Luffy and his crew arrived in Whole Cake Island and clashed with the Big Mom Pirates.

The Whitebeard Pirates had successfully cloned Devil Fruits, significantly boosting their strength. Meanwhile, the Beasts Pirates, leveraging the resources of Wano Country and Caesar's artificial Devil Fruits, had also grown more powerful.

Naturally, Charlotte Linlin set her sights on scientific power. Vegapunk was out of reach, under the protection of the Marines and the World Government; anyone trying to get to him would first have to break through their defenses.

So, she targeted another renowned technological force: the Vinsmoke Family, who had long sought to rule the North Blue.

Once, the Vinsmoke Family had a glorious history. With their advanced technology, they had conquered the North Blue before being struck down by the World Government, leading to their decline.

The legendary Germa faded into history. However, Judge, a genius of the Vinsmoke Family, had once collaborated with Vegapunk, Caesar, and Queen in the research organization MADS. Together, they successfully studied the Lineage Factor.

Caesar became a half-baked scientist obsessed with poison gas; Queen focused on plague-based weapons and body modification.

Using the theoretical knowledge of the Lineage Factor, Judge successfully engineered five children in his wife's womb. However, due to his wife's influence, their third son, Sanji, failed to become the perfect soldier Judge desired; instead, he was weak and deemed a failure, eventually treated as a bargaining chip.

Roy had once been curious about Germa. During his time in the North Blue, he read numerous books about them and came to a conclusion: the original Germa had possessed incredibly advanced technology.

In fact, their downfall had another reason.

Roy learned this from a North Blue scholar specializing in Germa research. After exchanging information, the scholar revealed:

"The founder of the Vinsmoke Family was named Germa, and he even established a kingdom. No one knows where he obtained his technology, but overnight, he led his royal family to wage war across the North Blue, conquering it before ambitiously setting his sights on the Grand Line.

"This also sowed the seeds of Germa's destruction."

Germa's goal was obvious: the world ruled by the Celestial Dragons. If the Celestial Dragons could rule, why couldn't the Vinsmokes?

Thus, they faced the full force of the World Government and were ultimately destroyed.

Germa's civilization, like Shandora's, was crushed by the World Government.

To the people of the North Blue, Germa became a symbol of cruelty, and their history was turned into comic book stories; nearly every child in the North Blue grew up hearing those tales.

Roy was also intrigued by the Vinsmoke Family's technology, but their transformation devices were tied to their bloodline; only those with the right genetic modifications could use them.

Sanji was proof. Only after his body was altered in Wano did he gain abilities like his brothers

Without Judge's modifications, Germa's technology was unusable.

This made Roy lose interest in acquiring their technology.

Meanwhile, in Whole Cake Island, Luffy had defeated Cracker but was still captured alongside Nami and imprisoned inside a book.

"You can forget about escaping."

Their guard was Charlotte Opera, Big Mom's fourth son, who had the Cream-Cream Fruit.

Luffy kept struggling, even trying to twist his arms off to escape. Earlier, Pudding had visited and delivered bad news.

"No! I have to save Sanji!"

"Luffy, your arms stop!!" Nami screamed as Luffy nearly broke his own arms. Suddenly, the door burst open.

Opera turned, but before he could see who it was, a wave of Conqueror's Haki knocked him out. Then, a punch landed on his face.

The sudden burst of Conqueror's Haki stunned Nami, while Luffy was still trying to wrench his arms free.

"You're as reckless as ever, Luffy."

A familiar voice rang out. Luffy froze, his body twisted from struggling, suddenly relaxed, spinning like a top.

"You're…"

Nami looked at the newcomer, stunned.

Luffy, dizzy from spinning, blinked up at the man in the cowboy hat.

"A-Ace!!"

Luffy's eyes lit up in joy, completely shocked.

"Ace, did they catch you, too?" Luffy exclaimed.

"Idiot. You think I'd get caught?" Ace laughed. "You really are bold, just barging into Big Mom's territory without a plan. Let me guess, you got captured before even seeing her, right?"

"Ace, never mind that. Let us out! We have to save Sanji! That woman is tricking him!" Luffy shouted.

"Got it. Calm down. Books are afraid of fire." Ace narrowed his eyes and lit the book on fire.

Luffy and Nami escaped, though Nami's clothes were partially burned and she ran off to change.

Luffy wanted to rush off to find Sanji again, but Ace held him back.

"I told you, you got captured before even seeing Big Mom. You need a plan. You can't just brute-force your way through an Emperor's crew, they're not just one strong fighter." Ace said.

"I'm... so hungry…"

Ace thought Luffy would argue, but instead, Luffy collapsed from hunger.

"Someone's coming. I'll deal with them and get you food," Ace said.

"No, if Sanji didn't cook it, I'm not eating. Sanji is my crewmate, my chef. I'll only eat his cooking," Luffy muttered from the floor.

"You're a pain... Fine, I'll deal with them first." Ace activated Conqueror's Haki and knocked out the incoming enemies.

"Flame Emperor Ace is here!"

"How is he here?!"

"Damn it, inform Mama immediately! The Flame Emperor is in Whole Cake!"

While Ace dealt with them, Luffy rushed off again, starving but desperate to find Sanji. Ace, resigned, took Nami to regroup with the others.

"Our captain's always running off on his own…"

Outside Whole Cake Island, the Spade Pirates waited aboard their ship.

"I've got the info, Big Mom is hosting a banquet tomorrow. We'll slip in then," Deuce said with a grin.

"You dare kidnap us? We're honored guests of Big Mom!" a group of people cried from the deck.

"Big Mom? Don't forget, we were one a part of the Whitebeard Pirates," Deuce said, stomping on one of them.

The captives fell silent. Of course, they remembered now. The Spade Pirates came from the Whitebeard Pirates. They had no reason to fear Big Mom.

"Behave, or you die right now."

"W-we'll behave!!"

...

If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.

[email protected]/DaoistJinzu