Chapter 40
The sixth auction lot was a lead-gray pocket watch.
Its selling point was the exquisite openwork relief of a Gothic castle on its case. Glittering silver diamond chips served as the castle's windows, while a large aquamarine in the upper left glowed faintly blue, like a bright moon in the night sky.
Adrian bought it for 830,000 Beli simply because he liked it. The bidding remained subdued.
As time passed, the nobles and merchants began to relax. They lit their fine tobacco, and curling smoke drifted around the stage, making its lights seem even more hazy.
After lot twenty-three, a magnificent oversized turquoise ring, went to an unnamed noblewoman, a brief hush fell over the auction hall.
The pretty auctioneer stepped down. A middle-aged man took the stage, wearing a fur-trimmed hat, two markings on his face, a red cape, a beige vertically striped shirt, and red leather pants.
The grave look on his face and the care in his steps spoke to the importance of the wooden box he carried.
"Good evening, everyone. I'm Diamante, a Diamond Executive of the Donquixote Family."
He set the box on the auction stand, 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 in his eyes, then vanished.
If he hadn't already eaten a Ripple-Ripple Fruit, Diamante would have done anything to get Doflamingo to give him this powerful Bomb-Bomb Fruit.
Unfortunately, anyone could eat only one Devil Fruit. For eight hundred years, the world had accepted that as an absolute truth!
"According to the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, this is the Paramecia-type Bomb-Bomb Fruit. Now, ladies and gentlemen, let's hear your bids."
The first bidder was neither Adrian nor Tommy, but an unknown middle-aged merchant.
"Nineteen million Beli!"
The number sounded impressive, but the merchant's voice lacked conviction.
And with good reason.
Ordinarily, a Devil Fruit cost around one hundred million Beli.
Only fruits with no known information, or with particularly useless abilities, sold for tens of millions or less.
The Bomb-Bomb Fruit, whose name and ability were already known, clearly did not belong in that category.
At a premier North Blue auction like this one, its final price could only exceed one hundred million Beli. There was no chance it would remain in the tens of millions!
Sure enough, the bids that followed quickly left nineteen million Beli behind.
"Thirty million Beli..."
"Forty-three million Beli..."
"Sixty-two million Beli..."
Once the price passed sixty million Beli, the pace of bidding noticeably slowed.
That was when the real heavyweights, those with both the money and the nerve, finally made their moves.
"Seventy-five million Beli!" A calm voice came from a second-floor box. It wasn't loud, but it carried the confidence of someone certain the fruit was his.
"Eighty-six million Beli!" Another voice, no less forceful, immediately raised the price by over ten million.
"Eighty-seven million Beli..." This bid came from the first floor. An increase of just one million, the minimum allowed, made it clear the bidder had reached his limit.
"Ninety-nine million Beli!" another bidder called.
At that point, Adrian patted Tommy Shelby on the shoulder. "You can start bidding. Open at one hundred and twenty million Beli."
Tommy raised his paddle without hesitation.
Besides the enormous profits he had made selling weapons to players recently, Tommy had drawn on more than half the available funds of Shelby Company and the Razor Gang.
He had originally done so to establish business ties with the Donquixote Family in the North Blue.
But to Tommy, spending that money to strengthen himself was just as sound a choice.
Besides, White Ghost himself had approved his participation in the auction!
After Tommy's bid, the occupant of the box at the center of 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 that second-floor box remained in the bidding.
The contest continued until Tommy called out two hundred and thirty million Beli. Only then did the other bidder stop.
Tommy wiped the fine sweat from his forehead. His face was flushed, and excitement made his whole body tremble. When had he ever experienced the dreamlike thrill of spending hundreds of millions of Beli on impulse?
Diamante's gavel fell, officially bringing the auction to an end.
Once the other guests had filed out, the Donquixote Family's Diamond Executive personally brought over the box containing the Bomb-Bomb Fruit. Tommy handed Diamante a suitcase filled with Beli.
Money changed hands, then the goods. The transaction was complete.
Diamante remained where he was, studying them briefly, before offering the box to Adrian.
"Eat it now," Adrian said, calmly pushing the box toward Tommy. "Preferably every last bite."
A trace of surprise crossed Diamante's face. Though he was already a Devil Fruit user, he had never forgotten the revolting taste of the Ripple-Ripple Fruit when he ate it.
Didn't a Devil Fruit take effect after the first bite? Why would anyone want to eat all of something so disgusting?
Tommy nodded and took a deep breath. He opened the box, took out the Bomb-Bomb Fruit, and bit into it.
His face visibly turned ashen, but he forced down his nausea and ate the rest of the flesh, bite by bite.
"Do you feel any change?" Adrian asked.
"Yes. I can feel a new power taking shape." Tommy nodded, reached for a teacup on the table, and activated his ability.
CRACK—BOOM!
With a piercing blast, fire and smoke erupted, and the porcelain cup shattered into pieces.
"Looks like it's genuine." Adrian nodded in satisfaction.
Then he turned to Diamante, the Donquixote Family's Diamond Executive, with a teasing smile.
"That takes care of my personal business. Now let's discuss something important.
"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 few scoundrels. Mr. Diamante, would you be willing to introduce us?"
