More money?
He actually had the audacity to demand even more money?!
Vinsmoke Judge stared intently at the smiling young Marine, feeling his heart twitch with a mixture of disbelief and pure agony. A massive surge of white-hot humiliation rushed through his chest, threatening to boil his blood.
"You absolute bastard... Do you have any idea what you are doing? You are declaring war on a sovereign member nation of the World Government!"
Judge's voice trembled with a primal rage. He reached out with a shaking hand, grabbed a communication Den Den Mushi from his belt, and roared into the receiver with everything he had.
"I will lodge a formal complaint against these atrocities! I will contact Mary Geoise and ensure you are stripped of your rank for this! The World Government will hear of your—"
However, his grand threat was met with nothing but a burst of "zizzy" static coming from the snail. The device looked dazed and unresponsive.
"Don't waste your breath, King Judge." Kane reached up and picked his ear with an innocent, bored look on his face. "The signal in this particular sea area isn't very good today. Terribly patchy reception."
"This is your doing! You've jammed the frequencies!" Judge reacted instantly, his eyes widening as he realized the depth of the trap.
"How can you possibly blame me for a bad signal?" Kane spread his hands wide in a gesture of total helplessness. "Maybe the weather is just too cold for the little guy. Perhaps the Den Den Mushi simply caught a cold in all this ice and snow."
Judge's face turned as black as the bottom of a scorched cooking pot. He looked at the three monsters standing outside on the ice, then back at his own fleet—his pride and joy—which was currently frozen solid with its weapon systems shattered. A crushing sense of helplessness washed over him like a tidal wave.
Technology? Scientific advancement?
In the face of these three unreasonable Logia users, his proud technological army was proving to be as fragile as wet paper.
"What exactly is it that you want?" Judge suppressed his mounting anger and asked in a raspy, defeated voice.
"Look," Kane said, pointing a finger toward the devastated, smoking battlefield, then gesturing toward Sakazuki's right arm, which was still emitting thick plumes of volcanic smoke.
"To stop your illegal activities, my dedicated colleague had to use a massive technique, which consumes a tremendous amount of his physical stamina. Furthermore, Mr. Borsalino's glint is very hard on the eyes, causing significant ocular strain. And don't get me started on Mr. Kuzan—freezing the sea like this makes it very easy for him to catch a chill..."
Kane leaned in close to Judge's masked face, his smile becoming as radiant and unsettling as a demon's grin.
"When you add all of that up, plus the mental distress fees for my crew, the lost wages for our overtime, the depreciation of our warship's hull, and the hefty medical fees required to treat the psychological trauma caused by your intimidation tactics just now..."
He held out one hand, spreading his five fingers wide, and then slowly flipped it over.
"The current price for your freedom is one billion Berries. And of course, given the instability of the markets, I would strongly prefer payment in gold."
"One billion?!" Judge's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Why don't you just go and rob someone instead?!"
"Am I not robbing someone right now?!"
Kane replied with a look of pure, unadulterated righteousness. Then he let out a long, heavy sigh, his tone shifting into one of deep compassion and simulated pity.
"Look at it from my perspective, Judge. I could have easily let my friends kill everyone here. I could have scrapped all your expensive junk metal ships and sold them for parts. But I didn't. Why? Because I am a peace-loving Marine at heart."
"I have graciously given you a chance to atone for your sins with a simple monetary donation; frankly, you should be thanking me for my restraint. Think about it logically: one billion Berries in exchange for the continued existence of your entire Germa Kingdom. In the grand scheme of things, this deal is a total steal!"
Judge's chest heaved violently under his armor. He had never suffered such a profound humiliation in all his years of life.
What kind of "total steal" was this?! And he was expected to thank them for the privilege of being mugged?! He, the dignified King of Germa and the undisputed overlord of the North Blue, was being extorted at his own front door by a mere brat. This was simply too much to bear!
"And what if... I simply refuse?" Judge gritted his teeth, squeezing the words out through a throat tight with fury.
"Boom—!!!"
Before he could even finish the sentence, a terrifying wave of dry heat instantly engulfed the entire command room. Sakazuki, who had been standing by with a "calm" expression, now had half of his massive body transformed into rolling, dark red lava. The deck beneath him began to liquefy.
"Kane, I told you already that there is no need to waste your breath talking nonsense with such obvious evil."
