**Chapter 28: The Third-in-Command of the Black Cat Pirates**

Why are pure marksmen often discriminated against by major teams? 

The reason is simple: not only do they kill quickly, but they also die quickly. 

The journey through this world of adventure is extremely dangerous, and describing it as "walking on thin ice" is no exaggeration. To become a true strongman, the first thing you need to learn is how to ensure your own survival.

Training a competent teammate requires consuming a lot of resources. If you can't guarantee a sufficient survival rate, then these people are worthless.

**[You have killed Reincarnator No. 12047, obtaining a personal exclusive slaughter loot box.]**

**[This world is in a faction battle mode. Killing an enemy faction reincarnator rewards you with merit points.]**

The prompt from the system made Kiba's eyes light up. He hadn't expected that killing a reincarnator would also reward merit points.

Unfortunately, the two people in front of him were both from the pirate faction. It would have been great if they were from the navy faction instead.

With his companion killed in just a few moves, Old Cat's eyes almost popped out of his head in shock. He never expected that Jason was actually someone who specialized in summoning.

They had risked attacking because they noticed their target had already entered the cabin. 

In such a cramped space, they could disable the use of any three-dimensional maneuvering gear, and with Old Cat attacking from both sides, they would surely have been able to take down their opponent with ease.

Things were supposed to go that way, but who could have predicted that their target had hidden a summoner skill? 

The terrain, which they thought was advantageous, turned out to be their doom. The marksman had nowhere to hide and was instantly killed on the spot by a round of focused fire from the enemy. Now it was Old Cat's turn to deal with the enemy himself.

"Such a troublesome guy." Raising his mechanical arm, flames began to surge rapidly in his palm.

Since there was no way to escape, Old Cat decided to release the mechanical heat energy proactively. It was better for everyone to get hurt than for him to take all the damage alone.

At that moment, Old Cat felt a sharp pain in his head, as if it had been smashed by a giant hammer.

**[You have suffered a mental shock from Reincarnator No. 14552, causing 14 points of mental damage.]**

His mental attributes were already high, giving him strong resistance to such attacks, yet he still took 14 points of damage. This meant that his enemy had put at least 8 points into their mental strength.

"Damn it, I completely misjudged him."

Just as he was about to activate the attack with his mechanical arm, Old Cat saw the giant-headed creature bite down on his arm. 

Even though the intense heat was causing its eyes to start melting, the creature still didn't let go.

Boom! 

The mechanical heat energy ultimately exploded, leaving Kiba unharmed, while Old Cat and the summoned creature took the full force of the blast.

As a reincarnator who was critically injured and on the verge of death, Old Cat instinctively wanted to take some medicine, but before he could act, familiar gunshots rang out from beyond the thick fog.

Relying on his incredible perception, Kiba could still lock onto his target even with his vision obscured. After a few shots, the poor Old Cat was completely paralyzed on the ground.

Forget about healing himself—if he didn't do something, he'd die from blood loss within a minute.

"Cough, cough." Old Cat kept coughing up blood, his severe injuries making his consciousness begin to blur.

His lips trembled slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but Kiba was long tired of this person's deceitful words.

"Better keep your eyes open in your next life."

Bang! 

A shot sent him straight to hell.

**[You have killed Reincarnator No. 11286, obtaining a personal exclusive slaughter loot box.]**

Ignoring the raging fire around him, Kiba stood in the ruins of the cabin and decided to open the marksman's loot box.

To be honest, it was his first time killing a reincarnator, so he had no idea what might come out of the box. 

"It should be resources that they possess, like story points and equipment."

**[You are opening the slaughter loot box of Reincarnator No. 12047.]**

**[You have obtained 220 story points.]**

**[You have obtained 5 special armor-piercing rounds.]**

**[You have obtained a blueprint for crafting poison bullets.]**

It seemed that these were all items that the marksman owned. It was a pity there was no equipment, but the blueprint was just as valuable as a good piece of gear.

Being able to add poison damage to his bullets would greatly enhance Kiba's damage output. Since he couldn't use mental shock repeatedly, he had to rely on his bullets to keep dealing damage.

Any item that could boost his firearm's power was something he urgently needed right now.

"Now, it's your turn. Don't disappoint me, Old Cat."

That mechanical arm was definitely a good piece of gear, and those data-detecting goggles weren't bad either. He'd consider it a win if he could get any one of those.

**[You are opening the slaughter loot box of Reincarnator No. 11286]**

**[You have obtained 15 story points]**

**[You have obtained damaged police goggles]**

**[You have obtained cheese-filled chocolate]**

Looking at the system messages, Kiba wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.

"Looks like this guy, like me, prefers to spend all his story points before entering the story world."

