As Vegapunk finished speaking, the screen on the device flickered a few times before suddenly going completely dark, as if it had crashed.
Everyone was puzzled and looked toward Vegapunk. What happened? Didn't he say it was fixed?
However, Vegapunk remained confident and didn't seem to mind the sudden blackout of the screen.
Zzzz…
Just then, a crackling sound of electrical interference came from the computer screen, and soon, the display lit up again.
There was no immediate image on the screen, but gradually, the picture became clear. A figure started to appear on the screen.
"Did it really… get fixed?" Queen muttered in astonishment. As time passed, the program seemed to run more smoothly, and the figure on the screen became clearer and more three-dimensional.
At the same time, the image that appeared—a cute anime-style girl—made Nicholas give Vegapunk a strange look.
Isn't it true that nerds can never escape their fascination with cute girls?
While Nicholas was thinking about this, Queen, Judge, and Vegapunk stared expectantly at the big screen, waiting for the secret to be revealed.
As time passed, the girl's eyelashes began to flutter slightly, and soon, a pair of eyes as bright as stars gazed at the group.
When her eyes landed on Vegapunk, the girl spoke.
"Are you my master?"
"Yes, I am," Vegapunk replied with a smile.
With control of Pluto now secured, a captain's log appeared on the screen before them.
"What a boring world. The humans here are so backward, it's as if they're primitive monkeys. They're still in the feudal era.
But after an internal meeting, we finally reached a consensus. With our overwhelming military power, we waged a three-day war against the armies of this world and ultimately unified it.
Later, we established a vast kingdom around the mothership. Due to a lack of manpower, we recruited many of the locals as assistants. These people believed we came from the moon, but only a select few knew we came from much farther away—from the depths of the universe.
In the years that followed, through science and without ethical constraints, we created many different races. We even brought to life creatures from myth, and over time, some of us began to change. In our interactions with the humans of this world, we started calling ourselves 'gods' or 'creators.' After all, with our advanced technology and the ability to create life, we were gods to them.
During our reign, the humans began to worship us fanatically. They saw us as true gods, and even our spacesuits became symbols of status in the eyes of zealots.
But everything changed one day!
In one of our research experiments, we discovered something unique about this world. Many researchers were excited, as we found that through special means, we could materialize abstract concepts. Earthquakes, typhoons, air—these concepts could be infused into fruit-like objects. Once matured, anyone who ate these fruits could wield the power of these concepts."
As these words were read aloud, everyone except Vegapunk and Nicholas was left in shock. Queen, in particular, was so stunned he didn't even notice his cigar burning too close to his lips.
For Nicholas, however, this revelation wasn't as shocking. He had already encountered beings from space in this world and knew that there were remnants of alien civilizations on the moon. He even suspected there might be space pirates looting valuable artifacts from lunar ruins right now.
Moreover, he had an inkling that the technology described in the log was likely the origin of Devil Fruits.
"We underestimated things. These ability-infused fruits were not mere objects; they possessed a certain will. The first fruit that came into being awakened a consciousness, and it led the natives of this world in a sudden rebellion against us. Though we eventually destroyed it, we suffered massive losses.
During this time, our control over the natives weakened.
Damn it! There were traitors among us. They scattered those forbidden fruits across the seas. Do they not realize what they've done!?"
At this point, Nicholas could sense the uncontainable anger and faint fear in the log's author.
Soon, a new entry captured Nicholas's attention.
"War broke out again, but this time it wasn't started by the natives. It was our 'offspring.'
I simply don't understand. We gave them life. We even gave them the right to rule these seas. Why did they rebel against us?
It seems that human nature is truly the hardest thing to understand."
"We lost the war. They knew us too well, and they used the power of those devilish fruits to perfection.
Those two—Im and Joyboy—they were too strong. Especially the boy who inherited the first awakened fruit. Not even the ancient weapons could stop him.
Im... Joyboy... Our two most prized 'offspring' led the other 'children' and the world's slaves to overthrow their creators. How ridiculous!"
At this point, the log ended.
Hearing the names "Im" and "Joyboy," everyone except Nicholas froze in disbelief. The revelations were overwhelming, especially the idea that the so-called Celestial Dragons were truly descendants of the creators. Up until now, they had thought the Celestial Dragons merely glorified themselves with the title.
But now it seemed that might actually be the case. The Void Century, the lost history of 100 years, might have been erased to hide the fact that the Celestial Dragons themselves once led a rebellion against their own creators.
Nicholas, too, was a bit surprised. He hadn't expected such a complex relationship between Joyboy and Im.
"I knew there was something off about the strength of certain Celestial Dragons. It seems they were likely products of gene manipulation from 800 years ago.
But that war must have destroyed much of that technology. Otherwise, the Celestial Dragons would be truly untouchable today, given the power of genetic manipulation."
Vegapunk finally nodded in understanding. He now realized why the moment the theory of lineage factors was discovered, the World Government had immediately taken an interest.
[AN - Holy sheet i didn't think it would be this interesting 😮]