Chapter 240
"What in the world did I just walk into…?"
Rayleigh had witnessed countless absurd situations during his years at sea.
He had sailed to the final island and had fought alongside Gol D. Roger against the strongest monsters of their era.
Yet even he had never entered a slave auction and found three Celestial Dragons collared on the floor while a smiling princess politely asked someone to keep hold of their leashes.
Saint Charlos clawed desperately at the vines around his neck.
"Get this thing off me!"
Saint Shalria's face had turned red with rage.
"Do you have any idea who we are?!"
Saint Rosward struggled to lift his head from the floor.
"You will all be executed for this! An Admiral will come! Every last one of you will die!"
Shiki looked down at them without interest.
"That voice is getting annoying."
The vines tightened slightly.
The three World Nobles immediately fell silent.
A suffocating stillness settled over the auction house.
Luffy looked between Shiki and the collared World Nobles.
Then his eyes moved toward Pappag.
"Chopper!"
"I'm already going!"
Chopper rushed across the hall and dropped beside the injured starfish.
Sanji and Carina hurried toward Camie's tank, while Usopp kept glancing nervously at the entrance.
"This is bad."
Usopp clutched his head.
"This is really, really bad! They attacked the guards, collared three Celestial Dragons, and now they're holding them like pets!"
Luffy tilted his head.
"So what? They had it coming."
"That's not the problem!"
Usopp pointed frantically toward the ceiling.
"An Admiral is going to come!"
"Let him."
Kid leaned back in his chair as a fierce grin returned to his face.
"If an Admiral comes, we'll just have to find a way off this island."
Killer turned his masked face toward him.
"Kid, you sure about this? We're dealing with an Admiral. One wrong move, and getting off this island won't be easy."
"Of course I am. This island was starting to bore me."
Law sighed quietly.
"Eustass-ya truly has no sense of self-preservation."
Kid's head snapped toward him.
"What did you say, Trafalgar?!"
Just then Shiki glanced toward the rear passage of the auction house.
A knowing smile appeared on his face.
"You finally decided to show yourself, huh, Rayleigh?"
Everyone turned toward the direction of his gaze.
"What?"
Luffy squinted toward the dark passage, scrunching up his face as he tried to make out who was standing there.
"Is someone back there?"
The sound of footsteps came from behind the stage.
An elderly man wearing glasses emerged from the passage with a relaxed smile. His white hair and beard were neatly kept, and despite the chaos filling the auction house, he carried himself as though he had merely wandered into an amusing party.
A massive man followed behind him.
The auction staff stared in disbelief.
"That's one of the slaves from backstage!"
"How did they escape?!"
"You know that old man?" Nami asked, looking at Shiki in surprise.
Shiki nodded calmly.
"He's the coating mechanic we were looking for."
Nami looked between Shiki and the elderly man.
"That's him?"
Before Shiki could answer, several people elsewhere in the hall recognized the newcomer.
Kid was one of the first to recognize him, and his expression had already turned serious.
"There's no mistake… That old man is 'Dark King' Silvers Rayleigh."
"So that's Silvers Rayleigh…"
Unlike Luffy, Law had recognized him immediately. He had always treated information as a weapon, gathering whatever he could about important figures across the sea. Names, faces, abilities—he made sure to remember them all.
Bepo beside him stiffened.
"Captain, are you serious?! That's the Pirate King's first mate?!"
Usopp's ears twitched at those words, even though part of him wished he hadn't heard them, and his jaw dropped.
"The Pirate King's what?!"
Chopper stared at Rayleigh with shining eyes.
"A real member of the Pirate King's crew!"
Even Sanji briefly forgot about the women around him.
"Why is someone like that hiding in an auction house?"
Rayleigh paid little attention to the reactions surrounding him.
He looked over the people gathered in the hall, his gaze passing across the Straw Hat Pirates before slowly settling on Luffy.
More precisely, it settled upon the straw hat resting on Luffy's head.
For a moment, something nostalgic appeared in Rayleigh's eyes.
"That hat suits a fearless man well."
Luffy placed one hand on top of it.
"Huh?"
Rayleigh's smile returned.
"I've been wanting to meet you, Monkey D. Luffy."
Luffy stared at him for a moment before breaking into a wide grin.
"You know me?"
Rayleigh laughed softly.
"I've heard quite a bit about you."
Then Rayleigh turned toward Shiki, while interest in his eyes deepened.
"And I've been wanting to meet you as well."
Unlike Luffy, Shiki did not appear surprised.
He had known Rayleigh was inside the building long before the Dark King stepped into view.
Shiki lightly raised the vine leashes in his hand.
"I hope this isn't what you had in mind when you imagined our first meeting."
Rayleigh looked at the three Celestial Dragons crawling at Shiki's feet.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
"You certainly know how to make an entrance. Even your style of handling things remind me of someone–"
Before he could begin, the sound of rapid footsteps approached from outside.
"The Marines are coming!"
"Someone already reported the attack!"
"They've surrounded the auction house!"
"It seems those stationed nearby were already prepared for trouble," Robin observed calmly.
Nami glanced toward Shiki.
"What do we do next, Shiki? After everything that happened here, the Marines won't just sit back. They may have already contacted Navy Headquarters for reinforcements."
Vivi smiled softly.
"I'm sure Shiki-san already knows what to do."
Suddenly a voice amplified through a Den Den Mushi echoed from outside.
"Pirates inside the Human Auctioning House, release the World Nobles immediately!"
Dozens of Marines had gathered around the building.
More units were moving through the streets of Sabaody, blocking every bridge and path leading away from Grove 1.
"Lay down your weapons and surrender!"
"Failure to comply will be treated as an act of war against the World Government!"
Saint Charlos's confidence immediately returned.
He raised his head as far as the vine around his neck allowed.
