Rocks Pirates.
Then, the next pod came into view.
Gol D. Roger—the Pirate King himself.
Even Roya couldn't help but be shocked.
But noticing that both of Roger's shoulders were bare—his arms had not yet grown—Roya let out a small sigh of relief.
"If the World Government truly managed to recreate a complete Gol D. Roger… that could be enough to rally the entire sea behind him and completely overturn the existing pirate order."
Beyond this point, the cultivation pods became filled with nothing but grotesque failures.
They weren't even malformed clones—just masses of flesh barely alive, not yet resembling human form.
After reviewing the entire row of pods, Roya made his decision.
"Even if I can't eliminate Vegapunk—this hidden, catastrophic threat—I must at least destroy these few layers of production facilities."
"Best case: I find where the genetic templates of these strong individuals are stored and destroy them completely."
"Pity I didn't have more time to investigate that black mountain of life-force below. Destroying these lines will only delay his progress temporarily."
"Without erasing the black mountain, killing Vegapunk would just treat the symptoms, not the cause."
"With that source of life still intact, the World Government could breed new scientists like Vegapunk endlessly."
"I need to gather a force quickly. An assault on Mariejois is inevitable. Only by toppling the World Government and obliterating that black mountain can we put an end to this abomination of science once and for all."
Just as he reached this conclusion, a soft, alluring female voice rang out:
"Lord Roya, are you disappointed… that you didn't find a clone created using your own genetic template?"
Startled, Roya turned toward the voice.
There stood a seductive woman, her presence somehow unnoticed until now—blocking the passage between the levels above and below.
She wore a white lab coat, typical of scientific researchers, but it clung tightly to her voluptuous figure, accentuating her demonic curves.
Roya's brow furrowed.
"Vegapunk?"
The woman shrugged.
"What, do I not look like a scientist to you?"
…She certainly looked like someone who studied the human body very, very closely.
The woman seemed entirely unfazed by Roya's presence. She casually extended a hand, caressing each cultivation pod as she walked slowly toward him.
"Truthfully, I'm not interested in this so-called 'Royal Gene Project.' It's just the foolish nobles, obsessed with eternal life, driving it forward."
After a few steps, her tone abruptly shifted back to Roya.
"What you did inside Blackbeard's body was… absolutely astonishing. If not for our opposing positions, I think we could have become good friends—there's so much we could explore together."
She giggled sweetly, covering her mouth with one hand.
But her laughter suddenly turned shrill and piercing, chilling to the bone.
Her eyes sharpened into a violent glare.
"Do you have any idea, Roya… the kind of pain my precious darlings endure every day?"
"They're like adorable little puppies—always wanting to rip apart your sofa… only, in their case, it's people they need to shred before they can sleep soundly."
"Roya, you couldn't have come at a better time."
"Wake up, my little sweethearts… your favorite toy has arrived."
By the end, her words had dissolved into full-blown maniacal laughter.
Inside the pods, the bio-weapons began to stir.
Dozens of blood-red eyes snapped open at once, their glow so intense that it dyed the entire room in a hellish crimson hue.
A surge of pure malice and killing intent locked onto Roya from all directions.
He took a deep breath, tapped his foot forward, and in an instant split into hundreds of Observation Haki threads, poised and ready.
If these biological weapons dared step out of their cultivation pods, the threads would invade their bodies and tear apart their unstable genetic sequences, collapsing their life forms from within.
Suddenly, the first one moved.
A grotesque being—half its body made of mucus, with only one intact, oversized dragon claw—leapt out of its pod.
With a sweep of its claw, it grabbed the woman who appeared to be Vegapunk and clenched its fist.
A chilling crack resounded.
But the woman didn't show the slightest pain—still laughing hysterically, as if she felt nothing at all.
Infuriated by the sound of her laughter, the bio-weapon flung her high into the air.
The slime covering its body slid to the sides, revealing a huge, Kaido-like face beneath.
Its jaw stretched wide—more than a foot long—just enough to catch her midair in one snap.
And it swallowed her whole.
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