Chapter 81: Main Act (II)
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The surroundings of Sabaody Archipelago were covered in a calming and soothing silence, far from the usual noise surrounding the nearby cities, the occasional popping sound of the bubbles floating in the sky, and the calming noise of the breeze moving through the numerous landscapes of grass could make anyone sigh in leisure and calmness.
However, despite this unusual calmness in Sabaody Archipelago, there was one place in specific that was not so quiet at that moment... Furthermore, inside that place, an event that could sink the entire island into chaos was about to happen at any given moment...
Inside the Human Auctioning House, countless gasps and mutterings covered the whole vicinity. Some of them expressed their ridicule, while others simply expressed their confusion and perplexity in front of such a situation. And no wonder, this was the first time that something like this had happened on this island, and more so now that there were actually three Tenryuubitos attending the Auction!
Standing in the middle of the stage were countless people bound by chains, all of them had an equally surprised and confused expression to that of the people sitting at the auditorium, after all, none of them expected to see what was happening right now, and even less to people like them.
Next to the newly announced mermaid that the kidnappers had sold to the Human Auctioning House, was standing one of the most infamous and dangerous men that appeared during the past few months... The man that had declared war against the World Government openly, and the one that had been creating havoc wherever he and his crew traveled... Monkey D Luffy...
"Don't worry Caimie! I will take you out of there right now!" Luffy Exclaimed.
Luffy, who had finally arrived at the Auction house by crashing against it a few minutes ago, tried his best to take her out of the fish tank in where Caimie was being kept, prisoner. However, before he could do something about it, suddenly the voice of Charlos crashed down on him and startled him slightly.
"What are you doing?! That's my mermaid!!" Charlos huffed and puffed while looking at Luffy with a bulging vein on his forehead. Not only had this pirate suddenly intruded into this pleasant auction, but he was now trying to take away the mermaid that he had bought a minute ago!
Not being able to endure more, Charlos snapped and pulled out his gun before pointing it towards Luffy with a stupid grin plastered on his face.
"Die!" Charlos cleaned his snot rapidly and yelled angrily before pulling up the trigger while pointing at Luffy's head.
*Boom!!*
The bullet traveled at an enormous speed towards Luffy's forehead, however, before it could even make contact, Luffy moved his head slightly to the side, and dodged the bullet with a wrinkled expression on his face.
"What?" Confused by what he had seen, Charlos looked at the tip of the gun with a perplexed expression on his face and turned to look at Luffy once again while furrowing his eyebrows.
"Oi, what's wrong with you?!" Angry due to the sudden attack, Luffy walked angrily towards Charlos ready to punch him rapidly with his Gomu Gomu no Pistol. However, before he could even do something, suddenly a figure appeared from the same spot where Luffy had crashed into the Auction a few seconds ago.
It was Hatchan, who had been delayed by a few marines on the way, and actually arrived later than Luffy, unlike in the original story. He was sweating profusely while looking around the vicinity trying to spot Luffy. When he finally did, Hatchan yelled exasperatedly towards him and ran in his direction in a desperate manner.
"Wait, Straw-hat, don't hurt him!!" Reaching out his hand in his direction Hatchan gestured Luffy to stop immediately, something that confused the latter, but made him agree nonetheless.
"Why can't I punch that guy? He shot at me while I was trying to save Caimie!" Luffy just looked at Hatchan with an upset look on his face and crossed his arms while pouting in dissatisfaction.
"Don't you remember what I said?! You must not harm a Tenryuubito for anything in the world, otherwise, we will be dead!!" When Hatchan heard what Luffy said, a strangely terrified and despairing expression appeared on his face while he explained the reason why Charlos must not be hurt.
It was in a way, something that made perfect sense. After all, if one of the Tenryuubitos were to get harmed in any way possible by you, not only could you be persecuted by the marine for doing such a thing, but you could also have a god damn Admiral hunting you down!
If Luffy had not been able to even put a proper fight against Aokiji before, there was no need to mention what kind of destiny he and his crew could suffer if one of the Admirals appeared and tried to kill them seriously, unlike Aokiji before.
*Boom!!*
Suddenly, while Hatchan was still grabbing Luffy's shoulders, the sound of a gun echoed all around the Auction House and startled everyone present. Blood splashed on Luffy's face, and the large body of Hatchan suddenly fell powerless on top of him as if he was a puppet whose strings had been severed apart.
"O-oi, Hatchan?!" Shocked by what had happened, Luffy called out of Hatchan but received no response.
At that moment, an annoyed and angry voice sounded from one of the seats above.
"So annoying...! Can't he see that I'm still dealing with that filthy pirate? You are in the way!" Charlos, who was being protected by Hatchan a few seconds ago, was now pointing in his direction with the gun he had used to shoot Luffy before.
At that moment, the entire air on the Auction house seemed to have decreased a few degrees, and the cold and furious look of Luffy fixated on the fat and disgusting Tentyuubito that had shot Hatchan, even when he was being protected by the latter.
When Luffy heard what Charlos said, he felt something snap, as the veins on his forehead started bulging out, and his teeth gnashed against each other with violence.
