"Mmh. Hello."
Merlin walked to her bedside and looked at her calmly.
Sora was curious, though she didn't think Merlin could cure her.
But this was her daughter's filial piety.
She didn't want to disappoint her either.
At this time, seeing black flames suddenly rise in Merlin's eyes, Sora blinked. "Are you an ability user?"
Merlin nodded lightly, a smile rising on his lips. Through the Calamity Vision: "I have to say, your continued survival must be the result of Judge expending vast medical resources.
"But even so, in at most a month, your life will come to an end."
A trace of sadness flashed in Sora's eyes, but her expression remained unchanged. She wasn't surprised by this result.
But hearing Merlin's words, Sanji, standing beside her, looked as if struck by lightning. Tears welled up in his eyes instantly, and he began to sob.
"Mr. Merlin, then... can you cure my mom?"
Reiju asked nervously with a trembling voice.
Merlin sat back. At this time, the shadow under him swelled, and a chair appeared beneath him. Merlin sat down, nodding calmly. "Give me your hand."
Saying this, Merlin's hand slowly extended towards Sora.
Sora took a deep breath, moved her body sideways with difficulty, and placed her excessively pale hand in Merlin's palm.
After Merlin's Calamity ability was integrated with disease, it possessed an instinct to analyze the composition of diseases. At this moment, black flames followed Sora's palm and ignited her whole body.
Whoosh~
Black ominous flames wrapped and permeated her body. Amidst Reiju's shocked hand-covering mouth and Sanji's terrified eyes, in Merlin's consciousness, by sensing the bio-electric field strength of various organs in her body, various diseases were instinctively perceived by Merlin.
"Multiple organ failure, damaged cranial nerves. Your right eye is already blind, right? And have you long lost sensation in your lower body?
"Recently, have you been unable to eat normally, relying only on IV drips and catheters to maintain metabolic functions?"
Merlin's flat tone emerged. Sora, surrounded by black flames, had helplessness in her eyes, while tears welled up in Reiju's eyes beside her.
"Yes, that's correct. Can you cure it?"
Sora's longing gaze turned to her only two children possessing normal human emotions. She didn't want to die; she hadn't watched them grow up yet. She couldn't bear to leave.
Merlin nodded calmly. "You're lucky. With me here, you won't die."
Sora was stunned, looking at Merlin in disbelief. But at this time, Merlin stopped speaking and instead analyzed all the accumulated diseases on her body through his ability.
If it were just the Sick-Sick Fruit ability, Merlin might need to spend a lot of energy developing specific targeted abilities. But what he absorbed was Calamity, the ultimate result of all negatives.
Before long, the diseases in her body were analyzed, and the calamities absorbed.
Her blind right eye regained sight, her muddled consciousness became clear, pain came from the catheter inserted in her abdomen, breathing became smooth...
A moment later.
Merlin came out of the building. Reiju wiped her tears and thanked Merlin repeatedly. Merlin looked at her beside him, reached out to pat her shoulder, and smiled. "Go accompany your mom. She just recovered from a serious illness; talk to her properly. Sanji is clumsy and a boy; some things are inconvenient for him."
Reiju looked up at Merlin seriously with teary eyes. After a few seconds, she nodded heavily. "Thank you. I'll ask Sanji to take you to Father's laboratory.
"I will never forget your kindness in this life. Thank you!"
"Go quickly!"
Merlin said with a smile.
Reiju nodded with an "Mmh" and turned back. Not long after, Sanji trotted out.
Looking at Merlin with a brilliant smile, "Uncle Merlin, I'll take you to Father's laboratory!"
Merlin nodded with some mischievous amusement. Along the way, Sanji's curious gaze kept turning towards Merlin. Finally, unable to hold back the longing in his eyes, he asked, "Uncle, can I become as strong as you in the future?"
"Why do you want to become strong?"
