Meanwhile, deep in the ocean, a giant bubble held a hidden metropolis, with a tower-like structure at its center acting as a hub and port, connecting the ocean floor to the surface. Once a tourist hotspot for the elite, this place transformed into the main city of the Blue Nation after WW3 and the great EMP collapse, turning what used to mimic a sandy chick's home into a bustling center of activity.
In one of the underground cities called ARIA, Jozen watched the seahorse tribe and other tribes living on the surface of Trash Island. He secretly enjoyed their progress, even though he wasn’t directly involved. Once, they had used Trash Island as a banishment zone, but now he felt a master-pet relationship with them, especially as they began to see his actions as god-like.
Jozen watched the flickering images on the screen, the struggles of the surface dwellers a distant echo in his underwater world. He had given them a chance, a small corner of his vast domain, and they had… adapted. He almost felt a sense of pride.
After finishing a documentary about their journey, he turned his attention to the lab. In front of him was a holographic AI resembling Ruan Mei, the mad scientist killed by Alam. Before her death, she had stored her memories as data, and Jozen used her memory to fuel his own ambitions.
Since breaking away from the Red Nation, he declared himself the Blue Nation, acting as a playful jab at Zion. His attention shifted, however, as a summons arrived. A meeting was about to begin, one that would set the course for the Blue Nation's next move
Until one day, in a meeting at Aria, the atmosphere was thick with tension. Among the serious elite figures in suits and military uniforms, two striking figures stood out. One was a man with long blonde hair, dressed in a white Japanese garment adorned with random kanji. He was La Buse, the pirate lord of the Caribbean. The other was Olga Valvara, the pirate queen of the North Atlantic, draped in glamorous fur and a flamboyant hat with a red feather. The only empty seat in the room belonged to Sumbhaje.
Jozen sat at the center of the table, ready to speak after a long, tedious meeting. Olga and La Buse lingered in the hallway, taking in the dreamy blue cityscape outside. Below them, the people of the Blue Nation moved about the streets—some walking on their own limbs, others sporting mechanical ones, and a few using drones for transport. Some even rode in pods along train-like lines, fully embracing the pre-war technology that surrounded them.
As the meeting adjourned, Olga and La Buse lingered in the hallway, the weight of Jozen's words hanging in the air
La Buse, clutching his ancient Game Boy, broke the silence. “Do you guys viking like anime?”
Olga snorted, “No, you silly boy. We prefer blood and mushrooms!”
La Buse kept his eyes glued to his Game Boy. “I should sell those animes to your unwashed crew then.”
Olga lowered her wine glass, shaking her head. “No thanks, weeb. I don’t want to brainwash my crew with ancient cartoons.”
La Buse shoots her a sharp look. “Hey, what's with the nickname? I’m not a weeb! Anime isn’t just a cartoon; it’s a rich art form filled with love, adventure, and friendship. Some of it is genuinely beautiful!”
Olga chuckles mockingly, “Oh yeah? Not a weeb? That’s what every weeb says! And I appreciate anime as much as I do mushrooms.”
“Come on, matey! Anime is just a glorified cartoon with a Japanese twist!” she teases.
“Yeah? And mushrooms are just ordinary fungi!” La Buse retorts, his voice rising. “Great anime can touch hearts!”
“Right, and that makes it any less silly?” Olga laughs sarcastically. “You’re too blind to see it’s just mindless entertainment for mindless consumers!”
La Buse, clearly agitated, almost shouts, “You’re wrong! Anime expresses stories and emotions in a visually appealing way. You just lack the open-mindedness to appreciate the finer things in life!”
Rolling her eyes, Olga shoots back, “Calm down, weeb boy. Do you even remember what Jozen said before? I didn’t quite catch it.”
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“What!? Stop calling me ‘weeb boy’! It’s disrespectful!” La Buse takes a deep breath to calm himself. “I remember what Jozen said. It was about the potential for escalation on the battlefield.”
“Good. Now let’s put the anime debate aside and focus on strategy. What do we know about Red Nation’s current position? Where are their military bases, and what kind of defenses do they have?” Olga asks firmly.
La Buse responds, “From our intel, Red Nation has three main bases. One in Anchorage, Canada, where they’ve got a huge, well-equipped army. The second is in Toronto, also well-guarded. The last is in Los Angeles, their capital. They have superior technology and well-trained troops. As for weaknesses… they have none.”
Olga smirks, “Hmm, they sound formidable. But even the strongest army has weaknesses. Notice how all their bases are on coasts? If we attack them by sea, we could gain a huge advantage.”
“Good point,” La Buse concedes. “They do favor coastal cities. But we can’t underestimate their Navy. While we’re well-trained, we don’t have the numbers to match their sheer power. We’ll need a tactical plan that leverages our strengths and minimizes our weaknesses.”
“I agree,” Olga says. “But we have the edge in naval technology and tactics. Our ships are modern and agile. Let’s use your submarines to sneak behind enemy lines for surprise attacks. We can also use fast vessels to disrupt their supply lines and draw their ships into open waters, where we are stronger.”
