I am the Bandit King of the East Sea.

Night falls.

At the edge of the horizon lies a vast steel jungle of towering buildings, their neon lights illuminating half the night sky.

Between the skyscrapers, sleek, colorful flying cars occasionally whiz by in mid-air, leaving trails of bluish-purple flames.

At the very heart of the city stands a colossal tree, so large it seems to reach into the clouds.

High in the sky, neon lights shimmered across the trunk of the giant tree, forming spiral spherical structures. At first glance, it looked as if the tree trunk was adorned with a sky full of stars, or perhaps with countless glittering fruits.

When Sig and the others successfully traveled through time, the first thing they saw was this huge, futuristic, three-dimensional city.

“Vegapunk, did you teleport your artificial time-reversal fruit ability to the wrong location?” Sigurd asked.

In a daze, Sieg even thought he had traveled to the future, rather than to ancient times nearly a thousand years ago.

Vegapunk shook his head: "The location might be slightly off, but the time period is indeed nearly a thousand years ago..."

"So this is Elbaf nearly a thousand years ago?" Sig was still a little incredulous.

"Sigurd, have you forgotten the history of the gods?" Vegapunk continued.

"The origin of the ancient kingdoms, or rather the great kingdoms, is the infinite earth... which is the moon."

"Because of the scarcity of resources, the early inhabitants who lived on the moon migrated to this planet beneath our feet and settled down."

"This means that in the far past, before this era, our ancestors had already mastered the ability to migrate between stars."

"At the same time, the Ark Noah on Fishman Island, and the super warship Hades that can destroy an island with a single shot, are all creations of the ancient kingdoms."

"So...this makes sense."

"Vegapunk said in a deep voice, his tone slightly excited."

The first 100 years after the establishment of the World Government, also known as the Lost 100, were marked by a historical and civilizational break, and the technology of the ancient kingdoms clearly did not fall into the hands of the World Government.

And now, he may have the opportunity to steal the lost technology of the ancient kingdom.

“So, where should we go now?” Vegapunk asked Sig.

The standard answer, of course, is to first attempt to infiltrate this giant city before you.

But at that moment, Sieg raised his head and looked at the tall World Tree.

Beneath the night sky, this enormous tree appeared to be laden with countless fruits on its branches, or like a cluster of glittering stars, numbering in the hundreds or even thousands. This reminded Sig of the World Tree in the origin myth of the gods, which was covered with Devil Fruits.

"The history of the gods is interrupted, and there is likely an element of embellishment."

"Origin myths are just myths; they don't represent the truth, but this World Tree..."

Sigurd gazed at the sky, his Observation Haki subtly unfolding, his eyes looking far, far away...

“I see... there’s some movement over there.” Sig looked up, his gaze falling on the star fruit on the branch a thousand meters high.

Vegapunk hesitated for a moment.

“Sig, we are merely witnesses to history; we cannot change history itself, so…”

“I understand.” Sieg nodded.

"Since we can't change history, doesn't that mean we can do whatever we want without any consequences?"

"No matter how much we do at this point in time, it won't have as much impact as your becoming the chief scientist, right?"

Vegapunk opened his mouth, then suddenly fell silent.

“Not going to argue? Then let’s go. That’s the most efficient way,” Sig said.

Stussy smiled and waved her hand to open an air door. She and Sieg and the others stepped into it and disappeared.

.....................

Inside the spiral-shaped building on the branches of a tree.

boom!

Amidst a deafening roar, the pristine white metal wall was overturned, and a young giant charged out with a scream.

This young giant was dressed in white, about fifteen meters tall, and looked somewhat childish, but his forehead was shiny and completely bald.

On his shoulder, a girl dressed as a boy with a normal body size stood.

The bald giant seemed furious. He used his immense strength to knock down the wall, and with a casual tug, he sent a group of attacking soldiers flying dozens of meters away.

He tore open one column-shaped culture tank after another, and in the pale green nutrient solution, naked men and women were forcibly awakened, looking around blankly.

Further away, groups of soldiers regrouped, forming a dense, dark mass.

In the monitoring room, a kilometer away.

Two elderly people with small white wings on their backs looked up at the riot on the screen, but their faces remained expressionless.

"Experimental subject A1501 has gone out of control; the giant's strength is indeed formidable."

"But besides brute force, why isn't he using his new Devil Fruit ability? Has he not mastered it yet?"

The two elderly people discussed the incident calmly, unperturbed by the ongoing riot.

"The other test subject on his shoulder... hmm? Doesn't seem to be from our lab?"

After observing them carefully, the two elderly people's expressions changed slightly.

