The Auction

When the auction ended, the entry tickets arrived fashionably late.

Swain looked at the black ticket in his hand.

Rather than a ticket, it was more like a VIP card.

"Congratulations, Mr. Kaido! You may use this ticket to attend the event at Lardo Manor in two days."

Then the staff handed Swain a map and one million Beli.

Naturally, the map showed the route to Lardo Manor, while the one million Beli was Swain's winnings from his own wager.

With all the commotion of that single night, he had reaped both wealth and fame!

After returning to the tavern to comfort Modi for a while, he fell fast asleep. Even if the body was not exhausted, the mind still had times of fatigue.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye!

After making some brief preparations, Swain set off for the auction.

Modi wanted to come along, but seeing the boy's anxious expression made Swain refuse him all the more.

He was already dead weight, and if any unpredictable trouble broke out at the auction, it would not be easy to handle!

At the same time, it was also out of consideration for Modi's safety.

He went outside, hailed a carriage, and departed.

The journey took three hours, and he did not reach Lardo Manor until the hottest part of the afternoon.

Lardo Manor sat on the outskirts of Uwin Town, backed by a mountain valley, facing the sun, with a sea view to the south and a trading hub like Uwin Town to the north.

It could be said to combine favorable geographical and human conditions all in one, which was why the auction could be held here.

Stepping down from the carriage, two young and pretty receptionists walked over.

"Hello! Please show your invitation."

Even though Swain looked very young and followed by no grand retinue, they still asked with gentle expressions.

This gave Swain a somewhat favorable impression of the manor's master, as politeness mattered everywhere after all!

He presented his ticket and walked inside with poise and composure.

The layout of the manor resembled a medieval European estate, elegant and antique yet without losing its beauty.

Following the usherette all the way, he soon entered the heart of the manor.

He stepped into the auction hall.

The interior decoration was lavish and magnificent, forming a sharp contrast with the rustic exterior.

No wonder he had heard that even the Celestial Dragons would attend such an auction; it truly lived up to its reputation! Swain thought silently to himself.

By this time, quite a few people had already arrived in the hall. Swain chose a seat near the front and sat down, preparing to close his eyes and rest his mind.

Then a person walked up to him.

It was the young woman who had guided him earlier, and she said softly, "Sir, you cannot sit here."

Noticing that Swain looked somewhat puzzled, she explained, "This area is for VIPs of the auction. Could you please move back a bit, alright?"

She spoke in an extremely polite tone with a smile on her face.

Swain really had not known about this rule, and besides, one does not hit a smiling person—moreover, even if he were displeased, he wouldn't go as far as taking his anger out on a service worker.

Swain hurriedly stood up and went to sit all the way in the back.

He understood the hidden meaning in the usherette's words: someone of his level could only sit in the very back row.

He was not angry, and besides, he also wanted to see what kind of big shots could come to this auction.

Ever since he took his seat again, more people arrived one after another, and the host of the auction stepped onto the stage, adjusting her makeup as if waiting for certain individuals.

She pressed down the noise in the venue with her hand.

"Let us welcome the grand steward of the Vinsmoke Family, Vinsmoke Gray!"

Upon hearing the newcomer's name, a buzz rippled through the hall, followed by a burst of applause.

A middle-aged man over two meters tall with a long face, wearing a black goatee and a black suit, walked in.

"Next, Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral Onigumo!"

The host continued the introduction.

Murmurs immediately broke out in the venue once more.

"Just like the rumors said, Germa 66 is here!"

"Though it shouldn't have much to do with colluding with the Marines, right? The person who came is none other than Headquarters Vice Admiral Onigumo!"

Swain knew quite well the strength of this Headquarters Vice Admiral Onigumo; he had been very prominent during the later Summit War, and his combat power was outstanding! At the same time, he was a figure like Akainu, a man who viewed so-called evil as his sworn enemy.

Such a person could never walk side by side with the likes of Germa 66.

After all, the latter's reputation was far too stinking!

"This Vinsmoke Family has always been famous for warfare and technology. What on earth did they come here for today?"

"Could this auction have some high-tech goods?"

"Even then, it shouldn't be something that ends up at an auction!"

"And Onigumo didn't come in disguise, so he must be representing the Marine side to bid on something!"

They must be contending for the same item. What could it be?