'Did you hear that?!'
'The Marines are here!'
Although Charlos couldn't speak, the hatred in his eyes said enough. Now that the Marines had arrived, his fear had already begun turning into a twisted sense of triumph.
The moment he was freed, he swore he would make Shiki and the women beside him suffer until they begged for death.
Shiki noticed the malice in his gaze, but he did not care. Without sparing Charlos another glance, he turned and walked toward the entrance.
Nami raised an eyebrow.
"What are you planning, Shiki?"
"Clearing the island."
"Clearing the what?"
Outside, the Marines tightened their grip on their rifles.
Several officers drew their swords.
The moment Shiki appeared, dozens of weapons were aimed at him.
"There he is!"
"Golden Lion Shiki!"
"Do not let him escape!"
"Prepare to fire!"
Shiki stopped at the top of the auction house steps.
The streets beyond were filled with Marines.
They occupied the bridges connecting the mangrove groves. Reinforcements continued arriving from every direction, while commanders shouted orders through Den Den Mushi.
The news had already spread across Sabaody.
Three Celestial Dragons had been attacked.
Every Marine stationed on the archipelago had been ordered to converge on Grove 1.
Behind Shiki, Kid, Law, Luffy, Rayleigh, and the others moved closer to the entrance.
They wanted to see how he intended to deal with the growing army.
A deep pressure erupted from Shiki's body across the island like the presence of an immense beast suddenly opening its eyes.
Crimson-black lightning tore through the air.
The sky above Sabaody seemed to darken.
The giant mangroves groaned as their enormous roots trembled beneath the pressure.
The bullets flying toward Shiki lost their force and crashed to the ground before reaching him.
Then the wave of Conqueror's Haki swept through the entire island without pause.
The Marines closest to the auction house were the first to fall.
Their eyes rolled back.
Rifles slipped from limp hands as hundreds of Marines collapsed at once. But it did not end there. The wave of Haki continued across Sabaody, sweeping through every Marine checkpoint and every grove on the archipelago.
Grove 2.
Grove 13.
Grove 27.
Grove 40.
The entire Marine force stationed on the archipelago was knocked unconscious in a single instant.
Yet the civilians remained standing as if it hadn't touched them at all.
Shiki's control was absolute.
Several enormous figures remained standing among the unconscious Marines.
Pacifistas.
Their blank eyes continued scanning the streets as mechanical systems processed the sudden loss of every human unit around them.
They had not been overlooked.
Shiki had deliberately left them untouched.
Across the island, confusion quickly gave way to dread as people felt the overwhelming pressure sweep past them.
"What in the world just happened?"
Bonney stood among a group of unconscious Marines with her mouth slightly open.
"Who knocked all of them out?"
Hawkins looked down at the fallen soldiers before turning over another card.
"The probability of escaping the island has increased dramatically."
Apoo's arms trembled.
"Damn…"
His usual grin looked strained.
"What kind of monster releases Haki like that?"
Urouge slowly raised his head toward Grove 1.
His smile remained, but sweat ran down the side of his face.
"That man's spirit is enormous."
Inside the auction house, no one understood how terrifying Shiki's Haki truly was better than Rayleigh, a man who had faced countless monsters during his years at sea.
Yet now his heart had beaten harder against his chest.
For one single moment, Rayleigh could not stop the thought from entering his mind.
This Conqueror's Haki might be even stronger than Roger's.
The Dark King's mouth curved into a faint, incredulous smile.
"What a terrifying young man…"
Had Shiki known what Rayleigh was thinking, he would not have been surprised.
Before coming to this world from the Naruto world, his Conqueror's Haki had not surpassed Roger's.
It had still been monstrous.
At the very least, it had already reached a level comparable to Shanks.
Yet after obtaining and fusing with the Yami Sukehiro Template, his overall strength had undergone another transformation.
His physical power, instincts, will, swordsmanship, reactions, and Haki had all risen together.
The last traces of crimson-black lightning faded from the air.
Silence covered Sabaody.
Shiki looked over the unconscious Marines spread across the street.
Then his gaze settled on the Pacifistas still standing in the distance.
The machines raised their heads simultaneously.
Light began gathering inside their mouths.
Shiki's lips curved into a smile.
"Nami, Vivi… Robin. The rest is yours. Don't disappoint me."
Shiki had deliberately left the Pacifistas standing so the three of them could face them. He wanted to see how far they could push themselves and whether they were capable of breaking past their current limits.
Shiki was not worried about Nami or Vivi. Their Logia abilities gave them more than enough room to handle themselves.
Robin was different.
Still, Shiki had already thought about that. He knew exactly how to give her the power she needed, and the next war he planned to take part in might provide the perfect opportunity.
"So that's the kind of monster nine hundred million gets you…"
Killer glanced toward Kid but said nothing. He knew that look.
Rather than discouraging Kid, Shiki's power had only made him more determined to enter the New World.
"Haoshoku Haki…"
Law spoke so quietly that only those closest to him heard.
For him, it was no longer difficult to understand why a newcomer with such a short history at sea had already received a bounty of nine hundred million Berries.
If anything, the number now seemed far too low.
Luffy, meanwhile, leaned forward with both hands resting on his knees, staring at the unconscious Marines with open amazement.
"Whoa…"
He looked from the fallen soldiers to Shiki.
"You knocked all of them out without even touching them!"
"That was awesome! How'd you do that?"
Kid turned toward him in disbelief.
"You don't know?"
Luffy looked back at him in confusion.
"Know what?"
Kid stared at him for a moment before his face twisted in irritation.
"How the hell did an idiot like you get a bounty of three hundred million?"
"What did you call me, jagged-head?!"
"Who are you calling jagged-head, Straw Hat?!"
The two immediately began shouting at each other.
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