The Germa Kingdom began to move, like a fortress upon the sea.
Yake slapped his forehead, finally remembering that he had yet to give Judge the blueprints for Pluton. He rummaged through his inventory and found them.
He tossed Pluton's blueprints to Judge, who caught them excitedly and began studying them carefully.
"They really are Pluton's blueprints. Not only do they contain the method for constructing Pluton, but they even include weapon designs capable of instantly destroying an island. As long as we can build weapons like these, we'll surely dominate the world!!" Judge said excitedly, trembling all over.
"But that's not all. I want you to research a new type of weapon. I call it the Railgun, like this." Yake flicked out a coin and unleashed a Super Railgun, the blast wave leaving the room in complete disarray.
Seeing the Railgun's terrifying power, Judge could not help swallowing. Compared to it, his Electromagnetic Gun was practically a child's toy.
"Lord Yake, this..." Judge asked cautiously.
"I want you to develop portable Railguns for individual soldiers and massive defensive Railguns. The principle works like this..." Yake explained the Railgun's principles to Judge in detail.
"So that's how it works. What a genius idea. Now all that remains is experimentation." Judge's eyes shone as he rubbed his hands together, eager to begin.
Yake waved a hand, signaling Judge not to get too excited yet. He then thoroughly explained Germa's future direction. The main point was to transform Germa from a war mercenary force into a weapons research and sales operation. By studying Pluton's weapon technology and creating new weapons, while also teaching Judge the principles behind automated weapons, Yake believed Germa would soon become the most powerful technological nation on these seas.
A nation belonging solely to Yake.
"Oh, right. Germa's base can remain as it was for now. After some time, I'll notify you to relocate to a new base. Here's my Telephone Snail number. If anyone invades and you can't handle it, contact me anytime." Yake left Judge a Telephone Snail number while pondering the location of the base.
In Yake's mind, the best base would be his hometown, Skypiea. Not only was it safe, but it also possessed a technological tree based on all sorts of miraculous shells. The only issue was that he was still searching for the Top of the Western Sky, the second route to Skypiea besides the Knock Up Stream.
Before long, the ship arrived at Sagunto Island. Yake took Reiju off the ship and promptly told Judge to get lost.
"Captain, you really brought her aboard. Why do you always like recruiting beautiful women as crew members? Do you have some kind of ulterior motive toward us?" Seeing Yake carrying another woman over his shoulder, Robin was clearly unhappy.
"Ah, haha, is that so?" Yake looked around and realized it was true. Aside from himself, everyone aboard was female—and all of them were beautiful, sexy women. Perona did not count; she was still a little girl and had not grown into herself yet.
"Let me introduce everyone. This is Reiju. She'll soon become a member of the Yake Pirates and serve as our combatant," Yake said through gritted teeth.
"Sigh... forget it, Captain. Where are we headed next?" Robin asked with a sigh.
"No, we're modifying the ship first." Yake gave a mysterious smile.
After placing Reiju in the ship's Lightning Lounge, Yake went to find shipwrights from the Sagonto Kingdom to make a few minor modifications to the Eternal Truth.
The entire underside of the ship was covered with a layer of strongly magnetic metal. With Yake's Thunder Metallurgy, the craftsmen only needed to install it. With the magnetic layer, Yake could control repulsion and make the ship fly at low altitude. Though it still could not reach Skypiea, it could cross the Calm Belt.
Yake planned to first visit Fish-Man Island to make a rubbing of the Poneglyphs, then head to the New World. From there, he could cross the Calm Belt and travel to the West Blue, where the Top of the Western Sky was located.
"Robin, raise the sails. We're heading straight for the Sabaody Archipelago. Next stop, Fish-Man Island." Seeing that their supplies were nearly sufficient, Yake stopped lingering and prepared to depart at once. Fortunately, Sagunto Island was not far from Sabaody, so they would arrive soon enough.
The anchor was raised, and the Eternal Truth sailed once more.
Reiju woke up in her room and found herself in unfamiliar surroundings, immediately becoming alert. Had Germa already been destroyed?
Sensing that Reiju had awakened, Yake called Robin and Perona and headed to Reiju's room with them.
"Reiju, you're awake," Yake said with a smile.
"Lord Yake, is this your ship? How... how did I get here?"
"To put it simply, Germa has already been subdued by me. I had Judge remove the restrictions on your lineage factor. You're free now." Yake spoke as he extended his hand.
"So, are you willing to join my pirate crew and become our companion, Reiju?"
Looking at Yake's outstretched hand, Reiju grasped it without hesitation. She had long wanted to escape that place.
"I'm willing, Captain..."
Having broken free of her shackles, Reiju naturally joined Yake's group and became a member of the pirate crew.
Now they only needed one more crew member to complete the mission. They had already collected three Poneglyphs: besides the Alabasta Poneglyph, there were the Poneglyph Robin had seen as a child—one beneath the Tree of Omniscience and another she had seen while fleeing. Robin had written them down and handed them to Yake as well.
Next came the Fish-Man Island Poneglyph and Zou's Poneglyph.
A party was underway aboard the ship. Though there were not many people, the atmosphere was still lively. Polite and sociable, Reiju quickly integrated into the pirate crew and became good friends with Perona and Robin.
Meanwhile, Yake was secretly conducting some kind of mystical ritual in a corner.
On a whim today, although he only had four chances to draw, Yake chose single pulls in hopes of a miracle.
Yake washed his face, stood on the deck beneath the moonlight, and wore a solemn expression.
"Draw!"
"Thank you for participating."
"Draw!!"
"Thank you for participating!!"
"D-Draw..." Yake clenched his fists.
"Congratulations, you have obtained 500 million Beli."
"The last one, come on!"
"Congratulations, you have obtained a Devil Fruit Enhancement Card!"
"Woohoo! We're taking off!!!" Yake shouted excitedly. His dream of hitting it big with single pulls had succeeded, and he danced with joy.
Robin in the distance: ??? Was he having some kind of episode?
Use it, use it already. I want to enhance my negative resistance.
"Would you like to enhance negative resistance? The effect of a second use will be halved."
Wait, let me think. Yake hurriedly stopped it.
The Devil Fruit Enhancement Card's effect was beyond doubt. After enhancing his negative resistance last time, Yake had tested it. Though he still could not swim, the weakness he felt while submerged in seawater had become negligible. Seastone also no longer made him collapse immediately; it merely prevented him from using his abilities.
The fact that further negative resistance enhancements would be halved made it rather not worth it. Yake had always thought that using two cards would negate the Devil Fruit's curse, leaving him with almost no weaknesses—except for Rubber Fruit users.
"Sigh, I'll keep it for now. Once I get that fruit..."
Yake helplessly put the Enhancement Card back into his inventory.