Chapter 14: Who Said Undead Can't Be Weapons?
"Nami, we came to save you!"
"Let's get Arlong and his crew!"
Just then, outside Arlong Park...
Throngs of villagers surged forward, faces filled with anger, clutching simple weapons in their hands.
Hearing the commotion, the crew turned to look.
The man leading the charge wore a dark brown guard uniform, with a distinctive pinwheel attached to his cap. His body was covered in stitched-up wounds.
"Genzo?"
Nami turned her head, looking surprised at the newcomers. "Why is everyone here? Could it be Nojiko..."
"That old guy looks weird! He's got a pinwheel growing on his head!"
Luffy remarked curiously, wearing his straw hat.
Reiner understood immediately, guessing the villagers' intentions. He turned and slipped towards Arlong's tower.
"Nami, you handle things here for a bit. I'm going to go... check for loot."
---
A while later.
Inside Arlong's room, Reiner looked at the scattered cash he had managed to gather. After a quick count, it came to roughly 400 million Beri.
He scratched his golden hair and sighed, "Ah~, much less than I expected."
It was definitely a huge sum, but still less than he had anticipated.
Arlong's crew had controlled over twenty villages here, and aside from the few completely destroyed, the rest had been under his exploitation for years.
A monthly 'life preservation fee' of 100,000 Beri per adult and 50,000 per child... even a small village must have around a hundred people.
How could they only have amassed this much after so many years?
Thinking this, Reiner couldn't help but curse under his breath, "Do these bastards really know how to blow money?"
"Oh well, at least it's more than enough to feed Luffy...
...right?"
Reiner couldn't help but recall Luffy's ability to devour 100 million Beri worth of food in a single banquet.
"Ah~"
Reiner sighed again, gathered up all the money, shouldered his backpack, and left.
Walking out the door, he bumped right into Nami, who was about to enter.
"Nami? What are you doing here?"
"I came to get the sea charts I drew before. What's that you're carrying behind you...?"
Nami stared intently at Reiner, a fiery glint in her eyes.
Reiner: "...Hehe."
"Fifty-fifty?"
"Dame!" (No!)
"Forty-sixty!"
"Dame!" (No!)
---
Soon, the group returned to the village with the villagers. Reiner and the others went to rest at Nami and Nojiko's house.
"This is dried tangerine peel we sun-dried ourselves. Please try some."
Nojiko brought over several cups of dried tangerine peel tea, offering them with a smile.
When Nami had led them towards Arlong Park earlier, Nojiko had immediately gone to find Genzo, which led to the villagers marching over later.
"Delicious!"
"Yeah, not bad."
"I'm glad you like it. Our poor little village doesn't really have much to offer as thanks. I'll pack some dried peels for you to take with you later."
"Don't talk about rewards. We've already received the best treasure."
"Is that so? Nami will surely be very happy with you all."
Nojiko left, content, to pack the tangerine peels as a thank-you gift.
Having just finished fighting, the crew members were all rather hungry, lounging weakly on the sofa.
"*Grumble~~*"
"Ah, I'm gonna die~"
Luffy flopped down listlessly.
The villagers were already cooking, preparing a feast to reward them.
Reiner lit a cigarette and began contemplating Arlong's template.
With a wave of his hand, several dancing azure flames appeared. Reiner could faintly sense the flames representing Arlong and Zoro attracting each other.
"Should I merge them?" Reiner murmured.
Yes, templates with sufficient compatibility could be fused.
However, their stats wouldn't simply stack; instead, the fusion would take the higher value for each individual attribute, compensating for weaknesses with strengths.
Both Arlong and Zoro possessed outstanding wrist strength.
Additionally, Arlong's bite force was extremely powerful, and Zoro, due to his three-sword style, had also specifically trained his jaw strength.
That's why these two templates had a high degree of compatibility.
"Forget it. It's too wasteful just for that small stat boost."
