"So simple?"
Sora chuckled after hearing Judge's confident claim. It seemed this trip had not been in vain.
As long as he could successfully feed the Swallow-Swallow Fruit to a machine, he could begin mass-producing memory alloy.
"If you can get your hands on the Pluton blueprints for me," Judge said, "not only will I help you with the Devil Fruit item infusion, but I'll also throw in the lineage factor modification tech I promised last time."
"What do you say?"
Sora nodded in agreement.
He already intended to hand the Pluton blueprints over to Judge, letting Germa's national power secretly build it. That way, he could swoop in and take the finished weapon for himself later.
Even if Judge hadn't made this request, Sora had already planned to find a way to deliver the blueprints to him.
Thinking further, Sora asked Judge:
"If you've mastered the ability to feed Devil Fruits to objects, why haven't you created Devil Fruit weapons?"
"Shouldn't those be more powerful than ordinary weapons?"
In Sora's view, feeding a Devil Fruit to an object was like creating magical gear.
If he had that technology, he would absolutely experiment with it.
Judge chuckled and explained:
"I get what you're thinking."
"Objects and weapons that consume Devil Fruits do gain some intelligence, but it's no different from wild beasts."
"To make one of those obey your commands takes a lot of time and training—and the results are highly unstable."
"If I have both time and a Devil Fruit, I'd rather just train a loyal soldier and let him eat the fruit."
So that's how it is!
Sora understood immediately.
Still, since all he wanted was to make the machine produce memory alloy using the Swallow-Swallow Fruit, intelligence wasn't a concern.
After that, Sora handed over the fruit to Judge and explained the type of machine he needed.
Then he returned to the Divine Slave, planning to head for Water 7 and investigate Franky's whereabouts—and while at it, snatch Kalifa.
According to Judge, Akainu's month-long stay in Water 7 had driven Franky, the city's underworld figure, into hiding.
That likely meant the CP9 agents still lurking at the shipyard had also failed to complete their mission and stayed in hiding.
Which meant Sora wouldn't even need to go all the way to Enies Lobby to get Kalifa.
"How did it go?" Reiju asked when Sora returned.
She knew he had visited her father for the sake of the Swallow-Swallow Fruit.
"He agreed. But in return, your father wants me to get the Pluton blueprints for him."
As he guided the Divine Slave out of Germa's harbor, Sora added,
"They haven't gotten them yet?"
"Admiral Akainu stayed in Water 7 for over a month. There was nothing they could do," Sora shrugged. "Your old man had bad luck."
Reiju giggled as she nestled into his arms. "All because of you."
Sora laughed and pulled her close.
She could easily guess that Akainu had shown up in Water 7 because of him.
Sora then grabbed the rigging and began altering the Divine Slave's appearance, reshaping it into the look of the Five Seas Chamber of Commerce before steering it toward Water 7.
Although Akainu had already left, Sora preferred to avoid trouble by keeping up the disguise.
—The next day.
Port of Water 7.
"That's a navy battleship!" Mikita whispered, hiding as she peeked from the railing. "Why is Sora docking here?!"
Nami, Robin, Vivi, and the others stared in disbelief as Sora boldly prepared to dock the Divine Slave next to the Marine warship.
Most of them were wanted fugitives. Docking beside a Marine vessel seemed like asking to be arrested.
Only Nojiko, Kaya, Makino, and others—who didn't really see themselves as pirates—seemed unbothered.
"Sora, are you sure about this?" Nami asked, eyes on the Marine ship nearby.
She'd never seen a wanted man go toward the Marines before.
Sora glanced at Robin, Mikita, and the rest and realized they all shared the same concern.
Had they been pirates for so long that this kind of thinking had become second nature?
Seeing even Robin looking at him questioningly, Sora sighed and shook his head.
"Ahem."
He pointed to the flag flying on the Divine Slave. "Is that a pirate flag?"
Everyone looked up—and were stunned.
It wasn't a Jolly Roger. It was a golden dragon emblem.
"And what does that say?" he pointed to the ship's sail.
Everyone turned to look. On it were four large characters: Five Seas Chamber of Commerce!
"From this moment on, you're all secretaries of the Five Seas Chamber of Commerce," Sora declared, clapping his hands.
Golden Week Marianne stepped forward with her sketchpad and brush, pointed to the sky—
Fantasy Rainbow Camouflage!
As her paintbrush danced, a circular seven-colored rainbow shimmered above the ship.
Moments later, everyone's clothes transformed. Sora now wore a dashing business suit. Nami, Robin, and Vivi were dressed in sexy business skirts, each with a different cut and color.
These were the secretary uniforms Sora had asked Golden Week to prepare.
Their appearances also subtly changed, enough to make recognition difficult.
The Fantasy Rainbow Camouflage was a special ability from Marianne's palette power, allowing her to alter others' looks for disguise.
"Amazing!" Kaya beamed. "Marianne, you're so talented!"
"I-it's nothing..." Golden Week replied shyly.
"Are you sure this will work?" Robin asked, still unsure despite her new secretary appearance.
As someone wanted by the World Government for twenty years, she had her doubts.
"We'll find out," Sora replied with a grin, donning a traditional Water 7 mask.
He then guided the Divine Slave into the vacant dock beside the Marine warship.
He had full confidence in the name of the Five Seas Chamber of Commerce.
Back in North Blue, he had already seen people placing ads in newspapers looking to collaborate with them.
Of course, if the bluff failed, he wasn't worried either.
Unless there was an admiral aboard, he didn't fear anyone. That was the real reason he dared dock beside the Marines.
As Sora moved in to dock, Nami, Vivi, Mikita, and the others panicked and scrambled to hide.
Wait—why am I hiding? I'm the princess of Alabasta!
Vivi blinked in confusion as she crouched behind cover.
—On the battleship.
The stationed Marines noticed a vessel docking nearby and all turned to read the sail of the approaching ship.
"Five Seas Chamber of Commerce??!"
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Don't forget to give Power Stone
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