An invisible, terrifying force of gravity pinned Vinsmoke Weevil firmly in place.
He struggled against it with everything he had, metallic groans ringing from the bones throughout his body.
That was hardly surprising. Even a tenth of the gravity pressing down on him would have been enough to crush a Giant into a pile of flesh in an instant.
The fact that Weevil could still resist at all said everything about just how monstrous his physique had become through Germa's technology and the Life Stitch technique.
As he continued struggling, his range of movement visibly increased.
"Yes! That's it! Antoria 'The Gladiator's' Devil Fruit power might not work, but Weevil can still win! He just needs to keep adapting to the gravity!"
Buckingham still had no idea why the Devil Fruit she had so carefully chosen for her "child" had suddenly become useless, but that didn't stop her from drawing a conclusion.
There was still a chance.
Weevil's adaptive ability, granted through modifications to his Lineage Factor, was still intact.
Just like when he had been crushed into the ground earlier, as long as the gravity couldn't destroy his body instantly, he would eventually adapt to it.
"And once he finishes adapting, he'll still be the strongest..."
Buckingham had recently discovered that she had a bad habit of never being able to finish her sentences.
'Snap!'
A sharp sound echoed across the battlefield.
In the next instant, Tiger appeared directly in front of Weevil.
"!!!"
Even Weevil, still desperately resisting the gravity, showed a flicker of instinctive confusion.
"So… fast…" he slurred out.
At the same time, the three Vinsmoke brothers, having overheard Tiger's conversation with their father, helped one another unsteadily back to their feet.
Their limbs and bodies were badly twisted, and their life force was fading fast. Yet somehow, they were still calmly discussing what they had just seen.
"What kind of speed was that?"
"The Raid Suits didn't detect any movement at all!"
"Teleportation? His ability can do that too?"
"If he'd attacked us with that speed from the start, all three of us would be dead."
"Niji, wake up. We're already about to die."
While they talked, Tiger casually raised both hands in front of Weevil. Compared to the three-headed, six-armed monster before him, his hands looked almost absurdly small.
Then he clapped them together.
'Snap.'
Another crisp sound echoed out.
'Whoosh!'
A moment later, Weevil's enormous body shot into the sky like a cannonball at unbelievable speed, rising higher and higher until he had completely left Germa's ground behind.
"Repulsion Field."
Tiger raised one hand toward Weevil as though taking aim, then clenched his fist.
'BOOM!'
The clouds began to fall.
Under the horrified gazes of Germa's people, shattered pieces of the city-fortresses and alloy debris rose from the ground and flew skyward. The massive mountains surrounding the kingdom collapsed at that exact moment, breaking apart into countless chunks of rock that converged around Weevil.
'Bang! Bang! Bang!'
The debris collided endlessly, smashing together under the crushing gravity until Weevil's six arms, three heads, and every inch of his body were completely locked in place.
"Once this catches you, you're not moving," Tiger spoke calmly. "Repulsion Field: Planetary Devastation!"
With that done, he lazily turned toward Judge. "There. He's restrained. The rest is up to you."
"…"
Judge, who had been staring blankly, finally seemed to come back to his senses. He looked at Tiger with a complicated expression.
Judge had indeed been the one to ask Tiger to temporarily restrain Weevil. But as the person who understood Weevil's strength better than anyone, all he had expected was for Tiger to buy him a few seconds and create a single opening.
He had never imagined that the "strongest weapon" he and Buckingham had created would be completely immobilized so easily.
Faced with this level of power, Judge even began to suspect that the attack Tiger had used to destroy Germa earlier still hadn't been his full strength.
But no matter how shocked he was, Judge didn't hesitate.
"Germa 66!" He drew a deep breath, ignoring the agony from his punctured lungs. "This is our final sortie!"
"Yes, Father!" the three brothers answered in unison.
The Vinsmoke brothers grinned.
'BANG!'
Their ruined Raid Suits suddenly erupted with a brilliance greater than ever before.
Red.
Blue.
Green.
The three colors blazed together.
On closer inspection, however, something horrifying was happening. Their blood had begun flowing faster, being drawn directly into their Raid Suits. Their already fading life force dropped even faster, but in exchange, their power and presence seemed to return to their peak.
