XX-level Hokage

"And also, Ah Long, you must live well," Zhen Ri suddenly said with a smile.

As for Mashiro's sudden words of concern, Ryu was quite puzzled, but he still responded respectfully.

"Thank you for your concern, Lord Quan." After saying that, he turned and left.

"Mashiro seems quite interested in that fishman named Arlong?" Just then, Toki Amatsuki, holding an apple, walked over and asked. After asking, she took a bite out of the apple with a "crack."

"If nothing unexpected happens, we'll have a chance to meet again some decades from now," Mashiro explained softly.

"An old friend?" Amatsuki asked with a smile. She was already used to Mashiro's mystery.

“No, I will kill him then,” Mashiro said softly, taking the apple from Amatsuki's hand and taking a bite. The next few days passed uneventfully.

Tiger led the Sun Pirates in a search for the slave ship.

Mashiro was in the room flipping through the newspaper, trying to find information about the location of the Whitebeard Pirates or Stussy's whereabouts.

The five members were: Vegapunk, Kaiser Courland, Vinsmoke Judge, Quinn, and a female scientist named Miss Bagin.

When Mashiro was in Mary Geoise, she used her identity as the Queen of the Izumi Palace to review a lot of important information about the World Government and the Navy. Therefore, she also knew about the other three members of the group besides Queen and Stussy.

Vegapunk, a scientist at the Navy Headquarters, a member of the World Government, the head of the Navy's Special Science Class, a user of the Brain-Brain Fruit, is 500 years ahead of current technology and is known as a scientist who surpasses human wisdom by 500 years.

He unlocked the conditions for transmitting Devil Fruit abilities and can imbue objects with Devil Fruit powers. Several years ago, he also invented a method that utilizes Seastone.

The method to allow naval warships to cross the doldrums would allow naval vessels to freely travel to other seas.

However, he never appears in the Navy or the World Government and is an extremely mysterious scientist.

Furthermore, Vegapunk is a perfectionist. For him, even the slightest deviation in research results constitutes failure. He is constantly troubled by the problem of research funding, and many of his research discoveries could not be realized due to a lack of funds. The biggest reason he joined the World Government was to have ample resources.

Vegabank possesses basic scientific ethics and opposes dangerous research into biological and chemical weapons, which is why he is disliked by the World Government's top brass. It is said that he is currently researching a "peace weapon" for the Navy that could bring world peace.

Kaiser Courant, a former member of the MADS research team and the World Government Science Class, worked with Begabank and ranked second in the science class.

It is the "supreme authority on weapons of mass destruction".

He was later arrested due to an explosion, escaped and went to Punk Hazard to conduct secret research. He is a Logia-type Devil Fruit user with the Gas-Gas Fruit ability and has a bounty of 3 million Berries.

Caesar's main research areas are artificial Devil Fruits, human gigantification, and weapons of mass destruction.

Unlike Vegapunk, Caesar Courland is an extremely mad scientist, a cruel, arrogant, cunning, and insidious scoundrel.

To achieve his research goals, he would use children as lab rats and control their actions, regardless of the severe environmental impact. To test the lethality of weapons, he would use his subordinates as test subjects.

Vinsmoke Judge, also known as "The Strange Bird Judge," is the head of the Vinsmoke family and the King of Germa Kingdom.

He is also a scientist, the founder of the research team NEOMADS, and formerly belonged to the research team MADS. His dream is to make the declining Germa Kingdom dominate the North Blue again.

In his youth, Vinsmoke Judge left the Germa Kingdom and joined the illegal research group MADS. He worked with Vegapunk on weapons development and later led the team to discover the "bloodline factor".

The World Government deemed the discovery too dangerous and arrested Vegapunk, bribing his team. Judge, however, successfully escaped from the government and is said to have begun implementing his own lineage factor army plan. The World Government, wanting to know the results of the experiment, did not seek out Judge.

Quinn, formerly a member of the research team MADS, was a scientist who developed bioweapons such as mummies and ice demons, and also modified his own body.

After the MADS research team disbanded, they disappeared without a trace.

"Judging from this, that so-called Miss Bakkin should be the future Stusi. If nothing unexpected happens, she must have used some kind of technology to prolong her life."

"Lifespan, or perhaps the creation of a clone with its own memories," Mashiro muttered to herself.

Mashiro is very interested in both of these technologies.

Chapter 90: Aokiji

In the East China Sea, near Rogge Town, Aokiji, then a candidate for admiral, was leisurely riding his bicycle across the sea, leaving an incredibly long trail of ice on the surface.

