26 King Of Science

( Vanze POV )

Where are we again? Oh right, after Reiju and I saw the explosion and the frozen shore, we started running toward it. Reiju seemed to know where we were heading, so now I'm just following her from behind. Her expression is back to the cold face she used to show me not long ago.

'Hmm, I can sense that there are some kind of giant ships being frozen there. I think it is where Judge's base is, and Reiju, she looks like she doesn't care after seeing what had just happened earlier—heck, she even smiles, but her body is moving toward that place.'

[ It looks like Judge gave her a mission to guard the island before we even arrived here, but Reiju deems you as a non-threat to the Germa kingdom, and she can freely talk to you, so she will only move when the real Germa kingdom is being attacked like right now. ]

'Maybe, I'm not really sure though. We won't know what that maniac Judge has in his mind.' Seele might be right, but let's see the situation there first. If Reiju can't control her actions, I can just stop her with my Toki - Toki no Mi power.

"Hey, Reiju, are you okay?" I asked, trying to infer her situation while we keep running in the forest.

"No, I'm not. Honestly, I just want to stay in the previous place watching the chaos break out in that bastard kingdom, but as I expected, my body just won't listen." She said while glancing at me, giving a wry smile. Damn, Judge.

"It'll be okay; I'll help you if you can't control yourself." I said, trying to reassure her. She just gives me the same wry smile while we keep running.

Not long after, we reached the other side of the island where there is a giant land float in the ocean being frozen by ice. Even the big castle in the central position is the same; I can even hear sounds of fighting there.

'So this is Germa kingdoms huh, a kingdom with no lands, always drifting and sailing with the help of the giant snails.'

I marvel at the architecture of this kingdom. While it might be so big and cause the ability to move around too slow, they can practically go anywhere they want and even climb the Grand Line with those snails.

[ This world is so weird and defying a law of physics a lot. ]

'You are right, Seele. As expected from Goda.'

We keep going toward the castle, and I notice the clone soldiers around are being frozen by ice. They should be dead, as I can't even sense their breath of life anymore using KG and Kenbunshoku Haki.

We arrived at the entrance of the castle and the fountain in front of it, finding a lot of soldiers who are not being frozen, but they all are still dead. There are a lot of injuries from being struck by a heavy blunt weapon on their bodies.

Reiju and I also continue to run towards the inner castle until we saw some people fighting in the hall upfront.

'Yamato, Hancock, and Azel are already here huh. So it should be Yamato who caused all of the ice back there.' Good, I thought it would be Kuzan, but I forgot that Yamato could also freeze the surrounding area now.

'But where is Robin and Uta?'

While I am still trying to figure out where the two of them are, Reiju has already rushed toward Yamato and the others. She has already put her raid suit on and aims to attack Yamato. Yamato senses someone from behind trying to attack them, swung her kanabo to finish her opponent first, and then turned around, facing Reiju.

"Oh, it's the pink-haired girl. So you are the one who attacked this island, right? Hehe, take this, Raimei Hakke."

Yamato used a technique similar to Kaido, infusing Busoshoku Haki, in which she lunges forward at Reiju with blinding speed and swings her kanabo horizontally with both of her arms but without imbuing Haoshoku Haki because she can't use it yet on her weapon.

"Poison Blitz." Reiju whispers. Her raid suit suddenly had butterfly wings made of poison on her back, and she propels herself toward Yamato, readying her kick which is covered by poison.

Sensing their confrontation, I come back to my senses and sense it will be very dangerous if their attacks collide with each other. So, I use my power to make my time faster while using Soru and suddenly appear in their path, stretching both of my arms that have been warped by Busoshoku Haki, trying to stop both of them.

Boom!

I managed to catch both of their attacks and stopping them, but the impact is so strong, especially from Yamato, and it caused a large shockwave spreading and even destroying the hallways. Hancock and Azel also sense it and glance in our direction.

"Both of you should stop." I said slowly.

While holding them both, I also use my time power to make their movements slower and eventually stopping them. They can still sense their surroundings and even talk if I allow it, but they can't move their bodies because of it.

Yamato, sensing that I stopped her, also started to calm down and look at me with a surprised gaze. "Vanze!? You came here? But why did you stop my attack? She is the one who attacked the island after we found out what happened from the survivor. You shouldn't be protecting her." She said, complaining.

