Chapter 27: Break The Shackle
( 3rd POV )
In the center of the grand throne room, visibly marred by the recent damage, a small group of individuals observed the intense exchange between two figures engrossed in conversation, their eyes locked in an unyielding gaze.
A girl with striking white hair, overhearing their discourse, contorted her face in fury at the words uttered by a man with flowing blonde hair. He evoked memories of her father, Kaido, but with an even darker shade; at least, she knew her father acknowledged her as his own.
"What a heartless bastard. I have to admit, even my cruel father is better than this wretch," she whispered, her sentiments echoed in the varied expressions of those around her.
A girl adorned with a snake earring and a towering winged man shared a visible frown, especially the girl. She looked like she was trying to suppress her Haoshoku from leaking out and disturbing her beloved man.
"What a disgusting piece of shit. Vanze should kill him soon," she remarked, gnawing at her thumbnail in irritation.
A girl with pink hair, frozen in the air with a kicking posture, also shed a tear upon hearing her supposed father saying that she was just a mere tool in his eyes. She just hoped everything would end soon.
"Fuck, you know what? Let's end this real fast. I don't want to waste my time listening to a guy who doesn't even have a human heart," the white-haired guy named Vanze suddenly pulled out his black sword from the sheath on his waist.
The black katana could be seen getting even darker after he coated it with Busoshoku Haki. The atmosphere around them quickly became tense as they stared at each other.
Suddenly, Vanze disappeared from Judge's vision, only to appear behind him in the next moment. Judge sensed him with Kenbunshoku Haki, but he was still late to react to it.
"Argh!" Judge felt the pain in his ribs from an attack behind him.
Vanze kicked Judge from the throne platform with his leg coated with haki and time energy. Judge, getting kicked by him, was launched to the middle of the room, but Vanze still didn't stop his attack. Because of his Devil Fruit power, each time he struck Judge, he became slower.
Judge, who couldn't respond because of his current situation, couldn't stop the next attack as Vanze appeared right in front of him using Soru, readying his katana to strike him.
As Vanze focused his concentration and tapped into his Devil Fruit abilities while warping it on his sword, a series of quick and precise slashes in rapid succession materialized in the air, each leaving a glowing trail in its wake. These ethereal slashes then converged upon Judge all at once, creating a breathtaking display of sheer power and skill. Even though it looked like he slashed his sword multiple times, in reality, he only did it once just to produce this attack.
He imitated an attack similar to Virgil from DMC, while using his time power and the sword attribute of space to conjure the attack. The difference is that the slashes' ripple has a dark cyan color in it, and he didn't use a demonic energy like Virgil.
"Chrono Cut..." He murmured while turning back and sheathing his katana after delivering his attack.
The impact of the Chrono Cut was both immediate and overwhelming, as the combined force of each slash manifested in a single, devastating blow that tore apart Judge's body and even destroyed his raid suit.
"Urgh..." Judge vomited a lot of blood from his mouth while having numerous cutting injuries on his body. There was a gruesome cut from his face to his body that would last and become a permanent scar. Even though he used his raid suit and haki, he still couldn't win this battle because, in the end, he was a scientist, not a fighter.
The visual spectacle of the fight and Vanze's last attack called Chrono Cut, coupled with its sheer destructive force, left those who witnessed this formidable technique in action in awe. His friends who already knew it didn't seem too surprised, but Reiju had her mouth hanging open, realizing that Vanze back then was not really bragging but he actually could help her.
Realizing this, she appeared to glimpse her final hope of breaking free from his family's control, anticipating that he could genuinely aid her with the chip afterward.
Judge, already severely injured, struggled to breathe and maintained a fierce gaze on Vanze, who advanced toward him. He clung to consciousness, determined not to succumb.
"Cough... You... are a monster," he uttered with a trembling voice.
Vanze, catching his words, merely smiled with an indifferent air. "Thank you, but I can't truly compare to your greatness, your highness," he said, adopting a mocking tone.
He tilted his head toward Reiju to see her expression, and he could see a determination to live compared to the first time they met in the reef.
"How about it, Reiju? Hehe, I'm not boasting when I claim I can defeat your father effortlessly," he remarked, smiling with a teasing tone. She reciprocated with a smile, expressing gratitude through her eyes.
Meanwhile, Hancock near them just continued biting her thumbnail, not because of the fight, but because there would be another girl fallen for her beloved in the near future. She could sense it, her Vanze tingle is tingling right now.
"Tsk."
Yamato and Azel shook their heads, observing her familiar antics, while remaining focused on their leader conversing with the pink-haired girl.
"What is your choice now? I can free you from this bastard's control, give your freedom back and destroy everything he has built until now, or you can just continue to be his tools and let your heart slowly die with you?" He said while stepping on Judge's injured body. Judge couldn't even get up and just watched this while being humiliated by the white-haired man.
"Rei... Ju...!!!" he attempted to command her once more.
Hearing the disturbance, Vanze promptly planted his foot on Judge's face, silencing him. "Shut up, will you?"
"So, what is your choice now? Vinsmoke Reiju."
Reiju, queried by Vanze, already held her answer. Since losing her freedom and her mother, she perceived the world as desolate place with no hope left. Acknowledging her powerlessness when she couldn't even aid her brother and fulfill her promise to her mother deepened her sorrow. Now there is finally a chance for her to escape that fate she will grasp it tightly and will never let it go.
"Vanze, please help me..." she implored, choking desperately, and slowly raised her head, tears streaming from her eyes.
Vanze, witnessing her plea, approached her, drawing his sword once more. The blade emanated a dark blue glow, revealing the impending sword technique.
"Are you sure? Because I need to cut you first to do it," he teased with a playful tone, He wanted to ease the atmosphere in this room because he kind of fed up with the gloomy vibe around it.
