Pirates: I Loaded the Game Panel

The sixth item up for auction was a lead-gray pocket watch.

Its appeal lay in the exquisite openwork relief of a Gothic castle on its case. Glittering silver diamond chips were set into the castle as windows, while a huge aquamarine in the upper-left corner gave off a faint blue glow like a bright moon in the night sky.

Adrian bought it for 830,000 Beli simply because he liked it. The bidding remained lukewarm.

As time passed, the nobles and merchants began to relax. They lit fine tobacco, and wisps of smoke curled around the stage, making the lights seem even more hazy.

After the twenty-third lot, a magnificent oversized turquoise ring, went to an unknown noblewoman, the auction hall briefly fell quiet.

The beautiful auctioneer stepped down, and a middle-aged man took the stage. He wore a fur-trimmed hat, had two markings on his face, and was dressed in a red cape, a beige vertically striped shirt, and red leather trousers.

His grave expression and careful steps made clear just how valuable the wooden box in his hands was.

"Good evening, honored guests. I'm Diamante, Diamond Executive of the Donquixote Family."

The newcomer placed the box on the auction podium, introduced himself, then opened it to reveal the Devil Fruit inside.

"This is the final treasure of tonight's auction. I'm sure many of you came here for it."

Diamante glanced down at the Devil Fruit. Greed flashed through his eyes, then vanished.

If he hadn't already eaten the Ripple-Ripple Fruit, he would have done anything to get Doflamingo to give him this powerful Bomb-Bomb Fruit.

Unfortunately, no one could eat more than one Devil Fruit. For eight hundred years, the whole world had accepted that as fact!

"According to the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, this is the Paramecia-type Bomb-Bomb Fruit. Ladies and gentlemen, you may begin your bidding."

The first bidder was neither Adrian nor Tommy, but an unknown middle-aged merchant.

"Nineteen million Beli!"

The figure sounded impressive, but the merchant called it out so softly that he seemed to lack confidence.

And with good reason.

Ordinarily, a Devil Fruit cost around 100 million Beli.

Only fruits whose abilities remained unknown, or whose powers were utterly useless, sold for tens of millions or less.

The Bomb-Bomb Fruit, with both its name and ability confirmed, clearly did not fall into either category.

At a premier North Blue auction like this, its final price could only exceed 100 million Beli. It would never sell in the tens of millions!

Sure enough, the other bidders quickly left the merchant's nineteen million behind.

"Thirty million Beli..."

"Forty-three million Beli..."

"Sixty-two million Beli..."

Once the price passed sixty million Beli, the bidding slowed noticeably.

That was when the truly wealthy and powerful figures finally entered the fray.

"Seventy-five million Beli!" A quiet voice came from a private box on the second floor. It was not loud, but it carried absolute certainty.

"Eighty-six million Beli!" Another voice, no less commanding, followed at once and raised the price by over ten million.

"Eighty-seven million Beli..." This bid came from the ground floor. A rise of just one million Beli—the minimum increment—made it clear the bidder had reached his limit.

"Ninety-nine million Beli!" another bidder called.

At that moment, Adrian patted Tommy Shelby on the shoulder. "You can start bidding. Open at 120 million Beli."

Tommy raised his paddle without hesitation.

Along with the enormous profits he had made selling weapons to the players, Tommy had drawn on most of the Shelby Company's and Razor Gang's available funds.

He had originally gathered the money to establish business ties with the Donquixote Family in the North Blue.

But to Tommy, spending it to strengthen himself was just as sound a choice.

Besides, White Ghost had given him permission to bid!

After Tommy made his offer, the occupant of the central box on the second floor finally spoke.

"One hundred and forty million Beli!"

Tommy immediately added another ten million. By then, only he and the person in the second-floor box remained in the contest.

They traded bids until Tommy offered 230 million Beli. Only then did the bidder upstairs fall silent.

Tommy wiped the fine sweat from his brow. His face was flushed and his whole body trembled with excitement. When had he ever imagined he would spend hundreds of millions of Beli on impulse in a single day?

Diamante's hammer fell, bringing the auction to an official close.

Once the other guests had filed out, the Donquixote Family's Diamond Executive personally brought over the wooden box containing the Bomb-Bomb Fruit. Tommy handed Diamante a suitcase packed with Beli.

Money and goods changed hands. The deal was done.

Diamante stood there watching for a moment, then offered the box to Adrian.

"Eat it now." Adrian calmly pushed the box toward Tommy. "Preferably all of it."

A flicker of surprise crossed Diamante's face. Even as a Devil Fruit user, he had never forgotten the revolting taste of the Ripple-Ripple Fruit when it first entered his mouth.

Didn't a Devil Fruit take effect after the first bite? Why would anyone want to eat the whole disgusting thing?

Tommy nodded, took a deep breath, opened the box, and bit into the Bomb-Bomb Fruit.

His face visibly turned ashen, but he forced down his nausea and ate the remaining flesh bit by bit.

"Do you feel any change?" Adrian asked.

"Yes. I can feel a new power forming." Tommy nodded. He reached out, gripped the teacup on the table, and activated his ability.

BOOM!

A piercing crack burst out amid fire and smoke. The porcelain teacup exploded into fragments.

"Looks like it's genuine." Adrian nodded in satisfaction.

Then he turned to Diamante, the Donquixote Family's Diamond Executive, with a teasing smile.

"Now that my personal business is done, let's discuss the real matter.

"I'd like to meet the Donquixote who fell from the Holy Land into the mortal world, only to be pushed into hell by a handful of villains. Mr. Diamante, would you be willing to introduce us?"

