"Kai Kai Kai… Kaido!?"
Caesar was sweating profusely, his voice sharp.
Edie stood on the Blue Dragon's head, his expression calm: "He is not Kaido."
He didn't hide anything from his future tool.
"He is my subordinate, Kuzo, one of the Twelve Earthly Branches."
"Could it be…"
Caesar's face suddenly changed, disbelieving.
"That's right, it's exactly what you're thinking." Edie smiled: "What's so strange about clones?"
"Knowing the Lineage Factor theory and researching it deeply makes mastering cloning technology possible!" Caesar was drenched in cold sweat.
To ordinary people, it might just seem amazing and incredible.
But the more you know, the more you understand, the more unbelievable it seems.
"You duplicated Kaido's Mythical Zoan Fruit?!" Caesar shrieked again.
"No…"
Edie shook his head, a smile playing on his lips: "I directly cultivated a Kaido clone that naturally possesses the Blue Dragon Fruit ability!"
"…"
Gulp!
Caesar swallowed hard.
Isn't this even more outrageous than duplicating a Mythical Zoan Fruit?
A natural ability user!
And first creating a Kaido clone, then feeding him an artificial Blue Dragon Fruit…
These are completely different technical routes!
Caesar couldn't understand how it was done.
It was simply unbelievable.
"How did you do it?"
At this moment, Caesar looked at Edie as if he were looking at a deity.
An infinite admiration welled up in his heart.
"You're even more amazing than Vegapunk!" Caesar said heavily.
Another person he wanted to surpass had been added...
"You want to know?"
Edie couldn't help but smile.
Only a peer would understand how impressive you are.
Telling others would be like casting pearls before swine.
Caesar gritted his teeth.
He desperately wanted to know, a burning desire to know.
"Will you tell me?"
"No. This is top secret. But if your work is outstanding, I can consider giving you some related research materials."
There was no such thing as research materials.
It was just to whet Caesar's appetite.
"First, your task from now on is to develop artificial Devil Fruit."
"Of course, initially, lower your goal a bit and produce artificial Animal Type Devil Fruit."
"Let me briefly explain my thoughts to you, which you can use as a reference..."
Next, Edie began to speak voluminously.
Caesar listened very carefully; this person had gone further than Vegapunk in Lineage Factor theory.
He didn't dare to miss a single word, as obedient as when he listened to his teacher in childhood.
...That's roughly it."
"Extracting the Lineage Factor of certain animals and making it into a special culture medium."
"Then, use this culture medium to cultivate fruit trees."
What Edie said was the method Caesar himself researched in the original work.
The name of this special culture medium was SAD.
The fruit produced by the fruit tree was called SMILE.
Smile Fruit.
Caesar was overjoyed to hear it; Edie had explained it in such detail.
"Following the path you described, give me a year, no, half a year, and I'll be able to produce it!" Caesar said confidently.
"Half a year? No, just one year."
Edie waved his hand and said, "If you succeed in half a year, how can I trick Kaido into giving me funding?"
"Eh?!"
"You need to learn to squeeze the toothpaste, do you understand squeezing the toothpaste?"
Edie had no choice but to teach by example: "First, you use one year to produce the first generation of fruit, with a success rate of at least 5%, but not too much higher. Then, Kaido will certainly not be satisfied, and at that point, won't you be able to ask for more funding?"
As he said this, he suddenly thought of a certain "toothpaste factory" from before his transmigration.
"Once you have a good start, future cooperation will be simple."
"We launch a new model of artificial Animal Type Devil Fruit every year, increasing the success rate by a few percentage points each time."
"This meal, you can eat for 20 years. Understand?"
Edie patted Caesar's shoulder with profound meaning.
"Under... understood."
Caesar was on his knees, shaken by this grand plan to trick funding.
You can do it this way too?
It opened the door to a New World!
Compared to researching artificial Animal Type Devil Fruit, controlling its success rate might be technically more difficult.
"In fact..."
Edie shook his head helplessly: "This trashy artificial fruit is essentially a fusion of an animal's Lineage Factor with a human's Lineage Factor."
Trash?
You just said trash, didn't you?!
Caesar's mouth twitched.
He believed that Edie certainly had better methods.
After all, the other party had directly created clones with innate Mythical Animal Type abilities.
