Gunshots

Squelch!

Scarlet blood sprayed out!

It was as though all the strength had been drained from the Mountain's towering body in an instant. His deep blue face was full of disbelief.

Half of Hector's arm was buried deep in the Mountain's chest. Hector was just as exhausted, and even opening his eyes seemed extraordinarily difficult.

Thud!

Their bodies tilted and crashed to the ground together.

Freck stared wide-eyed. After a long silence, he gritted his teeth and roared, "Useless! The Mountain is useless! How could someone with ancient giant blood lose to a mere human slave?!"

Lu Ye let out a quiet breath and said mildly, "Freck, you're really lucky..."

Freck clenched his fists, his pale face flushing red with anger. "Bastard Longinus, are you mocking me?"

Lu Ye shook his head and scoffed. "Hurry up and announce the result. I'm in a rush to get home for lunch."

Lu Ye genuinely felt that Freck was lucky. The loser had won more, while the winner had lost everything.

Freck had not only won his own life, but had also saved all the rats in the sewers, as well as Sir Lu's pleasant vacation.

The ruthless Sir Lu had been a hair's breadth away from putting his license to work just now.

Having learned his lesson, Lu Ye made up his mind:

As vermin, I should spend more time in the palace from now on, cut down on unnecessary socializing and outings, and especially have less contact with suffering commoners...

Otherwise, if I can't hold myself back, my brief few decades of vacation in another world will turn into another drawn-out war to eradicate evil.

In a caustic tone, Freck announced the end of the gladiatorial event as briefly as possible.

The nobles in the stands felt as though they had been granted a reprieve. Forget cheering; they practically scrambled for the exits.

Two Celestial Dragons had been at each other's throats, and things had escalated to the point where they were ready to kill each other. If their subordinates didn't hurry away now, they might see something they shouldn't later and be left here to have their mouths permanently sealed.

The iron mesh surrounding the arena slowly sank into the ground, and a floating bridge connected to the ring.

Lu Ye ordered Sullivan to have the Donquixote Family's doctors treat Hector's injuries and, while they were at it, see if there was any way to conceal the mark of the Hoof of the Soaring Dragon.

Once Hector recovered, they would find a merchant ship to take him and his daughter home.

From a distance, Lu Ye glanced at Jessica, who was sprawled over Hector and weeping with joy. He abandoned the idea of going over to speak to her and instead smiled faintly, murmuring a blessing in a voice only he could hear:

"Go back to the sea, Jessica!"

On the spiral staircase, Doffy and the others came out laughing to congratulate Lu Ye. Doffy in particular, who was about to become a little tycoon worth 1.525 billion Beli, grinned especially sincerely.

Lu Ye rolled his eyes, shook out his floral shirt, and swaggered into the group of Celestial Dragons with an arrogant stride.

Along the way, Shalria clung to Lu Ye's hand like a lovestruck simp, repeatedly asking what kind of girls he liked.

Lu Ye's head ached from her pestering. He glanced at the voluptuous Flora and casually borrowed a famous saying from the Iron Chancellor Bismarck-

Parenthetically, a version adapted by later generations.

"Big is good, strong is beautiful, caliber is truth, and scale is justice!"

The flat-chested Shalria was stunned. She gazed blankly at Flora.

Flora played along, lowering the zipper at her chest another two inches until her snow-white treasures were on the verge of spilling out. She swayed her hips and blew the girl a kiss with her moist red lips.

Evan pressed a hand to his forehead in resignation, while Hoffman, oblivious to the mood, warned, "Flora, don't be disrespectful to Lady Shalria."

Flora had no choice but to pull the zipper back up, looking disgruntled.

Lu Ye nodded expressionlessly and looked away, judging it to be unquestionably authentic.

Shalria remained dazed for a long time, as though she had glimpsed an indescribable truth. Overwhelmed in an instant by the vast knowledge, she muttered to herself, covered her face, and made deranged noises.

