One Piece: Shadow monarch? I'm Just Logistics!

Chapter 233: A Little Splitting of the Loot

Bang! Reiner rushed forward, stomping heavily on the chain dragging on the ground.

Clang!

The taut iron chain directly pulled the other back. The barbs inside the collar on its body jerked, and the giant cobra's pupils instantly widened in pain.

"Trying to run when you're chained up? I seem to have overestimated your intelligence," Reiner mocked contemptuously.

This snake looked cunning, but turned out to be a bit dopey.

The cobra turned its head back, its eyes fierce yet revealing a trace of unwillingness. If I weren't so hungry, I would have definitely beaten you up severely before swallowing you!

Swish!

The cobra opened its mouth, bared its pair of deadly fangs, and suddenly shot out a stream of venom.

Reiner's five fingers bent, and the air seemed to be gripped in his hand as he flung it out!

"Annihilating Rush Fist: Bullet!"

Bang!

The condensed impact flew out like a cannonball, hitting the pillar of venom and dispersing it.

It splattered on the walls and ground, sizzling and smoking. It was clear this venom was highly corrosive.

Isn't this just a carbon copy of Magellan?

Reiner became even more interested in it. He had discussed getting a pet with Nami before.

She wanted to get cats and dogs, saying they were empathetic. Reiner suggested getting Chopper; he was even more empathetic.

As expected, he was met with Nami's opposition...

...and a fist.

Reiner steadily stepped on the chain and began to size up his opponent. Thinking about it now, catching this snake as a pet seems pretty good?

He pointed at the cobra and turned his head to ask her lightly, "Nami, what do you think of it? As a pet."

"Are you nuts!"

A vein popped on Nami's forehead. She clenched her fist and yelled, "How is this thing something that can be tamed! And it's not cute at all!"

What!

The cobra's eyes widened in anger as it glared at Nami.

I am the lord of the earth! The guardian deity of the desert! What are you yelling about, you woman!

Bang!

Reiner went up and smashed his fist heavily on its head, scolding, "Behave yourself! This is your mistress!"

The cobra shook its somewhat dizzy head and glared angrily at Reiner. Did I agree to this? What are you yelling about!

Swish!

It opened its mouth and shot out another stream of venom. The cobra's thick tail followed closely behind, whipping out fiercely!

Bang!

Reiner turned sideways, narrowly avoiding the sneak-attacking venom, and caught the lashing snake tail tightly with both hands.

Even though he caught it steadily, the immense force of the whip still made him slide back several meters.

A corner of Reiner's mouth lifted, his eyes fierce. "I said one hundred punches, not one less. If you can't take it, I don't want you."

Armament Haki, like black flowing fire, spread over his arms. At this moment, his defense and the power of his moves had reached their peak in his normal state.

"I see you won't hold back! Go to hell, you stinky snake!" Reiner shouted and charged straight up, raising his fist.

Who starts taming a pet by trying to kill it!

The cobra cursed inwardly. A vein seemed to pop on its smooth black head. If it could speak, it would have already cursed Reiner's entire family tree.

An equally dense Armament Haki coiled around it, making its body even deeper black, flowing with a dark light.

I can only brace myself and fight!

Bang!

A fist and a snake tail clashed violently!

A corner of Reiner's mouth lifted as he started counting, "One punch!"

The snake, enraged: Count the two punches from before, you bastard!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

"Sixty-six punches!"

Reiner's counting never stopped. "Sixty-six punches!" "Sixty-six punches!"

The snake, furious: Do you think snakes can't count? How much do you love the number sixty-six!

Its tail coiled into a circle and once again blocked a punch. Its head was shaking, clearly dazed.

Why, why is my snake life so bitter!

I was captured as a baby to guard a tomb, and could only rely on rats and the occasional tomb robber who got past the traps to fill my stomach.

If you were going to use me, why did you even build traps!

Were you afraid I'd eat too much, you bastards!!

Lacking food, it could only hibernate day after day to stay alive, hoping to grow up and break free from the collar.

And then the collar just got tighter!

Yarou!! (You bastard!!)

I'm starving to death! I finally got a few intruders, and I thought I could have a good meal!

But I ran into a monster instead!!

Waaah!!

As it thought, it suddenly tilted its head back and began to wail.

A fierce and deadly cobra was now crying like a bewildered child, two streams of tears flowing like waterfalls.

"Um... let's forget it, Reiner."

"Let's let it go."

Nami and Vivi couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy. Their bright eyes were full of pity.

When they discovered the collar on its body, the group already had their suspicions.

Seeing its pitiful appearance now, they couldn't help but feel a tug at their hearts, suddenly feeling cruel.

Bang!

Reiner threw another punch, interrupting its silent wailing. He turned his head and said lightly, "It hasn't taken a hundred punches yet."

