The world of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece is filled with wonders. This includes the so-called Lineage Factor, which makes the impossible become possible.
The following contains spoilers for the One Piece manga, now available in English from Viz Media.
One Piece‘s lore is so expansive that even after decades of serialization, the story continues to add more compelling details. One of the recently revealed discoveriesis the so-called Lineage Factor, and the series’ brightest characters have been using it in their research and inventions. Decades later, their works are finally showing results — and wreaking havoc in various parts of the world. This raises the question of what exactly the Lineage Factor is and what its uses are.
Years before One Piece‘s present timeline, a group of mad geniuses formed a scientific group called MADS. This group consists of the story’s most intelligent minds, namely Dr. Vegapunk, Queen, Caesar Clown and Vinsmoke Judge. They proceeded to research various projects, with each member specializing in a certain field. Despite their differing areas of expertise, the group shared their resources and findings. One of the components they’ve used across their projects is the Lineage Factor.
What Exactly Is One Piece’s Lineage Factor?
The Lineage Factor is the blueprint of life in One Piece. It’s basically DNA, and all lifeforms in the world possess it. However, the Lineage Factor can be manipulated to alter growth patterns. For instance, eating a Devil Fruit alters one’s Lineage Factor, granting them supernatural powers. This was discovered by Vinsmoke Judge and Dr. Vegapunk during their time in MADS, and they’ve since employed it in their projects.
The Lineage Factor also plays a significant role in many characters’ personal stories. The most notable product of it is the Straw Hat Pirates’ very own cook, Sanji. After MADS disbanded, Judge continued to mess with cloning and genetic modification as he dreams of creating an unparalleled military force and conquering all of North Blue. He wants it so much that he even modified his own children — and Sanji is one of them.
Lineage Factor Has Already Vastly Affected One Piece’s World
While Vinsmoke Judge has centered his life’s work around genetic modification and cloning, he isn’t the only One Piece character who’s utilized the Lineage Factor’s capabilities. When Dr. Vegapunk got his hands on Kaido’s Lineage Factor, he replicated the Emperor’s Devil Fruit powers. However, he deemed the experiment a failure since the resulting color of the dragon wasn’t the same as the original. Caesar Clown also makes use of the Lineage Factor to create SAD, the main component in forging his famed Artificial Devil Fruit — the SMILE.
Like Judge, Dr. Vegapunk also used the Lineage Factor to further his creations and has found a way to extract Devil Fruit powers through it. He invented Green Blood — which is composed of a Paramythia Devil Fruit user’s Lineage Factor — then used that blood to grant his creations a Paramythia Devil Fruit power. With the Green Blood, Aber’s Lineage Factor and the former Warlords’ Lineage Factors, Vegapunk was finally able to create the supposed epitome of human evolution in One Piece — the Seraphim.
