Pirate: I'm an admiral now, what's wrong with taking a little extra money?

The gloom in Sakazuki's eyes gradually dissipated, replaced by a sudden realization and admiration, even a hint of shame. He had actually misunderstood Kane's good intentions!

“I see…” Sakazuki took a deep breath, his eyes under the brim of his hat gleaming with determination. “Kane, you see further than I do. I was just being superficial.”

"I'm glad you understand." Kane nodded with relief.

[Ding! A major shift in the sense of justice has been detected in the important character "Sakazuki"!]

[Highly disruptive, violation score +5000!]

“But…” Kane’s tone shifted, his expression turning serious again, even carrying a hint of murderous intent, “This is far from enough.”

He straightened up, walked back to the table, and casually slapped the "Derma Palace Structure Diagram" that he had taken from Judge onto the table.

"Did you think our mission this time was simply to extract some money and then it would be over?"

The three were stunned.

"Isn't that right?" Kuzan scratched his head. "Didn't the report say that we just needed to keep Germa in line?"

"That's just a superficial task!" Kane exclaimed, looking utterly distraught. "You haven't seen the true nature of things yet!"

He pointed out the window in the direction the Germa fleet had retreated, his voice filled with fervor:

“I know Vinsmoke Judge too well. He may have backed down just now, but he's probably cursing us at home right now, maybe even vowing revenge! He'll never let this go!”

"Moreover, how could Germa, with its more than 300 years of history, only have a mere billion in cash?"

“As soon as we leave Beihai, they will quickly rise again using their remaining enormous wealth, and even exploit the people of Beihai to make up for their losses!”

“So, to solve the problem at its root, we must…” Kane paused, a glint of light flashing in his eyes.

"Cut off their war funding completely! Make sure they don't even have money to buy a screw!"

Upon hearing this, Sakazuki abruptly stood up, his body radiating heat: "Only by completely destroying their foundations can we prevent the resurgence of evil!"

"Hmm~ That sounds pretty reasonable~" Borsalino pushed up his sunglasses. Anyway, as long as there were benefits, he didn't care.

Only Kuzan looked at Kane with suspicion: "Cut off the funding? What do you plan to do? We can't stay in the North Sea forever, can we? It's too much trouble."

“Of course not.” Kane waved his hand sharply, his voice righteous and indignant. “I propose! Tonight we launch a surprise attack! We’ll strike at their heart, infiltrate Germa’s headquarters, and confiscate all their remaining war funds!”

"Headquarters?" Kuzan poked his head out from the pile of money. "Hey, are you guys serious? That's the royal palace of a member state! What if we get caught..."

"What palace? That's a den of evil!"

Kane declared righteously, "We're here to cleanse evil! And if I don't take it, this money will become bullets fired at civilians! Kuzan, do you want to see innocent children die tragically?"

Kuzan shrank back: "Of course not..."

"That's right!"

Kane snapped his fingers, pulled a red pen from his pocket, and drew a big X on the "vault" location on the map.

"Listen up, tonight's operation code name: 'Zero Yuan Purchase'."

“We want to let Germa know that justice will not only be late, but it will also take their money.”

Chapter 26 A Terrifying Night in Germa! Kane: Fellow countrymen, we've come to bring you warmth!

night.

Deep and dark as ink.

The moving castle complex of the Germa Kingdom was deathly silent after the day's crushing defeat.

The snail-shaped boats that had been smashed during the day were scattered around, and the hammering sounds of the repair work carried far into the night.

The flagship castle, with the king's bedroom on the top floor.

Vinsmoke Judge, wearing a bathrobe, paced restlessly back and forth in the room.

The humiliation of the day was deeply etched into his heart. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Kane's smirking face and Sakazuki's devastating lava.

"Commander-in-Chief, it's late. Please get some rest." The emotionless voice of the clone soldier came from outside the door.

"Get out!" Judge roared, sweeping all the documents off the table.

Rest? How could he possibly sleep!

One billion Berries! That's almost half of the profits he's made from waging wars in recent years! And just like that, four brats robbed him of it!

“Kane… the Navy…” Judge gritted his teeth, “Just wait, once I complete the final modification of the bloodline factor, I will show you what true fear is!”

He walked to the window and looked down at the heavily guarded, enormous treasure castle that connected to the flagship.

There, the wealth accumulated by his Vinsmoke family over generations was stored, and it was also his greatest asset in realizing his ambitions.

"Fortunately... the most important things are still here." Judge looked at the treasury and felt a little more at ease. "As long as we have that money and the technology blueprints, Germa can make a comeback at any time."

