I collect everything in the One Piece world.

The patrol frequency was reduced from once every two hours to once every four hours, and the alert level was lowered from the highest level, red, to orange.

Reiju hid in the mezzanine, observing the movements of the soldiers in the corridor below through the gaps in the ventilation ducts, silently making plans in her mind.

She guessed that Judge probably really couldn't find her.

After several days of thorough searching yielded no results, he began to suspect that she might have escaped the territory of the Germa Kingdom by some means.

Moreover, from the occasional conversations she overheard among the soldiers, she learned that the Kingdom of Germa had just received a new mission that required mobilizing some of its troops to carry it out.

The combination of internal and external factors inevitably led to a decrease in the level of security within the castle.

This was the opportunity she had been waiting for.

Reiju finished the last piece of bread and the last sip of water, then closed her eyes, leaned against the wall for a moment to rest, and let her body absorb as much energy as possible.

When she opened her eyes again, her blue eyes shone with determination and resolve.

She stood up, stretched her stiff hands and feet, took a deep breath, and gently pushed open the hidden door in the mezzanine.

Outside was an empty corridor, with no patrols and no surveillance cameras.

She slipped out, closed the hidden door again, and then, hugging the wall, moved silently forward along the route she had rehearsed countless times in her mind.

Thanks to her deep understanding of the structure of the Germa Kingdom, she knew exactly where the blind spots of each corridor were, how long each sentry's shift would last, and the best time to pass through each corner.

She moved like a ghost through the shadows of the castle, avoiding all the surveillance cameras and patrols, steadily advancing toward the hidden gap in her memory.

The gap was located near an abandoned maintenance gate on the western edge of the castle, a place she had discovered by chance when she was a child.

There was a pile of long-forgotten scrap materials, including several small single-person boats that, although old, were still structurally intact.

She could gain her freedom if she could get there and sail a small boat out of the Germa Kingdom.

Everything is going smooth.

But it went too smoothly.

When Reiju turned the last corner and saw the familiar abandoned maintenance hatch appear not far ahead, a strong sense of unease suddenly welled up in her heart.

She stopped and scanned her surroundings warily.

The quiet streets, the empty surroundings—everything was exactly as she remembered it.

But her intuition was frantically warning her that something was wrong.

She knew the Kingdom of Germa all too well; it was never a place where one could do anything "smoothly."

Sure enough, just as she was about to turn around and take another route, a series of neat and heavy footsteps sounded simultaneously from all directions.

Large numbers of clone soldiers poured out from the hidden corners on both sides, forming an impenetrable encirclement that completely blocked all of Reiju's escape routes.

The soldiers were expressionless, their movements perfectly synchronized, their weapons all pointed at her, the dark muzzles gleaming coldly in the dim light.

Reiju's heart sank.

The encirclement slowly parted to create a passage, and four figures emerged from behind the soldiers.

Leading the way was Vinsmoke Judge, his hands behind his back, his face showing suppressed anger and the exhilaration of having his prey back in his grasp.

Half a step behind him was Ichi, whose expression was as indifferent as ever, as if everything happening before him was nothing more than a trivial matter.

His gaze swept over Reiju without anger, disappointment, or even the slightest ripple of emotion, as if he were looking at an object unrelated to himself.

Niji stood to Ichi's right, his hands in his pockets, a smug smile on his lips.

He tilted his head and looked at Reiju, his eyes filled with undisguised mockery, as if he had finally seen his older sister in such a sorry state.

Yuji stood on the left, arms crossed, chin slightly raised, looking down at Reiju with a superior air.

Judge spoke slowly, his voice low and suppressed, as if he was trying his best to control the anger in his heart: "Reiju, you have really disappointed me."

"I thought you at least had some brains, but I never expected you to choose this method to test my patience."

Do you really think you can escape my grasp?

Reiju did not answer, but stood still, her gaze calmly sweeping over the soldiers surrounding her, over her three younger brothers, and finally settling on Judge's face.

Her expression showed no fear or panic, only a calm acceptance of something she had seen through.

Ichiji spoke up, his voice cold and devoid of any emotion: "Reiju, you're really too stupid. You think you can escape Germa by shutting down your bloodline factor?"

“Your every move in this castle will not escape your father’s eyes.”

Niji chuckled and tilted his head to look at Reiju, mocking, "Tsk tsk tsk, I never expected that you and that piece of trash Sanji are both failures."

"I used to think you were at least a little better than that good-for-nothing."

"As expected, inferior genes are inferior genes, and no amount of disguise can hide their true nature. Only the three of us are the true masterpieces of the Vinsmoke family."

Yuji raised his chin, his tone arrogant and condescending: "Reiju, surrender now, you have no way out."

Judge took a step forward, looking directly at Reiju, his voice carrying a condescending tolerance: "Reiju, I can give you one last chance."

"As long as you are willing to accept the new transformation, cooperate with me to rewrite your underlying logic and control program, and then erase this unpleasant memory, I can pretend that nothing happened."

"You can still retain your status as a member of the Vinsmoke family, and you can still enjoy everything that the Kingdom of Germa has given you."

"This is the last bit of mercy I can show you as your father."

Reiju remained silent for a moment.

Then she smiled.

There was no mockery or bitterness in that smile, only a sense of complete relief and contempt.

