In the North Sea, it is currently winter, and most places are covered in snow.
"Hahahahaha, Captain, we've made it here! Now we just have to wait for the Quicksand Guild to arrive for the trade. This is a whopping six billion Beli!"
An excited bald pirate exclaimed.
"Hahahahaha, you're right! This Surgery Fruit I've obtained is truly worth six billion Beli. There are so many nobles and wealthy people in this world, and they're willing to fork out six billion Beli just for this Surgery Fruit!"
Hearing his subordinate's words, Barerus also became excited.
For him, six billion Beli was an astronomical figure. Once he got this money, even if he decided to stop being a pirate and hide away in a member state or even change his identity to become a noble, it would be no problem at all!
"Captain, this money is all yours. Why do we need to involve Doflamingo and give him a cut as a middleman?"
His subordinate looked at his captain distributing the money and felt quite displeased, as their boss had never shared any money with him.
"What do you know? This is called sharing the risk. Who knows if the Quicksand Guild will take the opportunity to rob us? It's better to have someone else around for insurance; the name of the Night Demon is quite reputable in the underground world."
Barerus said.
Outside the island:
"Fufufufu, Surgery Fruit, here I come!"
Doflamingo flew towards the center of the island, stepping on thin lines in the air, his mouth curving into a grin that stretched all the way to the back of his ears.
"Whoosh!!!!"
However, just as he landed on the island, he saw a yellow golden light shooting towards the island from a distance, moving much faster than he was. Following that yellow light was a man flying at a speed similar to his own.
"Damn it, how could Admiral Kizaru be here? Has this place been discovered by those old geezers from the World Government?"
Seeing this, Doflamingo felt furious and continued flying towards the center of the island. He was unwilling to let the Surgery Fruit be snatched away just like that! "Oh, looks like I arrived quite early. The trade hasn't started yet? Then could you, the naval traitor Barerus, hand over the Surgery Fruit to me?"
Just as Barerus was daydreaming about how to spend the six billion, a golden light suddenly appeared in front of him. As the light dispersed, a very lewd face emerged, accompanied by an extremely sleazy voice.
"Kizaru, how did you end up here!"
Barerus, who was originally a navy officer, could not possibly fail to recognize the newly promoted Admiral Kizaru. He never expected to encounter an admiral in his lifetime! "You don't need to ask how I got here. If you can hand over the Surgery Fruit to me, I won't arrest you."
When Kizaru arrived, he had been observing the surroundings, trying to locate the Surgery Fruit himself.
But the Surgery Fruit is not a living being; even with his Observation Haki, he couldn't find the inanimate Devil Fruit, and he didn't find it on Barerus either.
Otherwise, he would have simply taken it by now instead of standing here talking to this naval traitor.
"That's six billion Beli! How could I possibly give it to you!"
"Kill him!"
Upon hearing that Kizaru wanted to take his Surgery Fruit, Barerus's desire overcame his rationality. He pulled out his gun and fired directly, ordering his subordinates to shoot as well! "Bang bang bang!!!"
His subordinates didn't recognize Kizaru at first, so they all followed Barerus's orders and opened fire.
"How could this happen? Why can't we kill this guy!"
However, after they fired, they quickly realized that their bullets hit the sleazy man, who transformed into golden light, rendering their bullets completely ineffective. The lewd expression on his face didn't change at all.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!"
Kizaru casually raised his finger, and a burst of light shot out, instantly hitting three pirates. Their hearts were pierced by the light, and they fell to the ground.
"Monster!!"
Barerus's subordinates were inexperienced pirates. Seeing that their attacks had no effect on Kizaru and that three of their own were instantly killed, they panicked and fled.
"Logia type!!"
At this point, Barerus finally regained his composure, realizing that ordinary methods had no effect on a Logia user.
"Barerus, tell me where the Surgery Fruit is. Otherwise, after I kill you, I'll just search for it myself. Since you're here for a trade, the Surgery Fruit should be nearby, right!"
Kizaru kicked Barerus, making him spit out blood, and then stepped on him, looking down at Barerus from above. If he dared to refuse even a little, he would be killed! "Whoosh!!!!"
Just as Barerus was about to reveal the location of the Surgery Fruit, a purple lightning bolt suddenly shot through the building.
Even Kizaru, who possessed a Logia-type ability, became serious at that moment, instinctively dodging the lightning bolt, as it contained the power to injure him.
In the next moment, a lightning figure appeared beside Barerus; it was Faraday, who had arrived just in time.
"Faraday, the president of the Quicksand Guild!"
Kizaru looked at the figure that appeared before him with a serious expression. He hadn't expected the Quicksand Guild members to arrive so quickly!
"Barerus, I'm the president of the Quicksand Guild. Where is the Surgery Fruit? The trade can begin now."
Faraday ignored Kizaru's presence, just like Kizaru had done before, looking down at Barerus. As a weakling, Barerus had no rights at all.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!!"
Naturally, Kizaru wouldn't let Faraday take the Surgery Fruit. He shot out beams of light from all ten fingers towards Faraday.
"Zzzz!!!"
However, in his Logia form, Faraday's body developed ten holes, allowing the ten beams of light to pass right through him.
"Observation Haki is truly terrifying!"
Seeing this, Kizaru became even more serious. To accurately predict the trajectory of his ten beams of light and perform precise intangibility at such a close distance required extremely strong Observation Haki.
What Kizaru didn't know was that this level of Observation Haki had been forcibly honed under Li Yuan's sword.
Even with the speed of lightning, Faraday had no chance to dodge against Li Yuan. To minimize the beatings he would take, Faraday had
put in more effort into Observation Haki than he had in both swordsmanship and Armament Haki combined.