Germa 66

After Rex had explained his plan, there was an uproar among the senior officers.

"I understand your plan, but won't Doflamingo put it together that we're related to the Roshwan robberies if you do that."

"I suspect Doflamingo already believes we are related to the Jacket D. Hoodie robberies, what I'm doing now is proving that Jacket D. Hoodie is a separate entity from myself."

"Are you sure it will work?"

"Well, where would the fun be if I was sure it would work? Still, the plan's decided, Kid, I need you make sure everything is going perfectly the whole time."

"But captain, why can't I come with you? Or at least bring Killer or Gem, even Bonney would be better than going solo!"

"Don't worry about me doing my part. Just make sure that you all do yours."

With that, Rex leaves the room, donning his Jacket D. Hoodie mask as well as a very special jacket. He had already had Bonney age him up to his mid 30s and had dyed his hair to black. With his current appearance, Rex could walk right up to Sengoku, and he probably wouldn't even recognize Rex.

Then, Rex takes a deep inhale, opening up his zipper. He then exhales with all his might into his jacket body. This causes Rex to slowly expand going from about two and a half meters tall to three, then four, until he finally grows to being around six meters tall.

Rex then quickly fastens his zipper, before walking out onto the sea. He smiles as he feels himself floating on the water. This was the effect of his newest move, life jacket mode. Rex would wear an inflatable life vest, then, using its inflatable nature, Rex would blow himself up to three times his size and be buoyant enough to walk on water.

Unfortunately for Rex, this move did not give the same strength boosts as Luffy's gear 3, with the move actually making him slightly weaker, but the ability to walk on water was valuable enough. Without further ado, Rex runs to the nearest island, exhilarated at his new ability.

(Two Days Later)

<i>Deul Kingdom, North Blue</i>

Rex had finally reached Deul Kingdom.

In the past two days, Rex had been through several interesting encounters.

First, he reached a small North Blue island, where he had tricked some small time bandit into wearing him in jacket form, subsequently taking over his body. The bandit was a pretty god-awful human being, so Rex had no intention of sparing him when the time came.

After getting a body, Rex had chartered his way over to Deul Kingdom on a civilian ship. However, through a twist of… well Rex didn't know if it was good or bad luck, but pirates had come to attack the ship at night. Without alarming the passengers, Rex had jumped ship to the pirate vessel, killed the Pirates' captain and commandeered the ship.

Then, just as stealthily as the pirates arrived, Rex had left, going straight for Deul Kingdom. Of course, after he arrived, Rex killed the pirates, burnt the ship and made it to Deul on foot.

Deul was a summer island, making it a very popular tourist site and having a population numbering in the millions. With that, it wasn't hard for Rex to literally slip in through a crack in the wall and mix in with the Deul citizens. Now, he was standing at the center of the capital city of Deul, working out the next step of his plan.

From the newspapers he had received, Rex confirmed that Kid was fulfilling his part of the plan. The King Pirates had attacked multiple other pirate groups across the North Blue and 'Captain Vesta Rex' had made an appearance in each attack.

Rex couldn't help but chuckle at the ingeniousness of his plan. He had used Rouge to act as a stand-in for himself and then made sure that the King Pirates participated in many battles. With Rouge being his 'Zoan' form, as long as Rouge made an appearance, the Marines would assume that it was Rex. That way, when Jacket D. Hoodie appeared hundreds of miles away, all links between the King Pirates and Jacket D. Hoodie would be severed.

Now came the problem, how to infiltrate the palace. Rex didn't feel like he would be able to use the same tactic as last time, as he had only chanced upon a drunken Jonker with pure luck. Moreover, Deul was a much larger and more powerful Kingdom than Roshwan was.

Then, Rex had an idea. While infiltrating the king's residence would be impossible, it wouldn't be impossible for him to break into a few nobles' homes. A bright grin comes across Rex's face.

(Three Days Later)

"Lord Chap, Lord Chap! It's happened again!" A panting, fat man says as he runs through the throne room, his belly bouncing around.

"Again!?" Chap says in a rage. "But I had you double the guard outside of each noble's home, how was another one kidnapped!?"

