Buruburuburu.
Roa was awakened by the sound of a Den Den Mushi ringing.
"Death sentence." He groggily opened his eyes. Disturbing his sleep was a crime punishable by death.
As he rubbed his eyes and sat up from his several-meter-wide bed, the smooth blanket slipped off, revealing a young man's fair and muscular body, sculpted like marble. Roa looked up and met a pair of eyes as frightened as a deer's.
It was a cat-woman. Her body was covered in fine white fur, and her brilliant golden wavy hair cascaded down to her waist and hips. A pair of soft-looking cat ears peeked out from under her hair. She was adorable in appearance, but she also had an extremely curvaceous body. In short, she was a good cat.
At this moment, the cute cat's face was filled with timidity, and her eyes were glistening with tears. She was holding a Den Den Mushi in her hand, her voice urgent and terrified. "It, it, it suddenly, suddenly started ringing! Please, don't kill me!"
Oh! This expression, this dark aura—they were all so delicious!
"I'll forgive you since you're so cute." Roa beckoned to the Mink cat girl. "Come here, little kitty."
The little kitty's body trembled slightly, then she quickly moved onto the bed and knelt, scooting closer to Roa. As expected of a cat, even such a movement was naturally graceful.
Roa pounced into the little kitty's arms, his arms wrapped tightly around her slender waist, and he took a few deep breaths. "Hehe, a cute little kitty like you was born to be sniffed by her master!"
This was why he finally understood those elderly filial sons! Who wouldn't want to sniff a cat? Hehe, my little kitty!
The little kitty's body was stiff, and all her muscles were tense. She didn't dare to move. She even strained her neck to prevent the tears in her eyes from rolling down.
Buruburuburu.
The Den Den Mushi was still ringing. Roa, who was happily sniffing the cat, frowned slightly. How annoying. He turned over and lay smoothly on the little kitty's elastic thighs. He took the Den Den Mushi from her hand and answered it. "Who is it?"
"It's me, the old lady!" Charlotte Linlin's impatient voice came from the other end. "Roa, why did it take you so long to answer the phone?"
"I was sleeping." Roa picked up a lock of the little kitty's hair and played with it. His voice was a bit lazy. "Auntie Linlin, don't you need to sleep? The sun should have risen earlier here than it did there."
Although this world had all sorts of absurd things, it still followed the most basic principles.
"How can I sleep now!" Charlotte Linlin's voice was filled with frustration and anger. "There's still no news of the Roger Pirates. It's as if they've completely disappeared from the face of the sea!"
"Perhaps they've already escaped to the West Blue or North Blue?" Roa said casually. "They've already been hunted down and blocked once. They should have learned their lesson by now, right?"
"Damn it!" Charlotte Linlin's anger was vividly expressed through the Den Den Mushi. Her facial features were distorted, and her mouth kept turning down. "Roa, don't you have any news?"
"I'm afraid not." Roa said slowly. "None at all."
"And yet you're so relaxed?" Charlotte Linlin said grumpily. "Don't you want to get your hands on the treasure Roger has?"
"You know, Auntie Linlin," Roa said with a laugh. "I'm only interested in delicious food. Treasure is only useful sometimes."
"You brat!" She cursed one last time before hanging up.
Roa couldn't help but sigh. Their relationship had really soured. In the past, she used to affectionately call him "Little Roa," but now it was "you brat." Thankfully, he still had a good brother, and his relationship with the Charlotte Family wouldn't sour.
However, if his allies wanted to do something useless, then let them do it slowly. It didn't matter. Roa stretched lazily. Since he couldn't sleep anyway, he raised his hand and pinched the little kitty's chin, his voice full of curiosity. "I heard that cats' tongues have barbs."
I wonder if my iron skin can handle it.
…
When Roa leisurely walked out of his palace, the sun had already climbed halfway up the mountain. The renovation of Egghead Island's factory was in its final stages. It was just waiting for the materials and workers to be in place to officially start production. The executives were, as usual, training according to their schedule.
"Boss," a woman appeared in front of him timidly. "The thing you asked me to research has yielded results."
