Gis Island.
Fisher Tiger sat on a collapsed wall. The sunlight streaming down from the sky made him squint slightly, enjoying the warmth. Although it wasn't his first time on the surface, every time he saw the blue sky and white clouds, basking in the sun and sea breeze, an inexplicable sense of emotion would surge within him.
"You've gone too far," Jinbe grumbled from behind him, looking around. "Even though we were hired, there was no need to cause this much destruction, was there?" This place was once a small coastal town, but now it lay in ruins.
"You know what kind of behavior to expect from Roa's soldiers," Tiger sighed. "I heard they only have a ten-year lifespan, and that's something Roa specifically arranged to make them battle-ready sooner."
"Even though they're clones, they're still people. They have normal human emotions, so the anger and despair in their hearts go without saying. It's just that they can't resist Roa; obeying his orders is an instinct deeply ingrained in their bodies. So, these twisted emotions can only be vented during war."
"That bastard Roa!" Jinbe gritted his teeth, clenching his fists in displeasure. "He brought them into this world, yet gives them no hope!"
Tiger sighed softly. He had gotten his information from a clone soldier. At that time, that soldier, both pained and crazed, said, "Boss says he brought us into this world, allowing us, who shouldn't exist, to be born. That's already an immeasurable grace, so how can we possibly ask for more?"
"But who said we wanted to come into this world? If we hadn't been born, we wouldn't suffer, we wouldn't despair!"
What an irritating fellow, Roa.
"But it has nothing to do with us," Tiger stood up and stretched. "After this trip, we can rest for a few days again, Jinbe. Let's go back and see Fish-Man District. We haven't been back since we left."
"Alright." At the mention of Fish-Man District, Jinbe's expression softened slightly. "The children will surely pester us with questions about the surface."
"Hahahaha! We'll have plenty to talk about!" Tiger's lips curved upwards.
Roa was indeed a very annoying person, that was true. But he did fulfill his original promise. He gave them a chance to experience the sea. In the past few months, Tiger had traveled with the fish-men all over the world, and in just a few months, Tiger had seen sights he had never witnessed in his decades of life. Moreover, not only was the pay high, but even if they encountered an attack, simply mentioning the name of the Calamity Company would make most opponents instantly flee. After all, the whole world knew that Roa was petty; if he suffered a loss, he would definitely retaliate.
"However," Jinbe said with some surprise, "Why aren't they here yet? It's already past the agreed time. Hasn't the war ended?" Hearing his older brother talk about returning to Fish-Man Island, he was already eager to go home.
"Who knows." Tiger didn't pay much attention. "It doesn't matter if we rest a bit longer."
But thankfully, they didn't rest for too long. Soon, the ground began to tremble. In the distance, a unit was rapidly approaching. All of them had completely identical appearances, fully armed and equipped to the teeth. Behind the infantry were armored vehicles, wrapped in thick iron plating. The turrets on their bodies could rotate freely, topped with a thick, long cannon barrel, and below were treads that could adapt to various terrains.
Tiger knew that these armored vehicles were supposedly designed by Roa. To more thoroughly tear through enemy defenses, he named them tanks. In the entire Calamity Legion, the number of these armored vehicles was only a little over a hundred, and they were not yet for sale to outsiders. This was because they were expensive to build and difficult to produce.
But Tiger had personally witnessed the power of these behemoths. Traditional armies were no match for these giants, weighing over ten tons. To be honest, in this world dominated by the sea, it was hard to say how useful these vehicles, which could only fight on land, truly were.
Behind the tanks were heavy howitzers. Their presence symbolized firepower, with a maximum range of over ten kilometers. Enemy forces wouldn't even see the Calamity Legion before being engulfed by artillery fire.
"Finally back," Tiger said, leading Jinbe to meet them. "Why the long delay?" Although they all looked the same, different personalities would create different individuals, and different individuals would have different rankings. Thus, there was a strict hierarchy among the clone soldiers.
A clone officer, dressed in military uniform, suddenly grinned when Tiger asked his question. "The battle ended long ago, of course. Just a mere non-affiliated nation; the Roal army collapsed at the first touch. We had pushed to the palace within an hour."
