"Wait, wait, after all these years, how can you still hold a grudge like this?"
With the Seastone handcuffs still on, Caesar had no strength to resist and could only let Judge's shoe step on his face.
From a metaphysical perspective, he ought to be grateful for these cuffs. Precisely because of them, Sanji only used his body to block the wind instead of letting Caesar light his cigarette.
Anyone who dares to light a cigarette for Sanji usually meets with misfortune, and since Caesar didn't directly help, the effect was much less.
"Holding a grudge? Who was it back then who called my inventions garbage, and even used his own poison gas weapon to attack me from behind? It was you, wasn't it, Caesar?"
Judge increased the pressure, making Caesar have even closer contact with the ground.
"Didn't you fight back at the time…"
Back in the MADS days, Vegapunk's technology held the advantage, Miss Buckin was busy with her own stuff, and the rest, Caesar, Queen, and Judge were just weaklings pecking at each other.
None of them were really good at fighting back then; their main strength came from their own inventions.
Now things were different. Queen had been forcibly shaped by reality into someone extremely powerful. The Haki he'd honed to survive made him far stronger than either Caesar or Judge.
Even if Queen were to remove all the external enhancements from his body, the current Queen could still, by virtue of his mastery of Haki, wipe the floor with Judge and Caesar in any way he liked.
"Hmph, no matter how many times I punch this face of yours, I'll never feel bad about it. But don't worry, I won't do anything to you. After all, Big Mom thinks highly of you.
For you to appear on this island together with my son. Now, that's just fantastic."
At these words, the sweat on Caesar's face only increased.
"Hey, hey, calm down. If you take me to her, it'll be the death of me! You know what kind of technology that is, it's always been a very special theory!"
"What does that have to do with me? It's not like I made any promises to Big Mom. You just get ready to face that woman's wrath yourself.
But like I said, you don't need to worry about anything. I haven't said anything bad about you."
Charlotte Linlin had actually asked Judge about the feasibility of Caesar's technology, but Judge dodged the question, saying it wasn't his area of expertise.
Who knew if Caesar might really make some kind of bizarre monstrosity? It would be awkward if it worked after all. As long as Judge didn't make any comments, only Caesar would have to deal with the consequences.
"Supreme Commander, the area you mentioned has been dug out. These are the things that might be valuable. Please have a look."
A group of clones brought all sorts of scrap to Judge. Vegapunk's written records were all stored in the Punk Records above Egghead, but that data had already been sunk to the bottom of the sea.
What was left on Egghead were mostly fragments of inventions. All Judge could do was try to reverse-engineer something from these remains and see if he could gain anything from them.
"Very good. Prepare to retreat. There's nothing valuable left on this island."
The World Government had already brought people to sweep through here once. They didn't understand technology, but with enough people, they'd basically taken away everything they could dismantle.
Now Judge, who actually knew his stuff, had come to clean up again, and there was barely a scrap left. At this moment, Caesar suddenly seemed to remember something.
"Wait, Judge, now that Vegapunk is dead, it means our biggest obstacle is gone!"
"So what?"
"So what? Now that news of his death is out, who's the new number one in the world? It's Queen! Can you stand letting that glory-hound keep lording it over us?!"
To win someone over, you either need mutual benefit or a common enemy. There was no doubt Queen could play this role.
"A 3.2 billion Berry bounty, the title of world's greatest scientist. Do you think he deserves it?"
The World Government announced Vegapunk's death but did not make it public that two of Vegapunk's satellites were still alive.
A scientist known to all, and a mere tool working for the World Government. The Five Elders prefer the latter, so on the seas, the name Vegapunk has become synonymous with death.
With Vegapunk gone, Queen naturally rose to the top, which greatly displeased Caesar.
However, Caesar didn't know that, unlike before when Queen loved being in the spotlight, now he didn't want that reputation at all.
"Come on, let's join forces! With our combined abilities, the world will truly know who's number one!"
Judge didn't respond to Caesar's passionate declaration; after Sanji left a note for Brook, he simply led them back to the Germa's fleet.
Still, he was a bit gentler in the process; so in a sense, Caesar succeeded.
