The pinnacle of pirates begins with deceiving fate!

Without Lox, the Hive is a barren island where you can barely find a few trees.

"Boss Shiki, big news!"

Shiki stood confidently at the bow of the ship when a pirate excitedly trotted over and handed him a newspaper.

"It's those same few bastards turning the world upside down again."

Shiki curled his lip in disdain; he was getting tired of seeing these kinds of news reports these past few days.

It's either Newgate defeating some pirate crew, or Big Mom taking over some island, or Kaido attacking some World Government agency.

These guys are even more active than when Lox was around!

I reckon John must have gotten into some big trouble again.

Shiki reached out and took the newspaper. He glanced at it casually, but the information that caught his eye made him freeze in shock.

John is dead?!

"Damn it, I was even thinking of taking you under my command, how could you be dead!"

Strands of blood trickled up Shiki's pupils, making the angry lion appear incredibly ferocious and terrifying.

"Traitors are unforgivable!"

Chapter 27 Ouroboros

The Western Sea, the Kingdom of Troy.

Troia is a "non-World Government member state" and is a place frequently raided by pirates and frequented by slave traders.

But the inhabitants here are very good at finding joy in hardship, and they have developed Troy into a land of flowing melodies.

"Hey, you're from a musical family!"

In the central square, John stepped out from the crowd, raised his hand and tossed a 1-Berry coin into a violin case on the ground.

Upon seeing this, the violinist, who was playing a melodious tune, twitched at the corner of his mouth and almost couldn't help but stop playing and fight this bastard.

That's absolutely outrageous!

“Brubrubru”

John, ignoring the violinist who was trying to suppress his anger, pulled out a Den Den Mushi from his pocket, pushed through the crowd, and walked out.

As always, cover the Den Den Mushi's eyes before picking up the receiver.

"I've arrived. I'm here to trade at the port warehouse."

A rough voice came from the Den Den Mushi, with the faint sound of a child crying mixed in.

John frowned slightly, and his "Mind Network" unfolded, following the radio waves. Sure enough, he heard voices other than those of the slave traders in the port warehouse.

There are three children!

"You're a dog that can't stop eating shit; you're still thinking about making a quick buck during the deal."

John would curse if he couldn't stand it, showing no restraint whatsoever.

The slave trader was furious; he had been urging the transaction ever since the newspaper article was published, only to be told he had to wait in line.

If you're slow on one step, you'll be slow on every step. Now, not only has he lost the initiative to others, but he's also being treated like a grandson and scolded. How can he tolerate this?

He immediately gritted his teeth and cursed back.

"Shut up! What right do you, you damned pirate, have to criticize me!"

"You dare talk back? I'm coming for you right now!"

"Come on then, I'm waiting for you!"

"..."

After hanging up the phone, John walked quickly back to the hotel with a gloomy expression, sat down in a chair in his room, and closed his eyes.

Half a month has passed since the first transaction in the Kingdom of Ilucia, and six billion Berries have been earned by selling "fingernails".

Buyers include, but are not limited to, bounty hunter guilds, underworld liaisons, CP agents, pirates, etc.

Even the "BIGMOM Pirates" and the "Flying Pirates" contacted him through underworld contacts.

Adhering to the principle of not betraying his old friends, John rejected Smith and Linlin's trade request, infuriating the two guys.

They've already announced a bounty on his head...

To avoid overlapping transactions between buyers, John went to great lengths, changing locations for each deal and traveling to six different countries in a row.

This is the last deal, a transaction with slave traders.

"Talk back? I'll show you what's what!"

As purple arcs of electricity spread across John's body, a figure rose from beneath the port's connecting bridge.

This is a woman wearing a black suit and a faceless mask. She swims ashore, and the heat generated in her body dries her soaked clothes.

Then, to the astonishment of the people in the port, it churned up the billowing hot steam and walked away.

Warehouse No. 3

The oppressive space was filled with the stench of fish and decay. Several beams of light shone through the high windows onto the rows of iron cages, and the ground reflected the thin, weeping figures inside.

"Shut up, all of you! If you cry again, I'll rip your tongues out!"

The blond middle-aged man kicked an iron cage with a loud bang, startling the child inside who immediately covered his mouth.

The other children in the iron cages were also trembling with fear, no longer daring to wail loudly, and could only sob quietly, controlled by their fear instincts.