Rosward sighed, hooked his golden scepter under the girl's collar, and tossed her onto a slave's back, leaving her to roll back and forth like a maggot.

Just as the group was about to leave the dim passageway, three gunshots suddenly rang out from the colosseum behind them.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The gunshots sounded exactly like Freck's golden pistol. Uneasy, Lu Ye called the others to a halt and turned back.

Worried about their third brother, Doffy and Rosy hurried after him.

Mjosgard also had a nagging feeling that something was about to happen. After much hesitation, he struck the Fish-Man slave beneath him with his iron hammer and followed.

Rosward narrowed his eyes and firmly held back Charlos, who wanted to follow. He took his son and daughter and waved the others goodbye.

When they returned to the colosseum, the strong stench of blood hit them once more. Even repeated washing with water infused with floral dew had failed to fully mask it.

Since everyone had already left, their hurried footsteps echoed through the empty colosseum.

Tap, tap, tap, tap... like the approach of death!

It made Lu Ye even more agitated, and he involuntarily quickened his pace.

Doffy and Rosy could barely keep up on their short little legs, so Evan bent down and scooped them up, one in each arm.

Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack...

The deeper they went into the colosseum, the clearer the sounds of heavy objects striking flesh became.

Lu Ye frowned deeply and followed the sounds. From a distance, he spotted three figures suspended from the iron mesh.

One glance was enough to set the anger in his heart ablaze.

The enormous indigo figure was the Mountain!

The lean, muscular figure was Hector!

The petite figure, who looked almost pitifully small beside the other two, was Jessica!

Sullivan and a group of Donquixote Family medical personnel had been forced to kneel in a row. Behind them stood imposing CP Agents in sharp suits and sunglasses, pointing guns at them with murderous intent.

Two gray-horned dung beetles in white spacesuits and bubble helmets held golden spears upside down, repeatedly beating the three with them.

"Stop!"

Lu Ye roared, and the pitch-black Armament Haki at his wrist spread up his forearm in the blink of an eye.

Sullivan got to his feet and had only just called out "Lord Saint Longinus" when the agent behind him forced him back to the ground.

"Oh! So this is the Donquixote Family's Mad King Longinus? You really are a fine-looking young man. I'm very glad you were willing to visit the North Star Colosseum and become friends with Freck..."

The speaker was a bearded Celestial Dragon who looked remarkably like Freck, just as weak and pale, but older and more unpleasant.

The bearded Celestial Dragon coughed softly and casually handed his golden spear to an attendant beside him. He wiped his palms with a warm, damp silk cloth, raised his triangular eyes, and said between heavy breaths:

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Freck's father-Gladiator King Augustus.

If I may ask, why have you all suddenly come back?

Are you here for the prize money? Don't worry, it's ready. The Gladiator King Family never goes back on its word."

As he spoke, an attendant came forward carrying a tray with a check for 3.05 billion Beli on it.

Lu Ye turned his head to look at the blood-soaked Mountain, Hector, and Jessica. All three had fist-sized bloody holes in their abdomens, and their hands were bound as they hung from the iron mesh surrounding the arena.

"Why did you do this?"

Lu Ye asked in an even tone, but the pitch-black Armament Haki on his forearm had already reached his elbow.

With a golden spear over his shoulder, Freck acted as though he had only just realized what he had done. He held a hand over his chest and bowed.

"My deepest apologies. It seems we got carried away and forgot that only that piece of trash the Mountain was our slave. We accidentally killed your slaves too..."

Augustus waved a hand behind him, and another attendant came out carrying a tray with two checks for 100 million Beli each.

"Two ordinary human slaves would cost five million Beli at most in the Sabaody Archipelago. But to compensate you, the Gladiator King Family has valued each one at 100 million Beli. You could even buy slaves of rare races with that.

"Hahahaha... Longinus, you'll never lose out by being friends with the Gladiator King Family."