Moria controlled the shadows, grabbing fistful after fistful of gold coins and stuffing them into the boxes they had prepared.
Electivire jumped straight into the pile of gold coins and gems. With its mouth open, it siphoned off huge mouthfuls in one go, and its body quickly swelled up.
Sugar grabbed the filled boxes and warped back and forth between Meowth's body and the treasury. The enormous treasury was soon emptied until only paper Belly remained.
"This income is really not low—team funds just jumped another two or three billion!"
That was only because Vane didn't touch the paper Belly; otherwise the number would be even higher.
"Too bad we didn't find any Devil Fruits."
"Devil Fruits really depend on luck… whatever, it's time to give the Holy Church Nation a little pirate shock!"
...
They entered the treasury around three or four in the morning. That time is when people are the most relaxed. By the time they left, it was already close to six.
Today was the Holy Water Festival. On this day, believers from all over the country would gather in the Holy City. How many believers would come was uncertain, but the clergy would definitely come.
Plus some believers who came willingly or unwillingly, the entire Holy City should see more than thirty thousand people gather. For an island nation, that's not a small number.
The total population of many islands might not even exceed thirty thousand.
And the so-called Sacred Tree really was quite beautiful—a massive tree with fan-shaped leaves like ginkgo, all golden and gleaming.
"May the Sacred Tree bless you! Water the Sacred Tree with holy water, and the Sacred Tree will hear your prayers."
"Pay the holy water fee—fifty thousand Belly per portion."
"Before eight in the morning, holy water is fifty thousand Belly per portion. After eight, it's one hundred thousand Belly!"
Then I just won't water it!
Of course not. The Holy City was designed like a gigantic corridor: enter through the front gate and exit through the back. If believers went inside without handing over proof of watering with holy water, and still wanted to leave? They'd get beaten and hoisted up.
They'd slap the crime of disrespecting the gods straight onto your head.
Then what if I don't come to the Holy City?
Don't be ridiculous. Why do those priests come? Aren't they acting as "overseers"? Every priest has to bring a certain number of people from their own territory—in other words, every priest has KPIs.
If you don't come, they don't even need to go to the Holy City—you'll be charged with a crime locally.
You can't not come.
Hurry and go grab holy water, or when the time comes you'll have to pay double.
When they reached the place to buy holy water, something even more infuriating appeared: only ten counters were open, and the purchasing speed was extremely slow. At this pace, more than half the people would definitely fail to buy holy water before eight.
Seeing this kind of routine, Vane felt it was all too familiar. He used to have an app on his phone called "Chop-Chop."
Every time there was a big spin, it would give you 100 chances.
A hundred chances! Sounds very generous, right?
But you had to use up those 100 chances within a few minutes, and each draw came with an extra-long transition animation that kept dragging things out. Being able to use even ten of those chances was already pretty good.
Disgusting. Extremely disgusting.
What the church was doing was the same in form: give you chances and stall you. When time runs out, don't blame me—blame yourself for not trying hard enough.
...
"The King and Queen have arrived."
After a long blast of horns, the King and Queen of the Holy Church Nation appeared, surrounded by a crowd of clergy in white.
"Can you get married and still be a believer, meow?"
"Normal. If priests can officiate weddings for others, that means this religion is open to marriage."
Not all sects are like Buddhism… and even in Buddhism, not all follow the doctrine that monks can't marry.
In the Land of Wano—well, in that country—monks can marry… and there even seems to be an anime-style shrine with portraits of anime girls enshrined inside.
Meowth lay on Vane, and Vane held Monet's hand. With the Clear-Clear Fruit activated, they hid perfectly among the crowd.
"That woman is a Devil Fruit user, and it's a Paramecia-type."
The moment the King and Queen came on stage, Vane noticed the mark above the Queen's head—clearly a Paramecia Devil Fruit user.
"Dear believers, may the Sacred Tree bless you."
"The Holy Water Festival is a sacred and joyful day, but regrettably, heretics have appeared among our people. They are incarnations of demons, and they will bring misfortune to our country and our world!"
As the King spoke, the church knights dragged over rows of prison carts. In each cart was a woman, tightly bound, gagged, and blindfolded.
"By the will of the gods, these heretics must be destroyed. Only by consuming them with flames can their souls be purified."
"Though they will lose their bodies, their souls will go to the divine realm. This is a blessing."
The women in the carts had their mouths gagged and eyes covered, but their ears were fine. Hearing the King decide to burn them to death, they immediately began to struggle violently.
"Burn the demons!"
"Burn them!"
The clergy all shouted madly, their faces twisted with a strange frenzy.
The other citizens who had been swept along into this all stayed silent. This kind of thing had been happening frequently for the past year.
The prison carts were thrown together. Large amounts of firewood were tossed among them, along with plenty of accelerants.
Several priests stood together holding torches, muttering what were probably some "rites of salvation."
"May the Sacred Tree bless us and purify their souls."
Whoosh—
A cold, icy wind swept through. The torches in their hands went out with a "pfft."
For a moment, everyone stared at each other. What just happened?
King: "This is the dying struggle of demons! We must not bow to demons!"
They lit the torches, and a gust of wind came—out they went.
Lit again. Out again!
Now even the priests started to panic. Was it the demons stopping them, or the gods intervening?
"You idiots, light the woodpile directly! Why do you keep lighting the torches?!"
Right—just light the woodpile directly.
"Kehehehe~"
"The demons are here!"
Whoooosh—
A huge swarm of shadow bats suddenly appeared. Monet ended the transparent state, and the Rocket Team pirates poured out from Meowth's space.
The bat swarm swept up the priests who were trying to light the fire, dragged them into the air, and then dropped them. From that height they wouldn't die, but they'd be half-paralyzed and unable to run.
"Alright, everyone, eyes on me. I have an announcement: from now on, this place is called Rocket Team Square!"
"The only real demon on the scene."
"Men to the left, women to the right, and those who are neither in the middle."
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
+100 chapters and support me on Patreon(.)com/Jixo