That pile of sixty-sixes was more than enough!

More than enough, you bastard!

The cobra bared its fangs, its tail continuously slapping the ground to show its anger!

Reiner understood its dissatisfaction. He was doing it on purpose.

This snake was cunning. If he didn't give it a good beating, who knew who would be serving whom in the future.

"Forget it."

Reiner put his hands in his pockets and walked forward. The cobra couldn't help but shrink its head back.

He looked down at it and asked, "I'll let you go. How about you be my pet?"

The cobra first blinked its eyes, seeming to hesitate, but it was better than waiting to die here.

It opened its mouth wide and gestured with its tail towards its mouth.

Will you feed me?

Reiner understood and nodded. "Food, lodging, and an allowance are all covered. Eight hours of being cute a day, with weekends off."

The snake didn't understand, a question mark appearing above its head, but it sounded like a very conscientious offer, so it nodded.

"Alright then."

Reiner extended his hand. "Let's have an interview first. Shake hands."

A trace of confusion appeared in the cobra's pupils. It slowly placed its tail in his hand and tilted its head.

Like this?

"Not bad," Reiner continued the test. "Next, coil in a circle."

The cobra did as it was told.

"Lie down, look up, twist your waist, and do a dance..."

The cobra performed perfectly.

"Very smart," Reiner nodded with satisfaction, then added, "Next, do a handstand followed by a 360-degree backflip."

"Is that a move a snake can do!!"

Bang!!

Nami bared her teeth and delivered a flying kick, sending Reiner flying into a wall!

The cobra was stunned for a moment, then used its head to prop itself up in a handstand, forming the number '1'. Then, it twisted its waist, exerted force, and sprang up, its body coiling into a circle and doing a 720-degree flip in the air.

A perfect landing!

"It really did it!!" Nami's eyes nearly popped out in shock!

The cobra grinned smugly, revealing its bright, white, sharp fangs.

Reiner broke free from the wall, brushed off his clothes, and said calmly, "Did you think I was making things difficult for it? I was being very serious with my test."

"..."

A black line appeared on Vivi's forehead, her face speechless. You were making things difficult for it. It looked that way no matter how you saw it.

"In any case,"

Reiner patted its head and said, "From now on, you'll follow me. You won't lack for food. Let's give you a name first."

The cobra nodded, then opened its mouth and gestured with its tail, then patted its own stomach.

Can we get something to eat first? The kid is starving.

"I didn't bring any food," Reiner said calmly.

"..."

The snake froze. An empty-handed white snake?

I've been had!

"Um... we brought some."

Vivi raised her hand, took off her backpack, opened it, and poured out a lot of packaged meat onto the ground.

The cobra looked at Vivi, then at Reiner, its contempt overflowing in its eyes.

It slithered over to Vivi's side and rubbed its head against her face with a fawning expression.

"It's really so smart," Vivi smiled, patting its head.

Reiner's voice was low. "If it were really smart, it would know who it should be pleasing."

As soon as his voice fell, the cobra used its tail to roll up the food on the ground and slithered back.

It gave Vivi a disdainful look, placed the bags of packaged food in front of Reiner, and grinned at him as if to take credit.

That silly, sweet girl is easy to fool. Master, let's eat. That was probably what it meant.

Seeing its cheeky face, Reiner felt he really understood its thoughts.

Vivi clenched her fists, her face darkening. What a 'treacherous snake'. I can't believe you two found each other.

Reiner was very satisfied with its display of loyalty. "I was originally going to name you 'Specs', but I've changed my mind. I'll call you 'Cheeky' instead."

"Don't give it such a stupid name!!"

Duang! Nami threw a punch at him irritably.

"Hiss!!" Seeing its master being bullied, the cobra's cold pupils narrowed. It revealed its fangs and extended its head, its threatening intent on full display.

"What are you glaring at!"

Duang!

Nami casually gave it a punch, teaching it its first lesson as a house pet.

With a large bump on its head, the cobra pitifully retreated to Reiner's side. When it looked at Nami again, its eyes were already filled with an inexplicable terror.

Is this woman alright?! Why did her aura suddenly change!?

She wasn't like this just now, was she?!

Reiner suddenly felt a trace of pity for it. "Ahem, this is our big boss. You'd better learn to be smarter in the future."

Understood.

It quickly nodded its snake head, cautiously swam forward, raised its upper body and coiled it into a circle to act as a seat, and fawningly gestured for Nami to sit.

I should just call him Cheeky, Reiner thought, rubbing his chin.

"Don't you be thinking of strange names," Nami glanced at Reiner irritably, sat on the snake's back, and after a moment's thought, said, "Since it's an Apis snake, let's call it Apis from now on."

"How plain," Reiner muttered.

"It's settled then," Nami would not accept any rebuttal. She asked it, "What do you think?"