Just then, the Den Den Mushi (transparent media unit) rang. "Gurgle gurgle gurgle..."

Hearing the Den Den Mushi's voice, Aokiji gripped the handlebars of his bicycle with one hand and pulled a mini Den Den Mushi from his pocket. "Hello~, is this Fleet Admiral?" Aokiji greeted as he answered the Den Den Mushi.

"Hey Aokiji, according to the G35 branch of the Marines, the Sun Pirates should be near the Blue Sea to the left of Loguetown. Go there and capture the criminal Fisher Tiger and his crew." Kong said through the Den Den Mushi.

“Okay, I understand. I’ll be right there,” Aokiji replied.

"Oh, right, the vice-captain of the Sun Pirates, Sassarian Izumi, capture her if you can, otherwise just leave her alone. The main thing is to capture Fisher Tiger and send him to Impel Down." After a moment's hesitation, Kong continued.

“Okay, I understand, Master Kong.” With that, Aokiji hung up the Den Den Mushi. “Sassaria's Soul Spring? Izumi Palace…”

Aokiji muttered to himself, recalling something his teacher Garp had casually mentioned not long ago: "Celestial Dragons?"

The blue pheasant changed direction and headed towards the Qinghai sea area.

On the bow of the Sun Pirates' ship in the Qinghai Sea, Mashiro is leisurely fishing.

Amatsuki wasn't particularly interested in fishing. He sat beside Mashiro, quietly tending to the katana Mashiro had given him. Seeing the fishing line still showing no reaction, Mashiro, who had gone a whole morning without any luck, could no longer contain herself.

A chakra thread suddenly appeared, following the fishing rod and line all the way to the hook, where it then split into dozens of even finer chakra threads. The threads spread through the lake water, passing through a giant sea fish that was swimming rapidly.

Then, Mashiro gently shook the fishing rod, causing the chakra threads to sway, and dozens of tiny chakra threads all passed through the giant sea fish's body. Finally, Mashiro pulled up the line, revealing a huge red sea fish on the hook. With a powerful jerk, the massive red sea fish slammed heavily onto the deck.

"That's amazing!" Jinbe couldn't help but praise.

As a fish-man, he knew very well that giant sea fish were very difficult to catch. They were more intelligent than ordinary fish, and the bait on human hooks was nothing to them.

"I just used some tricks," Mashiro said softly, putting away her fishing rod.

After using the Chakra Fishing Technique, she lost all interest in fishing. "Does Jinbe have any wishes?" Mashiro suddenly asked, looking at Jinbe.

"My wish? Why would you ask that?" Jinbe asked, scratching his head in confusion.

"It's nothing, I was just a little curious. After all, Jinbe is quite strong, and very talented," Mashiro said softly. "You flatter me," Jinbe said modestly.

Then he replied, "My wish is to work with Tiger to liberate the slaves, strive for peaceful coexistence between humans and fishmen, and protect the fishmen and mermaids of Fishman Island."

"What if Tiger passes away before you?" Mashiro continued to ask. Upon hearing this, Jinbe was stunned for a moment, and his expression turned somewhat ugly.

"Don't be angry, it's just a hypothetical situation. After all, no one can predict the future, right?" Mashiro said with a light laugh.

When Mashiro said, "After all, no one can predict the future," Tengetsu, who had been quietly wiping his katana beside Mashiro, looked up.

One glance at Masahiro.

Jinbe's expression became somewhat bewildered and complicated; he had never thought about this question before.

But Fan Ran only hesitated for a moment. Soon, Jinbe said with a firm look in his eyes, "Then I will inherit Tiger's ambition, continue to liberate slaves, strive to achieve peaceful coexistence between humans and fish-men, and do my best to protect the fish-men and mermaids of Fish-Man Island."

Upon hearing Jinbe's words, Mashiro gave him a look of appreciation.

He truly embodied "loyalty and righteousness" to the extreme; no wonder his future title as a Shichibukai is "Knight of the Sea," Jinbe the "Knight of the Sea." Moreover, according to Mashiro's understanding, Jinbe did indeed fulfill everything he promised in the future.

He became a Shichibukai, joined the Whitebeard Pirates, protected the entire Fishman Island under the Whitebeard flag, and actively promoted various tourism projects on Fishman Island.

Just then, the sea suddenly froze, and the pirate ship came to an instant stop. Everyone on board except Mashiro was affected by the sudden stop, some staggered and others fell directly to the ground.

Amatsuki Toki also suddenly fell down, but landed on Mashiro's thigh and managed to hug it.