"If I become strong, I won't have to fear Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji bullying me anymore. If I become strong, my father will like me. If I become strong, I can do what I like."
"What do you like?"
"Cooking delicious food for Mom. I promised Mom I'd make all kinds of delicious food for her to taste in the future!"
"You can. You can become strong. As long as you firmly believe you can become strong, then you can become strong.
"Because Haki is a power that can be strengthened by belief and intervention."
"Haki? What's that?"
Stopping his steps, Sanji looked at Merlin curiously with sparkling eyes. Merlin stopped, looking down at him with a smile. "Want to see it?"
At this time, in front of a building a hundred meters away, three little guys—red, blue, and green—appeared there, looking at Sanji unkindly.
Sanji didn't notice, just looking at Merlin with surprise. In this moment, Merlin's right hand rested on the hilt at his waist. With a crisp Clang!, Sanji saw the blade in Merlin's hand turn from dull to pitch-black instantly, then glowing with a cherry-red halo and jumping with black electric arcs.
Ripples appeared in the atmosphere around the blade. Then, following Merlin's swing, a black flash burst from the blade edge.
A black light blade hundreds of meters long shot out instantly.
In a breath, this light blade flew hundreds of meters, flew out of Germa 66's territory, and flew towards the sea. A bottomless ravine hundreds of meters long suddenly appeared on the sea.
Sanji stared dumbfounded, his eyes expressing indescribable shock. The three little ones not far away also stared wide-eyed, unable to hide their incredulous expressions.
A dozen seconds later, looking at Merlin in front of him, Sanji was incoherent with excitement. "Uncle, Uncle, can you teach me this move? If I learn it, they definitely won't be able to bully me anymore."
"Did that guy Sanji want to kill us? Did he want to hit us with that kind of attack? Damn it!"
"That's right, how can this bastard be so cruel!"
"Damn, find a chance to fix him."
The three little ones had amazing hearing and heard Sanji's voice a hundred meters away. They speculated maliciously.
Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji looked at each other, seeing the dissatisfaction in each other's eyes.
Merlin discovered them, heard their words, and glanced at Sanji. This kid seemed to know nothing yet!
He couldn't help but look at him with pity.
"You might not be able to master this attack within ten years. And if you want to master it, you have to put in ten times or even more effort than now. Can you persist?"
Determination appeared in Sanji's eyes. Standing straight, he responded loudly, "I will work hard!"
Merlin smiled. "Good expression. Then remember your words now.
"If you dare to complain about being tired in the future, I will mock and beat you."
Sanji became excited instantly.
Soon, led by Sanji, the two walked past the three brothers Ichiji.
Seeing Sanji daring to ignore them, fire burned in the three brothers' eyes, teeth itching with anger. But with Merlin in front, they could only hold back their dissatisfaction, daring not to be arrogant at all.
Because Judge's order came first, and they weren't stupid. Although lacking some emotions, they still felt pain.
Before long, they entered the Germa Laboratory.
In the lab, they met Judge who was already waiting. Seeing Merlin brought by Sanji, Judge asked puzzledly, "Where is your sister?"
Sanji looked at Judge with some fear in his eyes but told the truth. Hearing that Reiju was taking care of Sora, and Sora's illness had been cured, Judge's eyes couldn't help but turn red.
He immediately turned to look at Merlin, who was already walking around visiting the lab, walked over quickly, and said in an incredibly grateful tone, "Merlin, thank you. I will never forget this kindness."
At this moment, Merlin stopped in front of a glass vessel shaped like a cola bottle. Inside the vessel was a light red solution, and immersed in the solution was a naked male around twenty years old.
"Is this a clone?"
Hearing this, pride flashed in Judge's eyes. "Correct, this is our Germa's soldier factory. The soldiers inside take only five years from embryo to maturity to grow to about 20 years old.
"Ready for war anytime."
Merlin listened to his introduction calmly. After a while, Merlin looked at the young man in the solution and shook his head. "Mass-produced minions! Quantity plays no role in the face of true strength.
