"Bang!"
Carl dug a hole outside the cave and placed Baroque's body inside.
In his eyes, Baroque's last-minute change of heart was enough to earn him a proper burial.
"Thanks for the reminder. I know what I need to do from now on."
After burying Baroque, Carl immediately hid the bag containing the Devil Fruits.
"Now it's time to reap the rewards."
With everything taken care of, Carl went into the cave to look around carefully for any other valuable treasures.
After all, whoever found the treasure first had first pick.
"Hmm, this necklace is nice."
"Wow, there are two Great Grade Swords!"
"What are their names?"
Carl spotted several valuable items in the treasury. He stored them in his system inventory as he inspected them.
"Oh, this is the Ancient Moon Blade, and this is the Silver Harmony Blade."
He also collected around three billion Beli in treasure.
After taking a small portion of the wealth, he left the cave.
He couldn't possibly take all of it for himself. That would displease Rocks.
Rocks could decide how to distribute the rest.
His mission was essentially complete.
He walked out of the cave and headed toward the center of the battlefield. Along the way, he spotted a Devil Fruit on the roadside, its surface covered in purple swirls.
"The Venom-Venom Fruit."
Carl was pleasantly surprised. He knew that when a Devil Fruit user died, their fruit would reappear somewhere at random.
But he hadn't expected to get his hands on it. Did that mean he'd indirectly changed the timeline?
Sure enough, just as Carl put the Venom-Venom Fruit into his system inventory—
"Congratulations, host. You have altered the Pirate World timeline for the second time."
This was the second time he'd changed the Pirate World timeline. The first time, he remembered, the reward had been the system shop. But he hadn't had any points then, so he couldn't afford a single item. He wondered what he'd get this time.
"Reward: 1,000 system shop points. Reward: character template, Fox Spirit Matchmaker's Wangquan Fugui."
Carl was overjoyed at the system's reward.
He didn't yet know what he could buy with 1,000 system shop points, but Wangquan Fugui was said to be the greatest swordsman of all time.
If not for certain special circumstances, he would have been the first person in Fox Spirit Matchmaker able to go toe-to-toe with the Third Young Master of Aolai Kingdom.
Carl immediately opened his character template.
"Host: Rocks D. Carl
Fused templates: The Outcast's Old Celestial Master. Legend of Qin's Sword Saint Ge Nie (unfused), Fox Spirit Matchmaker's Wangquan Fugui (unfused).
Skills: Armament Haki infusion, intermediate Observation Haki, beginner Conqueror's Haki, Six Powers, Golden Light Incantation, Palm Lightning, Yang Five Thunders, Taiji Fist...
Talent: Titan Power
Money: 3.7 billion Beli
Items: Energy Fruit, Rain-Rain Fruit, Zoan Ox-Ox Fruit, Zoan Rhino-Rhino Fruit, Venom-Venom Fruit, Ancient Moon Blade, Silver Harmony Blade, Supreme Grade Sword—Dragon Spring Sword, unknown Devil Fruits × 5
Evaluation: A top-tier powerhouse of the seas, with overall strength on par with a pseudo-Admiral."
"Open the system shop."
Carl hadn't checked what was available in the system shop yet.
"Fiery Golden Eyes: 100,000 points per pair (weakened version). Origin of Qi: 100,000 points. Rainbow Stone: 100,000 points each... Energy Recovery Pill: 10,000 points each... Ordinary long sword: 10 points each."
"Hmm, I don't think I need to buy anything for now."
Carl closed the system shop the next second. He didn't need to buy anything at the moment.
He thought the Energy Recovery Pill was pretty good, but 10,000 points each was far too expensive.
Well, everything was perfect. He'd put the system shop out of his mind for now.
Carl was thoroughly satisfied with his strength and the things he owned.
"Mr. Carl."
The battle had ended long ago. Afterward, Clay had searched tirelessly for Mr. Carl. As soon as he saw him emerge from the woods, he hurried over.
"I found their treasure hoard in the mountains."
"And their Third Division Commander, Baroque, died by my hand."
Carl gave Clay a nod, then addressed everyone present.
"Gyahahaha!"
"So this is where their treasure was! It was a long way out here."
"I'm going on ahead."
Golden Lion promptly flew off in the direction Carl had pointed.
"Whoosh!"
John wasn't about to be outdone. He darted past Carl like a bolt of lightning. Since John loved gold and jewels, his reaction was hardly surprising.
"Nice work, Carl."
"Let's go see how much wealth they've amassed."
Rocks led the way, guiding everyone toward the mountain.
"So much gold!"
Before long, Rocks had led them all to the cave. A dazzling golden light shone from within.
Rocks immediately noticed the ten Devil Fruits on the platform, then turned to look at Carl.
He hadn't expected Carl to show no greed for the Devil Fruits.
According to his informant, the X Pirates had only ten Devil Fruits in total. What he didn't know was that they'd collected five more at the banquet.
Rocks stepped forward.
"Carl found this cave first, so he gets to choose two Devil Fruits."
"After that, each Division Commander gets one."
Rocks stood before the ten Devil Fruits and turned to address everyone.
"By the way, let me introduce you all to Silver Axe."
A burly man over three meters tall stood at his right, holding two large axes.
"Silver Axe was a spy who joined the X Pirates years ago."
"It was his information that let us know the X Pirates still hadn't heard that we'd wiped out the Giant Warrior Pirates."
"That gave us a major opportunity to destroy the X Pirates, so he can choose a Devil Fruit too."
"He'll also be taking command of the Rocks Pirates' Seventh Division."
"Yeah!"
"The Seventh Division is here!"
The pirates without a Division Commander of their own were the most excited.
Many of them rushed over to Silver Axe, hoping to join his Seventh Division.
"Carl, you go first."
Rocks gestured for Carl to come up and choose.
Carl stepped forward at once. He didn't have a Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, so he didn't know what specific powers each fruit represented.
He only knew that Zoan fruits looked like apples, Paramecia fruits came in all sorts of shapes, and Logia fruits had raised swirls.
Clearly, there were no Logia fruits here—only five Zoan fruits and five Paramecia fruits.
Carl didn't particularly like Zoan fruits. Most of them were useless, and Paramecia fruits were a better choice. Most of their abilities were rule-based; as long as you could fully use them, no Devil Fruit was weak.
Carl picked two Paramecia Devil Fruits.
Then he stepped back.
Golden Lion went next and took a Paramecia, followed by Newgate, Charlotte, Linlin, and the others. Silver Axe was last; he picked one, and Rocks took the remaining Devil Fruits for himself.
"All right, hurry up and get everything ready. We still have to return to Hachinosu and see what John and Ochoku have brought back."
"Gahahaha!"
Rocks was clearly delighted as he strode out of the cave, laughing.
Golden Lion and Newgate followed him out. The pirates were responsible for carrying the gold and jewels onto the ships.
The pirates wouldn't try to keep any of it for themselves. Everyone's Observation Haki was active, and the pirates present knew the rules.
Before you continue