Sakazuki's voice was low, raspy, and carried the weight of a funeral dirge. He raised a giant lava hand that was capable of melting through the toughest armor in the world. The terrifying high temperature caused the surrounding air to ripple and distort.
"Since he clearly doesn't appreciate our mercy, then let's just wipe this place off the map completely. A family that brings nothing but chaos to the sea has no reason to exist in my Justice! Meteor Volcano—"
As he moved his arm, the thick clouds in the sky that hadn't yet dispersed were instantly dyed a deep, bloody red. Countless massive lava meteors began to take shape within the swirling vortex above the fleet. The entire scene looked like the literal arrival of the apocalypse.
"Oh my~ Sakazuki is really getting angry now~" Borsalino said his words were scary, but his own fingertip began to glow with a blinding, piercing golden light. "If you don't make a decision very quickly, I'm afraid I won't be able to control this Laser Beam much longer~ After all, slips of the hand happen quite often in this line of work~"
Judge looked at the apocalyptic scene hanging over his head, then looked into Sakazuki's eyes. He saw no mercy, no hesitation, and no emotion—there was only a terrifying, pure killing intent. At that moment, the North Blue overlord's psychological defenses completely collapsed.
He realized with a jolt of horror that these people actually dared to kill him right here and now! To that lava-bodied maniac, one billion Berries didn't matter at all! Only the boy named Kane was the one holding back the hand of death. Kane was the only one who could save Germa's life.
"If you don't agree," Kane's voice rang out again, this time tinged with a bit of dark amusement, "I'll just have to stand here and watch with tears in my eyes as my companions completely erase you evil beings from the face of this world."
"By the time they are done, forget about one billion; you won't even be able to take a single copper Berry with you to hell."
Judge looked at the shadow of total destruction hovering overhead, his whole body turning cold despite the heat of the magma. He had no doubt that if he uttered the word "no," the entire Germa Kingdom would be transformed into a sea of fire in the very next second.
After a long, agonizing silence, Judge finally spoke.
"...I'll pay."
Judge seemed to have all the strength drained from his body in an instant. He slumped dejectedly back onto his throne, his shoulders sagging. Those two words had exhausted almost every ounce of pride he had earned throughout his life.
"That's more like it. Now you're talking sense." Kane smiled warmly and reached out to pat Judge's golden spaulder in a friendly manner. "If you had just cooperated sooner, we could have still been good friends. Forcing me to take these kinds of drastic actions just ruins the professional harmony, don't you think?"
Half an hour later.
Dozens of large, heavy wooden crates filled to the brim with Berries and gold coins were carried out from the flagship's secret treasury. The Clone Soldiers moved them carefully, placing them in a neat line on the thick ice plain.
Kane stepped forward personally to inspect the haul. He opened one of the crates, grabbed a handful of golden coins, and held them up to watch them glitter under the cold sunlight.
"Hmm, excellent quality. Very shiny." He nodded with deep satisfaction, then turned back to look at the defeated Judge. "It's been a pleasure doing business with you, King Vinsmoke. I sincerely hope I don't see your fleet appearing in places they shouldn't be anymore. It would be a shame to have to increase the fines."
After speaking his piece, Kane waved a hand grandly behind him. "Alright, boys! Withdraw! Let's get out of here and head home for dinner!"
Sakazuki snorted coldly and retracted the lava that had been filling the sky, the meteors dissipating into smoke. Kuzan let out a long yawn and released his grip on the ice, while Borsalino turned into a blinding flash of golden light and returned to the warship in a heartbeat.
Watching the unmarked Marine warship slowly depart and disappear into the distance, Judge's teeth were nearly crushed from the force of his clenching jaw.
"Damn those Marines... Damn those Logias to hell..."
"Just you wait! One day, I will find a way to tear you all into tiny pieces!"
Judge stared fixedly at the distant horizon where the ship had vanished, his eyes burning with a new, frenzied fire of revenge.
"Commander-in-Chief, what are your orders? We..." A commander stepped forward, looking at the frozen, broken fleet and feeling at a loss for what to do.
"Pass down my orders immediately!" Judge stood up abruptly, his eyes flashing with a mad, desperate light. "I want all available resources and research funds invested into the final phase of the 'Lineage Factor' modification plan! No more delays!"
"I will not only give my children superhuman physiques that can withstand the world, but I will also find a way to give them... the power of devils!"
"Today's humiliation, I, Vinsmoke Judge, will repay it a hundredfold!!"
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