Deal

Deal

The sun and moon had traded places twice more.

Roy and Spandam waited for news in the grand villa. As time dragged on, both of them gradually began to feel uneasy.

"Hey, Spandam, are you sure there won't be any problems?

It's already been three days. Why hasn't there been a definite answer from above yet?"

That morning, Roy and Spandam sat across from each other eating breakfast.

Clearly, the past few days of waiting had left Roy increasingly worried and irritated.

"I don't know either! Going by that lord's usual habits, there should have been an answer long ago.

As for why it's taking so long this time?

Honestly, I don't know what happened inside the Holy Land either."

Nearly three days of waiting had made Spandam just as anxious.

Normally, tributes only required a single day of waiting before they received an answer.

But this time, why had the wait tripled without even the slightest word?

As he drank the bitter black coffee in his hand, Spandam's concerns were different from Roy's simple worry about failing to obtain their profits.

He had already begun reflecting on whether he had offended someone recently.

The reason the Spandine father and son had risen to high positions in the World Government was certainly not merely flattery and luck.

Though they were the most disgusting scum in the sea in terms of character, their strengths were not something anyone could ignore.

After all, no one capable of surviving on these seas was an idiot.

There were so many cunning and treacherous people on the sea, so why were those two father and son the ones who had climbed to the top? There had to be something worth studying there.

Seeing Spandam fall silent as though he were pondering something, Roy did not say anything else.

He merely pried open an oyster.

Human joy and sorrow were never alike. While Roy and Spandam enjoyed their lavish, luxurious breakfast—

Above the Red Line Continent.

Inside a luxurious villa in Mary Geoise.

Miserable cries continued to sound from within, muffled and broken.

Mary Geoise was humanity's holy land, the sacred place everyone in the Blue Sea yearned for.

The guards outside the villa merely sighed at the miserable cries coming from within, seemingly accustomed to them.

The Celestial Dragons called themselves the creators of this world.

Everything existed solely to serve them.

As the World Nobles, the Celestial Dragons' lives could no longer be described merely as extravagant.

And after growing unchecked for so long in the honeyed jar of wealth and power—

It was inevitable that some perverts would emerge among the Celestial Dragons.

Yet most Celestial Dragons saw nothing wrong with that.

Because of their extreme racial discrimination, cruelty toward other races was simply not worth mentioning in their eyes.

Creak!

The long-sealed door slowly opened.

A fat Celestial Dragon emerged from within, his face stained with blood and his eyes red.

The excitement had yet to fade from his face. Squinting, he raised a hand to shield his eyes from the slightly harsh sunlight.

"Rororororo! This time, the medicine and the slave were both excellent. It's been a long time since I've been this excited.

Carlos, tell them below that I'm very satisfied this time.

If they can bring me even greater pleasure next time, I certainly won't be stingy with my reward."

The naked Celestial Dragon let out a crazed cry without the slightest restraint.

"Yes, my master. Your will is everything. Your reward will surely move those lowly commoners below to tears of gratitude."

Beside the fat Celestial Dragon, a dwarf-like man eagerly echoed the words this Celestial Dragon most enjoyed hearing.

"Rororororo! Well said, Carlos. My will is everything. I'll leave everything from here on to you.

And that beauty in the room—remember this well. Make sure he is treated properly. Don't let him die. I like his hooked nose."

The fat Celestial Dragon's flesh trembled as he headed naked toward the bathhouse under the attendants' care.

"Yes, I understand. Please rest assured, my master."

Watching the Celestial Dragon leave, clearly still under the effects of the drug—

Carlos suddenly let out a long breath.

When he touched his back, he discovered that his shirt had long since been soaked through with sweat.

The Celestial Dragons were the noblest people in the world, but they were also the most dangerous and temperamental.

Serving these so-called World Nobles meant living in constant fear.

But once someone became a Celestial Dragon's lackey, the rewards were beyond imagination.

Within this enormous villa, aside from the Celestial Dragon himself, Carlos was the undisputed second-in-command.

He waved over two guards and had them enter the room reeking of blood and stench.

Turning his head, he cast a pitying glance at the dark door.

"I wonder how many days this toy can last in the master's hands?"

He turned away and clasped his hands behind his back.

Not a trace of Carlos's earlier fawning manner remained.

His eyes now held deep greed as he walked toward the outside of the villa.

"I've got the goods now. I just hope Spandam is as trustworthy as his father and keeps our agreement."

Within the vast World Government, the Celestial Dragons stood at the top of the food chain, so naturally countless people wanted to take advantage of them.

After several centuries of development, the World Government had become tangled in an intricate web of connections.

Though Spandine and Spandam were merely so-called newly risen nobles, through years of tributes and deliberate groveling, the father and son had built quite a few connections within Mary Geoise.

Carlos was one of Spandam's father Spandine's important partners.

As for why Spandam and Roy had managed to persuade him to use some of the authority leaking through the Celestial Dragons' fingers to make things convenient for them—

The most important reasons were, first, that Spandam already knew Carlos, and second, that Roy and Spandam were willing to give Carlos half of their gains, allowing him to take the largest share of their plan.

A short dwarf naturally had wounds in his heart.

When someone lacked something in one area, they often sought compensation from another.

Money was what Carlos loved most.

And that was precisely what Roy and Spandam had their eyes on.

They used enormous profits to lure this greedy man.

They would have him use the authority held by the Celestial Dragons to make up, as much as possible, for the losses Roy and Spandam had suffered.

Do not ask why Roy did not use the power behind him to work with Spandam.

The reason was simple: Roy's Old Man had gone to see the Pirate King two years ago.

If Roy used the favors his Old Man had left behind now, every use would mean one fewer remaining.

As the saying went, there was no need to use a butcher's knife to kill a chicken.

Sometimes, favors were not something money could buy.

The reason Roy and Spandam could interact as equals now—

Was partly due to Roy's own strength.

But the means of protection left behind by his Old Man were another extremely important factor.