When they reached the place where the treasure was stored, Xia Chen once again sent the pirate outside and stayed there alone.
With a casual wave of his hand, the treasure on the floor vanished.
The Black Cat Pirates were rather poor, though. This treasure was probably worth only a few million Beli, not even ten million.
Still, even a mosquito's leg was meat. Wasn't treasure something you saved up bit by bit?
After collecting the treasure, Xia Chen prepared to leave.
But just as he was about to head out, a faint glow entered his field of vision. The sight caught his attention.
Xia Chen walked over to the source of the faint glow and discovered that it came from a long, yellow object.
This made him a little curious, and he couldn't help picking it up for a look.
"Cough..."
"Cough, cough..."
Xia Chen coughed hard several times.
Yellow object, my ass! The damn thing was just covered in dust!
To be fair, it was pretty damn impressive for dust to accumulate to this extent. By Xia Chen's estimate, it probably couldn't have happened without several years.
Covering his nose, Xia Chen gave the object in his hand several more vigorous shakes.
Finally, its original appearance revealed itself before him. The instant Xia Chen saw it, a smile touched his lips.
"To think there'd be an unexpected bonus!"
What Xia Chen held was an iron staff roughly two meters long, jet-black all over and extremely heavy.
Its material was excellent, too. Xia Chen had seen Zoro's Wado Ichimonji and figured that this iron staff should be about the same quality as that sword.
In other words, his staff's hardness and other properties should be no different from Zoro's sword. It was equivalent to a Great Grade Sword-level weapon.
This discovery left Xia Chen a little excited. He hadn't expected the Black Cat Pirates to give him a surprise like this!
The Great Sage's memories had contained a great deal of combat experience involving staff techniques, but since he hadn't had a staff-type weapon, that experience had effectively been useless.
He had already planned to look through the shops for this kind of weapon once this stretch was over and he reached Loguetown.
But now...
It had fallen into his lap without any effort, and the material was this good, too. All he could say was that he was very satisfied!
After tossing it into System Space, Xia Chen whistled as he headed outside.
"Today's a wonderful day~"
"The common folk are so happy... yeah~"
Xia Chen reached the deck, glanced at the pirates aboard, then vanished into the sky in a few quick leaps and twists.
Every single pirate in the Black Cat Pirates stared wide-eyed, their eyeballs practically popping out.
Only after a long while did someone stammer:
"W-why... can people fly, too?!!!"
Some time later~
"Hey, Zoro, where's Luffy?" Xia Chen suddenly appeared behind Zoro and gave him a pat, instantly startling him.
Once Zoro recovered, he shouted at Xia Chen at the top of his lungs, "Hey, you! Can you stop appearing out of nowhere like that?!"
"Hm? What's the problem with that?" Xia Chen spread his hands indifferently.
"So where's Luffy?"
"He went to find Usopp just now," Nami said from beside them.
Just as Xia Chen was about to ask something else, a terrified shout came from the distance.
"Pirates are coming! Pirates are coming!"
Xia Chen and the others all turned toward the sound. Usopp was running toward them from afar, his face full of gravity.
As he passed Xia Chen and the others, he didn't even respond when Nami called out to him, running straight into the village.
"Did he just say... pirates are coming?"
Nami asked uncertainly.
"Yes, that's exactly what he said!" Xia Chen nodded.
"Could he be lying? Didn't you say earlier that he often plays pranks in the village?" Zoro asked the three little ones beside him.
But all three wore very grave expressions, too. After a long pause, Onion Head said:
"This time seems a little different. The captain looked really serious. We've never seen him like that!"
"So... the captain might not be lying this time. Pirates really might be coming!"
Xia Chen said, "If we want to know what actually happened, why don't we just check the place Usopp came from?"
"Huh???"
At those words, the three little ones instantly shrank back several meters, huddling together as they asked Xia Chen shakily:
"If there really are pirates there, won't we all die there?"
"Relax, relax!" Xia Chen waved a hand, then pointed at Zoro beside him and said:
"See this big brother Moss Head? He's really strong. He'll protect you!"
(•́へ•́ ╬)!
Several veins visibly bulged on Zoro's forehead. A voice in his heart kept urging him to give Xia Chen a beating.
But after analyzing the gap between their respective strengths, reason ultimately prevailed over impulse, and he silently withdrew the hand resting on his sword.
A gentleman can wait ten years for revenge.
When the group reached the shore, they found no pirates there. The three little ones asked in confusion:
"Was the captain lying again just now?"
"To think the captain's skills have reached a whole new level. Even we were fooled!"
Thinking they had discovered something, the three little ones' eyes flashed with wisdom.
Suddenly, Nami seemed to notice something. Pointing at a radish stuck upside down at the foot of the cliff, she said:
"Look, is that Luffy?"
A few minutes later, they gathered around Luffy one after another.
"This big brother... couldn't be..." one of the three little ones said fearfully. But immediately afterward, everyone heard faint snoring.
Xia Chen walked straight over to Luffy, grabbed his ankle, and gave a gentle tug.
The radish came out!
But what happened next left everyone dumbfounded.
Even after being pulled out and held upside down in midair by Xia Chen, Luffy was still sleeping, showing no sign of waking.
At this sight, even the corners of Xia Chen's mouth twitched.
"The Monkey Clan's sleep genes really are powerful. He won't wake up even after this. In that case..."
Xia Chen narrowed his eyes and whipped the hand holding Luffy, flinging him straight out. Luffy then slammed heavily into the cliff face.
‼(•'╻'• )꒳ᵒ꒳ᵎᵎᵎ
Everyone around him stared at the scene in shock, Zoro and Nami included. They all instinctively backed away several steps.
"Hey, hey, hey, what's that supposed to mean?"
"Luffy's a Rubber Man. Ordinary blows don't do much to him. You're acting like I've done something."
Seeing everyone still looking at him that way, Xia Chen felt a little annoyed. And since he was annoyed, then...
Bang! Bang!
"Xia Chen, I'm going to cut you to death!!!"