The two pages focused on the conversation between Yamato and Momonosuke and CP0’s discussion of Momonosuke’s artificial Devil Fruit were probably the most interesting part of the chapter from a narrative perspective. We have Momonosuke expressing his feeling of weakness / helplessness and a swell of emotion brings out his dragon form.
At the same time, CP0 are discussing the artificial dragon fruit. Some of this information we already knew – we knew that this artificial fruit was made by Vegapunk, not by Caesar, so it differs fundamentally from Smile fruit. We also knew that it was for some reason, deemed a failure.
We here have confirmed that this artificial fruit was made from Kaido’s lineage factor (DNA) by Vegapunk one of the times he was captured by the World Government.
Now, what’s most interesting here is the fact that the head of CP0 says not only that it’s good this failure was believed to have been destroyed, but also that the research was a failure. CP0 are the ‘shield’ of the Celestial Dragons around the world and their leader say this fruit would have been seized by the World Government. Why would he be happy the World Government didn’t succeed in acquiring this power?
This ties back into a theory I have held for quite a while that Kaido’s devil fruit imbues him with incredibly good fortune as an Eastern style dragon which prevents him from dying. Kaido isn’t unbeatable, but he is unkillable and I think there’s a very clear and important distinction between the two. What this means for Momonosuke is that he may similarly be imbued with good fortune and may be the key to Kaido’s defeat.
We learned in 999 that Big Mom gave the Fish fruit to Kaido on the day Rocks Pirates collapsed. Does this mean the fruit once belonged to Rocks D. Xebec, or, much more interesting, one of the Celestial Dragons targeted and killed by Xebec on God Valley? We don’t know why Xebec targeted God Valley instead of Mary Geoise, but what if the reason was a desire to acquire this particular Devil Fruit for himself and when Rocks collapsed, Big Mom instead gave it to Kaido?
This could be the link between CP0 and the Dragon Devil Fruit. Maybe the reason Vegapunk was making it was to replace the one now in Kaido’s position. If Kaido can’t be killed (the Government tried to execute him 40 times, but failed to do so), they can’t just kill him and take it back, so they instead have to work out an alternative solution, make an artificial replacement. But this begs the question of why CP0 are happy the Celestial Dragons, the ones whose interest they protect, don’t have access to this ability?
The World Government would have seized the fruit if it was a success, so what if Vegapunk deemed it a failure purposely to keep it out of the hands of the World Government?
Full Chapter Review https://youtu.be/6LpZBkpi_kI
*Theory by StrawHatJedi
