Vegapunk

Vegapunk
Statistics
Japanese Name:	ベガパンク
Romanized Name:	Begapanku
Official English Name:	Vegapunk
Debut:	Chapter 684; Episode 377 (shadowed)
Affiliations:	Marines
Occupations:	Scientist
Epithet:	Dr. Vegapunk (Dr.ベガパンク, Dokutā Begapanku?)
Status:	Alive
Birthday:	August 9th
Japanese VA:	Yoshito Yasuhara

Dr. Vegapunk is the leading scientist in the employment of the Marines. His work includes discovering the secrets and uses of seastone, the secrets of how Devil Fruit powers work, the co-discovery of the Lineage Factor and its applications, and various other scientific achievements that are said to be at least 500 years ahead of current technology. He hails from the technologically advanced Karakuri Island. Vegapunk has yet to make a personal appearance in the storyline.

Appearance

Vegapunk has yet to make an appearance, but a G-5 Marine states that he is an "old man", suggesting he is at an elderly age. Also, during Kuma's explanation on his Pacifistia modification, he seems to wear yellow gloves and a striped shirt while wearing a lab coat.

Personality

In his youth, Vegapunk was a generous person who cared very much for the inhabitants of his island, willing to help them with his inventions. He is considered the island's pride and joy, and the residents are still hoping for his return.

Unlike his former fellow scientist Caesar Clown, Vegapunk was far more moral about what he would do in pursuit of achievements. He refused to involve children in the gigantification process despite repeated failures. He also vetoed the creation or release of the H2S poison gas weapon for fear of it harming innocent people.

He seems to have an interest for dragons, as he created two of them on Punk Hazard, and an artificial Devil Fruit that allows the user to transform into one.

Despite his loyalty to the Marines, he appears to be honorable as he granted Kuma his final wish as a human being, which was to program Kuma to protect the Thousand Sunny until the Straw Hats return.

Relationships

Marines

Vegapunk was once arrested by the World Government for his dangerous experiments in relation to research conducted into the Lineage Factor and cloning. Despite this run in with the bureaucracy, he was employed as their chief scientist in the Marines.

Sentomaru

Vegapunk had a bodyguard named Sentomaru, who after the timeskip became a marine officer. Any relationship between the two has yet to be shown in detail.

Fujitora

Vegapunk seems to be amicable to the newly promoted Admiral. He reveals a new invention to him that could lead to the abolishment of the Shichibukai.

Other Scientists

Vinsmoke Judge

Vegapunk and Judge were formerly research partners and co-leaders of the outlaw research team which discovered the Lineage Factor. The state of their present relationship is unknown.

Caesar Clown

Despite once being colleagues, Vegapunk and Caesar Clown had a bitter rivalry based on levels of recognition and ethics. When Caesar's erratic behavior got out of hand, Vegapunk decided to dismiss Caesar from his position. Caesar was also considered second best to Vegapunk. Because of this, Caesar holds a grudge against him.

Shichibukai/Subjects

Bartholomew Kuma

Vegapunk seems to have a good enough relationship with Kuma to grant him his final wish as a human being, which was to program Kuma to protect the Thousand Sunny until the Straw Hats return. It is very likely that Vegapunk highly respects Kuma's strength, as he modified Kuma to be the prototype Pacifista, and let Kuma do things that opposed the World Government.

Abilities and Powers

Vegapunk is famed as the greatest scientific genius the world has ever known, having tremendous knowledge and unmatched understanding in multiple, different fields of science, ranging from cell biology to military technology, as noted by Franky. His scientific expertise is said to be at least 500 years ahead of his contemporaries. It seems that even in his youth, the scientist was a scientific prodigy already considered a genius, but lacked the skills, funds, and materials to develop his inventions, although that did not stop him from theorizing the creation of Pacifista cyborgs, including their laser weapons back then. This is proven by the fact that Franky was able to recreate the technologies by self studying the blueprints Vegapunk left behind on his home island. Regardless, the creations and blueprints that he has left behind are considered invaluable, and any damage inflicted to them is considered a crime.

Through his research, he discovered ways of allowing Marine ships to pass through the Calm Belts without fear of Sea King attacking by covering the bottom of the ships with Seastone. He also discovered exactly how Devil Fruit powers are transferred over to a user, and was the scientist behind the method of adding Devil Fruit powers to inanimate objects, such as swords and guns.