Doflamingo

Stride Island, central tower.

A tall figure in a pink feather coat stood atop the tower, silently looking down on the busy masses below.

He had fallen from the clouds to the earth, a god forced to live among mortals.

Donquixote Doflamingo should have been born into privilege as a Celestial Dragon. Instead, thanks to his hopelessly naive father, Homing, he had been forced to struggle for survival in the mire of the ordinary world.

Years had passed in a blink.

Doflamingo had almost forgotten what the Holy Land of Mary Geoise looked like. Only in dreams at midnight did scattered fragments of memory occasionally return.

"Doffy, the auction is over. The Bomb-Bomb Fruit found a buyer..."

Behind him, a sleazy middle-aged man in sunglasses spoke in a low voice. A blue cape hung from his shoulders, and writhing mucus covered his body.

As Trebol watched Doflamingo's back, satisfaction and anticipation mingled in his eyes behind the sunglasses.

The "flower of evil" they had nurtured for so many years was almost ready to bloom!

The new era Pirate King Roger had ushered in with his life would soon welcome this extraordinary man, a king chosen by destiny!

Before Trebol could say more, a family member came running up beside him, panting. "Young Master! Lord Trebol! Please come to the auction house!"

Doflamingo remained cold and motionless.

With no other choice, Trebol asked, "What happened?"

"Two strangers are causing trouble at the auction house!"

"Can't the executives there handle it?" Trebol asked impatiently. "Diamante's there, isn't he? And Lao G too, I think?"

"B-but..." The unnamed family member hesitated. "Lord Diamante and Lord Lao G have already been defeated..."

By the time Doflamingo and Trebol arrived, the auction house was in chaos.

Scores of Donquixote Family members, armed with swords or muskets, had surrounded the theater. A wide space had been left empty at its entrance, and no one dared take a step into it.

In that clearing, Diamante and Lao G, two of the Donquixote Family's top executives, knelt with both hands braced against the ground. A strange gloom had settled over them, and they muttered words no one could make out.

Not far away, numerous Donquixote Family soldiers and underlings were scattered across the ground on their knees, all sunk in much the same despondent state.

Only Adrian and Tommy stood unharmed before the entrance.

"Young Master! Lord Trebol!" At the sight of their leaders, a relatively high-ranking family member hurried forward to explain.

"After the auction, those two demanded to see you. Lord Diamante politely refused, and they defeated him with some strange, inexplicable method. The same happened to Lord Lao G..."

"Fufufufu... Such polite guests. They even waited until the auction was over to cause trouble!" Rather than grow angry, Doflamingo laughed. "I've never seen their faces before. Did anyone find out where they came from—wait. That face..."

Doflamingo frowned slightly at Adrian. The man looked oddly familiar, as though he had seen him somewhere before.

After a moment's fruitless thought, Doflamingo gave a cold laugh. "Stand back! I'll deal with them!"

As he spoke, his brow furrowed and veins bulged on his forehead. An invisible wave of mental force spread outward from him in an instant.

Everyone standing nearby—auction guests who had stayed to watch and Donquixote Family underlings alike—went down like wheat before a scythe. Their eyes rolled back as they collapsed unconscious.

In moments, only a handful of the stronger Donquixote Family executives remained on their feet.

And, of course, Adrian and Tommy.

"What terrifying force... What kind of ability is that?"

Sweat beaded on Tommy's forehead, and his legs shook. A year ago, he would have fallen unconscious like everyone else.

Adrian said nothing. He kept his eyes fixed on Doflamingo.

He, too, had felt an almost tangible mental blow strike at him, but it had failed to exert the pressure it should have.

So that was Conqueror's Haki?!

Turning immense mental strength into an almost physical shock wave—for anyone whose mind was too weak, it was the ultimate way to sweep away fodder!

And in the later stages, any Pirate who couldn't coat his attacks with Conqueror's Haki would be embarrassed to show his face, wouldn't he?

I want it!

I really want it!

Adrian quietly opened his panel. No quest had triggered, leaving him disappointed.

If only I could get a Haki ability from Doflamingo. Even a Specialty would do. Too bad the panel hasn't offered me a quest...

"Sir! Above you!"

Tommy suddenly looked up. A figure wrapped in a pink coat was dropping from the sky, five nearly transparent threads extending from the fingertips of his outstretched right hand!

Almost as the thread-draped hand swept down, Tommy threw up both hands, activated his power, and detonated the air.

"Five Color Strings!"

"Air Explosion!!"

BOOM!!

A violent blast erupted. The unconscious people nearby were tossed in every direction, rolling across the filthy dirt. Behind them, the auction theater shuddered.

Tommy hurtled back dozens of paces and slammed into the theater wall, blood spilling from his mouth and nose. He had only just eaten his Devil Fruit and was nowhere near a match for Doflamingo.

If explosions hadn't held a natural advantage over threads, Tommy would have been gravely wounded on the spot!

Doflamingo, by contrast, did not even have a tremor in his right hand. The earthshaking explosion had left him completely unharmed.

"Fufufufu... Isn't that the Bomb-Bomb Fruit we just sold at our auction? Who gave you the nerve to use my property against me?!"

Using threads invisible to the naked eye, Doflamingo floated in midair. He looked down at Adrian and Tommy, his angry voice edged with unmistakable murderous intent.

"I'll give you two choices. One: join the Donquixote Family, and we forget this ever happened. Two: die!"

Ghost vs. String-String

Along with Doflamingo's undisguised threat and killing intent, a surging tide of Conqueror's Haki swept over them. Faint black-and-red arcs flickered in the air, a terrifying sight.

"What a frightening presence..."