Night.
The mobile castle group of the Germa Kingdom was in dead silence after experiencing the crushing defeat of the day.
The snail ships that had been smashed during the day were scattered around, and the rhythmic clanging of repair work carried far into the night.
In the Flagship castle, the King's bedchamber on the top floor.
Vinsmoke Judge, wearing a dressing gown, paced irritably back and forth in the room.
The day's humiliation was deeply etched in his heart. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Tatsuki's smirking face and Sakazuki's world-destroying magma.
"Commander-in-Chief, it is late. Please rest early," came the emotionless voice of a Clone Soldier from outside the door.
"Get out!" Judge roared, sweeping all the documents on the table to the floor.
Rest? How could he possibly sleep!
One billion berries!
That was nearly half the profit he had made from waging wars in recent years. It had been snatched away by four brats like a common robbery.
"Tatsuki... Marines..." Judge gnashed his teeth.
"Just you wait. Once I complete the final modification of the Lineage Factor, I will show you the meaning of true fear."
He walked to the window and looked down at the heavily guarded, massive Treasure Vault Castle connected to the Flagship. There lay the wealth accumulated by several generations of the Vinsmoke family, and it was also his greatest capital for realizing his ambitions.
"Fortunately, the most important things are still there." Judge felt a bit more at ease looking at the vault.
"As long as I have that money and the technology blueprints, Germa can make a comeback at any time."
The North Blue overlord had no idea that just as he set this flag, hundreds of meters deep in the seawater beneath his feet, four sneaky figures were approaching silently.
Directly beneath the Flagship, in the freezing seawater.
"Glug glug..."
Four heads emerged silently from the water's surface.
"Keep up, move fast."
Tatsuki, wearing a black tight-fitting diving suit and a diving helmet, gave muffled directions.
"Ara ara... swimming at night in this weather, you really might catch a cold." Kuzan exhaled a breath of cold air, his hair hung with ice crystals, looking utterly weary of life.
Sakazuki had a dark expression and his arms crossed, feeling deep disdain for such sneaky behavior, but he endured it for the sake of justice.
"Tatsuki, are you sure it's here? This wall looks awfully thick." Borsalino tapped the snail shell, which was as massive as a mountain wall, producing a dull thud.
This was the foundation of the Germa Treasure Vault Castle.
"Nonsense, I already scouted the place during the day."
Tatsuki pulled a sketch from his waterproof bag. "See this? According to my precise calculations, entering from here will bypass ninety percent of the defense systems and lead directly to the core of the vault."
"Sakazuki, it's your time to shine." Tatsuki patted Sakazuki on the shoulder.
Sakazuki glanced at him, and though annoyed, he still stepped forward. He placed his right hand against the alloy shell, which was several meters thick.
Hellhound!
There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a soft sizzling sound.
Sakazuki's arm turned into boiling magma, and the hard alloy melted silently before him like butter, forming a circular hole large enough for one person to pass through.
"Nice job."
Tatsuki gave a thumbs up and was the first to crawl in, with the other three following close behind.
After stripping off their diving suits, the four observed their surroundings. It was a massive underground equipment floor, with various pipes crisscrossing and steam hissing.
Just as they landed and before they could catch their breath, rhythmic footsteps suddenly came from around the corner.
Clack... Clack...
A squad of Clone Soldiers in black combat suits happened to be patrolling past.
Their eyes met and the air froze for a second.
The Clone Soldiers reacted extremely quickly. Almost the instant they saw the strangers, their fingers were on the triggers, and they opened their mouths to sound the alarm.
"Since we've been spotted, there's no other way."
Tatsuki spread his hands and turned to look behind him.
"The first rule of infiltration: as long as you take out all the witnesses, it's a perfect infiltration."
Before his voice finished echoing, Kuzan, who had looked unmotivated, suddenly had a sharp glint in his eyes. Since they were already here, it would only be more troublesome if they were exposed and triggered a ship-wide alarm.
Ice Time!
A blast of cold air erupted.
It wasn't a wide-range freeze, but an extremely concentrated stream of frigid air.
The squad of Clone Soldiers didn't even have time to pull their triggers, or even vibrate their vocal cords, before they were instantly turned into crystal-clear ice sculptures. Even the surveillance den den mushi above their heads had its functions frozen by the sudden extreme cold.
The corridor fell into a deathly silence.
"Nice job." Tatsuki walked over and flicked an ice sculpture, producing a crisp clinking sound. "This way, we're still in stealth mode."
"What kind of infiltration is this?" Borsalino muttered with his hands in his pockets, kicking aside some shattered ice, yet his feet followed along quite honestly.
The four moved as if through an uninhabited land.
They encountered three more patrol teams along the way.
Sakazuki didn't waste words, he elementalized his body and slid across the floor. Wherever he passed, the Clone Soldiers were vaporized by high temperatures before they could even scream, leaving not even ash behind.
A true one-stop service for silencing witnesses and destroying evidence.
Watching this, Tatsuki couldn't help but give Sakazuki a hundred likes in his heart.
Finally, the Germa royal vault door appeared before them. It was five meters high, made of special steel, and covered in complex combination locks. It was said that even cannons couldn't blast it open.
"Borsalino, that door ahead looks pretty sturdy." Tatsuki pointed at the vault door.
"Piece of cake."
Borsalino's figure turned into a beam of golden light, instantly appearing before the gate. He extended a finger, and a brilliant point of light condensed at the tip. Like a laser pen, he quickly traced around the massive circular lock core.
Click!
The gate that could withstand heavy shelling slowly swung open.
"What do you call professional? This is professional." Tatsuki praised, filled with emotion.
These future Three Admirals were practically a born criminal gang.