She raised her head, meeting Judge's gaze, and said calmly and clearly, word by word, "Father... no, Vinsmoke Judge, you have no right to call yourself my father."

"You're nothing but a mad scientist who uses his own children as experimental subjects, a selfish bastard who will sacrifice everything for his so-called 'dream'."

“You keep saying we are failures, but you have never really examined your own work. The three so-called ‘perfect’ products around you are the real defects.”

Her gaze swept over Ichi, Nichi, and Yonji, her tone filled with merciless contempt: "They have no feelings, no empathy, they're just a bunch of madmen who only know how to fight and obey."

"They don't even understand the meaning of life. You've turned them into your most prized weapons, but they can only ever be weapons, never true human beings."

"So this is what you call a 'perfect work'? That's utterly ridiculous."

Judge's face turned ashen.

Reiju didn't give him a chance to refute, and continued, "I finally managed to break free from your control, and finally found the path I wanted to take. Do you think I would obediently go back to that cage?"

"Let me tell you, even if I die here today, I will never become a tool that you can manipulate again."

"I would rather live a day as an ordinary person freely than live a lifetime as a puppet controlled by you."

She had barely finished speaking when she suddenly moved.

She did not choose to run away, after all, escape was impossible in such a tight encirclement.

She chose to attack, and her target was Judge.

Reiju lunged at Judge, her right fist clenched, and slammed into his face.

Although her bloodline factor has been shut down, her fighting instincts and muscle memory, honed over many years of training, are still intact, and the speed and angle of this punch are still remarkable.

But that's about it.

Judge didn't even move his body, he just coldly looked at Reiju who was rushing towards him, then raised his hand and swung it, and an arm with strength far beyond that of an ordinary person struck Reiju directly in the abdomen.

Reiju's body flew out instantly, crashing heavily against the corridor wall with a dull thud before sliding to the ground.

She struggled to get up, but her body, now devoid of the bloodline factor, could not withstand the blow. A trickle of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth, and the excruciating pain in her abdomen made it almost impossible for her to breathe.

Judge looked down at her, his voice cold and ruthless: "Take her away and lock her in Lab One. I'm going to reinstall the control program on her myself."

Two clone soldiers stepped forward and roughly dragged Reiju up from the ground.

Reiju tried to resist, but her struggles were so futile against the enhanced clone soldiers. She was firmly controlled and unable to move.

Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji stood aside, watching this scene without any emotional fluctuation on their faces.

Without sympathy, without compassion, and without even the slightest hesitation, they simply watched, as if they were watching a malfunctioning machine being sent for repairs.

Their minds are filled with nothing but fighting and obedience, a blind confidence in their own "perfect genes," and contempt for others.

Judge didn't look at Reiju again, turned around and strode towards the laboratory, his voice echoing in the corridor: "Go, I'll let her know what the price of betraying me is."

Inside the laboratory, the cool white light illuminated the entire space as if it were daytime.

Various sophisticated instruments and robotic arms are arranged in an orderly manner in the room, with a multi-functional experimental bed placed in the center and various surgical devices and electrode interfaces hanging overhead.

This place was once where Judge created the Vinsmoke Family's modified warriors, but now it will become the end of Reiju's fate, or at least, that's what Judge plans.

Reiju was forcibly strapped to the laboratory bed, her limbs were bound by metal rings, and her neck was locked by a restraint device, preventing her from turning her head.

Several thin electrode patches, as thin as hair, were attached to both sides of her temples and connected to the brainwave monitor next to her.

Judge stood in front of the control panel, his fingers flying across the keyboard as he re-examined Reiju's genetic data and constructed the underlying architecture.

Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji stood in the corner of the laboratory, arms crossed, watching the scene with great interest.

To them, it was like an entertaining performance, a "failure" attempting to escape family control about to be brought back on track and transformed into a "qualified product."

While operating the equipment, Judge said without turning his head, "Reiju, do you think you can get rid of me completely by deleting your file and turning off your bloodline factor?"

"Ha! You're too naive. I designed the underlying architecture of this system myself. Given enough equipment and time, I can rebuild your control program from scratch."

"At that time, you will forget everything from today, forget that guy named Morsen, forget your ridiculous ideas of freedom, and you will become a perfect member of the Vinsmoke family again."

Reiju lay on the lab bed, her gaze calm as she stared at the ceiling. Her voice was weak, but still clear: "You won't succeed."

Judge sneered: "Oh? On what grounds? You actually expect that so-called captain to come and save you?"

"How long have you been in that adventure group? Ten days? Half a month? How much do you know about him? How do you know he won't abandon you once you've lost your value?"

"Maybe he already knew you had a problem, but he was just too lazy to come looking for you."

Reiju's lips curved into a slight smile, a smile brimming with certainty: "You don't understand him."

Judge was taken aback by her short but firm words, and a nameless anger welled up inside him.

"I don't understand? I've experienced more than you've eaten! You think you understand human nature? How naive!"

Just as he was about to continue operating the instruments, the laboratory alarm suddenly went off without warning.

The piercing alarm blared throughout the castle, and red warning lights began flashing wildly. An emergency notification popped up on the control panel screen.

"Warning: An unidentified target is approaching the waters of the Germa Kingdom. It is recommended to immediately raise the alert level."