As mentioned before, Vinsmoke Judge had always dreamed of restoring the Germa Kingdom and reunifying the North Blue. But he also understood one thing: there was no way the World Government would ever allow anyone to unify the region, especially since the North Blue contained so many of its member nations.
To realize his ambition, Judge spent years laying out a meticulous plan.
The first step was making Germa a World Government-affiliated nation, giving himself political legitimacy and influence.
The second step was secretly intervening in wars across the globe through the underground organization Germa 66, building their reputation as a nation of war while accumulating resources and clout within the underworld.
Those first two steps had gone exactly as planned. With status, power, resources, and influence secured, Judge was ready for the final stage: allying himself with one of the Four Emperors. With an Emperor backing him, he believed he would finally have enough leverage to negotiate with the World Government on equal footing.
He had even chosen his partner: the Big Mom Pirates. Their ambition, overwhelming strength, and family-centered hierarchy made them the perfect ally in his eyes.
Then everything fell apart.
The sudden war in Totto Land ended with Big Mom's death, reducing all of Judge's preparations to nothing. That was why he had agreed to work with Buckingham when she approached him not long ago.
Still, there was one organization he had never intended to provoke: the Twelve Zodiac. Toppling an Emperor and shaking the seas, they were far too dangerous to cross.
But now,
"The Twelve Zodiac... Tiger?"
Staring at the figure floating before him in the Sea Beast mask, Judge couldn't understand.
"Why..."
Why would one of the Twelve Zodiac's highest-ranking members suddenly appear here and declare the destruction of the Germa Kingdom?
"Your Excellency... could there be some misunderstanding?" He frowned as he spoke. "Germa has never offended the Twelve Zodiac."
"Oh, that..." Tiger answered lazily. "I don't know either. I just know the Leader told me to come here, take something from you and a woman named Buckingham, and make sure Germa Kingdom is wiped out." He grinned. "As for why... I couldn't be bothered to ask."
Then he shrugged. "Besides, isn't Germa a nation that destroys countries for a living? You don't need a reason for something like that, do you?"
"..."
Judge clenched his teeth. He was right. For the Germa Kingdom, a nation built for war, destroying countries had never required a reason.
But...
"Don't compare Germa to those worthless nations!" His teeth ground together as he gripped his spear tightly. Tiger had touched his greatest taboo. "Germa... will never fall!"
The instant those words left his mouth,
'Bang!'
'Bang!'
'Bang!'
Three figures appeared around Tiger simultaneously, the Vinsmoke brothers. Their specially designed Raid Suits blasted compressed air and powerful wind pressure behind them, allowing them to fly.
"Spark Double Spin!" Flames erupted from Ichiji's hands.
"Lightning Light Sword, Lightspeed Slash!" Niji's glowing blade crackled with electricity.
"Winch Heavy Strike: Super Giant Plate!" Yonji clenched his fist, gathering enough raw strength to smash apart a small mountain.
At the same time,
"Take aim!"
Clone soldiers, who had long since taken position throughout every corner of the Germa Kingdom, raised their weapons toward Tiger.
'Rumble!'
'Rumble!'
Massive buildings throughout the kingdom roared as hidden artillery emerged from within them. Just as had been said before, Germa was a fortress built entirely for war.
"What happened in Totto Land was the work of six members of the Twelve Zodiac," Judge roared as he leveled his spear at Tiger. "And you actually dared to come here alone... You're asking to die! This is... 'my kingdom!'"
Electricity crackled across the weapon before he hurled it forward.
The lightning-wrapped spear became the signal for war. A deafening barrage erupted across the kingdom as countless weapons fired at once. No orders were necessary; the instinct for war had long since been engraved into Germa's soldiers at the genetic level.
Lasers, bullets, cannons, rockets, an overwhelming storm of firepower filled the sky, rushing toward Tiger.
But in the next instant, Judge witnessed something beyond belief.
Tiger remained sitting cross-legged in midair. He neither attacked nor defended. He simply spoke:
"'Domain Expansion.'"
The words fell.
'Buzz!'
Judge's lightning spear. Ichiji's flames. Niji's light sword. Yonji's fist. The spinning Seastone bullets. The blazing laser beams. The screaming rockets.
Every attack, stopped.
No... not stopped. The flames still burned, and the lightning still crackled. Yet attacks powerful enough to erase an entire city could no longer advance even a single inch toward the masked figure.
Even someone as well-traveled as Judge had never seen anything like it.
Tiger didn't even bother looking at the frozen attacks surrounding him. He casually raised a finger... and gave it the slightest flick.
"'Repulsion Field: Vector Reflection.'"
'Buzz!'
Judge's eyes widened in disbelief. Every single attack instantly reversed direction.
'Boom!'
They shot back with even greater speed and force than before.
"Human Wall!" Judge shouted.
