Chapter 16: Pirate Treasure, Part 3

John Doe approached the central gold chest first. Knowing it was impossible to open the chest directly, he inserted his hands underneath and felt its weight. Indeed, the chest was made of solid gold, making it incredibly heavy.

With a mighty heave, John flipped the chest over, revealing a small figure inside holding a machine gun. The figure opened fire on the cave's ceiling, firing continuously for over ten seconds until it ran out of bullets. John closed the chest, removed the gun-wielding figure, and inspected the chest, finding nothing else inside. Nonetheless, the solid gold chest itself was of considerable value.

Turning his attention to the silver and bronze chests, John repeated the process. The silver chest also contained a gun-wielding figure, while the bronze chest held no traps, only a golden key.

John picked up the key and examined the cave more closely. He noticed a keyhole beneath the Kannon statue.

Surprisingly, the key fit perfectly. With a gentle turn, the mechanism clicked, and the statue's mouth opened wide, releasing a torrent of gems, gold, rings, necklaces, and more, most of which fell into the gold chest, filling it to the brim.

John was delighted to have found the pirate treasure, but the quantity didn't match his memories of a cave filled with riches.

He carefully inspected the cave, searching for a hidden mechanism to reveal the true treasure. However, after examining the walls, he couldn't find any clues. Had he remembered incorrectly?

John clenched his fist and knocked on the wall. "It's hollow!" he exclaimed, discovering that the wall behind the statue was indeed hollow.

The real treasure was hidden behind this wall.

Unable to find a switch to open the wall, John decided to break it down. He assumed a fighting stance, channeled his energy into his right fist, and delivered a powerful punch to the wall.

The wall cracked where John's fist made contact, and the cracks spread outward. With a final, resounding crash, the entire wall shattered, revealing a dazzling display of treasure.

The cave, roughly half the size of a football field, was filled with gems, gold bars, jewelry, coins of various denominations, crowns, and sword handles and sheaths adorned with precious stones. John was astounded, thinking these pirates must have looted the entire world.

Among the treasures were several golden chairs, each occupied by the skeletal remains of pirates. Their clothes had decayed into tatters, and only their bones remained. Though the sight was somewhat macabre, John felt a sense of gratitude towards these pirates for contributing to his future happiness.

With the treasure located, it was time to transport it. John retrieved his large capsule storage boxes and began carefully loading the pirate treasure. It took five and a half standard-sized cargo boxes to hold all the treasure, and even then, he couldn't take everything.

John didn't overlook the gold and silver chests, adding them to his collection.

Just as he was about to depart in the submarine, John's attention was drawn to the Kannon statue.

"Since the initial treasure was spat out from the statue's mouth, there might be more treasure hidden within," he thought.

Determined not to waste any valuable items, John leaped and kicked the stone statue with all his might.

The upper half of the statue shattered, showering the air with gold and silver coins and gems. Just as John suspected, the statue concealed more treasure.

The final treasures from the statue filled the remaining half of the cargo box, satisfying John's slight obsession with completeness.

He meticulously inspected the pirate treasure cave once more, ensuring there were no hidden caches. Satisfied that all the treasure had been collected, John prepared to leave. But before departing, he decided to retrieve the Dragon Ball as well.

He dove into the water and found the three-star ball inside a skull's mouth.

To his surprise, there was still a small amount of pirate treasure in the pool. John was exasperated by the pirates' haphazard placement of their loot.

With all six large storage boxes already filled, he placed the remaining treasure in the empty spaces of the submarine and airplane.

Having filled all available storage space with pirate treasure, John decided against searching further. Even if he found more, he had no room to carry it. It was time to leave.

John piloted the submarine back to the entrance of the pirate port and quickly made his way towards it.

At the entrance, he noticed the pirate robot was gone, probably recharging somewhere. John rushed towards the exit, and just as he was about to leave, the pirate robot reappeared.

Now unarmed, the robot attacked John with its fists, its wheel-like design allowing for quick movement. However, without its sword and machine gun, the robot posed little threat to John, who effortlessly evaded its attacks and dashed into the entrance tunnel.

The robot seemed to have a limited range of motion, as it stopped at the tunnel's entrance and didn't pursue John further. Its red eyes fixed on him for a moment before slowly rolling towards the dilapidated building.

Observing the robot, John couldn't help but find the situation ironic—the last guardian of this formidable pirate group was a mere robot.