Copperfield

The geography of the pirate world is quite peculiar; the Red Line and the Grand Line form a cross, dividing the entire ocean into four parts. Aside from the Red Line, which is the largest landmass in the world, all other islands are scattered throughout the sea.

The slave ship that captured Chen Qiang arrived at an underground city located exactly where the Red Line and the Grand Line overlap with the Calm Belt.

As for why it is called an underground city, it is because the city was built beneath the Red Line within a massive karst cave, with the entire infrastructure established inside this cavern.

Since the entire Red Line belongs to the Celestial Dragons, it would be impossible to build anything here without their permission.

Although the city is ostensibly a black market, the true power behind it remains the Celestial Dragons. Many ships that capture slaves across the world sell their goods here, and the true controllers of many of these slave ships are the Celestial Dragons themselves.

Therefore, when Captain Gill arrived with his slave ship, he drove the slaves into the city, intending to process his cargo first.

The reason he left only two people to guard the ship while everyone else disembarked is due to the unique nature of this place; since the Celestial Dragons control it, no one dares to cause trouble here.

If not for the special circumstances surrounding Chen Qiang and Lin, which made it difficult to fetch a high price for them here, they might have been sold on the spot, and no one would have been left to guard the ship at all.

Consequently, when the incident occurred on the ship, they were unaware of it. It wasn't until Little Jack, who had escaped first, found them and reported what had happened that they realized the situation, all while they were still negotiating prices with a merchant.

"What? He escaped?"

Upon hearing Little Jack's report, Captain Gill roared in astonishment, ignoring the merchant who was still haggling with him!

"Did you not listen to me? Did you forget to change his medicine?" Barque, who had been standing behind Captain Gill, seemed to recall something and asked, his face darkening as he glared at Little Jack.

"We didn't! We had just changed a bottle of sedatives less than an hour ago, and after changing it, we specifically checked—he definitely wasn't awake!"

Seeing Barque's vicious expression, Little Jack felt a surge of fear and hurriedly recounted the situation and everything they had checked at the time.

"Enough, now is not the time to assign blame. Let's think about what to do next!" Although Captain Gill suspected that the other party might be hiding something, he knew that this was no time to argue over right or wrong; they needed to figure out their next move.

After all, Chen Qiang was no pushover. After capturing him, Gill had specifically looked into the events of the Summit War and knew that Chen Qiang was a man who dared to challenge the Fleet Admiral—a fearless individual. Especially with his ability to be immortal, he acted even more arrogantly.

Since they had captured him and he had escaped, Chen Qiang would certainly not let them go. He would surely come for revenge soon, and how to survive this ordeal was the only thing they needed to consider.

"Captain, don't worry. We are currently in Copperfield, the largest underground city in the world. I don't believe he would dare to cause trouble here! If he does, there are plenty of people who can deal with him."

As the person best at observing the captain's thoughts, Barque saw the conflicted expression on Gill's face and knew what he was thinking, so he spoke up to remind him.

"Are you stupid? Even if this is Copperfield, the city security team will only intervene if the other party causes a scene. But if he causes a scene, it means he has already found us. With his strength, he could finish us off long before the security team arrives!"

Hearing Barque's words, Captain Gill didn't feel relieved at all; instead, his brow furrowed even deeper.

"Then we can report the news about that guy to Toby, the boss of Copperfield. With that guy's bounty, maybe Boss Toby will be willing to help us."

Gill did not refute Barque's suggestion this time. In fact, he had thought of this the moment he heard the news, but it came at a cost. If they told Toby about the guy, they would lose the bounty. Furthermore, there was no guarantee that the bounty would interest Toby; they might even have to offer more to get his help.

One had to remember that it was a 400 million Beli bounty—an amount equal to their hard-earned income for an entire year, and that was assuming they didn't run into any accidents. Not to mention Lin, who was locked up with Chen Qiang; she was someone he had intended to take to the Sabaody Archipelago auction house to sell for a massive price.

However, after weighing money against his life, Gill had to yield. Compared to money, his life was more important.

Having made his decision, he turned around and returned to the merchant who had been waiting impatiently.

"I wonder, could you take us to see Boss Toby? I have a big deal that I need to discuss with him!" As he spoke, Gill was all smiles, completely devoid of the ferocity he had shown his crew moments ago.

"You want to see Boss Toby? You?" The merchant was already annoyed that he had been kept waiting for so long. Now that the man dared to ask to see Toby, the emperor of the underground world, he looked at Gill with utter disdain, wondering who he thought he was to make such a request.

"You can rest assured, this deal involves the Longevity Fruit and a sky-high price of 400 million Beli. I believe Boss Toby will be interested!" Ignoring the merchant's disdain, Gill continued to explain with a smile.

"Longevity Fruit? Are you sure you're telling the truth?"

Upon hearing this, the merchant slowly shed his disdain and looked at Gill with a serious expression, immediately latching onto the information about longevity. As for the 400 million Beli, he ignored it entirely.

"I am sure, sir. We confirmed some of his ability when we captured him. Although it doesn't grant direct immortality, using his ability can achieve a form of artificial longevity!"

Captain Gill spoke with certainty, then went on to describe the details of the fruit's ability, hoping the merchant would help them contact Toby so they could survive this crisis.

"Wait here!"

After listening to Gill, the merchant nodded solemnly, left those words behind, pulled a small Den Den Mushi from his robes, and walked to the side to make the call.

He didn't make Gill wait too long. Soon, the merchant put the Den Den Mushi away, walked back to Gill, and gave him and his crew a thorough look.

"You all wait here!"

Upon returning, the merchant first looked at the other crew members on the ship, then spoke. After that, he pointed at Gill and spoke again.

"You, come with me!"