The technical difficulty involved in that was undoubtedly far higher than this trashy artificial fruit...
Hmm? Why am I starting to say trash too?
...
The discussion with Caesar brought Edie an unexpected gain.
Your Scientific Research Reputation has increased...
The previous value was 11%, and it was now rapidly rising.
As if the sky wasn't the limit!
In a flash.
98%... 99%... 100%!
Scientific Research Reputation has reached 100%, rewarding one Scientific Research Simulation opportunity.
Edie looked at Caesar with a face full of surprise.
Sure enough, only a peer can understand how impressive you are...!
One person actually filled the progress bar by himself.
"What's wrong, Dr. Edie? Is there something on my face?"
Caesar, who was shaken by Edie, had already changed his address to Doctor.
"You truly are my lucky star."
Edie sighed with emotion.
It seems he'll have to act more... communicate and discuss more in front of Caesar from now on.
...
Soon after, Edie returned to Wano.
During his absence, everything at the Research Institute was as usual.
Not giving the tool-man Caesar too much leisure time, Edie immediately took him to see Kaido.
Upon learning that a test product could be produced in at most one year, Kaido happily designated a plot of land in Flower Capital.
This land would be used to build a new artificial Devil Fruit laboratory.
In addition, another 2 billion Berries in research funding were provided.
There was only one request: in a year, he didn't want to see any research reports, only an artificial Animal Type Devil Fruit.
In response, Edie stated, "We'll give our sincerity for sincerity; this time, we must satisfy you!"
Back at the Research Institute.
Edie called Oden Clone 1, "You follow Caesar and are responsible for protecting him."
Protect? Monitor?
Oden Clone 1 indicated he understood.
Having sent off one of his capable subordinates, Edie remembered the new simulation opportunity he had acquired on the way back.
"Should I use it to clone Roger?"
Edie pondered for a moment and immediately decided to do so.
He still had too few subordinates.
Although he already possessed the relevant technology, building a cloning laboratory from scratch would take a considerable amount of time.
It would be better to use the system's simulation to save that time.
This Simulation Project: "Pirate World Biological Cloning Research: Human (Gol D. Roger) Lineage Factor Cloning Technology"
Environment Detection...
Necessary Conditions for This Simulation: Lineage Factor Theory, Gol D. Roger's finger bone, Lunarian Lineage Factor
Necessary Conditions Met
Simulation Start!
Year 1, you have mastered human cloning technology; all that's lacking is a cloning laboratory.
You used some means to exchange the gold you brought back for 45 billion Berries.
Year 3, your cloning laboratory is completed, and you successfully extracted Roger's Lineage Factor from a finger bone.
Year 5, you successfully cloned Roger No. 1.
You ordered Roger No. 1 to commit suicide.
He committed suicide.
Year 7, Roger No. 2 is born.
Simulation End
So fast!
Indeed, having mastered the relevant knowledge makes a difference when simulating.
The only pity was that this simulation didn't generate any new key knowledge; it was merely for quickly acquiring a clone.
Ignoring the simulation reward, Edie directly skipped to the last item.
Additional Reward: Roger No. 2.
Claim?
Claim!
A flash of white light.
A young boy, about ten years old, appeared before him.
Little Roger seemed very curious about everything around him, looking left and right in the laboratory.
"What? Where is this?" The young Roger picked his nose, then finally saw Edie in front of him.
The next moment, an impulse seemed to come from the depths of his soul.
He suddenly knelt on one knee and blurted out:
"Father! Hmm?"
After shouting, he himself was stunned for a moment.
Edie's gaze playfully sized up the little boy.
Previously, Kuzo and Oden Clone 1, when they were produced, also had a physiological age of around 10 years old.
But their 10-year-old selves looked no different from adults, even taller than Edie.
Until he saw Roger's clone...
This is what a 10-year-old human should look like!
He was about one and a half meters tall.
Aside from his height, there wasn't much difference in other aspects.
Brown skin, small black wings, and golden star eyes.
It's worth mentioning that the golden star eyes didn't have any special abilities.
Their meaning was that this clone was created by Edie, so it was a personal mark.
"Welcome, new compatriot."
Edie couldn't help but smile, reaching out to pat the little boy's head.
"Your prototype was the Pirate King who once dominated this Grand Line."
"Seeing you so small now..."
"You'll be called Rat!"