MTLNOVEL Chapter 92: Iceberg Treasure
A day later, Kano Country and Wano Country were still in the process of raising the exorbitant ransoms from their various Marine Corps and Daimyo families. After all, a ransom of hundreds of billions of Berries couldn't possibly be paid by the King and the Shogun themselves. The various factions and families argued for a long time before they slowly managed to gather the money.
It was only after the morning news bird arrived with detailed news about the Goa Empire's strength that they sped up the process. The report completely extinguished any thoughts of a "rescue without paying." The news also made various major powers around the world re-evaluate the Goa Empire's true strength.
The King of Exile Kael, now renamed the Exile Emperor by Big News Morgans, was so powerful that he could instantly behead tens of thousands of pirate samurai. The gory scene was captured by reporters in a way that was both terrifying and "beautiful." There were also the Double Marquises of the Empire who powerfully suppressed the pillars of Kano Country and the Daimyo of Wano Country. They were introduced as Imperial Marquis Aramaki and Imperial Marquis Issho.
Morgans also gave Aramaki a new nickname: Piercing Marquis! After all, Aramaki impaled so many pirates into the air and sucked them into mummies, which was extremely visually impactful. Piercing Marquis Aramaki—this fearsome name was well-deserved! Perhaps Aramaki could even become the new generation of Vlad the Impaler in the future. It is said that under the Twenty Kings, there was a notorious Vlad the Impaler who left a significant mark in history.
Meanwhile, Kael and his group, guided by Don Sai, finally arrived at a remote, extremely cold winter island. This was the territory of the Eight-Treasure Marine Corps, and above it was their ancestral treasure hiding place, the Treasure Jade Ice Mountain. There were also some Eight-Treasure Marine Corps patrolling the periphery. After Don Chinjao himself couldn't open the treasure, coupled with his own injured strength and the lack of successors, he became even more worried about others coveting their treasure. They had no choice but to increase protective patrols.
But these small fries couldn't stop Kael and his group at all. One Haki blast instantly killed almost all of the patrolling Marine Corps, and the remaining few elite warriors were exiled by Kael. Sai didn't even have time to plead.
"Don't worry, once we take the treasure, I will release them all," Kael said calmly to a flustered Sai, then directly led everyone onto the island.
Sai could only grit his teeth and continue to lead the way. He thought, "They only brought one ship, even if it's full, they won't be able to empty the treasure, unless it's that guy who can make ships float. Damn it, I don't know how much that guy can float."
"I hope they can't open the Treasure Jade Ice Mountain," Sai thought again. He also felt a bit reluctant to part with his family's treasure, as the Eight-Treasure Marine Corps needed this money to develop. But Grandpa Don Chinjao's life was more important. Now Sai could only hope that these guys wouldn't be able to empty the treasure, leaving some funds for the Eight-Treasure Marine Corps.
"Treasure! Treasure! This is so exciting!" Nami, wearing thick winter clothes, exhaled white mist, her eyes already turned into Berries. She was extremely excited. She wondered how much money a treasure that His Majesty cared about would have. After all, he was very casual about the 1 billion Berries to ransom Aramaki and Issho, as if he didn't care about these "small sums." She had been stealing at sea for so many years and still hadn't accumulated 100 million Berries.
"The Eight-Treasure Marine Corps has hundreds of years of heritage, so there's probably a few hundred billion Berries worth of treasure," Capone Bege's eyes flickered. So much money made even him very tempted. This was what Kael meant by making him the transport captain.
"Hundreds of billions? We're rich, we're rich!" Nami shouted excitedly, completely ignoring the cold weather, her eyes only filled with the desire for money.
"Actually, our ancestors had glorious times and low tides, so the stored treasure might not be as much as you imagine," Sai said dryly. During glorious times, they frantically saved money, and during low tides, they took money from the treasure to develop. They weren't always just putting money in. If they had hundreds of billions of Berries in treasure, they would be rich. Even the current wealthiest Gold Emperor Tesoro's capital is only 500 billion Berries. Many royal families and national treasuries of Allied Nations couldn't even produce 10 billion Berries and needed to mobilize the entire country to collect and raise funds.
"If not hundreds of billions, then 10 billion would also work," Nami licked her lips. Even if it was only 10 billion, that would be a huge fortune.
"A single pirate family has plundered so much treasure, so how much celestial tribute have the Celestial Dragons, the world nobles, plundered from the entire world?" Issho's face was full of pity for the common people. Thinking of his own country constantly waging war for celestial tribute, ultimately leading to its downfall. He felt even more repulsion and disgust toward those parasitic Celestial Dragons. The Celestial Dragons were devils sucking the blood of the world's people.
Kael did not speak, merely urged Sai to hurry and lead the way. Soon after, they arrived at a vast, mirror-like expanse of solid ice.
"Emperor Kael, below here is our treasure hiding place. This Treasure Jade Ice Mountain, under extreme weather conditions, is difficult to break even with normal Armament Haki," Sai spoke to Kael a little cautiously. "Only the Eight Impact Fist secret technique, passed down through generations of Eight-Treasure Marine Corps pillars, can open it." Sai wondered if Kael and his group couldn't open the Treasure Jade Ice Mountain, would they kill him, the guide?
"If normal Armament Haki isn't enough, then use more powerful Armament Haki," Kael spoke calmly. "Issho, cleave it open for me!" Kael thought, with Issho's Supreme Grade Swords combined with his profound Armament Haki, if this couldn't open it, wouldn't that mean Issho, an Admiral-level powerhouse, was inferior to Chinjao's Armament Haki cone head? Was Chinjao's cone head harder than Supreme Grade Swords, or was Chinjao's Armament Haki stronger than Issho's?
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Issho slowly drew his Kitetsu, and profound Armament Haki instantly covered it, turning it into a pitch-black sword-cane.
"One-Sword Style: Extreme Tiger!"
Issho swung his sword fiercely, and a purple slash ripped downwards. With a violent earthquake, and in Sai's stunned eyes, a sword mark hundreds of meters long cleaved a dozen-meter-deep ice pit. Golden light emanated from within the ice pit.
"It's gold! So much gold!" Nami shouted excitedly. If the ice pit hadn't been so deep, she would have directly jumped down to embrace the alluring gold. Even Baby 5, Nojiko, and Kaya cheered excitedly. Bege and Van Augur's breathing quickened considerably.
"Just one slash?" "Is his one slash even stronger than our Eight Impact Fist secret technique?" Sai's eyes were filled with disbelief and confusion. Could it be that their family's centuries-old martial arts tradition was inferior to a random slash from this unknown blind man? If an Admiral and a Four Emperors' casual attack could open the Treasure Jade Ice Mountain, he would accept it. But this blind man had no reputation at all; he had never even heard of him.
"Issho, just use gravity to float all the treasure up." Kael saw the mountains of gold treasure, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he smiled faintly. With Issho and Bege there, they could just float and transport it into storage, without needing to waste time having subordinates laboriously load and move it. He wondered if Chinjao and Sai would think that Kael's single warship couldn't hold all this gold treasure? This was probably going to disappoint and despair them.