Chapter 43: Every Step Is Coming For You, Old Sand
On one of the Baroque Works ships, Reiner stood in the warehouse, looking at the cabin filled to the brim with Dance Powder. Something banned by the World Government, yet Sand Crocodile managed to acquire so much.
Reiner had his undead begin moving the powder. He also did a quick search for treasure, but unfortunately, it seemed they had a relatively complete financial system; there wasn't much treasure left on the ships.
"One hundred million Beri... well, it's acceptable."
After the undead finished moving the Dance Powder, Reiner came out of the warehouse, disembarked, and rejoined Nami and the others. "All done! We have the Dance Powder now."
"Nice job, Reiner!" Nami jumped up with a smile and gave him a big hug. "Vivi will definitely be happy about this!"
Vivi might be happy, but I'm...
Double happy!
Reiner felt the soft touch pressing against him and inhaled Nami's refreshing fragrance, his heart fluttering. Looks like Nami wears something quite cool under that cloak.
Mmm, delightful.
Duang!
"Bastard! Where are your hands going!?"
"Ahem... No time to waste. Let's go," Reiner said, a large bump already forming on his head. He put an arm around Nami's slender waist, helped her down, and took the lead, heading back towards the Going Merry with the others.
Arriving back at the Going Merry, Luffy's group of four was already waiting.
"Looks like your harvest was decent," Sanji remarked, noticing the dozen or so Fish-Men behind Reiner, lined up with sacks slung over their shoulders.
His group had swaggered through the city for a while, and sure enough, quickly attracted numerous Baroque Works assassins.
After causing some commotion, they interrogated their captives and learned that Dance Powder was stored on the ships docked at the coast. So, they came straight back to the ship to wait.
Given Reiner's strength, they were confident nothing would go wrong.
"Alright then, let's head to Katorea now and burn the Dance Powder," Nami announced, standing at the bow, arms outstretched, feeling the breeze against her skin. "We need to go to the southwest side of Katorea, that's the windward position. The humidity is sufficient now too. If we cut straight across the desert from here, we should arrive by evening."
"Alright! Desert adventure!"
"Desert adventure!!"
Luffy and Usopp seemed quite excited. The group quickly packed, wrapping themselves up tightly to prevent sunburn, took enough water and food, and set off. Reiner, Zoro, and Sanji lagged slightly behind the main group, following at an unhurried pace.
Lowering his head slightly, a small flame emerged from Reiner's blue shirtfront, lighting the cigarette in his mouth. He asked, "Those guys who knew we were looking for Dance Powder...?"
"Ah, dealt with," Zoro replied.
"Don't worry, cleaned up properly. We shouldn't be disturbed for at least the next couple of days," Sanji added.
It was now afternoon, the time when the blazing sun was at its most intense. In the vast, boundless desert, the earth seemed scorched, and looking into the distance, all scenery appeared distorted by heat haze.
Endless reddish-yellow sand dunes stretched as far as the eye could see. A gust of wind would stir up clouds of flying sand. The group walked slowly through the desert.
Fish-Man undead followed behind, carrying sacks of Dance Powder. Above, several eagle summons circled. Looking down from their perspective, the group below probably looked like a small team of ants crawling across the sand.
"Ah... I can't take it anymore..."
A weak voice sounded. Luffy had lost all his initial excitement. He was bent over, hunched, leaning on a walking stick he'd picked up somewhere, his face slack, tongue lolling out, eyelids nearly closed.
"Water... I need water..."
"No! You've already drunk too much! The rest has to be saved for Reiner! We had more than enough water, but now it's barely sufficient," Sanji refused Luffy's request, scolding irritably, "It serves you right, idiot! Who told you to run and jump around like crazy the moment we entered the desert!?"
Although Luffy looked weak, he actually still had plenty of stamina. He just couldn't stand the dry heat and thirst. Reiner, by comparison, was in much worse shape.
The undead carrying such heavy loads drained his stamina directly.
"Are you alright, Reiner? There's a rocky area ahead. Let's rest there for a bit," Vivi suggested kindly.
"Yeah... The desert drains stamina faster than I expected," Reiner replied, accepting the water bottle Vivi offered and slowly taking a sip.
