Chapter 126: Defeat the Germa Kingdom
Hidden in the bushes, Sanji turned his head, ready to talk to his sister.
But when he looked back, he froze.
Reiju was gone.
She had already slipped away without a sound.
Reiju never planned to truly abandon Germa 66. With all her brothers beaten into the dirt like that, if she did not show up soon, their father would start to suspect something.
And once that man grew suspicious of her...
There would be no kindness waiting for her.
Only punishment.
...
"What...?"
Sanji hurriedly turned his gaze back to the battlefield.
A small figure dressed in pink broke away from the Germa ranks, dashing straight toward Roy.
She sprinted across the sand, shouting as she raised her fist to punch him.
Yet as she passed her father, turning her back on all the soldiers of Germa 66 and facing only the red haired stranger, all the anger and hatred vanished from her heart.
Reiju put on her Vinsmoke mask and steeled herself.
She acted the part, roaring as she attacked, while, unseen by others, her lips silently formed the words.
"Thank you."
"Please take care of him."
In the next heartbeat, Reiju's fist thudded toward Roy's chest.
Roy simply lifted his hand.
He caught her small pink fist, then casually reached behind her neck and grabbed her by the collar.
With an easy motion, he flung Reiju aside.
"Where did this little girl come from?" Roy said, voice dripping with contempt. "Women on a battlefield, what a joke."
He looked down on her so openly that several Germa soldiers sneered in agreement.
Hancock, standing beside him, only smiled to herself.
Roy was lying.
Hancock knew very well that when it came to girls, this man was gentle to the bone.
In her eyes, Roy did not draw a line between men and women.
To him, boys and girls were still just people.
The words he was using now did not fit his usual character at all, which only made it clearer to Hancock.
He simply did not want to hit Reiju, so he was using cheap mockery to fool the idiots across from them.
"Boring," Hancock thought, turning her head away.
But the gentle, happy curve at the corner of her lips said otherwise.
She liked this about Roy.
This, exactly, was the Roy she loved.
"Damn you, how dare you?!"
Judge, still unaware of what had really happened, hurried over and caught Reiju, setting his daughter down behind him. His eyes were cold and murderous as he stared at Roy.
"Haah!"
He swept his spear through the air with a crackle and stormed toward the red haired man in a fury.
They had interfered with his great cause.
They had beaten his sons.
They had mocked his prized daughter.
Judge was going to make this man pay.
But what broke Reiju's heart even more was something else entirely.
Judge felt nothing for Sanji.
To him, Ichiji, Niji, Yonji, and Reiju held value only because of their excellence and their usefulness as tools for the rise of the Vinsmoke family.
A man who did not even love his own wife...
How could he possibly love his children?
"Oh, so this is Vinsmoke Judge of the North Blue."
Roy looked at Judge and smiled faintly, eyes full of mockery.
"Still dreaming of reviving the Kingdom of Germa and ruling the North Blue again, are you?"
"Silence!" Judge roared.
He swung his spear and brought it crashing down with all his might.
Roy let out a soft snort.
He lifted one arm and caught the heavy spear in his bare hand. His body did not budge an inch.
In the bushes, Sanji's eyes nearly burst out of his skull.
On the battered battlefield, the younger Vinsmokes who could still move had been weakly cheering just moments before.
"Come on, Father..."
"Father, defeat him..."
Now, watching Roy casually block Judge's full strength, all three fell silent.
"Move!"
Judge grit his teeth and braced his feet, both hands gripping the spear shaft. All his combat experience and physical power surged as he tried to force Roy back.
He poured everything into that push.
A heartbeat later, the pressure on Roy's arm surged.
Roy's expression did not change. He tightened his grip, twisted his waist, and in one smooth motion seized control of the spear and swung it hard in the opposite direction.
The weapon whirled, dragging Judge along with it like a hooked fish.
"Too slow."
With a roar of his own, Roy heaved.
Judge's expression twisted as his body was flung away, spear and all, like a rag doll hurled into the air.
Roy bent his knees and sprang upward, body blurring as he appeared above Judge in midair.
His leg swept down.
