In chapter 929, Oda gave us an interesting scene between Orochi and CP0.
Here, it’s explained that due to Doflamingo’s downfall, the World Government can no longer make undercover business deals with Kaido in order to make trade for the weapons he’s been creating. With Joker gone, the Government is forced to contact Orochi directly, putting Orochi in a position of power. Drunk on this power, Orochi demands that for further negotiations to take place, CP0 needs to bring him Vegapunk.
At first glance, this seems like a terrible negotiation on Orochi’s part; after all, why would the Government willingly give up their greatest scientist to a corrupt Shogun and a Yonko? It’s absurd. Even CP0 thinks so, stating that such a request is impossible. But what if it wasn’t? We all know Oda’s skill as a storywriter. Knowing him, he wouldn’t have introduced this scene unless there was some sort of payoff, and the World Government refusing to send Vegapunk to the island wouldn’t provide much satisfaction, nor does it make for good writing. So instead of saying that Vegapunk won’t come to Wano, we should instead be looking into why Wano is the arc to finally introduce him.
Shogun Kurozumi Orochi
First, let’s examine why Orochi wants Vegapunk in the first place. The answer he gives CP0 is stated clear as day: he wants more power. The question is, what kind of power would Vegapunk grant Orochi? Simply looking at Kaido’s forces gives us the answer: Smile Devil Fruits have wild and uncontrollable side-effects. Holdem, Speed, Dobon, Alpacaman, Madilloman; every member of Kaido’s crew who’s shown to have eaten a Smile fruit perfectly showcases why Caesar’s artificial fruits are incomplete.
No doubt Caesar based his fruits off of Vegapunk’s artificial fruit but even though Momonosuke’s fruit was deemed a failure and he seemingly still can’t control his transformations, his powers are still much more stable than those of Smile users. What doesn’t help the situation is that both Caesar and Doflamingo are out of commission, meaning that Kaido’s supply of artificial fruits has been cut short, nor is Caesar in a position to work out the kinks in his fruits.
As such, it’s easy to see why Orochi wants Vegapunk – he wants to fix the problem plaguing the Smile fruits as well as force Vegapunk to restart their supply chain.
The World Government
What isn’t clear is why the Government would willingly give Vegapunk to Orochi. After all, Vegapunk’s unquestionably one of their greatest assets. So, why? Well first, chapter 684 gives us insight into what the Government has tasked Vegapunk and his team to do: they’re to develop a weapon which would help the Marines and the Government to destroy as many pirates as possible. This, from what we can infer, is the Pacifista project, for multiple reasons.
First, the rift between Caesar and Vegapunk stemmed from the fact that Caesar built weapons that killed indiscriminately while Vegapunk made it a priority to protect innocent civilians. We know Vegapunk was successful in this because the Pacifistas are able to differentiate friend from foe and only seem to attack those programmed to be a threat. Secondly, X Drake thinks to himself “I had no idea the Pacifista Project has come this far” in chapter 509 when he encounters one in battle. This implies the Pacifistas we saw both on Sabaody and at Marineford were incomplete prototypes; prototypes that we can now conclude are finished based on what Fujitora told Ryukugyu in chapter 905, at the Reverie.
Fujitora’s talk in important because it gives us two pieces of information: One, that Vegapunk’s weapon is complete; Two, it has the power to render the Shichibukai arrangement obsolete. This is significant because remember what role the warlords play in the world of One Piece: they serve as one of the great powers that hold the balance between the Government and the Yonko. Without them, the Marines wouldn’t have the firepower to take on a Yonko and win.
Our last bit of information comes from the Gorosei in chapter 908 – the World Government is getting ready for a great cleansing in which they plan to eliminate those they deem to be significant threats in order to maintain the balance of power throughout the world.
So knowing all this, I repeat my question – why would the Government willingly hand Vegapunk to Orochi on Wano? To eliminate Vegapunk.
From the Government’s perspective, Vegapunk has done everything they asked him to do – he’s given them a weapon that allows them to compete against the Yonko without the need for the Warlord system. With this power on hand, they can now eliminate any pirate crew they want. And, I can guarantee they don’t like having Orochi boss them around.
With all this said, I predict that in response to Orochi’s demands, the World Government will send both Vegapunk and an army of Pacifista to Wano under the guise of testing Vegapunk’s creation in action. Wano is perfect for this because not only is it a closed country, meaning the rest of the world wouldn’t learn about the Government’s new weapon, but it also currently conveniently houses the crew of the strongest creature alive; a type of crew the Shichibukai was supposed to help the Government battle against. If your goal was to create a weapon that replaces the Shichibukai, wouldn’t you want to test it in order to ensure it properly does its job?
And, since the Pacifistas can be programmed, after Vegapunk deems the test successful, the Pacifistas will turn and eliminate him afterwards, preventing his genius from being used against them by Orochi or anyone else during their great cleansing.
Why Wano
Furthermore, Wano from a story perspective is the perfect arc for Vegapunk to make his long-awaited appearance:
- This arc heavily centers around artificial devil fruits. Considering it’s unlikely we’ll encounter again them after Wano, this arc is the only chance we’ll have at learning how and why they differ from regular fruits. With Caesar out of the picture, Vegapunk’s the only option left as to who can explain why.
- We still don’t know why Momonosuke’s fruit was deemed a failure, despite it seemingly behaving like a regular fruit. With it being likely that Momonosuke stays on Wano after Kaido and Orochi’s defeat, this arc would be the only time to explain its faults.
- Punk Hazard, the arc that first setup the Wano conflict, shares a lot of parallels with Wano. For example, Punk Hazard starts with the Straw Hats defeating a dragon while Wano will end with Luffy also defeating a dragon. Punk Hazard also marks the first time we see a Devil Fruit being “born” (with Smiley’s death). With these parallels in mind, Wano would serve as the arc where we’re finally explained how they work, concluding the saga nicely.
- X Drake knows about the Pacifista project and seemed worried about how much they’ve progressed. We also know he left the marines for some reason and specifically sought out the Beast Pirates to join them. Considering everyone’s speculating that Drake will play a significant role in Wano, having Vegapunk on the island would likely tie into his backstory nicely and his ultimately reason for joining Kaido, the man who had a business deal with Caesar and who emplois similar technology to Vegapunk’s via the Smile fruit.
- It was said that Wano will make Marineford look cute. Marineford had Pacifistas; why not Wano?
In short: The World Government will conform to Orochi’s request and send Vegapunk to Wano. However, this will turn ultimately be a ruse with them not only sending Vegapunk but also his completed Pacifista project in order to test its capabilities against a Yonko crew. The Government will also use this opportunity to eliminate Vegapunk as part of their cleansing, ensuring his genius can’t be used against them in the future.
*Theory by Therrester