Seeing this, the blond middle-aged man let out a slightly satisfied snort, feeling the anger he had suffered at the hands of the "informant" dissipate somewhat.

His name was Scott Parker, and he was the head of the Ouroboros slave-hunting group in the West Sea.

Compared to those wild slave traders who capture anything—mermaids, ability users, pirates—Ouroboros is backed by high-ranking officials of the World Government, and their targets are only children aged seven and under.

Based on normal slave market prices, the price of a human being, with male laborers as the benchmark, would fluctuate around 500,000 Berries.

Depending on factors such as ability and appearance, the price can fluctuate by 100,000 to 200,000 Berries.

The World Government official who supported Ouroboros received a minimum offer of one million Berries from the Celestial Dragons, the "World Nobles," for children under seven years old!

If someone has outstanding looks or abilities, the price will increase. We buy as many as you want, with no quantity limit!

Even after deducting the "high-ranking official's" brokerage fee of 30% per transaction, the final price still far exceeds that of an adult human.

Most importantly, these kids are much easier to catch than adults; you can easily trick them with a lollipop laced with a drug.

It's incredibly profitable with absolutely no investment!

"Parker, don't scare the children."

A woman with long black hair and a gentle face spoke up. She gave Parker a reproachful glare, walked to the cage, opened the window, and reached her hand in.

As her hand touched the face of the sobbing child, a faint glow appeared, and the child's sadness and fear quickly subsided, and the crying stopped.

Soon, the child sat back in the cage and drifted off to sleep, breathing steadily as if back in his mother's arms.

The dark-haired woman then did the same for the other children, lulling them all to sleep.

"The Celestial Dragons want children with normal emotions so that they can stimulate more 'adolescent hormones' when they abuse them."

"Mass, does this 'youth hormone' really exist? Can it rejuvenate an old person? Don't be ridiculous! It's just the Celestial Dragons' sadistic pleasure!"

Parker curled his lip in disdain, scoffing at the dark-haired woman's words.

Although the "high-ranking official" said that the reason why children are so valuable is because "youth hormones" can be extracted from them, he didn't believe a word of it.

Eternal youth? Immortality?

It's just wishful thinking on the part of those in power!

"Whether 'youth hormones' really exist or not, you have to remember that it's because of them that we make money!"

Mass's gentle face suddenly turned grim, and her gaze toward Parker was full of warning.

Parker was dissatisfied, but considering the other party's position in the group, he remained silent and did not refute.

Misa, a Paramecia-type Emotion-Emotion Fruit user, is very popular with high-ranking officials of the World Government and the Celestial Dragons.

These people in power may have had too smooth a life, and they dare not actually risk their lives on the high seas for thrills, so they rely on the power of the Emotion Fruit to experience all sorts of different feelings.

As far as Pak knew, a Celestial Dragon named "Saint Somaz" liked to immerse himself in sadness and then torture and kill slaves while wailing.

This allows him to quickly reach the peak of pleasure, which is extremely perverted!

"When the 'informant' arrives, remember to keep him alive. 'BIGMOM' and 'Golden Lion' are worth a billion Berries in the underworld!"

Mass stopped dwelling on Parker's attitude toward the merchandise and started talking to him about the next course of action.

Chapter 28: There's a hierarchy of contempt even among criminals.

From the very beginning, the Ouroboros slave-hunting group had no intention of paying intelligence fees.

They even went so far as to try to capture the "informant" and sell him for another sum of money after posting bounties on "BIGMOM" and "Golden Lion".

After all, having done too many risk-free, highly profitable deals, getting them to suddenly spend money to buy intelligence is worse than killing them.

"When the 'informant' arrives, don't make a move yet. Let me get close while the transaction is being completed and use my Devil Fruit ability to influence his emotions."

"Wait until he is in a state of extreme inferiority and despair before you take action to subdue him."

"Do you understand?"

"Ah."

Parker nodded, agreeing to Mass's battle plan.

As a former colleague, he naturally knew that the "Emotion Fruit" could be activated silently, but it had the obvious drawback of being limited by distance.

The effective range is only within three meters of the target. The closer you are, the better the effect. If you can make skin contact, the effect can be doubled.

boom

The heavy steel doors of the warehouse suddenly caved inward, flung sideways by the terrifying force.

Parker and Mass's pupils suddenly contracted, and they quickly crouched down, letting the two twisted iron doors sweep over their heads, making their hair fly and their scalps sting.