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Chapter 21: A Slave Collar for a Celestial Dragon
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep! BOOM!!
It had been more than ten minutes since Line left Camie, telling her he was going to find the key to her collar.
And he still hadn't found it.
"Damn it, where the hell is it?! Shouldn't something like this normally be in a drawer or something?!"
He had searched for what felt like three thousand ri, rummaging through every corner of the Human Auctioning House while staying hidden. Naturally, that took time.
Drawer after drawer—nothing, nothing, no keys anywhere.
The only things he had found were a hand mirror, some matches, thirty thousand Berries, and a coffee cup. Yeah, he didn't need any of that. Well, he might as well take them anyway.
Old Tontatta habits. Grab first, ask questions later. Wait, no! What he needed was the key, damn it!
"Ughhh, where is it?"
He plopped down on top of a drawer he had already checked to calm his thoughts. That was when he felt something jangling beneath his tail.
Confused, he looked down. There it was—a bundle of keys with a label that read "Collars."
"Huh? Wait, they were here the whole time? These are the slave collar keys, right?"
They had been sitting in the exact spot he had already searched. Classic case of not seeing what's right under your nose.
"I wasted so much freaking time! A-anyway! I finally found the slave collar keys! Yes!"
Now he could finally save her.
Line rushed back to the cage where Camie had been locked up, only to find it empty.
"Huh? She's gone. D-don't tell me she's already been taken to the auction stage? Oh crap."
Cold sweat poured down his back. If Camie had already been sold because he took too long finding the key, that would be no joke!
"Whoooaaa!! Camieee!!"
Which way was the auction hall?! Observation Haki, activate! There—a place packed with people's presences, that way!
He dashed off at full speed—when suddenly—
BANG!!
"Eh?"
A gunshot-like sound rang out from the auction venue.
What? Why a gunshot? He hurried from backstage onto the stage and froze.
"Huh? Wh-what is this situation?"
On stage sat Camie inside a round water tank. Good—he had finally found her.
But what really caught his eye was a Celestial Dragon in the audience seats, dancing around and shouting, "I shot a Fish-Man~♪"
Three Celestial Dragons in total: the noisy one, a woman, and an older man.
"Shot a Fish-Man". don't tell me.
"Ughhh~."
There, collapsed and covered in blood, was Hatchan.
What the hell was going on?!
It had happened so fast he could barely process it. Apparently Hatchan had come looking for the kidnapped Camie and ended up here too.
But why was he getting shot by a Celestial Dragon? As Line wondered—
THUD!!
"!!?"
It wasn't another gunshot. It was the dull sound of a heavy punch.
The source: Luffy had just sent the Celestial Dragon who shot Hatchan flying with everything he had.
What the hell are you doing?!?!
"Sorry guys, but if I punch these people, a Marine Admiral's gonna show up with a warship, y'know."
Luffy grinned like it was no big deal.
And in the next instant—
Naturally, total pandemonium broke out in the audience.
"Waaaah!! It's a Celestial Dragon assault incident!!"
"A Marine Admiral is coming!!"
"Run! Run!!"
"A Celestial Dragon got punched!!"
"It's the return of the Invisible Phantom Thief!!"
The guests scrambled to escape. Meanwhile, the Celestial Dragons' bodyguards moved in to capture Straw Hat Luffy.
But Luffy's crewmates, who had already gathered, went wild—slashing, kicking, and calling down lightning on the guards.
What the heck are they all doing?!
"H-hey, Luffy!!"
"Oh, it's Line! What're you doing over there?"
"That's my line! Are you insane, punching a Celestial Dragon?! I went through all that trouble to secretly grab Camie's collar key without anyone noticing!"
"Hahaha! Nice! Then Line, I'll leave Camie to you!"
With that, Luffy started beating up the Celestial Dragons' bodyguards.
What a reckless guy. Anyway, first things first—rescue Camie.
Chopper seemed to be taking care of the bloodied Hatchan, so Line left that side to him.
"Tontatta Combat: Tail Split!!"
CRASH!!
With one powerful swing of his tail, Line shattered Camie's water tank to pieces.
He caught the tumbling mermaid and used the stolen key to remove her collar.
"Th-thank you, Line-chin."
"Yeah. I told you I'd definitely save you, didn't I? Hatchan will be fine too. Relax."
