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Crocodile of course understood that he had fallen into Echo's illusion.
To have caused such a huge farce, to have all his own officers die by his own hand, left Crocodile burning with shame and fury.
"Damn it, Echo, to toy with me like this… Sooner or later I'll pay you back a hundredfold!"
He knew very well that once Echo slipped away, blocking her again would be difficult. That illusion of hers was no joke. If Echo had not let down her guard this time, it was really hard to say whether he could have surrounded her at all.
Realizing that trying to invite Echo again was no longer realistic, and with all his officers dead, setting out for the New World now would be far too hasty. Crocodile decided to first look for strong opponents to hone his strength and will, and only then head for the New World to reclaim his own glory.
After all, the weak had no right to talk about ideals. Weakness itself was a sin. His current situation was ultimately because he was too weak, but there would never be a next time.
Maybe things had gone too smoothly for him before, which made him careless for a moment. Crocodile did not think he had any other mistakes. In this world there were simply too many strange abilities. Crocodile planned to roam the Four Seas and the first half of the Grand Line, challenging the strong, and only after that would he set sail for the New World to realize his dream of becoming Pirate King.
As for crew… if they could be one-shot by him, then whether they were under illusion or not, weakness was original sin. People like that were not worthy to sail with him. It was more comfortable to be on his own.
Of the nine pirate Supernovas, one vanished before even entering the New World, but this did not affect the others. It only meant there was one less pirate going to the New World to vie for supremacy.
The perspective returned to the auction house, to the area reserved for the Celestial Dragons, the Rosward family.
Saint Rosward, who looked to be only around twenty years old, already wore a thin, scorched-yellow mustache. With a bubble hood over his head, he sat on the "back" of a giant lying prone on the ground, the giant's hands and feet all shackled in chains.
Rosward thrust the scepter-weapon he carried—fitted with an inlaid pistol—brutally into the giant's shoulder, looking down in lofty condescension at the "merchandise" that had just been about to go up for auction!
It was yet another "head" of a massive human. According to the auctioneer's introduction, this towering human was one of the recently rising pirate Supernovas—Pica. His strength was not to be underestimated, and he was also a Stone–Stone Fruit user who, if he wished, could grow to several hundred meters tall.
He could serve as a bodyguard and house guardian, or be used to pull carriages and get around. As a laborer he was first-rate. Absolutely excellent value for money.
Rosward, who already had an extreme sense of superiority, loved to collect all kinds of huge and famous "pets."
Sitting atop such a large, well-known pet brought him an enormous sense of superiority. So the moment he laid eyes on Pica, his eyes naturally lit up.
On the auction stage, Pica had a slave collar locked around his neck. His whole body was wrapped in white bandages—clearly he had been given some treatment before being carried up.
Even so, his face was still extremely pale and weak. He had been casually tossed into a huge cage in the auction hall, lying there unconscious.
On the floor, the auctioneer raised his little gavel high and continued to warm up the atmosphere.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the exciting moment has arrived. I've already given a grand introduction to this item just now. This is a one-of-a-kind pirate commodity. Lose your chance and it won't come again. The starting price is fifty million Berries…"
"ONE HUNDRED million Berries!"
As soon as the words fell, the crown prince of the Santanas Kingdom, Dibalu Niluk, seated in the stands, was the first to speak.
The kingdom needed development, and to develop it needed backbone. As crown prince, Dibalu Niluk had a responsibility to discover some decent subordinates.
"One hundred and ten million Berries!"
Likewise seated in the audience, Baron Tamago had also taken a liking to Pica and began to raise the price.
Baron Tamago thought very highly of his fellow Supernova Pica—not only his strength, but his physique as well. That imposing build was truly charming.
He had even already decided that if he failed to win the bid, he would simply seize Pica by force.
"One hundred and fifty million!"
This time the bidder was a merchant draped head-to-toe in gold jewelry.
He did business at sea all year round. Having a powerful slave bodyguard… that was just too convenient, was it not?
"One hundred and seventy million Berries!"
This shout came from Squard. As a fellow Supernova, Squard felt that if Pica, another Supernova, were auctioned off, then how was he supposed to show his face in the New World in the future? It would be far too humiliating.
"Two hundred million Berries!"
Moonlight Moria, who had been observing silently all this time, bid for the first time in the auction house.
Honestly, Moria had paid attention to the Supernovas and felt a natural fondness for Pica. If Pica were still in the Donquixote Pirates, Moria would really have a hard time poaching him.
But now? Leaving aside whether Doflamingo would come to rescue him, as long as Moria secured Pica first at auction, relying on his own personal charm, sooner or later Pica would be calling him "aniki" and treating him as an older brother.
"Two hundred and ten million Berries!"
Baron Tamago spoke again. He was determined to have Pica, and at the same time he cast a provocative glance at the tall, almost giant-sized yet lean Moria.
"Damn, it's just one person, is this really necessary? Forget it, I'm out!"
The merchant who had been taking part in the bidding chose to withdraw.
In his view, it was only a pirate. Once the price exceeded two hundred million Berries, it was more cost-effective to just hire more bodyguards instead. And hadn't a company called the "Flying Thunder God Guild" just opened recently? Their prices were reasonable and their quality guaranteed.
If Golden Lion Shiki knew what the merchant was thinking, he would probably give the man a pat on the shoulder and praise him for his good eye.
"Two hundred and thirty million!"
"Two hundred and fifty million!"
"..."
"FIVE hundred million Berries!"
Dibalu Niluk was getting annoyed with the endless back-and-forth. Talented people were far more valuable than Berries.
So he directly raised the price to the upper limit of what he could afford. Dibalu Niluk did not believe anyone would dare compete with him now!
And that was exactly how it turned out. Moria, Squard, and Baron Tamago all stopped raising the price.
It was not that they did not want to, but pirates were pirates. How many pirates could pull out five hundred million Berries on the spot? This was not yet the era decades later when the Berry had been heavily devalued.
Five hundred million Berries… just imagine how many things that could buy.
"Five hundred million Berries, he's really willing to spend… I wonder what kind of expression he'll make when I steal Pica from under his nose. Nyaa~ just thinking about it is fun."
Having just finished toying with Crocodile, Echo was mixed in with the audience.
Seeing the crown prince Dibalu Niluk, only around one-seventy in height, show such audacity, her malicious curiosity instantly flared up.
Of course, whether by coincidence or because the Supernovas had arranged it among themselves, of this year's nine pirate Supernovas, aside from Makugayi, Crocodile, Doflamingo, and Bullet, who had not appeared in the auction house, Pica had appeared as an auction item—and all the others were actually present.
With the Supernovas gathered, Guzman Loera, the head of the human-trafficking ring who had captured Pica and was overseeing things on site, suddenly felt his palms itch.
To be honest, if Moria and the others had not taken part in the bidding, Guzman would have found it hard to pick them out. But they had competed so fiercely that he could not possibly miss them.
For someone who was obsessed with collecting powerful pirates to auction off, how could Guzman not feel fired up?
If it were not for the big shots present in the auction hall, he would already be ordering his men to surround the entire place.
"Five hundred million Berries! The price has already reached five hundred million! Is there any higher offer?"
The auctioneer was practically giddy. Five hundred million Berries—how much commission would he get from that? Enough to live on for a lifetime!
His hand holding the gavel was trembling as he cried out excitedly:
"No higher offer? Five hundred million Berries, first call! Five hundred million Berries, second call! Five hundred—…"
(End of Chapter)
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