"Lord Ren, I'm sorry we're late!"
Ayame and Iris both wore apologetic expressions as they knelt before Ren, asking him to punish them.
"It's fine, you weren't even around here just now." Ren didn't mind, leading them toward the Auction House.
The manager of the Auction House had shifty eyes and an ingratiating smile, his hands rubbing together like flies as he stood at the entrance to welcome Ren. He'd also stationed several gorgeous women, ready to attend to him at any moment.
"I never imagined the famed Raiden Shogun would visit our humble little auction house. You truly honor us with your presence!"
"You lot! Hurry up and attend to the General!"
This guy was far more savvy than those rookie pirates. He knew who could be provoked and who absolutely couldn't.
Honestly, without that kind of eye for people, he wouldn't have survived in a place like this.
Pirates from the Four Seas always assumed the great pirates of the world were all talk and no substance, believing they were invincible and that they could do just as well — or even better!
But reality was brutally harsh.
As the junction between the New World and Paradise, the Auction House manager had long since witnessed all those failures who fled back from the New World in disgrace. Were those people weak?
Impossible!
Among those failures, many had once been rising pirate stars. Over the years, so many rookie pirates had passed through here into the New World chasing fame and fortune, but how many had truly succeeded?
Even standing firm in this world was difficult, let alone challenging those colossal powers.
Over all these years, only the pirate alliance of Red-Haired Buggy and Doflamingo had succeeded. And even so, their current scale couldn't compare to Inazuma or the Whitebeard Pirates.
That alone showed just how terrifying the behemoths called "Emperors" truly were.
And his tiny auction house, even with Celestial Dragon backing behind the scenes, didn't dare act arrogant in front of Ren.
Ren declined the dancers sent his way — not because he was being noble, but simply because these women couldn't compare to Saya and the others. They weren't even worth a second glance.
"Does the General have a specific target this visit? If so, there's no need for an auction — I'll gift it directly to you," the manager said hastily.
This gesture was partly to curry favor with Inazuma, and partly to prevent any accidents.
Little did he know the Celestial Dragons had already been confined by the Five Elders and barred from Sabaody Archipelago. His biggest worry now was that some Celestial Dragon might show up at the auction and cause a conflict — that would be the worst possible outcome.
"No need to be nervous. We're just browsing."
Ren simply shook his head and walked straight in with Saya and the others.
The auction hadn't started yet, but the hall was already filling with shadowy figures.
"Lord Ren, weren't you looking for three slaves captured from Amazon Lily? Why didn't you just tell that Fly Guy directly?"
After they sat down, Saya asked in a low voice.
She'd started calling the auction house manager "Fly Guy" because he reminded her of a fly.
"No point. It's not like we can't outbid someone. If I specifically asked, that guy might think I'm especially fond of the women warriors from Amazon Lily and send extra people to traffic them," Ren said casually.
If things really went that way, he'd be the one bringing disaster to Amazon Lily.
"Isn't Lord Ren fond of the warriors from Amazon Lily?" Iris asked blankly.
Her small brain couldn't figure it out — if he didn't actually like them, why go all the way to Sabaody just to ask about them?
"You're so dumb. Lord Ren wouldn't just like any woman warrior," Saya sighed, looking at her. She felt this girl was beyond saving.
Ren nodded, thinking Saya understood him well. He didn't really have designs on the Pirate Empress — he just thought she had potential.
In the original story, the Pirate Empress had fought the Blackbeard Pirates to a standstill. If Blackbeard's Dark-Dark Fruit hadn't nullified her Love-Love Fruit, the Blackbeard Pirates would have paid a far heavier price, if they hadn't been wiped out entirely.
As for the Pirate Empress's looks, Ren didn't particularly care.
Besides, if he bought her, she wouldn't get the Love-Love Fruit anyway.
Just as Ren was thinking, Saya's voice came again: "Lord Ren doesn't just like any woman."
"He only likes good-looking ones!"
Ren: ???
"Oh, I see." Iris thought about it seriously, then nodded with conviction. "Sister Yukiko, Sister Jasmine, Aunt Yuriko — they're all very beautiful."
Ren: ???
What does that have to do with me?
Yukiko was the one who built this harem for me.
Ren was speechless. The only woman he'd actively taken in over all these years was Toki. The others had little to do with him. Even Yukiko had been sent to serve him by Kurozumi Higurashi and the rest.
It was just that Ren's abilities were exceptional, so he could handle all of them.
Could you really blame him?
He gave Saya's butt a hard smack for spreading rumors. Not long after, the auction began.
As expected, Ren didn't see the Boa Hancock sisters at this auction, but he did spot some other interesting items.
Some fine named swords, female slaves — even an intact Ruin Guard was brought onto the auction block.
None of it interested him much.
What did catch his attention was a rather decent Devil Fruit — the Paramecia-type Block-Block Fruit.
The original user of this fruit should have been one of Byrnndi World's subordinates, but because of Ren's interference, World hadn't been captured by the World Government.
Instead, he'd been caught during the struggle over Captain John's treasure.
The fate of his crew naturally differed from the original timeline.
Judging by the current situation, at least the Block-Block Fruit's user was already dead.
The fruit's ability was quite good — similar in effect to the Chop-Chop Fruit, it could turn any object it touched into one or more blocks. However, it couldn't be used on the user's own body.
It was essentially a fruit with abilities similar to the Chop-Chop Fruit but targeting the opposite subject.
But considering the Chop-Chop Fruit's Awakening could affect the surrounding environment, if this fruit were Awakened, it should be able to affect the user as well.
The starting bid was two hundred million berries.
Without hesitation, Ren bid two hundred fifty million and bought it.
The reason it was so cheap was simply that no one dared to compete with him.
[
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