In the past three days six, no, now it was seven, nobles had been kidnapped from their residences, their coffers robbed clean. At each home, there was a note left by the robbers, accusing the nobles of various crimes from excessive greed to corruption to rape of civilians.

Chap was furious at this and had doubled the guard outside of each noble's home but somehow it had happened once more. Now that it had happened again…

Chap cursed in his mind. It seemed like he would have to call in the Marines at this point. While the Marines rarely intervened in internal kingdom matters, Chap had enough influence to convince them to deal with this.

"Lord Chap, this time was extremely serious! It was Bud, the Duke of West Deul who was kidnapped and his wife is furious! If she hadn't been out at the market at the time of the robbery…"

"Lady Bestie's husband was kidnapped?" Chap says his eyes wide. "She's the princess of Whiteland Kingdom! That marriage is the reason we can make such preferential trades in the mining industries! If we don't find Bud at once…"

Chap shivered as he imagined the consequences. Losing the trade alliance with Whiteland would cripple Deul's entire economy. Deul relied on metalworking for most of their profits, but their own countries ore deposits had long been exhausted.

As such, Chap relied on wars and trade to get his metal resources, but Whiteland was still the majority contributor.

"Call lady Bestie to the castle at once. The wives of the nobles were all kidnapped with them. If we don't secure her immediately and she too is kidnapped, I fear there will be war!"

Minutes later, several carriages surrounded by guards rush to Lady Bestie's residence, to secure her. Lady Bestie was a tall woman, around six feet tall, with plump lips and an alluring figure. Almost no relation could be made between the beautiful woman and her aged, decrepit father, Iwatobi.

Seeing the men, 'Lady Bestie' smiles entering the carriage at once.

"Bring me to see that incompetent buffoon, Chap, at once!" 'Bestie' said, 'she' was in fact, Rex, who was the very same noble kidnapping rogue who had kidnapped the other six.

Rex had figured that if he couldn't find an excuse to visit the king, he would make one. Therefore, he had snuck into several nobles' houses and kidnapped them, starting small and then working his way up. The nobles were all already dead, such as to sever any loose ends.

From the first noble's journal, Rex got an idea of the Kingdom's political scheme and learned of Bestie's importance to the crown. From subsequent journals, Rex's plan became more and more concrete. With that, Rex camouflaged into one of Bestie's robes, kidnapping her husband then using the excuse of going out to the market to have a reason why Bestie herself wasn't kidnapped.

As for how Rex was using Bestie's face, that was a new technique, Rex called 'Hood-Up'.

The technique was simple, Rex could simply 'take off' his face like a hood, using his victim's face instead. With 'Hood-Up' Rex's fruit could act like a discount Mane Mane no Mi, allowing him to impersonate whoever he wanted, granted that he could get them to willingly put him on.

Fortunately, most nobles weren't cautious people, believing that no one would ever attack them due to their status. That had made his plan so much easier to initiate.

"Ms. Bestie, thank the Dragons that you are unhurt!" Chap says, kissing 'Bestie's' hand.

"Unhurt! Unhurt!?" Rex says dramatically, knowing from Bestie's diary that she was a bit of a drama queen. "My husband was kidnapped! My guards knocked unconscious, and my house sacked! Those dirty thieves even ransacked my clothes! I have only the clothes on my back to tide me over and you dare to say that I am unhurt!"

"Well at least you are safe…" Chap starts.

"Safe!? You think I will ever trust the safety of your kingdom! Forty years my father worker with yours and never once was there such an incident! Now, you've been king for all of three years and this happens! You're a boy king chap!" Rex says, slapping Chap fiercely, internally, he was bursting out in laughter, loving this noble charade. "You don't have what it takes to rule! Return me to Whiteland at once!"

Chap holds his cheek angrily, but doesn't say anything. He knows that even a single cross word could throw Bestie into a rage and he couldn't afford that.

"My lady…"

"What!? My lady, what!? Unless you have a way of finding my husband and all my precious belongings including heritage treasures such as a ring belonging to my grandmother, we have nothing more to talk about!"

Chap fumed in rage, wanting to strangle the unreasonable woman, but restrained himself. Killing her would only make this a bigger farce.

