Every Step Was Taken For You, Old Sand

On one of Baroque Works' ships, Reiner stood in the hold, looking at a ship full of Dance Powder. It was a substance forbidden by the World Government, yet Old Sand had managed to acquire so much of it.

Reiner immediately ordered the Undead to start moving it, and they took the opportunity to search for anything valuable. Unfortunately, Baroque Works seemed to have a rather well-established financial system, as there wasn't much treasure left on the ship.

"One hundred million, not bad."

After the Undead had finished moving the Dance Powder, Reiner walked out of the hold with them and disembarked to meet up with Nami and the others. "It's done! Now we have the Dance Powder."

"You did great, Reiner!" Nami jumped up, laughing, and gave him a big hug. "Vivi will be so happy about this."

Vivi might be happy, but me?

Double happy!

Reiner felt the soft touch against him and Nami's alluring scent. His heart fluttered. It seems Nami is wearing very little under her cloak.

This is great!

Thwack!

"You idiot! Where are you putting your hands?!"

"Ahem… No time to lose, let's go." Reiner, sporting a large bump on his head, wrapped his arm around Nami's slender waist, lifted her down, and led the group towards the Going Merry.

Upon arriving at the Going Merry, Luffy and the other three were already waiting.

"You guys had quite the haul," Sanji remarked, looking at the dozen or so Fish-man Undead behind Reiner, each carrying several sandbags on their shoulders in a neat line.

The group had swaggered through the city for a while, and sure enough, they quickly attracted many Baroque Works assassins.

After causing a ruckus, they interrogated them and found out that Dance Powder was on the enemy's ship docked at the coast. So they simply returned to the Going Merry and waited.

Given Reiner's strength, the others were confident that nothing would go wrong.

"So, shall we go to Cattelya and burn the Dance Powder now?"

Nami stood at the bow, stretching out her arms and feeling the breeze on her skin. "We'll go southwest of Cattelya. That's the upwind side, and the humidity is high enough now. If we go straight through the desert, we should arrive by evening."

"Ooh! Desert adventure!"

"Desert adventure!!"

Luffy and Usopp seemed excited. The group quickly packed, wrapping themselves tightly to prevent sunburn, and bringing enough water and food before setting off. Reiner, Zoro, and Sanji lagged behind, following at a leisurely pace.

Lowering his head, Reiner lit a cigarette from a small flame that flickered from the front of his blue shirt and asked, "Those who knew we were looking for Dance Powder...?"

"Ah, we cut them all down."

"Don't worry, it's been handled cleanly. We shouldn't be disturbed for at least the next two days."

It was mid-afternoon, the sun at its most scorching. In the vast, boundless desert, the ground seemed to be baked, and all distant sights shimmered distortedly.

Endless reddish-yellow dunes stretched as far as the eye could see. A gust of wind would stir up a flurry of sand, as the group slowly walked through the desert.

The Fish-man Undead carried bags of Dance Powder behind them, while several eagles circled overhead. Looking down, it appeared as if a small ant colony was crawling across the ground.

"Ah, I can't take it anymore."

A weak voice emerged. Luffy had lost his initial enthusiasm, his back hunched, leaning on a cane he'd found somewhere. His face was slack, tongue lolling out, and eyes nearly closing.

"Water, I need water."

"No, you've already had too much. The rest needs to be saved for Reiner. The water we had, which was more than enough, is now barely going to last."

Sanji refused Luffy, scolding him impatiently, "Whose fault is it that you, you idiot, ran and jumped around as soon as we entered the desert? Now you deserve to suffer."

Though seemingly weak, Luffy's stamina was actually still robust; he just couldn't stand the scorching heat and dry mouth. In contrast, Reiner was in much worse shape.

Carrying so many heavy objects as Undead drained all of his stamina.

"Are you alright, Reiner? There's a stretch of Gobi desert ahead. We can rest there for a bit."

