A refined and intelligent woman, priced at ten million Berries, there was no denying it, this was an exorbitant sum.
The base price for selling an ordinary human was typically five hundred thousand Berries, so by comparison, ten million was astronomical. Yet even such a sky-high figure did little to dampen the feverish enthusiasm of the crowd in the auction hall.
To the average person, even one hundred thousand Berries was a fortune beyond comprehension, let alone ten million.
But this was the twisted world of pirates. Here, the vast majority of wealth was hoarded by nobles and merchant tycoons. To them, ten million Berries was little more than pocket change.
In the blink of an eye, the bid had already climbed to eleven million. Clearly, the elegantly poised woman in the rose-colored cage had won the crowd's favor.
Inside the cage, the woman looked out at the eager faces with eyes full of sorrow. Her expression stirred pity in the hearts of many.
"Slavery… something like this should never exist in the world."
"Kuzan, Yoriichi, aren't we, as officers of justice, supposed to do something? Are we just going to stand here and watch this happen?"
"Aren't we going to do anything?!"
Kyros's gaze was fixed on the woman in the cage, his eyes brimming with sympathy. In this world, it was often women and children who awakened the deepest sense of justice in people's hearts.
Kyros was still young. He had joined the Navy with a simple belief: that becoming a Marine meant being able to help more people.
Now, seeing the woman imprisoned like livestock, his anger flared uncontrollably. At that moment, he could truly feel her pain, as if he were the one trapped behind bars.
Kuzan let out a faint sigh and slowly stood up.
Truth be told, Kyros didn't need to say a word. The young officer, a firm believer in what he called "burning justice," had already been teetering on the edge of action.
And now, all concerns about being outnumbered, about the consequences, were cast aside.
"We move."
Kuzan's body dissolved into a shimmering mist of frost and vanished.
The next moment, he reappeared in the center of the auction hall, his hand resting lightly on the host's shoulder. A wave of icy air rippled outward from where he stood.
"Hey, tell me something," he said, voice calm but chilling. "Where exactly do your slaves come from?"
Kuzan had already confirmed that the Loro Trading Company had deep ties to pirates. These slaves, they might be the key that opened the door to a full-blown investigation.
"W-Who are you?!"
"How did you get here?!"
"Guards! Guards!"
The host shuddered at the sudden cold seeping through his shoulder. Whipping his head around, he saw a tall, imposing man standing right beside him, one hand casually draped across his shoulder.
The moment he saw Kuzan's face, every hair on the man's body stood on end. Panic overtook him as he screamed for the guards.
The abrupt turn of events plunged the auction house into chaos. Whispers and cries erupted among the audience, fingers pointing toward the stage as people scrambled to figure out what was happening.
In response to the host's frantic shouts, the lights in the hall flared to life, and the tightly sealed main doors swung open with a thunderous clang. A flood of armed guards surged toward the stage, intent on subduing Kuzan by force.
But before they could get close, Kyros leapt from his seat, landing in the aisle leading to the stage. Sword in both hands, he blocked an advancing squad of guards and shouted:
"We're with the Navy!"
"We have concrete evidence that the Loro Trading Company is colluding with pirates. We're taking certain individuals in for questioning at the Marine base."
"Do not interfere with official Navy business!"
Kyros's shout did nothing to sway the auction house guards. They hesitated only for a brief moment, then charged at him without hesitation, blades drawn, clearly indifferent to whether he was Navy or not.
Seeing this, the fury that had been smoldering in Kyros's chest erupted all at once.
He didn't hold back. In just a few breaths, several guards had already fallen beneath his blade, their bodies sprawled in growing pools of blood.
The moment blood was spilled inside the auction hall, the guests who had until then merely spectated, suddenly realized the gravity of the situation. Panic broke out as they scrambled toward the exits.
Kyros may have declared they were from the Navy, but in the West Blue, that name held less sway than the region's notorious specialty, the Mafia.
In an instant, chaos engulfed the hall.
"Young people really are hot-headed."
"Couldn't even hold back for a few more minutes?"
Yoriichi Tsugikuni glanced at the commotion caused by Kuzan and Kyros, the corner of his eye twitching slightly.
Hadn't they just finalized the plan? Wait until the event ended, then take action. If they had to free the slaves, they could do it in the aftermath, clean and simple.
But now, with both Kuzan and Kyros making a move right in front of everyone, things were spiraling out of control.
"Hopeless. Both of them."
Rising to his feet with a mutter of complaint, Yoriichi rested his right hand on the hilt of his blade. At that moment, several sharp-eyed guards noticed his motion and, thinking he meant to attack, rushed forward and slashed at him preemptively.
Yoriichi had no intention of striking them down, not yet. He sidestepped their strikes effortlessly, calling out a warning as he moved:
"I am Lieutenant Commander Yoriichi Tsugikuni, of Navy Headquarters!"
"Cease your attack!"
But his words were ignored. The guards, seeing their strikes missed, pressed in again, swinging their swords with renewed force.
"So you've chosen violence…" Yoriichi murmured coldly as a blade came down toward his head. "Then don't blame me for defending myself."
In one fluid motion, he unsheathed his sword. A silent arc of steel sliced through the air.
In the next instant, the charging guards froze mid-step. Then, with a dull thud, they collapsed in unison. Blood spilled freely onto the floor, staining it crimson.
"Blame yourselves."
Yoriichi cast a glance at the corpses without emotion. His eyes were calm, devoid of sorrow, anger, or satisfaction.
Meanwhile, Kuzan had finished his own engagement. Activating his Devil Fruit ability, he froze the incoming wave of guards in an instant. A dozen meters around him had become a frozen wasteland.
The auctioneer's horrified expression was frozen along with him, his body turned into a statue of ice.
Inside the pink cage, the woman who had been waiting to be sold stared wide-eyed at the sudden turn of events, stunned speechless.
"You… you're Navy?!" she stammered, her gaze locking onto Kuzan after hearing Yoriichi's distant shout.
In her mind, the Navy would never behave like this, intervening in a "legal" auction.
As for the tall swordsman's earlier accusations that the auction house was colluding with pirates?
(Scoff) In this world, what slave-trading business wasn't in bed with pirates? And when had the Navy ever cared?
"Yes, we're Navy."
Kuzan's answer was firm. As he spoke, he placed a hand on the cage and froze it solid with a touch. Then, with a single punch, he shattered the ice along with the cage.
"You're free now, miss."
"Oh, and before you go, can I ask your name?"
"And… how did you end up being sold as a slave?"
*********
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