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"Father!" Reiju said, rejoining her family.
"Reiju, what happened?" Judge asked, his arms crossed, his expression arrogant. "That ship, and those commoners on it... explain."
Reiju quickly recounted the events at Black Harbor, and how she had been followed by the mysterious ship. She also told him about her conversation with Jin.
"What?" Judge roared. "A commoner wants to pursue my daughter? Reiju, you should have killed them on the spot! Remember, we are rulers, royalty, the superior race! We were born to be served! They are nothing! Erase them from this world!"
He gave the order to Reiju and the soldiers.
"Yes, Father." Reiju could not refuse. She knew her father. He respected strength and despised "compassion" and "mercy." He had coldly modified his own children to eliminate their emotions. He had loathed Sanji, his "failure," had imprisoned him, had allowed his brothers to torment him...
"Ichiji! Niji! Yonji!"
"Father!"
"You go as well. Leave no survivors."
"Yes, Father."
The three sons leaped into action, their faces cold and emotionless. They were machines, following orders, their methods brutal.
They were Judge's greatest masterpieces.
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The demonic carrier was now engaged with the "landmass" of Germa 66. Law, Maya, and the others were fighting for their lives.
A white-furred saber-toothed tiger roared, swatting away a dozen soldiers with a single paw. Maya rode on its back, directing its attacks.
Robin, in the midst of the clone soldiers, used her Flower-Flower Fruit and joint locks to defend herself. She was skilled, but outmatched.
Law and his crew were the real stars of the show.
"Germa 66?" Kuma said, coming up on deck. He was surprised to see the enemy.
"The lineage factor technology that Germa 66 possesses is one of the potential cures for Bonney's illness," Jin said.
And just like that, Kuma was filled with a new resolve.
Just then, Reiju and her brothers, now clad in their Raid Suits, landed on the deck.
Reiju launched a flying kick at Jin. Her suit was a skin-tight, revealing dress, with a butterfly-wing cape and pink and white thigh-high boots. It accentuated her powerful and beautiful figure.
"Kuma," Jin said, "they're all yours."
He leaped from the deck.
If you want to kill a snake, you cut off its head.
The core of Germa 66 was Vinsmoke Judge. Take him out, and the rest would follow.
"Hey! Don't run!" Reiju shouted, turning to pursue him. But the giant bear raised a paw and swatted her out of the air.
The blow was so powerful it sent her flying.
Then, Kuma moved to block her brothers.
"Get out of our way, you filthy commoner!" Ichiji sneered, abandoning his attack on Law. He was the very picture of arrogance and cruelty, a machine with no emotions. "Sparking Valkyrie!" Fire erupted from his hands as he struck at Kuma.
"Henry Blazer!" Niji, his blue suit crackling with electricity, attacked like a bolt of lightning.
"Winch Guillotine!" Yonji, his steel-like exoskeleton giving him the strength of a Zoan user, joined the assault.
The three attacks slammed into Kuma, the force of the explosions shredding his coat.
But the figure that emerged from the smoke was not the "bear." It was a massive, semi-bestial creature with three horns on its head.
Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Ancient Zoan, Model: Triceratops.
A crew member with an assigned position could be granted a Devil Fruit ability. Kuma had been given the Triceratops fruit.
His Buccaneers bloodline, combined with a Zoan fruit, maxed out his defense and strength. He simply shrugged off the three brothers' attacks.
And, as he used the granted Triceratops ability, he was still able to use his own Paw-Paw Fruit.
With time to develop his abilities, aside from his "weakness" of will and spirit, the dual-fruited Kuma would be a top-tier, Yonko-level fighter.
He was completely unfazed by the attacks of Reiju and her brothers.
But Kuma was a pacifist. His offensive drive was low. His fighting style was entirely defensive.
Still, with him holding off Germa 66's main force, Law, Maya, and Robin were able to handle the endless waves of clone soldiers.
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Outside the castle, Jin landed in front of Judge.
"Who are you?" Judge demanded, ordering, "Human wall!"
The surrounding soldiers quickly formed a wall in front of him.
But he could still feel a powerful, oppressive aura expanding, filling the area.
"The man who's taking over," Jin said, his own aura flaring, becoming sharp and fierce. Green flames began to lick at his body.
Judge heard a strange, mesmerizing ringing in his ears, and he felt an overwhelming urge to kneel, to submit.
He snapped himself out of it.
It wasn't his imagination.
A Devil Fruit? Could he influence others' emotions?
Judge immediately took out a light gray cylindrical canister marked with a "J" and activated it. In a flash, he was clad in a light gray Raid Suit with an orange cape, the Germa "66" emblazoned on it.
He wore white gloves and a golden belt, also marked with "66." Jet-powered boots were on his feet, and he held a long spear that crackled with electricity.
"Kill him!" he commanded.
"KILL!"
The clone soldier squadron charged.
Jin leaped into the air, smashing the chariots, his green-flamed feet sending the clone soldiers flying.
He landed, hooked two swords from the ground with his foot, and caught them. The green flames coiled around the blades, and he swung them in a serpentine arc.
Mythical Zoan, Hell's Red Serpent Fruit.
The powerful attack sent a hundred soldiers flying. And wisps of the green flame entered their bodies.
They stood up, struggling, their eyes glowing red, frozen in place.
"Hey! What's wrong with you?! Attack!" Judge commanded.
No one moved, as if they were under the influence of some strange power.
The Hell's Red Serpent fruit not only enhanced one's physical abilities, but it also had the power to bewitch the mind and incite desire. It had controlled Saga and the Marines on Asuka Island in the same way.
But the clone soldiers were encoded with an "unbreakable loyalty" directive.
The two wills, the two sets of programming, were now in conflict.
They were short-circuiting.
Jin, his two swords a blur, cut through them. He was so fast that no one could stand against him.
"Blaster!" Judge, enraged that his prized clones were malfunctioning, charged forward, his spear crackling with electricity, his boots propelling him at incredible speed.
The high-voltage current from his spear coalesced into a beam of light, a bolt of lightning that shot toward Jin.
"DIE!" he roared.
But when the light faded, Jin was standing there, unharmed. He slashed with his two swords, and Judge was sent flying.
He crashed to the ground a dozen meters away, screaming in pain. He struggled to sit up. The man with the two swords was walking toward him, wreathed in green flames.
Behind him, a massive, green-flamed serpent took shape, its two red eyes like two blood moons.
"What... the hell... is that...?" Judge whispered, terrified.
In his eyes, Jin was a demon from hell, come to reap his soul. His chest heaved, his mind filled with terrifying images.
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