Alone and Infinite.

Chapter 384 The Apostle's Shock

The reason why Tyrant Bear agreed was simple.

First, he was once a cadre in the Revolutionary Army and had been secretly observing Luffy for a long time.

Secondly, he has reached an agreement with Satan, one of the Five Elders, to relinquish his ego and become a slave devoid of emotion in exchange for the freedom and health of his adopted daughter Bonnie.

In other words, he has already been sentenced to death, so what difference would it make if another death sentence were added?

So Kizaru only remained silent for a moment before he understood the reasoning.

With a wave of his hand, he created an "explosion" that caused particularly severe light pollution, shattering a large chunk of the top of the Yarchman mangrove.

He then announced that the enemy had been wounded and fled, and immediately disappeared again in a flash of light, this time to search for the bear.

Taking advantage of the light pollution explosion, Li Xia shed her disguise and strolled into area 38, where the auction house was located, just like a normal tourist, browsing the various markets in the Sabaody Archipelago.

The previous riots clearly did not affect this place, or perhaps this place, filled with all sorts of transactions and crimes, was already chaotic enough.

Ordinary residents wouldn't approach this place; only villains, criminals, and underground brokers would rave about it, calling it paradise.

"Are Luffy and the others alright?"

Aowu suddenly remembered the Straw Hat crew, who were still clueless. Although, according to the original story, they were saved and sent flying by Kuma because they beat up the Celestial Dragons.

But—this hasn't happened yet.

"It'll be fine."

Li Xia paused:
"should?"

"That's terrifying—have you ever been kicked by light?"

Kizaru raised his leg, which suddenly emitted a strong light, and kicked towards Luffy.

The moment it got close to Luffy, the power in that leg suddenly dropped by 99%, leaving only a weak, feeble force.

That little bit of force shouldn't hurt him, right?

"Those who dare to do such things must bear the consequences."

Luffy slammed straight into the wall like a cannonball, his face contorted in pain as he faced Kizaru's questioning.

He gritted his teeth and remained silent. Even if he was slow to understand, he realized that it was because "Xia" had hit a Celestial Dragon that he had been attacked by a Marine Admiral.

But he harbored no resentment, having witnessed firsthand the Celestial Dragons' trampling and disregard for freedom and life.

The urge to beat up the Celestial Dragons was like an unstoppable tsunami.

They were stopped by Xiao Ba and Kemi, which is why they didn't make a move.

Li Xia is simply doing what he's always wanted to do, so why complain?
At that moment, he had only one thought in his mind: to hate himself!
"I'm sorry, my friends, I'm just too weak."

Kizaru raised his leg once more, gathering light within it, but what he was thinking was—

Why isn't Big Bear here yet? My legs are getting sore from lifting them.
"Admission fee is 10 Berries, booths are 20 Berries, VIP seats are 50 Berries, and top-floor boxes are 100 million Berries."

The smiling guards at the entrance of the auction house stopped Li Xia and his group.

"Box."

Li Xia had a golden, card-like object between her index and middle fingers.

This is a promissory note commonly used in large transactions; one note can be worth one million.

The guard's eyes lit up. He respectfully accepted the promissory note, rubbed his hands together to verify its authenticity, and immediately bowed and extended his hand.

"this way please!"

Li Xia followed the guard through a hidden door and upstairs. The corridor was covered with thick carpets, and the aroma of incense mixed with warmth made people feel drowsy.

Combined with the hazy overhead lighting, a unique atmosphere quietly emerges.

Almost instantly, the voices of Li Xia, Heitan, and Aowu rang out in the team channel:

"Meow!"

There's something wrong with the air here!

"Hallucinogens!"

Li Xia and the two kids laughed. As Li Xia walked, he said in the team chat:
"The problem isn't too big. A little bit of hallucinogens and aphrodisiacs makes people unable to think calmly and easily get impulsive."

This is a kind of underhanded tactic.

Soon the person leading the way pushed open a heavy door, and a room that wasn't very big came into view.

The private room was luxuriously decorated, with one wall open, featuring only openwork railings, offering a commanding view of the entire circular auction hall.

Two elegant armchairs were placed in front of the railing, and various fruits, still glistening with water droplets, were laid out on the small round table in the middle.

The only slightly outrageous thing was the soft couch at the back, the purpose of which was self-evident.

"Hehe, are you satisfied with this private room, esteemed guest? We also offer a variety of value-added services."

The receptionist rubbed his hands together, took out a small notebook, and handed it over.

Li Xia casually flipped through the pages; they were full of photos of various beautiful women, along with some information and prices.

Starting at hundreds of thousands of peles
"Go down now, I'll call you if I need anything."

