Ron's voice echoed appropriately around them, amplified by the acoustics of the arena.
"For every challenger defeated, the reward is 10 million Belly. In group battles, each additional person defeated adds another 10 million to the pot."
Crocodile's golden hook reflected cold light as he blew a smoke ring, narrowing his eyes in calculation.
"If a fifty-person group comes... that would be five hundred million Belly..."
His gaze unconsciously drifted toward the displayed Devil Fruit Blood Tome in the distance.
Would that be enough for another enchantment?
Crocodile suddenly nudged Bullet beside him with his elbow, lowering his voice.
"Hey, Bullet." He deliberately softened his tone, feigning camaraderie. "With your strength, you're definitely the grand finale material. How about letting me go first? Leave these small fries to me."
Bullet didn't even turn his head, merely snorting derisively through his nose.
"I'm fierce, not stupid."
His gaze swept over the pirate crews warming up below the stage like a wolf eyeing sheep.
"Ron pays by headcount—10 million Belly per head." He clenched his fist, knuckles cracking like thunder.
"Trying to steal my business? No way!"
"Tch."
Crocodile's face darkened as he bit through his cigar, forced to retreat reluctantly to the side.
"Whatever."
He lit a new cigar, his sinister eyes scanning the crowd. "Plenty of cannon fodder anyway."
Though deep down, he vaguely sensed that the first to jump out might not necessarily be weaklings.
"Jihahaha!"
Shiki suddenly burst into laughter, his floating body swaying slightly in the air. He looked mockingly at the two arguing legends, his eyes full of superiority.
As one of the founding elders who first discovered the Seastone vein for Ron, he got a cut from every transaction.
Not to mention, Ron had just assigned him a new mission structure.
The dividends flowed in like running water.
Shiki idly played with his famed swords, Oto and Kogarashi, which floated around him telekinetically.
He touched the long-vanished contract mark between his brows. What once felt like bondage had now become a guarantee of absolute strength.
"Following Ron..." Shiki looked at his hands, which were now capable of channeling lightning thanks to previous enchantments.
"Beats going solo back in my day!"
"All my underlings have become Logia Devil Fruit users now! Plus, they've all got official positions in the Eternal Divine Kingdom!"
Recalling his frugal days hiding in the New World and comparing them to the current situation where all factions had to defer to the Divine Kingdom, he couldn't help but laugh uproariously again.
The pirates below were provoked by his laughter.
"What's so funny, old man? We'll take you out first!"
Shiki wasn't annoyed in the slightest. Instead, he laughed even more wildly.
He'd be delighted if all these fools challenged him.
As for money? That was just a numbers game now.
What he cared about more was whether Ron would grant him more powerful Item Enchantments after he accumulated enough merits!
He knew Ron could enchant items, and he wanted his swords to be legendary.
The three legendary pirates each had their own thoughts, but what they shared was their view of the challengers—they all looked like walking piles of Belly.
And the eager pirates below had no idea what kind of nightmare they were about to face.
GONG!
With a dull, resonant gong strike, the competition officially began.
Pirates swarmed forward like locusts, pouring into the various spatial gates to compete for those legendary Devil Fruits.
The air was thick with tension and excitement, as if epic confrontations were about to unfold.
Eustass Kid's gaze remained fixed on the door behind Shiki.
This door represented the competition for the Glimmer-Glimmer Fruit.
Just defeat Shiki, and he could obtain Kizaru's power—a fruit that represented the speed of light.
For someone like Kid, who relied on magnetism and heavy metal, adding light speed to his railguns would make him invincible.
However, Doflamingo was also heading there.
Immediately afterward, more and more pirates chose to enter this door.
They realized this was a battle of attrition—anyone could become the final victor and obtain this Admiral-level Devil Fruit if they just survived long enough.
Behind the door lay another island, a specially constructed arena.
The entire venue was extremely spacious, far surpassing the small-scale coliseums of the past.
In the center of the arena, a massive hourglass had already begun counting down, while the surrounding stands were packed with pirates and adventurers who had come to watch the battle, their eyes gleaming with anticipation.
At that moment, Kid's metallic arm shimmered with a cold gleam under the sunlight. Countless iron fragments swirled around him like living creatures.
He bared his teeth in a ferocious grin, his crimson pupils fixed intently on Shiki, who hovered mid-air.
"Old man," Kid's voice grated like grinding metal, "that Glint-Glint Fruit is mine!"
His mechanical right arm suddenly morphed and reassembled, transforming into a massive electromagnetic cannon, its barrel aimed squarely at the Golden Lion.
Above the doorway, the Glimmer-Glimmer Fruit emitted an alluring golden glow, as if beckoning every pirate who craved power.
"Fufufufufu... Kid, so eager to die?"
Doflamingo's laughter echoed from the side as the Warlord strode forward with an arrogant gait, his pink feathered coat flapping sharply in the wind.
Behind him followed Trebol and Diamante, the highest-ranking executives of the family, their faces etched with confident, cold smiles.
"My underlings here are quite keen on having the Glint-Glint Fruit as well." Doflamingo's sunglasses reflected a dangerous glint, and imperceptibly thin threads were already coiling around his fingertips.
Shiki looked down condescendingly at the two groups and suddenly burst into loud laughter.
"Jihahaha! You think you brats can take me?"
His twin swords, Oto and Kogarashi, unsheathed themselves, tracing perilous arcs through the air.
"I was ruling the New World back when you were still suckling milk!"
Kid spat disdainfully, metal fragments coalescing behind him into a massive mechanical arm.
"Enough talk! Let's fight, old man!"
"Heh…"
Shiki suddenly crossed his swords.
SLASH!
A terrifying shockwave split the arena floor in two, the sandy ground instantly carved with a deep trench separating Kid and Doflamingo from him.
"Almost forgot to mention—the trial is conducted separately! You'll have to decide who challenges first!"
Kid and Doflamingo's gazes clashed mid-air, sparks flying.
"Fufufu… newcomers should know their place."
"Bullshit! I was here first!" Kid roared, the electromagnetic cannon on his metal arm beginning to charge, its muzzle flickering with a dangerous purple light.
"..."
The standoff between Kid and Doflamingo abruptly tightened the atmosphere in the entire coliseum.
The air was thick with the tension of impending conflict.
The surrounding pirate crews, seeing this, wisely retreated, clearing a conspicuous vacuum on the floating platform to make way for the imminent clash of the Warlord and the Supernova.
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