Vane maintained a rather "gray" attitude toward slave shops. If the other party was a truly unforgivable existence, then being locked up in a place like this would earn no sympathy from Vane at all—say, pirates who did nothing but kill and burn and had not a shred of adventurous spirit, or mountain bandits, gang members, corrupt Marine government types, and the like.
For people like that, the greatest mercy he could show was to give them a shot and end their suffering.
But when facing other innocent people who had been forcibly captured, his mindset was completely different—and these kinds of slaves often made up the largest share. An unkind king, pirate invasions, or the incursions of slave traders could all lead to these innocent people becoming slaves.
"Really pitiful, meow. They're all humans, yet they're sold like merchandise."
Inside the slave shop, in cage after cage of iron bars, were slaves whose eyes had already gone numb and empty.
In front of each cage there was an introduction about the slave. If it was an ordinary person, it was basically just some rough physical data.
If they were of pirate origin, they'd also be tagged as pirates and would be priced at about double an ordinary person—showing that pirates were a relatively popular category among slaves.
Vane came here with some intent to spend—some people with special professions, or rather… certain races.
"So big, meow."
Vane and the others arrived at what was probably the most valuable exhibition area in this slave shop.
There was a huge tank here, and inside it several slaves were locked up.
Exactly Vane's target—the Fish-Men.
The pirate world is a multi-racial world. There are two races that live in the sea: the Fish-Men and the Merfolk.
Merfolk are the beautiful mermaids, with human upper bodies and fish lower bodies.
As for Fish-Men, they are basically humans with many fish-like traits added—for example, octopus or squid Fish-Men will have many arms, shark Fish-Men are very likely to have dorsal fins…
Meowth said he smelled a mixture of fish and human, and Vane guessed that this slave shop probably had Fish-Men.
Why not Merfolk? Because Merfolk were unlikely to be sold to the West Sea. Slaves that precious would already be "consumed" at the Sabaody Archipelago above Fish-Man Island.
Vane's guess was confirmed in front of this big "tank"—they were Fish-Men.
"Loach Fish-Men."
Loach Fish-Men—this was a bit beyond Vane's expectations. He hadn't expected them to be loach Fish-Men.
The characteristic of loach Fish-Men is that their bodies secrete some mucus, making them slippery. They're decent in agility, but in terms of strength they're definitely not as powerful as shark-type Fish-Men.
However, this drawback clearly couldn't be applied to the big guy inside the tank.
Among the several loach Fish-Men, there was one big fellow who looked to be over four meters tall, with red hair and a red beard, looking very mature. Checking the introduction… damn it, he's 12 years old?
Big Pan—loach Fish-Man. His genes might have some mutation and he may continue to grow in the future.
At twelve, for both humans and Fish-Men, that's an age right before a rapid growth spurt. Buying Big Pan was a gamble—if he could keep growing, it would be a huge win.
Loach Fish-Men might keep growing… Vane recalled now. This guy was the fish giant Big Pan under the future "Silver Fox" pirate Foxy with the onion head.
Big Pan wasn't big because of some loach Fish-Man genetic mutation at all—he was the offspring of a Fish-Man and a Giant.
Giants are usually around twenty meters tall. Since Big Pan was a mix of Fish-Man and Giant, he might not reach the full height of a pure Giant, but he wouldn't be far off either.
Moreover, the loach Fish-Man bloodline made his movements more agile than a pure Giant's. Even if he were two or three meters shorter than a pure Giant in exchange for greater agility, that would absolutely be worth it. In the pirate world, most Giants' movements are honestly rather… criticized.
Of course, what Big Pan sacrificed was probably not just a few meters of height, but also the Giants' long lifespan. Sixteen years later, when he ran into the Straw Hat crew, he already had the same kind of height as a Giant, and his expected lifespan would at most be only a bit longer than an ordinary person's.
"Boss! Anyone here?"
"Coming, coming! What does this honored guest need?"
The slave shop owner appeared obsequiously, fitting the stereotype perfectly—he didn't look like a good person at all.
Vane didn't care whether he was good or not and directly pointed at the big tank.
"Oh my, honored guest, you really have an eye! Fish-Men are the race most suitable for being slaves—they're the most agile on the sea…"
The slave owner boasted endlessly. Whether good or bad, as long as someone came to buy slaves, he had to praise them hard—that's how you sell at a high price.
"Enough talk. How much for all the Fish-Men together?"
The slave owner's eyes rolled twice and he held up three fingers. "Thirty million Belly."
An ordinary person was about a hundred-some thousand Belly, pirates about three hundred thousand. Fish-Men are stronger than ordinary people and usually go for one million Belly per normal individual.
There were six Fish-Men in the tank. Excluding Big Pan, the other five were normal individuals, worth about five million Belly.
Big Pan's situation was special. Even if you counted him as ten times the value, or even twenty times, that would be at most twenty million Belly. Added together, that's twenty-five million Belly.
This owner directly quoted thirty million—he was really gouging.
"Boss, if you agree to one request of mine, I can give you thirty-five million Belly."
He actually raised the price himself?! No—this request definitely isn't simple.
Should he agree or not… everything is for Belly.
...
When the Fish-Men saw someone negotiating with the slave shop owner, they knew they probably had a "master."
This was something that happened every day in the slave shop. This time, it was their turn.
Soon, including Big Pan, all six of them were released and taken to the back yard of the slave shop. There, they saw their future master, Vane.
And several shop clerks who were tied up and looked completely confused.
Vane glanced at the somewhat lifeless Fish-Men.
"Fish-Men, I'm the captain of a pirate ship, and I'm recruiting trustworthy crew! From today on, you are my crew under Captain Vane. Remember, you are my crew, not slaves."
"As your captain, my first meeting gift to you is to let you whip the clerks of this slave shop who used to bully you!"
The bewildered Fish-Men: "???"
The bound clerks: "???"
The shop owner who lost money: "$$$$$"
Seeing the Fish-Men looking puzzled, excited yet hesitant, Vane stepped forward and personally unlocked their shackles with the key.
"Don't hesitate. Each of you has ten chances with the whip. If you don't hit, someone else can hit ten more times."
As he spoke, Vane handed the whip to one of the Fish-Men.
If he wanted these Fish-Men to join him willingly, rather than being forced by slave shackles, Vane needed them to release the pressure in their hearts and come to trust him.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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