"Welcome, everyone, to the Universe Auction!" Foxy shouted excitedly into the microphone on stage. The crowd in the stands roared with cheers.
On the wooden racks behind Foxy were the items to be auctioned today.
"First up for auction is a fine blade!" Foxy wasted no time, walking straight to the first rack. He whipped off the red cloth covering it, instantly revealing the famed sword within.
"I want it! Just name the starting price!" someone from the stands shouted impatiently at Foxy.
Zoro clenched his fists.
"Sanji, how many Berries do we have?" Zoro asked, turning his head to the man beside him.
"Ermmm, about one and a half million Berries, I think," Sanji replied after a two-second pause, his curly eyebrow furrowed in thought.
"What? Only 1.5 million Berries!?" Zoro was stunned. "Are we really that broke!?"
"Is that all the Berries we have?" Luffy exclaimed, his mouth hanging open in shock. Then he muttered under his breath, "I was hoping to bid on that Devil Fruit..."
"Luffy, have you no sense at all?" Zoro and Sanji retorted in unison upon hearing his words.
"As the first item up for bid, the starting price is a mere 100,000 Berries!" Foxy declared, seeing the crowd's eagerness. He held the microphone in one hand and pointed at the audience with the other.
"Whoa... that's so cheap!" the crowd gasped in unison.
"500,000 Berries!" a fierce-looking man called out in a low voice.
"I'll bid one million Berries!" a wealthy, blonde woman shouted, rising to her feet. She was determined to have this famed sword.
The price instantly shot up to one million Berries, and Zoro began to fidget anxiously.
"1.5 million Berries!" Zoro couldn't hold back any longer. He couldn't let someone else take it, so he roared out his bid.
"What? It's already at 1.5 million?"
"Damn it! You can have it!"
The people around them were stunned by the rapid price increase, and for a moment, no one else spoke up.
"Alright! This famed sword is yours!" Foxy scanned the room, then pointed a finger. A spotlight overhead followed his gesture, shining directly down on Zoro's head as the gavel fell on the first item.
"What is all this junk they're auctioning? Nothing but trash. I bet the Devil Fruits are being saved for last," Kid said with a bored yawn, leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head. Killer, sitting beside him, nodded in agreement.
Next, Foxy auctioned off a few more items, alternating between flintlocks and the remaining famed swords. The firearms were primarily bought by underworld gangs. As for the other swords, they sold for 1.2 million and 980,000 Berries, respectively. With more swords appearing, the crowd's initial excitement waned, and the prices never reached the height of the first bid.
A treasure map provided by Buggy also caused quite a stir. According to an appraisal by Ryuuto, the map pointed to the very place Buggy was always obsessed with: the City of Gold, El Dorado. Though El Dorado was now on a sky island and virtually impossible for anyone to find, the pirates' passion for treasure was unquenchable. The bidding started at 50,000 Berries and was driven all the way up to 1.8 million.
In the end, the ancient parchment was won by a man in a captain's hat. According to the whispers of those nearby, this captain was a well-known pirate in Paradise with a bounty of 32 million Berries.
"Zoro! Sanji! The treasure map!!" Luffy was extremely tempted, but there was a problem: the fine blade had already cost them all the money they had. For the first time, Luffy cursed his own poverty.
"How childish," Kid scoffed, watching the crowd scramble for some unknown treasure map.
A true pirate takes what he wants with his own strength, not chase after some phantom treasure, Kid thought to himself. Just as he was here now, he had no intention of using Berries to bid on anything.
"And now, everyone, for our grand finale—the Devil Fruits!" Foxy announced, slowly scanning the audience to build the suspense. He then walked over to the last two racks and yanked off both red cloths in a single, dramatic motion.
"Not just one, but two!" Foxy's voice suddenly boomed, its piercing quality reaching every ear in the hall.
Porche, standing at the side of the stage, let out a gasp of astonishment. "Captain Ryuuto's power is simply unfathomable."
Devil Fruits were known to be worth hundreds of millions, capable of granting immense power. They were essentially priceless items that rarely, if ever, went on the market. And now, two of them were being auctioned off at once.
"What? Two of them!?"
"No way! Two Devil Fruits appearing at the same time!"
"Don't even try to compete with me! They're mine!"
The audience was stunned silent for two seconds by Foxy's reveal, before erupting into an even greater uproar.
This is exactly the reaction I wanted! Foxy gloated inwardly.
"Two Devil Fruits! Two of them!" Luffy shouted excitedly, slapping Zoro's arm repeatedly.
"Who organized this auction!? To dare and put two Devil Fruits up for sale!" Sanji's eyes swept across the crowd. He suspected many of the people here were already entertaining thoughts of stealing them.
Zoro, however, paid no attention to any of this. His eyes were fixed on the new blade in his hands. The scabbard was exquisite, and the sword itself felt incredibly light. When drawn, it revealed a bright white, straight, and thin blade. The handguard was shaped like a three-pronged claw, and the hilt was wooden, wrapped in white cord. Having seemingly eaten the Name-Name Fruit, Zoro immediately dubbed the blade 'Zhe Yu.'
"On the left, we have a creamy-white, pineapple-shaped Devil Fruit! This is the Zoan-type Elephant-Elephant Fruit! And on the right, this one is shaped like a lychee, entirely red, and looks like a beating heart! This is the Paramecia-type Rage-Blood Fruit!" Foxy introduced them with a booming, passionate voice.
"We will now begin the bidding for the Elephant-Elephant Fruit on the left! Let's hear your offers! The starting price... is 100 million Berries!"
As Foxy's voice fell, the crowd erupted in a frenzy of shocked cries.
"One hundred and fifty million Berries!" A gentleman in a suit shouted, rising to his feet with trembling hands. He was a mob boss from the Sabaody Archipelago. With this Devil Fruit, his power would increase dramatically, allowing him to dominate the entire Sabaody underworld.
"One hundred and eighty million Berries!" yelled another man, a wealthy merchant with a massive belly and gaudy gold jewelry.
Just as the few wealthy individuals in the stands were frantically outbidding each other...
"Jihahahaha! Two Devil Fruits... and they're—all—mine!" Kid declared, slowly rising to his feet. He let out a maniacal laugh, then climbed onto his chair and roared.