Aboard one of Baroque Works' ships, Reiner stood in the hold, looking at the cabin packed full of Dance Powder. It was clearly banned by the World Government, yet Sand Crocodile had managed to get hold of so much.
Reiner immediately had the undead begin moving it, while also taking the chance to loot the place. Unfortunately, they seemed to have a fairly complete financial system, so there was not much treasure left aboard.
"One hundred million. Not bad."
Once the undead had finished moving the Dance Powder, Reiner left the hold with them and disembarked to meet up with Nami and the others. "All done. We've got the Dance Powder now too."
"Great job, Reiner!" Nami jumped up with a smile and gave him a huge hug. "Vivi will definitely be happy about this."
Vivi might be happy, but I'm—
double happy!
Feeling the soft curves pressed against him and her refreshing scent, Reiner's heart stirred. It seemed Nami was dressed rather lightly beneath that cloak.
This is awesome.
Duang!
"You bastard! Where do you think you're putting your hand?!"
"Ahem. No time to waste, let's go." With a huge bump on his head, Reiner wrapped an arm around Nami's slender waist and set her down, then led the group toward the Going Merry.
When they arrived aboard the Going Merry, Luffy and the other three were already waiting.
"You made quite a haul." Sanji looked at the dozen or so Fish-man Undead behind Reiner, each of them carrying several sacks over their shoulders in a neat line.
After swaggering through the city for a while, they had, as expected, quickly drawn out quite a few Baroque Works assassins.
After making a scene and roughing them up, they had forced the men to reveal that there was Dance Powder on ships docked along the coast. Then they had simply returned to the ship to wait.
Given Reiner's strength, they believed nothing could possibly go wrong.
"Then let's go burn the Dance Powder near Cattelya."
Standing at the bow, Nami spread her arms and felt the breeze brushing against her skin. "We'll head southwest of Cattelya. That's upwind, and the humidity is high enough right now. If we cross the desert directly from here, we should arrive by evening."
"Woohoo! Desert adventure!"
"Desert adventure!!"
Luffy and Usopp looked excited. After making some simple preparations, wrapping themselves up tightly to avoid sunburn, and bringing enough food and water, the group set off. Reiner, Zoro, and Sanji trailed behind the others at an unhurried pace.
Lowering his head, Reiner flicked a flame from the front of his blue shirt to light his cigarette. "The people who knew we were looking for Dance Powder?"
"Yeah, we cut them all down."
"Don't worry, we cleaned things up. At least for the next couple of days, we shouldn't be disturbed."
It was afternoon, when the blazing sun was at its most vicious. Across the boundless desert, the earth seemed scorched, and everything in the distance appeared warped by the heat.
Endless crimson-yellow dunes stretched as far as the eye could see. Every gust of wind swept sand into the air as the group slowly made their way through the desert.
The Fish-man Undead carried sack after sack of Dance Powder behind them, while several hawks circled overhead. Looking down from above, they would have resembled a tiny line of ants crawling across the ground.
"Ah, I can't take it anymore."
Luffy's weak voice rang out. His initial enthusiasm had long since vanished. Bent over and hunched forward, he leaned on a cane he had picked up from who knew where, his face slack, tongue hanging out, eyelids nearly shut.
"Water. I want water."
"No. You've already drunk too much. We need to save the rest for Reiner. We had more than enough water to begin with, but now we only barely have enough."
Sanji refused Luffy, then snapped irritably, "Who told you to run and jump around the second we entered the desert? You brought this on yourself, idiot."
Though Luffy looked drained, he still had plenty of stamina. He simply could not stand the scorching heat and parched throat. Compared to him, Reiner was in much worse shape.
The undead were carrying so much weight, and all of that exertion was being drained from his own stamina.
"You okay, Reiner? There's a rocky stretch ahead. Let's rest there for a while."
"Yeah, the desert is draining my strength faster than I expected." After replying to Vivi, Reiner took the water bottle she handed him, opened it, and slowly took a sip.