"Death-or-Glory Mode… Activate!" Yonji clenched his fist. "Hey, Ichiji, Niji. Last mission. Don't slow me down."
"That's my line."
"Let's see who gets there first."
The moment they finished speaking, all three shot into the sky.
"…"
Judge remained silent below, his fists clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his palms. His lips trembled as though he wanted to say something, but in the end, no words came out.
Death-or-Glory Mode.
The ultimate mode Judge had designed for his modified children. The Raid Suits forcibly unleashed every last bit of their potential, allowing them to fight at full strength for a brief period.
The price, however, was their lives.
Sparks flew alongside falling blood. Lightning crackled against fragments of organs. Every thunderous burst of power was accompanied by the sound of bones breaking apart.
They were accelerating.
They were dying.
'BANG!'
A moment later, all three brothers crashed into the massive sphere Tiger had created. Each flew toward one of Vinsmoke Weevil's three immobilized heads.
"Vinsmoke - Sparking Red!" Ichiji reached the "Whitebeard" head first, slamming his blazing fist into a specific spot on its skull.
"Vinsmoke - Lightning Blue!" Niji arrived next, striking a precise point on Kaido's head with a burst of lightning.
"Vinsmoke - Winch Green!" Yonji reached Big Mom's head last, driving his fist into another specific location.
Against Vinsmoke Weevil's monstrous body, their attacks did no physical damage. None of the three heads were injured; they didn't even break the skin.
But then...
"Detecting… hidden key."
"Identity confirmed… member of the Vinsmoke Family."
"Emergency suspension protocol activated… control core opening."
The flames, lightning, and force of the blows seemed to sink directly into the three heads, causing all of them to utter the same mechanical words at once.
Weevil stopped struggling.
The three Vinsmoke brothers slowly began falling from the sky.
"As expected of Father… He even puts backdoors into the things he builds…" The flames around Ichiji gradually died out.
"Well… he is… a scientist…" The lightning surrounding Niji slowly faded.
"Damn it… I lost to you guys… again…" Yonji's body began to break apart.
Below them, Judge stared at his three sons as their lives faded away. His face remained expressionless, but tears and snot were once again streaming down his face uncontrollably.
He seemed to want to say something. In the end, he swallowed the words and turned his gaze back toward Weevil.
Yes. His sons were right. As a scientist, Judge always left a backdoor in the weapons he created, especially with a weapon as dangerous as Vinsmoke Weevil.
Judge had to make sure Weevil could only be controlled by members of the Vinsmoke Family. At the same time, he needed a way to shut him down if he ever went out of control.
His solution was the Vinsmoke Family's unique Lineage Factor modifications. His three sons and his daughter were all part of the key. As long as any three of them struck Weevil's three heads using their respective abilities, Weevil would automatically shut down and reset his control core.
Just like now.
'Click.'
At the center of Vinsmoke Weevil's chest, around the area of his heart, the muscles between the stitched seams slowly split apart. Amid the bloody flesh, a slender figure gradually emerged: Vinsmoke Reiju.
At the moment, Reiju's entire body was stiff. Several cables were connected directly to her head, forming the command interface used to transmit orders to Weevil, the core of his control system. And the headset she had originally been wearing had been replaced with a Den Den Mushi.
Buckingham's voice, sounding remarkably similar to Judge's, was still coming through it: "Reiju! Cancel standby mode immediately, then kill yourself! Do you hear me? Right now..."
Throughout the battle, Buckingham had been using two Den Den Mushi to control Reiju. But now, her orders could no longer reach her.
Vector Control: Sound Cancellation.
Without any warning, every sound in the surrounding area was erased.
Tiger casually flicked a finger, and the Den Den Mushi beside Reiju's ear shattered instantly.
And finally...
"Ichiji... Niji... Yonji..."
Reiju realized that she had regained control of her own body. Her eyes moved toward her three younger brothers.
Before she could say anything, the three of them reached out and grabbed her.
"So you're the one who gets to survive, Reiju."
"Not bad."