"Okay, sure, just ring the bell and we'll be right there."

After the soft sound of the door closing, the entire private room fell silent once more.

Li Xia gave Heitan a look, and the kitten nodded, taking out a small square box and placing it on the round table.

There are several copper pipes used for eavesdropping in this room, scattered throughout various places.

Even the slightest noise couldn't escape Black Charcoal's ears, but this was no problem at all for the Apostle.

Whether it's a team channel or a simple microphone, it can solve the problem.

"Alright, there are no problems now."

Li Xia stretched and sat down in the chair, which was surprisingly comfortable.

"Boss, isn't there a list of names for this auction?" Awoo, unusually, crawled out of the dragon egg, landed on the table, and started throwing grapes into his mouth one by one with his claws.

Black Charcoal curiously flipped through the picture album that Gui Jie had just left behind.

Beautiful women of all styles, races, and ages, including fur-bearing people!
Kurotan's eyes suddenly widened as he stared at the 'real catgirl' above, lost in thought.

"No, this auction house is more like a channel for the apostles to digest the legacy left by the Hall of Light."

What you get is completely random. This is to prevent some apostles from not doing missions and instead using various means to accumulate Berries.

After all, if you really wanted to get Pelé, it wouldn't be that difficult.

It's difficult to accumulate several billion like you, but accumulating a few hundred million isn't a big problem. Just find some remote islands and slaughter them one by one, and you can always make that much.

"That's true, but I wonder what the Temple of Light will give us."

After finishing the grapes, Aowu crawled back into the dragon egg, closed his eyes, and pretended to sleep. There was still some time before the official start, so he decided to take a nap first.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Dark Domain Auction House!"

The host opened his arms wide and read the opening remarks with great enthusiasm.

But everyone below, whether NPCs or apostles, just wanted to skip ahead. After patiently listening for a while, the host finally got to the point.

"Now, let's welcome our first item for auction—an exquisitely crafted single-barreled smoothbore musket!"

With a wave of the host's hand, the curtain slowly opened, revealing a smoothbore musket lying on its rack, shimmering with a dreamlike brilliance under the lights.

"This smoothbore gun was hand-carved by a master craftsman, and every part has been meticulously polished. Paired with specially made bullets, it is enough to take down an elephant with just one shot!"
The loading method has also been specially optimized —

The host continued his eloquent introduction, while in the eyes of all the apostles, the smoothbore musket gleamed with a faint purple light.

[Exquisitely crafted single-barreled smoothbore gun]

[Grade: Purple, Tier 3]

【Origin: One Piece spin-off world, Gunpowder Island, SR Mauser Studio】

Magazine capacity: 1 rounds

[Loading method: Post-loading]

Damage Intensity: 10 (Tier 3)

Effective range: 600 meters

Finely crafted: Effective range increased by an additional 100%.
Large caliber: Upon hitting an enemy, the bullet will shatter and tumble, expanding the damage area and increasing damage by an additional 50%-100%.
Sniper's Soul: After killing an enemy, a kill marker will be created and attached to the next bullet, increasing muzzle velocity and damage by an additional 20%.

Overpowering Aura: Increases the overpowering aura coverage effect by an additional 10%.
[Comment: Are firearms useless in the One Piece spin-off world? The guns used by snipers like Rocks, Ben Beckman, and Wano Oga all come from Gunpowder Island.]

These weapons are powerful enough to make even the strongest tremble!
Laugh, howl, and then hunt!

hiss!
A soft gasp suddenly filled the hall; the apostle was stunned by this opening piece of equipment alone.

The NPCs were more interested in the SR Mauser signature engraved on the gun.

Wow, is this really that exciting?

Aowu stared at the smoothbore musket, stunned by the grand scale of the hall.

This gun has excellent stats, extremely high damage, and its power increases after killing an enemy.

Most importantly, this effect should be easy to stack; you just need to shoot anyone.

The only drawback might be its slower rate of fire; compared to fully automatic fire, this breech-loading smoothbore gun has a rate of fire limited to 10 rounds per minute.

No matter how you look at it, this gun is designed for long-range sniping, the kind that kills with a single shot.

This rate of fire is not a problem.

"It will probably fetch a very high price—"

"Starting bid: 1 million Berries!"

"2 million!"

"4 million!"

In just a moment, the price of this smoothbore musket soared toward 10 billion.

At this point, the prices suddenly dropped significantly.

Li Xia's eyes flashed, and sure enough, it was pretty much as he had thought; the vast majority of apostles did not have many Berries.

They came here simply to find a way to spend their money; they never expected this auction house to be so unconventional.

They started with this kind of high-quality stuff right from the beginning.

Otherwise, they would have already tried every means to raise Pele.