Chapter 66: Self-Deceiving Justice
"Merfolk slaves have been almost extinct these past few years. You've been working with me for several years, right? Do you know what the starting bid for a mermaid is?"
"I remember. Male merfolk start at 1 million Berries, females start at 70 million Berries. If it's a split-tail mermaid (over 30 years old), it starts at 10 million Berries."
"Exactly. Ordinary humans only start at 500,000 Berries. Even the price of a Devil Fruit user might not match a mermaid!
I hear all mermaids are as beautiful as flowers, and there are plenty of rich people willing to spend a fortune on them.
70 million Berries is the old price. If we really had a mermaid now, the starting bid would probably be 100 million Berries...
You hurry up and arrange the slaves. I'll go to the front to stir up the guests' emotions."
Saying this, Zeko walked from the side door to the stage. After Zeko left, his deputy prepared to do as Zeko instructed.
In the surrounding cages, various gazes seemed to focus on him.
Sadness, pleading, unwillingness, anger—all kinds of emotions mixed together.
"Don't look at me like that. I'm just selling goods. I wish you unlucky bastards luck in finding a good buyer. Maybe your lives will be better than before."
He was just about to bring the auction items out of the cages when his body was suddenly wrapped by a strange force, as if something had clamped down on him.
Then, this invisible force lifted him directly into mid-air. He opened his mouth to cry for help, but could make no sound at all.
That strange force locked onto his throat, and a strong sense of suffocation set in.
"Don't be afraid. Dizziness is normal. Pain... is also normal."
As a hybrid of a Fish-man and a Giant (Wotan), Sebastian's strength was top-tier even among the Fish-man population. Dealing with such an opponent using brute force was the simplest thing for him.
"Please remain quiet, everyone. Freedom is beckoning to you."
Sebastian took the keys to the cages and chains from the deputy's body.
The explosive collars on the slaves were a troublesome matter. Although Haki could serve as a special lock-picking tool, forcibly removing them that way would trigger an explosion, which could easily cause a commotion.
Having the key was naturally better.
Under normal circumstances, Sebastian was the one to execute infiltration operations. With his invisibility ability, he could achieve twice the result with half the effort.
He was a "traditional" infiltrator, not the type who claims "no one will notice if I kill all the witnesses."
The cell doors were opened one by one, and the collars on their necks were removed by Sebastian one by one. However, the chains on their hands remained locked.
"Um... Mr. Invisible Man, why don't you unlock the chains on our hands too?"
Sebastian didn't reveal his form at this moment, so the people present didn't know how to address him.
"This is for your safety. Without these, it won't be easy to identify you later."
At this moment, they didn't understand the meaning of Sebastian's words, but soon, the answer was revealed.
As the curtains on the front stage opened, the people who came to buy slaves didn't see the high-quality slaves they longed for. Instead, they saw the corpses of guards strewn everywhere, and the slaves who had already left their cages.
"Ahhh!!!"
Accompanied by a scream, the people in the venue immediately scattered and fled. With so many people dead, it was obviously a huge problem.
"What's going on?! Where are the guards! Contact the Marines on the island immediately!"
Zeko shouted at the top of his lungs for guards to maintain order while he ran toward the backstage. At the same time, Nereus and his group also made their move.
"Old rules. Kill anyone who blocks us. As long as they don't have shackles on them, don't worry about friendly fire!"
This was a Human Auction House. As the name suggested, a place specializing in selling slaves. It could be said that no one who walked through these gates was innocent.
Even if they slaughtered this place clean, they wouldn't find many who were wrongfully killed.
However, after all, the guests here included nobles from all over the world. Killing them all right now would affect the reputation of the entire Fish-man and Merfolk race.
If they only killed the people from the slave auction house, many people would still understand them. In this regard, many abolitionist countries privately approved of Nereus's actions.
But those countries also had noble classes. If he killed everyone indiscriminately now and let the newspapers propagate it, it would be easy to get labeled with various tags. One slip up, and Fish-man Island could become the enemy of the world.
That wouldn't be good for the future of Fish-man Island. So for now, his attacks were relatively restrained, but he wouldn't go out of his way to care for their safety either. Accidental injuries or deaths were inevitable.
This was why Sebastian kept the shackles on their hands—it didn't hinder their escape, but it avoided them being attacked by Nereus's crew.
Meanwhile, the Marines, upon receiving the news, quickly sent out a squad. They thought it was just a group of pirates robbing the auction, which wasn't uncommon.
After all, people coming to the auction carried large amounts of funds. It wasn't until they arrived at the scene that they realized who the enemy actually was.
Although Nereus slightly disguised his face when infiltrating the auction house, he didn't do so when fighting.
At the cost of the entire vanguard squad being wiped out, they finally knew who the enemy was.
"Reporting to Admiral Kong! The garrison on Sabaody Archipelago sends word: Nereus is slaughtering people at the Human Public Employment Security Office in Grove 1! The vanguard unit has been wiped out. Requesting Headquarters support!"
"That guy couldn't handle the loneliness and started making moves too... The remnants of Rocks... each one is more troublesome than the last..."
Hearing the soldier's report, Kong didn't appear panicked. Instead, he leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples.
Outsiders might think that the death of Rocks meant the sea would welcome peace, but in fact, it was not so.
In the nearly one year since the end of the God Valley Incident, Whitebeard, Shiki, Big Mom... one name after another resounded on the sea again, bringing endless trouble to the Marines.
Especially at this stage, the positions of the Three Marine Admirals were not fully stable, and military strength often seemed stretched thin.
"The Fleet Admiral is currently at Mary Geoise. Sengoku and Zephyr are in the New World..."
Kong himself needed to guard Mary Geoise. He knew very well that if the opponent was Nereus, sending a few Vice Admirals was meaningless. Without Admiral-level combat power, no one could hold off Nereus.
Even an Admiral might only be able to handle him for a bit...
"Garp, you..."
"I'm not going. It's just a place that sells slaves. Isn't it better to just ignore it? That guy will leave on his own eventually."
"Garp!"
The term "selling slaves" was generally not mentioned at Headquarters. Usually, Marine Headquarters would use "Public Employment Security Office" to refer to that place, executing their self-deceiving justice.
But now wasn't the time to argue over terminology. Although Garp's response gave Kong a headache, considering Nereus's past actions... Garp actually had a point.
"Order the garrison on Sabaody Archipelago: Do not interfere with him. As long as he doesn't actively attack Government or Marine stations, let him leave."
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