"Now that's a freak!!"
Watching the figure shoot toward the Saint Germain like a white arrow, Gion clung to the warship's railing with both hands, looking as if she'd seen a ghost.
Boom!
The warship's raised stern crashed back into the sea under the force of gravity. A wave surged over the deck, drenching all the Marines aboard.
Gion's partner couldn't care less. He stared at Darren, dumbstruck, his eyes practically bulging out of their sockets.
That ridiculous burst of power... That bastard actually planned to cross nearly a hundred meters under his own power and storm Germa Kingdom!
"Hey!! Does that bastard always go charging off like a lunatic!?"
Gion's partner turned to Momonga, who stood nearby, and asked with a twitch of his mouth.
Momonga gave him a helpless smile.
"That's just how Darren fights... In the past year alone, he's wrecked more than five warships in all sorts of ways."
...If the North Blue Fleet weren't "rolling in money," it would've gone bankrupt long ago on the tiny bit of funding allotted by Headquarters.
Momonga couldn't help grumbling to himself.
In the blink of an eye,
the warship had steadied on the sea, and Darren had already barreled toward Germa Kingdom like a cannonball, crashing into the ground with unstoppable force.
Boom!!
A deafening roar rang out. Dust billowed into the air, and the whole ground seemed to tremble.
The next second,
Darren slowly rose from a five-meter-wide crater, cigar clenched between his teeth and a defiant, feral grin on his face.
"Nice, smooth landing."
He grinned as his cape whipped wildly in the dust and gale behind him.
"Kill!!"
"Take him down for me!!"
Vinsmoke Judge saw the vicious Marine officer and narrowed his eyes. Then, his face twisted into a snarl as he gave the order.
At his words,
countless Clone Soldiers poured out from the ruins of the surrounding gun emplacements and fortresses.
Dressed in identical uniforms and wearing sunglasses, the Clone Soldiers moved in perfect unison. An icy aura hung about them, as if they had no human emotions.
Whoosh!!
They raised their rifles together, hundreds of barrels trained on the Marine Captain.
They pulled the triggers!
Bang bang bang bang!!
Flames belched from the muzzles. Countless bullets screamed through the air, leaving streaks in their wake.
"Haven't you learned your lesson yet?"
Darren grinned, a hint of madness flashing in his eyes.
He didn't use the power of the Magnet-Magnet Fruit. Faced with the dense curtain of bullets, he simply strolled forward.
Vinsmoke Judge's eyes widened as if he'd seen something impossible.
Clink, clink, clink...
A ceaseless hail of bullets struck Darren's body, shredding his suit and uniform to pieces. But they seemed to hit steel, ringing out with a crisp clatter.
Sparks flew as the bullets ricocheted off the Marine Captain's body, peppering the surrounding ground, fortresses, and building walls with tiny craters.
From a distance, the Marine Captain looked like a traveler pressing forward into a raging storm.
What a beast!
"How is this possible!!? How can a human have a body like that!!"
Vinsmoke Judge roared, his eyes nearly splitting with fury.
Seeing that gunfire had no effect, one of the Clone Soldiers pulled a small rocket launcher from the military fortress, rested it on his shoulder, and took aim. He pulled the trigger.
Biu!
The palm-sized rocket launcher let out a piercing shriek and sped toward Darren, trailing a long, crimson tail of flame.
But Darren suddenly reached out and caught it!
"New technology... This is much more sophisticated than the Marines' artillery shells..."
Darren examined the trembling rocket launcher in his hand with interest, made an offhand remark, and then hurled it back with all his might.
Biu...
The rocket flew back along its original path and exploded in front of the Clone Soldier holding the launcher. Roaring flames instantly engulfed everything within a five-meter radius.
"Comparable in power to a small heavy cannon, but more portable..."
Darren narrowed his eyes as he watched the rocket's destructive power and gave his assessment.
He already had a fairly clear idea.
He'd gone to such lengths to plunder wealth from the mafia and fund the North Blue Navy at several times Headquarters' budget for one obvious reason.
He wanted to turn the North Blue Navy into his own private domain.
The entire North Blue Fleet would become a personal armed force under his command!
As a transmigrator, he knew all too well what held the Marines back most.
No matter how they dressed it up, the World Government's "authority" always loomed over the Marines' "justice" like a mountain!
That was reality, and it couldn't be ignored.
The Marines, the world's largest armed law enforcement organization, were an institution under the World Government—and the government's public face.
The most crucial part of all this was military funding!
The World Government collected the "Heavenly Tribute" from Affiliated Kingdoms around the world, then used budget allocations to directly or indirectly control the Marines' financial lifeline.
Without independent control over their finances or other ways to acquire funding, the Marines could only be constrained at every turn, until they were forced to bow to reality.
And Darren's ultimate goal in amassing wealth was to control an independent military force he could use himself, free from the government's restraints.
For now, after years of effort and planning, the North Blue Navy's budget had become fully self-sufficient. Its funding even far exceeded that of forces of the same rank at Headquarters.
But that wasn't enough!
Darren knew all too well how weak the Four Blues' navies were. Their combat strength was nowhere near that of Headquarters' elite forces, and they were even farther behind the New World, where "everyone knew Haki."
Although he'd already improved the North Blue Navy's overall strength by ramping up training and scientifically applying various training methods,
it still wasn't nearly enough.
But back in the real world, improving an army's fighting strength couldn't happen overnight. It couldn't be accomplished in a day.
Yet Germa 66 had just opened up an entirely new path for him!
Germa 66... controlled some of the most advanced and cutting-edge military technology in the world. Its various new weapons, human modification technology, and even Battle Suits could rapidly increase the North Blue Navy's combat strength.
If he could obtain Germa 66's technology and use it to equip the North Blue Navy under his command...
Darren believed he'd have an extraordinarily powerful North Blue Fleet in no time!!
In that case...
Darren's lips curled into a grin as he suddenly sped up.
His target... Germa 66's commander, Vinsmoke Judge!!
Before you continue