Chapter 210: Hancock, Go Up and Fight
At Alucard’s, or rather, the Celestial Dragon known as "Saint Aptheim," suggestion, four Celestial Dragon families, led by the head of the Mjosgard family, captured a total of forty-five fish-men two days ago. Each of the four families, with the exception of the Mjosgard family head who received fifteen, got ten each.
These forty-something fish-men were the special envoy sent by Fish-Man Island’s royal family to the World Government for negotiations after hearing what the special envoy sent out by Saint Mjosgard had to say.
Unfortunately, it was all a trap. They were all captured in one fell swoop by the people the Celestial Dragons had arranged for the ambush. The official Marine explanation was that they had been wiped out in a pirate attack. Of course, this was a lie to cover up the evil deeds of the Celestial Dragons. This kind of thing had happened so many times that even the Marines were starting to get used to it.
"My friend, thank you so much. If it weren’t for your idea, how could I have captured so many fish-men slaves in one go?"
Inside a garden in the Mariejois palace, a place where many Celestial Dragons gathered, Saint Mjosgard was toasting Alucard. Behind him were several fish-men with collars around their necks. They were all muscular but looked ashen, and they were the members of the special envoy team from Fish-Man Island who had been tricked and captured.
Alucard picked up his wine glass. Behind him stood the three Hancock sisters. At this moment, the three girls were wearing maid outfits. Although they didn’t look as ashen or wounded as the fish-men, their faces were not much better.
Hancock admitted that her so-called "master" had never abused her or her two sisters (not counting the blood-drinking part, of course). However, he preferred to torment people mentally.
When the plan to capture the fish-men was being discussed, Hancock was present and knew that Saint Aptheim had planned the whole thing, though he didn’t participate in the capture itself.
There was also the previous escape attempt, where she felt like she had fallen from heaven to hell in an instant. Hancock felt that she would never forget that feeling for the rest of her life. It seemed that for this man, everything was just entertainment and a game.
Alucard chuckled softly. At first, he only chose to use the appearance of "Saint Aptheim" to play around and see what the life of a Celestial Dragon and the inside of Mariejois were like. But now, he felt that there were more interesting games to be played, so he had no intention of leaving for the time being.
Besides, wasn’t the girl who would become the Pirate Empress behind him also very interesting?
"Oh, right, my friend!" Saint Mjosgard suddenly said, "The slave coliseum is finally finished. How about we place a bet?"
"A slave coliseum?" Alucard recalled that it was one of the locations destroyed by the Titan Fruit user. Had it been rebuilt already? "Hmm, I’m bored. Let’s go see if anything interesting happens," Alucard said as he got up.
Unlike the coliseum that Doflamingo would later build in Dressrosa, this place was not noisy at all. The ones gathered here were all World Nobles, with the Celestial Dragons being the most conspicuous.
In the middle was a huge stage, which didn’t look like a "coliseum" at all; it looked more like a banquet hall. At that moment, two slaves with chains around their necks were fighting on the stage. When one of the topless muscular men fell in front of another beast-man, a sunglasses-wearing Celestial Dragon on Alucard’s left angrily pressed a button on a remote control.
Boom!
A sudden explosion sounded. The collar around the fallen muscular man’s neck exploded, turning his neck into a bloody mess.
"You idiot, you disgraced me!" The sunglasses-wearing Celestial Dragon, who had pressed the remote control button, said angrily.
The middle-aged woman Celestial Dragon sitting with him opened her fan and put it in front of her mouth, laughing. "Hee hee hee, Saint Rosward, your slave lost, and you also lost 500 million Berries."
From their conversation, it was clear that the two slaves fighting on the stage belonged to the old man with sunglasses and the middle-aged woman. The beast-man who won was the woman’s slave.
"Hmph, it’s only 500 million. I’ll owe it to you for now. I can give it to you anytime. I’ll settle it after I’ve had my fun today," the old man with sunglasses said nonchalantly, but he was a bit embarrassed by his slave’s defeat.
"Hee hee hee, of course. Then let’s see who loses five billion first~" The female Celestial Dragon laughed in a somewhat nauseating way.
"Five billion..." When they heard that number, the three Hancock sisters couldn’t help but gasp. That was an exaggerated amount to bet!
Just then, the two of them noticed Alucard’s group and quickly stood up to greet him. "Oh, isn’t that Aptheim-sei? Thanks to your idea, we caught a lot of fish-men."
"Hee hee hee, it’s true. As a gift, if I see something you like next time, I’ll save it for you," the woman also said with a smile.
"Rosward-sei and Hadilly-gu? Hello there," Alucard said with a wicked smile, his head held high. Alucard still knew the two other heads of the Celestial Dragon families who had participated in the fish-man capture plan.
’The air still smells like trash...’ Alucard thought to himself as he sat down at a nearby table, not caring that there were several other Celestial Dragons present as he put both his feet on the table. However, the other Celestial Dragons just frowned slightly and didn’t say anything.
"What’s the game today?" Alucard asked, staring at the huge arena stage. A waiter quickly brought him wine and snacks.
Saint Rosward, who was over forty, gave Alucard some face and explained, "The game is simple. The winner of the last match stays on the stage to fight the next opponent. When someone from the audience wants to fight, they can send a slave up. After this match ends, we’ll just send them up."
"Hee hee hee, but Rosward-sei just lost to me. Who’s next?" Saint Hadilly covered her mouth with her fan and giggled.
"It’s not a Devil Fruit user, but a Mink Tribe member..." Alucard noticed the tiger beast-man in the arena and glanced at Hancock behind him. "Kid, get up there and fight."
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