As the White Dragon continued its steady approach, the massive snail-ships of the Germa Kingdom had completely finished their locking sequence, successfully forming a colossal, interconnected mobile fortress on the sea.
A booming, mechanical voice echoed across the water from massive loudspeakers mounted on the castle towers:
"WARNING! THIS IS THE SOVEREIGN TERRITORY OF THE GERMA KINGDOM! APPROACHING VESSEL, HALT YOUR ADVANCE IMMEDIATELY! ANY FURTHER APPROACH WILL BE MET WITH LETHAL MILITARY FORCE!"
On the deck of the White Dragon, the crew observed the terrifying transformation of the snail fleet with varying expressions.
The most excited among them was undeniably Chopper. The little reindeer was practically vibrating, his eyes turning into massive, sparkling stars. "Woooooah! That is SO COOL! The ships actually combined into a giant island!"
"Hmph. It's just a bunch of oversized bugs glued together. Nothing special," Kid scoffed, leaning against the mast with his arms crossed. Despite his aggressively dismissive words, his eyes were locked onto the mechanical locking mechanisms of the snail fleet, completely fascinated by the engineering.
"Bardock," Robin warned smoothly, a few ethereal ears sprouting and disappearing along the ship's railing. She had already stealthily utilized her Devil Fruit to eavesdrop on the enemy's communications. "If we cross their perimeter, they are fully authorized to open fire. Their cannons are already primed."
"Absolute trash," Enel sneered dismissively, biting into an apple. "In my eyes, those so-called 'clone soldiers' are nothing more than clay chickens and pottery dogs. They might look intimidating to ordinary mortals, but against us, they don't even qualify as a warmup."
"To crush an army, you simply capture the King," Bardock said calmly, stepping up to the bow of the ship.
His primary, overarching goal for seeking out Germa 66 was to acquire Vinsmoke Judge's highly classified 'Lineage Factor' technology. Recently, under Bardock's guidance, Chopper had begun heavily researching the specific transformative wavelengths of Devil Fruits. If they could integrate Judge's profound genetic engineering data into Chopper's research, it would save them years of tedious trial and error.
"Enel. Where exactly is Vinsmoke Judge right now?" Bardock asked.
"He's inside the highest level of that central castle, surrounded by a few brats with decent energy signatures," Enel replied instantly, pointing a finger directly at the massive, heavily fortified command tower.
"Oh? He's with his kids?" Bardock raised an eyebrow, a wicked smile spreading across his face. "Perfect. We can catch the entire royal family in one swoop. Keep the ship anchored here at a safe distance and wait for my signal."
The moment the words left his mouth, Bardock simply vanished.
There was no sound, only a faint, rippling distortion in the air as his silhouette flickered rapidly across the sky. By seamlessly fusing the high-speed explosive power of Soru (Shave) with the aerial mobility of Geppo (Moonwalk), Bardock's movement speed had reached a terrifying realm that the naked human eye physically could not track.
"I suppose I'll tag along to watch the show," Enel chuckled. With a sharp CRACK of thunder, he transformed into a blinding bolt of lightning and instantly shot across the ocean to follow his Captain.
The infiltration was completely effortless. To the tens of thousands of highly trained Germa Clone Soldiers standing guard on the decks, absolutely nothing happened. They merely felt a sudden, powerful gust of wind blow past them, followed instantly by a flash of lightning in the clouds. None of them realized the perimeter had been breached.
Inside the heavily armored royal command center, Vinsmoke Judge was holding a specialized Den Den Mushi, aggressively issuing defense coordinates to his fleet commanders.
Suddenly, the air in the center of the room violently distorted.
Before Judge could even blink, two figures materialized directly in front of him. In the same microsecond, a hand casually reached out and effortlessly crushed the heavy Den Den Mushi in Judge's palm into fine powder.
"Who are you?! What do you want?!" Judge roared, violently leaping backward, his heart hammering against his ribs in sheer, paralyzing terror.
A profound, suffocating sense of dread washed over the King of Germa. These two men had bypassed a hundred thousand soldiers and breached his fortified command center instantly. If that hand had aimed for his throat instead of the communicator, his head would currently be rolling across the floor.
However, unlike their terrified father, Judge's genetically modified sons possessed absolutely zero sense of fear or self-preservation.
"Father! Don't waste time talking to intruders! Just kill them!" Ichiji sneered arrogantly.
Without waiting for Judge's command, the three brothers aggressively launched themselves forward. Niji, cloaked in crackling blue electricity, lunged directly at Enel. Ichiji and Yonji flanked Bardock from the left and right, throwing devastating, exoskeleton-enhanced punches.
Reiju was the only one who didn't move. Possessing actual emotional intelligence and tactical awareness, she remained firmly anchored beside her father, her eyes narrowed sharply as she intensely analyzed the two intruders.
To an ordinary person in the North Blue, the sheer speed and raw physical power of Ichiji and Yonji were absolutely terrifying.
To Bardock, they were moving in slow motion.
Without even bothering to draw his sword or coat his arms in Haki, Bardock casually raised his hands. With two effortless, highly synchronized backhands, he swatted the two modified princes out of the air like annoying flies.
BOOOOOOM!
The impact was absolutely devastating. Ichiji and Yonji were violently blasted across the room at supersonic speeds, crashing so hard into the reinforced steel bulkheads that their bodies became deeply embedded in the crumpled metal. They slumped forward, completely incapacitated and groaning in agony. If it hadn't been for the unnatural, steel-like durability of their genetic exoskeletons, Bardock's casual swat would have instantly liquefied their internal organs.
On the other side of the room, Enel casually dodged Niji's high-speed kick. Seeing the blue electricity crackling around the prince's boots, the Lightning God's eyes lit up with genuine, highly amused fascination.
After effortlessly beating Niji into submission and pinning him to the floor with his foot, Enel didn't kill him. Instead, treating the prince like a bizarre new toy, Enel began constantly, experimentally shocking him with localized bursts of lightning, watching Niji's body twitch and spasm.
"Hey, Bardock, look at this!" Enel laughed, poking the groaning prince with another jolt of electricity. "This brat can actually generate his own electrical currents! Did he eat some kind of knock-off lightning Devil Fruit?"
"I don't know," Bardock smiled, casually stepping over the debris and looking directly at the pale, sweating King of Germa. "Why don't we ask Mr. Judge?"
Seeing his three invincible, genetically perfected sons absolutely utterly humiliated and crushed in less than three seconds, Judge's arrogant bravado completely shattered. His face turned deathly pale.
"Stop!" Judge yelled, raising his hands in a frantic gesture of surrender. "Stop attacking! We can talk! Whatever you want, we can negotiate!"
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