"Fortunately, he is already surrounded. The probability of his survival is less than 0.01%."
Deep inside the base, Dr. Vegapunk breathed a sigh of relief.
Vegapunk was a man of logic.
His intelligence far surpassed anyone else in the world.
In his mind, every problem was a math equation, and he could solve almost anything within seconds.
To him, life was a series of predictable outcomes.
There were rarely any surprises.
But Raleigh? Raleigh was the first variable in Vegapunk's life that didn't fit the equation.
On the screen, surrounded by hundreds of mechanical wolves, Raleigh didn't look afraid
Instead, he looked bored.
Raleigh twisted his neck.
He stretched his arms high above his head, his spine making sounds like stir-frying beans.
He let out a long, loud yawn, as if he had just woken up from a nap, completely ignoring the snarling metal beasts around him.
"Alright," Raleigh said, shaking off his lethargy.
His sleepy eyes suddenly sharpened.
"Let's go all out, Dr. Vegapunk. I'll show you my true strength."
Vegapunk spoke into the microphone, his voice echoing through the forest speakers.
"Then I'll be watching closely, Marine."
Inside the control room, the scientists stationed at the consoles pressed a series of red buttons.
Whirrrr... Click!
...
In the forest, the mechanical creatures' eyes shifted.
The dull crimson glow turned into a blinding, angry red.
Their engines roared to life.
"ROAR!"
The huge Wolf, controlled directly by Vegapunk, threw its head back and howled at the sky.
It sounded exactly like a living beast, but amplified by speakers.
At that signal, the army of mechanical wolves charged.
They showed no fear!
They swarmed toward Raleigh like a tide of steel.
Raleigh didn't panic.
He calmly reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigar.
He placed it between his lips, but realized he had no time to light it.
Whoosh!
In the next second, a mechanical wolf leaped at him. Its jaws were wide open, aiming for his throat, and its razor-sharp claws slashed toward his chest.
"Too slow," Raleigh muttered.
His hands turned pitch black as he coated them in Armament Haki.
Raleigh didn't dodge.
He caught the wolf's extended metal claw with his left hand.
Sparks flew as metal met Haki.
With his right hand, he gripped the wolf's thick steel neck.
"Hah!"
With a burst of terrifying strength, Raleigh pulled.
SCREEECH!
The sound of tearing metal echoed through the forest. Raleigh literally ripped the mechanical wolf in half with his bare hands.
Wires snapped and oil sprayed onto the grass.
Raleigh looked at the sparking electrical components inside the broken chassis.
A smile appeared in his eyes.
'Impressive,' he thought. 'Truly worthy of Dr. Vegapunk creation.'
The scientiest was acclaimed as being five hundred years ahead of his time, and it wasn't an exaggeration.
Just this mechanical technology alone was incredible. The rest of the North Blue probably wouldn't see anything like this for another fifty years.
Raleigh reached into the chest cavity of the destroyed wolf.
He found the energy core—a small, glowing device that powered its movements. He crushed it slightly with his fingers.
Zzzzt!
The core sparked violently, shooting out a small flame.
Raleigh leaned forward. He brought the cigar in his mouth close to the sparking core.
He puffed a few times until the tobacco lit up, glowing orange.
He exhaled a cloud of gray smoke, tossing the broken robot aside.
"Thanks for the light."
....
"Dammit! What do you think this place is?!"
Vinsmoke Judge slammed his fist onto the control console.
Judge was an extremely arrogant man.
As the leader of the Germa Kingdom and a genius scientist, he looked down on almost everyone except Vegapunk.
He viewed these machines as masterpieces of engineering.
And now? This Marine was using his masterpieces as a cigarette lighter.
"It's an insult!" Judge screamed, his face turning red. "This brute is mocking the Vinsmoke science!"
Judge turned to the other scientists. "Vegapunk! Bring me the control device for the Mechanical Gorilla. I want to crush him."
Seeing Raleigh's arrogant smile through the surveillance feed made Judge's blood boil.
He decided he would bury this Marine soldier in the dirt of this deserted island.
He would use Raleigh's blood to wash away the insult!
...
The dark forest was now flickering with light.
Raleigh had destroyed several more wolves, using their sparking cores to start small fires around the battlefield.
He stood in a ring of fire and scrap metal.
"Is that all?" Raleigh asked.
Suddenly, the ground shook.
Thump. Thump.
A massive shadow emerged from the trees.