"However, there was a small dispute afterwards. The rebel leader who hired us discovered after usurping the throne that he had no money to pay the final installment! The king's treasury was emptier than his face! Hahahaha! It's actually quite amusing. To counter the rebels, the king bought a lot of weapons from the company, so the Roal family ran out of money too!"
"Not surprising, really." Tiger nodded lightly. For such non-affiliated nations, being drawn into an arms race was a terrifying prospect. Already poor, they had to grit their teeth and spend extra money on weapons. Even though the weapons provided by the Calamity Company were high-quality and affordable, that was only relatively speaking. Were weapons ever truly cheap? It might not be an exaggeration to say it was like drinking poison to quench thirst.
"So what did you do?" Jinbe asked in a low voice.
"Of course, we helped him gather the money!" The clone officer grinned, his cold smile revealing stark white teeth, immediately sending a shiver down Jinbe's spine. "Although the people of this country are very poor, however—"
"Alright, I'm not interested in that," Tiger waved his hand. He didn't want to hear it. Right now, he just wanted to continue traveling the world, and then protect Fish-Man Island from that madman Roa. He wouldn't give Roa any excuse to attack Fish-Man Island.
"Let's go, it's time to send you back," Tiger turned and looked towards the nearby coast. On the shore, enormous creatures emerged from the water. They were giant Sea Beasts, their bodies adorned with many iron chains. These chains connected to large, enclosed ships. This was the deep-sea fleet that the Fish-Man Island Deep-Sea Logistics Company was so proud of. They could transport goods or troops to any corner of the world at the fastest speed.
The mercenaries, who had come from afar, boarded the deep-sea fleet and began their return journey. In the past few months, not only the Calamity Company but also its subsidiary, the Calamity Legion, had become world-renowned. Ever since the first fortunate individual hired the Calamity Legion to participate in battle and easily crushed their enemies, people discovered that the powerful army under the Calamity Company could actually be outsourced? Many people began to consider it. After all, although they used weapons produced by the same company, the weapons used by the Calamity Legion were clearly more advanced, and their combat power was simply incomparable to ordinary armies on the high seas.
Of course, there were drawbacks: first, it was expensive, and second, since they had to ship from the New World, if the distance was too far, it was often simply too late. So currently, most of the employers were from the New World, and their numbers were not large. Non-affiliated nations were all poor. Wealthy affiliated nations didn't dare to risk offending the World Government by hiring them.
However, even so, the world was already sufficiently shocked. Just a small part of the Calamity Legion already possessed the power to easily destroy a nation, without even the need for their executives to act. Roa's infamy spread further.
However, unlike the common people who feared the Calamity Legion, the World Government, which controlled this world, was more concerned about something else. In fact, not long ago, in Mariejois, the Gorosei held a small meeting.
"The Fish-Man's underwater fleet? What's going on! We finally managed to blockade that bastard Roa's transport channels!"
"We've already urgently contacted the Ryugu Kingdom. Their explanation is that Roa recruited a group of fish-men to work for him at some unknown time, and the Ryugu Kingdom couldn't do anything about them. However, we can't rule out the possibility that they're lying."
"Damn it! These stinking fish should stay underwater! Why are they coming to the surface to join in the fun?!"
"Now, all blockades are meaningless!"
"We can't just watch Roa develop like this, can we? Don't forget he still has Judge, and he also obtained a large amount of technical data from Ohara. Now, with a large amount of capital investment, I wouldn't be surprised no matter what they produce in the end!"
"Then what should we do? We can't just bring out weapons and compete with them, can we?"
"Hmm? Don't say that, it's not impossible!"
"Are you kidding me! Where would the government's face be? Besides, letting commoners gain power—Roa might welcome it, but can we be the same?"
"What kind of storm can a few weapons stir up? It's better than watching Roa's influence continuously expand!"
"Agreed."
So, even before Roa knew it, competitors arrived.
