"Damn it, you actually tricked me!"
Elsewhere on the battlefield, betrayal unfolded once again, something far too common among pirates who trusted no one but themselves.
This time, the one who had been framed was Bege.
"You two bastards! I won't let either of you get away with this!"
A massive metal arm swept him up, hurling his body uncontrollably through the air, straight toward the red haired emperor, Shirogai Yamikuro.
Moments earlier, Kid had roared furiously and charged forward, looking as if he intended to fight the arrogant emperor to the death.
Bege had been delighted by the sight.
He was already planning to order his subordinates to deploy smoke bombs the instant the battle broke out, allowing him to escape amid the chaos.
What he had not anticipated was Killer's sudden appearance.
That bastard moved as if guided by fate itself.
Before Bege could even react, the strange scythe mounted on Killer's wrist hooked into his body and flung him skyward.
"Go buy us some time," Killer said coldly.
"Try not to die too fast."
At the same moment, Kid, who had only been pretending to rush Shirogai, abruptly pivoted.
A twisted grin spread across his face as his massive mechanical arm snapped shut around Bege.
With brutal force, Kid hurled him forward.
Bege's body shot toward the red haired emperor like a living projectile.
"You damn traitors! You actually betrayed me!"
Bege roared in rage.
Midair, metal plates shifted and expanded from his body, forming crude mechanical wings.
He twisted sharply, barely altering his trajectory enough to avoid smashing directly into Shirogai Yamikuro.
Inside Bege's fortress like body, his subordinates frantically activated internal mechanisms.
A gliding device deployed, allowing him to skim through the air in a wide arc.
At that point, Bege had completely forgotten that he himself had intended to betray Kid from the very beginning.
"You idiot," Kid sneered, already turning to flee.
"Did you really think I trusted you? Who knows if you were not planning to stab us in the back as well?"
He laughed harshly.
"Pirates betraying each other is the most normal thing in the world."
Killer said nothing.
He simply followed at Kid's side.
The two friends, bound together since childhood, exchanged a single glance and reached the same conclusion.
A pirate with a five billion Berries bounty was far beyond what they could handle right now.
Retreat was the only rational choice.
As for Bege, the unfortunate cannon fodder they had thrown out, it was nothing more than bad luck on his part.
If they ran into other Supernovas, the outcome would be no different.
Someone else would be sold out first.
"Boss, wait for us!"
The Kid Pirates scrambled after their captain, quickly disappearing into the distance.
…
Peninsula No. 1, Human Auction House.
"Heh heh… what an interesting sight."
A newly captured slave chuckled softly to himself.
His hands were bound by iron chains, and an explosive collar was being fastened around his neck by a slave trader.
Yet despite his situation, he shook his head with an amused smile, as if he had just witnessed a joke meant only for him.
"Hm?" the slave trader snarled.
"You lowly trash, do you think you are still free? How dare you laugh in front of me?"
The smile on the slave's face felt like mockery.
Fury surged through the trader.
He raised his hand and slapped the slave viciously, sending him sprawling across the ground.
"Pah!"
The trader spat on him with open disdain.
"No. 17, get in there!" he barked.
"If you do not sell for a good price later, you are as good as dead!"
With a cruel kick, he sent the newly collared slave tumbling into a cage before turning away with his armed guards.
…
The young man slowly pushed himself up, brushing the dust from his clothes as if nothing of importance had happened.
"Heh. There really is no such thing as human rights here."
Handsome and calm, he scanned the interior of the cage with quiet interest.
Inside, dozens of slaves sat in silence.
Iron chains bound their wrists, and explosive collars rested against their throats.
They spared the newcomer only brief, empty glances before lowering their heads again.
Here, everyone had already accepted their fate.
Life and death no longer belonged to them.
They were not even allowed to speak.
If the traders noticed, the whip would follow.
Rather than caring about a new arrival, most were thinking about how to please their future masters, hoping to be beaten and humiliated a little less.
"Another unlucky fellow…"
A burly Giant muttered the words under his breath, his tone heavy with bitterness and self mockery.
"Unlucky?" came a chuckle from beside him.
An old man with white hair and a neatly kept white beard adjusted his glasses and took a swig from a flask hidden in his sleeve.
"That is not necessarily true."
Smacking his lips, savoring the taste of the liquor, the old man studied the newcomer with sharp, knowing eyes.
"What an impressive illusion," he said casually.
"How did you pull it off?"
"Group hypnosis through the Whisper Whisper Fruit," the young man replied with an easy smile.
"Just an illusion implanted directly into people's minds."
As he spoke, he casually tossed the explosive collar in his hand upward.
A small black void opened in midair and swallowed the collar whole, leaving nothing behind.
"Oh?" The old man's eyes gleamed.
"Interesting."
He leaned forward slightly, clearly intrigued.
"What Devil Fruit is that? That black hole looks like it could devour anything."
"A fragment of power from the Dark Dark Fruit," the young man answered without hesitation, walking closer.
"A small black hole, nothing more."
The man was Shirogai Yamikuro.
The two Shirogais previously seen on Peninsula No. 24 had merely been replicas created through the Flower Flower Fruit.
The real Shirogai had already slipped away, transforming into a streak of light with the power of the Glint Glint Fruit and arriving unnoticed at Peninsula No. 1.
Here, he had used the Whisper Whisper Fruit to subtly control two members of a kidnapping gang, manipulating them into selling him to this very auction house.
"The Dark Dark Fruit…" the white haired old man murmured, narrowing his eyes.
"I have heard that name before."
He frowned slightly, searching his memory.
Someone unreliable had once mentioned it in passing, but he had never taken it seriously.
"Two completely different Devil Fruit abilities?" the Giant said in disbelief, staring at Shirogai.
"How is that possible? They say a person can only eat one Devil Fruit."
"It seems you have been locked away for far too long," the old man laughed.
"There is a new legend spreading across the seas," he continued.
"An arrogant emperor with a five billion Berries bounty, a man capable of wielding multiple Devil Fruit abilities at once. No one knows how many powers he truly possesses."
He took another drink and looked directly at Shirogai, laughter rumbling from his chest.
"Is that not right? The newly risen great pirate, the Arrogant Emperor, Shirogai Yamikuro."
Shirogai smiled faintly.
"To be recognized by someone like you is an honor," he said calmly, meeting the old man's gaze.
"Even in chains, you remain yourself."
He paused, then spoke the name with quiet respect.
"The vice captain of the Roger Pirates, Silvers Rayleigh."
---