Reiju just smiled at him, giving her answer. Vanze aimed his sword in front of Reiju's face, suddenly swinging it in a long vertical slash. The slash didn't seem to hurt Reiju, but the blue sword slash appeared intangible, going through her body instead. Soon after, a small chip emerged from the back of her neck, tumbling to the floor. Vanze aimed his finger like a pistol before destroying the chip using Shigan.
"Done. Now, you can move freely once again," he said while dispelling his time restraint from Reiju and sheathing his sword to his waist.
"It's... real... I can move freely again," she said with a shocked tone.
Reiju, now free, dropped to her knees, moving her hands around, realizing that her body didn't move on her own anymore. The impulse to fight and protect her bastard father seemed to disappear. Yamato, being Yamato, approached her after seeing her drop to the floor and helped her get back up. She seemed to forget that she almost crippled Reiju with her attack not long ago.
"Thank you so much, Vanze, for helping me," Reiju expressed her gratitude through tears after examining her body and witnessing the chip's destruction.
"Good job, Vanze, hehe. Let me help you, Reiju," Vanze observed the two differently haired girls supporting each other, smiling in acknowledgment.
His attention shifted to Judge, who appeared to have lost consciousness due to severe injuries and blood loss. Vanze inquired, "What are you going to do to him now?"
Azel and Hancock also walked toward them after sensing the conflict was over. Azel remained silent beside his leader, while Hancock kept staring at Reiju with threatening eyes, even staring at Yamato with the same look. The Oni princess ignored her and stayed with Reiju's side. Yamato knew that her sisters were in a jealous mode right now.
Reiju heard Vanze's question and turned her head around to see her father's condition. She seemed to be contemplating what she should do to him now.
"That trash should be killed immediately so the world would be cleaner without him," Hancock suggested in a low voice. In her opinion, someone who could throw his own family away shouldn't even be given mercy. As someone who ate a Love Love devil fruit, she valued love emotions, especially toward her family, so Judge's actions were disgusting in her eyes.
"It's not your call, Hancock. Let her decide," Azel said, reprimanding her that it should be handled by Reiju, as she is his victim and family.
"Tsk, I know. I'm just saying," she said, turning her head to the side.
Vanze watched this in silence until suddenly Reiju finally decided what she wanted to do with her father. "Vanze, could you spare him? But please make him unable to become more of a threat to this sea. I want to see him unable to achieve his dream that he always brags about. Just throw him into the sea with his other perfect children," she said with a heavy feeling.
It wasn't easy for her to choose this path for her father, but she also didn't want to see other islands suffer because of her family's actions later.
Vanze heard Reiju's choice, which seemed a bit surprising, but he quickly realized it was hard for Reiju to completely eliminate her father. After all, Judge was her only family left besides Sanji. No matter how cruel he was toward her, they couldn't expect her to kill him with her own choice, and she seemed to disregard her other three brothers as her family.
"Well, alright then. We can destroy this whole place before we get out, but I need to take everything that is valuable in this place first and maybe give it back to the villagers to help rebuild their town. Is it alright, Reiju?" He asked her permission first. Vanze didn't really care about the wealth here, but the technology that Germa possessed was valuable to him.
"Um, let me guide you then," Reiju offered her knowledge about the castle to him.
The others listened to his order and started getting excited to loot this bastard's treasures, especially Yamato. She already ran towards the door, leaving the others behind speechless.
"Hahaha, let's go treasure hunting!"
Vanze saw her antics, just shaking his head, and started to walk out from the room together with the others. But before that, he asked Azel to drag those four bastards with them, as they intended to throw them into the sea later.
Vanze glanced one last time toward the edge of the throne room to see eyes and ears manifested there for a long time before they disappeared like flower petals.
.....
After taking their time strolling Germa Castle, Vanze and the others had already looted their vault and stored it in Vanze's inventory. Reiju, seeing a lot of things suddenly disappear, looked surprised at his display of power and assumed it was Vanze's Devil Fruit power.
Now they were in the last part of the castle that needed to be looted—the Judge's laboratory and the soldier stock depot. It was located in the depths of Vinsmoke Castle and contained a multitude of numbered, liquid-filled capsules, each containing a Germa 66 Clone Soldier. The others felt shocked to discover this room and see a lot of clones hanging around, looking like puppets.
Vanze, watching all of this, was also in shock witnessing how many clones Judge had managed to produce. He asked Seele if the clones could even be stored in his inventory, and she confirmed it as long as the clones were still not activated. He could even sell them and the technology to make them to the mall for a good price.
"Woah... There are a lot of clones in here," Yamato exclaimed while looking around. She found it fascinating seeing this high-tech equipment because back in Onigashima, Kaido and Queen never let her wander around the laboratory.
"All of these clones are inactive. Most of the time, Father never lets them on because it costs a lot of resources just to keep them active. So he will only activate them if he needs them," Reiju explained the clones' situation to them.
"It makes sense now why Judge is always waging war on other kingdoms," Azel remarked, understanding the financial strain associated with maintaining such a vast clone army.
Hancock listened to her words, just shaking her head, feeling ironic because as far as she could see, these clones were the only citizens here in Germa Kingdom, besides a few individuals and Reiju's family. A kingdom with the majority of its citizens not even human couldn't be called a kingdom at all. It's a joke.
Vanze walked to the huge machine in the middle of the room that connected to each of the clones' capsules before touching it with his hand. "Let's get this over with."
Suddenly, most of the things in the room also disappeared before Vanze repeated the same process to the other machine he deemed valuable.
After checking everything was already done and satisfied with all of the loots, they decided to create an opening through the roof for a swift exit. Azel generated a large fireball that shot into the sky, and they utilized their abilities to escape from the underground location.
.....
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone