Kid's shout cut through the auction, and the voices in the stands faltered. Forgetting the bidding, everyone turned to look at him.
He raised his right hand high, and an invisible magnetic force erupted from it. The people in the auction house felt a strange pull on the weapons they carried. Kid clenched his fist, and the magnetic force instantly intensified.
"What's happening? I can't control my pistol!" a gangster boss exclaimed, clutching the firearm at his waist.
"My sword feels like it's being pulled by something!"
"This is bad!"
The people in the stands finally realized what was happening and gripped their weapons tighter, shouting in alarm.
Vmmm!
Finally, someone's grip failed. The first longsword broke free from its owner's grasp, spinning through the air as it shot toward Kid.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A second weapon followed, then a third. A storm of pistols, longswords, and daggers filled the air, all flying directly toward Kid.
Zzzing!
The three famous swords at Zoro's hip vibrated intensely. He gripped their hilts with all his might, the veins bulging on his arm and his knuckles turning white.
"That's... the captain of the Kid Pirates, Eustass Kid," someone in the stands finally recognized him.
"What? That rookie from the Worst Generation?"
"I heard he slaughters innocent civilians for fun!"
"It's him! His latest bounty is an astonishing 315,000,000 Beri!"
"And the one next to him? That's Killer, the vice-captain of the Kid Pirates! His bounty is 162,000,000 Beri!"
"Two pirates, both with bounties over a hundred million!"
"Why are all our weapons being pulled toward him? Is he a Devil Fruit user?"
"Kid ate the Magnet-Magnet Fruit!"
The crowd erupted into panicked discussion.
Foxy watched the scene unfold, his hands already forming a sign. He gave a subtle nod to Porche, who was standing by the stage curtain. She immediately turned and ran out of the room.
"Damn you! How dare you disrupt our auction!" Foxy's eyes were bloodshot with rage at Kid's actions. "This is the culmination of all our hard work!"
In the stands, Luffy turned to Zoro. "Kid? Is he famous? His bounty is over three hundred million! That's so much higher than ours!"
Zoro said nothing, his expression grim. He had a feeling that even if the three of them fought together, they might not be a match for Kid.
Sanji lit a cigarette, his face equally serious. Only Luffy seemed completely unfazed.
"Gihahahaha! Devil Fruits belong to the strong!" Kid roared with laughter. The weapons drawn by his magnetic power swirled around his right hand, coalescing into a gigantic mechanical arm.
"You can still run for your lives! The weak are meant to be cannon fodder!" Kid sneered at the crowd in the stands. "I'm not targeting anyone in particular. I'm saying everyone here is trash!"
Beside him, Killer stood silently, his twin scythes held ready.
Kid swung the massive mechanical arm, smashing it into the seats in front of him.
Boom!
The ten-meter-long arm pulverized several rows of seats, crushing a few wealthy merchants who hadn't escaped in time and leaving them vomiting blood.
"Gihahahaha!"
Kid's wild, grinning laughter mixed with the choked gasps of the blood-spattered merchants on the floor.
"Weakness is the original sin!" he taunted the fleeing crowd. "The weak... should die on their knees!"
"Run!"
"We'll be killed if we don't get out of here!"
Faced with the terrifying mechanical fist and the shrapnel of shattered architecture flying everywhere, the audience finally broke, scrambling madly for the exits.
"Damn you!" Foxy's eyes were completely red. "We worked for days to make this happen!"
"Slow-Slow Beam!"
Fueled by boundless fury, Foxy thrust his hands forward, and two rings of pink light shot toward Kid.
The Slow-Slow Beam grew larger as it flew across the room.
"What's this?" Kid scoffed, unconcerned. He swung his giant mechanical fist to swat the approaching beams away.
But the two pink rings of light passed straight through the mechanical fist, striking Kid's body directly. Killer, however, had leaped out of the way in an instant, avoiding the attack.
"Huh? Wha... is... happ... en... ing..."
In an instant, Kid found his movements becoming incredibly sluggish, and even his thoughts seemed to grind to a halt.
"This... is... not... good... I've... been... hit..."
A single thought dominated Kid's mind.
"Hey, what's wrong with Kid?" Luffy, who had stayed behind to watch the show, asked with surprise as he saw Kid moving in slow motion.
"It was that beam of light," Sanji said grimly, exhaling a puff of smoke.
Zoro felt the strange magnetic pull vanish and let out a sigh of relief.
"Hamburg, get him!" Foxy shouted, seeing his chance. He ordered Hamburg, who was waiting behind the curtain, to attack.
"Roger, Captain Foxy!"
Hamburg emerged, hefting his massive four-ton bat and charging across the stage toward Kid.
Outside the auction house, Porche ran out in a panic. Ryuuto extended his Observation Haki and instantly understood what was happening inside.
"How dare they cause trouble in my territory!" Ryuuto's eyebrows shot up, and his entire aura sharpened as he spoke in a low, dangerous voice.
Porche rushed over to Ryuuto's group. "Captain Ryuuto, it's terrible! A pirate with a three-hundred-million-Beri bounty is trying to steal the Devil Fruit!"
Just as she finished speaking, a flood of people burst from the main doors of the auction house, screaming in terror as they fled.
"Captain!"
Ryuuto rose to his feet. Nami and Vivi exchanged a look, their expressions frighteningly grim. A three-hundred-million-Beri bounty meant nothing. A big-shot pirate meant nothing. No one was allowed to cause trouble in their territory. At that moment, their only thought was to make Kid pay.
Whoosh!
With a sound like tearing air, Ryuuto vanished from sight.
Nami and Vivi remained where they were, their faith in Ryuuto's strength absolute.
Rayleigh and Crocus glanced at each other.
"Kids these days," Rayleigh remarked with a sigh. The two old men simply rolled over, finding more comfortable positions to lie in. This kind of scuffle wasn't even worth watching.
Back in the auction hall, Hamburg was winding up, his two-meter-long, silver-grey spiked bat aimed squarely at Kid's head.
"No...!"
Seeing the bat closing in, Kid subconsciously tried to use his magnetic power to control it. But the thirty-second duration of the Slow-Slow Beam hadn't ended. Kid was stuck, moving frame by frame, his magnetic ability still in the process of activating.