Sabaody Archipelago, Pleasure District.
For pirates accustomed to pillaging and killing, the Pleasure District, brimming with wine, women, and wealth, was the perfect place to blow off steam and relieve their stress.
These desperadoes who lived by the sword had always believed in making the most of today, for tomorrow might never come.
After all, no one could predict whether the next day would bring a fortune—or a cold, grisly death.
Better to live in the moment and enjoy each day as it came.
When pirates came to the Pleasure District to enjoy themselves, they also exchanged the spoils of their raids for Beli.
Where there was demand, a market would form.
With the Pleasure District's red-light reputation, islands 1 through 29, officially designated the Lawless Zone, had become the Sabaody Archipelago's largest underground black market and slave market.
The slave market in particular—that was, the human auction—was known as one of the archipelago's pillar industries.
Any race could become a commodity here. Humans, merfolk, Fish-Men, and rare races alike were all fitted with collars containing explosive devices.
The slave market's main customers were the Celestial Dragons.
The underground black market covered many kinds of illegal trade besides human trafficking, including weapons, Devil Fruits, and Artificial Devil Fruits.
Beneath the Sabaody Archipelago's gleaming bubbles lay a complete industry, sustained by the Celestial Dragons' privileges and built around human trafficking, black-market dealings, and extravagant pleasures.
Following the address provided by the buyer, Seven came alone to the slave market.
As a middleman, Shakky only put buyers and sellers in contact; she did not take part in the actual transactions.
If this had happened right after he crossed over, the sight before him would have shredded Seven's nerves—men and women of different races, locked in cages with iron chains like livestock, each with a price tag.
The women's vacant eyes, the dried bloodstains on merfolk tails, the men's bowed backs...
Every detail reeked of a nauseating, rotting world.
"What a damn rotten world."
After seventeen years in the Pirate World, Seven had thought he'd grown numb to it all. But when he passed the cages again, he still couldn't stop himself from cursing under his breath.
He knew better than anyone: there was no saving them all.
You could smash open ten cages today, and twenty more would be shipped in tomorrow.
As long as those pigs with fishbowls on their heads sat atop the world in Mary Geoise, slavery would never truly disappear.
The people of Affiliated Nations unable to pay the Celestial Gold; the men and women, young and old, from countries that had yet to become Affiliated Nations; those whose homelands had been burned to the ground by pirates...
They would all end up as a line of tiny print in a product catalog, chained up and shipped out from here.
Weakness was the original sin.
On these seas, kindness and anger without strength to back them up were as weightless as a sigh.
Having seen all this so often, Seven was determined to become the World's Strongest, no matter what it took. He would never allow anyone to raise their voice at him.
Slave Auction House, private room.
Seven finally met the buyer of the gold coins, the Shipping King Umit, known as the Deep Sea Current.
In the Pirate World, besides the pirates, Marines, and Revolutionary Army operating in plain sight, there was an Underworld controlled by several powerful figures.
Shipping King Umit was one of them.
Umit controlled the shipping and logistics industries, serving as the Underworld's transportation hub.
His fleet transported all kinds of illegal goods for clients around the world, from weapons to people. It was a crucial link between the Sabaody Archipelago, various black markets, and the demands of the World Nobles.
"Did you bring the goods?"
Perhaps because his training in Skypiea had changed his height so much over the past two years, Umit didn't recognize Seven.
Of course, it was also possible that, compared to Great Pirates like Captain Roger, Vice Captain Rayleigh, Gaban, and Bullet, Seven simply wasn't famous.
"Where's the money?"
At that, Umit beckoned to the men behind him. Two burly men in black carried several boxes into the private room and opened them one by one.
Since the other party had dared to come alone, he must have something to rely on. Umit only wanted to make money; he didn't want any trouble.
Besides, the man's bearing since he'd walked in made it clear he wasn't an ordinary person.
Umit pointed to three of the boxes. Each contained a fruit with a spiral pattern.
"I've only got these three Devil Fruits left. The one on the left is the Zoan Rat-Rat Fruit, Mole Form."
"The one in the middle is the Paramecia Slippery-Slippery Fruit."
"The one on the right is the Zoan Fly-Fly Fruit."
After speaking, Umit took a drag on his cigar. "My friend, you don't look like you've got ten tons of gold on you."
After negotiating through a middleman, Umit had valued ten tons of gold at 3.6 billion Berry.
With such a huge sum at stake, it was only right to be cautious.
Seven waved away the smoke. "Before we make the deal, let's settle on a price for the Devil Fruits."
Of the three Devil Fruits, the Paramecia Slippery-Slippery Fruit was at least good for making things slick. The Zoan Mole and Fly Fruits, on the other hand, were utterly useless.
The Mole Fruit could at least be used for construction work—maybe the user could lead a building crew or become a tomb raider.
But what use was the Fly Fruit? Eating shit?
"Ten billion!" Umit named an exorbitant price.
"Three billion!" Seven countered with a slash of his Dragon-Slaying Blade.
"Eight billion."
"Four billion. Final offer."
Seven pointed at the dark purple Fly-Fly Fruit. "Don't make me stuff this down your throat."
Umit gave an awkward laugh. "Four billion it is. No need to get angry."
"If I come across any powerful Devil Fruits in the future, I'll make sure to contact you first."
Next time, he absolutely couldn't handle the deal in person.
This white-haired fellow didn't look like a good person.
Umit knew the Fly-Fly Fruit was a bit of a rip-off, too. What normal person would eat a Devil Fruit like that?
What would they even do with it?
Make fertilizer?
"Brother, there are 3.3 billion Beli in these boxes. Want to count it?"
"I'll throw in the extra hundred million."
At that, Seven's first thought was that he'd asked for too little.
Of the three Devil Fruits, only the Slippery-Slippery Fruit had any real use. It improved beauty and made your skin smoother.
Slippery... no friction... Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Seven stored the three Devil Fruits in his system space, then randomly pulled out a few 10,000-Beli banknotes bearing Skull Yuji's likeness and examined them for a moment.
"I'll leave you a 300-million-Beli deposit. Next time you try to fob off this kind of trash on me, I'll punch a hole in your gut and shove the Fly-Fly Fruit inside."
"Of course, of course." Umit rubbed his hands together.
"Brother, what about those gold coins..."
Seven tilted his head slightly. Several large boxes suddenly appeared on the previously empty floor.
Seeing this, Umit hurried over and opened the boxes one by one. His eyes gleamed as he rubbed the glittering gold coins with both hands.
"Brother, how about coming to work for me?"
"Room and board included, plus health insurance and a retirement plan. You can enjoy the Pleasure District for free. Whatever kind of woman you want, I can find her for you."
Umit was practically drooling with envy. The way the other man had produced those boxes out of nowhere meant he was clearly a space-type Devil Fruit User—the very kind of ability user the shipping company wanted most.
A natural-born smuggler!
The wealth he could generate would far exceed anything Umit had promised in the job offer.
Still, judging by how easily the man had left a 300-million-Beli deposit, he was probably rich and extremely confident in his own strength.
He had no fear at all that Umit might renege on the deal.
In fact, Umit suspected the other man was hoping he would renege. If he dared to refuse to honor the deal, the other man would dare to kill him.
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