'Yamato, if I'm not stopping you, Reiju will be crippled by your attack just now, you know?' Yamato's Raimei Hakke can destroy a mountain, after all.

"It is all a misunderstanding; she is being controlled by her father, and she doesn't even want to do it in the first place. Even right now, coming back and defending this place is not her own will. It's not her choice, so calm down Yamato." I said, explaining Reiju's situation to her.

Reiju just keeps silent while hanging her head low; I can sense her body moving on her own while she doesn't even have an intent to do so.

Hancock and Azel also come to our side after finishing those trash. A lot of them become stone statues and are being crushed by Hancock, while Azel is just slashing them like sashimi using his sword. He doesn't even use his Devil Fruit power.

"Vanze!!!" Hancock rushing toward me, attempting to hug one of my arms. I'm not gonna reject a good thing, hehe.

I relax my posture and embrace Hancock, enjoying her hug for a while and asking Azel about the current situation. Oh, I also already release Yamato from my time freeze.

"Azel, how come all of you here attacking Germa and where is Robin and Uta? What happened?" I ask.

"After we separated from you, we strolled the town looking for survivors until we found some of them in the woods being chased by the Germa clone soldiers. We helped them while asking their situation, and apparently, the pink girl with you is the one who leads the attack, but Robin said she might be being controlled after analyzing the clues and torturing those soldiers. We discussed our next plan but suddenly Yamato took off to this place after suggesting to attack them, and here we are." Azel said explaining how they ended up here.

"She said it's fine because you said back in the ship we could do whatever we want if we found them." Hancock also trying to snitch about Yamato's reckless behavior to me.

I glance at Yamato, and she just tilts her head in another way and tries to avoid eye contact with me while giggling. As expected from you, Yamato, sigh.

"By the way, why are you come with another girl again this time huh...!?" I glance to my side and found Hancock started questioning me about how I met Reiju while letting out her dangerous aura. Her eyes are red and twitching this time.

'Yabei...'

"Uhm, I also find her when I follow the compass direction. I found her alone, and we started to talk about what is happening on this island and how Germa is here. She said she is indeed being controlled by her father, who is the king of this country. I offered my help to freeing her from his control but suddenly we saw a large piece of a shore being frozen so we came here. Right now, I'm still holding down Reiju with my power because she can't control her body currently. Sorry for this Reiju." I said, also explaining the situation on my part while saying the last sentence to Reiju.

Despite her body trying to break free from my time freeze, she can only respond to me giving me a wry smile. "No, thank you, Vanze, and I'm sorry for attacking your friend."

The others listening about Reiju's situation also relax and begin to sympathize with her, especially Yamato. She knows how it feels when her father takes away her freedom and demands her to do what he wants.

"Damn him..." Yamato murmurs.

"Did you guys find that bastard's whereabouts?" I ask while walking down the hall with them.

I really want to beat this bastard and then take everything he has for me. Fuck him, I want to see how miserable he is without his tools and kingdom later.

"Not yet, we also just arrived and finishing the remaining clone soldiers here." Azel said. Hancock just busy keeping Reiju away from me while Yamato tries to talk and apologize to Reiju for attacking her.

"Hmm, let me search him then." I unleash both my KG and Kenbunshoku Haki to the fullest.

Let's see, there is a huge laboratory below and a few secret rooms in this castle; even their vault is quite loaded but still can't compare to Kaido's vault. There is a throne room at the end of this hall, and I sense four people there, one adult and three kids. Hehe, found them.

"Let's go to the throne room and greet the king of science." I said while smirking. We continue to walk down the hallway until finally reach the end, and there is a giant door blocking us.

"He should be there. Please be careful, Vanze." Reiju suddenly said. She's concerned about my well-being even though I already showed my power when I stopped her until now.

'I feel she still underestimated me here, Seele.' I know she has good intentions.

[ Hehe, you should show off then by crushing her father. ]

'Fine then.' I also sense the man behind this door is ready to attack the moment we enter.

I push the door open and enter the giant room when suddenly a spear, held by a man, comes forward aiming for my face so fast that it is already an inch before reaching me. But the spear suddenly slows down so much that it stops right in front of my eyes. The man holding the spear and wearing a helmet is shocked to find that he can't move. No, it's not like he can't move; he just moves too slowly that it appears he stopped all of a sudden in front of the other eyes.

