Buggy felt a bit helpless.
Buggy just wanted to hang Shanks up and give him a beating.
However, everyone present assumed he wanted to rescue Shanks out of nostalgia for their childhood friendship, all praising his loyalty.
To avoid losing face, Buggy could only laugh wildly to mask his tears, lest he accidentally started crying…
"Hahaha… Yes, that's exactly what I thought…"
"As expected of Captain Buggy!"
A group of Buggy Pirates, with tears in their eyes, watched Clown Buggy and the freed Red-haired Shanks standing together talking, moved by these two men of the sea who still cherished their childhood friendship.
"Damn Shanks…"
Buggy gritted his teeth and whispered a curse in Shanks' ear.
"Buggy…"
Shanks patted Buggy's shoulder with an indifferent attitude: "We've been friends for decades, so there's no need to thank me…"
"You bastard…"
Buggy grabbed him by the collar!
"What's wrong, Buggy?"
Shanks was somewhat surprised by Buggy's demeanor.
Just as the two were bickering, the Konoha Pirates' Red Sand Sasori interrupted with a mechanized, icy voice declaring something else.
"The hunting game is over."
"The Konoha Pirates will advance to the New World in the second half of the Grand Line. Before that, we will host a slave auction at Island 1 of the Shampodi Archipelago."
As Red Sand Sasori got to this point, he continued, "As everyone knows, the stars of this auction are all Heavenly Celestial Dragons. Anyone wishing to auction a Heavenly Celestial Dragon as a slave must hold a World Noble's Identity Chip to participate, proving they are brave enough to kill a Heavenly Celestial Dragon…"
"..."
Shanks's smile slowly froze.
This man, who had just narrowly escaped thanks to Clown Buggy, remembered that Figarland Garling was also among those up for auction…
He…
needed to find a way to raise money…
to buy Figarland Garling at the auction…
and possibly even more money, because Figarland Garling had amassed quite a few enemies due to his misdeeds, meaning potential competition…
After the Sky Island incident, Shanks no longer thought he could use force to get those Heavenly Celestial Dragon slaves from the Konoha Pirates. He could only follow the rules set by the Konoha Pirates to achieve his goal peacefully.
"Can these be used?"
Clown Buggy, holding several Heavenly Celestial Dragon Identity Chips, curiously asked Red Sand Sasori: "The Celestial Dragon Chips I got in the game…"
"They can."
Red Sand Sasori was quite accommodating to the victors, even adding helpfully, "You can gift or resell these Identity Chips to others; it's within our allowance, as these are rewards for the brave…"
"The prey hunted in the game…"
"Were merely entry tickets for the slave auction…"
"..."
The audience around the world heard their conversation.
The Konoha Pirates…
Do they really treat the Heavenly Celestial Dragons as mere livestock?
Meanwhile.
Numerous strong individuals worldwide were eager to buy Heavenly Celestial Dragon Identity Chips, aiming to purchase a Celestial Dragon as a slave!
Wealthy pirates offered ten billion Belly for one, even willing to bid higher for an Identity Chip!
Rumor has it…
Some declared they'd spare no expense, even a hundred billion Belly!
However, Heavenly Celestial Dragon Identity Chips are precious, only owned by those who participated in the Sky Island hunting game, so buying them would require some time to contact the seller…
The seas soon saw a new incident: a Celestial Dragon playing outside was killed by pirates, and his Identity Chip was sold at a high price…
Soon…
Such incidents became commonplace.
Expectedly.
Such matters enraged the remaining two Five Elders.
Even after an Admiral destroyed those pirates, it couldn't save the dire situation of the Celestial Dragons, as their assassinations became far too common…
After all…
the profits from killing a Celestial Dragon were simply too high!
The root of the issue lay with the Konoha Pirates. However, as the losers of the Sky Island incident, the World Government had no means to stop all of this from happening. They could only deploy the CP Department to escort all Heavenly Celestial Dragons back to the Holy Land as soon as possible…
Hoping…
the Konoha Pirates end the auction soon.
This way, such events likely won't happen again in the future.
The two remaining Five Elders couldn't ignore the Konoha Pirates' auction, but they couldn't send anyone to deal with the Konoha Pirates either. Instead, they secretly ordered the CP Department to participate in the auction and buy back as many Celestial Dragons as possible.
Even if…
those Celestial Dragons are executed in secret…
They must never become slaves of the sea!
Once lofty deities are turned into slaves, other gods lose their ruling authority, and the Celestial Dragons will become the sea's laughingstock!
Meanwhile.
The Konoha Pirates gained a new member.
Because Boa Hancock requested to join the Konoha Pirates, it even sparked internal debate. After all, she was the first outsider to proactively want aboard.