Rubber-Rubber Fruit

"Sure enough, there's still human trafficking?" Leiyin thought to himself.

"...The starting price is... one million Beli!"

As soon as the host finished speaking, the men began bidding over one another. The girl's beautiful face had stirred up their masculine hormones.

"I bid 1.5 million!"

"I bid 2 million!"

"I bid 3 million!"

"I bid 5 million!"

The last to call out a bid was the extravagantly dressed fat man in the front row. The girl was auctioned off to him for five million Beli.

As the iron cage was pushed away, the fat man looked at his newly acquired "prey" with an extremely lecherous gaze.

At this moment, the woman beside the fat man complained, "You already have sixteen women. Isn't that enough to satisfy you?"

The fat man pinched the woman's thigh and gave her an evil grin. "What do you know? Life is about enjoying yourself. If I didn't buy her, that little beauty would've been bought by someone else. Who told me to be so rich? Ahahaha..."

After the girl was auctioned off, the staff immediately brought out the second item.

A man in a suit carried out a fruit platter. The contents were covered with a black cloth.

The host danced around in excitement, seemingly entertaining himself. "All right, our second item. If you eat it, you'll immediately gain great power."

With that, the host suddenly pulled away the black cloth. Before everyone's eyes was a purple fruit covered in spiral patterns.

What was this?

A Devil Fruit.

The host then introduced it as the Paramecia-type Rubber-Rubber Fruit.

Wasn't this Luffy's fruit? Why was it here? Leiyin was thinking this when the host continued his introduction.

"Everyone, take a look. This is the Paramecia-type Rubber-Rubber Fruit. Its power allows the user's entire body to stretch and rebound within a certain range, making ordinary strikes far more powerful. Furthermore, the fruit grants immunity to blows, bullets, cannons, and even lightning. Once you eat it, you'll immediately become a powerful fighter!"

The host spoke eloquently onstage while the audience below stared with shining eyes.

Leiyin understood that the Rubber-Rubber Fruit actually wasn't considered a particularly powerful Devil Fruit. In the original story, it had been powerful because it belonged to the protagonist and had been developed well. But even if it wasn't especially powerful, it was still a Devil Fruit, not an ordinary apple. An ordinary person who ate it would still become an ability user and surpass normal people by several times over.

Moreover, Devil Fruits were extremely rare. The reason anime and manga seemed to show large numbers of ability users appearing everywhere was that they depicted a world of the strong. In any such world, civilians still made up the overwhelming majority. In other words, if Devil Fruits were distributed among everyone, tens of thousands of people might not even get a single one.

It was precisely because they were so scarce that every kind of Devil Fruit commanded an extremely high price. An ordinary family probably couldn't afford one even after working and saving for ten lifetimes without eating or drinking.

"The starting price for the Rubber-Rubber Fruit is... 80 million Beli!"

The moment those words fell, the venue erupted.

"I bid 85 million!"

"90 million!"

"I bid 98 million!"

"One hundred million! I bid one hundred million Beli!"

While everyone was shouting over one another, a figure stepped through the air and flew onto the stage, snatching the Devil Fruit away.

The move instantly silenced the entire venue.

The one who had flown forward and seized the Rubber-Rubber Fruit was Leiyin.

"Hey, what are you doing?!"

Seeing this, the staff immediately drew their swords and firearms and aimed them at Leiyin.

Leiyin merely said calmly, "Sorry, I'll be taking this fruit."

Leiyin had made it perfectly clear that he was robbing them in broad daylight, but no one knew what he was planning.

The leading man said, "Who are you? How dare you cause trouble here? Do you know whose territory this is?"

Leiyin casually picked at his ear. "I'm a Marine. This is an underground illegal transaction, so this fruit should be called seized property."

The leading man looked at him disdainfully. "What a stupid bastard who doesn't know when he's outmatched. A mere Marine dares to spout nonsense in front of the Donquixote Family!"

Bang!

The leading man pulled the trigger without hesitation. The bullet sped toward Leiyin, but Leiyin simply shifted aside and dodged it.

He had just said... the Donquixote Family?

Hearing the gunshot, the bidders below fled in terror, clutching their heads as they scattered. Only a few remained, watching the stage with interest.

The people backstage heard the gunfire and rushed out with their firearms.

"He's a Marine who came to wreck the place! Take him down together!"

At those words, the men in suits raised their firearms in unison, sending bullets toward Leiyin like raindrops.

Seeing this, Leiyin used Geppo to step onto the ceiling. His hands rapidly formed seals, after which he placed them before his mouth and unleashed a ninjutsu technique.

"Fire Style—Great Fireball Technique!"

A huge fireball crashed down toward the crowd. It slammed into the floor with a roar, burning or killing most of the staff.

"This guy is an ability user of the Flame-Flame Fruit!" The survivors, panicking, arrived at the wrong conclusion.

"Quick, go call the boss!"

The remaining men abandoned their weapons and fled in search of their boss.

When Leiyin landed on the ground again, raging flames had already spread throughout the venue.

He scratched his head helplessly. "Looks like I went a little too far."

Then he formed seals again. "Water Style—Water Wave Technique!"

Waves of water gushed out like a waterfall, instantly extinguishing the fire completely.

Leiyin was no saint. The reason he put out the flames was to prevent them from spreading to the backstage area. After all, he still wanted to obtain even greater benefits here.

Leiyin casually stuffed the "seized" Rubber-Rubber Fruit into his pocket. At this moment, a merchant who had stayed behind below the stage walked over to him.

The merchant smiled at Leiyin. "I can tell you're no ordinary man, sir. Would you be willing to do business with me?"

Leiyin looked at him. "Business?"

Merchant: "Yes. How about selling me the fruit in your hand?"

Leiyin thought for a moment. "All right. How much are you offering?"

The merchant held up one finger. "One hundred million Beli."

Leiyin waved his hand. "Add another ten million, or there's nothing to discuss."

The merchant fell into deep thought.

In the market, an ordinary Paramecia fruit like the Rubber-Rubber Fruit was generally worth one hundred million Beli. If it were bought at an auction house, however, its price could be raised by an unknown amount. Besides, he was only an ordinary merchant. Who knew how long he would have to wait before encountering another Devil Fruit like this one...

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