Sabaody Archipelago.
This island, formed from the giant Yarukiman Mangroves, remained the final gateway to the New World, where chaos and prosperity coexisted.
However, in a certain area, deep within the lawless zone, a once noisy, immensely profitable Human Auctioning House now looked unusually desolate.
The doors were tightly shut.
The nobles who once wore ornate masks and spent money like water had long vanished.
Top Floor, Luxurious Office
A gaudily dressed, obese man knelt on the floor, trembling like a leaf. Cold sweat soaked through his expensive silk shirt.
He was one of the underground kings of this gray zone, the slave trader Don Dorados.
Standing before him was a bulky figure wearing a signature bubble helmet and white space suit. With extreme impatience, he poked Dorados's bald head using a diamond-studded cane.
"Hey, Dorados… are you amusing yourself at my expense?"
The shrill, childish yet tyrannical voice belonged to a World Noble, a Celestial Dragon, Saint Jalmack.
He was a distant cousin of Saint Charlos. Though their blood relation was thin, his arrogance and cruelty were not diminished in the slightest.
Jalmack's only hobby was collecting rare, moving "toys."
Recently… he had become obsessed with mermaids.
"N-No! Never, Saint Jalmack!"
Dorados kowtowed frantically, almost crying.
"How would I dare toy with you?!"
"Then why haven't you brought out the new merchandise yet?!"
Jalmack kicked him in the face, sending him sprawling.
"I've been waiting nearly an hour! My patience is limited! I want the one with the pink tail! The singing mermaid! Immediately! Right now!"
Dorados scrambled back into a kneeling position, the shoe print still visible on his face. He was on the verge of madness.
"Saint Jalmack! P-Please spare me!"
He cried out, "It's not that I won't get one for you! It's that… the entire underworld… no one dares touch that business anymore!"
"Haaah?!"
A bubble of mucus nearly formed in Jalmack's helmet.
"On this sea, someone dares defy my will?!"
"It's… the Marines!"
Dorados shouted tremblingly:
"The Marine Admiral, 'Haiiroyo'!!"
"Haiiroyo?"
Jalmack tilted his head, unfamiliar with the name.
"Yes! The monster who made everyone fall asleep at the Marineford War!"
Dorados hurriedly explained:
"Recently, 'Joker', no, Lord Doflamingo himself, spread the word of Haiiroyo throughout the underworld: all slave trade involving Fish-men and Merfolk is forbidden! Anyone who violates it will be treated as openly provoking Admiral Haiiroyo!"
His voice shook with fear.
"Saint Jalmack! You don't understand! No one dares touch it now! Not just capturing, even reselling them gets you eliminated by Joker's people! That Haiiroyo' is insane! Even Big Mom couldn't do anything to him!"
Jalmack fell silent.
No one could see his expression beneath the helmet, but the suffocating pressure made Dorados's teeth chatter.
"…A Marine Admiral?"
After a long while, he spoke slowly, his voice piercingly sharp.
"A mere dog that guards the house for us Celestial Dragons…"
"Dares… to set rules?"
Crash!
He swung his cane and shattered a priceless antique vase worth tens of millions of Berries.
"Who does he think he is?! Where does he think his pathetic power comes from?! We Celestial Dragons granted it! The grace of this world granted it!"
"And now he dares interfere with me, the master of this world, enjoying my toys?!"
Jalmack trembled with rage and stomped on Dorados's back, forcing his face into the ground.
"I don't care if he's Haiiroyo! I want it now! Immediately!"
He pointed his cane toward the southeast, the direction of the Red Line.
"I order you, Dorados!"
"Go buy one at any price! The most beautiful mermaid!"
"If you can't buy one…"
His voice turned sinister.
"Then personally lead a team to that… what was it… Fish-Man Island and capture one."
"Capture?!"
Dorados nearly fainted.
"T-That's Fish-Man Island! Not to mention their royal family-"
"I don't care about any royal family!"
Jalmack kicked him aside.
"I'm done waiting! Dorados, I'll give you backing!"
"Barricade!"
"Yes."
A heavy metallic voice echoed.
From the office shadows stepped a towering figure like an iron fortress.
A man at least five meters tall, clad in black heavy armor. He wore no Celestial Dragon helmet. A cold scar ran from forehead to chin across his face.
Simply standing there, he resembled an unbreakable steel wall.
"Iron Wall" Barricade.
Dorados recognized him, and his pupils shrank.
This was the strongest bodyguard Jalmack could acquire from CP0, a monster said to have mastered Rokushiki along with a defensive Devil Fruit ability.
"Barricade will accompany you," Jalmack said arrogantly.
"With a Celestial Dragon backing you and Barricade clearing your path, what are you afraid of?"
"Even if that Haiiroyo Renzo dares interfere…"
Jalmack grinned cruelly.
"Barricade will teach him the inviolable dignity of the World Nobles."
"A Marine Admiral… daring to challenge me?"
Dorados looked at the demon-like, silent Barricade and heard the Celestial Dragon's promise.
The fear crushing his heart was instantly replaced by something hotter,
Greed.
Fear came from the unknown.
But the Celestial Dragons were known as the world's highest authority.
No matter how strong Haiiroyo was… would he dare attack a direct guard of a Celestial Dragon?
Would he dare defy their will?
"I… I understand!!"
Dorados sprang to his feet, a twisted excited grin on his face.
"Saint Jalmack! I understand!"
"I'll gather my best hunters immediately!"
"Kama! Kani! Kaji!"
He roared toward the door.
"Yes, boss!"
Three eerie figures instantly appeared and knelt.
A thin man wielding twin sickles, "Sickle" Kama
A muscular man with massive mechanical crab claws, "Crab Claw" Kani
A sneering man holding a barbed whip and iron hook, "Hook" Kaji
They were Dorados's infamous slave-catcher trio:
The Trident Claw.
"Bring all our equipment!"
Dorados looked at his trump cards and then at the silent Iron Wall Barricade. His confidence surged.
"We're going to Fish-Man Island."
"To present Saint Jalmack with the perfect… collection!"