Several clone soldiers immediately rushed in front of him. A moment later, the lightning spear that had been thrown only seconds ago pierced straight through every one of them. Blood sprayed into the air as the clones collapsed where they stood.
Judge didn't even spare the bodies a glance; he simply lifted his head and gritted his teeth.
From where he stood, he could clearly see the battlefield. Ichiji was engulfed in flames, lightning wrapped around Niji, and Yonji was blasted away by the overwhelming force. The shells and bullets they had fired slammed back into Germa's deck, collapsing buildings one after another as the fortress was consumed by its own bombardment.
'Boom!'
In the blink of an eye, explosions bloomed across the surface of Germa Kingdom like countless fireworks. Flames raged, and thick smoke filled the air.
"How...?" Judge stared at the kingdom now swallowed by fire, his face darkening with disbelief.
But he didn't have time to think before Tiger's voice drifted over.
"Don't get the wrong idea." He lazily straightened his posture, glancing at Judge. "I did come here alone. Because one person is enough to deal with all of you."
His tone remained as relaxed as ever. "And I'm a lazy guy. I don't like wasting time, so... this fight will be over quickly."
There wasn't the slightest hint of arrogance in his voice, only absolute confidence.
"...You sure talk big," Judge spat, clenching his teeth. "I don't know what kind of Devil Fruit power you have, but..." A savage grin spread across his face. "You're an idiot!"
He laughed viciously and shouted without hesitation, "Kingdom Transformation, Deep Dive Mode!"
The moment his words fell,
'Rumble!'
The entire Germa Kingdom shook once more. Massive isolation barriers rose from beneath the deck, completely sealing off the kingdom. Below the ship, the giant modified snails erupted with tremendous jets of flame from their shells.
'Rumble!'
The enormous thrust drove the entire kingdom beneath the sea, transforming the mobile nation into a gigantic submarine as seawater quickly swallowed the ship.
Watching this, Judge's grin grew wider.
"The Twelve Zodiac? You're just a fool who knows nothing about Germa's true power." He looked confidently at Tiger, who was trapped inside the isolation barrier.
To him, victory was already assured. Tiger's mysterious ability had certainly shocked him, but everything was still unfolding according to plan.
The Twelve Zodiac's reputation was known across the world, so Judge had never expected ordinary weapons to defeat one of them. Still... this was Germa. His kingdom. On his own turf, he feared no enemy.
Deep Dive Mode had been designed specifically to deal with powerful Devil Fruit users. Although the transformation required preparation time, once it was complete...
"No matter how powerful a Devil Fruit user is, the sea is still their weakness."
Judge sneered as he watched countless clone soldiers gather outside the barrier. Some reinforced the isolation barrier while others rapidly deployed artillery batteries loaded with Seastone shells.
"Ichiji, Niji, Yonji. Get ready. Once we've dived deep enough, I'll deactivate the isolation barrier. Kill him... no, capture him. I'll trade him to the World Government. Considering how much the Government hates the Twelve Zodiac, my dream may come true immediately."
He picked up a Den Den Mushi.
"Understood, Father," Ichiji's voice came through. "We've already switched our Raid Suits into combat mode. We're ready."
"...Damn, that hurt," Yonji's pained voice followed. "Even with the Raid Suit, my exoskeleton cracked from that attack. When I get my hands on him, I'm tearing all four of his limbs off!"
"We should still be careful," Niji added, his voice filled with injury and anger. "Let the army wear him down first. Once the seawater has completely submerged him, then we'll move in."
"..."
As the four members of the Vinsmoke family continued talking, they all noticed something was wrong.
"Why isn't my Raid Suit showing any increase in depth?"
"It's actually saying our altitude is rising!"
"The surrounding seawater hasn't changed either... Father!"
Hearing his sons' tense voices, Judge immediately realized something was terribly off.
"Bring up the monitor!"
A display screen appeared before him, and the image on it made his expression freeze. Just as his sons had reported, Germa Kingdom had transformed into Deep Dive Mode and entered the sea... but it wasn't descending. Quite the opposite. It was rising.
Or rather, it wasn't just Germa Kingdom. The section of ocean it had submerged into, the rocky peaks surrounding it, the entire sea itself, the fish, the shrimp, even the Sea Kings within it, everything was ascending into the sky together.
At the same time,
"King Judge."
Judge's eyes widened as he heard Tiger's voice again. Somehow, it passed through the isolation barriers and every wall of the kingdom, echoing throughout Germa.
"You just said... Germa is 'your' kingdom. That's where you're wrong."
On the monitor, Judge saw Tiger finally rise to his feet. He slowly raised one hand... and gently pressed downward with a finger.
The next instant,
'Rumble!'
The isolation barrier shattered into countless fragments. What was truly horrifying, however, was that the broken pieces didn't fall; they floated motionless in the air. Even the seawater surrounding Germa now hung overhead, suspended impossibly against gravity, with sunlight filtering faintly through it.
