The van that crosses

Chapter 269: Devil Fruits at the Auction 】

The van flew on the sea for nearly half an hour, penetrating the heavy naval blockade.

I don't know how many kilometers away from the Chambord Islands, and finally saw an inhabited island.

Not long after, the vehicle drove directly onto the island.

The small town of Dokwe is the most prosperous town in the Mara Empire. Even the imperial capital is not as prosperous as the town of Dokwei.

It is a small town established by relying on the port of Dokwe, the first port of the Mara Empire.

To be precise, the port of Dokwe is the small town of Dokwe.

All the goods, commerce, passengers, etc. of the entire empire come in and out of this port, so it is extremely prosperous.

In order not to cause trouble, Zhou He landed directly in the woods on the shore.

After getting out of the car, he put away the van and took Hicks to the outside.

……

There is a huge gatehouse in the port of Dokwei. Above the gatehouse, there are three big characters of "Dokwei".

Moreover, these words seem to be written by the founder of the Saint Erma Empire, the first generation king.

At the port, a large number of merchant ships and cargo ships docked, with a large amount of cargo, and the flow of people went up and down.

On the streets far away from the port, people come and go, but there are many shops along the streets.

Whether it's a snack bar, a weapon shop, a nautical chart shop, a tavern cake shop, etc., there are many customers in it.

The traffic on the streets near the port is very dense.

Not much to say, this port is indeed prosperous.

At this time, Zhou He had taken Hicks out of the woods and entered the small town of Dokwe.

"Huh?" Zhou He frowned suddenly, and his eyes fell on the notice board next to the gatehouse in the distance.

I saw two brand new arrest warrants on the notice board.

The portraits on these two arrest warrants are actually [-]% similar to Zhou He and Hicks.

"60 billion? The navy really thinks highly of me, Hicks has 20 billion?" Zhou He was amazed.

"Sir, what is 60 billion, I don't have 20 billion Baileys." Hicks didn't know why.

"The two of us are wanted by the navy. My bounty is 60 billion, and you have 20 billion Bailey." Zhou He said with a smile.

When Hicks heard this, a look of shock appeared on his face.

"20 billion, why do I have a reward of 20 billion?" Hicks looked disbelieving.

"Hehe, you killed that Tianlong man yourself, and you were seen by so many people, and you were blessed by me, so you naturally got a bonus of 20 billion." Zhou He explained with a smile.

Just when Hicks was about to speak, Zhou He waved his hand lightly and said, "Our faces can't be exposed anymore, I've already changed our faces, so there's no need to worry."

"Yes, sir!" Hicks replied immediately.

"Let's go, let's go to that shop." Zhou He led Hicks to a shop that sold compass and record pointers in the nearby sea.

After Zhou He entered, he didn't talk nonsense and asked directly.

The shop owner was stunned for a moment when he heard the words, and then said, "Guest, do you need a permanent pointer to the holy land of Mariejoia?"

"Yes, do you sell it here?" Zhou He said lightly.

"Yes, but what are you going to do in the Holy Land?" the shop owner nodded and said.

"How much?" Zhou He didn't even bother to answer the shop owner.

Seeing Zhou He's appearance, the latter didn't say anything. He searched under the counter for a while, and then took out a permanent pointer.

"Sir, here is the permanent pointer to the Holy Land Mary Gioia, the price—"

Before the shop owner could tell the price, Zhou He threw out an ingot of gold and interrupted, "This ingot should be enough."

As he said that, Zhou He reached out and grabbed the permanent pointer in his hand.

At the same time, he also took the Devil Fruit Illustration Book from the shelf beside him.

Once the items were in hand, Zhou He immediately took Hicks outside.

At this time, the shop owner came to his senses and quickly grabbed the gold on the counter. After checking it, he found that it was actually real gold.

"Haha, this guy is so rich, he looks like a fat sheep. How stupid, it's only [-] Baileys, and he actually gave me a piece of gold, haha!"

The store owner immediately burst out laughing triumphantly.

……

"Sir, are we leaving the island for the holy land of Mariejoa now?" Hicks asked Zhou He as he walked on the street.

"No rush, you can go anytime. There should be a food street on this small island. Let's eat something delicious first." Zhou He said with a smile.

"Okay, sir." Hicks didn't say anything, Zhou He's order was everything, and she would not refute, but obey.

Zhou He asked a local resident and found out where the food street is.

It took some time to reach the destination.

At this moment, it was already close to dinner time, so the food street was a bit more lively than the previous commercial street.

The aroma of various foods coming from inside aroused the glutton in Zhou He's stomach even more.

"Cuckoo -" At this moment, Hicks' stomach suddenly growled.

As if aware that Zhou He looked over, Hicks smiled slightly and said, "Sir, I'm a little hungry."

"Eat when you're hungry, let go." Zhou He said with a smile.

