"Is Souta Kiryuu in Dressrosa?"
Isaac ended the call from the Five Elders, a sharp gleam flickering in his eyes.
One of his targets had always been Souta Kiryuu — the most perfect experimental subject ever created.
As for that so-called warlord, Donquixote Doflamingo?
If he happened to die along the way, Isaac couldn't care less. The man was a disposable tool, unworthy of attention.
He immediately ordered his warship to change course, steering straight toward Dressrosa.
Even if he couldn't capture Souta alive, he would at least obtain some of his blood — or better yet, his lineage factor.
The Five Elders were fools. Arrogant, complacent fools.
They placed far too much faith in Vegapunk — that prisoner scientist chained by his own intellect.
They hadn't even bothered to preserve a sample of Souta Kiryuu's perfect genetic code in Mary Geoise.
When Punk Hazard — the world's main experimental base — was destroyed by Caesar Clown's explosion,
and when Egghead Island was later annihilated by Souta's rampage,
the World Government's science division lost an immeasurable trove of research data and materials.
Now the Celestial Dragons sat high on their thrones, their minds rusted from centuries of comfort.
They were relics — incapable of creating, only destroying.
Because of their incompetence, Souta's crew had forced even Mary Geoise itself to rebuild and raise an impenetrable barrier for protection.
Even the admirals of the Marine Headquarters dared not sail freely anymore,
for fear of ending up like Akainu — hunted and humiliated by the Kiryuu Pirates.
The prestige and authority of both the World Government and the Marines
had been shattered — disgraced by the very leaders who claimed to preserve them.
"Let's hope your blood lives up to my expectations," Isaac murmured, standing at the prow of his ship.
A faint, feverish smile curved across his lips.
Power pulsed through his tall, commanding frame — power that defied human limits.
As the top researcher of the World Government's Science Division, working directly under Saint Saturn,
Isaac had already grasped part of the true essence behind Haki and Devil Fruit powers.
Combined with his unmatched scientific genius — rivaling even Vegapunk, and far surpassing Caesar or Queen —
his body had long transcended human boundaries.
Even Akainu's blazing magma couldn't so much as singe him.
He and Akainu had once fought, and even the so-called strongest admiral had been forced to retreat,
his pride seared more deeply than his wounds.
On the secret New World Prison Island, the most dangerous criminals of the seas —
beasts once confined in Impel Down's Eternal Hell, Level Six —
had been reduced to Isaac's personal experiments.
Each of them had been broken, reshaped, and remade,
their terrifying potential turned into fuel for his research.
Among the high ranks of the World Government and Marines, that island was often whispered of as
"The Seventh Layer of Hell."
Isaac's modification techniques made Queen's "Plague Engineering" look like child's play.
While Queen had enhanced his body by consuming the Ancient Zoan Brachiosaurus fruit
and forcibly integrating genes from Spark Red, Lightning Blue, and Invisibility Black,
Isaac had achieved something infinitely greater.
Through his own powerful physiology and his deep understanding of the Formula of Origin,
he had unlocked numerous advanced genetic abilities —
without the fatal weaknesses of Devil Fruits, such as seawater or seastone.
Isaac was, for all intents and purposes, a near-perfect being.
Like Souta Kiryuu, he was a unique hybrid —
Souta, born naturally perfect,
and Isaac, the result of scientific evolution.
He had first integrated bloodline factors from countless races, much like Queen.
Then, using the Formula of Origin, he amplified and refined every genetic trait to its ultimate limit.
For example — when he absorbed the Oni bloodline, even if the initial result was unstable,
the Formula of Origin magnified it until his endurance and regeneration rivaled Kaido's — or surpassed it.
Even without a Mythical Zoan fruit, his raw resilience was terrifying.
Now, upon learning that Souta Kiryuu had merged even more bloodline factors than himself,
Isaac became certain — Souta's body represented the true pinnacle of compatibility.
The body he had been searching for all along.
His research into the power of origin had hit a wall.
His body could no longer absorb additional traits —
his strength, no longer evolving.
This journey to the surface was his chance —
to claim both the Five Elders' secret of eternal life and Souta's perfect physiology.
Isaac already possessed the bloodlines of the Oni, the Fish-Men, the Minks, and the Merfolk.
From the Five Elders, he had even obtained genetic samples from the Buccaneers and Lunarians.
Through the Formula of Origin, he could draw the purest essence of these races without suffering mutation.
The Oni and Lunarian bloodlines granted him overwhelming defense and adaptability —
so much so that even Akainu's magma couldn't burn him.
The Buccaneer lineage gifted him monstrous strength like a giant's.
The Mink heritage gave him control over electricity and the ability to transform beneath the moon.
The Fish-Man and Merfolk blood allowed him to breathe underwater
and even communicate with certain aquatic lifeforms.
Yet, after fusing five or six bloodlines, his body could no longer accept new ones.
That's why Souta Kiryuu's existence obsessed him —
a naturally perfect vessel capable of endless compatibility.
Ultimately, Isaac's pursuit went even further —
he desired the immortal essence that flowed within the Five Elders themselves.
But the Formula of Origin was more than a tool — it was a universal energy,
a primal force akin to Haki,
something that had to be trained, extracted, and refined.
It acted like fuel — amplifying every bloodline, every fruit, and every form of Haki.
To Isaac, it was the true root of all power.
When refined to its purest form, it could strengthen the body,
enhance Haki,
and even push Devil Fruit abilities to their maximum potential.
If Isaac could obtain Souta Kiryuu's genetic compatibility,
he could use the Formula of Origin to perfect himself —
becoming the ultimate being, capable of wielding countless bloodlines at once.
Or, if he managed to extract the Immortal Substance from the Five Elders,
he could evolve it with the Formula of Origin to grant himself eternal life.
To him, the Formula of Origin was divine.
The very fabric of the world's creation —
the source from which all Haki, Devil Fruits, and bloodline powers stemmed.
If he could acquire the substance created during the Immortality Operation
performed by the Ope Ope no Mi,
he might even replicate it through the Formula itself.
In Isaac's mind, the Formula of Origin wasn't science —
it was God's own power.
But mastering it was nearly impossible.
Just like Haki, it was a force drawn from one's very life.
It required immense energy — food, stamina, willpower —
and, once used, it would burn away to nothing.
The energy existed everywhere —
woven into the fabric of nature —
yet remained a taboo,
its true essence unseen by all but a chosen few.
In this world, only Imu, the Five Elders, and Isaac himself
had ever glimpsed or understood it.
Even Vegapunk — the greatest scientific mind alive —
had never grasped the existence of this primordial power.