The shriveled eyelids opened again, and zombie-like hands struggled to support their body to stand up.
"Queen... this guy..."
Knight's voice was extremely hoarse. Whether it was the war machines or Queen's own abilities, they far surpassed their expectations. Although in previous battles, Queen had already demonstrated that his abilities were not those of an ordinary Brachiosaurus.
But this life-draining ability was completely unexpected. If it weren't for the fact that he was a capability user, he would have been wiped out with the team.
Footsteps could be heard sporadically from not far away; these were observers sent by the Kogia Kingdom after seeing that the battle opportunity here had ended, but in the next moment, their chests were pierced by an unknown attack.
"Just in time..."
The ones who pierced them were Knight's fingers. His body inexplicably extended out like an unnameable entity.
Zoan-type·Bug-Bug Fruit·Earthworm Form, this fruit did not give him much amplification in combat, and its transformation was indescribably ugly, so Knight rarely used it in battle.
What he used most was the life-saving ability brought by the earthworm. Strictly speaking, earthworms are not insects, but due to this appearance, it was categorized into the Bug-Bug Fruit.
When an earthworm is cut in half, it does not die but can generate two new earthworms, provided that the cut is not vertical.
The earthworm's ability wasn't fully copied onto him; at least he wouldn't become two Knights but would instead regrow new limbs from the upper body. Through this ability, he had achieved limb regeneration in past missions.
This rebirth uses up physical strength. If it's just a missing arm, he could replenish his expenditure by consuming a lot of food and using Life Return, but not now.
Queen had already drained him, and his body was cut in half. He didn't have the time to recover slowly, so he could only replenish his needs by plundering others' life forces.
Queen was cautious enough; after draining the human into a husk, he even delivered a killing blow. The only mistake was not cutting off the head. Earthworms are not undying entities; as long as the cut is precise enough, it can kill the opponent.
Either beheading or vertical slashing can perfectly achieve this, but Queen didn't expect the opponent to be a capability user, given that hardly anyone goes without using abilities until death.
And this was also Knight's judgment; even if he used his abilities, he may not be Queen's match. Rather than desperately fighting Queen, he might as well honestly save his own life, and facts proved that his gamble was correct.
The shriveled body was slowly recovering, at the cost of other soldiers' deaths. The first thing he did afterward was to strip off a pair of pants; he wasn't a Logia-type or Mythical Zoan who could enter an ability state with clothes.
The original suit pants were already torn apart, and the newly grown limbs were bare, so he naturally needed to find some cover, after which he continued to search the battlefield, and he wasn't looking for his companions' corpses.
While they were alive, these people were his subordinates, but dead was dead; finding the corpses was meaningless. He was looking for fragments from the Genesect explosion.
Finally, carrying some metal fragments, he left here. CP0 has hidden supply stations worldwide; he needed to report the situation here. Judging by the current performance, they seemed to have underestimated Queen's strength.
As Knight retreated towards the safe house, Judge also led the Germa Kingdom in retreating towards the Red Earth Continent; this war was undoubtedly a failure as they couldn't conquer the Kogia Kingdom.
However, they had their gains. First, clone soldiers were undoubtedly successful.
After retreating to a safe location, he gathered all Germa's research personnel together.
This team was one of the foundations of Germa; they weren't clones but geniuses recruited by Judge from various fields, and he himself was the leader of the team.
At this moment, he proposed a new idea: Bloodline Factor Armoring.
Germa's battle suits are made of special materials, which can make clothes harder than steel, naturally with other uses.
Under Judge's lead, a mecha plan, only operable by Germa super soldiers, was proposed. Moreover, biologically speaking, purely humanoid mechas were not suited for battle as beast forms were much more convenient than humans in various battles.
But such forms were difficult for pilots to simulate; referencing the transformation ability of Genesect, he believed the mecha should ideally switch forms between human and beast.
"Head, theoretically there's no issue with this idea, but... we don't have the kind of metal material that can transform. The materials we have can't achieve transformation and high-intensity combat."
"You don't need to worry about this; I know a little about memory metal research, it won't take much time."
This was a benefit gained when they were working with Vegapunk in the past. Judge, Queen, Caesar Clown—they might have lousy personalities and different talents, but their research capabilities are top-notch globally.
Direct research might be unattainable, but reverse engineering is feasible. The memory metal project was also touched upon by Vegapunk, and even Germa's battle suits had certain traces of similar memory alloys, albeit not much.
Although lacking the Wapol Alloy created by Wapol's ability brings some shortcomings, it could still be used self-sufficiently.
Now that Judge proposed a new agenda, he naturally had ways to research that aspect. Machinery was also his main focus area.
Now that the kids started to act normal, clone soldiers were no longer a problem, just the right time to seamlessly launch new research.
After receiving Judge's confirmation, these people began to brainstorm the so-called mecha, with some even suggesting considering fusion for greater power.
...
On the other side, Queen and Yamato were on their way to the North Sea, with only two Genesects left with them at this time. The remaining intact one had already returned to Wano Kuni with the two suicide-bombed Genesects.
Queen looked extremely saddened, but he was merely heartbroken over his bananas. Even if he killed all those people, it wouldn't make him feel better. For him, those people weren't as important as his bananas.
As for the bounty, he no longer cared. Debts don't overwhelm him; having more pots doesn't impact much either. From Omanyte's eavesdropping, it could also be confirmed that they had always highly suspected him rather than being certain of him.
The Navy isn't stupid, although they frequently mess up. The Hundred Beasts didn't keep Arceus's abilities secret; the internally acquired conditions and externally observed ones were completely different. Although they were almost sure he had issues previously, they hadn't completely abandoned investigating Arceus.