"1 billion!", Rosse casually offered his price, completely ignoring the bystanders who were stunned into silence.
This day's auction was something he had forced the slave auction house to open.
Even if he offered sky-high prices today, he wouldn't spend a single penny.
As a Celestial Dragon, what's wrong with playing dirty?
"1.1 billion!!! Saint Rosse, don't be so arrogant!", Saint Roswald screamed furiously, but his bidding began to slow.
He spent real money when buying things. If he had money and still resorted to robbery, wouldn't that damage the image of the Celestial Dragons?
Most importantly, if word got out, his fellow Celestial Dragons would think he was a broke loser.
"1.5 billion!"
Rosse didn't even look at Saint Roswald. Talking too much with an idiot could easily get him classified as one too.
"Hmph hmph hmph, Saint Rosse, I'll let you have this trash toy," Saint Roswald sat down in frustration and stopped bidding.
His total assets were only 5 billion Berries. If he fought Rosse tooth and nail at the start, he could only watch from the sidelines later.
"1.5 billion... sold!", The auctioneer shouted joyfully, igniting the atmosphere to the max.
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[B-rank defeat completed!]
[Strength +100,000]
[Special reward: Conqueror's Haki (B-rank)]
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'This counts as a defeat?'
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[Host: Rosse]
[Strength: 110,163 / 300,000 (C-, Rear Admiral)]
[Overall Rating: A (Relies Entirely on Status Outside)]
[Skills: Gunmanship (E), Physical Technique (C), Conqueror's Haki (B)]
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Clenching his fists, feeling the surging power within, Rosse was incredibly excited.
'This is way too easy.'
He didn't even need to physically defeat someone. That opened up a lot of room for manipulation.
Moreover...
Especially feeling the small amount but extremely domineering power within his body, Rosse felt his emotions stir.
If the timing weren't inappropriate, he would've wanted to unleash it to experience the power of Conqueror's Haki.
Adjusting his emotions, Rosse looked at Zephyr with a smile, "Admiral Zephyr, this counts as my first gift. In exchange, how about you go against your conscience and make a move for me once? How's that trade?"
"You know I know him?", Zephyr frowned slightly.
"Admiral Zephyr, you strong people never hide your emotions. Your killing intent is practically written on your face," Rosse said with a smile.
"Hmph! I agree!", Zephyr's face softened slightly, agreeing straightforwardly.
Rosse originally had the authority to order him, this was part of his duties.
Taking action once against his principles just gave him an excuse.
Every Celestial Dragon has a dark side. Zephyr was also curious what kind of darkness Rosse had inside.
Zephyr no longer cared about that darkness. As long as he could kill all pirates, he was even willing to sacrifice an equal number of civilians.
Ever since his wife and children died, ever since the Great Pirate Era began and he received daily death notices of his former students, he was no longer a hero.
In this screwed-up world, he couldn't be anyone's hero.
After Rosse made his first move, he got involved in nearly every subsequent pirate auction.
Of course, it wasn't to gain Zephyr's favor. He just wanted Roswald to spend more money.
He couldn't rob Roswald directly, but he could rob the auction house.
"200 million!"
"400 million!!! Saint Rosse, are you broke or what! Come on, keep going! Hahaha!"
Roswald's mocking voice echoed throughout the venue, but Rosse didn't even spare him a glance. In fact, he smiled even wider.
This was his tenth bid, and Roswald had followed up ten times too.
Each time, Roswald doubled Rosse's offer and bought the slaves for at least 400–500 million Berries.
Originally, these slaves were probably only worth about 100 million.
At this moment, the auctioneer and the person in charge were already grinning ear to ear.
'As expected, fools of the same race really are a blessing...', Rosse chuckled lightly, looking at Roswald like he was a money-delivering boy.
He hadn't expected to solve Zephyr's issue and make a huge profit just by showing up at this auction.
This world still had lots of good people.
"Next, let's welcome our grand finale item!"
With the auctioneer's loud call, a line of women of various ages were dragged out.
Most of them had beautiful faces, and it was clear they hadn't done any dirty or hard labor before. Their living conditions must've been decent previously.
"Please allow me to introduce today's item. All these people are wives and daughters of naval officers, including two rear admirals!"
This announcement caused a huge uproar in the venue.
Zephyr stood up with a ferocious expression, about to strike the auctioneer, "Of course, we wouldn't dare sell relatives of proper naval officers. Those noble ladies wouldn't be enslaved. Those officers were defectors from the Navy, and their families were implicated and demoted into slave status. That's why we're auctioning them today."
The auctioneer hurriedly explained. Although this wasn't the first time they'd sold slaves with similar identities, if the explanation wasn't clear, the auction house could get into big trouble.
"Navy traitors?", Zephyr's brows furrowed tightly, trying to recall where a defector of rear admiral level had appeared recently.
In the Great Pirate Era, quite a few marines defected due to dissatisfaction with their treatment, but rear admiral defectors were extremely rare, let alone two.
"Explain the defection in detail," Rosse smiled as he spoke, his voice silencing the chatter of the crowd.
When he heard there were navy family slaves here, he was quite thrilled.
With Roswald backing Rosse's identity as a Celestial Dragon, even if most didn't want to listen, no one dared speak a word. The venue went completely silent.
The auctioneer didn't dare not speak, but he didn't know many of the details and could only look toward the person in charge on the side with pleading eyes.
"I'll explain this matter," the person in charge stepped onto the stage, "Not long ago, Vice Admiral Jaguar D. Saul defected. During his escape, many navy personnel helped him out of old friendship, which delayed the Navy's capture of the traitor."
"These navy personnel's actions were discovered by the CP organization. They were all sentenced to death. Their families also lost the Navy's protection and, luckily for us, ended up here."
After listening to the full explanation, Zephyr's expression became complicated.
He wanted to protect these people, but didn't know what excuse to use.
Their husbands or fathers had indeed defected. Helping a navy traitor was also a fact. What consequences had been caused, he wasn't sure yet.
However, watching the families of former colleagues get sold as slaves, Zephyr just couldn't do it.
His wife and child had died at the hands of pirates, so he understood the pain of family members facing tragedy.
"Saint Rosse...", Zephyr's voice was hoarse, eyes red as he looked at Rosse.
He normally never begged, but for this group of strangers, he was willing to ask this Celestial Dragon today.
"Just so happens I need some servants to clean the palace," Rosse chuckled lightly. Meeting Zephyr's relieved, grateful gaze, he shouted loudly: "1.5 billion!"
As soon as that voice rang out, the entire venue fell silent.
A Celestial Dragon had placed a bid. Even if someone had wild ideas in their head, they had to give up now.
What's more, 1.5 billion for a dozen or so slaves that weren't even top beauties, totally not worth it.
"Hmph!", Roswald snorted coldly, crossing his arms and turning away.
He only had 900 million Berries left, he couldn't compete.
But as long as he acted like he didn't care, others wouldn't know he was broke, just think he wasn't interested.
'Roswald, you really are a genius!'
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