……

An hour later, Zhou He and Hicks were sitting in a hamburger restaurant on the food street.

After Zhou He ate a shark burger, he drank a large glass of iced Coke, then leaned back in his chair, and burped for a long time.

On the opposite side, Hicks has a bulging stomach, and she is eating her tenth octopus burger.

"The Vajra Immortal Art that I taught you can be used for a while to help digestion and absorption." Zhou He reminded suddenly.

"Yes, sir, these burgers are so delicious, I can't help it." Hicks smiled, grabbed the next burger, and started eating.

Suddenly, Zhou He's ears moved, and he heard all the conversations at the next table.

"Hurry up and eat, the auction will start in 15 minutes."

"Don't rush, we'll finish eating soon."

"You are such a pig. It's not enough to eat so much. If we are late, we won't be able to get in. I have saved 200 million Baileys, and I am going to buy a beautiful female slave."

"Don't worry, you will never be late, but if you buy a slave girl back, aren't you afraid that your wife will beat you up, haha!"

"Tch, if that woman dares to say anything, I'll beat her to death!"

"However, I heard that there is a devil fruit auction this time, and people from many nearby countries have come, even some navies who failed to rush to the Chambord Islands in time, and some powerful pirates have come."

"..."

"Auction? Devil fruit?"

Zhou He stroked his chin and thought for a while.

Devil fruits are known as the secret treasure of the sea. On the black market, even the most trashy and useless devil fruits are worth [-] million Berries. If there are some powerful devil fruits, the value will increase exponentially.

Nowadays, the most expensive thing is the fruit of surgery, which is worth 50 billion Baileys, which is still priceless.

If the fruit of the operation really appears, Zhou He believes that the price will be high but not low.

Not for anything else, because the fruit of the operation has the ability to make people live forever.

……

It is rumored that the devil fruit is the incarnation of the devil of the sea. After eating it, people will get different abilities, but as a price, those who eat it will be rejected by the sea and become landlubbers.

Devil fruit abilities are divided into three categories: superhuman, animal (including two rare phantom beasts and ancient species), and natural.

Devil Fruit abilities will not be repeated, all Devil Fruits are single, there is no fruit with the same ability in the "same period", only fruits with similar abilities (such as "burning fruit" and "hot fruit").

However, there is a superior-lower relationship among devil fruits, for example, the upper-level frozen fruit and the lower-level snowy fruit.

There are also high-level tons of pressed fruits and low-level kilograms of fruits——

Unless the ability user dies, the devil fruit he had eaten will reappear. When the ability user uses the ability, the body, clothing and accessories will change together.

Zhou He glanced at Hicks, and decided to go to the auction to have a look.

Not long after, the two people at the next table finished eating and left.

Zhou He also hurriedly pulled Hicks after him.

About 5 minutes later, Zhou He followed the two of them to the door of a venue.

The two men took out their admission tickets and were inspected by the guards. After receiving two number plates from a man in a suit beside them, they entered the auction.

Immediately, Zhou He and Hicks stepped forward, but were stopped by the guards.

"Sir, please show the admission ticket." The guard said politely.

"I don't have a ticket, how can I get one?" Zhou He asked.

"Uh" the guard froze for a moment.

He has seen a lot of people who want to break through the ban, but he has never met anyone who came to ask.

The guard didn't show any signs of boredom, and replied directly: "Sir, the tickets have already been sold out three days ago."

"Sold out?" Zhou He frowned.

At this moment, a somewhat chubby middle-aged man ran over from a distance, panting.

"Huh, it's okay, it's okay, I'm not late, I almost missed it." As he spoke, the middle-aged man reached out and handed the ticket to the guard.

Just as the guard was about to take it, suddenly, a hand stretched out and took the ticket.

"Hey, what are you doing?" The middle-aged man roared angrily when he saw Zhou He's movements.

Even the face of the guard on the side changed. He had already rested his right hand on the sword, and looked at Zhou He with a hostile face: "Sir, what are you doing?"

However, Zhou He took out a gold bar from his pocket, handed it to the middle-aged man, and said, "I bought the ticket, how about it?"

The middle-aged man was stunned for a moment when he heard the words, and his eyes immediately stared at the gold bar in Zhou He's hand.

"Okay, okay, I'm selling it, I'm selling it." The middle-aged man took the gold bar, checked it, and ran away quickly.

"Uh..." The guard was stunned when he saw this.

"It's useless for you to buy the admission ticket. We still need to verify the capital. This verification will definitely be too late..."

Before he finished speaking, Zhou He handed the admission ticket to the guard, and at the same time stuffed a gold bar to the guard, whispering: "This gold bar is for you to buy some wine, and I will bring this admission ticket in with someone." it should be no problem."

The guard reacted, exchanged glances with the guard at the side and the man in the suit, and immediately nodded, "Of course, no problem, sir, please come in."

