One Piece: Marine Luffy, Garp regrets it

"This..."

Since Shaka was wearing a helmet, his true appearance remained obscured, but Lilith, standing beside him, was clearly visible.

Even as Luffy scrutinized him closely, he had to admit—on the surface, there was no visible flaw. He looked indistinguishable from a real person.

As for what lay beneath? Luffy generally refrained from commenting on things he hadn't tested himself.

Gion stepped forward in surprise, peering through the mask at the girl inside the glass cover. Given her familiarity with the World Government and Vegapunk's research, a wave of suspicion rose within her. With a hint of resistance in her voice, she asked:

"Dr. Vegapunk, I've heard that you conducted research on human cloning. These two—are they clones created using your bloodline?"

"No, no, not at all! They're just robots," Vegapunk quickly denied, waving his hands in emphasis. However, as he spoke, a faint trace of disappointment flickered across his face.

"Although I did conduct experiments on human cloning… after successfully proving it possible, I abandoned the research.

Creating life out of thin air—it's immoral. The best I can do now is build robots that resemble humans rather than truly sentient beings with independent thoughts and wisdom."

Vegapunk's words carried a deep sense of regret and self-reproach, as if he were recalling someone he once created.

However, he soon shook off those emotions, adjusting his mindset. A smile returned to his face as he continued:

"Do you remember the advice you gave me when we first met?

Yes, these two are the assistants I designed for myself—extensions of my own being."

"you?"

Violet frowned in confusion. "Doctor, aren't they a robot? How can they be you?"

The more she listened, the less she understood, struggling to keep up with Vegapunk's train of thought.

Luffy, on the other hand, had already read the original events and knew exactly what Vegapunk was planning. Taking the opportunity to show off a little, he smirked and said:

"Doctor, if I'm not mistaken, you want them to be linked to Punk Records, sharing thoughts and memories with you, right?

After all, even you are currently connected to your brain through the signal receiver on your head.

And you've mentioned before—no matter how skilled an assistant may be, they can never understand you better than you understand yourself.

So, I'm guessing these two are assistant you developed, ones capable of linking to Punk Records and functioning as part of your mind."

The moment he finished speaking, the girls standing nearby stared at him in shock, their eyes wide with disbelief.

Even Vegapunk was visibly surprised. He hadn't expected Luffy to deduce his thoughts so precisely.

But instead of being upset, he became excited, stepping forward and gripping Luffy's shoulders enthusiastically.

"Amazing! I knew it! Luffy, your way of thinking is truly beyond that of ordinary people.

Even Caesar and the others in the past struggled to keep up with my ideas.

It's such a waste for someone like you to be merely a Marine officer!

If you were to join me in research, I have no doubt you'd become a scientist as brilliant as I am!"

The girls' jaws nearly hit the floor.

Was this a joke?

Dr. Vegapunk—the world's most brilliant scientist—had just claimed that Luffy was as talented as he was?

Luffy—the same lazy guy who only cared about making money and collecting women, who always dumped his responsibilities onto his subordinates? That Luffy? A scientist?

Impossible!

Even Luffy himself felt embarrassed by the praise.

He knew he wasn't a genius. At best, he was just someone who had a little bit of future knowledge thanks to reading the manga.

Most of the knowledge he had gained in both his past and present lives had been forgotten long ago.

Forget about being a scientist—if you gave him a simple linear equation with two variables, he'd probably spend half a day trying to solve it and still get it wrong.

Scratching his nose awkwardly, he tried to downplay it:

"Come on, Doctor, don't exaggerate. I just think quickly and sometimes come up with random ideas.

Compared to a great scientist like you, I'm nowhere close."

He had hoped that his humble attitude would make Vegapunk drop the subject.

Unexpectedly, Vegapunk shook his head and refuted him with complete seriousness:

"No, I truly admire your flashes of inspiration.

There are plenty of intelligent people in this world—many with vast knowledge, some who may even surpass me in certain areas.

But what they lack is precisely that—those seemingly insignificant moments of inspiration that can change everything.

Some technologies take decades to develop, and even the most dedicated scientist may never find the right direction, no matter how much research they do.

Yet sometimes, a breakthrough idea comes to someone at the most unexpected moment—whether it's while eating, bathing, or even sitting on the toilet.

That fleeting thought could solve a problem that had stumped others for a lifetime."

As he spoke, Vegapunk turned his gaze toward Shaka and Lilith, still inside the glass cover. He reached out and gently tapped on the transparent barrier twice.

"Just like them. If you hadn't mentioned it casually, perhaps I would have thought of this idea someday in the future.

But what's far more likely is that I never would have realized it at all—spending my entire life stubbornly researching on my own, unable to take that step forward.

So much time would have been wasted…

So many groundbreaking inventions would have been lost."

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New Fanfic 

Marvel x Star Wars: Avengers in the Clone Wars

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