He could push through if he gritted his teeth, but to conserve energy for potential battles, he needed to maintain some reserves.
"Should have gotten some templates suited for desert travel first... Good thing I usually focus on training endurance."
After a while longer, they reached a rocky Gobi area. By now, they had covered about two-thirds of the distance, and Reiner's stamina was more than halfway depleted.
Finding a spot shaded from the sun, the Fish-Man undead put down their heavy loads. Reiner recalled the summons and sat down directly against the rock wall.
"You worked hard, Reiner."
"Thanks." Accepting the offered cigarette, Reiner leaned his head back against the cool rock wall and relaxed.
By now, the sun had set, and the sky was gradually darkening. The wind had been stronger today, slowing their progress more than expected. The temperature began to drop rapidly, the speed of the change astonishing.
"Everyone! The temperature difference between day and night in the desert is huge! Make sure you have your warm clothes ready!" Vivi called out, starting to organize her belongings.
They didn't plan to enter Katorea city after arriving. Instead, they would burn the Dance Powder in the desert at a location upwind from the city.
Therefore, they had prepared plenty of supplies. After resting for a while and eating some food to replenish their strength, they set off again.
At that moment, inside a small shop called Spider's Cafe...
Behind the bar stood a woman with a blue afro Miss Doublefinger, She placed a cup of coffee on the counter, gently sliding it towards the bald man opposite her.
"Word came from Nanohana. The Straw Hat Pirates have appeared."
Mr. 1 – Daz Bonez – seated before the bar, spoke coolly. "After killing quite a few of our people, their tracks vanished again."
"Could they have gone to the capital, Alubarna?" Recalling the information the Unluckies sent from Cactus Island, the blue-afro woman, Ms. Doublefinger, asked, "After all, isn't their mission to escort the princess?"
"It's possible. Since earlier..." Daz Bonez picked up his coffee cup, took a sip, then continued in a low voice, "I wanted the Billions to check the situation, but I haven't received any feedback. I have a bad feeling something might have happened."
"Fufufufu~"
A boisterous female laugh came from behind. Mr. 4 and his partner Ms. Merry Christmas were seated at a nearby table. It was Ms. Merry Christmas who had laughed.
"Regardless, they'll end up at the Royal Palace eventually, won't they?" the old woman finished her coffee in one gulp and suggested, "Since we can't find them now anyway, why don't we just go straight to Alubarna and wait for them?"
"Hm, that works too. Let's head to the capital base," Daz Bonez finished his coffee in one gulp, stood up directly, and walked towards the door.
"Honey happens to be going to the capital for a secret mission too! We can travel together and keep each other company!" (Mr. 2).
"Shut up, dead okama! Talk weirdly like that again, and I'll kill you first," Mr. 1 threatened.
"Ooh~ Honey is so scared! Try it if you can, Mr. 1~" (Mr. 2).
"Enough, you two! The mission is priority! The Boss isn't exactly merciful," Miss Doublefinger intervened.
Soon, the group exited the cafe, mounted camels, and began rushing towards the royal capital.
Meanwhile, Reiner's group in the desert...
"Alright, this spot should do," Nami announced.
"You guys start preparing to burn the Dance Powder. I'll use my Clima-Tact to give it a boost. It might not be much, but it should speed things up a little."
"Ah, okay." After having the undead put down the Dance Powder sacks, Reiner directed them to spread out again and gather firewood.
The Clima-Tact was a weapon Nami had previously asked Usopp to help design and build – which was the reason Usopp started joining Reiner and Zoro's weightlifting sessions that day.
Besides that, Reiner had also asked him to design a socket.
He took out the White Bone Chain Sword previously crafted from Arlong's template. On the ferocious skull at the sword's tip, a groove now securely held a Seastone bullet, leaving only half the bullet head exposed.
"Add to that the Haki-using Blue Ogre and Red Ogre..." Reiner patted his waist again, where the fully loaded special Seastone revolver hung. A smirk couldn't help but spread across his lips.
"Sumimasen~ Croco-chan..."
"Watashi... I've already prepared your coffin."
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