Chapter 369: Letting Them Go
When the burly, iron-masked Vinsmoke Judge, with his two upward-curled mustache tips, was escorted back by the female warriors of the Kuja Pirates, Ian couldn’t help but smile at the sight.
“Thank you for your hard work!” Ian first expressed his gratitude to Boa Hancock and the Kuja female warriors, then turned to Judge and said, “Lord Judge, we finally meet! When you attacked my island back then, did you ever think this day would come?”
“Hmph!” Judge snorted coldly, twisting his waist that had just been freed from Boa Hancock’s petrification, and said through gritted teeth, “This time, Germa admits defeat. Having four Warlords of the Sea join forces against us, Germa considers it worth it!”
“Alright, let’s talk about compensation now!” Ian, too lazy to waste words, cut straight to the point. “How do you plan to compensate me for my losses?”
“I can compensate you, but what about my children?” Judge asked.
Ian and his group moved aside slightly, revealing Reiju and the others being suppressed by Fujitora behind them. Judge glanced at Reiju and the others without changing his expression, then suddenly asked, “What about Yonji? Why isn’t Yonji here?”
Hearing this, Ian was momentarily stunned. Hadn’t Yonji escaped back earlier? Didn’t he make it back to Germa’s ship?
Though Ian had no idea what had happened to Yonji, he didn’t care much and replied, “How should I know? Maybe he saw the situation was bad and fled? I didn’t kill him! All the captured Vinsmoke family members are here. Do you want them or not?”
Somewhat helpless, Judge had no choice but to ask, “Then tell me, what kind of compensation do you want?”
“I want Germa’s technological research data!” Ian said. “Your combat suits and the human modification data—I want all of it!”
“Hahahaha!” Judge suddenly burst into loud laughter. “I can give you that, but even if I do, can you even understand it?”
“That’s not your concern!” Ian snapped his fingers and said, “Take a look at who this is!”
Judge looked past Ian and saw a figure emerge from the crowd behind. Though the man seemed vaguely familiar, Judge couldn’t immediately place him.
“Long time no see, Judge!” Waldo spoke up. “Back in the research institute, you were always a bold man. I never expected that at your age, you’d become even bolder!”
Judge’s pupils contracted as recognition dawned. He said in disbelief, “You… you’re Waldo!? You’re still alive!? And your face…”
“Of course I’m alive!” Waldo chuckled. “Surprised, aren’t you? I wasn’t the only one who escaped from the research institute back then.”
“How did you survive?” Judge asked, incredulous. “Wasn’t the institute destroyed in a massive explosion?”
“See these scars on my face?” Waldo pointed to the dense network of scars covering his face. “These are from that explosion. But I was lucky enough to survive.”
Judge fell silent. Seeing an old acquaintance again brought him no joy at all.
Germa’s technology was coveted by many, but such black tech was beyond the grasp of most. So when Ian demanded Germa’s combat suits and human modification data, Judge’s first thought was, “You lowly pirates—even if I give you the data, can you make heads or tails of it?”
But then came a dramatic twist. He never expected that a former colleague from the research institute would appear here, seemingly having joined Ian’s side. This left Judge so choked up he could barely breathe.
Waldo was also an outstanding scientist. If Germa’s research data fell into his hands, he would quickly decipher it, and Germa’s secrets would no longer be unique.
What now? Would he really have to resort to his last resort?
Judge wrestled with his thoughts, keeping his mouth shut. Ian could roughly guess his state of mind and grinned, saying, “Lord Judge, you should know that even if you don’t hand it over, we can still find it on Germa’s ships. It’ll just take a bit more effort.”
However, Ian’s words inadvertently pushed Judge to make a decision.
“Now!” Judge suddenly shouted.
In the next instant, Ichiji, Niji, and Reiju, who had been suppressed by Fujitora, suddenly opened their eyes. Struggling against Fujitora’s gravity field, they stomped hard on the ground.
The jet shoes on their feet erupted with immense force, propelling the three backward like bullets, instantly breaking free from Fujitora’s gravity suppression range.
Fujitora, with his eyes closed, sensed their movements but made no move to stop them.
Since they were on a ship, Fujitora hadn’t exerted the gravity field too heavily, fearing it might crush the deck. He had only maintained a rough pressure—about two or three tons, considering their steel bodies. He had long sensed that the three had regained consciousness, but following Ian’s instructions, he kept quiet, allowing their escape to succeed.
