With crisp footsteps, a man in a top hat, tailcoat, and single-lens eyeglass walked onto the raised platform.
Many recognized him at once: Aaron, a famous auctioneer in the Underworld. They had not expected the Pluton Pirates to invite him.
But how could Aaron refuse an invitation from the Pluton Pirates?
For all his fame, he was only an auctioneer in the Underworld.
And no one in the Underworld dared offend the Pluton Pirates.
Even if he had not wanted to come, he would have had to—unless he wanted to die.
Besides, this was a perfect chance to raise his profile. Why would he turn it down?
"Welcome to the World Expo auction, everyone. I'm your auctioneer, Aaron."
He knew most people there did not care who he was, so he got straight to the point.
With a light flick of his hand, he pressed a small button in his palm, raising the display stand.
Devil Fruits sat on the stand, stacked like a pyramid.
A careful count put their number at thirty.
The sight left most people in the venue—and across the world—stunned beyond words.
That was especially true in the Four Seas, where ordinary people knew Devil Fruits only as the stuff of legend.
Countless people were seeing a Devil Fruit for the first time.
Even an ordinary Devil Fruit would be the star lot at an Underworld auction.
No one had expected the Pluton Pirates to bring out so many at the very start.
As the Beli lost value, the minimum price of a Devil Fruit on the seas had climbed from twenty million Beli a little over a decade ago to fifty million today.
That meant the pile of Devil Fruits before them was worth at least an astonishing 1.5 billion Beli.
The auction schedule, however,