In chapter 1086, it’s revealed that the weapon used by the World Government to destroy Lulusia, or at least part of the weapon, was created by Vegapunk. Imu refers to this as the “Mother Flame”.
– We learn that this is the first time the weapon is being used (Saturn), thus it was not responsible for any prior incidents, such as God Valley.
– Imu choosing Lulusia as a target due to its “close proximity” means that the weapon is either stored, or was initially located within Paradise, relatively close to the island. If we take into consideration the Ace cover story, Lulusia itself can’t be too far from Water 7.
– We also know through Saturn that it takes time to set it up, at least in its current form if we follow the timeline, it takes 1 to 2 weeks between Imu giving the order at the end of the Reverie and Lulusia being destroyed after the Raid of Onigashima.
– It’s clear that, through his title as Defense Science Warrior God, Saint Saturn is the one overseeing the weapon’s use.
– St. Nusjuro implies that the Government cannot use this power freely just yet, meaning either its fuel or its capabilities are limited.
It’s safe to assume that this weapon is in fact Uranus, the third Ancient Weapon, due to its connection to the sky; Ivankov outright confirms it at the end of the chapter. But it is also clear through Imu and the Gorosei that Vegapunk has something to do with it.
While it might be possible for Vegapunk to recreate Uranus, especially if its blueprints survived as was the case for Pluton, it would be out of character for Vegapunk to do this. What most likely happened is that Vegapunk recreated Uranus’ power source, which is what Imu calls the “Mother Flame”.
One of Vegapunk’s main goals is to create an unlimited energy source that would be freely available to the entire world. Despite this, we have yet to see any of Vegapunk’s creations relating to something like this.
We see Lilith refering to this as an “eternal flame“, establishing a connection with the “Mother Flame.” Egghead reveals the existence of such an energy source, in the form of a power used by the Ancient Kingdom, but now lost to time.
It is also revealed that Vegapunk discovered the Iron Giant and used it for his research of the ancient energy source. However, he failed to recreate it.
As both the Giant and Uranus are creations of the Ancient Kingdom, and thus created using the same technology, it is safe to assume they use the same energy source too.
Although Shaka says that he failed to recreate the power source, we do not know to what degree his creations actually failed. Vegapunk is an unreliable source in this matter, as his perfectionism makes him deem successful creations as failures due to minor and inconsequential flaws (like with Momo’s fruit).
It can be thus assumed that Vegapunk did in fact successfully replicate the Ancient Kingdom’s energy source, called the “Mother Flame”. It is probably York that helped the Government get their hands on it and power Uranus with it, and thus was promised the position of Celestial Dragon for her effort.
During this chapter we also get a big hint related to the weapon’s location.
It is revealed through Imu that Uranus is housed relatively close to Lulusia. We know for a fact that Lulusia is quite a ways from the Red Line, so Uranus is likely housed much closer to the middle to end portion of Paradise.
Where would you hide such an imposing power though, without anyone finding out for 800 years? Well, in probably the one place where nobody would dare to look for it: the Florian Triangle.
For those who don’t remember, the Florian Triangle is an area in Paradise eternally covered in mist, where ships regularly disappear. It is heavily implied that the giant creature/s we see at the end of the arc are responsible for all the strange activity in the area..
The way these creatures are represented is reminiscent of other Void Century remnants, such as Zunesha. But also such as Uranus in recent chapters.
As its powers relate to the sky, I think its possible the mist in the Florian Triangle is actually steam produced by Uranus, with the giant creatures being sent by Imu to guard it until a new power source is found.
It sort of makes sense even if you look back at the structure of Pre-Timeskip. Poseidon’s location was revealed in Skypiea, Pluton was revealed in the next saga, Water 7; it would make sense Oda secretly revealed the location of Uranus in the next saga, Thriller Bark.
However, I do not believe the weapon was intentionally stored here.
What I believe happened is that Uranus was the only Ancient Weapon the World Government managed to capture. However, due to the eradication of the Ancient Kingdom and all its technologies, including the energy source, Uranus ran out of fuel, just like the Iron Giant 200 years ago, and crashed into the sea in the area that now forms the Florian Triangle.
The steam created from the weapon cooling itself created the mist covering the Florian Triangle today. Imu had the giant creatures guard it, killing any pirates that might get close to its location.
800 years later, Vegapunk recreates the energy source, the Mother Flame, through his research into the Iron Giant. This is why Vegapunk was hired by the WG and allowed to store Void Century artefacts on Egghead.
With the energy source restored, Imu finally tested the weapon on Lulusia, a kingdom relatively close to the Florian Triangle, and thus reactivated Uranus. Which brings us to the end of Egghead:
I believe the World Government is planning to use Uranus to erase Egghead from history, along with all the forbidden knowledge and artefacts stored on the island.
There are many reasons why the Government would target Vegapunk: the most obvious is his research into the Void Century, and in particular continuing the research started by Ohara.
Vegapunk’s genius and his creations could also pose a great threat to the Government if he were to get out of their control.
Another reason would be to destory every Void Century artefact on the island – since Vegapunk calls Egghead an “island of the past”, it’s very possible that the Iron Giant is not the only such technology in his possesion, and the island might be filled with other artefacts.
But the main reason would be to completely destroy Punk Records – if Vegapunk were to succeed in his goal of making it available to every person in the world, the entire public would have access to Ohara’s research, which would expose the crimes of the World Government, and everything they’ve been trying to hide for the past 800 years.
Essentially, this is the first EXISTENTIAL THREAT the World Government has faced in its history. Much more serious than Ohara and probably God Valley, as those could at least be contained.
As serious as this is though, it still does not explain why both Saturn and CP0 had to be sent in, and Vegapunk dealt with before the Gorosei’s arrival. On the one hand, it could be to pick up York and clear up the way for Saturn to check the laboratories and pick up anything the World Government might have a use for, such as the Seraphim.
The explanation is quite simple, and it was hinted at in this arc already: the failure of the Ohara incident.
With everything that had to be done in order to destroy Ohara, it proved al- most in vain, as a large part of the archeologists’ research survived: not only Robin, but a lot of their material was taken by the Elbaf giants, and continued by Vegapunk. This time though, they sent Saturn and Uranus to make sure the eradication is complete.
TL/DR:
Through his research of the ancient technology, Vegapunk recreated the ancient energy source that was used to power Uranus, which the Government tested on the Lulusia Kingdom.
With Vegapunk becoming expendable because of York’s betrayal and the existential threat his research and technology pose, the Government is planning to use Uranus to erase Egghead from history, with Saturn making sure nothing and no one survives, as was the case with Ohara.
Theory by grramramram (https://www.reddit.com/user/grramramram)