"Oh! So, Naiqin, it's a good result, right?" Roa's eyes were filled with anticipation as he looked at the beautiful woman in front of him.
The woman's name was Naiqin. She was the partner of the World Destroyer, Byrnndi World, who had now become an accessory to Doflamingo. Her current identity was Judge's mistress and the Disaster Company's pharmacology expert.
"Yes, yes, Boss." Naiqin said cautiously. "The research is complete."
"Good, good. I knew you wouldn't disappoint me." Roa nodded repeatedly in satisfaction. "Then what are you waiting for? Let's start the experiment." He casually turned his head to the clone soldier guarding him. "Go get Dylan—oh, Dylan's not here."
The news about the small sky island, Weatheria, had been confirmed. So, four days ago, Dylan and King had already set off for that country. The most reliable Dylan wasn't here. Then, "Tell Teach to bring a few Minks over."
Sigh. With so many executives, was Teach the most capable of handling various matters besides Dylan?
Soon, in a square, Teach brought a few Minks over.
"Zehaha, Boss, I've brought the people. What are you going to do?" Teach laughed.
Roa glanced at the Minks behind him. Hmm? There was a familiar black bear with a thick bandage wrapped around his face, lowering his head in fear. Wasn't that the number one expert of Zou? He's here too.
Dylan and his team's mission was completed beautifully. The Mokomo Dukedom was completely conquered, and all the warriors were forcibly brought here. A group of elderly, women, and children Minks were also brought along as hostages. When the factory started working, they could also take the opportunity to join the workforce. Of course, even with these hostages, Roa still used negative emotion manipulation on the Mink soldiers he met before. After all, there were always scumbags who didn't care about the lives of their own people!
Damn it! Why were there so many bad guys in this world? Couldn't everyone just be a good person?
As he sighed in his heart, Roa raised his hand and pointed at the Minks. "Come on, Naiqin, show me."
"Yes, Boss!" Naiqin stepped forward, feeling uneasy. Please, don't let anything go wrong! She couldn't afford the price of disappointing her Boss! Due to her nervousness, the woman even forgot to breathe for a moment, and her face turned completely red.
She carefully took out a small box from her怀里 and took out a few bags of powder. "Judge said that the Mink tribe's Sulong form is essentially a special change that occurs when certain segments of their lineage factors react to moonlight!"
Naiqin handed the powders to the Minks one by one, while trying to explain calmly to Roa. "And the purpose of these drugs is to replace the moonlight and directly activate those special lineage factor segments, forcing them to transform."
"Excellent!" Roa nodded in satisfaction.
The power of Sulong was unquestionable. It could raise the Minks' strength by a whole level. The only downside was that the trigger condition was too harsh. It could only be used under a full moon. However, a drug developed by Chopper also forced Bepo into his Sulong state.
So, Roa gave this task to Naiqin. If Chopper could develop the corresponding drug in such a short time, there was no reason why his own pharmacologist couldn't. If all else failed, she could always ask Judge for help. As expected, she didn't disappoint him.
"Begin," Roa said flatly. "Eat the powder in your hands, one by one."
"Transform?" The black bear, Bill, looked at the small bag of powder in his hand in astonishment. They could actually do such a thing? The Sulong was their Mink tribe's strongest trump card. It could increase their power exponentially! They could actually bypass the harsh conditions and transform? If that was the case, wouldn't their Mink tribe finally be able to take flight?
"Start with you." Naiqin stood in front of a dog Mink, her eyes filled with both anticipation and apprehension. Don't fail! Please, don't fail! Although Judge had tested it many times and said there was absolutely no problem, the apprehension in her heart was not so easily dispelled.
The chosen dog's body suddenly trembled, and his eyes were visibly filled with fear. But he didn't dare to refuse. He finally gritted his teeth and stomped his foot. "...Yes." He looked up and swallowed the powder in one go.
Then.
Bang bang bang!
A dull sound suddenly rang out. It was the sound of his heart. The sound of his heartbeat was so violent that even outsiders could clearly hear it.
Then.
