"People from the Vinsmoke Family."
On the docks, the cigarette butt between Pica's teeth flickered.
He closed his fingers, silently snuffing out the ember.
With a flick of his finger, the cigarette traced an arc and landed neatly in an iron bucket several meters away-soft gasps immediately rose from the onlookers, and several gazes clung to his withdrawing hand.
Pica did not look their way. "Just unload the cargo in the marked area. We'll handle it."
A rock-gray giant stood beside him.
Pica stood silently with his hands lowered, his five-meter frame like a sheer cliff.
For the Stone-Stone Fruit user, moving heavy objects took no more than a moment.
"Very well."
Judge nodded from the deck.
The other party had even dispensed with the courtesy of inviting him ashore to rest.
As he turned, the sea breeze swept the harbor's salty, fishy air against his face.
That familiar scent, belonging to the laboratory of old, seemed stronger now.
Who could it be?
Vegapunk had long since been taken into the Navy.
Had that Caesar, whose ambitions far exceeded his abilities, escaped? Or that fat fellow Queen, who had vanished without a trace? Or... was it "him"
*?*
By the time Vinsmoke Judge gave the order to unload, his gaze had already shifted away.
He had no interest whatsoever in who owned the precision equipment the Snail Ship had brought.
The Family's money landing in his pocket-that was all that mattered.
Only with these resources could he continue nurturing the fruits of his labor-those "children" destined to surpass ordinary humanity.
His first success had been born the previous year.
The infant named Reiju had possessed the grip strength to crush steel from the moment she was born. Her skin was covered in a dense structure comparable to armor, and not