Driving Judge to Despair

Chapter 101: Driving Judge to Despair

After Brook joined Rodney's fleet, Rodney began to haggle with Judge every day. Anyway, they argued back and forth daily, while the Black Pearl was undergoing Rayleigh's coating.

Coating wasn't like applying a screen protector to a cell phone. It involved a lot of work, including evenly applying special tree resin to the ship's surface, among many other processes. All of these steps had to be completed. Of course, you could skip them if you weren't afraid of accidents.

What kind of international joke would that be? Skipping this would mean risking everything. Under the deep sea, the coating's bubble film was a matter of life. Once it ruptured, the terrifying water pressure from all directions could completely flatten a person. Even Rodney would die. Humans were not Fish-Men and couldn't adapt to the water pressure of the deep sea, freely moving around.

Master Rayleigh's skills were absolutely top-notch, so safety could be guaranteed. The rest depended on Rodney and his crew. Well, with Robin around, there shouldn't be any major issues.

The Flower- Flower Fruit had a wide range of applications, but Robin didn't use it much. If she mastered Observation Haki, she could use her ability in unseen places—assassinations, assistance, and everyday use—it was incredibly useful.

Unfortunately, Robin was more interested in history than training. If Rodney didn't occasionally delegate ship handling and some chores to her, allowing her abilities to grow a bit, her strength might have remained stagnant.

So, Rodney decided to take on some additional work himself and later delegate all the ship handling to Robin. This way, Robin wouldn't need to engage in combat, and her strength would still improve.

Well, two birds with one stone! Robin didn't know that Rodney had already arranged this. If she found out, it would be a real pickle, a tangled web of emotions.

"Mr. Judge, have you decided? If you don't make up your mind soon, we'll be entering the New World. By then, when we pass Fish-Man Island, your three precious sons will be gone. Hmm, the Sea Kings below the depths have quite a large volume." Rodney sat in the Shakky's Rip-off Bar seat, with an arrogant attitude.

"You greedy bastard!" Judge cursed. He did seek help from the World Government, but they merely gave Rodney a warning in writing, and there was no further action. He had to deal with it himself.

If he could really defeat this guy, why would he have gone to the World Government for help? He considered himself a quasi-political figure, and he could tell from the World Government's attitude that they didn't want to offend a new Shichibukai.

Rodney had just taken office, and his relationship with the World Government was still in the honeymoon phase. Now, making the World Government trouble him seemed unlikely.

But while the Germa Kingdom made a fortune from taking on jobs, you had to understand that scientific research was a money pit. Creating clone soldiers, updating Germa Tech, and maintaining the daily operations of the kingdom all cost money. Every day, they were spending money.

Even if he had several billion, he couldn't take them all out at once. And he needed three priceless Devil Fruits. Even an ordinary Zoan Fruit would cost at least a billion, so that was three billion more. How could he possibly come up with that all at once?

Just how broke was this guy?

Well, very broke, especially with the Explosive Tag and ninja tools; Rodney was running low on cash too.

He had other plans that required money.

There was a sucker here, and it would be a waste not to milk him dry.

"I can't get that much money right now!" Judge finally chose to yield. Without his sons to rely on, he was just a naive and cowardly researcher. Under Rodney's threat, he eventually chose to pay up because he didn't know what would happen to his country if he lost his sons.

At the very least, the dream of restoring the Germa Kingdom and the Vinsmokes to their ancestral glory would be impossible. Judge wouldn't allow that!

"I don't care. Either give me the money and the Devil Fruits, or I'll tear up the ticket. Don't worry; I have principles. As long as you pay, I'll return your people intact. Otherwise, I don't know what I might do." Rodney smiled and said, "Well, I'll send you three different colored hair samples as a gift. I can still harm their skin in other ways, you know. Shaving their heads is well within my abilities."

In Judge's ears, Rodney's laughter was as vile as a devil's. This guy was more despicable than a pirate.

"Shut up! If you harm them, the Germa Kingdom will never let you off!" Judge angrily retorted. The Den Den Mushi made a loud "bang" sound, probably because this guy smashed the table.

"Oh, how refreshing. It's as if you're implying that you alone are stronger than your three sons. Losing your ultimate combat power, you're no match for me. Unless you hand over all your technology and everything Germa has to the Four Emperors, it's unlikely you'll pose a threat in this world." 

Rodney pushed Judge into a corner. He was certain Judge wouldn't hand over Germa's technological power to Big Mom; that would reverse Judge's ambitions. It would lead to the destruction of the Germa Kingdom.

Therefore, Judge giving him the money was almost guaranteed. In the first place, it was mainly due to Ivankov and Nezumi, as well as the opportunity to regain Yonji and Reiju.

Judge didn't have many options left. If he didn't want the Germa Kingdom to be devoured by the Four Emperors, he had to pay.

Rodney kept pushing Judge down the path of paying him every day, one call at a time. This guy had low psychological resistance; when the pressure became too much, his cowardly nature would soon emerge, and he would obediently hand over the money to Rodney.

"Mr. Rodney is truly wicked," commented Shakky.

After hanging up the Den Den Mushi, Rodney said, "He brought this on himself. I consider myself a benevolent person. I don't interfere in other people's affairs except when it's my mission. But Judge is a proud and arrogant man, and his behavior has really ticked me off. Giving him despair and making him lose his arrogance is the biggest punishment for people like him."

"Oh? What prompted you to do this? You've always had a good temper," Shakky asked.

"It's like this." Rodney briefly explained the encounter between Sanji and Robin. Shakky exhaled a puff of smoke. "I never expected it. Rodney's heart is so gentle."

"I don't usually meddle in other people's business, but this matter made me really uncomfortable, so I decided to intervene."

"I'll be looking forward to it. By the way, I want to ask you about a little rumor."

"Oh? The well-informed Shakky coming to me for rumors?" Rodney was surprised. Shakky was knowledgeable about many things, but it was unusual for her to come to him for information. Moreover, it seemed to be about a minor rumor.

He picked up a glass, took a sip, and said, "Go ahead, as long as I know it, I'll tell you."

With her head resting on her hand, Shakki smiled and asked, "It's nothing much, just a question. Between little Reiju and little Robin, who do you like more? Or maybe you prefer little Perona?"

"Pfft!"

Rodney sprayed his drink all over. He couldn't believe Shakky was asking such a question. Hey, big sis, aren't you being a bit too nosy?