Chapter 159: The Negotiation
An aged voice, yet filled with an arrogant will, sounded from above, announcing the arrival of one of the three legends from before the Great Pirate Era, the golden-haired Pirate Admiral.
The assassin with the black suit and short stubble looked up at the sky and subconsciously uttered the man's name. "Golden Lion - Shiki!"
Under everyone's gaze, a golden figure descended from the sky, hovering ten centimeters above the ground.
Golden Lion Shiki was dressed in a golden kimono. His face was old, yet held a hint of comical absurdity. His legs had been replaced by two sharp, double-edged swords—proof of his escape from the great undersea prison, Impel Down. On his aged face, a head of long golden hair was draped behind him, and on top of his head was a wooden ship's wheel. From its smooth surface, it was clear that Shiki had spent a lot of effort on its maintenance to prevent it from rotting.
The first moment Louis saw Shiki, only one thought came to his mind: "Weak."
The current Golden Lion was very weak. Even Yelena could take him down.
Then, Louis's gaze fell on the ship's wheel on Shiki's head, and a second thought arose. "It seems this ship's wheel didn't just take away your Haki and sanity; it also took away your hair," Louis said, his gaze on Shiki's bald head.
Louis's words made Shiki's vision go dark, and the smile on his face froze.
"Let's just talk about the price," Shiki said, his heart bleeding for his beloved golden hair as he decisively changed the subject.
With that, Shiki raised his hand, and a giant rock mountain was summoned from the sky, smashing onto the high ground. Then, under everyone's gaze, he kicked out a sharp slash, carving a smooth-as-a-mirror cut into the giant rock. He then cut the flying pieces of rock into the shape of stools, which landed beside Louis and himself.
After doing all this, an arrogant smile appeared on his face, and he sat down on one of the stone stools.
In the crowd, Kuina looked at the scene of Shiki kicking out a slash, and was instantly stunned. Her expression was one of shock, mixed with a hint of disgust. At this moment, she finally understood how most swordsmen must feel when they see Zoro holding a sword in his mouth.
"Speak. Apart from one favor, what else do you want?" Shiki silently lit a cigar and was the first to speak. Then, he snapped his fingers, and one by one, bottles of fine wine flew down from the sky, slowly landing on the stone table in front of them.
Louis also sat down, his wings slightly folded. "One of the three great legends of the previous era," he said pointedly. "You should have quite a lot of treasure, right?"
"Treasure?" Shiki heard him, and a sharp glint flashed in his eyes. The corners of his mouth turned up slightly, and he admitted generously, "That's right. Even though I suffered heavy losses in that sea battle and my subordinates scattered when I was captured, the treasure I possess is still an astronomical figure, no less than that guy John's! So, how many kilograms of gold do you want? Or tons?" Shiki slowly exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, putting on a generous display.
Just as he said, the renowned Pirate Admiral was not short on money. To what extent was his wealth? One thing can simply explain it: without showing his face, he had provided for his subordinates' food and drink for over twenty years on his old capital alone, and had even supported a rather money-burning scientific team for that long. For the Golden Lion, if it was something that could be solved with money, then it wasn't a problem at all.
Then, a hard-to-detect look of expectation flashed in Shiki's eyes, as if he hoped Louis would ask for more money, preferably using money as the entire price for the treatment.
However, Louis replied with a calm expression, "No, I don't need your Berries or gold. I want Devil Fruits. Besides the favor you owe, I also want Devil Fruits."
Money... leaving aside the gift from Doflamingo that Louis had just happily accepted, if he was really short on cash, he could always make a trip to Jaya in the first half of the Grand Line and bring back the City of Gold. But at present, what Louis valued more was the development of his forces and the improvement of his subordinates' strength. And Devil Fruits were the best shortcut to increasing a person's power.
After Louis's words fell, the smile on Shiki's face instantly collapsed, and his expression became uncertain. "How many?"
Devil Fruits... of course Shiki had them. But not many. Originally, he had planned to use these Devil Fruits to cultivate his executives after he recovered, in order to compete with those other old acquaintances. But now it seemed he had to bleed a little. But it didn't matter. He had money. He could just buy more later.
"Ten Devil Fruits," Louis said.
Shiki's brow twitched. He took a long drag from his cigar. Ten Devil Fruits... he certainly didn't have that many. But it wouldn't take too long to collect the ones he was missing.
Behind him, Louis's crew wanted to speak but held back. Isn't that price a bit too low? they thought.
However, Louis's next words left them stunned. "Ten fruits. They must be powerful Paramecias, Logias, or, if they are Zoans, at the very least Ancient Zoans."
