Chapter 606: A Horse Grows Fat Without Night Grass, a Man Gets Rich Without a Lever!
Enel actually really liked gold, because gold was an excellent conductor. He could freely transform into lightning and travel through it.
That feeling was like swimming inside it—a truly wonderful experience for a Devil Fruit user.
But liking it was one thing; Enel knew he had to say goodbye to this gold. After all, his boss was now Ian. Even if he loved the sensation of swimming in gold, if he dared to say to Ian, "This gold is mine," Ian would pull him out mid-"swim" and hang him up for a beating.
"Give me a price!" Ian said to Tesoro. "I'm selling all this gold to you. How much can you offer?"
Tesoro thought for a moment, then raised a finger adorned with a gold ring and said to Ian, "Ten billion Berries!"
"Too low!" Ian shook his head directly. "The estimate is already over ten billion, and you're giving me the lowest number?"
Tesoro chuckled, walked back to the sofa, and sat down again. "But don't forget, I'm the only one who can take all this gold off your hands right now. So I say what it's worth."
"That cocky, huh?" Ian set his wine glass down on the table with a clink, then looked at Tesoro with a half-smile. "Are you sure that's the final number?"
"Uh..." Tesoro hesitated when he saw Ian's expression.
Indeed, given Tesoro's current status and the fact that this was a buyer's market, he could dictate the price. He could say ten billion Berries or even drop it to one billion, and it wouldn't matter.
But the problem was, such price-haggling depended on who the target was...
Tesoro was an interesting man. As a child, he was born into poverty. His father loved gambling but lost all their money, eventually dying of illness without treatment. After leaving home, Tesoro worked as a thief and a gambler, but he followed his father's path, losing everything in gambling and being sold into slavery.
In the slave trader's shop, he met a girl named Stella and fell in love with her. To buy her freedom, he worked hard, hoping to save enough money.
But fate played a cruel joke on him. Before he could save enough, Stella was bought by a Celestial Dragon and died quickly under their torture.
Enraged, Tesoro fought back against the Celestial Dragon but was subdued, enslaved again, and taken to Mary Geoise, where he began a miserable life.
During his enslavement, his hatred for the Celestial Dragons grew daily, but he couldn't escape.
If things had continued, Tesoro might have died like other Celestial Dragon slaves under constant torment. But luckily, he encountered the incident where adventurer Fisher Tiger liberated the slaves. Like Boa Hancock and her sisters, he escaped during the great fire.
However, after escaping, Tesoro's mindset changed dramatically. Having witnessed the immense power and extravagant lifestyle of the Celestial Dragons in Mary Geoise, he believed that money was what made them superior to others.
From then on, Tesoro became obsessed with money. He wanted to be the richest man in the world to gain ultimate power.
Looking at his achievements now, he had clearly succeeded. Known as the Golden Emperor, he controlled vast wealth, which brought immense power. Everyone had to bow to his whims, and even his gambling ship became an "absolute domain" that even the Marines couldn't interfere with.
The power of capital was indeed formidable, undeniable by anyone. But who knew how much Tesoro had sacrificed to accumulate that wealth?
For money, he completely forgot his own past as a slave, repeatedly trampling on others' dignity and personality. Behind the glitz of Gran Tesoro were countless people who had lost their fortunes and were forced to sell themselves into servitude to Tesoro. For money, he made endless compromises, even turning his former hated enemies, the Celestial Dragons, into VIPs at his casino, free to come and go.
His obsession with money had long stripped Tesoro of his backbone. He knew well that his Golden City stood tall only because he avoided provoking those he shouldn't.
He couldn't provoke the Marines, so his casino often hosted high-ranking Marine officers, who rarely lost money and enjoyed themselves, so they kept coming.
He couldn't provoke the Celestial Dragons, so every year, Tesoro paid them a massive "Heavenly Tribute" to secure recognition from the World Nobles and the World Government.
He couldn't provoke the Four Emperors either. Not just the Big Mom Pirates and the Beast Pirates, but even the Red Hair Pirates and the Whitebeard Pirates received annual tributes from Tesoro to ensure no Emperor would attack him.
He couldn't provoke the Seven Warlords, so Tesoro had long been in a cooperative relationship with Doflamingo...