A haul of just 15 points was practically nothing, and the chocolate was even more absurd. He thought it might be an item for healing, but it turned out to be nothing more than a very ordinary piece of chocolate.

Casually tossing the chocolate into his mouth, he had to admit, it tasted pretty good.

Finally, there was his biggest gain from this loot—the police goggles he had been eyeing for a while.

This little gadget could detect the target's stats, providing some tactical advantages in battle. 

If it could be repaired, its effectiveness might be even greater.

After taking out two reincarnators, Kiba was only one point of health away from fully accumulating his Steel Heart talent.

His current health boost had already reached a staggering 39 points.

- **Health**: 35/109 (+39)

- **Condition**: Poor

- **Strength**: 7 (+1)

- **Constitution**: 7

- **Agility**: 6 (+1)

- **Spirit**: 17 (+4)

- **Perception**: 13 (+3)

**Equipment**: Improved Three-Dimensional Maneuver Gear IV, Black Star Type 54, Homeland Lost, Exquisite Ring, Damaged Police Goggles

For an ordinary reincarnator, it might take six or seven trips through different story worlds to achieve his current attribute boosts. 

Even more capable members would need at least four journeys to reach this point, and only a true super rookie could match him.

In fact, with his already powerful spirit and perception abilities reaching double digits, Kiba could be considered a super rookie himself.

When he returned to the deck, he immediately spotted Kuro, drenched in blood, standing in a pool of it. Blood dripped from his cat claw gloves, and the bodies of enemy pirates lay all around him.

"So, he finally made his move," Kiba thought with some regret, wishing he could have witnessed Kuro's battle firsthand.

Suddenly, he felt an urge to use his detection skill, but Old Cat's earlier advice still echoed in his mind.

Using such a skill on a story character would likely cause great offense, much like peeking at someone while they're changing clothes.

If the person had a bad temper, they might even attack on the spot. 

Besides, detection relied on his perception ability, and it was generally difficult to clearly see the attributes of a story boss.

"I still need to find a way to repair these goggles."

According to the newbie guide he received, damaged tech gear could be repaired in a story world with a similar level of technology.

One point worth noting is that depending on the world's focus, the repaired equipment might undergo significant changes. 

If he used the technological resources of the pirate world, the repaired goggles would likely be very different from something out of a cyberpunk setting.

They might even lose the ability to display data entirely, as in the pirate world, the strength of an opponent was often judged by an intuitive feeling given by Observation Haki.

You could sense the strength of a target from kilometers away, without needing to scan their stats face-to-face.

As he contemplated how to fix the goggles, Kiba moved closer to his ship. He had sustained some significant injuries in this battle and needed time to recover his health and stamina.

Just then, Captain Kuro, who rarely spoke to him, suddenly addressed him: "Did you take care of those two traitors?"

Kiba kept his expression calm and nodded confidently, appearing as though he had everything under control.

In reality, he was on high alert, ready to abandon ship at the slightest sign of trouble.

True to his cunning nature, Kuro had somehow detected the actions of the two reincarnators and had even deduced what they were planning based on their timing.

This man was shrewd, not easily fooled like other story characters, and Kiba couldn't quite figure out what he was thinking.

This could be seen as punishing traitors, but on the other hand, it could easily be interpreted as him ruthlessly killing his comrades.

If it were the latter, Kiba could only hope the ocean wouldn't drown him.

Fortunately, the worst-case scenario didn't come to pass. For the cold-hearted Captain Kuro, the dead were of no value at all.

"Well done. From now on, you're the third-in-command of the Black Cat Pirates." With that, Kuro's figure vanished like a ghost.

The position of third-in-command on the ship was one of real authority.

While it might not mean much on a small pirate crew like the Straw Hats, it was an entirely different story within a medium or large pirate group.

Just look at the surrounding pirates—now they all gazed at him with a newfound respect, a stark contrast to the casual attitude they had before.

Of course, not everyone was pleased.

Upon hearing that the newcomer had been promoted to third-in-command, Butch and Sam, two of the crew's fighters, exchanged hostile glances and shot Kiba unfriendly looks.

They had been competing with each other for a long time, both aiming to claim the position of third-in-command. Neither expected a newcomer to snatch it away.

Butch, who had exchanged a few words with Kiba before, was relatively easygoing, but the same couldn't be said for Sam.

If Captain Kuro hadn't just left, Kiba was certain Sam would have come after him right away.

After a quick glance at the two, Kiba quickly assumed his new role, ordering everyone to clean up the battlefield.

They had just wiped out a moderately well-known pirate crew, and the Black Cat Pirates' reputation would soon spread. Once others knew they had survived, they would undoubtedly face attacks from both Krieg and the Navy.

With a few days left before the main quest deadline, Kiba decided it was time to complete another achievement quest.

(End of Chapter)