Chapter 36: Spoils of War and Shifting Fate
by xennovel“Bang!”
Outside the cave, Karl dug a shallow grave and laid Baroque’s corpse to rest.
To him, Baroque’s final moment of clarity before death was enough to grant him a proper burial.
“Thanks for your warning. Now I know what I need to do.”
After burying Baroque, Karl quickly hid the bag containing the Devil Fruits.
“Now it’s time for the real harvest.”
With that business finished, Karl strode into the cave, ready to comb through the place for any remaining treasures.
After all, first come, first served—the one who finds the loot gets dibs.
“Hmm, this necklace isn’t bad.”
“Oh wow, there are actually two Supreme Grade Great Blades here.”
“What are their names?”
Karl found several precious items in the treasury. As he stashed them in his system space, he studied each one closely.
“Ah, this one’s the Ancient Moon Blade, and that’s the Silver Alloy Blade.”
Karl also swept up about three billion Berries in gold and treasure.
After pocketing a small portion for himself, he walked out of the cave.
No way he could haul away everything solo—not unless he wanted to spark Rox’s fury.
The rest of the loot? That would be up to Rox to divide up.
Karl figured his job here was done.
He made his way from the cave mouth toward the center of the battlefield. On the way, he spotted a Devil Fruit with deep purple markings lying beside the path.
“The Poison-Poison Fruit.”
He felt a jolt of excitement. He knew that when a Devil Fruit user died, their fruit could reappear somewhere random.
Even so, finding it like this? Did this mean he’d accidentally changed the timeline?
Sure enough, just as Karl slipped the Poison-Poison Fruit into his system’s backpack—
“Congratulations, host, on altering the One Piece World line for the second time.”
This was his second time tampering with the world’s fate. Last time, the reward was access to the system shop—except he had no points to spend, so it had been useless. Who knew what the reward would be this time?
“Rewards: 1000 system shop points and a character template—Wang Quan Fugui from Fox Spirit Matchmaker.”
Karl was over the moon when he heard the rewards.
He wasn’t sure what he could buy with those 1000 points, but as for Wang Quan Fugui—he was said to be the greatest swordmaster ever.
If it weren’t for certain special reasons, Wang Quan Fugui would be the only person in Fox Spirit Matchmaker who could challenge the third prince of the Ao Lai Kingdom.
Karl immediately opened his character template.
“Host: Lux D. Karl
Templates fused: Elder Heavenly Master from The Outcast. Swordmaster Gai Nie from Legend of Qin (not fused). Wang Quan Fugui from Fox Spirit Matchmaker (not fused).
Skills: Armament Haki (proficient), Observation Haki (intermediate), Conqueror’s Haki (beginner), Navy Six Powers, Golden Light Spell, Palm Thunder, Yang Five Thunders, Tai Chi Fist…
Talent: Titan Strength
Wealth: 3.7 billion Berries
Items: Energy Fruit, Rain-Rain Fruit, Zoan-type Golden Bull Fruit, Zoan-type Rhino Fruit, Poison-Poison Fruit, Ancient Moon Blade, Silver Alloy Blade, Supreme Grade Great Blade—Dragon Spring Blade, Unknown Devil Fruit x5
Evaluation: First-class powerhouse at sea, overall strength—pseudo admiral.”
“Open system shop.”
Karl had never taken a good look at what was for sale in the shop.
“Fiery Eyes of Truth: 100,000 points per pair (de-powered version). Qi Body Origin Flow: 100,000 points. Rainbow Stone: 100,000 points apiece… Rejuvenation Pill: 10,000 points each… Standard longsword: 10 points apiece.”
“Guess I don’t really need to buy anything for now.”
A second later, Karl closed the shop. For now, he wasn’t in the mood to buy anything.
He had his eye on the Rejuvenation Pills, but 10,000 points apiece was just too steep.
Perfect. Best not to stress over the system shop for now.
Karl felt nothing but satisfaction for his current strength and stash of goods.
“Lord Karl!”
The battle had been over for a while. After it finished, Krell combed the area looking for Lord Karl. As soon as he saw Karl step out from the woods, he rushed right over.
“I found their treasure trove out back behind the mountain.”
“Also, their third division captain, Baroque, died by my hand.”
Karl gave Krell a nod, then turned to speak to the others gathered nearby.
“Gyahahaha!”
“So that’s where they hid their treasure? All the way over there?”
“I’m heading out first!”
The Golden Lion wasted no time, floating off in the direction Karl pointed.
“Whoosh!”
John was just as eager, darting past Karl like lightning. No surprise—gold and jewels were his favorites, after all.
“Nice work, Karl.”
“Come on, let’s see how much loot they’ve stashed up.”
Rox led the way, rallying the group as they headed toward the hillside.
“So much gold!”
Rox soon reached the cave with everyone in tow, golden light spilling from within.
What really caught Rox’s eye, though, were the ten Devil Fruits on the platform inside. He shot a glance at Karl.
Rox hadn’t expected Karl not to snatch any of the Devil Fruits for himself.
His informants had told him the X Pirates possessed ten Devil Fruits in total. What he didn’t know was that five new Devil Fruits had been handed in for this gathering.
Stepping forward, Rox took charge.
“Karl found the cave first. He gets first pick—two Devil Fruits.”
“After that, each division captain gets one.”
Standing before the ten Devil Fruits, Rox turned to address everybody.
“Oh, and let me introduce someone—this is Silver Axe.”
Beside him stood a massive man, over three meters tall, wielding twin battle axes.
“Silver Axe was a long-time undercover agent inside the X Pirates.”
“Thanks to his intel, we learned the X Pirates still don’t know Giant Pirates have been wiped out by us.”
“His info gave us the chance to take down the X Pirates, so he also gets to pick a Devil Fruit.”
“He’ll also be taking charge as the seventh division captain of the Rocks Pirates.”
“Yeah!”
“Division Seven officially formed!”
The pirates who hadn’t yet joined a division were the most excited of all.
A swarm of eager pirates crowded around Silver Axe, hoping to sign up for his new team.
“Karl, you pick first.”
Rox signaled Karl to step forward and choose.
Karl walked up quickly. Without a Devil Fruit guide, he had no idea which one held which power.
He only knew Zoan types looked like apples, Paramecia came in all shapes, and Logia usually had their patterns sticking out.
Clearly, there weren’t any Logia types here—five Zoan and five Paramecia Devil Fruits.
Karl didn’t care much for Zoan types—most were trash compared to the versatile Paramecia. Paramecia abilities were usually rule-breaking. If you could truly master them, there were no weak Devil Fruits.
He picked out two Paramecia Devil Fruits.
Then moved aside to clear the way.
Next up, Golden Lion took a Paramecia, followed by Newgate, Charlotte, Linlin, and finally Silver Axe. Rox claimed the remaining Devil Fruits for himself.
“All right, everyone, let’s hurry up and pack—it’s time to head back to Beehive Island and check out what John and Wang Zhi found.”
“Hahaha!”
Clearly, Rox was in high spirits as he strode out of the cave, laughing.
Golden Lion and Newgate followed. As for the gold and jewels inside, the ordinary pirates took charge of loading it onto the ships.
None of the pirates dared pocket any for themselves. After all, everyone was keeping their Observation Haki up, and they all knew the unspoken rules.