Chapter 22: Human Auction
(Two Weeks Later)
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A barrage of cannonballs rain down on the King Gucci's rear, some being deflected by Kid's magnetic fields while others slam into it, their momentum reduced.
"Vesta Rex, I won't let you escape! You need to answer for your crimes!" A roaring woman cried, it was Gion.
Rex was not surprised that she was upset. From what he had gathered, Gion and Hina were decent friends at one point, with Gion being a few years ahead of Hina in the Marineford training camp. With him allegedly 'corrupting' her into a pirate, Gion must be rather upset.
"Senbonsakura!" Gion cries, sending out a rain of flower petals at Rex's ship.
Rex knew not to belittle the flowers and sends a volley of Hasshoken ripples to stop them. Rex still couldn't imagine that Gion had gotten Byakuya's Zanpakuto ability. So unfair.
As for the how, the flowers were equivalent to Gion's swordsmanship style not unlike Kin'emon's fire or McGuy's lightning. Gion was truly talented to be capable of using her swordsmanship to that level with her age, but as a result, the flowers were rather frail.
"Hawkins, this is the last time you use those blasted cards of yours! Every single time you predict doom! Doom, doom, doom! Are you sure you're shuffling properly?"
In the past two weeks, Rex had not been having a fun time. He had been pursued by pirate hunters, Marines, pirates, even Sea Kings. Hawkins was almost like a bad-luck magnet. Still, it worked both ways as Hawkins' predictions helped him out of the situations they created.
Hawkins just shrugs. He had no control over what he saw.
"Gem, are we ready to deploy the mines!?"
Gem grunts in reply, loading the mine bays one at a time. The constant cannonball barrage wasn't helping but eventually he loads the last one, moving into position to deploy.
Ten mines are then released, each plopping in the water harmlessly, but carrying great power. Gion frowns as she sees the large, ball-like objects. They seemed familiar somehow…
Boom!
The ten mines explode at once, creating an immense wavefront. With the King Gucci in front of the explosion and the Marines behind it, the mines are doubly effective, battering the Marines backwards while pushing the King Gucci forwards. With the mines' proximity to the Marines, it was likely they would need to make repairs.
"Hey Gi-gi, I think we should see other people. It's not me, it's you. You just can't stop eating my dust!"
Rex grins as he sees Gion's purple face receding in the distance.
"Resume course. Destination is still Rubeck Island."
As for why Rex was going back to Rubeck, it was because he had received some valuable intelligence from a pirate crew he had recently defeated. Apparently, there was a large scale slave auction slated to go down on the famous black market island.
The auction was apparently an annual event that attracted everyone from nobles to pirates, even some corrupt Marines would show up. The main attraction of the auction was the slaves, but weapons, precious gems, contraband and very rarely devil fruits would show up.
While slaves held little interest for Rex, what he was interested in was rumors of at least one, possibly multiple Devil Fruits being among the auction items this year.
"Why do we need another Devil Fruit?" Bonney asked. "I've got one, so do Gem, Kid, you and that weirdo Hawkins, not to mention Rose's weird poison thing and Killer who doesn't want one."
"Lots of reasons. Research, future crew mates, maybe I just want a really expensive and colorful paperweight." Rex says with a grin. "Besides, you missed a very important crew member! Rouge hasn't eaten a devil fruit."
Rex strokes the small tiger's head. If this fruit was of the Hito-Hito series, Rex vowed to get it for the tiger. After all, of the crew members, Rouge was second only to Kid and Killer in Rex's heart. The small tiger was one of his most trusted companions and had served him well.
"We should be arriving at Rubeck within 47 degrees of the celestial heavens!" Hawkins announces.
"In English please?"
"Within a sixth of a nychthemeron."
"How is that English!?"
Rex sighed, it seemed that Hawkins and Kid were not going to get along. It made sense, they were literally opposites. Kid was brash and adventurous while Hawkins was calm and calculating.
Still Rex couldn't help but be ecstatic at the fact that Hawkins was a capable navigator. Then again, it made sense. He could see the future, that was like a cheat code for navigators who needed to predict the weather.
Rex smiled. It was all coming together now. After he dealt with some final business in the North Blue, Rex planned on making his move to the Grand Line.
(Six Hours Later)
Rex and his crew took their seats in the auction house.
Due to Doflamingo's influence on Rubeck, Rex kept half his officers on the boat, bringing only Gem and Hawkins with him.
Rex had come a bit earlier to negotiate slipping some of his own items, including some Gem bombs, into the auction which was the main reason Gem was here. In the very likely case that Doflamingo or his associates tried something here, Gem could blow the place sky high to cover their retreat.