He is the one who modified Bartholomew Kuma into a cyborg, and has produced many Pacifista replicas of him, granting them some of the abilities of Kizaru's Devil Fruit in the process. These replicas bleed actual blood. However, they lack Kuma's own Devil Fruit abilities. After the two-year timeskip, Sentomaru revealed that the latest Pacifista had been further modified, but these units have yet to be seen. The lasers that are installed into the Pacifista were apparently supposed to be so advanced, that only Vegapunk knew how to create them. It was also stated that the dragons found on Punk Hazard were of Vegapunk's own creation.

He also seems to be physically strong, as he was able to survive Caesar Clown's mass murder weapon at its core explosion.

Scientific Achievements

Vegapunk's research on allowing objects to "eat" Devil Fruits in the anime.

• Geology:
  • Seastone usage
    • Covering the bottom of ships for avoiding Sea Kings.
• Meteorology:
  • Climate Control (unfinished, destroyed).
• Biology:
  • Co-discovered the Lineage Factor alongside Vinsmoke Judge and an outlaw team of researchers.
  • Artificial lifeforms, dragons (at least two, one killed by Zoro, the other by Brook and Kin'emon).
  • Gigantification (failure).
• Botany:
  • Devil Fruit research
    • What Devil Fruits really are.
    • How Devil Fruits react with humans. As revealed by Trafalgar Law, they react by affecting the bloodstream.
    • Allowing objects to "eat" the fruit.
    • Research into the Pika Pika no Mi.
    • Creating an Artificial Devil Fruit using the Lineage Factor (rumored to be a failure).
• Weaponry:
  • Hi-tech weapons research.
  • Various weapons.
  • Cyborgs (in association with his biology research):
    • Creating a variety of cyborg animals.
    • Pacifista project:
      • Modifying Bartholomew Kuma into a cyborg.
      • Creating cybernetic replicates of Kuma.
      • Installing devices that have a similar ability as the Pika Pika no Mi to project explosive lasers.
• Other:
  • Many blueprints of unmade creations (destroyed).

History

Early Life

Vegapunk was born in the Future Country Baldimore on Karakuri Island. As a child, he designed and built several devices in his lab, including robotic animals. He also had hundreds of other ideas, ranging from weapons to experimenting with cellular structures. He once tried to create an in-ground heating system for the island's people using modified animals as his labor force. Unfortunately, Vegapunk lacked the tools and the funds needed to complete his project, but he was able to touch the people's hearts.

At some point, he worked alongside Vinsmoke Judge and discovered the blueprint of life known as the Lineage Factor. When the World Government caught wind of this, they deemed the research a threat, and Vegapunk was arrested. Despite this, he would eventually lend his knowledge to the World Government for unknown reasons.

Service to the World Government

After going to work for the World Government, he became famous for his Devil Fruit research and for discovering that Seastone can serve to counteract the effects of Devil Fruits on the user.

Vegapunk tells Caesar that he is dismissed.

Four years prior to the current storyline, he was leading chemical weapons tests in his lab on Punk Hazard. His former colleague, Caesar Clown, created an extremely powerful chemical weapon, and when Vegapunk attempted to dismiss Caesar for his reckless behavior, Caesar retaliated by detonating that weapon, turning Punk Hazard into a wasteland. The island was closed off after this incident and a dragon that Vegapunk created was also abandoned. Since Vegapunk had been leading the experiments, he was blamed for the incident.

Before the timeskip, he focused on developing human weapons called Pacifista, with Bartholomew Kuma as the test subject and with his research on Kizaru's Devil Fruit powers. He somehow managed to synthesize them and become the only person in the world with the technological prowess to manufacture functional and tangible laser beams that cause damage, which the World Government now use in full force and mass production. Prior to the war at Marineford, he performed the final operation on Kuma, causing him to lose his free will. However, upon Kuma's request, he programmed the mission to protect the Thousand Sunny into Kuma's memory banks.

Prior to going to Mary Geoise, Issho met with Vegapunk and the scientist revealed an invention that Issho believed could render the Shichibukai system obsolete.

Trivia

• In relation to a SBS question asked by a fan stating "How come Luffy's Devil Fruit was already in the Devil Fruit encyclopedia when he ate it?" Oda hinted that Vegapunk might know what Devil Fruits really are.