Once Reiju and the others broke free, they flew into the air. As if by prior agreement, Ichiji, Niji, and Reiju each lunged toward one of Ian’s three ships.
“Overload!”
The three muttered in unison, and from midair, they swung their fists from a distance toward Ian’s ships.
From their fists shot invisible, powerful shockwaves—far stronger than what they had displayed during the earlier battle. These three shockwaves split the sea’s surface and struck Ian’s three ships directly.
Upon impact, each ship was blasted with a large hole below the gunwale, and the holes went straight through!
As Reiju and the others struck, Judge also acted. Using his overload ability, he maximized the output of his combat suit and delivered an electromagnetic crushing kick straight at… Jinbe!
Jinbe had already assumed a defensive stance when Judge’s kick came, but under overload, the force of Judge’s kick was terrifying. Moreover, his leg carried a powerful electric current. The moment Jinbe was hit, his body was paralyzed, and Judge kicked him straight through the ship’s side, sending him crashing into the sea.
In that brief, lightning-fast moment, the Vinsmoke family displayed exceptional coordination. After kicking Jinbe away, Judge immediately pushed off the ground, leaping high into the air, and led Reiju and the others as they turned and flew back toward Germa’s ships.
They were trying to escape!
In truth, Judge had understood from the start that against four Warlords of the Sea, Germa had little chance of victory—especially since the enemy had countered Germa’s fleet at every turn.
So even though he had sent Reiju and the others to attack, he hadn’t held much hope. It was merely a backup plan.
His capture by Boa Hancock during the battle was also somewhat expected. Meeting Ian face-to-face, he only wanted to know what compensation this Warlord wanted from Germa.
Judge knew that if he made enemies of four Warlords simultaneously, Germa would never dare show its face in the Grand Line again and would have to slink back to the North Blue forever. So, deep down, he didn’t really want to go to war with Ian—pirates at the Warlord level were no ordinary lowlifes.
Thus, if the compensation wasn’t too steep, he would have been willing to pay.
But he hadn’t expected Ian to demand Germa’s most prized technological achievements—and even find his former research institute colleague, the scientist Waldo.
That was something Judge couldn’t accept. He had poured his life’s work and passion into these technologies, which were the Vinsmoke family’s key to revival. Leaking them would mean losing that leverage. How could Judge possibly agree?
So he had to take a risk.
He figured that after their victory, Ian and his crew would be in a relaxed state of mind. A sudden counterattack at this moment had a good chance of succeeding. Though Ian’s side had formidable combat power, they had a weakness: the number of ships. If he could destroy their ships, they wouldn’t be able to pursue Germa.
The orders he had given Reiju and the others earlier were exactly this: pretend to be injured and unconscious, then seize the opportunity to strike.
So when Judge saw Reiju and the others succeed, he was overjoyed. His reason for targeting Jinbe was to neutralize the fish-man’s mobility in the sea. As long as the attack delayed Jinbe for a moment, allowing Germa’s ships to get moving, the rest would be easy.
Things were unfolding exactly as Judge had envisioned. As the three ships were breached, seawater began pouring in. The crews of the Dragon Hunter Pirates and the Fish-Man Pirates scrambled frantically to salvage their vessels, descending into chaos.
Judge led Reiju and the others back to Germa’s ship and immediately ordered the soldiers to activate the snails. With Ian’s side short-handed, they couldn’t detain Germa’s soldiers or ships, giving them the opportunity they needed.
Germa’s fleet quickly started up, turned around, and sailed away.
Sabo watched the direction of Germa’s departing fleet, walked over to Ian, and said, “No problem. The direction they’re heading is toward Dressrosa.”
Ian smiled slightly and replied, “Good! Let’s salvage the ships. Once they’re repaired, we’ll slowly catch up and herd them toward Dressrosa!”
Judge thought his plan had gone smoothly and that he had escaped, but he had no idea that Ian had deliberately let them go.
Otherwise, when Reiju and the others were captured, Ian would have stripped them of their combat suits immediately. How could he have given them a chance to counterattack?
And if Germa hadn’t escaped, what excuse would Ian have to head toward Doflamingo’s island?