Chapter 41: What, Like Whitebeard?
"King Zhenwu's empty tomb..."
Sloe, the balding Ochima official, muttered the words to himself. He rubbed his nearly hairless scalp as he meticulously paged through the reports. The photos and (now-cleared) video footage that Kai, Menchi, Shizuku, and Dako's team had submitted were laid out on his desk. He had been cross-referencing their stories for the last hour, asking sharp, probing questions about every detail.
After a hushed, private conference with his own aides, Sloe looked up at the assembled group of Hunters, his expression a mix of frustration and intrigue. "Are you absolutely, one-hundred-percent certain there's no way to re-enter?"
Dako and his men shuffled, looking hesitant. They hadn't wanted to try the God Script again.
Kai, however, just shrugged, his voice clear and confident in the quiet room. "The God Script teleporter... it seems to be keyed to Hunters. Only we can get in."
Sloe's expression visibly relaxed, as if Kai had just handed him the perfect, bureaucratically-sound excuse he'd been looking for. He rubbed his head again. Right. Of course. A 'Hunters-Only' situation. The world was full of bizarre phenomena, and it was a well-known, accepted fact that some things were simply inaccessible, hidden from the world by barriers that only specialists like Hunters could bypass.
"That... certainly complicates things," Sloe said, putting on a show of disappointment. "In that case, I'm afraid I cannot authorize the maximum, third-tier reward. The discovery is... unverifiable by our own staff." He held up a hand before they could protest. "However, this is clearly a substantial, tangible discovery. The second-tier bonus, which doubles the base pay to 4 million Zeni, is all but guaranteed."
He then laid out the logistics. The base pay, 2 million Zeni, could be paid out immediately, on the spot. The 2 million Zeni bonus, however, would require a final review from his superiors back in the Ochima mainland, a process he assured them would take "one or two days, at most."
"The next ship leaves from the West Town port at 8:00 AM, the day after tomorrow," he concluded with a hopeful smile. "If you're lucky, the bonus transfer will be in your accounts before you even board."
Dako and his team of freelancers looked at each other and nodded. "We'll wait," Dako said, speaking for the group. "We're not expecting the max payout, but we can certainly wait two days for the bonus."
This talk of bank transfers and accounts made Kai's mind come to a grinding halt.
Crap.
I don't have a bank account.
I don't have a... anything. No ID, no registration, no legal existence.
He was, in the eyes of the law, a complete ghost. An unregistered person. A "black household"—not so different, he supposed, from Shizuku, who hailed from the lawless, un-personed lands of Meteor City.
"Can I get my payment in cash?" Kai asked, his small voice cutting through the financial chatter.
Sloe smiled. "For smaller amounts, that's no problem. Cash, an untraceable bearer bond, an online transfer... it's all the same to us. I can't pay out everyone's bonus in physical currency, of course, but for your share, it's fine."
Kai nodded. "In that case, just send my entire share to Shizuku's account." He looked over at her. "Shizuku?"
"Okay," she said, looking up from a pamphlet she'd found on the table.
The room went silent.
Their relationship is that good already? Sloe and Dako's team stared, completely baffled by the casual trust.
Menchi just pouted. Hey! I have an account, too, you know!
...
While the financial aides bustled around, the group's conversation naturally drifted back to the one topic on everyone's mind: the treasure of King Zhenwu.
The focus, however, was different. Dako and his men, unlike Alan'tr'iel, had zero interest in the historical or philosophical implications of the tomb. They were buzzing about one thing: the legend of the "secret treasure."
Kanzai, who had been standing silently by the door like a coiled tiger, finally let out an annoyed scoff. "What's the big deal? You guys are getting all worked up over nothing. That rumor pops up every few years. It's old news. No one's ever found a single Zeni."
Kai, who had been quietly listening, looked over at the Zodiac, curious. "You seem to know a lot about it. Are you interested in the treasure, Mr. Kanzai?"
Kanzai looked at Kai as if he'd just asked the stupidest question in the world. "I'm a Treasure Hunter," he said, puffing his chest out. "Of course I'm interested! It's my job!"