"Given Zoro's rate of improvement, I can just update his template later, and his stats will increase directly."
He had other ideas for Arlong's template. Rather than Arlong's wrist strength, Reiner valued his steel-like nose and rock-crushing teeth more.
Especially the characteristic that his teeth could continuously regenerate.
After contemplating for a while, Reiner focused his thoughts, and a void crack opened in mid-air.
"Woahahaha! Reiner, are you making a new monster?"
Luffy's eyes lit up instantly upon seeing Reiner's action.
"A robot! Make a robot this time, Reiner!"
"...I already told you, I can't make robots."
"Then what are you planning to make?"
"A weapon."
"Is it a laser gun!?"
"..."
From within the void crack, a silvery-white sword hilt gradually emerged.
Reiner reached out, grasped the hilt, and pulled sharply. A double-edged sword, entirely silvery-white with sharp serrated edges on both sides, appeared in his hand.
The pommel was a ferocious skull about the size of a fist, with a sharp point like Arlong's saw-nose protruding from it.
"...Emmm, looks kinda plain."
Luffy said with a look of disdain.
Reiner, however, showed a strange smile. "What if I told you... it can extend?"
"Extend! Isn't that just like me?"
Reiner aimed the bone sword in his hand towards a large rock outside the door. With a thought...
In the next instant, the sword's blade abruptly shot forward, the saw-like tip rocketing towards the boulder.
*BOOM!!!*
The massive rock instantly shattered into pieces.
"Wait, that move is..."
"Yeah, Arlong's Shark on something-or-other Arrow? But it's far more versatile than that."
As Reiner spoke, the bone sword suddenly bent, its tip whipping back around to stare straight at Luffy, like a snake.
"It's ultimately an undead creature. You can think of it as a bone snake; I just shaped the tail end into a hilt."
Technically, it was a chain sword.
It could extend because the blade was composed of bone 'teeth', utilizing the regenerative properties of Arlong's teeth, which could be regrown by consuming stamina.
Chain swords are very useful weapons, but the techniques are difficult to master.
However, Reiner thought, do undead creatures even need to practice?
He could control it freely, making it follow his will with a single thought. It could be a sword, a whip, or even...
The bone sword suddenly coiled, wrapping around itself layer by layer to form a silvery-white round shield covered in sharp spikes, the ferocious skull sitting right at the center.
If anyone mistook it for just a shield and got close, Reiner could give them a demonstration of "Shoot him dead, Shinso" in minutes. *(Translator's Note: Bleach reference to Gin Ichimaru's Bankai, implying a sudden, deadly piercing attack from the shield).*
"Woahahaha, it transforms! Reiner, make one for me quick!"
Reiner: "..."
Reiner simply tossed the bone chain sword to him, directly commanding the undead weapon to obey Luffy's commands.
Luffy eagerly ran outside with his new toy, having a blast. But less than three minutes later, he ran back crestfallen and dejected.
"I'm so hungry~~"
"..."
"Dinner's ready, everyone!"
"Alright! Banquet time!"
Hearing the call from outside, Luffy immediately dashed out, with the others following close behind.
"Reiner, wait a second. I want to talk to you about something."
"Hm? What's up?"
Reiner turned back to look at Nami, who had called out to him. Was she looking a bit shy?
Could it be?
"Um... about the money we got from Arlong..."
"..." "Dame!" (No!)
"That's not it! I wanted to ask if we could leave some for the villagers of Cocoyasi?"
"Sure. How much is good?"
"...Fifty million?"
"Take whatever you want."
"Then... one hundred million?"
"That's fine too."
"Then how about..."
"Hold on. Are you sure any amount added after this isn't just going straight into your own pocket?" Reiner couldn't help but interrupt.
Nami's face suddenly turned even redder.
"Ahem... One hundred million it is, then."
"..."
*Alright, alright, little miss 'looks decent but hides it well', huh? Playing coy, were you?*
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