"My lady, it just so happens that I have some dear friends who can help with this. Friends whose scientific technologies will allow them to find a single strand of hair and discover who it belongs to." Chap says through gritted teeth, knowing that this would be very expensive for him. "Have you ever heard of… Germa 66?"

Rex grins broadly at this, having planned for this exact thing to have happened.

From Rex's research, other than wars, Germa 66 used their technologies to hunt down valuable criminals for their bounties. He knew that as long as he put enough pressure on Chap, the king would be forced to employ them to find Bud.

Buru Buru! Chap's Den Den Mushi rings.

"Hello, this is Chap."

"Our meeting isn't for another three days." A deep voice calls from the phone. Rex immediately recognizes it as Judge's voice.

"There's been an emergency and I need you to perform another task as quickly as possible! I'll double the payment."

There is a brief pause.

"Double the payment for this task and pay an extra 50% for the last task."

Chap curses Judge's money grubbing nature.

"Agree to it now or this negotiation is over and I will see you in three days."

Rex glares at Chap causing him to sigh.

"Yes, I agree to your terms!"

"What is the task?"

Hours later a fleet of snail-like ships enters into the royal port of Deul, greeted by Chap, 'Bestie' and a large squadron of guards.

Then, a man can be seen at the bow of the largest snail ship. It is Vinsmoke Judge, younger than he was in canon with a slightly different raid suit.

Judge leaps from his ship, cracking the stone ground right in front of Chap. Judge's immense, two and a half meter tall body towers over the small king, subliminally asserting Judge's authority.

"Well, first things first, let's deal with our business." Chap says, trying to hide the fear in his voice. "I presume you have what I want?"

Judge nods. "It's on my ship. Now, do you have what I want."

Chap snaps his fingers a few guards retrieving a large chest filled with stacks of Berries.

"This isn't enough." Judge says with a single glance. "You promised 50% extra and double on the investigation."

"This is half. I'll give you the rest when I'm assured that what you've gotten me back my nobles and their wealth!"

Chap tried to appear confident, but inside he was trembling. In truth, Chap didn't have enough liquid assets to pay off Judge. All of his money was tied up in gold and precious jewels. He wanted to wait until Judge had recovered the money such that he could us the recovered wealth to pay Judge. As for the nobles themselves, Chap was almost certain they were dead.

Judge narrows his eyes, not wanting to take Chap's word. Still, half pay was good, for now. If Chap reneged on his word, Judge could just as easily use the stolen money to remunerate himself.

"Very well, Chap, you and your guards come with me. My men will investigate your kidnappings for you!"

"Wait!" Rex cries. "While it's all well and good if you investigate, but what proof do I have that your 'technology' even works!"

Chap opens his mouth to speak but is immediately interrupted.

"I'm no fool! I know my husband is dead, and much of my belongings will have been sold by the time you find the robbers. How do I know that you're not giving me some random man and calling him a thief? I'll need some proof of your so-called identification technology firsthand!"

Chap pales, thinking that these comments will offend Judge, but Judge only chuckles.

"You're smart. Smarter than this fool at least." Judge says, grinning with pride. "If you want me to show you the power of Germa's technology, I'd be more than willing!"

Then, Judge turns around and returns to his ship, beckoning for the others to follow him. The ship is truly a maze, filled with winding pathways and trapped corridors.

The group follows Judge closely, and eventually, they reach a crossroads, where Judge stops the group.

"552, 556, 612, take lady Bestie and her guards to laboratory number 7. The rest, with me."

The three clone soldiers nod and escort 'Bestie' and ten guards with them to the research laboratory.

Rex scoffs internally at Judge's hubris. He believed so highly in his Germa 66's prowess that he allowed visitors to enter a research laboratory with armed guards.

Then again, as far as Judge knew, all his visitors were noncombatants. He couldn't possibly imagine that the weak, frail 'lady Bestie' was one of the most dangerous pirates in the sea.

As they near the laboratory, Rex retrieves multiple anesthetic pills, faking a cough to swallow them. For his next move, Rex needed Bestie to be unconscious, otherwise she would reveal everything.

Since Rex was only an external jacket, his internal digestive system was not connected to Bestie's. He could feel what she felt, but he wouldn't be affected by the pill.

Eventually, Rex reaches the laboratory, marveling at its futuristic technology.

