Time rewound to a moment earlier.
Area One, Human Auction House.
With the arrival of the Celestial Dragons, the auction could no longer wait for the remaining guests. The event began immediately.
"Thank you all for waiting! The monthly Human Auction of the Mangrove Area is about to begin!"
"The host for today is Mr. Disco, also known as the 'Moving Supermarket'!"
Amid enthusiastic cheers from the audience, Disco walked onto the center stage wearing his iconic star shaped sunglasses. His exaggerated steps and flamboyant movements instantly drew attention from the crowd.
"Hello everyone! Today we have prepared many incredible slaves for auction! Every guest present tonight is extremely fortunate. Not only do we have some highly anticipated items, but we also have several exceptionally rare treasures!"
"I hope everyone here leaves with something they truly like!"
As soon as Disco finished his opening remarks, the audience erupted into applause and cheers.
Saff frowned slightly and spoke in a low voice.
"Are people really this excited about buying slaves?"
Ash glanced across the buyers filling the hall and replied calmly.
"They are simply releasing the cruelty hidden deep inside their hearts."
At that moment, a man bound in heavy chains was dragged onto the auction stage.
Disco raised his voice dramatically.
"First item of the evening!"
"This man is a pirate from the Troy Kingdom in the West Blue. He comes from a musical family and is skilled with many instruments. A pirate filled with passion and glory!"
"...A human male, twenty eight years old, standing 192 centimeters tall and weighing eighty kilograms. His name is Kamala Biden! As our opening item tonight, the starting price is a special offer of 400,000 Berries!"
"If you are interested in bidding, please raise your paddle!"
The moment the word "pirate" was mentioned, Ash and his companions immediately lost interest and continued chatting among themselves.
Youki laughed.
"A musician pirate from the West Blue. That sounds a lot like Brook."
Tsuki immediately argued.
"Brook is almost three meters tall. And he is a skeleton."
Bang!
"I meant their backgrounds are similar!"
Youki smacked Tsuki on the head and scolded him.
"I've noticed you little brat likes arguing more and more lately. That is not a good habit. Fix it."
Sali held his head and looked close to tears.
"But the two people who argue the most are you and Bro Pini..."
The auction continued at a rapid pace.
Item after item was brought onto the stage and sold.
There were pirates from the East Blue who also worked as chefs, gladiators from the North Blue who had once been pirates, a giant from the West Blue, and even a tribal chief from the South Blue. Groups of laborers were sold in bundles. There were also merfolk from Fish-Man Island, members of the Mink Tribe, the Longarm Tribe, and the Longleg Tribe.
Most of these items barely caught the attention of Ash and the others.
Only the appearance of a few non human races made them glance toward the stage.
Among them, the only item that truly interested Ash for a moment was a fish-man shipwright.
The shark fish-man shipwright named Klutch was rumored to have studied under the legendary shipwright Tom. His craftsmanship was said to be exceptional.
When Ash first began thinking about forming a crew, he had looked at the structure of Monkey D. Luffy's crew as a reference. Because of that, he had originally planned to recruit a shipwright.
However, after transforming Thriller Bark into the Dawn Ship, Ash realized something important.
An island sized warship simply did not need a shipwright.
With the Dawn Ship's overwhelming scale and durability, any attack capable of damaging it would likely be from a monster capable of sinking entire islands. If such a battle occurred on the ship, there would be no time to worry about repairs anyway.
Enemies weaker than that would not be able to cause meaningful damage to the island modified warship. Even if damage did occur, any random Earth or Wood ability user could easily restore the structure.
Because of that, a shipwright was not particularly useful.
If anything, a skilled carpenter might actually be more practical.
After a round of intense bidding, the fish-man shipwright was ultimately purchased.
The female merfolk that appeared shortly afterward attracted even more attention.
Saint Mjosgard successfully bought her after competing against another Celestial Dragon.
Saint Charloss, who failed to win the mermaid, looked extremely unhappy. To compensate for his loss, he later purchased both the fish-man shipwright and the giant, clearly planning to use them as living mounts.
After the most valuable slaves were sold, the auction moved on to exotic treasures.
These items were exactly what Ash and his companions had come for.
During this period, Youki successfully bid on two large cases of eighty year aged wine.
Due to intense competition from other buyers, he had to raise the price all the way to 37 million Berries before finally securing them.
Although the price was far beyond the wine's true value, neither Ash nor his companions cared about such an amount.
As soon as the wine arrived, Youki and Tsuki immediately divided the bottles between them.
