Doubious Fruit

I woke up next to Leana, her head resting on my chest. Leaning down, I sniffed her hair, smelling the light scent of lavender. I wondered if she used a particular type of soap or just naturally smelled like it.

Shifting around, I got up in a way that didn't disturb my partner. After taking a shower, I entered the lab looking at the log Evos, and I used to record our work. 'He's made some progress on his poisons.' My eyes then landed on an unfinished schematic for a new type of mask. Humming, I started a new page and quickly jotted down a revised blueprint.

Moving on, I grabbed the vial of the serum I used on Gibby. My actual goal was to make a refined serum that I could use to mutate myself. And while it seemed to work on Gibby, I failed to observe any changes that happened on a cellular level. "Besides, I've mutated him so much I don't even know if his cells use DNA."

Sighing, I began the long process of creating simple homunculi to test on, collecting samples before and after their treatment. Each time there seemed to be a random factor that changed every characteristic of the mutation. It was infuriating. Sometimes the subject would grow a small limb, and others would start to divide and multiply.

I tried to graph the results from pie to bar to even creating a periodic table. Every time, there was a random pattern that couldn't be charted or predicted without unreasonable room for error. Each time it was draining me more and more, each method I tried applying falling short.

I rubbed my temples as I looked at my most recent failure to organize the data, bits, and pieces seeming mashed together in a random mosaic. Letting my mind go blank, I continued to start at the mess, "Chaos....complete and total chaos."

Grabbing onto the sudden idea, I moved back over to my collection of results and flipped through them randomly. "Choas..random factors...double pendulum," I muttered underneath my breath as I rushed around the room grabbing random things.

Walking over to the fumigation hood, I set aside my collection and started to pump out the air from the container. 'I don't know why I didn't think of this before. Evolution has always been a game of chance. Ruled by initial factors, but ultimately life will find a way. Thank you, Jurassic Park!"

Creating another test subject, I used the airlock door to put it into the hood without letting out any air, then taking the serum. I used a built-in injector to begin the mutation. "Okay, let's see if this works."

I held my breath as the mass of flesh didn't do anything. It just sat there unmoving. Grinning, I silently pumped my fist. "It worked..it fucking worked!" I turned the nozzle slowly, letting air back into the hood, equalizing the pressure.

I forced the homunculi to destroy itself, leaving behind a pile of ash. "I can't believe that worked" I was still in shock over my triumph. The entire time I was trying to predict the results with mathematics and probability without considering the starting factors.

I tried the same thing again and sighed in relief has. Now that I had a control group moving forward, the same thing that happened would be child play. Starting over again, I began to mutate subjects each time, adjusting the homunculi to lack a specific resource while flooding the environment with chemicals and substances.

Each time I was rewarded with the homunculi successfully evolving to use the chemicals or substance I introduced in place of the resource. For example, I created a homunculus that was on the edge of dying from dehydration. After removing all traces of water and air, I exposed the homunculus to hydrogen peroxide.

Once the homunculus mutated, it was able to turn the hydrogen peroxide into water by splitting off the extra oxygen atom. In fact, the process was so efficient that the entire hood filled back up with pure oxygen after an hour.

"Hey, Soren, you okay you've been in here all day and..." The door opened as Ace stepped into the room, looking at the walls covered in my notes. "Okay, what's going on?"

I smiled, smoothing back my ruffled hair, "It's progress, my friend of the most important discovery in our lifetime. I finally cracked it, the code I've been seeking all along."

Ace put his hand on my forehead, "Are you okay? Have you been huffing chemicals or mushrooms?" I smiled, my eyes sparkling, "It's much more than that, though I did have an accident with some mustard gas, but I was able to restart my heart, so no big deal."

"While I have no idea what mustard gas is, I know that you need to get out of this room. Dinner is ready, and everyone is waiting." Sighing, I nodded, "Fine, I guess I've made enough progress today. Who cooked?"

Dinner was excellent as the toll of the day started to register in my mind, "Well, I should be heading to bed now, Evos. I want to show you something in the morning. So don't stay up too late." The boy nodded as he sketched on a notebook, no doubt thinking about his experiments.

Before heading back to my room, I went to the ship's safe room, walking up to a heavy vault with no handle. Flexing my will over the boat, I caused the container to open, revealing two devil fruits.

"It won't be long before I unlock your secrets as well." I looked at the fruits before placing my hand on the Horo Horo no Mi. Closing my eyes, I activated my devil fruit, trying to see inside the fruit. It was the first time I attempted to control one of the fruits as before I've only received a sense of foreboding.

But something this time was different. As my vision warped and focused, I found myself in a dark space. I was unable to move, forced to look straight ahead as something moved into view.

I pulled back my hand, a layer of sweat on my brow. I blinked. Something had just happened, but I couldn't remember. I knew that I went inside the fruit, but after that, it was all blank.

Trying again, I focused, but nothing happened. It was as if the fruit itself was refusing my control.