Gunpowder and Auction

Following the direction of the Log Pose, Werther sailed for nearly half a month before finally spotting an island.

But the island was rather strange. The harbor was nearly packed with ships of every kind, though most of them belonged to pirates.

The docks were filled with pirates and laborers moving cargo, creating an unusually prosperous scene.

After docking his ship, Werther headed straight onto the island without worrying about its safety at all.

That was because Werther had designed the ship so that it could only be started by inputting a certain level of electrical energy into the cockpit. He had also altered the required intensity, and only Werther knew the exact amount.

In other words, Werther himself was the key to the entire ship. No one else could even get through the door. Besides, Adam Wood was practically the finest wood for shipbuilding, with unmatched hardness. Werther had nothing to worry about.

Looking at the fierce-looking pirates before him, Werther was rather surprised. They were haggling with the merchants on the docks, though he had no idea what they were discussing. Some looked worried, while others were ecstatic.

After asking around, Werther learned the reason for it all.

The island before him was called Tutu Island. It was famous for producing gunpowder, and where there was gunpowder, there were related industries such as cannons, firearms, ammunition, and all sorts of weapons.

The sale of weapons often meant enormous profits, so many pirate crews and nobles were stationed here. Pirates were one thing, but with nobles involved, even the Marines could not control this gunpowder-producing island. Thus, the government sent an even more powerful noble to consolidate the various factions into one, eventually forming a merchant association controlled by the nobility.

Pirates handled sales and transport in illegal regions, such as countries at war or feuding families. The nobles handled legal business, such as supplying the Marines and World Government member nations.

The two sides had reached a special balance.

Where there was profit, people would flock in. Such an outrageously profitable industry chain had brought Tutu Island a massive population and a distorted kind of prosperity.

Entering Tutu Island's town, Werther found that it was far larger than Loguetown. It could no longer be called a town at all; it was practically a small kingdom, and an incredibly prosperous one at that.

Werther wandered through the streets. Thanks to the pleasant climate, there were especially many ordinary residents on the island, and commercial districts occupied nearly half of Tutu Island.

Seeing all kinds of snacks by the roadside, as well as luxurious restaurants, Werther naturally could not pass them up.

After eating some snacks, he found an extremely luxurious restaurant.

Only after entering did Werther realize that the restaurants back in Loguetown had been laughably inferior. This place was practically a small palace.

The greeter warmly helped him find a seat, and a young, beautiful waitress soon came over to serve him.

"Sir, do you have a reservation? If not, I can first tell you about today's specialties and the various cuisines our restaurant offers." The pretty waitress had a lovely, soft voice.

"Oh? Today's specialties? Tell me, what do you have?" Werther had heard of house specialties before, but daily specialties were new to him. After all, travel between islands in the pirate world was not very developed.

After spending some time at sea, the meat on Werther's ship had not decreased in the slightest. In fact, it had increased. He had lost count of how many Sea Kings that tried to attack him he had killed. It was clear that aside from the weather, the Grand Line was dangerous in every other way as well.

"Today's specialties include grilled meat from large Sea Kings, Bomb Fish chowder, and golden lamb chop rice." After listing several dishes, the beautiful waitress waited for Werther's response.

Werther was initially unable to believe that this restaurant actually had large Sea Kings and golden lamb. As for Bomb Fish, he had never even heard of them.

Without hesitation, he ordered everything and began waiting for the food to arrive.

While waiting, he chatted with the waitress.

Through their conversation, he learned that the island's largest auction house would hold its monthly auction tomorrow, though the specific items to be sold were unknown.

Hearing there would be an auction, Werther became interested and asked about its scale. The waitress proudly told him that even Devil Fruits could appear there.

Werther became even more interested and decided to take a look the next day.

Before long, the delicious food arrived. Werther first caught a strange, savory scent from the Bomb Fish chowder. After taking a sip, he felt the rich flavor explode across his taste buds and immediately understood why it was called Bomb Fish. He then tore through the rest of the food like a whirlwind, enjoying every bite immensely.

After paying, Werther slowly walked out of the restaurant because, in a rare occurrence, he had eaten too much.

When he returned to his ship, no blind fool of a pirate had come to cause trouble. He first went to the training room for his daily basic exercises, then went to sleep.

The next day, Werther got up, took a box containing a little over a hundred million Beli, and headed straight for the town's auction house.

He had already asked for the location yesterday. When he arrived today, he found many people lining up outside. The auction was scheduled to begin at eight sharp.

Werther followed the crowd and joined the line, but before he had waited long, a man in black walked out of the auction house and approached him.

"Sir, if there is an item you like at today's auction, approximately how much do you intend to spend?" The man in black first bowed politely, then asked Werther the question.

"I don't know how much I'll spend. It depends on whether there's anything good. If I see something I like, I can accept spending around a hundred million Beli." Werther guessed that the man in black worked for the auction house, so he casually answered.

The man's eyes gleamed. He whispered something into Werther's ear, then led him toward a side entrance.

The man in black told Werther that anyone carrying more than a hundred million Beli did not need to queue. After verification, they could head directly to the VIP seats in the front row.

After confirming that Werther's Beli were genuine, the man in black became even more courteous and led Werther into the auction hall.

After entering, Werther discovered that the auction hall was much larger than he had imagined and was built in a tiered layout.

