Silver candlesticks and cutlery from the Silver Kingdom of the South Blue, the highest-grade porcelain from the Flower Country, fresh meat from Sea Kings supplied specially from Mary Geoise, a top chef who once worked at the Baratie restaurant, and royal supply red wine from the Alabasta Kingdom.
In every respect, this dinner could be described as extremely 'high-class.'
Unfortunately, those enjoying this 'high-class' dinner were not people who matched the ambiance.
The long dining table was filled with various delicacies, but the Vinsmoke brothers, who were eating voraciously at the table, could only be described as wolfing down their food.
It wasn't that their eating was particularly unsightly-at least not like Luffy's gluttony-it was just very fast, as if they were racing against time.
"Phew, I'm full!"
The three brothers put down their utensils almost simultaneously, drained the red wine in their glasses, and let out a long sigh.
"Good. Now that you're full, go down and rest. You did very well today."
Judge looked at his three sons with a kind gaze, his tone gentle and affectionate.
If you only looked at this, he seemed like a qualified father.
Of course, if you ignored Reiju, who was still lying in the sickroom, and ignored Judge's punishment of his three sons for their failure yesterday, he was indeed a 'qualified' father.
Neither the sons nor the father seemed to think there was anything wrong with this.
Reward when useful, punish when useless.
The Vinsmoke family members were linked by a utilitarianism that was much more direct than familial affection.
The Vinsmoke brothers left.
Yonji made a throat-slitting gesture toward No. 6 as he departed, but Shin, controlling No. 6, didn't care about these three high-level thugs at all.
"Although they are His Majesty Judge's children, in my opinion, the three princes are more like your generals."
"Before they are my sons, they are the Vinsmoke family's greatest masterpieces," Judge said lightly, swirling the red wine in his glass.
"Only by fulfilling their duties as masterpieces can they enjoy the privileges of being my sons."
"And if they don't fulfill that duty, they don't deserve the privilege," No. 6 continued along with Judge's words, revealing a playful smile.
"Just like your 'third son' who died young, Vinsmoke Sanji? However, in my opinion, your third child is living quite well now."
Judge's movement slightly paused, but only for a moment.
He said flatly, "He is not my son. My son died ten years ago."
As the King of Germa, Judge certainly knew where his son was-not to mention, Germa 66 couldn't have been unaware of a major event like his attack on Enies Lobby.
But what did knowing matter? Judge wouldn't acknowledge a bold pirate as his son.
Although he could have the World Government revoke the bounty at any time, why would he do that?
He was a thoroughgoing old bastard who practiced utilitarianism.
Just as he said, before assuming the identity of his sons, his children had to fulfill their responsibilities and duties.
"I heard the Vinsmoke family has noble blood," No. 6 said, elegantly cutting his steak.
This movement, however, looked awkward on the slightly rugged face of the pirate Praying Hand.
"His Majesty Judge has always claimed the Vinsmoke family has the right to rule all of North Blue. I just don't know how many countries in North Blue have responded to this born-noble pride?"
"Hmph! In the end, this world speaks based on strength!" Hearing the sarcasm in No. 6's words, Judge didn't care, just snorting.
"I was able to revive the Germa Kingdom from scratch by myself. One day, I will also make the Vinsmoke family's Germa Empire reign supreme over North Blue again!"
"North Blue will once again submit to the Vinsmokes! The thirty-six countries of North Blue will rally under the Germa flag-no, more countries will submit to us!"
"Mhmm," No. 6 agreed absentmindedly while eating, accompanying the fanatical Judge.
He was quite speechless about this old man who couldn't see reality clearly.
Anyone with a brain would know that an 'empire' could never appear in the Four Seas.
The World Government and the Five Elders would rather tolerate the Four Emperors raging than allow a super-scale power to emerge in the Four Seas, which they considered their foundation.
The Vinsmoke family had indeed been at its height.
The Germa Empire had indeed ruled North Blue for a considerable period, just as Judge claimed.
But three hundred years ago, the Germa Empire disintegrated.
Countless small countries split from North Blue, and even the Germa Empire's native island was leveled by an unknown force.
This was likely done by the World Government, or perhaps even Im-sama himself.
The current Germa was completely different from the original Germa Kingdom.
This Germa 66 was a new country forcibly rebuilt by Judge using his own scientific research power.
Even the citizens of this country were mostly clones.
Rather than a country, it was essentially a mobile army.
Revive the Empire? A king who has lost his own culture, his own land, his own history, and even his own people still dreams of reviving an empire.
However, Shin only thought these offensive words to himself.
Outwardly, No. 6 listened very seriously to Judge's grand plan.
"...We will use the Four Emperors to restrain the World Government, seize control of North Blue, establish a North Blue Kingdom Autonomy, and finally force the World Government to recognize the Germa Empire!"
Judge passionately recounted his grand plan.
If Shin didn't know that the World Government had Im and that the Marine had monsters as numerous as cattle, he might have actually believed him.