"Ah, but this time, Mr. Kanzai..." Sloe leaned back in his chair, a smug, all-knowing smile on his face. "This time, the rumor... is different. Very different."
Menchi nodded in vigorous agreement. "It's true! Even I've heard about it, and I've been training!"
Kai realized he was completely out of the loop. He'd been so focused on his own grind that he hadn't checked the news. Time to deploy the ultimate information-gathering tool...
As if on cue, Shizuku asked, "What news?"
Sloe's grin widened. He opened his laptop, tapped a few keys, and spun the screen around for them to see. "This."
Kai's eyes widened. On the screen was the homepage of iTube. The featured video's thumbnail was shocking: a bald, muscular man, his face a mask of ecstatic madness. He was standing on the outer ledge at the very top of the Heaven's Arena tower. The video title was a string of keywords: "HEAVEN'S ARENA," "SUICIDE," "FLOOR MASTER," "KING ZHENWU."
Sloe hit play.
The video was a shaky, first-person vlog. The wind howled, so loud it was deafening. The man, who looked terrifyingly unhinged, stared wild-eyed into the camera, a smile of pure, tearful joy on his face.
He screamed over the wind, his voice cracking with a horrible, ecstatic energy: "THE TREASURE OF KING ZHENWU... IT'S REAL!!!"
And then, he jumped.
The camera tumbled, a dizzying, sickening blur of sky and steel. The video ended with a final, wet THUD. The screen cracked. Blood began to creep in from the bottom edge as the distant, horrified screams of pedestrians grew louder. The video cut to black.
The room was silent.
Sloe closed the laptop. "That," he said, "was Alpha=Edward. One of the Heaven's Arena Floor Masters."
Kai checked the upload date on the thumbnail: March 3, 1991. Nearly four years ago.
"Garo... the poacher we caught... he must have been inspired by this," Dako muttered, his face pale. "Garo was just a small-timer, but Alpha... Alpha was the real deal. A long-reigning, permanent Floor Master. For him to say that with his last breath... that's why the rumor became so powerful. That's why everyone started believing again."
Damn, this is boring. Kai was completely, utterly uninterested in some centuries-old treasure hunt. This had nothing to do with him.
He changed the subject. "Speaking of Garo, he's a Nen user, right? A Floor Master. How do you Muggles—I mean, officials—handle super-powered criminals like him? What's to stop him from just walking out of whatever prison you put him in?"
Sloe actually laughed. "What's the problem? He's strong, sure, but he's still human. A heavy dose of tranquilizer, some industrial-strength muscle relaxants, a few choice nerve agents... I assure you, any 'monster' becomes as tame as a kitten."
Kai was left speechless by the sheer, brutal, and depressingly effective pragmatism of it.
"Why do you ask?" Sloe said, his curiosity piqued.
"Oh, him? He was her catch," Kai said, jerking a thumb at Menchi.
"Don't look at me!" Menchi shot back, pointing straight at Kai. "He's the one who took down all five of them. I just showed up at the end!"
Somehow, that's not surprising, Dako and his team thought, all of them looking at the five-year-old.
Just then, Shizuku's phone buzzed. "Ah. The money's here."
"Excellent," Sloe said, standing up to signal the meeting was over. "In that case, I will see you all at the West Town port, 8:00 AM, the day after tomorrow."
Kai gave a lazy "OK" sign, and his two-person (plus him) team walked out.
"Wait!"
Dako ran out of the room after them, stopping them in the hallway. "Look... about the bonus. We wouldn't be getting it if it weren't for you three. I... I'd like to treat you all to dinner. As a proper thank you."
"I'm staying in East Town," Kai said, not stopping.
"East Town is fine! We can go there!" Dako said, practically jogging to keep up.
"I appreciate the thought, but I'm busy," Kai said, waving him off. "If you really want to thank me, just answer a question."
Dako stopped, looking relieved. "Anything."
Kai finally stopped and looked around the empty hallway, as if checking for eavesdroppers. "The Kakin guys," he said, his voice low. "Where'd they go? That broccoli-haired soldier, Babimaina... he was right with us when we came out of the park..."
(End of Chapter)