Early in the morning, Julian took First Mate Herbert and Pablo's logistics personnel to a clothing store in the city's central market. He had commissioned the outfits five days ago and had come to collect them today. Looking at the same owner from last time, Julian asked, "Boss, are the clothes and epaulets I ordered ready?"
The owner, a sincere-looking man in his forties, replied, "Sir, our workers worked themselves to the bone and only managed to make seven hundred yellow cloak-coats and two thousand yellow suits. The epaulets and golden dragon-head buttons you requested are all ready, and the nurse uniforms are ready too." Julian generously said, "I paid a two-million Berries deposit last time. Here's ten million Berries." He directly pulled the money from his body and tossed it to the owner. "This is a reward for you." The owner said, "Thank you very much, sir."
Julian had the logistics crew take all the clothes and transport them to the ship. When he returned aboard, the crew all looked at their captain in confusion. Julian said, "We're handing out uniforms. Everyone, collect yours according to the Head of Logistics' instructions."
Pablo shouted, "Cadres at Squad Leader rank and above get one yellow suit and one yellow cloak-coat. Interns, ordinary crew members, senior crew members, and Elite Crew Members only get yellow suits—no cloaks."
Those who received cloak-coats were the Squad Leaders, Squadron Captains, and Division Captains. All the crew members were extremely excited. Once everyone had changed, Julian had also prepared one for Herbert and himself, and the two of them changed into their new outfits. Julian gave Herbert four golden dragon-head buttons to wear on the epaulets on his shoulders, while Julian wore four himself. He had originally wanted to prepare a golden badge with a small sun on it, but he felt that lacked team spirit, so he wore the same badge as everyone else, only with one more golden button than the other Division Captains.
Julian then had the other Division Captains receive three golden dragon-head buttons each, Squadron Captains two, and Squad Leaders one. Looking at the neatly lined-up crew before him, Julian said, "From now on, our pirate crew's salaries will be paid according to the golden dragon heads on your epaulets. Epaulets represent rank. Those without positions need to train hard and strive to become stronger. Only then can you earn a position. If you want to rise in rank, you'll have to prove yourselves. In our Mud Dragon Pirates, advancement depends on strength!" All the crew shouted, "Train! Become stronger!"
Julian continued, "Everyone, make sure to train hard. Only then can we become the strongest pirate crew, and no one will dare bully us." After he finished, Julian had Herbert say a few words. Herbert said, "The Mud Dragon Pirates are one family. I will do everything in my power to protect everyone and protect the Mud Dragon Pirates. I believe all of you share that resolve. But if we want to protect our pirate crew, we need strength."
Julian took the lead in applauding, and all the crew members joined in. Julian shouted, "The First Mate is absolutely right!" The crew also shouted, "Mighty First Mate!" Julian said, "That concludes today's uniform-changing assembly. Dismissed!"
Julian said to several Division Captains, "There's an auction tonight. Us brothers will go take a look first." George said, "Understood, Captain." Pablo, as the Head of Logistics, also wore a yellow cloak-coat and three golden dragon heads. Julian said, "Old Luo, this outfit suits you quite well." Pablo smiled, indicating that it was all thanks to the captain.
Julian and the Division Captains headed to the Auction House together. After walking for more than twenty minutes, they arrived. Julian saw that the auction house was indeed enormous and packed with security personnel. Many guards were already patrolling around. It was Julian's first time seeing an auction house in the Pirate World, and he was somewhat curious. He told the other Division Captains, "Later, buy whatever catches your eye. I still have more than two billion Berries here." George and the others all said, "Thank you, Captain!"
Julian said to Herbert, "I wonder if they'll have any Famous Swords. I'll buy you two if they do." Herbert said, "Thank you, Captain." Julian said, "There are staff members over there. George, go ask what they're auctioning." George replied, "Understood, Captain," then went to ask the staff.
The other Division Captains looked around curiously. They had basically never seen an auction before either. Julian led everyone to ask the manager whether they had cultivation manuals, treasure maps, or information about other Devil Fruits. The manager looked quite sharp and capable. He was a subordinate of one of the island's nobles and primarily handled the auction house.
The manager said to Julian, "Sir, we do have many excellent items tonight, but they cannot be purchased now. Sorry for the trouble, but please wait until tonight to find out."
Julian said, "Does the auction house have anything else for sale?" The manager was no fool and knew that auction items could fetch higher prices. He quickly shook his head. "Sir, please wait until tonight. The items at our auction house really must be put up for auction."
Julian did not waste any more words and directly led everyone to wait for George at the entrance. He secretly thought, We'll come back at six tonight and buy some good things. What a pain that they refuse to sell now. George then came out and said, "There are many slaves in this auction, along with a Devil Fruit, a Famous Sword, and a treasure map. The location seems to be an island in the South Blue called Dragon Island." Julian got the general idea.
He said, "Thanks for the effort, George. Is there anything else you want to buy? Go ahead and buy it. We'll meet back at the ship." Everyone immediately scattered to look for their own things. Julian spotted a cigar shop and had an idea. He immediately entered the store. Seeing cigars displayed on the counter, he asked, "Boss, how much are these cigarettes and cigars?" He pointed at the cigars on the counter. A female clerk called out, "Customer, these are premium cigars. They cost twenty thousand Berries per pack, with four cigars in each pack." Julian directly bought one hundred packs, then asked, "What about the other cigarettes?"