The man in black led Werther directly to the front row. The layout there differed from the seats behind it. Several round tables were arranged there, with spacious sofas beside them. After settling Werther in, the man turned and left to receive other guests.

Sitting in the front row, Werther noticed that several others were already there: a stern-faced old man in yellow, a middle-aged fat man covered in jewelry, someone in a black robe and hood whose appearance and age could not be seen at all, and finally, a woman who looked like a noble lady.

After glancing at them, Werther lost interest. None of them looked impressive, especially the fat man. One look was enough to tell that he had indulged himself too much and was weak all over.

After waiting for more than an hour, the auction began. The seats in the back were nearly full, and more than a dozen people had joined the VIP section in the front.

The host on the stage was actually a giant, five or six meters tall. His booming voice did not need a microphone at all.

After taking the stage, the giant introduced himself, then began working up the crowd.

Werther found it rather surprising. He knew that most giants had a somewhat goofy side, but this was the first time he had seen one so funny. He could not help laughing.

Before long, the host decided the time was right and cleared his throat.

"Gentlemen and ladies, I won't waste time with unnecessary nonsense. Let me introduce today's appetizer: one hundred and fifty cannons and ten thousand firearms. No reserve price. Please place your bids."

As soon as the giant introduced the items, cries of surprise erupted from the audience.

The cannons were nothing special, but ten thousand firearms were no small quantity. They were enough to fight a war between nations.

The people in the front row did not seem interested, but bids kept ringing out from below. In the end, the lot sold for forty million Beli. The winner was a young man whose eyes were fixed on a bald, muscular man not far away. It seemed that this batch of weapons would be used against that bald man.

Several more items were auctioned off one after another. Werther only bought a black pocket watch made of rare metal, engraved with a red symbol on its face that he liked very much. It cost him two million Beli. He had no interest in the rest.

The host could also see that the atmosphere was not very lively, so he could only bring out one of today's treasures.

"Next, we bring you a rare item. It was originally meant to be auctioned at Sabaody, but our auction house intercepted it first. It is the Mermaid Joanna from Fish-Man Island. Starting bid: one hundred million Beli."

The moment the host finished speaking, cheers erupted from below, mixed with the occasional sound of people swallowing.

Sitting in the front row, Werther experienced the madness of human trafficking for the first time. Especially the fat man covered in jewelry beside him—the gleam in his eyes was practically about to pierce through the sealed fish tank on stage.

"One hundred and ten million! This old man is taking the Mermaid!"

"One hundred and thirty million."

"One hundred and seventy million."

The guests below seemed to have gone completely wild. The fat man covered in jewelry had not bid at first, but after waiting a while and judging that the time was right, he suddenly roared.

"Three hundred million."

The room immediately fell silent. The fat man covered in jewelry was flushed with excitement. Mermaids were rarely auctioned on Tutu Island. As for the Mermaids sold at Sabaody's auction houses, he did not even dare think about them. Those were practically exclusive sales for the Celestial Dragons; even if one had the money, one might not dare buy one.

In the end, he bought the Mermaid for three hundred million. Joanna in the fish tank did not change her expression at all. Her heart had already died. All that remained was a walking corpse.

After the excitement of that auction, the following items were merely valuable rather than rare, along with several human slaves.

Then an item appeared that Werther could no longer take his eyes off. It was a notebook that was not particularly thick.

And the host's introduction was: a method for training Haki.

After the host finished speaking, most of the people below had no idea what Haki even was. Only a small number showed delighted expressions, including Werther.

Werther felt incredibly lucky. He had not expected to encounter a method for training Haki at an auction.

"Since the next item is special, there will be no reserve price. Bidding is open."

The stern yellow-clad old man sitting in the front row with Werther spoke first.

"Fifty million Beli. I, Gat, captain of the Furious Lion Pirates, am taking this Haki training method." After saying that, he leaned back on the sofa with ease, looking very confident in his pirate crew's reputation.

Unfortunately, he had run into Werther today. Werther paid no attention to his words and calmly placed a bid.

"Sixty million Beli."

Gat's eyes widened in anger as he examined Werther. With an ugly expression, he continued raising the price.

"Seventy million Beli."

Werther glanced at Gat and did not want to haggle with him any longer, so he raised his voice slightly.

"One hundred million Beli."

After saying that, he looked at Gat. If Gat raised the price again, Werther would not have enough money on him.

Werther did not care much about money. What he valued was strength, and Haki was undoubtedly the foundation for establishing oneself in this world. Without Haki, dealing with Logia users was far too difficult. One needed elemental counters, but not every Logia had an obvious weakness like Crocodile.

So if the man before him raised the price again, Werther would turn the Furious Lion Pirates into the Dead Lion Pirates today.

Unexpectedly, Gat did not continue bidding. His expression became incomparably gloomy, and he headed straight outside, leaving the auction hall.

Seeing Gat's reaction, Werther smiled. He was not laughing at the man's final surrender, because he knew this matter could not possibly end so easily.

Thinking of that, Werther's smile grew wider and wider until his stark white teeth showed.

Today was destined to be a very interesting day. It had been a long time since he had killed anyone. To put it in the words of his previous life:

"Killing is a bad habit, but it seems I can't quit it." Hehehe, hehehe. Werther laughed wantonly in the auction hall.

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