Sabaody Archipelago
Meanwhile, Teach's merchant ship had already reached the Red Line and arrived at Red Line summit. World Government personnel were conducting an investigation ahead, and any contraband would be confiscated. The ship's manager also needed to obtain a pass.
"Stop, we need to inspect your merchant ship." Several staff members released one ship and came to the side of their merchant ship.
How could such a large merchant ship not contain some contraband? Contraband represents huge profits, and few merchants would let it pass by; they would all take some with them, more or less.
Bribing these officials was simply a tacit understanding among them.
"Haha! We're regular customers here, could you make an exception for us?" the merchant ship's manager laughed, walking up to them. He was quite adept at this kind of thing, secretly pulling out a thick wad of Beli from his pocket and quietly handing it to the leading official.
The official's eyes lit up, and he gave the person in charge a very shrewd look. As a result, he weighed two of the stack of at least a million Beli in his hand, exchanged glances with the others, and nodded.
Then he walked onto the deck of the merchant ship, glanced at it casually, and said, "Alright, this ship is fine," before moving on to the next vessel.
Teach witnessed this scene and had to admit that the World Government had truly degenerated. Corruption was unavoidable from top to bottom, with bribery being accepted openly.
Currently, this place is only guarded by a few naval personnel, with the highest-ranking officer being only a Vice Admiral. Given the low quality of the World Government's personnel, it's no wonder that a major incident like the Mary Geoise incident will occur in the future. After that incident, the Navy's defenses against the World Government will be greatly strengthened.
There will be one more Admiral to guard the Holy Land.
Teach didn't care about any of that; the more corrupt the World Government, the better; the more chaotic the world situation, the better—that's what makes it interesting.
Looking out the window, one can see the Holy Land, Mary Geoise, like a colossal city, inhabited by numerous Celestial Dragons, kingdom nobles, and descendants of World Government officials. The pinnacle of power in the world resides here.
This beautiful Holy Land, with its pristine white ground, exquisite buildings, lush greenery, and fountains, resembles a paradise on earth. However, hidden in the shadows lies the greatest evil in the world.
Large numbers of slaves gather here, and every day, countless slaves die while new slaves are transported here. The mastermind behind the slave trade in this world is the World Government, the Celestial Dragons.
Teach dared not unleash his Observation Haki. There were many powerful individuals in the World Government, and he might inadvertently be misled into believing that he was not capable of confronting the World Government at his current strength. If he alerted CP0, it would be questionable whether he could escape from here.
Teach remained calm, subtly covering his body with Observation Haki to conceal his own presence, as well as Pito's. It was normal to find people skilled in Observation Haki at the port, but Teach was confident in his Observation Haki, controlling the range of his Observation Haki to detect the people hiding in the shadows.
It must be said that the World Government is quite powerful. They possess a vast number of rare Devil Fruit. With their immense resources, they have secretly cultivated countless powerful individuals. The strength of the strongest organization, CP0, remains a mystery; how many powerful individuals does it have?
Time passed, and Teach and Pito arrived at the Sabaody Archipelago.
Near the Marine Headquarters, there is the world's largest mangrove tree, the Almond Tree. Because its roots have always been exposed above the water, it formed the Sabaody Archipelago.
The most distinctive feature of the Sabaody Archipelago is the special natural resin secreted by the roots of the Almond Tree through respiration. This resin expands into bubbles when exposed to air, which then float into the sky. Since these bubbles are only suitable for the climate range of the Almond Tree, once they leave the Sabaody Archipelago's climate zone, the resin components will explode because they cannot fully exert their power.
Bubble Car, bubble Ferris wheels, houses built on bubbles... bubble culture permeates every corner of Sabaody Archipelago!
Therefore, it should also be a famous tourist island, where even the Celestial Dragons often come to visit the Sabaody Archipelago.
Of course, the Sabaody Archipelago also had a large slave trade and auctions, and many Celestial Dragons would come to the island to buy slaves.