"Sir, this is your number plate. You can hold it well, and you can just raise the plate and shout the price when you bid." The man in the suit hurriedly took a number plate and handed it to Zhou He.

Zhou He nodded slightly, and then led Hicks into the auction room.

The auction is not too small, a typical stage with fan-shaped stepped seats.

Moreover, on the second floor, there are some private rooms. Presumably, there are some so-called big people in them.

There were hundreds of people in the venue, Zhou He glanced at his number plate, it was 350.

Thinking about it, there are already more than 300 guests who have entered the auction.

With a sweep of his divine sense, he immediately found his own position.

On the far right of the top row, he is the last seat and the last guest to enter the venue.

Soon, the auction officially started.

The noisy venue also fell silent in an instant.

A blond man in a white suit stood on the stage with a microphone.

"Welcome everyone to this auction. In order not to waste everyone's time, I will directly list the first lot!"

The blond man gestured without ink.

On the side of the stage, a woman in revealing clothes pushed a small cart to the center of the stage.

On the trolley, there was also this fist-sized crystal blood-colored ore.

"Everyone, this is a specialty of our Marla Empire, blood mine."

"Presumably everyone knows that blood ore is ground into powder and added to blood, which can attract many sea beasts, even sea kings."

"If you want to hunt sea beasts and Neptunes, you need blood ore. This time, the blood ore is packaged and auctioned for 100 yuan. The starting price is 100 million Baileys! Each price increase must not be less than [-] Baileys!"

The host's words fell, and immediately, chattering discussions started below.

"Good guy, the first lot is actually a blood mine. This auction has cost a lot of money."

"This blood ore is indeed very effective in attracting sea beasts and sea kings, but unfortunately, the amount is relatively large."

"Yeah, this blood ore the size of a fist can attract sea beasts no longer than ten meters."

"If you want to attract Neptunes, 100 yuan can barely attract them."

When Zhou He heard the host say that the blood ore could attract Neptunes, his eyes lit up.

And when people around him said that a hundred blood mines could attract Neptunes, they suddenly made up their minds.

"100 million!" Zhou He held up the sign and was the first to bid.

"120 million, I'll offer 120 million!" After a second or two, a customer also raised his card.

"One hundred and thirteen, I give one hundred and three!"

"150 Baileys."

Soon, the voices of raising placards to bid came one after another.

Blood ore is very rare in the Marla Empire, and it is firmly held by the empire, and it is rarely revealed.

Although some are auctioned every year, at most ten pieces are sold at most.

The source of money for the Marla Empire is mostly relying on blood ore to attract sea beasts or sea kings to hunt or capture.

To be able to take out a hundred of them this time is simply a stroke of luck.

"500 million!" At this moment, a voice sounded from a private room on the second floor.

As soon as the 500 million came out, the court fell silent in an instant.

However, in the next second, Zhou He directly raised his card and said, "I offer 1000 million Baileys!"

There was silence, and a needle could be heard in the arena.

The next moment, the host shouted excitedly: "1000 million, customer No. 350 bid 1000 million, is there anyone who wants to raise the price?"

"1000 million once!"

"Is there anyone raising the price!"

"..."

"Crack! 1000 million three times, deal! These 350 blood ores belong to customer No. [-]."

The host yelled as soon as he hit the hammer.

The people sitting next to Zhou He all looked at Zhou He, looking at Zhou He with the eyes of a fool.

The market price is only [-] Baileys per piece, and the highest price is not more than [-] Baileys per piece. Good guy, now he has directly raised it to [-] Baileys.

Immediately afterwards, the second product was put on the shelves, then the third, and the fourth...

Except for the first blood ore, Zhou He has no interest in the latter.

They are all weapons, gunpowder, some raw materials and some miscellaneous things, and there are even antiques, famous paintings and the like.

Of course, there are also many slaves, strong men, enchanting and beautiful women, and even a female singer, all sold at high prices.

As time went by, finally, it was time for the finale items to be put on the shelves.

A gorgeous trolley was pushed to the center of the stage by two sexy bunny girls, and then stood aside, waiting quietly.

"Everyone, this is our last item for auction today, and it is the item you are looking forward to."

"Devil Fruit!"

The host lifted off the raised piece of cloth on the trolley.

Suddenly, a square glass box was exposed, and inside the box was a fruit with an extremely strange shape.

This fruit, at a glance, knows that it is a devil fruit.

"What kind of devil fruit is this?" Zhou He looked into the glass box, recalling the fruits in the devil fruit illustration book.

After thinking about it for a while, it actually didn't appear in the demon national teacher's illustrated book, that is to say, this is a brand new fruit.

It didn't appear in the illustrated book, and Zhou He didn't know what kind of fruit it was.

However, as long as Zhou He buys it and uses the hand of exploration, he will know.