"Each of you has an allowance of 10 million Berries. Go crazy if you want to." Rex say, giving generously to his crewmates. While 10 million was small compared to Rex's fortune, it was still rather generous for an allowance.
As for Rex himself, he was currently holding onto a whopping 500 million Berries. Once his goods were auctioned off, that amount might increase even further, possibly breaking the one billion mark.
Never let it be said that crime doesn't pay. Rex had robbed several ships in the North Blue from Marines to pirate hunters to pirates. Trebol's ship had given him the biggest haul by far, but the other ships were still pretty valuable.
Six months ago, Rex was a country bumpkin. Now, Rex was one of the wealthiest pirates in the North Blue.
"Welcome masters, to the annual Seven Cardinal Sins Human Auction!" A beautiful young female human says seductively. "My name is Marina, and I will be your auctioneer today. As you all know, whomever spends the most money in this auction will also get some 'additional benefits' from me so without further ado, let us begin."
There are several loud hoots in the crowd as Marina's few words seem to already ramp up the crowd.
"Let us begin with the sin of Gluttony. We will now begin to exhibit some of the finest food, drink and… recreational consumables that the north blue has to offer."
The first segment of the auction is mostly for nobles. Exotic meats that were either illegal or difficult to hunt, rare spices as well as downright disgusting goods such as the meat of other humanoid species. While pirates would occasionally bet on the wines, most of them stayed out of this part of the auction.
The next two portions similarly came and went without anything interesting for Rex.
The envy portion of the auction mainly dealt with intelligence. Sea maps, trade routes of merchant companies, treasure maps and the like. Nothing really interests Rex all that much. The few things that do are way too expensive to be worth it. One thing Hawkins chips in a few thousand Berries for is a log pose for the first half of the Grand Line.
As for the greed portion, it involved gold, jewels and other symbolic treasures that Rex has no interest in. What's fortunate for him is that a sizeable amount of the gold he stole at Roshwan can finally be sold here, netting Rex 200 million Berries.
But it is only after that when the interesting part of the auction begins.
"Now, my friends, it's time for some Wrath! Do you desire someone dead? Have a war that you must win? Perhaps you just desire a suiting weapon for a person of your status. Well look no further, the sin of Wrath procures the finest weapons in the North!"
This portion of the auction interests Rex. While Rex doesn't directly bid on anything, not wanting anyone to recognize his voice, he has Hawkins bid on a few things for him.
"I hear 35 million for the graded swords Akai and Aoi from auction room number 12, is there any higher bid."
Rex clenched his fists. He really hoped there was nothing higher. These two swords would be very fitting for Killer, who had been using ordinary swords since the beginning of pirate career. Still, paying more than 35 million for two regular graded swords was just foolish.
Apparently, the other auction goers agreed and let him get away with the sword. There were other graded swords to be sold and even a skilled grade sword, but it wasn't suitable for Killer or Hawkins.
"Now, let me introduce the grand finale! Thunder-Fire bombs! Named for their sound akin to the boom of thunder and their fiery explosions, these bombs are light weight, high-yield and incredibly powerful. They will be going for a minimum of 10 million for ten bombs with three sets of ten!"
Rex grinned, the 'Thunder-Fire' bombs were naturally his Gem bombs. He actually felt bad for whoever bought them as he had no intention of letting them leave the island.
Since the bombs were made of Gem's DNA he could detonate them remotely meaning whoever bought them was in for some carnage.
Bidding for the bombs was insane. The first set goes for 70 million with the second going for slightly lower at 63 million. Then, it comes down to the last set.
"Did I just hear 69 million from a the General of Desire island? What a hefty purchase? If I were a noble from a neighboring Island, such a powerful bomb would make me tremble in my boots if it were in the hands of my enemy… Do I hear any other bets?"
There is silence.
"Going once."
…
"Going twice."
…
"Goin-"
"95 million Berries." A voice calls out from the number one auctioning suite.
Rex freezes. He knew that voice. That voice belonged to…
"And we have a whopping 95 million Berries from Diamante of the Donquixote Pirates!"
With his ludicrous bid, Diamante gets the bombs easily. At first, the cadre didn't plan on buying them, but he had just learned that the bombs were delivered by an unknown source. With that in mind, he immediately linked the sale to Vesta Rex and knew that Doffy would love a chance to examine Rex's explosive technology.
