Chapter 85: [85] An Unknown Pirate Crew
"Your Munch-Munch Fruit machine—I've completed it."
Hearing Judge's words, Sora gave a small smile, then pulled out a stack of blueprints and said:
"I've also secured the Pluton ancient weapon design."
With that, he casually tossed the plans to Judge.
Sora had already asked Robin to make a full copy of the Pluton blueprints and kept the original for himself.
Judge caught the papers and flipped through them. As soon as he saw the ancient script, he could tell they were the real ship designs.
He clapped his hands, and attendants brought forward a machine—about one meter wide and two meters long—chained up tightly, along with a box full of documents.
"This is the Munch-Munch machine and the genetic mod data for the modified humans."
Sora raised an eyebrow as he looked at the device, which resembled a giant shredder. He stepped forward and stored both the machine and the box into his extra-dimensional storage.
Then he left with Anna and Shalria without another word.
...
On the Divine Slave
In a quiet cargo hold, Sora sat in a chair while Reiju studied the Munch-Munch machine he had just brought aboard.
Behind him, Anna and Shalria stood by attentively, watching with curiosity.
After a long inspection, Reiju noticed that the chain binding the machine contained a trace amount of sea prism stone. She promptly kicked it off.
The moment the chain came off, the Munch-Munch machine powered up, opened its maw, and lunged at her.
With a frown, Reiju punched it, knocking it flat.
Then she took several twenty-centimeter nails—also infused with a bit of sea prism stone—and pinned the machine to the floor, ensuring it wouldn't move again. The nails suppressed the fruit's activity without fully disabling the device.
Finally satisfied, Reiju walked over and sat on Sora's lap with a grin.
"To produce memory metal, we need to feed it various ratios of scrap metal until we find the right combination. Only then will it be able to produce the alloy consistently."
"It'll take some time."
"No rush," Sora replied with a relaxed shrug.
To him, memory metal was just a means to give every crew member custom combat suits—and to generate a stable income for his ambition to become king of the world.
"Master," Shalria suddenly spoke up, "Mikita reports that there's an unknown pirate ship approaching. She wants to go deal with them."
She retracted the small transponder snail from her wrist. It looked like a watch but functioned like a walkie-talkie within a one-kilometer range.
Sora had Reiju develop these limited-range snails to improve communication between crew members, as they were low on regular transponder snails. So far, only five had been crafted.
Anna and Shalria each had one as personal maids. Mikita, the lookout, had one. Nami, the lead navigator, had one. Reiju kept the last.
Other crew members would receive one only after Sora acquired more raw transponder snails.
Hearing that some pirates had come to rob them, Sora was immediately intrigued. He always welcomed pirates—they were like walking treasure chests delivering loot straight to his door.
"Let's go check it out."
Pulling Reiju along, Sora headed up to the deck, curious to see what this ragtag bunch was up to.
Up top, Nami, Nojiko, Mikita, and Aphelandra were already excited and eager for battle.
Nami, Nojiko, and Mikita wanted to test their current strength.
Aphelandra was simply thrilled—this would be her first time participating in a raid against another pirate crew.
Meanwhile, Miss Doublefinger, Vivi, Tashigi, and Kalifa leaned over the second-floor railing to watch the show.
"Hmph! Leave it to me. I can handle this alone," Nami said confidently.
Despite her weak body, timid nature, and lack of battle experience, the power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit gave her more than enough of an edge over small fry.
Most importantly, Reiju had tailored her scientific combat suit to prioritize defense, making her practically impervious to blades and bullets. That's why Nami dared to face the unknown crew solo.
"Don't get cocky. One bomb and I could sink their ship," Nojiko said smugly, flipping a coin in her fingers.
Her Explosion Fruit wasn't inferior to Nami's Rumble-Rumble, after all.
"Yahahahahaha! You two wait here—I'm going first!" Mikita cackled as she soared toward the enemy ship.
Thanks to her ability to adjust her weight, Mikita's suit had the best flight endurance—three hours compared to everyone else's thirty minutes.
She was also one of only two among them who had awakened Armament Haki—even if it was just the basics. Still, more than enough to handle some no-name pirate crew.
"You traitor!" Nami shouted, grinding her teeth as Mikita took off.
With her subpar physique, she still couldn't glide through the sky like Sora's lightning form.
Shandian warrior Laki descended from the sky with a scoped rifle slung over her shoulder. She folded her wings and addressed Nami and Nojiko:
"The distance is good. You're clear to go."
"Got it," the two replied in unison and leapt into the air, racing after Mikita—they weren't about to be left behind.
"Wait, wait! Take me with you!" Aphelandra called after them, panicked.
She couldn't fly, and she didn't have a combat suit yet. She could only watch the three disappear into the sky.
Nami and Nojiko glanced back and chuckled.
"You're way too big. We can't carry you!"
At nearly three meters tall, there was no way they could lift her.
"Ugh!!"
Aphelandra slumped. She'd always been proud of her strength and size back on Amazon Lily… but now, it just felt like a burden.
As the three took off, Sora arrived on deck with Reiju and the others.
Shalria handed him a telescope.
When he looked through it at the enemy vessel, Sora burst out laughing.
"Isn't that the Clown King's pirate ship?!"
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