The Sabaody Archipelago is divided into seventy-nine areas, which can be broadly categorized into several parts:
Numbers 1 to 29: These mainly include human trafficking shops, human auctions, and Lawless Zone.
Numbers 30 to 39: Mainly include Soap Bubble Park, etc.
Areas 40 to 49 mainly consist of tourist attractions and specialty shops.
Numbers 50 to 59: mainly shipyards, coating craftsmen, etc.
Areas 60 to 69 mainly include naval bases and government entrances/exits.
Numbers 70 to 79: mainly consist of hotel streets, etc.
This is the last island in the first half of the Grand Line, and also an island that pirates must pass through on their way to the New World.
A large number of pirates gathered in the Sabaody Archipelago, especially in the lawless areas from number 1 to 29.
The merchant ship landed in area 21 of the Sabaody Archipelago.
The merchant ship's docking at the port immediately attracted the attention of many criminals, their eyes gleaming like wolves eyeing their prey. It was a large merchant ship carrying a huge amount of cargo—a tremendous fortune.
However, the security forces on merchant ships are also very strong. These petty thugs and criminals may have the desire to steal, but they don't have the guts to do so, unless they are powerful pirate crews.
After disembarking and walking down the street, Sabaody Archipelago became his destination.
In the shadows, Teach could sense some subtle gazes, these faint presences.
Teach and Pito were walking in the middle of the road when a group of more than a dozen people came over. The leader blocked Teach's way, while the others surrounded the two of them.
Holding a knife and a gun, with an excited yet cruel smile on his face, he stared intently at Teach and Pito, but his gaze was mostly fixed on Pito.
"You two, please come with us. Don't resist, or I don't know what might happen if things go wrong," the lead trafficker said with a smile, taking out the gun hanging from his waist and waving it in front of Teach and his companion.
The people behind them surrounded them and led them into a small alley.
Teach did not resist and simply followed them, with Pito beside him.
Those around noticed the scene. These were notorious local slave traders who always operated in this area in groups. Once they targeted someone, few could escape. They couldn't help but feel a little sorry for them, since even pirates hated slave traders, and no one wanted to be a slave.
However, these slave traders all had powerful backers who were not people they could afford to offend.
No one stood up. That's just how the world is. They didn't want to cause trouble; this place was Lawless Zone. Even the navy rarely interfered here because it involved huge interests and powerful connections.
A group of men entered the alley. "Kid, hand over everything you have, including this little guy, and then you can get lost," the lead slave trader laughed.
Seeing the greatsword behind Teach, with its exquisite hilt and jewels, an undisguised greed flashed in his eyes. He had no intention of letting Teach go. In his eyes, Teach and his companion were lambs to the slaughter. The reason they were talking so much was that he wanted to play with them a little longer.
Teach had already seen through his thoughts and couldn't help but sneer inwardly. He couldn't be bothered to lay a hand on such a weakling.
Turning his head slightly, Teach's cold voice rang out, "Pito, kill them." The human traffickers were taken aback.
Pito had wanted to make a move for a while, but without Teach's orders, the way these men were looking at her made her uncomfortable; their eyes were full of malice.
The moment Teach spoke, Pito had already made his move. His body vanished from the spot in an instant. A black shadow flashed before his eyes, followed by a flash of blood. The leading human trafficker stood there dumbfounded, while the human traffickers surrounding Teach and his group fell to the ground one by one, with bloody marks appearing on their necks.
His legs went weak, and he knelt on the ground, his heart filled with fear. He knew he had messed with the wrong people and was now filled with regret, wondering why he had ever targeted those two.
The Pito he had initially targeted was like a devil in angel's skin.
"I'm sorry, sirs, I was blind! Please, spare my life!" He immediately knelt on the ground, trembling with fear. "I have money! I can buy my life!" Of course, he didn't believe these two men would let him go just because of his words. He was about to take out his retirement savings. His heart was bleeding. He had originally planned to work a few years earlier, go to a foreign country, become a nobleman, keep a few concubines, and live a comfortable life.