This idea of brazenly splitting the World Government's foundation was very daring, but unfortunately, Judge had the dream, but not the fate to achieve it.
He himself knew this and knew that it was impossible to restore Germa's former glory under the World Government's rule.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to great lengths to try to marry Big Mom and form an alliance two years later.
"We Germa need more allies, allies worthy of standing with us!"
After talking for a long time, Judge finally got to the point.
He looked at No.
6 intently and said loudly, "Your Anaheim Company's weapons have a great future! Cooperate with us, Germa. We can form a mutual defense pact. We provide the clone soldiers, and you provide the weapons!"
"With our strong alliance, no force in North Blue will be able to stop us!"
Faced with Judge's enthusiastic invitation, Shin was deeply moved, and then flatly refused.
"I apologize, Your Majesty Judge. If you want to purchase weapons from our Anaheim Company, you can place an order directly," No. 6 said calmly.
"Our Anaheim Company will not directly participate in any war. We are only responsible for selling weapons. We are a conscientious company, and we will never get involved in something as dangerous and terrible as fighting wars."
"...You still don't seem to understand your current situation."
Judge narrowed his eyes, and his golden pupils emitted the malicious gaze of a predator.
"You are now in the hands of Germa. The weapons you sold caused us serious losses. Executing you, who is responsible for all this, would greatly soothe the morale of the army."
"First, we only sell weapons. It was the people of the Antonhal Kingdom who killed your clones." No. 6 was unfazed and unafraid, simply shrugging.
"Your Majesty Judge, would you specifically kill the person who made the knife just because a robber used it to kill someone? And with all due respect, even if you want to deepen cooperation with my boss, capturing me seems useless."
"I'm just a wage slave. I work for my boss. Even if you kill me and make my head into a bowl to send to my boss, it won't affect his business." Judge stared at No. 6.
Indeed, he saw no fear in this seemingly rough guy.
He genuinely wasn't afraid of death, nor was he afraid of being exploited...but that didn't make sense.
Someone who possessed both speaking skills and knowledge of weapons like him should be an important figure in that D. Poltorto's team.
"Ah, has so much time passed? In a little while, the bodies in the castle will probably be discovered. That would be bad, wouldn't it?"
No. 6 chuckled lightly, looking playfully at the pale and shrinking Foreign Minister in the corner.
"Your Majesty Judge, before we discuss technical cooperation or other cooperation issues, I think we should decide the issue of Antonhal."
No. 6 lightly tapped the glass with his finger, and amid the crisp echo, he smiled, "In the war against the Antonhal Kingdom, Germa 66 achieved an unprecedented great victory.
But out of His Majesty Judge's benevolence, you decided to spare Antonhal a path to life and spare Rabbit III's life."
"...What do you mean?"
"My meaning is-rather than a one-time plunder as Germa usually does, this time, we will switch to a long-term approach."
No. 6 crossed his hands, looking at the Foreign Minister who was too scared to speak.
He said softly, "Antonhal has a large territory and many people. Germa can only take away perhaps less than a tenth of the land's production. And Your Majesty Judge, even if you seize everything, in your heart, it probably doesn't compare to the loss of reputation of the Army of Evil."
"If that's the case, why don't we change our approach? We cooperate. I possess the legal rights to half of Antonhal's land. We can forcibly conscript the people of this country to build factories, mine ores, and produce weapons for us-this is reasonable for me, and the Five Elders won't find fault with it. In return, the weapons produced by Antonhal's factories will be prioritized for Germa, and the choice of what weapons the factories manufacture will also be given to you. What do you think?"
Judge pondered for a moment, then slowly nodded.
"Yes, I accept."
Germa had no territory, only mobile giant warships.
Although it claimed to be a high-tech nation, it severely lacked a heavy industry base.
Germa was not incapable of manufacturing weapons; it lacked the conditions.
The clone soldiers' technical skill and capability were very high, but they had to buy weapons from outside.
For Judge, prioritizing the purchase of better and cheaper weapons from Poltorto's factories at a lower price gave him no reason to refuse.
No. 6 smiled lightly.
He had saved many lives again.
If he hadn't proposed the factory plan, Judge would definitely have taken as many Antonhal people as possible to sell as slaves before leaving, or directly cleared the entire island.
The reputation of Germa's Army of Evil was built on mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Judge, a ruthless man who could mercilessly deal with his own flesh and blood, how could he have any compassion for others?
However, although he saved many people, it was not out of subjective kindness.
From various perspectives, Shin was actually just finding a raw material production area and cheap labor for himself.
He felt more and more like an old capitalist.
"Leave this useless person behind. A clone who looks like Rabbit III will be completed by tomorrow morning. Then let this useless person tutor him, and send him back to Antonhal."
Judge pressed a few buttons on his throne, saying calmly.
From this composed reaction, it was clear that he had done many such 'Tanuki-for-Prince' swaps.
"I'm starting to think His Majesty Judge will be a great business partner!" No. 6 raised his glass and laughed loudly.
"How about we talk about further cooperation?"
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