"W-wait! That mermaid was going to sell for five hundred million Berries! Five hundred million! I'll give you ten percent. no, thirty percent! Just give the mermaid ba—guah?!"
The slave auctioneer nearby started yapping hysterically, so Line kicked him square under the chin and knocked him out cold.
He hated both the buyers and the sellers of slaves. But the ones he hated most of all were.
"You wretch! How dare a lowly commoner lay hands on my son! Call the Marine Admiral and his warship!! I'll make you pay!!"
"That's right! For harming Big Brother Charlos! We'll have all your heads!"
These guys.
They were Celestial Dragons.
Line glared fiercely at them as they arrogantly threatened to summon a Marine Admiral.
Now, what to do.
Just like the Celestial Dragon said, if things stayed like this, an Admiral would definitely show up. The nightmare of Kizaru or Aokiji all over again.
The only ones who could stop a Marine Admiral from coming were, yeah, the Celestial Dragons themselves!
"Camie, wait here for a sec."
"Eh?"
"Acceleration!!"
He set Camie down and shot forward at blinding speed toward the Celestial Dragons. He latched onto the neck of the man who had screamed for the Admiral and—
Click
"Nngh?! What the—? A dwarf? What did you do to me?!"
"Hehehe! I put this on you!"
"!? That's!!"
You guys know exactly what this is, right?
It was the exploding slave collar he had just removed from Camie!
"Putting an exploding slave collar on a Celestial Dragon?! That's insane!!"
Someone dressed like a polar bear was shouting somewhere in the crowd, but Line ignored them for now.
Twirling the key on his finger, Line began negotiating.
"Hehehe, you know how powerful this thing is, right? Try to force it off and it explodes. You need this key to remove it. So? How does it feel to be put in the same position as a slave~?"
"Y-you! Do you really think you can do this to us, the descendants of the world's creators, and get away with it?!"
"That's exactly why I did it."
"What?!"
"Stop calling the Marine Admiral! If you do, I'll remove that collar!"
"!!?"
The Celestial Dragon's face instantly filled with shock.
"Wh-what are you."
"I'm saying let us go free without charges. Otherwise, that collar. it's gonna go boom~? Hehehe~"
"What a despicable little trick!"
Say whatever you want.
Bet you never thought you'd end up wearing one of these yourselves, huh?
See? Rattling it around trying to take it off is useless. It's already starting to beep. The Celestial Dragon's face turned deathly pale.
"See~? It's beeping. It's gonna explode soon, isn't it? Better make your decision quick. Otherwise, you're gonna die~?"
As Line grinned and pressed him, the Celestial Dragon, veins bulging on his forehead, finally gave in. "F-fine. I'll stop calling the Marine Admiral."
I won! Or so he thought—the very next instant—
CRASH!! THUD!!
"Aaaargh!!"
"Father!!?"
Suddenly, a long-nosed man fell from the ceiling and crushed the older Celestial Dragon beneath him.
Huh? Who the heck is this guy?
Luffy yelled "Usopp!" so apparently it was one of his crew. What kind of entrance was that. and what the hell are you doing?! Line had been trying to handle this peacefully—
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep! BOOM!!
"Ah."
The impact from Usopp stomping down had triggered the exploding slave collar on the Celestial Dragon. and it detonated spectacularly.
Line's mind instantly composed a dark little haiku:
Celestial Dragon. Slave collar. Glorious explosion death.
Oh crap.
"Faaather!!?!?"
The Celestial Dragon collapsed with his face charred black.
His daughter let out an enormous scream and immediately fainted on the spot.
Uhh, what now.
He had only put the collar on as a deterrent to stop them from calling an Admiral, but it had gone and exploded spectacularly.
At this rate, an Admiral was definitely coming.
"Hey! Long-nose!! What the hell did you do?! I had a perfect plan going!"
"Whoa?! What? A dwarf?"
A dwarf? Don't give me that!
This wasn't the time to be shocked by Line's existence! As Line clutched his head in frustration—
BOOOOM!!
"Big brother! Camie! Are you guys okay?!"
"Hahaha, quite the interesting situation we've got here."
Esune had arrived, kicking down a wall and bringing Rayleigh with her.
You could've just used the door.
"Ray-san! You're late! I ended up putting an exploding slave collar on a Celestial Dragon and it exploded!"
"A slave collar on a Celestial Dragon? Hahaha!!"
"This isn't funny!!"
"Eh?! This charred person. is a Celestial Dragon? Big brother did this to him?"
"Well, Esune. it was kind of an accident."
"Yes! Get wrecked, you Celestial Dragon bastards!"
Esune's eyes gleamed with pure murderous joy.
Her hatred for the Celestial Dragons was no joke.
At that moment, Luffy and his crew finally finished off all the bodyguards and gathered around. The bloodied Hatchan was being carried by Chopper, who had transformed into some muscular gorilla form. Wait, was this guy a user of the Muscular Fruit or something?
"Ughhh~. R-Rayleigh."
"Oh?! Hatchan, what happened to those wounds?! It looks like the work of a Celestial Dragon."
Rayleigh looked around, his gaze passing over each member of the Straw Hats, and then, he chuckled softly.
"So you all saved Hatchan. Thank you."
"Old man, you're the coating mechanic?"
"That's right. Haha, that straw hat really suits a bold young man like you."
For some reason, when Rayleigh saw Luffy's straw hat, he grinned. Why? Because he was Shakky's favorite or something?
While Line was thinking that, from the upper seats and near the entrance—where the polar bear guy had been shouting earlier—voices called out to Rayleigh.
So there were still people left in the venue besides Luffy's group.
"To think I'd meet such a big shot here."
"The Dark King Silvers Rayleigh! No mistake. Why is a legend like him in a place like this?"
The ones speaking were a man wearing a snow leopard-patterned hat and a red-haired man with goggles.
Yeah. Line thought he had seen them somewhere before. Weren't these the billion-Berry pirates who had been all over the recent newspapers?!
"Surgeon of Death" Trafalgar Law.
Eustass "Captain" Kid.
Why the hell were these guys casually hanging out at a Human Auctioning House?!
Even when meeting the hot-topic pirates Kid and Law, Rayleigh didn't lose his calm demeanor.
"On this island, I go by 'Ray-san the coating mechanic.' Don't go calling me by that other name. Right now, I'm just an old soldier living peacefully with my son and daughter."
So saying, Rayleigh crouched down and gently patted Line and Esune on the head.
Kid and Law both widened their eyes in shock. "Son?! Daughter?!"
Yeah. Ray-san. maybe at least say stepson or something?
At Rayleigh's words, Kid burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! I see. Straw Hat Luffy who punched a Celestial Dragon is pretty crazy, but the Invisible Phantom Thief who slapped an exploding slave collar on one and blew him up is even crazier. If the reason is that he's the son of the Dark King, then it makes sense!"
"Heh."
Heh? Don't just "heh" me, Ray-san! Why are you looking so smug?!
And it wasn't even Line's fault the collar exploded! It was that Usopp guy's fault! Probably.
While they were having this exchange—
"This is the Marines! This is the Marines! Can you hear us?! You are completely surrounded!! Release the Rosward Family immediately!! An Admiral will arrive shortly. We strongly advise immediate surrender!!"
Such a voice came from outside the venue.
While they had been dawdling, the entire Human Auctioning House had apparently been surrounded by the Marines.
The only saving grace was that the Admiral hadn't arrived yet.
"Heh. Bring it on. I'll take you all out."
In response to the Marines' surrender demand, Kid headed outside with clear intent to fight.
"Might as well. I'll help you guys out! I'll clean up the outside, so don't worry."
Apparently Kid was going to take on the Marines outside by himself. For real?!
As far as Line was concerned—go right ahead! Knock yourself out!
But Luffy and Law reacted to Kid's words with a sharp spark of rivalry.
Eh? You're triggering your competitive streak now?
The three billion-Berry captains started arguing "I'll do it! You guys stay back!" while pushing and shoving each other as they headed outside.
What the hell are they doing.
"Hehe, how reliable. Then let's leave the fighting to them and make our move as well. Line, Esune."
"Ah, wait a sec, Ray-san."
"What is it, Line?"
Before leaving, there was one more thing he had to do.
Carrying the bundle of keys, Line ran backstage. There, captured by the Human Auctioning House and fitted with slave collars, were people on the verge of being sold into slavery.
"Alright! Everyone line up in a row! I'm gonna remove all your exploding collars now!"
"!!??"
"I'm saying I'll save you! The Marines are here! Hurry up! Fast, fast!"
"Th-thank you so much!!"
He didn't exactly owe them anything, but leaving them behind like this would leave a bad taste in his mouth. Hehehe.
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