It was the Mechanical Gorilla—a tank-sized robot with thick armor plating. It roared, beating its steel chest.
"Finally, a challenge," Raleigh grinned, puffing on his cigar.
...
"You're a powerful opponent, Raleigh," Vegapunk muttered, watching the screen. "I have a feeling... we can't defeat you."
There was no disappointment in Vegapunk's voice, only calculation.
He was a realist.
He knew his combat abilities were limited. Even with Judge's Gorilla and his Wolf King, they couldn't stop a monster like Raleigh.
"But," Vegapunk thought, "we don't need to win. We just need to leave."
Vegapunk felt secure.
He had long prepared escape routes for a situation like this.
"Pack everything up!" Vegapunk ordered the room. "We are evacuating!"
Throughout the various laboratories, the scientists scrambled.
They grabbed hard drives, rare chemicals, and precious experimental samples. They shoved papers into briefcases, running in all directions like ants.
In the corner, Queen wiped cold sweat from his forehead.
He watched the screen where Raleigh was fighting the Gorilla and the Wolf King simultaneously.
"Fool!" Queen laughed triumphantly.
"I thought you had some great capability, Raleigh," Queen mocked the screen. "You confidently let me go earlier. I never expected you'd be stupid enough to get held back by a bunch of toys."
Just as Vegapunk had said, they couldn't beat Raleigh.
But while Raleigh was busy playing with the robots, MADS would escape into the sea.
"He's trapped," Queen sneered. "By the time he finishes those robots, we'll be miles away."
But then, Judge screamed.
"Vegapunk! How did that guy suddenly become so terrifying?!"
Judge's voice cracked with pure terror.
On the screen, the battle had shifted instantly.
Raleigh had stopped playing.
He erupted with speed that the cameras could barely track.
He appeared in front of the Wolf King and punched its head.
CRUNCH.
The Wolf King's head shattered into a thousand pieces.
Before the metal pieces hit the ground, Raleigh turn around. He drove his fist, hardened like black steel, straight into the Mechanical Gorilla's chest armor.
CLANG!
He tore through the thick plating like it was paper.
Raleigh reached inside, grabbed the Gorilla's main reactor, and ripped it out.
The massive machine powered down and collapsed.
Then, Raleigh looked directly at the camera... and vanished.
The screen showed only an empty forest.
"Where did he go?" Judge shouted, frantically switching camera views. "Why can't we find him on the surveillance feed anymore?"
There was no sign of him.
Even the usually arrogant Judge felt a shiver of fear.
WOO-WOO! WOO-WOO!
Suddenly, the alarm bells inside the base began to ring.
The sound was deafening, echoing in every corridor.
Judge and Queen looked up at the flashing red warning lights on the ceiling.
"Why did the internal intrusion alarm go off?" Queen asked, confused. "Did someone accidentally trigger a sensor while packing boxes?"
"No..." Judge whispered.
Before they could figure it out, the laboratory door burst open.
Dr. Vegapunk ran out.
His face was grim and pale. He wasn't carrying any papers or hard drives.
"There's no time!" Vegapunk shouted, running past them. "Leave everything behind! Drop the samples!"
"What? Why?!" Judge asked.
"The alarm went off because he is here!" Vegapunk yelled, not stopping. "He has already invaded the base! I just saw his face on the interior hallway surveillance!"
"WHAT?!"
Judge and Queen were shocked to their cores.
Raleigh had bypassed the heavy blast doors in seconds?
They instantly dropped the heavy boxes they were holding.
Research didn't matter anymore.
Their lives were on the line!
"Run!"
They sprinted after Vegapunk, heading deeper into the facility toward the secret dock.
They reached a massive steel door at the end of the corridor.
Vegapunk's fingers flew across the keypad, entering passwords and scanning his fingerprints.
Beep. Access Granted.
Vegapunk slammed his hand on a large red button.
KA-CHUNK!
The entire base began to shift.
Heavy steel blast doors slammed down behind them, sealing off the laboratory into small, isolated compartments to slow Raleigh down.
The door in front of them slowly hissed open.
Inside the water-filled chamber, mechanical arms lowered a sleek vessel into the water.
It was the escape submarine.
It was shaped like a massive cigar, smooth and black. The powerful jet nozzles at the rear hummed with energy.
Vegapunk waved his arms frantically.
"Quick! Board the vessel! We depart now!"
---------
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator