One Piece:The Merchant King of Grand Line

The Merchant King of the Grand Line

Chapter 11: The Mythical Project Begins

A New Horizon in Devil Fruit Research

With King securing me a base of operations in the New World, my empire had finally entered its next phase.

Artificial Zoans were already a proven success, but if I wanted to solidify myself as the undisputed ruler of the underground market, I needed to go beyond mere ordinary beasts.

The real prize?

Mythical Zoans.

These were rarer than Logias, often possessed powerful secondary abilities, and could make even an average fighter an unstoppable force.

Kaido himself wielded one—the Azure Dragon Fruit.

If I could mass-produce Mythical Zoans, then even the Yonko would come crawling to my doorstep.

But the problem?

They were infinitely harder to replicate.

The old SMILE technology had failed to even produce stable regular Zoans, let alone Mythicals.

But I had three advantages that Caesar and Vegapunk never had:

Cipher Pol's stolen research – Thanks to my agents, I had acquired secret World Government studies on Zoan awakenings.

Rare Genetic Samples – Beast Pirates had collected corpses of past Mythical Zoan users, giving me trace DNA of legendary creatures.

My Devil Fruit's Inventory Ability – By using my power, I could store and manipulate raw materials in ways no scientist could.

Now, it was time to test my first prototype.

The Chimera Prototype

The first step was to understand how Mythical Zoans worked.

Instead of trying to recreate an existing fruit like the Phoenix or Dragon, I aimed for something... unique.

A fruit based on a creature that had never existed before.

A Chimera.

A fusion of multiple predatory beasts, drawing on the strongest traits of each.

Lion's Strength.

Serpent's Venom.

Hawk's Wings.

Goat's Resistance (for some reason, Chimeras always had goat parts).

This wasn't just about power—it was about seeing if I could artificially create a "legendary creature."

If this experiment succeeded?

Then I wouldn't need to copy Mythical Zoans—I could create them from scratch.

But the problem?

Someone had to eat it.

The First Test Subject

I wasn't an idiot—I wasn't going to be the first to take a bite.

Instead, I had a perfect candidate.

A captured pirate—some poor fool from a no-name crew who had been lurking around Beast Pirate territory.

He was strapped to a chair, eyeing the grotesque purple fruit in front of him.

His voice was hoarse. "W-What the hell is that?"

I smiled. "Your last meal."

His face twisted in horror as my men forced him to eat it.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then—his body convulsed violently.

His skin rippled, shifting between human and beast. His mouth twisted as fangs forced their way out.

Then, he screamed.

Not in agony.

In power.

His muscles bulged unnaturally. His hands became claws. His back split open as wings burst forth.

The transformation was unstable—his body was morphing in unnatural ways, unable to control the conflicting traits.

But for a first test, it was a success.

I had just created a completely new Zoan fruit.

Now, I just needed to perfect it.

Unwanted Attention

Of course, nothing in the New World stayed a secret for long.

A few days after the first successful test, one of my spies brought urgent news.

"Boss, we have a problem."

I glanced up from my research. "What kind of problem?"

The agent swallowed. "The Big Mom Pirates are asking questions."

My hands paused. "...Go on."

"They heard rumors about a new artificial Mythical Zoan project." He hesitated. "And they're interested."

I frowned.

Big Mom was obsessed with collecting rare abilities for her crew. If she thought I had Mythical Zoans, she'd either try to buy them... or take them.

Either way, this meant I was no longer working in the shadows.

And if Big Mom had noticed...

It was only a matter of time before the World Government did too.

I exhaled slowly, leaning back in my chair.

Things were moving faster than expected.

I needed to be ready.

Because the moment my Mythical Zoans hit the market...

The entire world would come knocking.

Next Chapter: The Emperor's Interest

(Victor faces his first direct contact with the Big Mom Pirates, while Cipher Pol begins moving in the background.)