He could grit his teeth and finish the journey, but in case a fight broke out, he still needed to conserve some of his strength.
"I should've gotten some templates suited to traveling through deserts earlier. Good thing I've always focused on building endurance."
After a while longer, they reached a rocky expanse. They had covered two-thirds of the journey so far, and more than half of Reiner's stamina had already been spent.
They found a spot in the shade. The Fish-man Undead set down their loads, and Reiner dismissed them before leaning against a rock wall and sitting down.
"You worked hard, Reiner."
"Thanks." Taking the cigarette handed to him, Reiner leaned back against the rock wall and relaxed.
The sun had already set, and the sky gradually darkened. The wind had been strong today, slowing them down more than expected. The temperature was beginning to drop, and it did so at an astonishing pace.
"Everyone, the temperature difference between day and night in the desert is huge. Get your warm clothes ready," Vivi called out as she began organizing their supplies.
They did not intend to enter Cattelya after arriving. Instead, they would burn the Dance Powder in the desert at an upwind position.
They had therefore prepared plenty of supplies. After resting for a while, Reiner ate some food to recover his strength, and they continued onward.
Meanwhile, inside a small establishment called the Spider Cafe.
Behind the counter stood a blue-haired woman with an afro. She placed a cup of coffee on the bar and gently pushed it toward the bald man across from her.
"Word came from Nanohana. The Straw Hat Crew has appeared."
Mr. 1—Daz Bonez—sat before the counter and spoke flatly. "After killing quite a few of our people, they disappeared again."
"Could they have gone to the capital, Alubarna?" Recalling the information the Unluckies had sent from Cactus Island, the blue-afro Ms. Doublefinger asked again, "After all, isn't their mission to escort the princess?"
"It's possible. Since a while ago..." Daz Bonez picked up his coffee and took a sip, then continued in a low voice.
"I wanted to send the Billion Agents to investigate, but I haven't received any response. I have a bad feeling about this."
"Fuhahaha!"
A wild old woman's laugh came from behind them. Mr. 4 and his partner, Ms. Merry Christmas, were sitting at a nearby table, and it was Ms. Merry Christmas who had laughed.
"No matter what, they'll eventually go to the palace, won't they?" The old woman drained her coffee in one gulp and suggested, "Since we can't find them now anyway, why don't we just go guard Alubarna?"
"Mm, that works. Let's head to the Royal Capital hideout." Daz Bonez drained his coffee in a single swallow, stood up, and headed for the door.
"I happen to be going to the Royal Capital for a secret mission too. We can keep each other company."
"Shut up, you dead queer. Keep talking like that, and I'll kill you first."
"Ooh~, I'm so scared. If you can do it, then come and try, Mr. 1."
"That's enough, you two. The mission comes first. The boss isn't someone to be taken lightly."
Soon, the group left the cafe, mounted their horses, and galloped toward the Royal Capital.
At the same time, Reiner's group was in the desert.
"This is good enough. We'll do it here," Nami said.
"Start preparing to burn the Dance Powder. I'll use the Clima-Tact to add a little help. The effect won't be great, but it should speed things up somewhat."
"Yeah, okay." After having the undead put down the Dance Powder, Reiner controlled them to spread out again and gather firewood.
The Clima-Tact was a weapon Nami had previously asked Usopp to design and build for her—the same day Usopp had started joining Reiner and Zoro's iron-pumping crew.
Besides that, Reiner had also asked him to design a socket.
He took out the Bone Chain Sword he had forged using the Arlong template. A Seastone Bullet was firmly embedded in a groove on the fierce skull at the front of the chain sword, with only half the bullet tip exposed.
"Add the Blue Ogre and Red Ogre, who can use Haki..." Reiner touched the fully loaded custom revolver hanging at his waist, and the corner of his mouth curled up.
Sumimasen~, Croco-chan.
Watashi already has your coffin ready.
Before you continue