The auction building started to be filled with murmurs as the dust settled. "How noisy," Roswald muttered, scanning the crowd with a disgusted curl at the lip.
Luffy's eyes locked on the stage. Camie sat inside a giant fishbowl, chained and trembling.
"HOLD ON, Straw Hat!" Hachi's shout cut through the din. He lunged forward and grabbed Luffy's arm who dashed towards Camie, voice strained. "We must be careful—these are Celestial Dragons!" He tried to anchor Luffy, urgency trembling through him.
As Hachi braced, the air seemed to ripple; the sleeve at his shoulder slid slightly and the crowd's murmur turned into an intake of breath. Hachi's other arms unfurled in a quiet reveal.
"Kyaaah! A fishman!" a buyer squealed in the polished, patronizing voice.
Meanwhile, Chopper standing beside Lucas, noticing how he's been on edge lately muttered. "You've been weird since we got here," he asked.
Lucas' shoulders loosened into the smallest of chuckles, as he eased up noting his current mood. "I don't— I can't stand to see slavery," he said, voice soft as steel. "Also... Celestial Dragons… let's just say I have a personal history. It gets me—triggered." He answered with a smile.
Luffy wrenched against Hachi anyway, anger burning bright and simple. A pair of stout guards moved to intercept; their hands closed on Luffy. The auction patrons' tone slid into snobbery—"What is that hideous creature doing here?"—they murmured.
Then a shot cracked through the room like a snapped bone. The entire hall fell silent. Luffy staggered, then turned as the world shifted: Hachi slumped, a dark bloom spreading across his chest. Blood puddled where he fell.
"HACHI!!!" Nami's voice broke the silence into a brittle wail. Camie clapped trembling hands over her mouth, as she burst in tears. Charlos—the very Celestial Dragon who'd placed the obscene bid on Camie—stepped back and twirled with a grotesque little dance. "Free—free! An octopus for free!" he squealed.
Luffy's face smoothed into a terrifying calm.
"Hey guys... Take care of Hachi for me," Luffy said to his crew. He pulled away from the fallen friend's grasp and started toward Charlos, slow and inevitable. Whispers rippled, disbelief and worry among the crowd. "Is he serious?" Kid one of the rookies muttered with a grin.
Charlos tried to assert his authority; seeing Luffy approach him, voice quivering as his outrage flared. "How dare you—who do you think—"
Luffy didn't waste words, his fist struck Charlos' face in a single, brutal arc sending the Celestial Dragon flying backward. He hit the staircase like a ragdoll and crumpled, unconscious.
"Sorry," Luffy said as if offering an excuse for the weather. "Heard if I hit that guy, an admiral might show up."
"If you hadn't hit him," Zoro muttered, "I would've cut that bastard down myself."
Lucas used telekinesis to move Hachi and placed him gently next to Nami and Usopp in the back. Hachi's breath came shallow. "W-what… did you—" he mumbled.
"It's Luffy," Nami said, voice edged with exasperated acceptance. "You can't stop the tide."
"Chopper, take care of him," Lucas instructed, voice flat.
A ripple of fury rose from the other Celestial Dragons—Roswald, Charlos' father, lunged for his son's defense. "You damned commoner! How dare ou lay your filthy hand on—" He yelled while aimimg his pistol at Luffy, chest heaving with outraged grief.
Lucas' silhouette blurred. With a single, fluid motion he was beside Roswald; there was the metallic whisper of him sheathing his blade that followed next as Roswald slowly reacted to Lucas suddenly appearing next to him. "Atomic Slash," Lucas muttered softlt, and the world separated into before and after. Roswald's body exploded outward in a spray of crimson and chopped up flesh—no theatrics, no wasted motion, just an instantaneous, devastation that left the audience frozen then shocked as they screamed running for their lives. Where the man had stood there was only a pool of blood and flesh chunks.
Shouts ripped through the hall: outraged cries, horrified sobs. Sharlia screamed for vengeance, her voice high and sharp, while members of the crowd scattered like startled birds. The rookie pirates cracked grins to the display just made by yhe straw hats.
Lucas, adrenaline glittering at his edges, couldn't help the small grin that tugged at his mouth. "Pretty cool, right?" he said to his mates turning around.
"Focus, idiot!" Sanji barked, landing a lightning-quick block against an advancing guard. His movement was liquid and lethal; he pivoted on one toe and a snap-kick shattered the man's armour like a ceramic bowl. The guard flew back into the row of chairs.