As for whether to buy it or not?Hehe, Zhou He has a storage bag, which is full of gold.

Calculated according to the ratio, one gram of gold is equal to about six thousand beli.

One hundred kilograms can be exchanged for [-] million peli, and Zhou He has no less than [-] kilograms of gold in stock.

Not to mention one Devil Fruit, even if it is ten or a hundred Devil Fruits, he can afford it.

"This devil fruit is not in the devil's illustrated book, that is to say, this devil fruit is a brand new one that has never appeared before."

"Whether it is a powerful fruit or a tasteless fruit, it all depends on everyone's luck. The starting price of this devil fruit is 1000 million Baileys, and each increase must not be less than [-] million!"

The host immediately announced the starting price loudly.

[-] million Berries isn't too high, and it's not too low either. After all, that's the price for some rubbish Devil Fruits.

However, this is a brand new devil fruit. It may be a super powerful devil fruit, or it may be a very rubbish, very weak fruit, it's a gamble.

But there's also no shortage of rich people who want to get it.

"5000 million, I'll pay 5000 million Baileys!" A voice sounded from the VIP room.

"One hundred and sixty million!"

"7000 million..."

In the private room, there were shouts one after another, and the price was rising steadily.

Those who sat on the top of the ladder below did not bid.

It's not that they don't want to buy it, but that they don't have that much money.

Only the big shots in the private rooms on the second floor can have so much money.

"Billion!"

Zhou He raised the number plate in his hand and said slowly.

The price had already been paid, and everyone's eyes immediately fell on Zhou He.

"One billion, this guest bid one billion, has anyone increased the price, has anyone increased the price?"

When the host heard the price of one billion, he was extremely excited.

One billion, this price is really high, very high.

"Hmph! I doubt that guy has that much money." At this moment, a cold snort came from one of the private rooms on the second floor.

As soon as these words were uttered, the venue that had just started to discuss became quiet again, and they all looked at Zhou He, including the host.

"Oh, grandstanding." Zhou He said lightly.

Afterwards, Zhou He took out a box with a length, width and height of more than one meter from his feet.

Zhou He tossed the box lightly, and threw it directly on the stage.

"The gold inside should be worth one billion." Zhou He said lightly.

When the host heard this, he immediately went forward, stood up the box with great difficulty, and then opened the box.

Suddenly, a piece of pure gold appeared in front of him and in front of everyone.

"It's gold, it's real, hurry up, get the scale!" The host immediately shouted to the girl beside him after checking it.

Not long after, a scale was brought up, and the host immediately lifted the gold and put it on the scale with difficulty.

"Two hundred kilograms, there are two hundred kilograms, and the gold value here is about 12 billion Baileys!" The host blushed and immediately shouted loudly.

Immediately, the people in the private room fell silent and stopped talking.

"One billion second time, third time, deal!" The host immediately confirmed the deal with a small hammer.

"Congratulations, Mr. No. 350, this devil fruit belongs to you."

Hearing this, Zhou He smiled slightly, and immediately stretched out his hand to take a picture, and saw the devil fruit in the glass box directly smashed through the glass box and flew into Zhou He's hand.

"what--"

This scene immediately made the host exclaim.

However, seeing that the devil fruit fell into Zhou He's hands, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you for coming, today's auction has come to a perfect conclusion, and all the guests who have bought items, please come to the backstage to trade and collect the items." The host said.

……

"Sir, what's the matter with you?" Hicks on the side asked Zhou He in a daze.

"It's nothing, Hicks, you are so lucky to have met a good devil fruit." Zhou He looked at Hicks with a smile.

"Mr. Xian, do you mean that this is for me?" Hicks was stunned for a moment.

"Of course I bought it for you, otherwise, why would I spend a billion on it?" Zhou He said with a smile.

At this moment, Hicks' heart trembled for a moment, and then, a feeling of incomparable joy surged in his heart.

She really didn't expect that this devil fruit was actually bought for her.

"Thank you very much, sir!" Hicks immediately thanked Zhou He very excitedly.

"Okay, let's go get the blood ore first, and then find a clean place to eat the fruit for you." Zhou He immediately walked towards the backstage.

Seeing this, Hicks quickly followed behind Zhou He, holding Zhou He by the corner of his clothes.

Although her sense of knowledge is very domineering, and she can distinguish some buildings, animals, plants, humans, etc., but she can't detect obstacles such as stairs, ditches, etc.

Therefore, when she and Zhou He left, they always held Zhou He by the corner of his clothes.

And Zhou He walked slowly because of this, and always reminded Hicks to be careful of the steps under his feet.

"Sir, you just said that I was lucky, which means do you know what kind of devil fruit this is?" Hicks asked Zhou He curiously.

"Well, it's a very powerful fruit." Zhou He sold a pass.

(End of this chapter)