Later, Ash bid on two Ryo Wazamono grade swords.
They were not famous blades that appeared in history, but that did not matter to him. To Ash, they were simply additions to his growing collection.
As for the remaining jewelry and luxury items, neither Ash nor Youki showed the slightest interest.
Even Saff and Perona found them unimpressive.
Compared to the treasures stored in Skypiea, these items were nothing special.
The atmosphere of the auction house finally shifted when the final highlight of the evening was introduced.
A Devil Fruit.
Naturally, Ash was interested in collecting unusual Paramecia type fruits.
However, everyone present knew the truth.
If a Celestial Dragon decided they wanted the item, no one else would be able to obtain it.
Unless the Celestial Dragons were completely uninterested.
Unfortunately, that possibility was extremely small.
Everyone knew the habits of the Celestial Dragons.
They did not choose what was useful.
They only chose what was rare and expensive.
And they had more Berries than they could ever spend.
"Distinguished guests!"
Disco shouted dramatically.
"The next item will surely ignite everyone's excitement!"
"This incredible treasure is the mysterious gift of the sea itself... a Devil Fruit!"
With that announcement, a covered display stand was pushed onto the center stage.
Disco slowly pulled away the cloth.
Inside a glass case sat a strange fruit.
Its shape was wider at the top and narrow at the bottom. The fruit was dark purplish black, and two horn like protrusions curled from its upper surface.
"This is a Zoan type Devil Fruit!"
"The Ushi Ushi no Mi, Model Curly Purple Cow!"
"As everyone knows, Devil Fruits are priceless treasures of the sea. They are extremely rare!"
"The starting price is 100 million Berries!"
"If you wish to bid, please raise your paddle!"
The moment Disco finished speaking, two voices rang out at nearly the same time.
"100 million Berries!"
"200 million Berries! It belongs to me!"
The entire auction hall instantly fell silent.
Everyone understood what had just happened.
There were unwritten rules when Celestial Dragons attended auctions.
For example, earlier tonight Saint Mjosgard had competed with Saint Charloss over the mermaid. Since Saint Mjosgard had already won that item, he would normally avoid competing with Saint Charloss again later in the same event.
This rule existed both among the Celestial Dragons and within the auction house itself.
No one was allowed to bid against a Celestial Dragon for something they wanted.
Of course, countless people desired a Devil Fruit.
But only if the Celestial Dragons did not want it.
Since Saint Charloss had already lost the mermaid earlier and was clearly furious, if he wanted this Devil Fruit then no one else should have dared to compete.
Yet someone had.
Naturally, the entire audience turned toward the source of the voice.
Ash and his group were standing near the rear entrance of the hall, positioned at the highest point overlooking the auction floor.
Everyone could clearly see them.
"Who are those idiots? Are they tired of living?"
"They dare to compete with a Celestial Dragon?"
"Heh, looks like we are about to see something interesting."
"Reckless fools. Just do not drag us down with you."
Even Tesoro noticed the scene unfolding.
A mysterious smile slowly appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Ash frowned slightly.
In his memory, Celestial Dragons rarely treated Devil Fruits as valuable treasures. Sometimes they even fed them to slaves as entertainment.
Because of that, this situation was somewhat unexpected.
Still, Ash was not worried.
It was only a Devil Fruit.
If he could not get it, then he simply would not take it.
For the next two years, his plan was to remain low key, grow stronger, and avoid unnecessary conflicts.
There was no reason to provoke the Celestial Dragons right now.
Besides, this was not even a rare Paramecia fruit.
To Ash, it was only worth about one hundred units of energy.
If it had been a special fruit like the Hobi Hobi no Mi, then Ash would have had a real reason to intervene.
But a strange purple cow fruit?
He could not care less.
Unfortunately, Ash had underestimated the arrogance of the Celestial Dragons.
The moment Saint Charloss heard someone dare to compete with him, his face twisted in fury.
Even though his earlier bid of 200 million Berries was already the highest, he immediately shouted again.
"I bid 500 million Berries!"
After raising his short, chubby hand and announcing the absurd price, Saint Charloss turned around angrily.
"I want to see which bastard dares to compete with me for this Devil Fruit!"
As he turned, he had already drawn a pistol, clearly intending to execute the person who dared challenge him.
But the moment his gaze landed on Saff and Perona standing beside Ash, his expression instantly changed.
His eyes widened greedily.
He stared at them for several seconds before speaking with a disgusting grin.
"Very good."
"I will take both of you as my wives."
Ash stared at him silently.
Then he muttered under his breath.
"...What the hell."
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