The Star Research Institute is a collection of hundreds or even thousands of laboratories built around the World Tree, like stars scattered across its branches.

Their research focuses on "Devil Fruits".

"Aren't we going to use our abilities? Things have gotten a bit out of hand. Call for backup and let's end this farce."

Just as the old man finished giving the order, a dark shadow suddenly appeared behind him.

They turned around in astonishment, and before they could even see the other person's expression, a powerful pressure suddenly erupted, tearing tiny cracks in the tables and chairs.

The two elderly people immediately lost consciousness, their eyes rolling back in their heads.

Behind Sigurd, an air portal quietly opened, and Vegapunk and the others emerged from it.

"These two people should be the highest-ranking individuals here..."

Sieg reached into his pocket and took out a hypnosis ring.

He hadn't used hypnosis in a long time and was a bit rusty, but it was still more than enough for him to gather intelligence.

...............

"Ancient kingdoms, or rather, great kingdoms, were multi-ethnic states that ruled over almost half the world."

"The entire New World seas of later generations were the territory of ancient kingdoms."

"And Elbaf... this city built around the World Tree is the capital of this country."

Vegapunk glanced at the paper documents on the table, frowned, and looked somewhat bewildered:

"The Star Research Institute, including this laboratory, is used to create Devil Fruits... This contradicts the history we learned from the Protoss?"

"let me see...."

"The original intention behind creating Devil Fruits seems to be to completely solve the problem of resource scarcity?"

"This kind of superpower fruit that can distort the laws of physics, in the eyes of these ancient people of the kingdom, is a tool to increase productivity?" Vegapunk was stunned.

“I think this is a good idea. Devil Fruits are the primary source of productivity…” Sigurd nodded in agreement.

The likes of Barrett's Fusion Fruit and Wapol's Gluttony Fruit might be far more valuable in a factory workshop than on the battlefield.

...............

PS: I'm repeating the warning about re-setting again.

First, the setting serves the plot.

Secondly, this fanfiction tends to depict an alternate development that Oda would never write, such as Vegapunk from 500 years in the future.

Third, the plot holes in the original work are left to the original work. Don't ask me what ONE PIECE is, and don't ask me what the spotted giant egg on Roger's ship is.

Regarding the latter, this book's approach is to use the plot holes from the original work to fill the plot holes in my book.

As I've written several times before, "No matter what the creature inside the giant egg was originally, it is now the Black Flame Dragon."

This sentence means "That's all."

Chapter 1258 Joy Boy 6k

The ancient people of the kingdoms created Devil Fruits to solve the problem of resource scarcity.

The Swallow-Swallow Fruit allows substances to recombine within the body, altering their microstructure and thus creating the Wahlbo Alloy, a alloy with superior properties far exceeding those of ordinary metals.

The Fusion Fruit allows the manipulation and free combination of inorganic matter, creating giants hundreds or thousands of meters tall in just a few seconds. Therefore, with a slight transformation, building skyscrapers and ships would not be difficult.

The Gluttony Fruit's ability to crush most metal materials and the Fusion Fruit's power make even the world's best shipbuilder, Tom, envious, and the Op-Op Fruit makes even renowned doctors like Crocus green with envy.

These Paramecia-type Devil Fruits can indeed greatly increase productivity, and it can be said that they represent a devastating blow to any ordinary worker.

Logia-type Devil Fruit users can even generate their own electricity, and the most powerful Logia-type users can even influence the weather.

Enel, the user of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, owns an airship called Ark Maxim, whose internal energy source is electricity.

Ace, the user of the Flame-Flame Fruit, owns a small boat that he can propel at sea using flames.

Smoker, the user of the Smoke-Smoke Fruit, also owns his own smoking motorcycle.

These natural ability users can endlessly convert biological energy into heat, electricity, and other energy sources simply by expending their physical strength; they can even create matter out of thin air.

Admirals Akainu and Aokiji once fought a decisive battle on Punk Hazard. The result of the battle changed the entire island's topography, creating Punk Hazard, which is half lava and half glacier.

These magma and ice substances obviously do not require Akainu and Aokiji's physical strength to maintain; they are new substances that exist permanently on Punk Hazard.

Devil Fruit abilities are superpowers that distort the laws of physics.

"Could it be that even the original Devil Fruits were man-made?"

Vegapunk looked slightly bewildered.

Despite feeling lost, I also felt that it wasn't entirely impossible.

Devil Fruits, these wondrous objects, are inherently shrouded in mystery.

"The original purpose of creating Devil Fruits was to increase productivity and completely solve the resource problem."