Quickly recovering from the brief chaos, all the members of the Sun Pirates came to the deck, looking around, trying to find the cause of this sudden change.

"Abnormal weather? But we're in the first half of the Grand Line, there shouldn't be any abnormal weather here." Tiger said in confusion. Jinbe, Arlong, and the others looked at the sea that had suddenly turned into ice, completely bewildered.

Just then, Mashiro said softly, "No need to think about the reason anymore. This isn't due to natural causes, it's man-made." "Man-made? You mean…"

Tiger, after all, was one of the world's most outstanding explorers, and following Mashiro's words, he quickly realized something.

"Look, people are coming." Mashiro said softly, looking in one direction. Because the water had suddenly turned into ice, the ice fog on the sea surface was incredibly thick.

A figure riding a bicycle slowly emerges from the white icy mist.

As the icy mist gradually dissipated and the figure drew closer, the members of the Sun Pirates finally saw its true form.

A tall, burly man in a navy uniform, wearing a white suit vest and a dark blue shirt, with a green eye patch on his forehead, and sporting curly hair, approached the frozen ship of the Sun Pirates. He stroked his tousled curls and said somewhat lazily, "So you're the Sun Pirates?"

"Alright, I am now announcing in the name of Admiral Candidate, currently Vice Admiral Aokiji, that you are formally arrested."

Hearing Aokiji's words, all the members of the Sun Pirates, except for Mashiro and Toki, were stunned. Those who had some knowledge of the Navy, in particular, now wore expressions of despair.

A candidate for admiral—that's the future admiral, and the admiral is the highest combat force of the Navy Headquarters. In other words, what's standing in front of them now is the future highest combat force of the Navy.

Although they encountered a naval admiral on the special route out of Mary Geoise, they had hostages then, but not this time.

"Aokiji? No matter who you are, it's impossible to stop the sun from rising, not even for a Marine Admiral."

With that, Tiger jumped off the pirate ship. Jinbe, Arlong, and several other fish-men followed closely behind.

Landing on the ice, Tiger immediately launched an attack on Aokiji. "Fishman Karate - Samewagami Fist"

Tiger used all his strength to throw a powerful straight punch.

Jinbe and the others followed suit, simultaneously unleashing their Fish-Man Karate. Facing the onslaught, Aokiji made no attempt to dodge.

He met their attack head-on. "Crack!"

The blue pheasant shattered instantly, revealing the biting cold ice beneath.

Chapter 91: Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation

Seeing this, Tiger quickly led Jinbe and the others to retreat.

"A Logia-type Devil Fruit user?" Tiger said in disbelief.

Aokiji didn't speak, but simply waved his hand. A shockwave of icy air instantly rushed towards Tiger and the others. "Frozen Time Capsule"

Seeing this, Tiger's abdomen instantly turned black and was placed in front of the cold shockwave, blocking it. "Armament Haki? That makes sense. How could he dare to break into Maria if he didn't have Haki?"

Haki can indeed resist or even suppress Logia-type Devil Fruit users, but only if your Haki is strong enough.

"Then let me see the strength of Fisher Tiger, who has been designated the third most sinner of our time by the World Government," Aokiji said with interest.

Immediately afterwards, Aokiji gathered cold air in his right arm and released an ice bird that charged toward Tiger with great force, freezing the ice surface with another layer of frost wherever it went.

"IceBlock"PheasantBeak - Pheasant Beak

Facing the charging ice bird, Tiger's arms turned purplish-black as he slammed them against the ice, then grabbed a huge block of ice and smashed it down on the bird. The massive block of ice collided with the ice bird, instantly shattering into dozens of pieces.

Aokiji crossed his arms, and the shattered ice instantly transformed into ice spikes, dozens of which pierced straight towards Tiger with "Ice Block One-Two Spikes".

Faced with the ice spike attack, Tiger once again covered his entire body with Haki, preparing to withstand it. At the same time, Jinbe and Arlong also launched another attack on Aokiji.

Arlong didn't possess any domineering aura and couldn't harm Aokiji, so he led the other fishmen to attack the ice surface with all their might.

The ice broke, revealing the seawater, and Jinbe unleashed Fish-Man Karate. The waves became his fists and palms, relentlessly attacking Aokiji.

However, the seawater will freeze instantly if you get too close to the Aokiji.

"Fishman karate is a very strong physical skill that combines the power of seawater with physical techniques. It can be said that most Devil Fruit users can win against a fishman who knows fishman karate, as long as the skill gap between the two sides is not too large."

Not to mention, fishmen can breathe underwater, so they can easily escape even if they can't win a fight.