She knew her father well. He worshiped strength and despised "sympathy" and "mercy." Cold-blooded modifications had stripped his children of feeling. He loathed Sanji as a failure—locked him away to showcase the superiority of his other sons.
"Ichiji! Niji! Yonji!"
"Father!"
"You go as well. Leave no survivors."
"Understood."
The three sons vaulted forward as one. Faces expressionless, emotions erased, they followed orders like machines—Judge's most "satisfying" creations.
By now, the Carrier's hull had locked with Germa 66's floating "landmass." Law, Maya, and the others were fighting at full tilt.
A white-furred saber-tooth roared, swatting a dozen clone soldiers into the air with a single paw. Maya stood on its back, hair streaming as she scanned the field.
Among the identical faces of the clones, Robin fought with the Flower-Flower Fruit—joint locks blooming where arms sprouted, technique neat and decisive. She had skill. Not vast, but real.
Law and his crew shone brighter still.
"Germa 66?"
Kuma heard the commotion and came up from below. When he saw their foes, he blinked in mild surprise.
"Germa's bloodline factor tech," Jin said evenly, "is one of the paths to curing Bonney."
That one sentence brought a spark to Kuma's eyes—excitement, and hope.
Just then, Reiju and her three brothers, clad in shape-memory combat suits, hit the deck in a blur, their boots thrumming with Germa tech.
Reiju struck first—one flying kick, straight for Jin.
Her headset was black with a stamped "6," a blue scarf fluttered at her throat. The suit bared her midriff and cleavage; the short skirt flared like butterfly wings. Long boots—white blending to pink—hugged her legs. The suit was tight, accenting a body that balanced grace and power.
"Kuma, they're yours," Jin said.
He launched upward, leaving the deck in a streak.
Cut off the head, and the body falls. Germa's core was Vinsmoke Judge. Take him, and the rest would follow.
"Don't you run!"
Reiju moved to pursue, but the giant bear simply lifted a paw—and swatted the air.
Thoom!
Even from a distance, the compressed strike hurled her backward.
Then Kuma stepped forward and blocked the path of the three brothers.
"Out of the way, you low-born filth!"
Ichiji stopped short, giving up on pressing Law. His sunglasses caught the light, his crimson suit stretched over a frame of hardened muscle, as he gazed down at Kuma as though he were nothing more than an insect.
"Spark—Revolving!"
Fire blasted from his hands as he drove a burning punch.
"Electro Jet Kick!"
Niji, in blue, crackled with arcs of lightning, legs lancing like thunderbolts.
"Winch Piledriver!"
Yonji barreled in, exoskeleton groaning with power—brute strength to rival Zoan monsters.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The triple impact blew apart Kuma's bear coat—only to reveal not a man beneath, but a bulked, half-beast titan with three horns crowning his brow.
Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Ancient Model—Triceratops form.
With the Devil Carrier's rank system, certain crew could be granted a Devil Fruit ability. Kuma had been given the Triceratops. Giant's blood paired with an Ancient Zoan… his defense and strength spiked, shrugging off the brothers' barrage.
And it didn't hinder the Paw-Paw Fruit at all.
Given time to develop this dual set, and barring those cracks in will and spirit that made him gentle—Kuma could stand among the top of the Yonko-class powers.
Against Reiju and the brothers, he showed no fear.
But Kuma was, at heart, a pacifist. His offense was restrained, his style almost purely defensive.
Even so, with him holding Germa's core strike force at bay, Law, Maya, Robin and the ship guard could carve through wave after wave of clones who threw themselves forward without fear of death.
Outside the castle line, Jin dropped onto the platform in front of Judge.
"Who are you?" Judge barked, even as he snapped, "Human wall!"
Clone soldiers moved in formation, forming a living barrier between them.
And yet Judge still felt it—that crushing pressure, a rising tide of intent that made his heart bang against his ribs.
"Someone who's here to take you," Jin said.
His aura sharpened, blade-keen and predatory. Wisps of green fire coiled off him, pressing down like a tangible weight.
A strange chime shimmered in Judge's ears—seductive, inviting. It made his knees want to bend.
He jerked himself free.
Not an illusion.
Nightmare Fruit.
It can sway emotions.
Judge slammed a gray cylinder stamped with a large "J." With a boom, he stood armed—orange cloak, light-gray combat suit marked with the "66," white gauntlets, gold belt, black boots with thrusters spitting blue flame. In his grip, a long spear crackled with power.
"Kill him!"
"Kill!"
Mouse-cars and clone squads surged.
Jin vaulted, heel smashing a car to scrap, then swept through the line. His feet, wreathed in green flame, sent clone soldiers tumbling like kindling.
He landed, hooked a toe under two fallen blades, and flicked them into his hands. Green fire licked along the steel, snaking like vipers as he cut a burning arc.
Mythic Zoan: Hellfire Red-Serpent.
Bodies flew. The green fire threaded into flesh like living chords.
The fallen stood again—jerking, eyes glowing red—then froze, locked in place.
"Oi—what's wrong with you lot? Advance!"
Judge's command rang out.
No one moved.
They stood, frozen, caught between conflicting directives—like machines caught in a logic loop.
The Hellfire Serpent's power didn't just boost body and might; it bewitched, stoked desire, twisted the heart. On Aska Island, it had enslaved Sakazuki's Marines by the thousands.
But the clones had a core directive in their blood—never betray. Two programs—two wills—collided.
System crash.
Jin's blades blurred. He cut through the immobile ranks—too fast to follow, too ruthless to block.
"Electro—Smile Lance!"
Seeing his prized soldiers glitch into uselessness, Judge's shock turned to rage. He charged, spear leveled, thrusters howling. High-pressure electricity arced into a blinding confluence at the tip, a sphere of lightning focused to a needlepoint.
He thrust.
KRRAK-A-THOOM!
Thunder split the air. The shockwave rippled across the deck, raw power tearing gouges from the plating.
"Die!"
He roared.
But when the light faded, Jin strode out of the blaze untouched—and with a single stroke, smashed Judge through the air.
The warlord tumbled, crashed, skidded to a stop a dozen meters away. Pain knifed through him; a raw scream tore free.
He forced himself upright.
The man with two swords was walking toward him, step by step, wrapped in shrouds of burning green. Behind him, a colossal serpent of flame reared and coiled, twin red eyes glaring like moons of blood.
"What… is that?"
Terror widened Judge's gaze.
His chest heaved. In the blaze he saw scene after scene—visions of his kingdom, his children, his empire—
All dissolving in emerald fire.
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