Unbeknownst to this overlord of the North Sea, at the very moment he made his vow, four furtive figures, like ghosts, were silently approaching from hundreds of meters below his feet in the water.

……

Directly below the flagship, in the icy seawater.

"Gurgle..."

Four heads silently emerged from the water.

"Keep up, everyone! Hurry up!"

Kane, dressed in a black, tight-fitting wetsuit and wearing a diving helmet, gave incoherent instructions.

"Ugh... swimming at night in this weather will really make you catch a cold." Kuzan exhaled a breath of cold air, ice crystals clinging to his hair, looking utterly dejected.

Sakazuki's face darkened, his arms crossed. He was disgusted by this sneaky behavior, but he held back because he thought it was for the sake of justice.

"Hey~, Kane~ are you sure this is the place? This wall looks so thick~" Borsalino tapped the huge snail shell in front of him, which was as big as a mountain wall, and made a dull sound.

This is the foundation of the Germa Vault Castle.

“Of course, I scouted the location during the day.” Kane pulled the sketch out of his waterproof bag. “See this? According to my precise calculations, entering from this location allows us to bypass 90% of the defense system and reach the core area of ​​the vault directly.”

"Sakazuki, it's your turn to shine." Kane patted Sakazuki on the shoulder.

Sakazuki glanced at him, and although he was annoyed, he still walked up to him.

He stretched out his right hand and pressed it against the alloy shell, which was several meters thick.

"Netherhound!"

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a soft "hissing" sound.

Sakazuki's arm transformed into scalding magma, and the hard alloy melted silently before him like butter, creating a circular opening large enough for one person to pass through.

"Well done!" Kane gave a thumbs up and was the first to crawl in, followed closely by the other three.

After the four men took off their diving suits, they immediately looked around. It was a huge underground equipment layer with various pipes crisscrossing and steam hissing.

As soon as I landed, before I could even catch my breath, I heard a series of synchronized footsteps coming from around the corner ahead.

Click, click, click.

A squad of clone soldiers dressed in black combat suits happened to be patrolling by.

Six eyes met.

The air froze for a second.

The clone soldier reacted extremely quickly; almost the instant he saw the stranger, his finger was already on the trigger, and he opened his mouth to trigger the alarm.

"Since we've been discovered, there's nothing we can do about it."

Kane spread his hands and turned to look behind him.

"The first rule of infiltration: As long as you kill all the witnesses, that's a perfect infiltration."

Before he could finish speaking...

Kuzan, who had previously looked listless, suddenly sharpened his gaze. Since they were already here, exposing themselves now and triggering a ship-wide alarm would only make things worse.

"Ice Time".

A burst of cold air.

It wasn't a large-scale freeze, but rather an extremely concentrated cold air mass.

Before the clone soldiers could even pull the trigger, before their vocal cords could even vibrate, they were instantly transformed into crystal-clear ice sculptures.

Even the monitoring Den Den Mushi above their heads were frozen in place by the sudden extreme cold.

The corridor was deathly silent.

"Well done." Kane walked over, flicked an ice sculpture with his finger, making a crisp sound, "Now we're still in stealth mode."

"What kind of infiltration is this..." Borsalino put his hands in his pockets, kicked away the ice shards on the ground, and muttered to himself, but his feet followed along honestly.

The four of them moved as if they were in an empty place.

They encountered three more patrol teams along the way.

Sakazuki didn't waste any words. He transformed his body into an element and glided along the ground. Wherever he passed, the clone soldiers were instantly vaporized by the high temperature before they could even scream, leaving not even ashes behind.

A complete service for murder to cover up the crime and destroy evidence.

Kane, watching this scene, couldn't help but mentally give Sakazuki a hundred thumbs up.

Finally, the doors to the Germa royal vault appeared before everyone's eyes.

It stands five meters tall and is made of special steel. It is covered with complex combination locks, which are said to be so strong that even cannons cannot break it.

"Borsalino, that door over there looks pretty sturdy," Kane said, pointing to the vault door.

"Yay! A piece of cake!"

Borsalino's figure transformed into a golden light and instantly appeared in front of the gate.

He extended a finger, and a dazzling light gathered at the tip, like a laser pointer, as he quickly swept it across the huge circular lock cylinder.

With a soft "click," the gate, strong enough to withstand artillery fire, slowly opened.

"What is professionalism? This is professionalism!" Kane gave another thumbs up, his heart filled with emotion.

These three future generals are practically a born criminal gang!

After passing through the gate, a huge space appeared before the four of them.