Apis quickly nodded. Whatever the big boss says, goes.

Next, Reiner helped Apis get rid of its shackles. It quickly swallowed a large amount of food, and under Nami's direction, it also carried Vivi, taking them deeper into the underground palace.

Through a difficult conversation, the group learned that there was also a huge burial chamber inside, which was the very reason this underground palace was built: the burial place of King Set and Queen Nephthys.

There were still many traps along the way, but most had lost their effectiveness from not being triggered for too long.

And it was useless even if they were effective.

They advanced as if through an unguarded territory, arriving before the burial chamber and violently pushing open the giant stone door.

An extremely disgusting smell washed over them. The terrifying scene before them made their scalps tingle.

Nami and Vivi were so scared they fell directly off Apis, their pupils dilated as if they had lost focus, their bodies trembling as they were unable to speak.

It was a huge pit, the size of ten football fields. The center was built with an ancient, trapezoidal structure that looked like an altar.

The altar was piled with gold and jewels, the quantity of which was difficult to estimate, far exceeding what they had obtained on Skypiea. Three sarcophagi were placed in the middle.

But at this moment, no one's gaze was focused on the altar. Instead, they were fighting back the urge to vomit as they looked at the huge deep pit.

It was densely filled with decayed corpses, tens of thousands of them!

Even Reiner couldn't help but feel disgusted. He turned his head and said in a low voice, "It's the workers who built this underground palace, right?"

Apis nodded in affirmation.

Reiner had heard some similar things in his past life, but seeing it with his own eyes still gave him goosebumps.

No wonder this place hadn't been discovered. The eastern and western tribes lived in the rift, yet the royal tomb was secretly built within the rift.

The workers who built it were all killed and buried with them, so naturally, very few people knew the location of the tomb.

"I'm going in to take a look. What about you guys?" Reiner turned his head and asked.

Nami and Vivi's faces were pale as they waved their hands repeatedly. "We—blegh!!"

The two couldn't help but vomit a mosaic of pixels as soon as they opened their mouths. It seemed even if they wanted to go in, they couldn't.

Leaving Apis to protect them, Pell transformed into his falcon form, and with Chaka, they flew Reiner to the altar where the sarcophagi were placed.

This place was huge, enough to fit a Marine warship. The gold and jewels on the ground had already lost their luster.

The three of them landed with heavy faces. They ignored the treasure all over the ground and instead walked straight to the back of the three sarcophagi, to a giant stone stele ten meters high.

It was carved with a full text, not in the common language of today; they couldn't understand it.

Pell looked up and murmured, "If it's placed here, it probably records the lives of the three people."

"But besides King Set and Queen Nephthys, who is the other one?" Chaka turned his head to look at the three stone sarcophagi placed side by side.

The one in the middle was slightly lower, and the style of its carvings was slightly different. That was probably the third one.

"Could it be their son? Didn't you say the prince succeeded the throne after the two of them died? The mausoleum was also built after King Set and his wife died."

Reiner deduced and was about to get his hands on it. "Let's pry it open and see."

"Eh, eh, eh!"

"What are you doing!"

Pell and Chaka grabbed him from the left and right and shouted hurriedly, "Don't just go prying open people's coffins! What if it's really the ancestor of the current royal family!"

For the two of them, the guards of the royal army, to be robbing an ancestral tomb... dame da ne!

We'll be struck by lightning if we go out!

"Ahem, maybe there's some kind of trap inside, like poison or something. To be safe, let's forget it," Chaka said with a sheepish laugh.

Reiner reluctantly withdrew his hand. He wasn't that interested in the historical truth anyway.

His original intention for this trip with Nami was just to let Vivi relive the experience of an adventure.

As for the coffin here...

...it was better to leave it for Alabasta to study themselves.

"Then I'll just make a rubbing of the stele."

Reiner said, "We have someone on our ship who is interested in these things. Maybe she can even translate the contents for you."

"You're talking about Nico Robin, right? That's not a problem. I believe Princess Vivi won't refuse either," Pell nodded.

"And the gold here, I'm taking some. No discussion on this. I'm a pirate. Even if you refuse, I'll still take it," Reiner said, pointing at the treasure all over the ground.

"That's fine. Lord Reiner can take as much as you want."

Chaka paused, then scratched his head and added, "Ahem, of course, we still hope you can be merciful and leave a little for Alabasta. After all, the previous incident..."

"Don't worry. Your country is so poor already. We won't empty out Vivi's family fortune," Reiner said, holding up three fingers. "We'll split it three-seven."

"Uh, um... who gets seven?" Pell asked tentatively.

A corner of Reiner's mouth lifted. "What do you think?"

In the end, he only took thirty percent.

The starting capital for the next year is secured. Reiner couldn't help but sigh at his own kindness.

(End of chapter)

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