"W-what's with that look?! You dare to look at me?!" Charlos saw Luffy's infuriated gaze on him and felt incredibly indignant. After all, for him to have a commoner look at him with such enmity was a terrible insolence.
*Click*
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As the gun in Charlos' hands gave a click sound, he looked at Luffy with contempt in his gaze and pointed the gun once again towards him.
"You are annoying... Die!!"
*Boom!!*
*Boom!!*
Soon, two incredibly fast bullets flew in direction of Luffy without any sign of stopping. However, even with the incredible speed at which they were moving, dodging them was nothing but a walk in the park for Luffy... And soon, after dodging Charlos' attack, Luffy disappeared from his previous spot and reappeared right in front of Charles before giving a scream of pure rage and fury while his fist moved with a terrible momentum in direction of Charlos' face.
At that moment, everyone in the Auction House felt their body shiver at what happened next. The only ones who didn't care were the Straw-hats, who were looking at everything from above, and the supernovas who were undercover in the middle of the crowd watching everything unfold with disbelieving expressions.
*Bam!!!*
*Crack!*
Charlos' face, which was smashed away by Luffy's furious punch, had something crack inside his head due to the fierceness of Luffy's strike, and made his body fly away at an incredible speed in direction of the Auction House's walls.
*Boom!!*
After crashing against the walls of the Auction, a cloud of dust covered the body of the Charlos that was buried under the debris, completely unconscious and knocked out after Luffy's attack hit him. Whether it was because of luck, the excess of fat on his face, or simply because Luffy held back, Charlos actually did not die from that attack. Even though he was just a simple human, and Luffy's punch was enough to kill him, Charlos still somehow managed to live.
*Screams!!*
At that moment, an uproar enveloped the whole Auction House, as the screams of terror and despair filled up the whole place while making the straw-hats completely baffled at the sudden burst of the people attending the Auction House.
Soon, the people at the auditorium exploded into panic and chaos, as all of them ran towards the exit and tried escaping from that place at any cost.
They knew... A Tenryuubito had just been injured to such a dangerous degree, and that soon an Admiral could arrive. Of course, by that time, none of them wanted to be there as they might get implicated or even associated to the incident. Making them obviously objectives for the Admiral to hunt down.
"Charlos-Niisama!!" While the people ran away, Charlos' sister Shalria ran towards his side and called out to him with an expression filled with worry. However, when she noticed that he wasn't waking up, she gazed towards Luffy with an enraged expression and punched the floor with her fist in an angry manner.
"How dare you to punch my brother, stupid pirate! Just you wait until the marine is here!!" Shalria grabbed Charlos' body and dragged him towards where their father was, while always maintaining a disgusted and infuriated expression on his face.
Luffy paid no heed to her and dashed towards Hatchan to check up on his condition.
However, after some minutes passed, several marines started arriving, startling the straw-hats and the other supernovas due to how fast they appeared... Soon, a battle broke out, and while the pirates dealt with the marines and guards of the Auction house, some marines made use of the situation to rescue the Tenryuubitos that were trapped under all that fight without any chance of escaping.
After that, they left the Auction House and were brought to a safe place so that they could be safe from any danger, while the Admiral arrived at the island.
"How dare they!! I want them to get tortured in the most horrible way after they are captured, you hear me?!" Shalria, who was still angry at how her brother got punched in the face, yelled angrily at one of the marines while she gritted her teeth in anger.
Roswald, the father of both Shalria and Charlos, nodded solemnly as he gazed at the marines as if he was looking at an insect. "They dared to punch someone from my family, if they are not tortured in the most horrible way when they are captured, then I will make sure that the ones getting tortured are all of you...!"
The marines just gulped in nervousness, as the one who seemed to be the leader stepped to the front with sweat covering all his back because of the fear. "D-don't worry sir, Admiral Kizaru is going to arrive soon and will punish all those vile pirates. There's no need to fret over such lowly scums"
"Hmph, that better be the case..." Roswald just crossed his arms before clapping his hands. After that, a slave appeared beside him and acted as a chair for Roswald to sit. The same happened with Shalria as she called two slaves for her and Charlos to rest while everything unfolded and the pirates were apprehended.
"We need to go now sir, we will leave here a squad of marines to take care of you and your family while we fight against the pirates and buy some time for the Admiral to arrive" Suddenly, one of the Marines spoke aloud, and gestured all the others to follow him. Soon only three marines were left, as Roswald just watched everything unfold with impatience, but still silent.
Soon, a voice called him over from the side, something that startled him as he didn't expect that one of these lowly marines could actually approach him so much. However, he got even more surprised when a hand grabbed his shoulder and patted it slightly.
When he turned to look at the marine who had the audacity of doing such a thing, he saw a black-haired youth of red eyes looking at him with a grin on his face. "Don't worry sir, I will take proper care of you while Admiral Kizaru deals with the pirates.
For some reason... at that moment Roswald felt a shiver go down his spine... Somehow, he suspected that something bad was about to happen, yet... He felt completely helpless. He, the leader of a family of Tenryuubitos... Felt scared for the first time in his life.
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