Judge reacted instantly. His battle suit flared, and he snapped his leg up to block. Modified muscles, reinforced bone, high tech armor, everything he prided himself on was behind that kick.
There was a sickening crack.
"...What?"
Judge's eyes went wide.
Roy's leg did not even twitch, but Judge felt a sharp pain explode through his own. The leg he had used to block went numb, then screamed with agony.
Even with his modified body and combat suit, the bone had been shattered by Roy's kick.
Judge's face twisted. He forced himself to endure the pain and swept his spear up again, crackling with high voltage.
He brought the electrified blade down toward Roy.
Roy caught the spear shaft in one hand.
With a sharp wrench, he tore it out of Judge's grip and snapped it aside with brute force.
Sparks raced over his body.
The current that should have knocked a normal person out cold simply flickered uselessly across his skin.
Judge's heart sank.
He understood now.
He had picked a fight with a monster.
Before he could back away, Roy's heel slammed into his abdomen.
"Gah!"
Judge spat blood and flew like a launched cannonball, smashing into the sand and skidding across it, armor grinding a deep trench behind him.
"Bastard!"
The surviving Germa clones rallied and rushed forward with angry shouts.
"Stop!"
Judge gritted his teeth and forced himself upright, pain burning through his body. He lifted a hand and waved it sharply.
"Retreat."
At that order, several clone soldiers scrambled to him, carefully lifting Judge and hauling him back toward the nearest snail ship.
They gathered up his unconscious sons and Reiju as well.
Roy whistled.
Out in the water, the giant serpent rolled contentedly, then swam back toward the ship, flicking its tongue as it approached.
It licked its lips, clearly well fed.
Under Judge's command, the Germa 66 forces began to pull back like a receding tide.
"You bastard, remember this!"
As he was carried away, Yonji twisted his neck to glare at Roy, eyes full of venom.
"We will get our revenge, just you wait!"
Empty threats, like some small time villain from a cheap cartoon.
So much noise. So little bite.
"Shut up, Yonji!" Judge snarled, snapping at his useless son.
"Ow, ow, ow, that hurts..."
The instant he shouted, his own pain doubled, and Judge's face contorted again.
The Germa fleet, battered and bleeding, slowly withdrew from the Kingdom of Corgi.
"Tch. I would not be surprised if Judge gets chased out of the North Blue by the Donquixote family one day," Roy said, lips curling.
"Yeah, coward Judge."
Sanji stepped out from the bushes and came to stand behind Roy, glaring at the retreating snail ships with clenched fists.
He had every right to scold that man.
It was not that Sanji was being unreasonable.
Judge had simply gone too far.
In Sanji's heart, his only true family were his deceased mother and the older sister who protected him.
Oh, and maybe in the future...
He might have a handsome master too.
"Uncle, I want to learn that kick you used on Judge!" Sanji looked up at Roy, eyes shining with excitement.
"Uncle..."
A vein bulged in Roy's forehead. His face darkened.
Maybe he should have left this kid on the passenger ship after all.
This brat really needed a lesson.
Hancock covered her mouth and laughed softly to herself.
So this was what it looked like when the infuriatingly handsome Roy finally took a hit.
"Call me big brother, brat," Roy said, baring his teeth in a smile that was not quite a smile. "Or I do not mind letting you taste what your brothers just went through."
Sanji flinched and shrank back.
He did not dare push his luck.
"Big brother, I want to learn your kick!" he corrected quickly.
Roy nodded in satisfaction and reached out to ruffle his blond hair.
"Good boy."
Under the bright sunlight, waves rolled gently onto the beach.
Roy and Sanji exchanged proper introductions.
"Listen, Sanji," Roy said. "If you want to become as strong as your master..."
If you want your kicks to be as solid as steel, then your heart has to be just as firm.
You have to throw yourself into training without any messy distractions.
"Our secret to getting stronger is simple."
Roy grinned and tapped Sanji lightly on the forehead.
"When you have no goddess in your heart, you can kick gods of nature."
Sanji stared up at him, stunned, then nodded over and over, as if he had just learned the ultimate truth of the universe.
So that was how his master had shattered Judge's leg with one kick.
He understood now.
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