Doflamingo
Stride Island, central tower.
A tall figure in a pink feathered coat stood atop the tower, silently looking down at the busy masses below.
From the clouds to the earth, a god had come to live among mortals.
Donquixote Doflamingo should have been born into privilege as a Celestial Dragon. But because of his overly naive father, Homing, he had been forced to struggle for survival in the mire of the ordinary world.
Years passed in a blink.
Doflamingo had almost forgotten the sights of the Holy Land Mary Geoise. 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 quietly. He wore a blue cape, and writhing mucus coated 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 years was nearly ready to bloom!
The new era Pirate King Roger had ushered in with his life would soon welcome this extraordinary, destiny-chosen king!
Just as the mucus-covered Trebol was about to say more, a family member ran up beside him, panting as he shouted, "Young Master! Lord Trebol! Please come to the auction house!"
Doflamingo remained motionless and cold.
Trebol had no choice but to ask, "What happened?"
"Two strangers are causing trouble at the auction house!"
"Can't the executives there handle something like that?" Trebol asked impatiently. "Diamante's over there, isn't he? I think Lao G is too."
"B-but..." the unnamed family member said hesitantly. "Lord Diamante and Lord Lao G have already been defeated..."
By the time Doflamingo and Trebol arrived, the auction house was in chaos.
Large numbers of Donquixote Family members, armed with swords or guns, had surrounded the theater so tightly that no one could get through. Yet they had left a wide space clear by its entrance, and not one dared take a step into it.
In that space, Diamante and Lao G, two of the Donquixote Family's highest-ranking executives, knelt with their hands braced against the ground. Both were sunk in a strange despair, muttering words too faint for anyone to make out.
Not far away, many Donquixote Family underlings were sprawled on their knees in disarray, each in much the same defeated state.
Only Adrian and Tommy stood unharmed before the entrance.
"Young Master! Lord Trebol!" At last seeing his bosses arrive, a fairly high-ranking family member hurried forward to explain.
"After the auction ended, those two demanded to see you. Lord Diamante politely refused, and they defeated him with some bizarre method. The same thing happened to Lord Lao G..."
"Heh-heh-heh-heh... Such considerate guests. They even waited until the auction was over to cause trouble!" Rather than grow angry, Doflamingo laughed. "I've never seen either of them. 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.
When a moment's thought brought no answer, Doflamingo gave a cold laugh. "Everyone, stand back! I'll deal with them!"
As he spoke, his brow furrowed and a vein bulged on his forehead. An invisible wave of mental force burst from him in every direction.
The onlookers still standing, whether curious auction guests or Donquixote Family underlings, dropped like wheat before a scythe. Their eyes rolled white, and they fell unconscious.
Only a handful of the stronger Donquixote Family executives remained on their feet.
And, of course, Adrian and Tommy.
"What terrifying pressure... What kind of ability is that?"
Sweat beaded on Tommy's forehead, and his legs shook. A year earlier, he would certainly have collapsed unconscious like everyone else.
Adrian said nothing. His eyes stayed fixed on Doflamingo.
He, too, had felt that powerful mental assault strike him, almost as tangible as a physical blow. It simply hadn't had the intended effect.
So this is Conqueror's Haki?!
Turning extraordinary mental strength into a near-tangible shock wave was the ultimate way to clear out weaklings whose minds couldn't withstand it!
And much later on, if you were a pirate without Conqueror's Haki Infusion, you could hardly show your face, could you?
I want it so badly!
I really, really want it!
Adrian discreetly opened his panel, but no quest appeared. He couldn't help feeling disappointed.
If only he could get a Haki ability from Doflamingo. Even a Specialty would do. Unfortunately, the panel showed no new quest...
"Sir! Above you!"
Tommy jerked his head up. A figure wrapped in a pink coat was descending from the sky, five nearly transparent threads extending from the fingertips of his outstretched right hand!
Almost as the hand swept downward, Tommy raised both hands, activated his ability, and detonated the air.
"Five Color Strings!"
"Air Explosion!"
BOOM!!
The violent blast wave erupted instantly. It sent the unconscious people nearby tumbling across the filthy dirt, while the auction theater behind them shuddered.
Tommy was hurled dozens of steps backward into the theater wall. Blood ran from his mouth and nose. Having eaten his Devil Fruit only moments ago, he was nowhere near Doflamingo's match.
If explosions hadn't held a natural advantage over threads, that single exchange would likely have left Tommy gravely wounded!
Doflamingo, by contrast, did not so much as tremble in his right hand. The earthshaking explosion had done him no harm.
"Heh-heh-heh-heh... Isn't that the Bomb-Bomb Fruit we just sold? Who gave you the nerve to use my own property against me?!"
Suspended in midair by threads invisible to the naked eye, Doflamingo looked down at Adrian and Tommy. His angry voice carried unmistakable killing intent.
"I'll give you two choices. One: join the Donquixote Family, and I'll forget this happened. Two: die!"
Ghost vs. Strings
As Doflamingo made his threat, hiding none of his killing intent, a surging tide of Conqueror's Haki swept toward them. Faint black-and-red arcs flickered in the air, a terrifying sight.
"Now that's some frightening pressure~"