Passing through the gate, a massive space appeared before the four.
When they clearly saw the scene before them, even the future Admirals, couldn't help but gasp.
A mountain of gold!
As far as the eye could see, there were piles of gold. Gold coins, gold bars, gold jewelry, solid gold statues... the golden light was almost blinding.
Beside the gold were neatly stacked Berries, crate after crate, forming several small mountains.
Further away, there were various rare ores, jewels, and high-tech blueprints and equipment sealed in special containers.
"Gulp."
The sound of someone swallowing came from behind.
"We... we're rich..." Borsalino's sunglasses almost slipped to the tip of his nose.
"This much money... did Judge scrounge through the entire North Blue?" Kuzan's mouth hung open wide enough to fit an egg.
"Filthy wealth." Sakazuki's face was dark, his fists cracking as he clenched them, his eyes full of rage.
"Every single Berry here is stained with blood. Germa is unforgivable."
Tatsuki turned around abruptly with an air of righteousness, his voice powerful. "Comrades! What is this? This is evidence of crime! This is the fuel that allows Germa to keep waging wars!"
He waved his hand like a presiding judge reading a verdict, "I now announce that the 'Zero-Berries Left' special operation has officially begun. Execute the highest level of confiscation standards."
"Move it. Empty everything."
"Tatsuki, do we want those gold bricks on the wall?" Kuzan asked, pointing at the decorative relief gold bricks on the vault walls.
"Of course." Tatsuki's eyes lit up as he jumped down from a pile of gold coins.
"Pry them off. Don't leave a single piece for them."
"And that solid gold toilet. Take that too."
"That diamond-studded chandelier. Tear it down."
For the next hour, a tragic and brutal looting took place in the Germa vault.
Kuzan was in charge of packaging. He created massive hollow ice spheres, stuffed tons of gold and silver treasures inside, and then sealed them. This not only made transport easier but also made them waterproof.
Borsalino was in charge of demolition. He moved through the vault as a beam of golden light. Anything that looked valuable, whether embedded in the wall or welded to the floor, was sliced off with a laser.
Sakazuki was in charge of destruction. For large machinery that couldn't be taken or contraband that offended his eyes, he simply used a magma-infused punch for physical destruction.
Meanwhile, Tatsuki was busy stuffing the most valuable items and high-tech blueprints into his system space, humming a little tune.
[Ding! Detected that the host is conducting destructive plundering of an affiliated nation!]
[Nature: Extremely malicious!]
[Violation Points +10,000!]
[Your actions have caused the Germa Kingdom's finances to fall into a deficit, setting them back thirty years and seriously affecting the world situation!]
[Extra Subversion Level reward: Violation Points +10,000!]
Hearing the wonderful prompts in his mind, Tatsuki smiled even more happily.
...
Twenty minutes later.
The once magnificent and incredibly wealthy Germa vault was now left with only bare concrete walls.
Forget treasures, Tatsuki even had them pry up three layers of floor tiles.
The space was so empty that speech echoed, even a rat would leave in tears.
"Withdraw."
Watching the last batch of massive ice sphere cargo being pushed into the underground waterway, Tatsuki clapped the dust off his hands with satisfaction.
The four returned the way they came, pushing the "spoils" through the seawater to the bottom of the Germa warships.
On the sea surface.
Dozens of massive ice spheres floated in the pitch-black seawater, swaying gently with the waves, containing wealth enough to buy several small countries.
Back on the warship, looking at the deck full of ice spheres, Tatsuki sniffed the air, which was thick with the scent of gold, and felt his entire body was sublimated.
"This is the smell of justice."
He turned to look at the Germa fleet, which was still brightly lit, a flicker of mischief in his eyes.
Tomorrow morning, when Judge opens the vault door, his expression will surely be a sight to behold.
—
The next morning.
The first ray of sunlight shone on the flagship castle of the Germa Kingdom.
Judge had not slept all night, and his eyes were bloodshot. He stood by the window, looking at the snail warships undergoing emergency repairs on the sea, his face grim.
"Commander-in-Chief, breakfast is ready." Outside the door, the Clone Soldier's voice sounded punctually.
"I'm not eating!" Judge waved his hand irritably.
His mind was now full of revenge plans, and he had no appetite at all.
"Right."
He seemed to remember something and ordered toward the door, "Go to the treasury, extract a batch of 'Memory Alloy,' and send it to the First Laboratory. The Transformation Plan must be accelerated immediately."
"Yes, Commander-in-Chief!" The Clone Soldier outside the door mechanically took the order and left.
Judge picked up a cup of hot coffee, a cold sneer appearing at the corner of his lips. "Marines... Tatsuki... just you wait. Once my 'perfect work' is born, I will settle this account with interest."
However, he hadn't even had time to swallow that mouthful of coffee when—
BANG!
The door to the bedchamber was crudely burst open by a great force. The one who had entered was not the cold, reporting Clone Soldier, but the steward responsible for guarding the underground treasury.
"Com... Commander-in-Chief! Something is wrong!"
"What's the panic!"
Judge's brow furrowed sharply, his hand shaking as the coffee cup spilled scalding liquid onto the back of his hand. "Is the sky falling?"
"It's... it's worse than the sky falling!" The steward's voice was trembling. "The... the treasury... the treasury..."
"What happened to the treasury?" Judge's heart skipped a beat, and an ominous feeling welled up in his mind.
"The treasury... is empty!"
"What did you say?!"
Judge stood up abruptly, the coffee cup in his hand hitting the ground with a "clatter" and shattering into pieces.
He grabbed the steward's collar and roared with bloodshot eyes, "Say that again!"
"Everything is gone! Gold, Berries, jewelry, rare materials... even... even the gold bricks on the walls are all gone!" The steward wept and wailed.
Judge's mind buzzed, going completely blank.
He stumbled out of the bedchamber, not even having time to put on his raid suit, as he rushed toward the treasury like a madman.
When he ran breathlessly to the gate that had been cut open by lasers and saw the scene inside, he felt his breathing stop.
Empty!
Completely empty!
In the massive treasury, except for the mess all over the floor and some scattered ashes, nothing was left.
On the walls, the holes left after the gold bricks were pried out seemed to be mocking him heartlessly.
"My money... my gold..."
Judge's legs went weak, and he knelt on the ground, his hands trembling as he rummaged through the worthless wrapping paper on the floor.
"My blueprints... my rare materials..."
He saw a line of words written in ashes in the center of the floor.
"Thanks to King Vinsmoke for the generous sponsorship of the Marines' cause of justice. — A passing marine hero."
"Pfft!"
When Judge saw this line of words, he felt a sweetness in his throat, and a mouthful of blood sprayed out, staining the ground in front of him red.
"MARINES!!!"
He let out the most shrill and unwilling roar of his life.
Immediately after, his vision went black, and he fell straight backward.
"Commander-in-Chief!"
"Quick! Call the Medic! The Commander-in-Chief has fainted from anger!!"
The entire Germa Kingdom instantly fell into a state of chaos.