Chapter 53: Koala
Time flies, and the last day of June arrives in the blink of an eye.
Today is also the day when the auction house on Sabaody Archipelago holds its quarterly auction.
Just like the person in charge of the black market in Water 7 said, Sabaody Archipelago hosts monthly auctions and larger auctions every three months.
In other words, the auction house holds four large-scale auctions every year.
The Celestial Dragons always attend these quarterly auctions, eager to see the valuable items the auction house has collected over the past three months.
To the villains in the Lawless Zone, these quarterly auctions seem to be held exclusively for the Celestial Dragons.
In fact, this auction house was established specifically for them.
Monthly auctions sell off junk to the poor and to the rich who come to Sabaody for entertainment, as well as to pirates who haven't yet reached Fish-Man Island.
The real treasures are saved for the quarterly auctions for the Celestial Dragons, who are the big spenders.
Over time, everyone knows that the best items are reserved for the quarterly auctions.
Thus, these auctions see the highest traffic and the most lively atmosphere.
Just like last time, when Kahn came to the auction house alone, it was already packed with people.
Even near the entrance, there were hardly any seats left in the last row.
Taking one of the vacant seats, Kahn crossed his elegant legs, propped his chin with one hand, and looked at the stage where no host had yet appeared. A look of regret flashed in his red eyes.
These days, Kahn hasn't been idle.
On the contrary, just like last season's auction, he had the idea of acquiring the three Devil Fruits in advance.
Unfortunately, the auction house's experience and caution foiled his plans.
They had long prepared for someone to steal their goods and didn't store the Devil Fruits in the auction house like they did with slaves.
Even the guards at the auction house didn't know there would be three Devil Fruits for auction.
The person in charge of this auction house only spread such rumours in the black market.
Even with Kahn's unique perception and ability to read minds, he couldn't confirm if the gossip about the Devil Fruits was true.
The secrecy was exceptionally tight.
Moreover, the auction house operated just like in the original book—hype tactics. Even if they had a mermaid, they wouldn't announce it directly but would spread rumours about having a mermaid.
This hype convinced Kahn that the gossip about the three Devil Fruits was likely true.
He believed it was highly probable that the Paramecia Love Love Fruit he sought and the Zoan Snake-Snake Fruits that Mary and Sonia ate in the original story would be there.
Kahn shifted his gaze from the stage to a specific row.
That row of seats was exclusive to the Celestial Dragons.
No one but the Celestial Dragons could sit there.
Anyone else who dared would either become a slave or be shot dead by the Celestial Dragons.
To the Celestial Dragons, mortals could never be equal to gods!
It was already a gift from them not to force everyone to kneel during the auction.
As Kahn arrived, the Celestial Dragons also made their entrance.
The Celestial Dragons in that special seat were the same ones from three months ago.
This further assured Kahn that the rumours were true and that the Paramecia Love Love Fruit and two Zoan Snake-Snake Fruits would be there.
Just... he hoped the biggest idiot in the world wouldn't cause trouble.
A cold light flashed in Kahn's red eyes as he thought about this.
"Gentlemen and ladies... Thank you for attending this auction. I am your favourite host..."
At this moment, a voice echoed throughout the auction house via the microphone connected to the amplified Den Den Mushi.
Even people just outside the auction house could hear the excited shouts.
With the appearance of the host, the official opening of this season's auction was announced.
The auction house staff seemed to know that the Celestial Dragons were impatient. Afraid that talking too much nonsense would offend the nobles of the world and get him arrested as a slave or fired, the host introduced himself briefly and quickly ignited the atmosphere. The auction began promptly.
One auction item after another was brought up and auctioned off.
As expected, these auction items were all slaves.
The annual and quarterly auctions are held exclusively for Celestial Dragons.
Celestial Dragons love nothing more than slaves.
These world nobles compete to show off how powerful and rare their slaves are, gaining a sense of accomplishment.
Every year, the auction house buys slaves of various rare races at high prices from the dark world.
This drives human traffickers and even struggling bounty hunters to capture these rare races worldwide.
The three Boa sisters were considered precious commodities and appeared in last season's auction because they came from the legendary Amazon Lily and were rare Kuja warriors.
Among the auctioned items, Kahn saw several races.
There were Longarm Tribe members, Mink Tribe members, Fish-Men, enhanced humans like Sonia with abnormal statures, and even Skypiean angels.
Clearly, some angels had descended from Skypiea and were captured, or someone entered the "Western Sky Summit," hunted down or abducted the angels, and brought them to the Blue Sea.
Most of these rare race slaves were taken by the Celestial Dragons.
The only one they missed was the enhanced human, who was bought by an ordinary nobleman.
Ordinary slaves were divided among the rich and other nobles.
Then, another slave was brought up.
Kahn, who had been using Observation Haki to monitor the backstage for any signs of the Devil Fruits and a chance to intercept them, suddenly froze and turned his gaze back to the stage.
What froze Kahn wasn't how rare the slave was but that he knew this slave.
This slave was a little girl who looked only four or five years old.
She had short orange-yellow hair, slightly different in colour from Mary's. She had baby fat all over her face and looked very cute in a timid manner.
Perhaps it was this cuteness that caught the eye of the Celestial Dragons sitting in the special seat, making them decide to bid on her.
This little girl's name was Koala.
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