The air became dead silent at this moment, with only the faint sound of the whistling cold wind. Uta, Hajrudin, and the others heard this and thought to themselves, As expected of Louis. Even his extortion is so matter-of-fact. At the same time, they felt a little ashamed for having misunderstood him just now, and for not being shameless enough themselves.
"What?" Shiki's eyes widened. He subconsciously rubbed his ears, his aged face filled with disbelief. He simply couldn't believe what he had just heard!
To this, Louis expressionlessly repeated what he had just said.
"..."
This time, Shiki heard him clearly and confirmed that he had not misheard.
CRACK—
The next moment, his face twisted, and he even crushed the expensive cigar in his mouth. Shiki's eyes widened, and he slammed the smooth-as-a-mirror table in front of him, causing cracks to appear and making it no longer perfect.
"Why don't you just go rob someone?!" Shiki's voice was filled with disbelief, as if he had been betrayed.
To this, Louis gave Shiki a rather surprised look. "How could robbery be as easy as this?" he said. To this, Louis indicated that robbery was too hard and tiring, not as fast as extortion or deep-sea fishing for making money.
"Where am I supposed to find you ten powerful Devil Fruits?" Shiki gritted his teeth, even wanting to draw his swords and kill this naturally evil little brat. Even the worst Ancient Zoan fruit could create a great pirate with a bounty of several hundred million Berries, let alone Logias, Mythical Zoans, or powerful Paramecias. This guy actually dared to ask for ten of that level in one go!
To this, Louis's expression did not change noticeably. Instead, he quietly looked in one direction.
Shiki saw this and asked with a slight frown, "Are there that many fruits in that direction?"
"No. I mean, the Whitebeard Pirates' territory is in that direction. If you can't afford the price, go find Marco the Phoenix. He has a healing ability too."
"..."
Shiki was instantly silenced. Marco's Phoenix Fruit ability did indeed have regenerative flames, but it absolutely could not remove the ship's wheel from his head.
Then, Shiki calmed down, his gaze falling on Louis as he lit another cigar. "Three!" he said through the smoke.
Louis ignored him and casually took the several bottles of wine in front of him, tossing them to Daz Bonez and Hajrudin, indicating they shouldn't be wasted. However, just as the two were about to catch them, the two bottles flew out again, stopping directly in front of Shiki. Then, Shiki, in front of everyone, chugged the several bottles of wine, as if to say, "You're not drinking my booze for free."
"..."
The group looked at each other, simply unable to believe that such a person was on the same level as the Pirate King Roger and Whitebeard in the previous era.
To this, Louis expressed no opinion, but said pointedly, "Since we've already had a falling out and you're still not leaving, do you want to experience the special prison cells of Dressrosa?"
A thoughtful look appeared in Shiki's eyes. Then, he shed his comical demeanor from just now, and his entire being became arrogant once again. "Five fruits! As you requested!"
Louis heard him, turned sideways, and said in a deep voice, "Fine. But you have to do two things for me unconditionally."
After a brief moment of thought, an arrogant smile appeared on Shiki's cigar-chomping face. "Shishishishi—. Two favors, is it? Fine!"
And so, the deal was struck. The two of them sat down again and talked face to face.
Shiki summoned another batch of fine wine and placed it in front of them. After taking a sip, he, with a cigar in his mouth, asked through the smoke, "How are you planning to treat me, Louis?"
To this, Louis, after once again tossing the wine in front of him to the several drinkers behind him, replied casually, "If you're afraid of pain, then have your doctors open up your head and take this rooster comb out. I'll make sure you don't die on the spot. If you're not afraid of pain, then I can help you violently rip this rooster comb out right now and heal you. Of course, the premise is that you've already collected the Devil Fruits I want."
Louis's terrifying words made Shiki instantly make his choice. "Then I'd rather have my doctors perform the craniotomy!"
Then, Shiki crossed the swords that served as his legs and placed them on the stone table, looking at Louis with a casual posture.
"Hey, kid! I just remembered. Even if the price was these Devil Fruits, we could have just talked on the Den Den Mushi. But why did you make me come to the New World? You really wanted to kill me, didn't you?"
To this, Louis slowly took a sip of tea and replied in a calm tone, "Because if it were in the Four Seas and you heard 'ten Devil Fruits,' you might have just hung up the phone on the spot and continued to carry out your unknown plan in hiding. But here, after you heard 'ten fruits,' you wouldn't just turn and leave. Because you've already paid a certain cost and have been exposed to the World Government's sight. Once you leave, you will have been exposed for nothing."
Simply put, if one hears an outrageously high price on the Den Den Mushi, one would usually just hang up and continue with their own business. But once one has come in person and heard Louis's request, one would, with the thought of "well, I'm already here," talk with him a bit more.
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