"Well, what a grand welcome you give us, the king of the Germa kingdom, Vinsmoke Judge," I said in a mocking tone while still smirking at him.

"Die."

"Haha, kill."

"No one should disrespect us."

Suddenly, three little kids holding daggers and swords come toward us, trying to stab my group. I look at them indifferently; I don't recognize them as a threat.

"Just sleep." I stare at them while unleashing my Haoshoku Haki on them. They suddenly stop and are stunned before passing out from the pressure. I let my Haoshoku run wild, and it even damages the walls and the ground around.

Judge also senses my Haoshoku and starts sweating cold. I let him talk before he finally asks me something. "Who are you?" He says with a trepidation tone.

I raise my hand while slapping his spear out of my way before walking and standing right in front of this scum.

"I'm Batman." I say that in a teasing tone before punching him in the gut so hard that he gets thrown away to his throne and destroying it.

Reiju, feeling and looking at my display of power, seems shocked. In her eyes, her father is powerful with his raid suit on, but instead, he gets stopped and punched so hard by another. The others just stay silent watching me.

"Get up, I know you're still alive. I'm restraining my power after all." I say while walking toward him.

Judge gets up from the debris of his throne while swiping the blood that came out from the side of his mouth with his hand. "You really dare to attack us, the Germa kingdom? We don't seem to have any grudge with each other, so why?" He asks, looking a bit puzzled.

Is he an idiot or did he put all of his IQ into science and make his EQ drop down by a lot?

"We don't, but I've heard about you. The fallen kingdom that's trying to conquer the North Blue once again by raging war like a maniac, even to the point of attacking and looting an island that doesn't have any sort of connection to your war with other kingdoms." I genuinely feel disgusted by his actions.

"How dare you!? What do you know and why do you even care about them!? This world is a cruel world where the strong rule the weak, so it is justified why I attack others who are weak in this sea. I'm just taking back what is supposed to be mine in the first place." He says, arguing with me with a hint of rage in his tone. I know his kingdom once ruled the entire North Blue, but that time has already ended.

"If I use your words, then I will also say I can do whatever I want, whether to help them or beat the hell out of you, right? But it is not my main point why I'm so mad and attacked you now." I stop walking not far from him; I can sense his hatred overflowing now from his eyes.

"Why then!? Why are you trying to ruin all of my hard work!? And Reiju! Come back here and attack him now!!!" He said, shouting at me and Reiju. Even until now, he still doesn't understand huh? Reiju can't even move now.

Reiju, hearing her father's order, just has an indifferent and cold face, but her body is trying to break free from my time freeze again. I glance at her one last time, and I realize I need to end his madness soon.

"You see, she can't move just like you before, and even if she can, I doubt it's even by her own will to protect you. My main point coming to you is also because of her. How dare you control and rip her off from her own freedom just for your own ambition! She is your only daughter, you bastard, what the hell are you even thinking!?" I said to him, letting out my emotion. I want to know what he thinks about his own family.

"So what? I make her stronger and obedient just to make Germa stand on the top of North Blue again, and this girl even dared to disobey me and letting her useless brother out. So, I just send her to attack and massacre this island to teach her a lesson. She is just a tool, and a tool should be useful to its owner. I can't let my tool be dull because she has a feeling." He said without any sense of feeling guilty at all on his face.

'Damn it.' I and the others felt speechless listening to this bastard's heartless confession.

Basically, he wants to kill Reiju's heart by letting her attack this island and making her a perfect weapon. Even Reiju is shedding a tear hearing her own father regard her only as a tool. The original Reiju in the future is really cold and only cares about Sanji.

'Tsk, I can't listen more to this bastard's nonsense.'

[ Every member of the MADS team seems to have a mental problem, it looks like. ]

"Fuck, you know what? Let's end this real fast. I don't want to waste my time listening to a guy who doesn't even have a human heart." I said.

I pull my black sword from the sheath on my waist and grip it tightly in my right arm. I imbue it with my Busoshoku Haki while just staring at him in silence. Judge senses the talk is over and is also readying himself for the next battle, but what he didn't know is it can't even be called a battle in the next few moments.

[ Ding! ]

.....