"What do you want?"

A grouchy middle-aged scientist greets the group, a pair of red goggles obscuring his eyes. In his hands is a closed file he had just been working on.

"Lord Garuda has requested that we demonstrate our Lineage Factor identification technologies to this woman."

"Oh, he has, has he?" The scientist grumbles, locking up the file in a file cabinet before retrieving some other apparatus. "Very well! Have a seat here young lady. Just prick your finger on this device and we'll be able to read your entire existence."

Rex obliges, taking a seat, he removes his jacket, or rather himself, using his last semblance of connection to Bestie to make her prick her finger on the device.

Bestie then regains control of her body for a moment, trying to voice her experiences. But as she tries to move, Bestie feels an intense drowsiness come over her. Seeing the scientist next to her, she grabs his lab coat, trying to tell him about the man who attacked her but falls unconscious.

"Lady Bestie!" The guards shout, drawing their weapons on the clone soldiers and the scientist. Before any of them are given a chance to explain themselves, the guards attack.

The Germa clone soldiers each hold their own, matching up to three soldiers each, but the tenth soldier breaks off to attack the scientist.

"You fiend! What have you done to Lady Bestie!?" The guard says his sword pointed at the scientist's throat. He ruthlessly punches and kicks the defenseless man for his lack of an answer.

"I-I haven't done anything!" The scientist says, trying to flee for his life.

The guard stops him, grabbing him from the back of his lab coat. The scientist wriggles out of his coat and runs to a large red button slamming it. Suddenly, several large glass containers open, releasing ten Germa clone soldiers.

The guards gulp, trying to grab Bestie's body and flee.

"Seize them!" The scientist says in a rage, retrieving his lab coat. He didn't notice that Bestie's removed jacket happened to be lying right next it.

In a few short moments, the fight is over. Both outnumbering and outclassing the Deul soldiers, it isn't hard for the Germa soldiers to best them, knocking them unconscious and restraining them.

The scientist then kneels down, checking Bestie's pulse.

"She's just unconscious." The scientist mutters, feeling a burning rage of being beaten because of some noble's fainting spell. "You damned clones should have protected me better! Send them all to the dungeon!"

The scientist then goes back to his work, feeling a stifled anger in his chest. However, just as he unlocks his file cabinet, he feels a peculiar sensation as his body falls under Rex's control.

Rex grins, this was too easy. Of course, even if the soldier didn't take the coat, Rex was prepared to wait until the scientist slept to use his ability on him, but this was too perfect.

Rex helps himself to all the files in the filing cabinet, using the keys to open as many as he could. As he empties all the cabinets he had keys for, Rex recalls what the scientists had said about a prison and quickly follows the guards, wondering if he would have a chance to meet the famous Sanji.

Rex quickly catches up to the clone guards who look back at him strangely.

"What are you looking at?!" Rex says, recalling how ornery the scientist was. "I want to question them myself for what they've done!"

The clones shrug, knowing that the scientist was above them in terms of status and kept walking to the dungeon in a uniform manner. Soon, they all reach the dungeon.

Rex is surprised by what he sees there. There are dozens of people, most of them brutally maimed and injured, some of them obviously experimented on. There were people of all ages from children to elderly, both genders, even a few from different species.

Rex shakes his head, his fist clenched. He had to play along.

Eventually, they reach the nearest empty cell and the prisoners are thrown in. The clones then turn to Rex.

"The ten of you, return to your pods until further notice, you three, stay with me."

The clones nod, doing just as Rex said. Waiting for the ten clones to leave, Rex smiles.

"552, 556, bring Lady Bestie to the interrogation room!" Rex orders, the clones nodding and entering the cell.

Rex then moves at once, grabbing a dagger from one of his pockets, Rex stabs 612 in the throat, slamming the cell door on the two other clones. They look at him in shock, but Rex has already retrieved a pistol.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The two clones and Bestie all drop dead. Rex retrieves the keys from 612.

Rex then goes from cell to cell unlocking them all. If he was planning to escape from Germa, he would need a big distraction.

Eventually, Rex sees the last cell, his eyes widening as he glimpses its young occupant.

"What are you looking at? Did my father send you?"

But it wasn't Sanji.