Chapter 15
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Chapter 15: Germa's Technology
"What a freak!"
As the figure shot out like a sharp white arrow toward Saint-Germain, Gion grasped the railing of the warship with both hands, his face pale as if he had seen a ghost.
Boom!
At that moment, the warship's highly tilted tail fell back into the sea under the pull of gravity, and the waves surged over the deck, soaking all the Marines aboard.
Kake, however, didn't seem to care about getting wet and stared at Darren's figure in awe, his eyes nearly bulging out in astonishment.
Such exaggerated explosive power... the bastard actually aimed to use his own strength to propel himself nearly a hundred meters and invade the Germa Kingdom!
"Hey! Does that bastard always like to be so crazy?" Kake asked, looking toward Flying Squirrel with the corner of his mouth twitching.
A helpless smile crossed Flying Squirrel's face. "This is Darren's style of combat... In the past year alone, he has caused the destruction of more than five warships in various ways."
If it weren't for the North Blue Marines' strong financial resources and the small military budget from headquarters, the North Blue fleet would be bankrupt by now.
It was too late for further thought. The warship had stabilized at sea, and Darren had already crashed into the Germa Kingdom like a horizontally fired cannonball with overwhelming force.
Boom!
A deafening noise erupted, dust billowed, and the ground seemed to tremble slightly.
The next second, Darren stood up from a five-meter-wide crater, a cigar in his mouth and an unruly smile on his lips. "Smooth landing," he said, his cloak fluttering in the thick dust and strong wind.
"Kill him!" Vinsmoke Judge shouted when he saw the imposing Marine Admiral, shrinking back in horror before giving the order with a vicious look on his face.
At his command, countless clone soldiers filed out from the ruins of nearby forts. They were uniformed and wearing sunglasses, moving with precision and exuding a chilling presence as though devoid of human emotions.
Swish!
Spears raised, hundreds of guns aimed at the Marine Rear Admiral. They pulled their triggers.
Bang bang bang!
Flames erupted from gun barrels as a multitude of bullets zoomed through the air, leaving streaks in their wake.
"Haven't you learned your lesson yet?" Darren grinned, a glint of madness in his eyes.
He strode forward without using his Magnetic Fruit ability, leisurely walking through the dense bullet rain.
Vinsmoke Judge watched with eyes wide, unable to believe the scene before him.
Ding-ding-ding...
Bullets pelted Darren's body, shredding his suit and uniform, but they made a metal-like clink and sparked as if striking steel. The bullets bounced off him as raindrops would from the ground, leaving small craters on the surrounding fortifications and walls.
From a distance, Darren appeared as a traveler braving a violent storm.
So resilient!
"How is this possible!? How can a human have such a physique?" Vinsmoke Judge roared, his eyes tearing up.
Despite the bullets proving ineffective, a clone soldier extracted a small rocket launcher from the military fortress, set it on his shoulder, aimed, and fired.
Biu!
The palm-sized bazooka detonated with a sharp blast, a crimson tail flame trailing behind as it hurtled towards Darren.
Suddenly, the latter raised his hand and seized him.
"Brand new technology... This is far superior to Marine's shells..."
With great interest, Darren looked at the trembling bazooka in his hand, made a casual remark, and then hurled it with force.
Biu...
The bazooka flew back on the same path and exploded in front of the clone soldiers carrying the bazooka barrel. The intense flames instantly covered a radius of 5 meters.
"It's as powerful as a piece of heavy artillery, yet much more portable..."
Darren squinted, observing the rocket launcher's impact, and made an intuitive assessment.
An idea had already taken root in his heart.
He had labored to amass wealth from the mafia and support the North Blue Marine with military expenditures much higher than that of headquarters. Clearly, he had a definitive goal.
He intended to turn the North Blue Marine into his private domain.
The entire North Blue fleet would become his personal armed forces!
As a time traveler, he was acutely aware of the biggest limitation of being in the Marine.
No matter how much you dress it up, the "justice" of the Marine will always be outweighed by the "power" of the world government!
This was an undeniable reality.
The Marine, as the world's largest violent law enforcement agency, operates under the World Government and serves as its representative.
And the most crucial factor is military spending!
The World Government levies "heavenly gold" from the major alliance countries of the world, and then directly or indirectly controls the Marine's financial lifeline through military expenditure allocations.
A Marine without financial autonomy or alternative means of securing military funds is severely constrained and must ultimately bow to the pressures of reality.
Darren's ultimate aim in making money was to establish an independent military force, one that he could command and that the government wouldn't control.
At least for now, after years of hard work and planning, the North Blue Marine's military budget was entirely self-sustaining, and its standard far surpassed that of the headquarters at the same level.
But that was not enough!
Darren knew well the weaknesses of the Four Seas Marine, whose combat power was quite below the elite of headquarters. When compared to the New World's "Haki-powered" manpower, there was a colossal gap.
Although he had enhanced training and systematically applied various training approaches, he had significantly boosted the overall strength of the North Blue Marine.
However, it still fell short.
Returning to reality, improving the army's combat efficiency was not something that could be achieved overnight.
But facing Germa 66 presented a whole new perspective!
Germa 66 controlled some of the world's most advanced, cutting-edge military technologies. From an array of new weapons, humanoid technology, to even combat uniforms, these could rapidly enhance the combat capabilities of the North Blue Marine.
If he could acquire the technology of Germa 66 and equip his North Blue Marine with it...
Darren was confident that he would soon possess a formidable North Blue fleet!
With that in mind...
A sly smile formed on Darren's lips, and he quickened his pace.
His target was the commander of Germa 66, Vinsmoke Judge!