"Now that our sin of Wrath segment is finished. It is time for the long awaited sin of Sloth! Let's not mince words here people, all of you are here for one thing above all and that is slaves! The sin of Sloth presents you with the strongest male slaves capable of dealing with any and every physical task imaginable to allow you to relish in relaxation! Warriors, porters, laborers and mounts, you will find your fill here."
Rex once again pauses his bidding, seeing little of worth here. Out of curiosity, Rex does buy a single long-legged tribesman for 1 million Berries. Maybe Rose could figure out how long-legged humans were genetically different from regular humans and create that mutation.
Moreover, an auction was just no fun if you never bid on anything.
Still, most of the slaves were lame. They were mostly ex-pirates, fishmen and a single half-Giant who went for a ludicrous price.
"Now… for the auction you have all been waiting for. The sin of Lust! I don't think I need to explain what will be sold here. In short, we have gathered the finest slave girls of the North and today they will all be up for sale!"
Rex shook his head as he observed the hooting passion that slave girls evoked in the crowd. So disappointing.
Rex notices that Gem clenched his fists in anger, likely tempted to blow up those savage nobles right now.
"Not yet."
Gem nods.
"Now, our first exhibition in the sin of Lust, a pair of exotic human sisters from the warring Gueria Island, Monet and Sugar! Let's start the bidding at two million Berries!"
Rex freezes as he sees the sisters. His mouth wide open.
So, this was where Doflamingo had gotten them? Rex sighed, no wonder Sugar and Monet were so loyal to him. In a way, Doflamingo had saved their lives in buying them away from the auction.
However, now, Rex would take that role. All things aside, Sugar and Monet had ridiculous levels of talent. Monet was okay, with most of her power being in her Devil Fruit, but Sugar was just broken.
At ten years old, Sugar was able to out speed the Tontatta dwarves, who were all faster than the ordinary human eye could observe, tagging them all in an instant. That kind of physical talent was comparable to Big Mom, and if she had grown up, Rex couldn't imagine how strong she would be.
"2 million!" Rex cried out right away.
Gem was surprised to see Rex bidding on female slaves, particularly on Sugar who was only nine years old. Was Rex seriously planning on bringing a nine-year-old onto a pirate ship?
"3 million!" Rex hears another voice call out. It was Diamante.
'Damn it!' Rex thought. Since he had tried to use Doflamingo's broker to find Monet and Sugar, Diamante must know that he valued them. He was probably trying to jack the price up to spite him.
"3.5 million!" Rex shouted.
"5 million!" Diamante added casually.
"5.5 million!"
"7 million!"
Rex grits his teeth. If this was the way Diamante wanted to play it, then this was how it would have to go.
"Hawkins, can you figure out how high Diamante is willing to go?"
"Precisely? No." Hawkins says, causing Rex to frown. "But, I can give you a ball park."
Rex continues to slowly creep the price up as Hawkins casts his divination. He prays with all his might that Hawkins got this just right, as if he didn't Rex would make a huge loss here.
"35 million!" Rex offers, looking at Hawkins who was finally done. He raised two fingers.
"200 million?" Rex asks.
Hawkins nods.
Rex grins, this was perfect.
"37 million!" Diamante says, loving this game of constantly beating out Rex.
"Hey fabric boy!" Rex says with a grin, recalling Diamante's devil fruit power. "I've been looking to recruit a good tailor and I think that you fit the bill. Are you willing to leave that reject noble Dog-flamingo and join me!?"
Diamante's fists clench in anger as he hears this. His entire room seems to contort and twist as he inadvertently uses his devil fruit power on everything around him.
"Just make your bid!" Diamante roars through gritted teeth.
"Ok." Rex says. "But no more playing around. I'm willing to spend 180 million on the girls! Anything more and Donkey-Otis pirates can have 'em!"
"180 million! What are you, a pauper!?" Diamante roars. "The Donquixote pirates offer 250 million!"
The auction house is surprised. While such a big offer was a big statement, it was also stupid. 250 million was no small sum, even for the Donquixote pirates.
The moment the words leave his mouth, Diamante almost immediately wants to take them back. After all, it was never his intent to actually buy the girls, only to force Rex to overpay for them.
But now, the cat was out of the bag. As the auctioneer calls the third bid, Diamante seems to deflate like an old balloon. He had paid 250 times the market value for two slaves, only one of whom was even decent looking.
"Hawkins. Go back to the ship and call in Bonney and Kid, then, prepare the ship for departure."
Gem and Hawkins look confused at this.
"What are you planning?" Hawkins asks.
"I am planning a righteous revolution!"
"You're planning on robbing all these rich people, aren't you?" Gem says, smacking his forehead.
"That's right!"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone