Just as he was finishing he last batch of counter agent for his six napalm shells, he heard a loud gurgling sound followed by a splash. His head snapped over to the tank where he beheld the homunculus half hanging over the edge and gasping for air. He calmly walked over and studied the man in front of him for any outwards signs of defects. He hadn't seen any during the growth process, but it was never a bad idea to double or even triple check. The results? Perfection.
Once the man had his breathing under control and all liquid expelled from his lungs, he turned dull eyes toward Peter and spoke in a flat, almost robotic, voice, "Designation?"
Peter replied with a growing grin, "Alex, code name Taskmaster."
"Acknowledged."
The moment the last word left his mouth, Alex's eyes cleared and his whole demeanor changed. It was as if a machine was coming to life and gaining true sentience, which was not too far off the mark. Alex easily hefted himself up and out of the tank to stand dripping on the floor. He gave a little shudder and looked around the room, "Any chance I could get some clothes, Master?"
Peter shuddered in revulsion at being called 'master' by a naked wet man who looked like he could be a male model. That had to go, "Just called me Boss or Sir, none of that master stuff."
He collected a towel from nearby where he'd left it and tossed it to Alex, "Dry off and use that for now. I, uh, actually forgot to get you clothing. I'll be back in a few minutes."
"Sure thing, boss."
Peter quickly left his place and headed toward the shipping district while castigating himself for forgetting clothing. Granted, he had planned on only making female homunculi so them being naked was more of a plus than a minus. Naked Taskmaster was very much a minus.
Thankfully it didn't take him long to get an outfit in Alex's size and return to the lab where he had Alex get dressed then go out and buy his own clothing with money he happily provided. Alex was born with all the knowledge that Peter had on the One Piece world so he could easily navigate a town on his own and could seamlessly blend into life. Thankfully they weren't in a modern world where things like birth certificates and government ID's were required. Alex could just slip into society with none the wiser.
He also gave Alex his first assignment, watch the training grounds of the local Marine base and learn as much as he could. The base on the island was actually one of their bigger ones since the Marines wanted to protect all of the doctors from pirates. A single doctor could save the lives of many marines. An island of doctors was a force multiplier to that. Especially since half of the doctors on the island were research specialists. Granted, they were no where near as good as the doctors from Drum Island supposedly were, but ever since that fool Wapol took over, Cross Island was the leading producer of good Doctors.
In short, they had some of the best marines outside of the Grand Line. They were even led by a Grand Line Captain. Though the man didn't have a Devil Fruit, he was considered the strongest man on the island and a massive deterrent to pirates. Peter didn't know if he could use Haki, but the an probably knew at least some of the Rokushiki. Soru seemed the most likely since it was by far the most useful and commonly seen move in the One Piece story.
Peter didn't expect Alex would be able to learn all of the Rokushiki or anything grand like that, he just hoped to get lucky. At the very least, Alex should be able to master the basics of combat by watching the marines train. There was no rush either, they would be on Cross Island for a while, at least until Peter had created the foundations for his crew.
Speaking of, it was time to make his next homunculi and he found himself at a bit of an impasse. The next person he wanted was an inventor, someone who could help make equipment, weapons, and more going forward. In short, he needed a super genius and there was no shortage of them to pick from among the fairer sex.
After a fair bit of internal debate, he made up his mind and got to work prepping the tank for the next homunculi. This time the blood vial was from the daughter of the smartest man in all of Marvel, Reed Richards, Valeria Richards. From what he remembered, Valeria was actually smarter than Reed by the time she was a teenager. As a full grown woman in her twenties she would be the smartest woman in his world. He only hesitated to call her the smartest person due to the existence of Doctor Vegapunk.
Not only was she a genius beyond genius, but she was also as attractive as her mother. With blonde hair, blue eyes, and an hourglass figure she would be as beautiful as she was intelligent. He would give her all of the education he had from his last life to give her a good starting point. After that... well she was smart enough that she would be able to intuit a lot. Still, they would have to keep an eye out for any books she could learn from as well. He quickly added her blood and his own to the brew so that she could begin growing and he could return to his work.
With all of his current shells used up, until his order was finished, it was time to move onto something else. He chose to work on enhancements. First, he needed to make regeneration potions for the homunculi. Technically, they were immortal but that only applied to aging. It would be more accurate to say they had eternal youth than immortality since they could be killed. Regeneration like his own would help ensure they didn't die easily.
Once he had a dozen regeneration potions, he moved to the next step. He wanted potions to help increase strength, stamina, and durability. As he considered his options for that, an idea popped into his head and refused to leave until he addressed it. As he did, his smile slowly grew a little manic. He looked through all the possibilities of his idea and settled on one. Technically, he was no longer making a potion but was, in fact, making a venom.
Spider venom.
Specifically, the spider venom that granted Miles Morales his abilities. In Peter's opinion, the powerset of Morales was superior to the original Spiderman's. Not only would the venom give everyone it was used on a huge leap in strength, it would grant all the other abilities as well. Given the world he lived in, the boosted attributes would only be a jump start. He was one hundred percent certain that powerhouses like Garp could easily squish Spiderman.
It was the more esoteric thing that would be exceptionally useful, things like the spider sense. A borderline precognitive ability to sense danger? Gee, what did that remind him of? The question became, would spider sense unlock Observation Haki? Would it enhance it? Would they work together to be a multiplier of their base powers? He had no idea, but he wanted to find out.
On top of that, Morales had two abilities that Peter Parker never had, Bio-electricity generation and camouflage that was practically invisibility and somehow worked on worn clothing. It wouldn't be the ultimate boost to power, but it would put his entire crew into the realm of Grand Line Paradise veterans instantly. They wouldn't be near strong enough for the second half, The New World, and that was alright. The true beauty of it all was that with One Piece physiology, they could still grow stronger!
Peter cackled to himself as he got to work on the extremely complex formula. His only saving grace was that the formula was all based on something that was created in the forties. This meant he had the proper equipment to do his work since the Oz formula was based on the super soldier formula used on Captain America. Throw in actual magical ingredients as short cut and he could do it with no side effects and no risk of rejection or death. That last one was the most important as he got to work.
Peter looked up as a cup of steaming tea was set down next to him, "You should take more time to relax and enjoy life, Master."
He sighed and leaned back after picking up the tea, "I don't need that much rest Val, just a good nights sleep."
"That's not good enough. You also need to take time to eat proper meals. Your potions might give you all the nutrients you need but they taste horrible. Now, come to the kitchen, I've made lunch."
With a sigh, Peter followed the swaying hips of Valeria into the kitchen. After she'd finished growing, he'd named her Valeria and given her all the information he could via skill potions to jump start her mind. Instead of focusing on trying to improve technology based on his knowledge, she'd decided that it was more important to take care of him and his health. Not that his health was in any danger!
He could command her to work on improving technology but... well he wouldn't admit it aloud but he liked her taking care of him. He was in no rush for advanced technology so he let her do what she wanted. He'd only ask her to change her focus after making himself a maid or something to take over the role of his 'minder'. He didn't want to be one of those guys who treated his creations as lesser beings because they were supposed to be perfectly loyal, only for something unknown to override that loyalty and free them. Something like that always seemed to happen to overbearing 'evil' masters and usually ended in their misery or death. No way in hell was he going to risk that with the beings he was making! Valeria alone could revolutionize the world, even more if she worked with Vegapunk. No way in hell was he going to treat her like trash and expect her to always be loyal no matter what. Especially not in an anime world!