Black_Paladyn
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FML: Ch 102 First Wave
🕑 Added 2021-06-09 19:16:50 +0000 UTCThe next day construction began on the radio tower. By the blueprints, Abby sketched out the structure would be several hundred feet tall. Luckily when you had an army at your disposal, manual labor was never an issue.
It was only a month later when Evos sent his following message. In summary, he confirmed that Dr. Vegapunk was indeed working on the purified seastone, which he called Sea Essence. However, other than its name Evos hadn't been able to glean any additional information. The final lines disclosed that the Lab was somewhere in the Calm Belt, but the entire trip, he was forced below deck, so Evos had no clue as to its exact location.
After his message, there was an urgency to create the radio tower. Not only would we stop the production of Sea Essence but also have the chance to capture one of the brightest minds in the world, Dr. Vegapunk.
Though I still had not stopped my attempts to find a way to treat the main weakness of Devil Fruit users. Any progress had stalled to a snail's crawl, even spending many nights burning the midnight oil. My team had no new ideas or any significant improvements to make to the steroid or vitamin supplement.
Leaving the lab one day, I brought myself to the training grounds where soldiers trained. I had already come there several times to let out my frustration and even though they had no chance of beating me.
Stepping into the middle of the ring, I watched passively as a swarm of people charged me using fists, hammers, swords, and a myriad of other weapons. Raising my hands, I knocked aside the first attacker throwing him over my shoulder.
Almost on autopilot, my body started to move on its own, taking down each attacker using every move in my arsenal. While fighting, my mind began to make connections realizing that there was another path to take.
When the last soldier fell, I immediately made my way back to the lab. I pointed to people ordering them to gather certain supplies and bring them to the main lab.
Starting on my own, I took a blood sample and isolated a white blood cell. I need to get rid of the seastone, not prevent the effects. It was the white blood cell's job to protect the body. All it needed was a little boost.
Forming a connection with the cell, I started to alter its DNA, increasing its ability to move and the strength of its enzymes which they used to dissolve things they catch. Creating a clone, I injected the modified cell and watched them spread, soon replacing all the older versions.
I started injecting the clone with various viruses and watched as the new blood cells quickly sought out the intruders before trapping and killing them. However, such an efficiency required a massive amount of calories over time, much more than an average soldier had to spare in the heat of battle.
Dialing back the enzyme strength, I created a different variant, with pseudo limbs that could grab anything the cell detected. The new strain didn't require nearly as many calories, so I blended the two to create the best version.
With the solution in hand, I only had to devise a way to deliver the mutation to my soldiers. The best way to do it was with a virus that would take over the bone marrow and change the genetic code influencing the production of white blood cells.
Creating the virus with the mutation only took me a day with the help of my team, but having seen enough horror movies, I knew the importance of going through multiple rounds of human trials.
Though arranging something like that was harder than just saying it. It wouldn't take me that long to get willing volunteers, but getting approval from Dragon and Whitebeard would be a headache.
So I arranged so the army wouldn't need me for a week before putting myself in quarantine and injecting myself with the vaccination. Each day I recorded how I felt physically and took regular tests, such as blood pressure, temperature, and BMI.
At first, I felt drowsy and a little hot as I had contracted a slight fever, but it passed within a few days. Most other changes were brief and too small to warrant any concern. On the last day came the final test as I exposed myself to both seastone and Sea Essence.
The seastone barely had any effect on me even after I injected it into my bloodstream. However, the Sea Essence still made me fall to my knees as my strength left me, but my immunity quickly suppressed it.
The next day I left quarantine and sent my report to both Whitebeard and Dragon in hopes of swaying their favor to start administering the vaccine. When I received bother their approval, it was also the day that the radio tower construction finished.
Almost instantly, Abby had access to all sorts of private Marine hotlines and could track the sender and receiver. That night there was a meeting discussing raids on weak points in the marines lines and critical points of interest.
However, there was still no word from Evos, which had us all sitting on the edge of our seats. But I could stop, and I also began to roll out the first wave of vaccines to Devil Fruit users.
An unseen effect was that water no longer had impeded those who had been treated, so it wasn't long before the sea around the island was filled with Devil Fruit users swimming for the first time or for the first time in years.
