"Truly worthy of you, Vladimir — the strongest man in the world!"
Kaido ground his teeth, his killing intent exploding outward.
Handing over the blueprint was tantamount to asking for his own death. Once he gave it up, the chance of ever getting it back was practically zero.
Unfortunately, standing before Vladimir, Kaido knew he was no match. He simply could not win.
"It seems you still haven't given up. In that case, I shall take it myself."
Vladimir shook his head and prepared to move. But just then, ripples began to spread through the space around them — like waves forming on the surface of calm water.
From the center of those ripples, a hand reached out, moving even faster than Vladimir could.
"Let's go!"
The hand grabbed firmly onto Kaido's shoulder and yanked him backward with immense force.
"Stay right where you are."
Vladimir snorted coldly and struck out with his own hand. He shattered the space before him, piercing through dimensions as if tearing open a curtain, attempting to drag the person hiding in that other dimension straight out into the open.
"What?!"
The one who had intervened cried out in shock. Caught completely off guard, he found his arm seized firmly by Vladimir.
"Damn it! He can completely ignore space and pierce right through the Void Dimension?! What kind of monster is this?!"
Picnes was terrified to his core. An immense power surged through his body, numbing his entire left arm.
He felt as if there was nowhere in the world he could hide, nowhere he could possibly escape to.
"Hmph!"
He roared in defiance. Ignoring the damage to his body, he gripped Kaido tighter and forced his power to teleport them away.
SHREK!
His left arm was ripped completely off, shattered into nothingness by the force of space itself.
"Decisive… you would abandon an arm just to save him."
Vladimir sounded faintly surprised. He glanced at the severed arm still in his grasp, then shook his head and casually dropped it.
All the onlookers were equally stunned. Vladimir was simply too terrifying.
The Void Dimension, created by the power of the Void-Void Fruit, was supposed to be an impenetrable safe haven — yet in his hands, it might as well not exist at all.
Everyone knew that the Void Dimension was like a mirror world, a separate reality. Normally, it was like standing in front of a mirror and trying to kill the reflection inside — impossible.
"Even the Void King couldn't do it… he almost got himself killed just trying to save someone," someone muttered, his heart heavy with dread.
Vladimir discarded the severed limb. He shifted his gaze toward a spot about a hundred meters away.
"No use hiding. In front of me, it makes no difference where you run or where you try to hide."
As his words fell, ripples appeared in the air ahead. Kaido and Picnes materialized before everyone's eyes.
Compared to Kaido, who was suffering from internal injuries, Picnes looked far worse off.
His left arm was gone, torn right off at the shoulder. Fresh blood poured from the wound, staining half his body crimson…
Huff… huff… He panted heavily, his face pale and drained of color.
"Kaido! I could only save you once! Figure out the rest yourself!"
Hearing this, Kaido's face turned a sickly shade of grey. He remained silent for a moment before speaking out loud.
"Vladimir… since the blueprint is already in my hands, I will not hand it over. But… I can give you Devil Fruits instead!"
"Oh?" Vladimir raised an eyebrow. "Ninety fruits. Bring them out right now, and I shall let this matter slide."
"Bullshit! You bastard… if I had ninety fruits, don't you think I would have bid for it during the auction?!"
Kaido roared in fury, gritting his teeth. "In the past two months leading up to this, I have only managed to gather sixty fruits! If you agree… all of them are yours!"
Truth be told, he was seething with resentment. He was one of the Four Emperors!
He had joined forces with the entire Picnes family, and yet they had only scraped together sixty fruits — most of which had actually come from the Picnes clan's reserves.
He had thought the blueprint was as good as his. He never expected other factions to be so outrageously wealthy, throwing out offers of ninety fruits without blinking.
He still had no idea who exactly possessed such immense resources.
Hearing Kaido's offer, Vladimir thought briefly, then smiled faintly.
"A mere sixty? That isn't even enough to surpass the very first bid. Do you really think I would agree to that?"
"Do not push your luck too far!" A murderous aura radiated from Kaido's face.
Just as it seemed negotiations had broken down, Commander-in-Chief Kong suddenly spoke up.
"Vladimir… we of the World Government are willing to offer eighty fruits. What say you?"
"Get lost."
Vladimir glanced at him dismissively, too lazy to waste words.
Kong's expression darkened. "You have always held deep grievances against our Government. But if we obtain the blueprint, I swear on my word that it will never be used against Phantom."
"Hahaha… do you take us for three-year-old children?!"
Suddenly, Redfield burst out laughing. "Kong… how much is your promise actually worth? Not even the Five Elders above you could guarantee something like that!"
He then turned his gaze toward Vladimir. "Captain of Phantom… I bear no grudge against you. I did not come here today for the blueprint. However… you have captured the captain of the 'Treasure Hoard Pirates'. I would like to ask that you hand him over to me."
Vladimir completely ignored his words.
He shook his head slightly, then his gaze sharpened. Instantly, a terrifying and immense pressure descended upon the entire area.
"Kaido… I have run out of patience."
He referred to himself as 'This Emperor', and everyone clearly heard the killing intent in his tone.
Kaido stiffened in fear. Then he roared out loudly:
"Listen, everyone! Do you really think any of you have a chance of getting this blueprint after this second auction? You don't! None of you do! From the very beginning, this auction was nothing but a show! Phantom never intended to let any of us leave with it!"
His voice boomed across the entire battlefield, loud and clear.
"Now… whoever joins forces with me to take down Vladimir… I will share the blueprint with them afterwards! But if no one helps me… I swear to you, before you can kill me, I will destroy this blueprint completely! If I can't have it… then nobody gets to have it!!"
As soon as he said this, countless faces changed color.
"Damn it! He's using the blueprint to threaten us!"
"That bastard… he knows he can't beat Vladimir, so he wants to ruin everything!"
"But… he's right. Even if we pay and buy it, there's no guarantee we'll be able to leave here alive with it. Working together with Kaido right now is our best chance of success!"
Immediately, many people were swayed and began to consider the idea seriously.
The only ones who remained completely unmoved were the Whitebeard Pirates.
They never wanted the blueprint in the first place; their goal was only to destroy it. They were actually hoping Kaido would burn it to ashes right now.
Even Commander-in-Chief Kong found himself tempted. He was ready to put aside his conflict with Kaido for the moment just to join forces and deal with Phantom.
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