@Ivotas:
Personally I hope for them to go to Machine Island, since an island like that leaves a lot of room for unique creations and designs for Oda. It just has too much potential to be left out.
Yes, exactly! Since he lavished so much attention on the zombies of Thriller Bark, making each one slightly different from the others, I can't imagine that he wouldn't do the same for the mechanical critters of Machine Island.
Other then for the designs plotwise Machine Island should be interesting. With the Spacey´s we´ve seen that at least some part of the MI technology is connected to the Moon-Blikans, who are connected to ancient Jayans. Pair that with the fact that the Ancient Weapons also seem to be advanced technology Machine Island might be a good place to find out more about the bigger picture in One Piece.
Yes. And potentially in several different ways: finding out more about the ancient robots, finding out more about the lost technology, more about the ancient weapons, etc.
True that. The thing why I asked is because I had the impression that Machine Island might be an isolated hidden island because the locals fear that their technologies might be used the wrong way if outsiders know of their existence. With that thought the question could also have been, is Vegapunk from Machine Island or not?
That's my feeling also: that this island is isolated geographically as well as deliberately, and that this helps them keep just out of view of the WG and the pirates – because I could see them being wary of pirates too, for the same reasons as being wary of the WG: not wanting to be forced to create weaponry for a war/battle that they don't support. There could also have been some guilt: if their ancestors' technology was the cause of a great and destructive war, then perhaps each successive generation since then has pledged to keep the technology and skills of their ancestors alive, but never to use that technology for destructive purposes anymore. This could explain why the Spaceys from MI were less armed and less warlike than the Spaceys found on the Moon or in the murals.
Perhaps I'm drawing too much of a pacifist picture of the citizens of Machine Island, but based on what we've seen so far -- a gentle, moon-viewing,tea-drinking inventor and his sweet, emotional, noble creations, it's hard to think of them as anything other than peace-loving now.
As I said before, I think both Vegapunk and Franky are in some way related to Machine Island or to each other, but it's too early to say how. It's just a hunch, based on the lack of robot/cyborg technology elsewhere in the Grand line, and Franky's amazing speed and finesse in creating and inventing things.
I actually think that an island that calls itself Machine Island should have far better robots around then the Spaceys. I mean they were easily crushed on the moon. If that´s the best they can build I´d be disappointed in the scientists of the island. True it is still far more advanced technology then what we have seen in any other island, but for an Oda-verse you´d expect that something that is called Machine Island should have robots that could fight on Strawhat level.
I'm certain that they have more advanced technology than Spaceys, but if – as I'm guessing -- they feel guilt for having caused some major catastrophe in the past with their technology, then they might have decided collectively to avoid that again by going back to a smaller, quainter, less-destructive form of that technology. Kind of like how many farms are now going back to organic methods of bug-control after it was discvoered that all those highly effective synthetic pest control poisons were also unfortunately highly effective at killing things that weren't pests as well. I'm not saying that regression is a wise thing to do, -- just that it's a option, and very possibly the option that seemed best for the inhabitants of MI at the time.
So Vegapunk either be from Machine Island and keep that fact a secret (which makes him unique and also keeps his home island protected) or he just is a genius with no relation to the island at all and would do everything to visit it if he knew of his existence.
I could see either of your scenarios working well: that Vegapunk is either from there and trying to hide that fact and the island, or not from there and the inhabitants are trying to hide it from him. In both cases, it's an interesting bit of tension that revolves around remaining hidden.