La Buse nods, “I’m glad you’re being reasonable now. My submarines can launch surprise attacks, and our smaller vessels can disrupt their supply lines. This strategy has potential; I’m ready to greenlight it.”
“Excellent,” Olga replies. “We’ll use your submarines for stealthy attacks and smaller vessels to weaken their supply. Once Red Nation is destabilized, we can strike decisively at their main base.”
“Agreed,” La Buse says, determination in his eyes. “For this plan to succeed, we need the element of surprise. The Red Nation mustn’t see us coming until it’s too late.”
As Jozen oversaw the preparations for the upcoming conflict, a thought crossed his mind. He wondered if the chaos on the surface would eventually ripple down to the depths of the ocean. Perhaps, a certain young rebel, a rising star in the resistance against Red Nation, would play a crucial role in shaping the future of both worlds.
Once a bandit mercenary, Panji has transformed into a hero. His newfound popularity springs from his genuine rebellion against one of the most manipulative nations on Earth. In a world where authenticity is a rare commodity, Panji’s spirit shines brightly.
Meanwhile, far from the underwater city of ARIA, weeks after the events at the Free World Media building, Panji returned to Red Summer, greeted by the same maid who fought alongside him during the Justice Arc. Now dressed in her professional maid attire, she guides him to meet the lord.
“Congratulations, Panji! You’re just one step away. You’ve freed this land,” the lord exclaims, arms wide open.
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s cut to the chase. What do you know about the Mammoth? They’re like the CIA of the White Nation, right?” Panji replies bluntly.
“Yes, exactly,” the lord acknowledges. “They are the unethical agents behind that Persever Tech. There are many theories about them. Some say they want to incite conflicts between nations to keep them in the Stone Age, ensuring Madagascar’s tech remains unmatched. Others believe they are simply a necessary evil in our dynamic world.”
“What do you mean, 'necessary power'?” Panji presses.
“Think about it this way: on a global scale, you need justification for war. You can’t just bash heads like in gang wars; you need a reason. War is about control,” the lord explains.
“So they’re just overpaid assholes? The minister is one of them” Panji retorts. then continue
“If Zion builds its reputation on killing, I’ll build mine on saving lives,” Panji declares.
The lord smiles. “Yes, and I’ll back you up. And once this is all over, let’s take down the minister too.”
Panji smiles and hands the lord a bracelet from Eden. The lord accepts it, nostalgia flickering in his eyes. “From Eden, isn’t it?”
“Yeah… what’s the story?” Panji asks, curiosity piqued.
The lord nods. “In the past, she was one of my maids. During Zion's conquest of Los Angeles, she was among the refugees trying to escape the city. She was injured badly… so she retired.”
“Cool story,” Panji replies, his tone casual.
With shared resolve, Panji and the lord strategize their next moves, ready to confront the chaos ahead.
As Panji prepares to leave, the maid drops her professional facade. “So, the hero sets sail into the unknown, leaving his woman behind?” she teases.
Panji, revving his motorbike, glances back with a smile before speeding off into the sunset. The maid waves at him, then sighs, turning to the other maids. “Alright, girls, let’s prepare dinner for our lord.”
After his meeting with the lord, Panji hopped on his motorbike, the setting sun painting the sky in hues of orange and red. As he sped down the highway
Suddenly, a copper chopper swoops low in front of him. The chopper descended rapidly, its rotors churning the air. Panji gripped his handlebars tightly, gauging the distance, the wind whipping at his face. With a burst of speed, he angled his bike up the descending ramp, the front wheel bumping slightly as he entered the cargo hold."
Chrome greets him with a grin, both impressed and irritated. “You asshole… you know that?”
Panji removes his shades and replies nonchalantly, “I know.”
The sun dipped below the horizon, casting the chopper in a crimson glow as it sped eastward, toward the vast expanse of Asia, a land beyond the Free World and the Pacific. The Justice gang, once rebels fighting against the system, now found themselves unwillingly absorbed into it. Some embraced their new roles as soldiers under Panji, while others were content to be local heroes. On a small monitor within the chopper, Veronica, the same news anchor they'd encountered at the Free World Media building, appeared on screen,
"World News: 2401 AD - Just a year after the formation of the New Old Council, Central Asia braces for the encroaching shadow of the Blood Khaganate, a vassal state of the Red Nation. In a desperate attempt to avert global war, the NWC has imposed a weapons embargo on the region. But as the old adage goes, 'War never changes, only the players do.'"
panji then rub his mechanical finger. and look at the blisfully soldier around him. joking and boasting how many head they smash in past. But Panji, a veteran of countless mercenary battles, knew this was different. This wasn’t a gang war fought in the back alleys of a crumbling city. This was something bigger, something far more brutal. He turned his gaze to the setting sun, its fiery reflection shimmering on the sea below. They were diving headfirst into a new kind of war, a war that would test them in ways they couldn’t yet imagine.