"As expected... this guy is just here to have fun."
Watching Orin go all in with a gleeful expression, both Mihawk and Crocodile rubbed their foreheads helplessly.
So much for doing a proper inspection or identifying problems—
"A century-old fine wine from the Kingdom of Wine! Starting bid: one million Belly!!!"
"One million two hundred thousand Belly!!"
"One million two hundred thousand and one Belly!!"
"One million three hundred thousand Belly!!"
"One million three hundred thousand and one Belly!!"
"???"
The muscular pirate sitting in the front row, holding a barrel of wine, glared furiously at the long-haired man in sunglasses who casually raised his hand every time, adding just one Belly more.
"Hey!!! Bastard!!! You're doing this on purpose! Every time you outbid me by just one Belly!! And you, auction house people—aren't you going to do something?! This guy isn't following the minimum bid increment rule!!!"
But everyone at the auction house, including the owner, pretended not to hear and casually looked around, whistling.
As for Orin, he just smiled nonchalantly and said playfully,
"No, no, I simply happen to enjoy this rare wine that doesn't taste terrible."
Then, he raised his hand again.
"Ten million Belly!!!"
Orin was blatantly arrogant to the extreme, and it wouldn't be the last time.
Sitting cross-legged, he clearly enjoyed shouting out random prices and treating money like it meant nothing.
What followed was a total sweep—regardless of who was bidding or what was on auction, everything was crushed by Orin's overwhelming financial power.
The shills that the auction house had arranged lost all purpose.
"We're screwed!!! This whole auction is basically a total loss!!! If Doflamingo-sama finds out, he's going to chop us up and feed us to the fighting fish!!!"
One of the auction managers clutched his head and sobbed. Watching Orin dominate the entire auction floor, he was convinced this guy wouldn't actually pay—or worse, was using the auction's own money to buy the goods.
Either way, the auction would end up losing both money and items.
"You idiot!"
At that moment, the auction house manager walked out, cigarette in hand, glaring at the subordinate.
"If we keep Orin-sama pleased, Doflamingo-sama might reward us. Why would he care about a few worthless auction pieces?"
"Or rather... the Donquixote Family's business empire already belongs to Orin-sama anyway!"
As the auction continued, Orin's outrageous behavior slowly dulled everyone's senses.
Eventually, no one else placed bids—they simply defaulted to letting Orin take everything at the starting price.
"Tch. Lowborns will always be lowborns. Only trash like this catches their eye."
The two Celestial Dragons also noticed Orin's bidding, but they had no interest in those cheap auction lots.
Until a female slave was brought out.
"Everyone, the next auction item is a stunningly beautiful female slave, graceful and elegant. Look at her golden hair—she may be of noble blood!!!"
"Golden hair makes her 'possibly noble'? That's some salesmanship."
Orin crossed his legs and laughed as the host introduced the slave. But in the next second, the host's words left him stunned.
"She also has a beautiful name—Stella!!!"
Stella?
Orin froze for a moment as memories stirred.
Roar~
Wasn't she an important supporting character from a movie?
But she should've been sold in a shop. Why was she in an auction?
Butterfly effect?
"What a beautiful slave. I'll make her my 39th wife!!!"
Clearly, Stella's looks were exceptional. Otherwise, she wouldn't be a featured auction item. The two Celestial Dragons were quickly captivated.
Stella, it seemed, had accepted her fate. She leaned miserably against the bars of the cage, a tragic beauty that drew even more attention.
"Starting bid: five million Belly!!!"
"Ten million Belly!!! Let's see who dares challenge me!!!"
The purple-haired Celestial Dragon, none other than Saint Grimm, the one who had spoken arrogantly earlier, raised his hand.
Everyone tensed up. Even the auction staff turned pale.
A Celestial Dragon was bidding—
Everyone turned to look at the back row, cold sweat beading down their faces.
That mysterious man (Orin-sama)... he wouldn't dare...
The hall fell into a short silence—
Then came a lazy, amused voice from the back:
"Ten million... and one Belly."
"You bastard!!!"
Saint Grimm shot to his feet and turned, drawing a golden pistol from his coat and aiming it at Orin.
"Lowborn! How dare you..."
"Hey! Grimm! The Elders gave orders not to stir up trouble in the Sabaody Archipelago recently..."
One of his fellow Celestial Dragons quickly tried to calm him, seeing he had his gun pointed at someone who clearly seemed important.
Apparently, this companion was one of the few Celestial Dragons with some brains.
But Saint Grimm wouldn't listen. He just wanted to vent his rage.
Until his companion whispered the words: "Knights..."
Only then did he finally settle down.
"Tch..."
Though furious, the moment he heard that word, Grimm put his gun away and preserved his life.
"Twenty million Belly!!!"
He growled, trying to compete the legitimate way.
"Twenty million... and one Belly."
"One hundred million Belly!!!"
"One hundred million... and one Belly."
"One billion Belly!!!!!!"
"One billion... and one Belly."
Orin couldn't suppress his smile anymore as he watched the now practically steaming Celestial Dragon in the front row.
As the two rich lunatics raised the stakes, the price soared rapidly.
Before long, it hit fifty billion Belly.
Everyone in the hall—bidders and auction staff alike—were shocked by the insane bidding war.
Even Stella was stunned, momentarily forgetting her grief over being separated from Tesoro. Her mouth hung open.
Was she really worth that much?
The bidding paused.
Not because Orin gave up—
But because the Celestial Dragon...
Had run out of money.
Due to a recent reduction in his heavenly tribute allotment by the Elders, his available cash was only fifty billion Belly.
Even pooling resources with his fellow Celestial Dragon might not have matched Orin's reckless, money-doesn't-matter bidding style.
"Hah... hey! Celestial Dragon! Why aren't you bidding anymore? Out of money? I can lend you some~"
Orin's perfectly timed insult was the final straw that broke Saint Grimm's ego.
He pulled out his golden pistol—
"Bang!!!"
His fellow Celestial Dragon—
Fell to the ground.