Chapter 353: Clone Soldiers

After White Ghost hung up the Den Den Mushi, Reiju walked over and sat beside him.

White Ghost turned to look at Reiju, who was becoming more and more alluring. This girl seemed to have changed greatly after leaving that inhuman father of hers.

Reiju peeled grapes for herself and ignored the captain's increasingly improper gaze.

Only after finishing the grapes and wiping her hands did she speak slowly.

"The experiment succeeded, Captain. The giant-bloodline soldiers can now be produced."

White Ghost looked at her strangely.

"Why are you telling me such a big thing so leisurely?"

Reiju stretched lazily, displaying her graceful figure fully before White Ghost's eyes.

"If I don't take this chance to relax, I won't have time later. You'll definitely drag me straight to the laboratory the moment I tell you."

White Ghost shook his head.

"Then rest for a while. That thing won't run away. We can go once you're rested."

The corner of Reiju's mouth lifted.

"Is that false politeness? Usually, you look like you'll feed us to sharks if we fail to produce results."

White Ghost rubbed his nose.

"Am I that unreasonable? I don't think so."

Reiju chuckled.

"Let's go, Captain. You must be anxious already."

White Ghost stood and walked down from the dragon head with her, heading toward Dragon Island beside them.

The others also followed.

When everyone arrived at the laboratory, they saw ten youths with their eyes closed, soaking inside containers filled with green liquid.

White Ghost rubbed his chin while observing the clones inside with Observation Haki.

Reiju stepped forward and explained,

"We only managed to extract the giants' lineage factor after many experiments.

"Unfortunately, we still can't create cloned giants. For some reason, every attempt fails at the final step.

"After that, we diluted the giants' lineage factor and added several other factors. Only then did we finally produce the newest clone soldiers."

The mouths of the people who had followed twitched.

What was this?

Were scientists this outrageous?

They had actually wanted to create giants?

Reiju ignored their expressions and nodded to a scientist beside her.

The scientist immediately pressed a red button.

Buzz.

The ten containers began opening. The clones inside opened their eyes one after another and consciously walked aside to stand in formation.

Reiju led Chubby forward.

"Use your ability on them."

"Yes, Miss Reiju."

Chubby carried out Reiju's order with complete seriousness.

As Chubby used the Ripe-Ripe Fruit's power, the clones who had just emerged from the containers immediately began changing. Their heights grew from two meters to somewhere between three and five meters.

In the end, one reached five meters, five reached three meters, and four reached two and a half meters.

White Ghost looked at the ten clones and clicked his tongue.

"If they were all five meters tall, that would be great. When I saw someone I disliked, I could just bring them over and beat him down."

Jango was the most excited.

He seemed to have already seen himself leading clone soldiers to victory after victory.

Reiju continued,

"This is the best result we can currently achieve. The giants' lineage factor is extremely unstable.

"Although they are completely different from real giants, during the experiment, we added physique-enhancing medicine and strength-enhancing medicine.

"They're much stronger than ordinary soldiers. They're almost comparable to soldiers from Marine Headquarters."

White Ghost stepped forward, and the ten clones immediately dropped to one knee.

"King, please command us."

White Ghost nodded and asked Reiju beside him,

"What's their average lifespan? Do you have experimental records?"

Reiju took a report from the side.

"Their lifespans are longer than the original Germa clones. It may be because of the giants' lineage factor.

"We've done many experiments and found that not only do these clones have room to grow, their average lifespan is also around fifty years."

White Ghost nodded.

Through Observation Haki, he could sense that these clones were indeed as Reiju said, though their growth conditions were limited.

Even so, White Ghost was already satisfied.

If strength was not enough, firepower could make up the difference. Since he had so many firearms, couldn't he build a firearms unit?

White Ghost looked at the five-meter soldier.

"Can these be mass-produced now?"

Reiju nodded.

"No problem. However, the clones produced will be like this. The results are unstable, and the number won't be very high. For now, we estimate a little over one thousand clones per month."

White Ghost nodded.

He was very satisfied with this result.

He would not use only clones anyway.

Although they were the best expendable troops in war, their way of thinking was different, and they still needed others to lead them.

Jango rubbed his hands.

"Boss, with these clones, our troop problem is solved. Add those firearms on top of that…"

At that point, Jango grinned.

The others smiled knowingly.

Their biggest problem had been solved, so there was no need to worry about the rest.

Kuro was already thinking about how much of a role these soldiers could play once they were deployed on the battlefield.

Lafitte tightened his grip on his cane.

Fate truly was wonderful.

Lucci and Jabra, who had followed along, stared at the clones in shock.

They knew what they were looking at.

Neither of them had expected their new captain to have prepared so much without saying a word.

Was this the rhythm of defying the heavens?

After White Ghost and the others finished admiring them, the first batch of clones was taken away by several scientists for testing.

They felt the design could still be improved.

After all, their goal was to make all of them five meters tall.

White Ghost and the others were laymen and did not understand those details, so they left, each in a good mood.

Those who had not gone to watch the excitement looked at them curiously.

What was wrong with them?

Had their brains short-circuited?

White Ghost waved his hand.

"Speed up toward the Sabaody Archipelago. We won't wander slowly anymore. We're basically ready."

"Yes, Captain!"

The crew grew excited.

They had worked hard for so long, not simply to travel.

Next, they would claim the territory that belonged to them.

Issho and White Ghost looked out at the sea.

After a long while, Issho spoke.

"Captain has chosen the target? The goal we will use to step into freedom?"

White Ghost nodded.

"Hachinosu. A man failed there. I want to see whether I can surpass that man."

"Captain has great boldness. But that path is built over mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Does Captain truly have confidence?"

White Ghost turned to look at Issho.

"There are some things you only understand after doing them. It may be harder than climbing to heaven, but if you never try, how would you know how hard it is?

"Besides, every era produces a king. It can be someone else, but why can't it be me?"

Issho opened his white eyes and met his gaze.

"So that is Captain's dream. Absolute freedom."

The two smiled at each other, both understanding the other's thoughts.

Issho had given up the justice he had once insisted on.

He felt that his former self had been foolish and naive.

Now, he wanted to see the new path White Ghost spoke of.

The path of a king.

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