I collect everything in the One Piece world.

But even if it were true, he wouldn't allow Reiju to do it.

Reiju didn't wait for his answer, but continued, "I came back this time to make things clear to you. I'm leaving the Vinsmoke family and I want to live the life I want."

“I also know that as long as the genetic instructions in the bloodline factor are still there, I will never be able to truly disobey your orders, so I must completely remove this shackle before I leave.”

Judge gritted his teeth, trembling with rage: "So you went through all this trouble just to tamper with your own bloodline factors?"

“That’s right.” Reiju readily admitted, “You guessed correctly.”

Judge gritted his teeth and remained silent for a moment, then suddenly sneered: "You think you can succeed? You think you can really tamper with your own bloodline factors?"

"This system is extremely complex to operate, and even I have to be very careful when operating it myself."

"Although you've been exposed to Germa's technology since you were young, I've always controlled the core system's operating permissions. You simply don't have enough experience or authority to perform such an operation!"

Reiju did not refute his words, but slowly stood up, walked to Judge, and looked down at him.

Then she reached out and gently pressed a button on a bracelet that Judge was wearing on his wrist.

A holographic projection emerged from the bracelet, forming a complex operation log interface in mid-air.

Judge's gaze swept over the interface, and then his expression froze instantly.

It clearly showed that during the ten minutes he was unconscious, the core system had been successfully logged into and a series of high-privilege operations had been completed.

The account that is logged in is his, and he has the highest privileges.

"How...how did you get access to my account?" Judge's voice trembled slightly.

“Father, have you forgotten?” Reiju leaned down slightly, her gaze calm as she met his eyes: “You’ve never hidden it from me when you log into the system.”

"I've already memorized your password, your operating habits, and your access levels. I'm just waiting for the right opportunity."

Judge opened his mouth, but found that he couldn't utter a single word.

Reiju straightened up, turned around and walked back to the control panel, placing her hands on the keyboard again.

A calm yet firm voice came from the direction of the control panel: "As your father, I won't hurt you. I will leave after I finish editing the bloodline factors."

"The restraints are strong enough to hold you until the Germa guards find you, at which point you will be rescued."

Judge remained silent for a long time, then stared intently at Reiju and said in a deep voice, "Reiju... what exactly do you want to do?"

Reiju stopped what she was doing and turned her head slightly to look at Judge.

Under the cool white light of the laboratory, the lines of her profile appeared exceptionally clear and soft, and her usually calm eyes shone with an unprecedented light.

“I want freedom,” she said. “Real freedom.”

"I've never told you that I'm actually a 'failure' just like Sanji."

Judge's body jolted, and a look of disbelief flashed in his eyes.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but was silenced by Reiju's next words.

"Over the years, I haven't been without feelings; I've just been pretending." Her voice remained calm, yet it carried a weariness and resolve that had been suppressed for too long and was finally being released.

"I thank you for giving me life, but I hate you even more. I hate your coldness and ruthlessness, and I hate that you will stop at nothing for your so-called 'ideals'."

“You killed my mother, you used your own children as experiments, you treated us as tools and weapons, and you never really treated us as your children.”

She paused, took a deep breath, and continued, "I used to think that as long as I was obedient and compliant enough, you would treat us like a real father, but I was wrong."

"In your eyes, we have always been nothing more than works of art, works that prove your greatness, tools for you to realize your ambitions, nothing more."

Judge remained silent, his expression shifting between shock and anger several times, but ultimately settling on a complex, somber look.

Without waiting for his response, Reiju's fingers flew across the keyboard as she typed the final command.

A confirmation dialog box popped up on the screen, displaying the message: "Confirm modification of the underlying command code of the lineage factor? This operation is irreversible."

She pressed the confirmation button without hesitation.

进度条开始跳动。10%……30%……50%……80%……100%。

A message popped up on the screen: "Instruction modification complete."

However, the very next second after the prompt appeared, another line of red warning messages popped up: "Error: The instruction gene cannot be turned off independently. This gene is deeply bound to the ancestry factor core sequence and cannot be removed separately."

Judge looked at Reiju's solemn expression and suddenly let out a low, cold laugh: "You think you can really just shut down the command genes? How naive!"

"The connection between this gene and lineage factor is far deeper than you imagine; this is the culmination of my life's work! Do you think you can defeat me?"

Reiju's brows furrowed sharply as she pulled up a more detailed error report, quickly skimmed through it, and her expression gradually turned serious.

She discovered that what Judge said was true; the mandatory instruction gene did not exist independently, but was deeply integrated into the core sequence of the bloodline factor, like the roots of a large tree, closely intertwined with the entire bloodline factor system.

If you want to remove it, you must shut down the entire lineage factor system.

Judge struggled to lift his head, his gaze fixed on Reiju, his voice filled with an almost manic smugness: "You want freedom? Fine! The price is to become an ordinary person!"

"I gave you superhuman physical abilities and strength, I gave you superhuman strength and speed, and I made you a warrior of the Vinsmoke family!"

"This is a gift I gave you! But instead of being grateful, you even want to disobey your father!"

His laughter grew louder and louder, echoing throughout the laboratory: "You can't turn off the command gene unless you shut down the entire lineage factor and become an ordinary person, but an ordinary person has no value."

"If you're worthless, will Blackmores still want you? A burden who's lost his fighting ability, what do you think he'll do with you? Abandon you? Or pity you?"

