Chapter 160 - 160: Tesoro
The Grand Line.
Outside the slave shop, Gild Tesoro sat cross-legged on the ground.
His face lit up with excitement as he spoke toward the iron cage:
"Stella!!!"
"I've almost saved up enough money!"
"Look! Look!"
"Just one more month! No!!!"
"Half a month!!"
"Just half a month and we can be together!"
As he spoke, he secretly revealed a small portion of the money in his arms for the gentle blonde woman to see.
Stella smiled gently:
"Really!"
"That's wonderful."
Tesoro nodded vigorously:
"Yes!"
"By then we'll..."
Stella simply continued to look at him gently, nodding again and again.
She was truly happy too, but until the very last moment, she dared not hope...
That feeling of gaining hope only to have it crushed again... she had experienced it far too many times in her short life...
Unknowingly, they talked for nearly half the day again.
The slave shop owner came out and said helplessly:
"Alright, alright, don't block the front and mess up my business."
"It's already been three years. A couple more days won't make a difference."
Tesoro stood up awkwardly and smiled apologetically at the owner, offering his apologies.
The owner waved his hand, signaling him to leave.
Stella and the owner watched Tesoro's figure disappear, and the owner took a drag from his cigarette:
"Congrats. That silly kid's nearly saved up enough."
Stella gently looked toward where Tesoro had gone:
"And I have to thank you, Boss, for not selling me off."
The slave shop owner shook his head:
"I've seen plenty of suffering in this world."
"But you two... you're the first pair that really caught my interest."
"I wanted to see just how far that fool could go."
"Didn't expect..."
Tap, tap, tap, tap...
A sudden rhythm of leather shoes interrupted their conversation.
A man in a black suit walked up and stood before them. The slave shop owner cautiously asked:
"Hello, are you here to purchase a slave?"
The man in the black suit spoke, and his first sentence sent a chill through the owner's whole body, leaving him unable to think:
"I am a bodyguard of Saint Fransdin. You don't need to know my name."
"I'm just here to inform you that Saint Fransdin has taken a liking to this slave."
"You know what to do, right?"
"Hmm?"
The slave shop owner trembled all over:
"Y-Yes! Yes!"
"If Saint Fransdin has taken interest in her, it is her greatest honor!"
"I'll get her key right now—"
The man in black cut him off:
"No need."
"Saint Fransdin isn't short on slave money."
"Just charge the regular price."
"And that boy from earlier—he comes by every day, right?"
The shop owner nodded quickly:
"Yes, yes!"
"That boy comes here every day at four o'clock sharp in the afternoon."
The man in black nodded:
"Good. Tomorrow at four."
"Saint Fransdin will come to collect. Make sure you're properly prepared."
The shop owner nodded frantically:
"Understood, understood!!"
The man in black turned and left. A long while after—
The slave shop owner collapsed onto the floor, drenched in cold sweat.
He had no choice. Even though this was his business, his fear of the Celestial Dragons was no less than anyone else's.
If he accidentally offended one of these powerful figures, he could be killed on the spot...
Struggling to his feet, he looked at Stella:
"Damn thing, get ready. You're going to enjoy your new life with the Celestial Dragon tomorrow."
With that, he turned and left, full of resentment.
Anyone in this line of work wasn't a good person to begin with. Tesoro was just a few Belly short—he could've waived it easily.
He only kept Stella around to enjoy the spectacle, to display his own false kindness and mercy, to feel superior.
But now, because of these two, he had gotten entangled with a Celestial Dragon, and was ordered around in front of a slave. There's no way he could stay calm.
Inside the cage, Stella clutched her knees, trembling nonstop:
"Again... just when I had a glimmer of hope, it's crushed instantly..."
"Maybe... I really shouldn't exist in this world... why..."
"Why does it have to be like this to me..."
She buried her head deep into her knees as tears flowed uncontrollably.
...
In the town's largest building.
Everything had been refurbished to welcome the Celestial Dragon.
Inside the grand, glittering hall, Saint Fransdin slowly enjoyed a pastry.
In his mind, he replayed the scene he'd stumbled upon earlier that day—that blinding smile...
The man in the black suit returned quickly and leaned in to speak:
"Respected Saint Fransdin, the matter you instructed has been handled."
Saint Fransdin casually nodded:
"That boy goes there every day?"
The man in black nodded:
"Yes. Every day at four in the afternoon, he appears at the slave shop."
Saint Fransdin suddenly began to laugh, and the laugh grew increasingly twisted.
"Good, good, good."
"I'm really looking forward to it."
"To see the look on that lowlife's face when his hope is utterly shattered... how amusing."
"Jihihihihihihihi!"
He grinned grotesquely, his expression twisted.
That long-standing sense of superiority had already begun to distort some people's minds...
...
The next day.
Overjoyed, brimming with excitement, Tesoro rushed to the slave shop to see his beloved—and froze.
Stella looked abnormally frail, and her usual smile was gone.
Tesoro ran up to the bars and grabbed them, trying to push his head through:
"Stella! Are you okay?!"
"What happened!!!"
"Stella!!!"
Hearing Tesoro's voice, Stella finally came back to her senses.
She looked at him and gave a faint, despairing smile—but before she could open her mouth, a revolting laugh rang out.
"Jihihihihihihi!"
A Celestial Dragon appeared from within the shop, flanked by two bodyguards. The slave shop owner followed, bowing and scraping.
Without needing any command, the shop owner proactively opened the cage, yanked the iron chain around Stella's neck, and handed it to Saint Fransdin.
Watching how Stella was treated, Tesoro charged forward in fury, trying to snatch the chain.
But the bodyguard beside Saint Fransdin appeared instantly and slapped him twice.
Smack! Smack!
He was pinned to the ground, his face bloodied from the blows.
Saint Fransdin twisted his face into a smile as he looked at Tesoro:
"What a fine little slave."
"I'll make sure to love her dearly."
"After all, in this world, you can buy anything if you have the money. Isn't that wonderful?"
"Jihihihihihihi!"
Looking at the furious, struggling Tesoro on the ground, Saint Fransdin smiled with perverse satisfaction.
He tugged the chain and turned to leave.
Stella, pulled backward by the iron collar, had tears flowing down her face.
She looked back at Tesoro one last time and showed him that familiar, gentle smile:
"Thank you."
"Your feelings mean a lot to me."
"I truly felt happiness in my heart."
"Tesoro."
As she was dragged farther and farther away, Tesoro snapped...
...
Several days later, in the Holy Land Mary Geoise.
Inside a dim interrogation chamber.
Hiss—
"Aaaaaaaaah!!!"
The sound of burning flesh echoed out. Tesoro, who had deliberately committed a serious crime just to be caught and enslaved by the Celestial Dragons, was being branded with the Hoof of the Soaring Dragon.
Watching Tesoro writhe in agony, his eyes rolling back in pain, the Celestial Dragon holding the branding iron laughed maniacally:
"Jihihihihihihi..."
Hiss—
The iron pressed down once more.
Despite the pain, Tesoro still clung to a sliver of hope deep in his heart.
"If I become a Celestial Dragon's slave too... maybe I'll be able to see Stella again..."
...
Holy Land, Mary Geoise.
The Elders gathered as usual in the great white palace.
The Elder holding a cane looked at the others and said:
"What are your thoughts on that man, Dragon?"