Germa castle had a style that was unmistakably from the world of pirates—
On the outside, it looked like a dieval fortress, but inside, all kinds of high-tech products and futuristic, almost sci-fi decorations could be seen everywhere.
The main the was simply mash-up.
Taking the elevator within the castle, the group arrived at the upper hall of the royal palace, where a number of beautiful maids ca forward to greet them.
"Welco back, Your Majesty the King, Your Highness the Princess."
These maids should count as so of the rare won and ordinary humans in Germa Kingdom.
With a cold expression, Judge ordered, "Prepare so refreshnts. I want to entertain our distinguished guests."
But when he turned back around, his face was already covered with a beaming smile, chatting casually with Sherwin.
Between the lines, he kept boasting about Germa advanced technology, their status as an allied nation of the World Governnt, and their grand "ambition to unify the North Blue." He earnestly invited a young talent like Sherwin to join them, even faintly hinting at making him a royal son-in-law...
Sherwin, while politely responding, was screaming complaints in his heart.
From his exchange with Judge just now, Sherwin could tell—though this guy carried the arrogance of a top scientist and a royal, he wasn’t so idiot who blindly believed whatever others told him.
On the contrary, in the world of pirates, he could even be called shrewd. So how on earth did he end up trusting Big Mom so easily in the future?
But after thinking it over, Sherwin felt he could understand Judge mindset.
After all, marrying into a Yonko family was an enormous opportunity. The Big Mom Pirates had arranged political marriages plenty of tis before.
It wasn’t so strange that Judge let his guard down. Most likely, he also believed Big Mom still needed him to continue developing new scientific technology, which ant she wouldn’t dare do anything rash against him.
What Judge hadn’t expected was that Charlotte Linlin had no patience at all. She only wanted Germa finished technologies.
As for further research and developnt, she didn’t care in the slightest. The only reason Caesar managed to hang on was because gigantification research was tied to Big Mom dreams and regrets—otherwise, he’d have been discarded long ago, even before Luffy and Bege joined forces to stir up trouble.
"Hahahaha! This painting is one of my proudest victories in recent years!"
When Judge noticed Sherwin eyes fall on a painting hanging on the wall, he imdiately burst into hearty laughter.
There was even a trace of genuine emotion in his tone, making it obvious he was truly proud.
But in reality, Sherwin had just been lost in thought. He hadn’t even noticed the painting at all.
By the ti he ca back to his senses, Judge was already enthusiastically introducing it to him...
That painting was the very sa one that had appeared in the original manga—The Conquest of Four Nations.
In the scene, Judge leaned on a long spear with one hand and held a crown in the other. Standing tall and imposing at the center, he took up most of the canvas. At his feet lay the severed heads of four kings from the North Blue.
There was nothing particularly impressive about the artwork itself. It lacked artistry, and even the composition felt overly cramped. But of course, this piece wasn’t created as an artwork. Its main purpose was to glorify Judge so-called "achievents."
As for this so-called achievent, Sherwin—or more precisely, Haibara ow—had indeed collected intelligence about it.
At the first level of intel, there was only the vague report that four non-allied nations had simultaneously vanished overnight.
Most people had no idea who was behind it. To learn about Germa 66 involvent, one had to spend much more money or rely on deeper connections to obtain detailed intelligence.
But the vast majority of people wouldn’t go that far, and the newspapers would never print such information.
This was sothing Sherwin found very hard to understand. Judge wanted to unify the North Blue under the na of Germa, yet at the sa ti kept himself so secretive.
Most people outside only knew that the Vinsmoke family was royalty, but didn’t even realize that their kingdom itself was called Germa...
Even when Germa infamy was spread in picture books as villains, Sherwin could still understand it. After all, becoming a tyrant or dictator could be considered one way of ruling. But letting most people think Germa was just a fictional existence—that move was really confusing.
If you didn’t consider the "fictional" Germa from the picture books, their fa and influence in the North Blue weren’t even as strong as the Donquixote Family, who had already gone to the Grand Line more than ten years ago to stir things up.
So had Judge never thought about unifying the North Blue with thods other than brute force? Even pirates at least knew to plant their flag when claiming territory.
As expected, scientists should just focus on doing scientific research. The mont they start dabbling in other ventures, their world-shaking brilliance turns into nothing but empty spectacle.
Another thing that puzzled Sherwin was this: with Germa being such war profiteers and ambitious schers, had they really never run into the Revolutionary Army? Or was Germa snail fleet simply too mobile for Dragon and his people to catch up with?
But then again, it wasn’t the first or second ti the Revolutionary Army had fallen short of expectations. By now, Sherwin had learned to view them calmly, no longer holding on to his earlier impression of them as mature and reliable.
Judge was still boasting about Germa various "achievents," but Sherwin wasn’t interested in listening any longer. Bullying non-affiliated nations without protection—what was so impressive about that? If you’ve got the guts, then go take on territory under the Four Emperors.
Sherwin curled his lips and cut off Judge self-praise, directly stating his purpose:
"Actually, I’ve been looking for you all this ti..."
Well, even though from the mont Klee ow curiosity was piqued to the point when they ran into Germa hadn’t even been a full day, Sherwin really had been thinking of finding them all along during that voyage, so it wasn’t a lie.
"These little ones are very interested in your combat suits," Sherwin said as he lifted Klee ow, who had already started dozing off on his shoulder, and held her up in front of Judge.
"So, could you make them a few similar outfits? They only need to have transformation and jet flight functions."
"Mrrr... Sherwin-nii, is the masked uncle finally done talking ow?"
Half-asleep, Klee ow rubbed her eyes and lazily muttered. Then she noticed that standing right in front of her was none other than Judge, the so-called "masked uncle." The little plush-like Felyne blinked her big eyes, lifted her tiny paw, and greeted:
"Good afternoon, ow~"
Judge: "..."
"Ahem..." Sherwin set Klee ow back onto his shoulder, cleared his throat, and continued:
"Besides that, I also want Lord Judge help in developing a weapon..."
He briefly explained the basic functions of the Insect Glaive—of course, the kind without Kinsects—then curiously asked:
"With Germa technology, making a weapon like this shouldn’t be difficult, right?"
"The requirents you’ve ntioned aren’t particularly hard to realize." Judge didn’t hesitate in the slightest, speaking with full confidence.
"With Germa technology, creating what you call an ’Insect Glaive’ would be child play. We could even improve upon it further. However..."
Judge tilted his head slightly, for once showing a trace of arrogance. His tone cooled as he continued:
"Why should I make such things for you?"
The politeness he had shown Sherwin earlier was only because he wanted to recruit him as Germa subordinate.
After all, considering Sherwin current age and strength, he was indeed a "promising young talent" worth investing in. Not to ntion, he commanded a group of equally promising Felynes.
But Judge had already wasted so many words, and Sherwin had just been dodging and deflecting all along.
Now he wasn’t even pretending—he only wanted to use Germa technology to make a few "toys" for himself and his cats...
Naturally, Judge attitude could not remain pleasant.
Sherwin rested his chin on his hand and thought for a mont, then suddenly said:
"I can tell you so news about Vegapunk."
Judge: !!!
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