"Oh! Not completely useless. Not bad for doing chores."
Regarding these clone soldiers here, seeing them now, Merlin didn't have any extra feelings in his heart. The development of biotechnology never lacked the stage of cloning life.
At this moment, Judge's eye corner twitched. His painstaking effort was deemed worthless. If it were anyone else, he would have exploded long ago.
But in front of him was Merlin.
This monster-like man who shattered his dream with crushing force.
At this time, Merlin turned to look at Judge. "Haven't you thought in your heart about cultivating creations like your three children?
"No matter how large the base number, their function is only to serve powerful individuals.
"Do you... not dare?"
Merlin saw through Judge's inner heart and suddenly chuckled. "Makes sense. Able to erase most emotions even from your own biological children, and seemingly interfering through genetic adjustment to make them obey your orders... it's inevitable to fear that this violence might spiral out of control one day."
Judge's face turned green then white, his inner taboo hit by Merlin at once. Sanji beside him looked even more terrified, very afraid of Judge's gloomy expression at this moment.
After today's events, Judge also regretted in his heart, panicked by the drawbacks of Ichiji and the others losing most of their emotions.
Minutes later, a struggle flashed in Judge's eyes, but looking at Merlin, he gritted his teeth and said, "But I had no choice. The mistake has been made, and the emotional defect problem on them is almost impossible to modify."
Merlin looked at Judge in surprise. "Is this your heartfelt word? You regret your actions?"
Judge's eyes were dark. "Not knowing fear means they won't run away. If they face an irresistible strongman like you again in the future, they will fight to the death.
"If this continues, Germa will perish unless Sora and I have more children.
"But Sora probably won't bear children for me again. She loathes me."
Judge's eyes suddenly turned red. It could be seen that although he was scum, he did love his wife.
"If it were Vegapunk, he should be able to solve this kind of problem, right?"
Merlin said.
Judge's eye corner twitched, his face instantly turning ashen. "I won't beg him, that arrogant bastard. We are mortal enemies."
"You think so yourself?"
Hearing Merlin's words, Judge's face turned black. Sometimes, the truth is the sharpest knife.
"Can Devil Fruits do it? By the way, since this body modification has succeeded, why don't you modify your own body?"
"Devil Fruit?" Hearing this, a gleam flashed in Judge's eyes, and jealousy also emerged. "Vegapunk is a user of the Paramecia Brain-Brain Fruit (Nomi Nomi no Mi).
"Actually, in our MADS team back then, everyone excelled in their respective fields.
"Vegapunk wasn't that much more prominent than us at first.
"But as a Brain Human, he has unlimited brain capacity. After accumulating all the knowledge we shared, his research power became out of control.
"Thus completely surpassing us.
"As for why not modify myself, it's because my current technology can only modify from the embryonic stage."
However, speaking of this, longing flashed in Judge's eyes. "If I could get the Op-Op Fruit (Ope Ope no Mi), then I could definitely repair the emotional defects of Ichiji and the others. And add this superhuman technology to my own body through modification surgery.
"Even if I had the Sick-Sick Fruit, using the ability as a base for modification, I could also achieve things I can't do now from another angle.
"However, both these Devil Fruits haven't appeared for a long time. I don't know where to find them."
Speaking of this, his face looked bitter. "Vegapunk was really lucky to get the Brain-Brain Fruit most suitable for him."
At this time, Merlin's eyes flashed. "The Human-Human Fruit should also be able to strengthen your scientific research ability."
Judge froze. "Human-Human Fruit? That most useless Zoan type? No, wait. Brain-Brain Fruit represents the brain, Human-Human Fruit represents the entire human body."
Judge's eyes lit up, but soon his eyes dimmed again. But at this time, Merlin said, "The Sick-Sick Fruit is with me."
Judge's eyes widened suddenly, looking at Merlin in surprise. "Then can I have it..."
Merlin shook his head. Judge's eyes darkened. At this time, Merlin's voice sounded: "The fruit has already been eaten by a sister of mine. She is nine years old, from a family of doctors. She is very smart. I hope that after she comes over in a while, you can take her as your student."
Helplessness appeared in Judge's eyes, but he could only accept it while holding his nose. "Okay, this is what we agreed on. I'll teach her biotechnology."
"She also has a brother, twelve years old now, equally smart. You teach them together later. Believe me, when they grow up, you won't lose out."
Judge narrowed his eyes, sighing. "One or two doesn't matter."
Merlin looked at him. "There are many types of Devil Fruits. I recall the Munch-Munch Fruit (Baku Baku no Mi) seems to have excellent abilities too. What do you think, Judge?"
"Munch-Munch Fruit?" Judge's eyes lit up, thinking of that fruit ability, breathing heavily. "Do you know where it is?
"The Munch-Munch Fruit ability can speed up my research in materials science!"
Merlin shook his head. "Just mentioning it to give you a different thought."
Judge's eye corner twitched, but he looked at Merlin curiously. "Then what is your fruit ability? Always feel your abilities are abnormally numerous?"
"That's a secret!" Merlin said.
Rolling his eyes, Judge was speechless.
But at this time, Sanji whispered, "I think the Clear-Clear Fruit is quite good. With the Clear-Clear Fruit, if they want to beat me, they won't be able to find me."
Hearing this, Merlin was amused. Judge's face turned black, red with anger. "Can't you have some ambition? Our family's technological capabilities can achieve optical invisibility effects, you idiot."
Sanji shrank his neck, but he suddenly felt that his father seemed different today; he no longer ignored him.
Sanji secretly looked up at Judge, but saw a look of "disappointment that iron doesn't become steel." He wanted to lower his head, but by some strange impulse, he looked up straight at him and said loudly, "Uncle Merlin has promised to teach me training. I will definitely become very strong in the future. I will make you acknowledge me, Father.
"Definitely!"
Judge was stunned. Looking at the seriousness in Sanji's eyes, suddenly, he couldn't help feeling gratified in his heart.
His eyes softened unconsciously. He walked towards Sanji and squatted halfway in front of him.
One hand grabbed his shoulder, the other pressed on his head.
"Good, you have ambition. Hope you can keep your word."
Sanji looked at the smile in his father's eyes. His eyes widened gradually, tears welling up, and he nodded heavily. "A man keeps his word."
Merlin watched this scene of fatherly kindness and filial piety, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. Interesting.
Sanji's future, with his intervention, seemed to be becoming different.
Merlin smiled, then under Judge's lead, visited his laboratory.
By the way, listening to his experiences in the MADS research organization back then.
Listening to him talk about his mutual dislike with Caesar Clown, and mutual harm with Queen.
And the three of them unanimously hated Vegapunk who seemed to be using cheats.
Many old secret intelligences were spoken from Judge's mouth and entered the ears of the only two people present.
For example, a certain first case of an artificial human, a clone life form called Stussy raised by Vegapunk as a daughter.
For example, besides himself, the three of them peeked at a certain blonde...
Time passed.
It was noon.
Judge held a grand banquet for Merlin and the group.
Even Sora attended.
The meal was luxurious, with all kinds of gourmet food.
At the banquet, Judge solemnly thanked Merlin again together with Sora.
After the banquet, Merlin and Judge discussed future development directions.
Afterward, Fulvio took over the relationship network that the Vinsmoke clan had operated in the underground world for a long time.
The intelligence networks of both sides were shared.
Suddenly, Merlin's intelligence network became even larger.
Becoming completely not inferior to the Donquixote Family, even surpassing it.
Moreover, Merlin obtained an interesting piece of intelligence from Judge.
"You mean, those royal family members of Flevance ran to the East Blue?"
In the conference room.
Judge nodded.