Looking closely at Tesoro's background, it was actually quite pitiful. Despite having decent strength as an awakened Paramecia Devil Fruit user with home-field advantage, he only dared to target those he could afford to mess with.
If measured by bounty, he was probably just around Ian's level—one billion Berries. Below that, he could act tough, but above it, he had to back down.
Of course, the connections and interest relationships he built with money were indeed vast, not entirely worthless. But before coming here, Ian had analyzed Tesoro based on his memories and concluded that Tesoro wouldn't easily dare to provoke him.
This guy was too much of a merchant. His time as a slave had worn away his spine.
Honestly, after analyzing his personality, Ian had felt a bit tempted to rob Tesoro. If he could get the five hundred billion Berries in Tesoro's treasury, he'd be set!
An African? So what? Hadn't he heard of African chiefs who owned diamond mines?
But after thinking it over, Ian temporarily abandoned that decision. Tesoro's Golden City was too entangled with too many people's interests. Even if he wanted to act, he'd need to pick the right time.
Most importantly, Tesoro had excellent intelligence resources. Ian thought he might be useful.
Plus, he didn't want to earn the reputation of "wherever he goes, things blow up." Ian went to Mary Geoise, and it blew up. Ian went to Impel Down, and it blew up. If Gran Tesoro also blew up, the nickname "Bomb Ian" would be cemented.
Sure enough, under Ian's mysterious gaze, Tesoro compromised again, offering a price of twelve billion Berries.
This price, as the Dragon Hunter Pirates had estimated, was roughly the true value of the gold. Tesoro was being honest, offering the market rate.
But Ian still wasn't satisfied. When was there a chance to squeeze a fat cat like Tesoro? He had to take advantage. Even the Heavenly Tribute Tesoro gave to the Celestial Dragons was more than this, let alone the gold Ian was giving him.
"Twenty billion!" Ian raised two fingers and waved them.
Not only was Tesoro startled, but even Reiju and Robin were shocked. Where did Ian get the nerve to ask for such a huge sum?
"That's impossible!" Tesoro gritted his teeth. "I'm not stupid!"
But Ian slowly continued waving his two fingers. "Twenty billion! I promise that for now, I'll pretend not to see the Celestial Dragons in your Golden City!"
Tesoro was instantly checkmated!
It was no secret that Celestial Dragons often visited Tesoro's casino. But who was Ian? The leader of the Dragon Hunter Pirates! He had made his name by killing a Celestial Dragon in Mary Geoise! Most of his crew were former slaves of the Celestial Dragons. Who could guarantee they wouldn't do something if they encountered one?
If a World Noble died in his Golden City, Tesoro would be in deep trouble!
"De... deal!" Tesoro finally gritted his teeth and agreed to Ian's terms. "I hope you keep your word!"
Ian smiled, very pleased. Of course, he could keep his word! Because even if he encountered Celestial Dragons, it wasn't Ian who would avoid them—they would avoid him!
When he became a Warlord and returned to Mary Geoise, he had already proven that. Among the Celestial Dragons, Ian was known as the "Flame Demon"...
So this condition wasn't really a condition at all—it was free money!
Law and Urouge were stunned, staring dumbly at Ian, unable to believe he had sold the gold at a premium for twenty billion Berries.
Tesoro clapped his hands. With a pop, a big-headed, weird-looking guy emerged from the floor. He had a sinister grin—Tesoro's right-hand man, the guard and butler Tanaka, a Pass-Pass Fruit user.
"Prepare twenty billion!" Tesoro said to Tanaka.
Tanaka was also shocked by the number. He glanced at Ian, only to find Ian looking at him with interest, sending a chill down his spine. He bowed to Tesoro, acknowledged the order, and disappeared through the floor with another pop.
Soon, several burly black-suited thugs carried in large wooden boxes.
The boxes opened to reveal neatly stacked piles of large-denomination Berry bills. Tesoro said, "Each box holds one billion Berries. There are twenty boxes here. Want to count them?"
Ian waved his hand grandly. "No need. We'll be staying here for a while. If there's a problem, I'll come find you!"
Hearing this, Tesoro cursed "MMP" in his heart again.