"Look at that purity... that luster... that age... perfect."
The manager muttered to himself while hunched over the desk, peering through a magnifying glass, utterly absorbed.
The massive bundle of gold before him wasn't just bricks, it included ornate goblets, bowls, and solid-gold sculptures. These items clearly dated back centuries. Some of them could even be sold as antiques.
Millie slammed her palm on the table, clearly fed up. Her pretty face pulled tight in irritation.
"Seen enough yet? What's it worth? Give us a number!"
"Y-Yes, I've seen enough!" Startled, the manager jerked upright and wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth.
"I've inspected everything. The quality, the color, the craftsmanship, they're near flawless."
"Cut the crap. What's it worth?" Mina snapped, her tone sharp and unimpressed.
"T-The total value... three hundred million Berries," the manager said cautiously, glancing nervously at Aeridar and his crew.
"Three hundred million?!" Millie's voice pitched higher in disbelief.
Mina, completely unfazed, casually pulled out an ivory pistol and began twirling it in her hands.
"Listen up," Millie said proudly, patting Aeridar's arm and tilting her chin upward. "We're pirates. This is our captain. He used to have a 300 million bounty on his head."
"Heh~" Aeridar flashed a wide, toothy grin.
"Three hundred million?!" The manager nearly shrieked, eyes bulging.
"Not just that," Mina added with a lazy smirk, eyes narrowed. "He's one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea now. Try to cheat us, and we'll rob you blind. Even the Marines stationed at the Northern Port won't dare touch us."
"S-Seven Warlords?!" The manager looked like he might wet himself. No wonder that face looked familiar, it was the same man who had just appeared in the papers a few days ago. The breakout rookie of the year... the newly appointed Warlord, Golden Ring Aeridar.
"M-My mistake! I misspoke, it's not three hundred million... it's five hundred million!!" the manager stammered, face twisted in misery as he blurted out the new price.
"Five hundred million?!"
The eyes of Aeridar, Millie, and Mina lit up at once. Their brows lifted. That was more like it.
Even the three regular crewmates behind them looked smug, just a bit of banter from their crew, and boom, two hundred million more. Following this captain really was the way to go.
"Excellent. You know how to play the game. Hand over the money," Aeridar said with a relaxed wave of his hand.
Looking like he'd just buried his parents, the manager phoned out to have the cash brought in.
Outside the "The Blue" Exchange.
"Please come again!" The manager forced out the most strained smile of his life.
"Cut the grin. It's painful to look at," Millie scoffed.
"Let's go, let's gom we're done here." Mina waved him off with a look of utter distaste.
Aeridar just chuckled silently to himself. Haggling really wasn't his thing, that was woman's work. No way he could shamelessly push like that.
When they'd arrived, they were dragging a huge bundle that needed three men to carry. Now they left wheeling five large black cases, each holding 100 million Berries in cash.
At the same time, two other gold exchanges across the city had experienced something similar, several hundred million in cash withdrawn each.
Word spread like wildfire:
A pirate crew had just sold over a billion Berries worth of gold on the open market. They were now carrying more than a billion in liquid cash.
Inside a certain inn.
Onboard a certain pirate ship.
In a hidden underground cellar.
Inside a walled-off courtyard.
The whispers ignited the underworld of Water 7—gangs, bounty hunters, pirates—they all stirred.
Dark currents churned beneath the surface, and the atmosphere in Water 7 suddenly shifted.
One hour later, in Water 7's bustling Commercial District...
Aeridar and his five crew members were out shopping. The city's commercial street was absolutely packed with people and overflowing with noise. They were in full-on spree mode.
Fun toys or novelties?
Even the three crewmen tasked with carrying the money had splurged on high-end clothes. They looked positively radiant, finally something to brag about back on the ship.
"Hey~ hey~ Captain, why's everyone wearing masks?"
Millie, perched atop a large bull-like creature called a Bluu, pointed to the masked pedestrians around them.
"Huh? Probably a festival? Or a masquerade ball or something?" Aeridar scratched his head. It had been so long, he honestly couldn't remember the details.
Millie and Mina tilted their heads like curious kittens, then pointed excitedly at a nearby boutique.
"Captain, let's go check that one out!"
"Let's go!" Aeridar said with a generous wave. "If you see something you like, we're buying!"
But before they could even enter the boutique, five large, rough-looking men stepped out and blocked the path.
Each of them looked like a thug, thick-necked, scar-faced, and clearly up to no good. They were obviously lying in wait.
"Yo~ Move it, will ya?" Aeridar rolled his eyes and waved dismissively, as if brushing away flies.
"Heh... cocky little bastard," said one of them, a massive, two-meter-tall bald man with bulging muscles.
With a nasty grin, he drew a flintlock pistol and leveled it at Aeridar's forehead.
"Hand over those cases, or I'll blow your brains out."
Aeridar glanced down at the black leather briefcase in his hand, his brow furrowing.
"How the hell do they know?"
Behind him, Millie, Mina, and the three crewmen bristled.
Their captain was a former 300 million bounty pirate, now a newly minted Warlord of the Sea, and some no-name thug had the audacity to pull a gun on him?
That was a slap to the face of the entire Chris Pirates crew.
"Do you even know who you're pointing that thing at, dumbass?!"
A flicker of murderous intent passed across Millie's delicate features.
In one lightning-quick motion, she pulled out her ivory pistol from behind her back—
The thug froze, eyes wide in disbelief. Then he collapsed backward, blood pouring from a gaping hole in his forehead, the size of a bottle cap. Smoke curled from Millie's gun barrel.
"Ahhhh!! SHE KILLED HIM!!"
"She's got a gun, get outta here!!"
Panic exploded across the street like a powder keg. For a brief moment, everyone stood frozen, stunned by the tiny girl who had just pulled the trigger.
Then chaos erupted, crowds screamed and scattered, trampling over one another in a mad rush to escape.
The Chris Pirates had just made a very loud, very bloody entrance into Water 7's underworld.
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