Julian bought two hundred packs of premium cigarettes. During voyages, aside from training and mocking that idiot bird Momonosuke, there was nothing else to do. His daily life consisted of chatting with the other Division Captains and having romantic exchanges with Beatrice or Alice. What else could he do?
Julian said, "Besides cursing that little bastard Momonosuke every day, all we do is eat and hold banquets with everyone." He told the clerk, "Give me another thousand packs of these cigars, and two thousand packs of those premium cigarettes." As he spoke, he took out forty million Berries and placed them on the counter. Julian stored all the cigarettes and cigars inside his body before leaving.
Julian bought things all over the streets while asking for information. He investigated which area held the nobles' territories in this kingdom and whether there were any other pirate crews on the island. Julian intended to gather intelligence first, then take care of everything that night.
Pirates would be caught and made to turn screws aboard the ship, and nobles would get the same treatment. By afternoon, Julian learned that there were seventeen nobles on the island: one duke, six earls, and ten viscounts. Their territories were relatively concentrated in an area at the lower right of the island called Noble Street.
Among them, that duke had the largest fief and was also the biggest boss on Wealthy Street. Noble Street normally sold slaves as well. Julian and the others planned to rob Noble Street first after the auction ended that night. That place should be filthy rich.
Near five o'clock, Julian slowly made his way back to the ship. He first released all the other things from his body, including cigarettes. Julian said, "What use are all these weird gold and jewels? I'll spend them all sooner or later."
Julian continued, "You might as well give me a few more Devil Fruits. Then I can give my crew members Devil Fruits one by one. Even the World Government will have to show me some respect."
Julian brought a large amount of cash and some gold, worth roughly five hundred million Berries. He took out the Den Den Mushi to call Herbert and said, "Gather the six Division Captains. We're going to the Auction House shortly." Herbert replied, "Understood, Captain."
Julian brought Beatrice and Alice with him, while Herbert led the six Division Captains. Julian's group swaggered toward the auction venue. A passerby said to another passerby, "What pirate crew is that? Their uniforms look even better than the Marines'—matching yellow suits and yellow cloak-coats. That's seriously impressive." The other passerby replied, "Exactly."
When Julian arrived at the entrance of the Auction House, a group of reckless pirates sneered at him and his group. "A bunch of idiots! You dress like Marines even though you're pirates. Are you trying to become famous?" Of course, some people noticed the yellow dragon heads on their backs and recognized them as Mud Dragon Julian, the Logia Devil Fruit user whose first bounty was one hundred million Berries. They quickly stepped aside, not daring to provoke trouble.
Julian responded to those pirates by releasing four Cliff Swords from the ground. In an instant, they became piles of corpses. Julian then controlled the earth to bury the bodies underground, as though those pirates had never existed in the world.
The other pirates stared at Julian in terror, so frightened that they could not speak. Julian looked at them and shouted, "I am the incarnation of the earth—Mud Dragon Julian! If you're dissatisfied, come at me together!" The remaining pirates all said, "Lord Julian, we wouldn't dare challenge you."
Julian looked at the pirates before him with disdain and shouted, "I gave you a chance, but you were useless!" The pirates stared wide-eyed at one another, all too frightened to say anything.
Julian led the Division Captains into the auction venue. Pierre at his side said, "Captain, do you want me to make a move and wipe them all out later?" Julian replied, "Forget it. There's no need to fuss with a bunch of small fry."
Julian and the Division Captains sat in the front row. It was nearly six o'clock. When Julian looked back, he saw that all the seats were filled. There were pirates, pirate hunters, and mostly merchants or nobles. In any case, there was not a single commoner.
They all looked excited, as though they were eagerly anticipating the auction items. At that moment, the manager led a row of guards toward the center of the auction platform. The host picked up a microphone and began, "Today is the day our Dolipa Auction House auctions off its items. We have twenty-five items for auction today, along with one hundred slaves."
Julian looked at the person in charge before him. Sure enough, he had a crafty look about him. Julian was also looking forward to some good items. The manager said, "We will begin by auctioning the slaves." One hundred slaves, shackled in handcuffs, were led onto the auction platform. Julian looked at the hundred slaves before him. There were men and women, and several appeared to be only in their teens.
Julian was not some saint. He knew that slavery was already utterly commonplace in this world. It depended on how this manager intended to auction them. Julian secretly thought, If they're cheap, I'll buy them all as workers. The manager said, "We'll start with the first one. This is a strong and sturdy slave." Julian looked at the listless boy before him, who appeared to be fourteen or so. He was probably just an ordinary person. The host shouted, "Fixed price: one hundred thousand Berries!"
Julian acted on the principle of lending a helping hand and shouted, "Two hundred thousand Berries. I'll take him." The others knew their captain's style. It was only two hundred thousand Berries. Pablo then tossed two hundred thousand Berries to the auction house staff.
The slave boy was escorted by guards to Julian. Julian said, "Use the key to remove his chains." The guards complied. After the slave boy's chains were removed, he stood before Julian. Julian asked, "What's your name?" The boy replied, "Master, my name is Felix Lisao."
Julian knew that someone like him carried trauma in his heart. He had him stand to one side, then told the boy, "I am the captain of the Mud Dragon Pirates. There are no slaves on my ship. If you want to join my ship, you'll have to earn it yourself."
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