Tiger's lazy voice echoed through the floating ocean.
"From the moment I arrived... this place became 'my domain'."
"'Repulsion Domain: Zero Gravity Field.'"
"A domain means one thing: everything inside it bends to my will."
As he spoke, he slowly raised a hand.
"So... are you ready? I told you already. This fight would be over quickly."
Judge's entire body trembled.
"Human Wall!" he barked without hesitation.
But it no longer mattered, because Tiger had already raised both hands.
"'Repulsion Domain: Almighty Push.'"
---
At the same time...
'Germa Kingdom - Seventh Level, Underwater Port'
A pink submarine resembling a beautiful poisonous moth rested quietly in the harbor. A graceful young woman stepped out. She had pink hair, wore a form-fitting dress, and possessed the Vinsmoke family's signature curled eyebrows.
She was the eldest child of the Vinsmoke family, Judge's first successful Lineage Factor cyborg, 'Vinsmoke Reiju'.
"The Twelve Zodiac..."
Her expression was unusually grim. Just as Judge had mentioned during his conversation with Buckingham, Reiju had only recently completed a mission and returned to Germa. She hadn't even finished disembarking before hearing the shocking news: one of the Twelve Zodiac, Tiger, had suddenly attacked Germa for reasons unknown.
"That tremor just now... Father must have activated Deep Dive Mode. But why is my Raid Suit showing that our altitude is increasing?"
Reiju frowned. Inside the harbor, she had no way of seeing what was happening outside.
Just then,
'Rumble!'
The ground shook violently beneath her feet, followed by a deafening roar like thunder. Even with her cyborg body, the sudden sensation of weightlessness nearly knocked her off balance.
"Wha, " She barely steadied herself before looking upward in disbelief. "Even the seventh level can feel it..."
Once fully assembled, Germa Kingdom consisted of seven layers, each built from special alloys with incredible soundproofing and shock resistance. Under normal circumstances, even massive seaquakes or tsunamis couldn't affect the seventh level.
"This can't possibly be caused by a battle..." she muttered to herself, an ominous feeling growing in her heart. "I have to get to the battlefield immediately."
She took out her Raid Suit.
"No need, little Reiju. Oof... my poor back..." A hoarse voice suddenly interrupted her.
"Who's there?!" She immediately turned toward the shadows in the hallway.
A short, ugly figure slowly emerged.
"You're Father's..." Although she couldn't clearly see the woman's face, Reiju immediately recognized her: Buckingham Stussy, Judge's newest partner.
As the eldest daughter with the highest level of authority in the Vinsmoke family, Reiju knew something others didn't: Judge had never truly trusted Buckingham. He had even assigned clone soldiers to keep her under constant surveillance.
Yet now, those very clone soldiers stood quietly beside Buckingham. Even after seeing Reiju, none of them reacted.
Reiju instantly realized something was wrong and moved to put on her Raid Suit. But,
"Don't move," Buckingham said calmly, rubbing her aching back.
The next instant, Reiju found herself unable to move at all.
No, her body wasn't paralyzed. She could still feel it. She simply couldn't control it.
"...!!"
That familiar, irresistible sensation... Reiju knew it all too well.
"Judge may be a genius when it comes to science," Buckingham sneered, "but in the end, he's still an idiot. After all these years, he's still clinging to that ridiculous dream of conquering the seas with technology."
Her cane tapped softly against the floor as she finally stepped out of the shadows. The moment Reiju saw her face, her pupils contracted.
Buckingham slowly lifted part of her clothing. Her appearance was changing, her golden hair grew longer and her facial features shifted, gradually becoming masculine until she bore the face of someone Reiju knew all too well: Vinsmoke Judge.
Buckingham was slowly transforming into him.
"Still, I've got that fool to thank. If he hadn't programmed every clone soldier and even his own children with an absolute command never to disobey him, my job would've been a lot harder."
Buckingham slowly shuffled over to Reiju. Her cold eyes gleamed behind her sunglasses as she examined Reiju's beautiful face and elegant figure, the smile on her lips growing wider.
"Don't bother rushing to the battlefield. I've studied the Twelve Zodiac. Against any one of their top officers, Germa's chance of victory is exactly zero. If nothing unexpected happened, that huge commotion just now means the battle is already over. Your father lasted even less time than I expected."
She rubbed her forehead with mild annoyance. "Though, now that I think about it... I've never offended those monsters. So why did Tiger specifically mention me?"
She muttered to herself before smiling again. "But that's fine, because I found you."
She gently stroked Reiju's smooth cheek, savoring the feeling of youth. "You don't have to worry about being separated from your family, because you're going to die too. But before that... be a good girl and take me somewhere. I need to retrieve a few things."
She cackled softly. "As thanks... I'll give Germa an ending that's perfectly fitting for your foolish father."
(End of Chapter)
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