Swain was utterly baffled.

He felt that this auction was getting more and more interesting!

Then several pirate factions entered, and Onigumo even looked somewhat ready to strike upon seeing the latter pirates.

The atmosphere instantly turned tense.

Fortunately, Gray from the Sanji Family stepped in to mediate, saying, "Everyone, we are here today to buy what we want, not to fight."

"If you want to fight, you can naturally wait until the auction is over!"

After all, the newcomer represented the overlord faction of the North Blue, so they gave him a modicum of face.

Both sides then defused their hostility and sat down quietly.

Seeing Gray defuse the situation, the host nodded at him with gratitude.

She couldn't afford to offend any of the factions present; any of them could make this Lardo Manor vanish in a split second!

"Now, let us enter the auction phase! The first Shang Dynasty item is a topographic map from a certain Jin mine. Starting bid: five million Beli!"

After discussing among themselves for a moment, someone placed a bid: "Seven million!"

"Seven million five hundred thousand!"

"Eight million!"

"Going once for eight million, twice, thrice! Sold!"

Soon after, a service worker delivered the treasure chest containing the topographic map into the bidder's hands.

"How can this Jin mine only be worth eight million?" Swain found it somewhat incomprehensible. Logically speaking, bidding up to fifty million for such a thing would be worth it.

Fortunately, someone nearby explained, "This Jin mine might have already been mined out, and whatever meager Jin is left is being put up for auction. It's actually a disguised way of offloading this plot of land."

"They just use a nicer-sounding excuse."

Swain then nodded in sudden realization.

So it was just real estate scheming!

He thought to himself that if a real Jin mine existed, would they ever bring it out to auction? Impossible to even imagine.

"Next item, a superior black blade! Starting bid: five million!"

"Seven million!"

"..."

It ultimately sold for twelve million Beli.

Swain estimated that this weapon wouldn't be very sharp either. Truly good blades often had no set price, or simply weren't for sale at all.

None of the subsequent items interested Swain; mainly because he was genuinely broke! With only one million Beli, he didn't even qualify to bid.

Fortunately, possessing real strength, he figured that if there was truly something he wanted, he could always try a "zero-dollar purchase."

After all, which of these things put up for auction wasn't stained with blood?

There was an intermission in the middle, during which the auction directly brought out some pretty slaves to be sold.

At a single glance, Swain spotted the slave siblings Mokai trapped in a cage. Fortunately, no one else showed any interest in these slaves, so he spent three million to buy them.

When Modi's older sister heard that someone had bought them, she shrank into a corner, hugging Mokai and sobbing, the terror on her face no longer concealable.

The auction proceeded in full swing, leaving only the final two items.

"Devil Fruit! Starting bid: twenty million!"

A fruit shaped somewhat like a peach was brought up onto the stage, its surface covered in scale-like patterns.

A wave of discussion instantly buzzed through the auction.

Someone asked, "What is the name of this fruit?"

"Unknown," the host said helplessly.

They put it up for sale precisely because they didn't know; this also involved an element of gambling.

Yet she somewhat underestimated the appeal of a Devil Fruit to this vast sea.

"I bid thirty million!" shouted a fierce-looking pirate.

"Thirty-five million!"

"Forty million!"

"Forty-five million!" the pirate gritted his teeth and insisted, clearly reaching his limit.

"Sixty million!" Marine Vice Admiral Onigumo called out.

Stepping the price up by fifteen million in one go, that pirate had no choice but to sit down angrily, stopping his bids.

Anyone could figure it out—after all, it was a Devil Fruit, and such things were exceedingly rare.

In truth, the actual market price for a Devil Fruit started at one hundred million Beli.

Because this was the South Blue, a sea area belonging to the highest concentration of pirates, it lacked the wealth found in places north of the Red Line, where sums in the billions of Beli were thrown around casually.

Even with money in the South Blue, one could not casually carry amounts exceeding tens of millions.

This resulted in very few auction items reaching a value of over one hundred million.

"Sixty million going once... Sold! Acquired by Mr. Onigumo!" A joyful smile bloomed across the host's face.

A Devil Fruit could likewise enhance the Marines' strength; Onigumo bidding on it was entirely logical!

"The next Shang Dynasty item..."

She paused deliberately.

And said, "It is a special race, named the Lunarian Tribe!"