"Waaa!" He seemed to be experiencing some kind of intense pain and couldn't help but roar at the sky. His body was visibly swelling. In the blink of an eye, he had grown by more than thirty percent. The fur on his body was gradually turning snow white, and the hair on his head and tail was standing up as if it had been shocked by electricity. In addition to that, the most striking change was his eyes. They had become scarlet, and the fear and timidity in them gradually faded, leaving only a sense of cruelty.
Roa sized up the transformed guy, then turned his head slightly. "Hey, you, the bear. Is this Sulong?"
Bill's eyes were blank at the moment. He was just staring at the enlarged dog in shock. He subconsciously nodded. "That's Sulong, all right..." He actually transformed!
"Very good." Roa was very satisfied. "Naiqin, you've done well." Although he had a giant army, the Mink warriors, even if they all mastered the Sulong transformation, would still not be able to play as significant a role in a head-on battle as the giants. However, the Minks also had obvious advantages over the giants. They had speed and agility that surpassed the giants. They had sharp claws and the ability to control electricity. Although their strength was not as great as the giants', it was still much stronger than races like the Fish-Men, not to mention Sulong. They were not as good as the giants for head-on assaults, but they were definitely masters of assassination and hunting.
"I'm glad you're satisfied." Naiqin let out a long sigh of relief. Thank goodness nothing went wrong.
"Aoo!" At this moment, the transformed dog bared its teeth. Saliva seeped out from between its teeth, its claws extended, its muscles tensed, and its eyes scanned its surroundings with a scarlet gaze. A chaotic desire for destruction brewed in its eyes.
"Hey, little dog, sit." Roa just smiled.
"Woof!" The Sulong dog, which had just been so ferocious, as if its art style had changed, immediately squatted down. The ferocity on its face instantly turned into a docile cuteness.
Roa laughed. "Good dog." The collars on these fluffy little animals were obviously something they could not break free from.
The drug research was going very smoothly. He wondered where Dylan and his team were now.
The small sky island, Weatheria. Not many people in the world knew about this country. It was a very, very small country, with a total population of less than a thousand people. But all of them were excellent meteorologists. Together, they built this island, made of land clouds and bubbles, that could fly in the sky. This way, they could study all kinds of strange weather phenomena as they pleased.
Of course, scientists needed to eat, and their research required a lot of funding. And as a basic quality of a scholar, they wouldn't use weather technology to do evil and plunder freely. So, whenever research funds were scarce, Weatheria would take action. The meteorologists would pilot the floating island to countries with bad weather and earn experimental funds by helping these countries change the weather.
And this time, Weatheria came to the Rain Kingdom, which was in the first half of the Grand Line. This country was a famous rainy country, constantly shrouded in rain and clouds. There were hardly any clear days in a year. Agricultural production couldn't proceed normally, and industrial interference was also quite significant.
So, Weatheria came. In the palace of this country, the king looked up at the window, trying to see the sky. But all he could see were thick dark clouds and continuous raindrops.
"Can they really do it?" The king couldn't help but murmur to himself. "Controlling the weather... a thing like that..."
Above the clouds, surrounded by a large number of bubbles and clouds, and even a rainbow, the small sky island, which was as beautiful as a fairy tale, was floating quietly. In a control room on this small island, several old men in blue robes and high-topped hats were discussing.
"A special airflow surrounds this island, causing the water vapor to gather and be unable to escape, thus forming a year-round rainy season."
"Then it's simple. We just need to break the airflow's confinement."
"Although it only treats the symptoms, it's enough to leave them with the corresponding tools."
"Alright, let's begin."
Click.
They pressed a button. The entire small island suddenly trembled slightly.
Then.
Whoosh!!
A gust of wind rose. The rain clouds floating above the Rain Kingdom suddenly began to accelerate. An invisible force was pushing them away from the country's sky. So, to the people on the island below, it looked like the dark clouds in the sky were quickly dissipating.
When the first ray of sunlight fell through the gaps in the clouds. In the palace, "They actually did it!!" The king even cheered. If the weather of this country could really be reversed, then this country would finally be able to develop!
"They really did it. What an impressive technology. No wonder the Boss told us to come here."
Such a voice suddenly came from above. The king looked up from the window in a daze. Was someone standing on the palace roof?
"Alright, let's begin the operation."
"Hmm."