Reiju listened to him quietly, her expression unchanged. When his laughter subsided, she spoke slowly, her voice calm and firm: "Thank you for the reminder, but my value doesn't need to be demonstrated in this way."

Judge's smile froze on his face.

Reiju didn't look at him again. She turned around, took a deep breath, and then reached out and typed the final command on the keyboard to shut down the bloodline factor core sequence.

A confirmation dialog box popped up on the screen again, with the red warning text standing out prominently: "Confirm to close the bloodline factor core sequence?"

"This operation will cause all lineage factors to cease functioning, including enhanced physical abilities, self-healing capabilities, and toxin immunity..."

Reiju's gaze lingered on the warning text for a moment, then she pressed the confirm button without hesitation.

This time, the progress bar started moving again. But unlike last time, this time she could clearly feel her body changing.

A feeling of weakness welled up from the depths of her bones and was spreading rapidly, washing over her limbs and body like a tidal wave.

Her muscles began to soften, her breathing became rapid, and the temperature of her skin seemed to be dropping. The superhuman abilities that she had once been so proud of were being drained from her body.

She felt her body become "lighter" than ever before, not in a light, airy way, but in a sense of emptiness as if she had lost some kind of support.

But at the same time, she also felt an unprecedented sense of relief, as if an invisible shackle had shattered the moment she pressed the confirm button.

The final message popped up on the screen: "The lineage factor core sequence has been closed, and the instruction gene has been deactivated."

Reiju looked at the green notification text and a smile slowly appeared on her lips.

Simply shutting it down wasn't enough; Reiju's fingers continued typing on the keyboard, completely erasing her entire genetic operating system from the system.

Seeing the confirmation message "Completely deleted" pop up on the screen, Reiju let out a long sigh of relief.

She stood up, stretched her stiff shoulders, and carefully felt her body, which had become "ordinary." Although she felt somewhat unaccustomed to it, she felt an unprecedented sense of ease.

Not far away, Gaji stared wide-eyed at the prompt on the screen, his expression shifting from shock to anger, and then to an indescribable complex look.

His lips trembled slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't utter a single word.

This was his most prized work, but his own daughter disregarded it, closing it down and permanently deleting it right in front of him.

"How dare you! How dare you!..." Judge was furious, and even glared at Reiju and growled incoherently.

Reiju, however, didn't care about his loss of composure at all and stood up to leave.

But just then, Ichi appeared on the screen at the laboratory entrance.

"Reiju, are you in there? Is Father in? I need to talk to him." Ichiji looked at the security camera by the door, waiting for a reply from inside.

Reiju stopped abruptly, frowning as she stared at Ichiji's image.

Why is Ichiji at the door? Shouldn't he be waiting outside with Niji and Yonji? Did Judge secretly inform him? Or did he sense something was wrong?

Reiju's mind raced, but no matter how she thought about it, the current situation was extremely bad.

She has already shut down her bloodline factor and is now just an ordinary person. Not to mention Ichi, she might not even be able to defeat an ordinary soldier from Germa.

If what she did to Judge is discovered, she will have no chance of leaving the lab as planned.

Judge naturally heard Ichiji's voice as well. A hint of joy instantly appeared on his gloomy face, and his eyes flashed with suppressed anger and a cold light of being disobeyed.

He struggled to lift his head. Although his body, bound to the experimental bed, was unable to move, his voice carried an almost cruel smugness: "My dear daughter, you can't leave!... Waaah!"

"Shut up!" Reiju shoved a piece of equipment lying in the side into Judge's mouth to shut him up, and then covered his head with a white lab coat.

Afterwards, Reiju forced herself to calm down and began to think of a way to escape.

Ten minutes later, when Judge, who had regained some strength, broke free of his restraints, he found only an empty laboratory. Reiju seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving no trace.

"Ah!!!" Judge roared, overturning the table next to him, then suppressed his anger and reported to the entire Germa Kingdom: "Attention all personnel! Seal off the entire Germa Kingdom! Capture the traitor Vinsmoke Reiju!"

"Repeat! Catch that traitor! Aaaaaah!!!"

At the door, Ichi, who was knocking, was also stunned when he heard the announcement above his head.

"Reiju? Traitor? What's going on?"

Chapter 248, damn Judge! What audacity!

On board the "Riding the Waves" ship, the crew, who had just experienced a period of unusual weather, had finished washing up and were gathered in the lounge drinking tea and chatting.

The sea outside the window had temporarily returned to calm, and the afterglow of the setting sun shone through the porthole into the cabin, casting a warm glow on the wooden floor.

The black tea in the teapot was steaming, and there was a plate of delicate cookies next to it, which were special cookies that Nami had bought on that small island.

The group chatted casually, but the topic naturally turned to Reiju, who was temporarily absent.

"I wonder how Reiju is doing now." Nami held her teacup, leaned back on the sofa cushions, and gazed somewhat absently out the window.

"She's been back for several days now, I wonder how her talk with her father went."

Without Reiju around, Nami felt empty inside; no one had been eavesdropping with her these past few days.

It feels pretty bad to have no one to share this secret joy with.

“She said the Germa Kingdom is currently operating in the New World waters, so based on the voyage, they should have already returned,” Mosen said softly, sitting by the window and twirling a coin in his hand.

"Speaking of which, should we just go find her?" Nami suddenly sat up straight, her eyes lighting up.

"I heard that the Kingdom of Germa was pieced together by many giant snails, like a steel castle floating on the sea. It's amazing."