Vinsmoke Family

"Both explosive power and speed had doubled. When paired with the Breathing Technique, the sword move's effect was indeed outstanding."

"Unfortunately, the so-called Constant State of the Breathing Technique simply couldn't exist—or at least, it couldn't exist in the Pirate World."

The Breathing Techniques of Demon Slayer stimulated one's physical strength through breathing. At their core, they were explosive techniques that pushed the body to its limits. Using a Breathing Technique was basically like constantly running a hundred-meter sprint, continuously draining stamina.

If someone used such a Breathing Technique to enter a Constant State, it would be like endlessly sprinting a hundred meters. In the end, either their stamina would run out and they would be unable to maintain the Breathing Technique, or they would simply exhaust themselves to death.

Perhaps in the world of Demon Slayer, Breathing Techniques had other marvelous uses and could even strengthen the body, transforming from a combat method into a training method. But at least in the Pirate World, aside from directly stimulating the body and unleashing strength, they had no other function.

As he thought, Minos gripped the longsword in his hand again, lowered his body, took a long breath through his nose and mouth, and resumed training.

By dawn the next day, Baby5, who had been searching everywhere for her master, finally found Minos sleeping beneath a tree in the training grounds.

The entire training ground had become a complete mess after Minos spent the night practicing Thunderclap and Flash. Straight cracks covered the ground, while several stones that had originally been placed there had been sliced into multiple pieces, exposing smooth cut surfaces. It looked as though the place had been through a fierce battle.

"Master Minos! Aren't your injuries still not healed? Why are you training like this? What if your wounds split open again..." Baby5 babbled at Minos.

Minos yawned. "Oh, it's Baby5. Could you please bring me breakfast?"

"Okay! I'll go right away!" Baby5, who had been nagging him moments earlier, immediately ran off to prepare breakfast with an excited expression.

The sound of footsteps approached. Golden Lion looked over the training ground before him and spoke in surprise. "You did this? Good kid, how did you suddenly improve so much?"

"Probably because I just learned a new sword move." Minos grinned as he looked at Golden Lion, a faint trace of fighting spirit in his eyes. "Captain Shiki, want to exchange a few moves?"

"Jihahahahaha! You're quite arrogant, brat!" Shiki laughed twice and shook his head. "Not now. In another two hours, we should be able to find the Vinsmoke Family."

Hearing that, Minos finally dispersed his fighting spirit. He could test himself against members of the Vinsmoke Family later.

If it were ten years from now, when the Vinsmoke Family had entered its prime, Judge's children had all fully developed their combat abilities, and Golden Lion had deteriorated to the point where he could no longer even use Haki, perhaps the two sides really could have fought. But now...

The Vinsmoke Family's eldest child, Reiju, was only fourteen years old, while the remaining three children were merely eleven. Being able to deal with ordinary Marine officers was already their limit. They were only a little stronger than cannon fodder.

As the current pillar of the family, Vinsmoke Judge might have possessed decent physical abilities thanks to technological modifications, along with plenty of scientific equipment to support him. However, his character and will doomed his Haki to be terrible. With some scientific gear, he might be able to fight a Vice Admiral, but he was absolutely no match for Golden Lion, who was still in his prime.

The Floating Island traveled quickly through the air, and with favorable weather and smooth winds that day, it did not even take two hours. Just one hour later, Minos's Thousand Mile Eye spotted Germa 66's Snail Ship beneath the Sky Island.

Golden Lion flew down without bothering with formalities and directly activated the power of the Float-Float Fruit. The Float-Float Fruit could not affect the snails themselves, but they carried far too much on their backs, and Golden Lion directly lifted those things using his Fruit power.

The Vinsmoke Family was thrown into chaos by the sudden incident. Judge did possess scientific equipment capable of flight, but only he and his children had that ability.

Watching Golden Lion laugh wildly in the sky, Judge gathered his courage for a long while, yet still did not dare charge up and fight him to the death.

His three sons, on the other hand, the eldest of whom was only eleven, were fearless to the extreme. They wanted to fight Golden Lion, one of the Great Pirates, to the death, but Judge shouted them back.

Courage was a good thing, but having no brains was just being hardheaded. Not everyone could be like a protagonist such as Luffy, who could even smash a hole through a Bronze Wall, Iron Fortress.

If his three sons charged up now, Golden Lion would probably only need to lift his "feet" a couple more times.

With a rumble, several giant snails were lifted up and thrown onto the Floating Island. Golden Lion, laughing wildly, casually manipulated the ground and brought Vinsmoke Judge up as well.

His children flew down after him. As for the ordinary Clone Soldiers, without any tools for flight, they could only stand atop the snails and watch.

"Golden... Golden Lion... Captain Shiki..." Standing at the front, Judge, whose blond hair somewhat resembled Golden Lion's, spoke with a trembling voice.

He was cold and cruel toward outsiders, but in truth, he was not particularly brave. Under pressure, he became even more cowardly. At the sight of Golden Lion, his legs were already beginning to weaken.

Among all the Great Pirates of the seas, Golden Lion had once been one of the most difficult to deal with. His personality was actually similar to Kaido's—ruthless, cold-blooded, and willing to do anything to achieve his goals. The difference was that compared to Kaido, who could set aside his pride, Golden Lion was far more arrogant.

In truth, people with the temperament of a ruthless overlord were the ones Judge found truly terrifying. Just as among the Four Emperors, Kaido was especially feared.

"Jihahahahaha! I heard you're a famous scientist on the seas? And that you're quite skilled in Bloodline Factors and human modification technology?"

Golden Lion asked with a smile on his face.

"Huh!? No... I can only make some ordinary weapon inventions, at most producing some clones. How could something like Bloodline Factors possibly be invented by an ordinary scientist like me?" Judge was horrified and immediately denied it.

The World Government placed enormous importance on Bloodline Factors, which made other Great Pirates pay close attention to the matter as well. Judge truly had considerable expertise in Bloodline Factors, but before his children had fully matured, he did not dare reveal it. Otherwise, he would not have directly used his own children as test subjects.

If he truly began mass-producing those Bloodline Factor-modified humans, leaving aside the matter of cost, once word leaked out, it would spell disaster for the currently weak Germa 66.