"You might not be as perfect as us, but you've got some incredible luck."
Still grinning, they pulled Reiju out of the control core, then threw her downward with the last of their strength.
"Germa 66's final mission... complete!"
As those words left their mouths, the smiles on their faces finally froze. Death had arrived.
"Ichiji... Niji... Yonji..."
Falling through the air, Reiju had no idea what to say. She had never liked her three younger brothers. At times, she had barely even thought of them as human. But watching them die right in front of her still left her with emotions she couldn't untangle.
Before she could process them...
'Step. Step. Step.'
Reiju heard movement below and instinctively looked down. Judge, covered in wounds, was staggering across the battlefield.
Then he jumped, catching Reiju in his arms.
"..."
For an instant, Reiju's mind went blank. She felt as though she had been taken back to a distant memory.
"Mother, when we passed through the Kingdom of Alancia before, I saw all the other children being carried by their fathers. I want Father to carry me too."
She had said that when she was still very young, back when her mother was still alive.
"Reiju... your father is very busy," her mother, Vinsmoke Sora, had answered gently. "He doesn't have time for us. There's nothing we can do about that."
Sora would always comfort her like that, then pull Reiju into her own arms instead.
And of course Reiju understood. Father was busy, busy with his work, busy with his ambitions, busy with his research. Anything that wasn't useful to him wasn't worth wasting his precious time on.
But little Reiju couldn't understand that kind of coldness. All she knew was: 'If I become useful to Father, will he finally hug me?'
That thought drove her to do something. And she succeeded, she became useful to him.
But...
"Incredible! Absolutely incredible! Reiju, you're perfect! A perfect experimental subject!"
Her father had indeed been delighted. But what welcomed her wasn't an embrace; it was a cold laboratory table.
"You're the first, but you won't be the last! With your genes, I can create even more Lineage Factor-modified humans!"
Reiju had never imagined that the embrace she'd wanted so badly as a child would only come now.
'Boom!'
Judge crashed back down onto the battlefield with Reiju in his arms.
To the grown Reiju, the embrace wasn't particularly warm. She lowered her eyes toward the man she had once adored more than anyone, and later come to hate just as deeply.
"Father..."
For one brief moment, something she thought had died long ago flickered back to life: hope.
"Hah... hah..."
Judge's body had already reached its limit. He could barely breathe. Looking at the daughter he and his sons had spent their final moments saving, he struggled to speak.
But what came out wasn't the confession Reiju had hoped for. It wasn't remorse for everything he'd done.
"Find... a man with compatible genes... and have children."
"The Vinsmoke bloodline... must not end..."
Even on the verge of death, his words were cold.
Tiger actually frowned when he heard it. So this bastard had risked his life to save Reiju just to make sure the Vinsmoke bloodline survived?
"..."
Reiju herself wasn't surprised. She simply extinguished the tiny spark of expectation that had just appeared in her heart.
Of course. Her father had always been this kind of man. For the family. For Germa. Her, her mother, her brothers... everything could be sacrificed. She never should have let herself entertain such a pointless fantasy.
"Germa... Germa... hah..."
Judge was reaching the end. He seemed to want to say something about Germa, but in the end...
"Reiju... live."
His lips moved again, as though there were still something else he wanted to say. But once again, the words never came. The light vanished from his eyes, and his breathing stopped completely.
Strangely, Reiju froze after hearing those final words.
An outsider might not have understood, but Reiju had spent her entire life receiving Judge's commands. She knew exactly how he gave orders. If Judge truly intended to issue a command, he would first address her by name: "Reiju." Only the words that came after that counted as the actual command.
Just now, when he told her to have children and continue the Vinsmoke bloodline, he hadn't addressed her by name. When he tried to speak about Germa, he hadn't either.
Only at the very end did he finally give her one last command:
"Reiju."
"Live."
"..."
Reiju stared blankly at her father's lifeless body.
She didn't know whether what had just happened was merely a mistake caused by the pain and confusion of a dying man... or whether Judge had truly meant it.
She also didn't know what the final words he'd failed to say were supposed to be.
Something even colder?
Or perhaps... a long-overdue apology?
(End of Chapter)