In a certain sea area of the New World, several giant snails floated on the sea surface. On a platform formed by a combination of these snails. Roa, now fifteen years old, was training. Compared to a few months ago, he had grown considerably taller. His height was already close to 1.9 meters, and by adulthood, he should be over two meters.
The young man didn't seem to possess the air of a strongman. His physique was relatively slender, and he was exceedingly handsome with fair skin and bright teeth. At this moment, Roa's eyes were tightly closed. Around him, Bullet, King, and Dylan simultaneously attacked him. It should be said that none of the three held back. Bullet's fists had turned into huge mercury, relentlessly striking like a furious storm. King had entered his Tengu form, his blade wrapped in wind and flames, drawing dazzling trajectories. Compared to them, Dylan, who also used his abilities, seemed rather unadorned. He simply wrapped Armament Haki around his ornament, unleashing massive flying slashes.
Facing the trio's encirclement, Roa had no intention of counterattacking; he merely kept dodging. He was training his Observation Haki, specifically the future sight aspect of it. After realizing that he would always be at a disadvantage against top-tier opponents without mastering this technique, Roa had not stopped training in the past few months. At this time, Roa fully utilized the Life Return technique, constantly deforming his body. His willpower was truly as easy to control as his own limbs, allowing him to instantly deform his body to a jaw-dropping extent. Sometimes he was like paper, sometimes like silk threads, diligently evading the attacks from the three.
However, no matter how much he dodged, there was ultimately a limit. The trio's attacks were too dense, and Roa would, of course, be hit. It was just that he was too hard. Even when the trio's attacks landed on him, they had little effect.
"No, this won't do," Roa opened his eyes, sighing helplessly. "This kind of practice is completely ineffective." Without any sense of crisis, there was no motivation. It was no different from him training alone.
"Sorry, Boss," The equally fifteen-year-old Bullet, already taller than two Roas, said with an apologetic look. "We're too weak."
"Don't worry about it," Roa waved his hand casually, sighing. "I'm just too outstanding."
"Of course!" Roa's subordinates saw no problem with his narcissism, nodding in unison. "No one in the world can compare to you!"
"Haha!" Roa beamed. That's why there are so many foolish rulers; no matter what they say, someone agrees. It's hard not to become arrogant and self-opinionated.
However, it was at this moment.
"Boss! It's done!!" Judge, with dark circles under his eyes and a gaunt appearance, ran out of the palace excitedly. "It's finally done!!"
"Done?" Roa turned around. "What's done?"
"The elite clones integrated with special Lineage Factors!" Judge's face was splitting with a grin, almost dancing with excitement. "Just now, all of them have left the cultivation tanks! They're officially mature!"
"Oh?" Roa's eyes instantly lit up. This was a project he had suggested to Judge. Instead of using a mother to birth infants with Lineage Factors, it was much more convenient and faster to directly implant Lineage Factors into clones. To complete this research, most of the funds earned from selling weapons in the past year had been invested in Judge's laboratory. Was there finally a result now?
So, soon, in Judge's laboratory, Roa saw five teenagers. They still had the same face as the regular clone soldiers, but they looked much younger, probably only sixteen or seventeen years old. The only difference from ordinary clones was their hair color. From left to right: pink, red, blue, yellow, green. A five-color squad, as it were. In terms of hair color, they were identical to the original Vinsmoke siblings.
Judge excitedly introduced, "All five have integrated special Lineage Factors into their bodies, giving them power far exceeding that of ordinary clone soldiers!"
"Their strength, speed, and reactions are all far superior to ordinary soldiers."
"Most remarkable are the specially added exoskeletons; even Armament Haki hardening is definitely not as strong as their defense! Not to mention, they also possess recovery abilities far beyond ordinary humans!" Judge spoke nonstop, almost out of breath. "And then there are the five Lineage Factor abilities specially prepared for these five individuals!"
"Poison, fire, lightning, wind, brute strength."
"Boss! They are absolutely super warriors capable of astonishing anyone!"
Wind? Not invisibility? Oh well, butterfly effect.
"Then what are you waiting for?" Roa's lips curled upwards. "Let's test them out quickly."