"Mm, the rate of stamina consumption in the desert is a bit more than I expected." Reiner replied to Vivi, taking the water bottle she offered and slowly drinking from it.

He could grit his teeth and finish the journey, but he needed to conserve some stamina in case a fight broke out.

I should have acquired some templates good at desert travel earlier. Good thing I focused on endurance training.

After a while, they reached a stretch of Gobi desert. By now, they had covered two-thirds of their journey, and Reiner's stamina was more than halfway depleted.

Finding a shaded spot, the Fish-man Undead set down their heavy burdens. Reiner dismissed the Undead and immediately sat down against the rock face.

"You've worked hard, Reiner."

"Thanks." Reiner took the offered cigarette, leaned back against the rock face, and relaxed.

By now, the sun had set, and the sky was gradually darkening. The wind was stronger today, which slowed their pace more than expected. The temperature began to drop, and the speed of the change was astonishing.

"Everyone, the temperature difference between day and night is huge in the desert. Make sure you have your warm clothes ready," Vivi called out as she began to organize her luggage.

They didn't plan to enter Cattelya after arriving but rather to burn the Dance Powder in the desert on the upwind side.

So they had prepared a lot of supplies. After a short rest, Reiner ate some food to replenish his energy, and then they continued their journey.

Meanwhile, in a small shop called Spider Cafe.

Behind the bar stood a blue-haired woman with an afro. She placed a cup of coffee on the table and gently pushed it towards the bald man opposite her.

"We got word from Nanohana. The Straw Hat Crew has appeared."

Sitting at the bar, Mr.1, Daz Bonez, said indifferently, "After killing quite a few of our people, they've disappeared again."

"Could they have gone to the capital, Alubarna?" Ms. Doublefinger, with her blue afro, asked, recalling the information the Unluckies had sent from Cactus Island.

"After all, wasn't their mission to escort the princess?"

"It's not impossible. Since a while ago..." Daz Bonez took a sip of his coffee, then said in a low voice, "I wanted to send the Billion Agents to check things out, but I haven't received any feedback. I have a bad feeling something unpleasant is about to happen."

"Fuhahaha."

A boisterous woman's voice came from behind. Mr. 4 and his partner, Ms. Merry Christmas, were sitting at a table, and it was Ms. Merry Christmas who had spoken.

"No matter what, they'll eventually end up at the palace, won't they?" The old woman gulped down her coffee and suggested, "Since we can't find them anyway, why don't we just go to Alubarna and wait?"

"Hm, alright. Let's go to our base in the capital." With that, Daz Bonez finished his coffee in one gulp, stood up, and walked out the door.

"I also happen to be going to the capital for a secret mission, so we might as well go together."

"Shut up, you cross-dressing freak. If you keep talking like that, I'll kill you first."

"Oh my~, I'm so scared. If you can do it, come and try, Mr.1."

"Alright, you two. The mission is important. The boss isn't a kind person."

Soon, the group left the cafe, mounted their horses, and galloped towards the capital.

Meanwhile, Reiner's group in the desert.

"This should be enough," Nami said.

"You guys start preparing to burn the Dance Powder. I'll give it a boost with my Clima-Tact. While the effect isn't huge, it should speed things up a bit."

"Ah, okay." After having the Undead put down the Dance Powder, Reiner controlled them to spread out and continue collecting firewood.

The Clima-Tact was a weapon Nami had asked Usopp to design and build for her earlier. That was also the day Usopp joined Reiner and Zoro's weightlifting team.

Besides that, Reiner had also asked him to help design a concave slot for him.

He took out the Bone Chain Sword, which had been crafted using Arlong's template. A groove on the ferocious skull at the tip of the Chain Sword held a Seastone bullet firmly in place, with only half of the bullet exposed.

"Plus, the Blue Ogre and Red Ogre who can use Haki..." Reiner touched the fully loaded special revolver holstered at his waist, a smile playing at his lips.

Sumimasen~, Croco-chan.

Watashi. I've already prepared your coffin.