Chapter 60: Little Bun
The situation was already clear. The tasks of the fourth-rank contractors were also related to the Sabaody Archipelago, but it was unlikely they were tasked with killing Celestial Dragons. Such an 'anti-human' mission difficulty could only be triggered by Su Xiao's promotion/mainline combined task.
When Su Xiao killed a contractor in Dressrosa, he received half of the target's current reputation as a reward. If this mechanism hadn't disappeared, then the situation in District 21 made perfect sense.
Su Xiao stood up and left the restaurant. Although he was very interested in District 21, he now needed to go to a more important location.
District 1, this was the Human Auction House, the predetermined location for Su Xiao's assassination of the Celestial Dragon.
A large number of pirate ships were moored in front of the port of District 1. These people were both pirates and slave hunters. They would burn, kill, and loot, as well as capture humans, fish-men, and the Mink Tribe, selling them to the auction houses for profit.
Su Xiao climbed up the No. 1 Mangrove, standing a hundred meters high, and observed below through a telescope.
There were at least dozens of human auction houses in District 1. The largest was, of course, the one under the Don Quixote Family. No auction house could compete with the Don Quixote Family.
The Sabaody Archipelago was located in the first half of the Grand Line. Here, a pirate with a bounty of 100 million Berries was already a big shot. Unlike the New World, where a pirate with a bounty of 100 million was just a small-time leader under one of the Four Emperors.
If the New World was hell-level difficulty, then the first half of the Grand Line was only around hard difficulty. Sailing here for half a year might not even lead to encountering a pirate with a bounty over 100 million. The New World was much livelier; running into pirates with bounties of 200 or 300 million was just an everyday occurrence.
Not to mention Doflamingo himself, even if his subordinate Pica came, aside from the Seven Warlords of the Sea and the Marines, basically no one dared to provoke Pica. They would walk around him.
Because of this, the Don Quixote Family's human auction house almost stood in front of the many other auction houses. Those other auction houses only dared to eat the leftovers from the Don Quixote Family. There was no real competition. In fact, the prices at the Don Quixote Family's auction were the market price for selling people here. No one dared to sell slaves below this price.
After observing the structure of the Don Quixote Family's auction house through his telescope, Su Xiao found that it had almost no external defenses. The guards at the entrance were basically for show, clearly having been complacent for a long time.
"Very good."
Su Xiao leaped from the mangrove tree, bouncing a few times between the soap bubbles in the air before landing on the ground.
There was no need to rush the assassination of the Celestial Dragon yet. He was more curious about the specific situation in District 21. He also badly needed pirate reputation, so he decided to go to District 21 and join the fun.
Qian Meng's pirate reputation had already surpassed Su Xiao's. On the current leaderboard, Qian Meng was first, Ku Tu second, and Su Xiao third. Since killing enemies didn't grant pirate reputation, the gap between the three wasn't too large.
Sitting in the bubble cart rented by Bubu Wang, the man and the dog headed towards District 21.
...
Sabaody Archipelago, District 21, inside a bar.
A thick smell of blood filled the bar. A man lay on the floor, his throat slit, but he wasn't dead yet, his body twitching unconsciously.
Several men and women stood or sat inside the bar. Some were wiping their weapons, others were picking out drinks from the shelf.
"Whose turn is it this time?"
A short-haired woman spoke. From her attire, it was clear she was a contractor.
"Mine."
A hoarse voice came. A short, skinny man who looked like skin and bones raised his arm.
"Scorpion, don't be too greedy. The woman we captured alive last time was handled by you."
The short-haired woman glanced at the short, thin man named Scorpion. His habit of taking advantage of the situation disgusted her.
"It's... it's me."
A weak voice came, clearly lacking confidence.
"Is it Little Bun's turn?"
The short-haired woman looked around at the others. The man picking out drinks from the shelf nodded.
"Then hurry up. Make it clean and dispose of the body."
The short-haired woman crossed her legs, the gold earring on her left ear swinging.
"O-okay."
The female contractor named Little Bun stood up. She walked over to the dying man and gripped a milky-white staff tightly with both hands.
Just as Little Bun was about to smash down with the staff, the short-haired woman suddenly interrupted her.
"Are you trying to smash his brains out? Use a sharp weapon."
"Oh, oh."
Little Bun didn't know how she had advanced to the fourth rank. She was actually a bit nervous when killing someone.
"Healers are so lucky. Protected by teammates all the way to the fourth rank. Little sis, your nickname 'Little Bun' makes me curious. Your face isn't round. Could it be that another part of your body looks like a little bun? If so, I'm very interested in you."
The short, thin man let out a strange laugh. Hearing this, Little Bun pursed her thin lips.
"I can survive. I can do this. I am a fourth-rank contractor."
Little Bun muttered a few times, took a deep breath, and her gaze became firm. She put away her healing staff and pulled out a dagger of decent quality. But Little Bun didn't notice the greedy looks around her. These were all starving wolves who had made it to the fourth rank alone.
"Woof."
A dog barked, and the entire bar fell silent, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
"Little Bun! What's going on! A dog got in here, and you didn't give a warning? Is your perception ability just for show?"
The short-haired woman roared. Her eyes narrowed. Even an ordinary person seeing her gaze, let alone a murderer, would turn and run.
"I, I..."
Little Bun stared blankly at Bubu Wang. She had once been the healer and perception user of a medium-sized adventure group. Even if her personality was a bit soft, she wouldn't make such a low-level mistake. She simply hadn't sensed Bubu Wang at all.
"Scorpion, deal with this dog. We'll have dog meat soup tonight."
"Fine."
Scorpion slowly walked towards Bubu Wang. To him, Bubu Wang was just a slightly larger dog, resembling a husky. There were countless bizarre creatures among pirates, so this was nothing special.
Bubu Wang sat on the ground, looking up at the short, thin man approaching. His expression seemed to say: "You'd better not come near me. My master doesn't have a very good temper."
"Hm? This dog's eyes..."
Scorpion stopped in his tracks.
"You idiot (moron), what's there to ponder about a dog's eyes? If it were another contractor's summon, it wouldn't appear like this. Also, Little Bun, hurry up and finish that guy. He's about to bleed to death. Don't say we didn't follow the forced contract."
The short-haired woman was clearly getting impatient. Scorpion shrugged, pulled out a short blade from his waist, and walked towards Bubu Wang.
"Next life, when you see a human, remember to run."
Scorpion made a move to throw the short blade. At that moment, Bubu Wang raised its front paw, the chubby dog paw forming a gun shape.
Seeing Bubu Wang's dog paw, Scorpion was stunned.
"Biu."
A strange sound came from Bubu Wang's mouth. Heaven knows how it made that tone.
Bubu Wang made a shooting gesture with its paw at Scorpion. The wooden wall at the front of the bar shattered.
With a crack, the upper body of the short-blade-wielding Scorpion exploded. Blood and shredded flesh burst out, splattering all over Little Bun's face.
Bang!
Scorpion's lower half was embedded into the bar counter, splinters flying everywhere, a scene of violent aesthetics.