However, Teach didn't speak. Pito's Cat Claws had already reached his neck, the sharp claws gently piercing his neck, and drops of blood flowed out.
He felt a chill on his neck, followed by a sharp pain. In an instant, his heart leaped into his throat. He hadn't expected Teach to be so indifferent to money. In his panic, he disregarded everything else and thought only of anything that could save his life.
"Devil Fruit! I know where the Devil Fruit are! Our boss has two Devil Fruits and plans to offer them to the Celestial Dragons!" the trafficker shouted. If his boss found out, he would die a horrible death, but for his own life, he had to tell the truth. He had already made up his mind: if he survived this time, he would leave immediately and escape as far away as possible.
"Oh! What ability?" Teach asked with a smile, showing some interest. This made him overjoyed, as if he had a glimmer of hope, and he blurted out everything he knew.
This slave trader's gang was a huge organization, and he was just a small leader within it. Their boss had some connection with a Celestial Dragons, which is why they were able to grow to their current position.
This time, their leader found two Devil Fruits. In order to get closer to the Celestial Dragons curry favor with them, he specially wanted to offer these two Devil Fruits to the Celestial Dragons.
Although the Celestial Dragons are not short of money, they also have very few of the rare items like Devil Fruit. After all, the Celestial Dragons are numerous, so they usually obtain Devil Fruit through auctions.
Especially Zoan Devil Fruit. The Celestial Dragons enjoy watching their slaves fight. A slave who has eaten Devil Fruit transforms into another animal to fight; to them, this is a source of great amusement, earning them the envy of other Celestial Dragons and boosting their own prestige.
The Devil Fruit his boss obtained were two Zoan Devil Fruit: one was the Zoan Monkey-Monkey Fruit in Silverback Masira form, and the other was the Zoan Lizard-Lizard Fruit in Giant Lizard form. Both were top-tier abilities, but his boss spent a long time finding them and didn't even dare to eat them himself.
Once they successfully ingratiate themselves with the Celestial Dragons, the benefits and growth in strength would be enormous, making them untouchable even by the Navy. Therefore, they focused on bribing World Government officials to contact a Celestial Dragons, while simultaneously preparing gifts that would satisfy him. He went to great lengths just to acquire these two Devil Fruits.
Now, those two Devil Fruits are in his boss's hands, and that Celestial Dragons has already received the news and plans to come down from the Holy Land in the next few days to visit the auction house, buy some new slaves, and take the two Devil Fruits with him.
This was quite important news for Teach, though somewhat expected, because a large auction was scheduled for three days later on Island One, with a high chance that the Celestial Dragons would attend. Teach had already seen some flyers advertising this event when he arrived on the island, and it was sure to be a grand spectacle. Teach had attended some auctions before; the Zoan- Zoan Human-Human Fruit its Half-Demon form that he gave Ares was purchased at an underground auction in the New World.
Most of them would contain some good stuff, and Teach was somewhat looking forward to it.
"Now can you let me go?" He told everyone he knew: the location of the Devil Fruit, his boss, the headquarters of the entire criminal organization, how many people there were, how strong their armed forces were, the woman his boss was keeping had cheated on him, and how he had been sleeping with several of his brothers.
Teach couldn't help but find it a little amusing, but he could tell that the man was telling the truth.
"Alright, you can go. I won't kill you." Teach smiled faintly.
"Okay, thank you for sparing my life, thank you for sparing my life." Hearing Teach's words, he said excitedly, turned around and was about to leave, quickly getting away from the two menacing figures.
Suddenly, a cold light flashed before his eyes. His eyes widened in disbelief. He turned his head slightly, glanced at Teach and the other man, and then collapsed to the ground, already dead.
Teach understood what he meant, but how could he possibly let this man go? He had said he wouldn't kill him, but that didn't mean he wouldn't. With a single glance, he was dead.