But what Caesar said wasn't enough for Judge to take a risk, so Judge decided to put things on hold for now.
Click.
The giant snail reassembled itself onto the land, and the people who went to Egghead to excavate the ruins returned to the Germa Kingdom.
Germa Kingdom is an extremely rare exception; this nation has no fixed territory, but uses special snails as carriers, always sailing the seas, accepting mercenary jobs in war-torn countries, and using commissions as the kingdom's funds.
Doflamingo's downfall was actually a good thing for Germa, as it gave them more opportunities to act.
Meanwhile, in the central castle, Sanji returned here once again.
"You've changed a lot, Sanji. You're really different from the weakling you used to be."
Vinsmoke Reiju sat in her chair, sighing at Sanji's growth. Unlike Sanji's other brothers, Reiju had feelings of her own, but those feelings could not make her go against Judge's orders.
If she hadn't let Sanji go back then, he probably would have died in some corner long ago.
So Sanji's attitude toward Reiju was a little different, but not exactly warm.
"How much longer do you want to stay here? If there's nothing else, then get out."
"You're really cold to your sister after thirteen years apart. Don't you have anything you want to say?"
"No. I cut off ties with you all a long time ago."
Looking at the painting on the wall of Judge beheading the four kings, Sanji let out a contemptuous sound.
"I want nothing to do with a family of lunatics who like this kind of painting. I'm just here to fulfill that so-called marriage agreement with you all. Once it's over, I'll leave."
"That's Father's wish—to revive the Germa Kingdom. And you still have his blood in your veins. Truly severing it isn't something so easily done."
"She's right. Or do you think that, for you, being the prince of a kingdom is less important than being a cook on some no-name pirate ship? I remember I taught you swordsmanship, didn't I? Why do you only use your legs in battle?"
"Heh, these hands of mine aren't meant for fighting. And you, stop spouting off as if you're my father!
I thought you might have changed a little, but instead, you've become even more of a scumbag. Now, you're nothing more than a total stranger to me!"
As he spoke, Judge had already ordered Reiju to put a bracelet on Sanji.
This bracelet had the same function as the Celestial Dragons' slave collars; if he left certain areas, it would explode.
Judge was using this method to restrict Sanji's movements.
On Egghead, the left-behind Brook, after waking up, reunited with Luffy and the others.
Although he was already a skeleton, Brook was very similar to a human—he could eat, drink, and sleep. Where all that food and water actually went in his body was always a mysterious question.
However, this also has a downside: poisons that are effective on humans are just as effective on this skeleton, and the same applies to sleep-inducing abilities.
[Guys, I'm off to see a woman. Promise I'll be back.]
Sanji explained what he was about to do in a relaxed tone, but that didn't mean Luffy and the others felt reassured.
"Brook, where exactly did Sanji go? And what about Caesar? He's missing too?"
"Well… after Sanji brought us back from the storm, we landed on this island, and then we ran into a really strange group of people who called themselves Germa 66. The leader even said Sanji was his son."
"Sanji's dad? So he has a dad after all."
Luffy's bluntness earned him another big bump on his head, and Brook continued under Nami's intimidating gaze.
"Sanji didn't seem willing, but his father threatened him with something. In the end, he took them away."
"So what exactly did they take him to do, Bone-ya?"
"Well… to have a political marriage with Big Mom Pirates."
"You guys really are a complicated pirate crew. So Blackleg-ya's actually a member of the Vinsmoke family?"
Law rubbed his head and started another round of educational lecture, with Luffy occasionally chiming in to add a word or two.
Don't get the wrong idea; it's not that Luffy actually understood; he was just translating Hercules' words. But unless you had some communication cheat like the Power of Viridian or Aura power, Pokémon language could only convey meaning, not precise words.
You could get the gist, but translating every word exactly, especially when it came to technical terms, wasn't easy. After all, spoken language and academic language are two completely different things.
If it weren't for Law, Luffy's translating skills would be as terrifying as Zoro's tendency to get lost.
"Oh, I get it! All right, everyone, let's go bring Sanji back!"
Luffy's brain filtered out most of the details and went straight to that conclusion. As for how strong the enemy was; that was never something he cared about.
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