Saint Rolmotte led Noyer to the reception room to meet Saint Rosward and his daughter.
The Celestial Dragon's house was enormous — the walk from the main hall to the reception room alone felt like a post-meal stroll.
Upon arrival, he saw two garishly dressed Celestial Dragons seated at the table. He locked his gaze on the female — Saint Rosward's daughter.
Saint Shalria wasn't wearing her hood in the Holy Land, so he could see her features clearly. She had golden hair styled straight up, with a thin purple silk scarf covering part of her face. Judging by appearance alone, she was quite beautiful.
Seeing Noyer staring at her, Saint Rolmotte smiled, "It seems you two have much to discuss. Why don't Saint Rosward and I step outside for a chat?"
Saint Rosward was pleased his daughter had caught the other party's attention. He nodded with a smile, showing no sign he'd recently lost a son.
Once the two old men left, Noyer's gaze became unrestrained. He stared directly at Saint Shalria with narrowed eyes. In the Holy Land, the Celestial Dragons' attire was lighter — though they still wore quite a lot, at least their arms and legs were exposed.
Feeling his shameless stare, Saint Shalria became uncomfortable and shouted, "What are you looking at?!"
Seeing the girl had quite a temper, Noyer sneered, "You look pretty good, but your personality stinks like a dog."
Saint Shalria's face flushed red as she pointed at him, "As a noble, your words are truly disgusting!"
"Disgusting?" Noyer almost couldn't hold back his laughter, "I do find you rather disgusting, but you'll do for casual fun."
Saint Shalria stood up abruptly in exasperation, "I'm here for a marriage alliance with you! And you say 'casual fun'?!"
Noyer's gaze became fierce, "So you do know you're here for a marriage alliance…"
Slap!
His palm struck across her face. Saint Shalria felt sharp pain in her cheek, saw stars, and half her face instantly swelled. Tears welled up as she said, "You… how dare you?"
Without a word, Noyer delivered another slap, "Don't put on airs with me. You and your father are begging me, so show the proper attitude!"
Saint Shalria had never suffered such humiliation, but when she heard his words, she could only grit her teeth and swallow it.
How strange… She clearly remembered Saint Rolwiff was a simple-minded waste. How had he become so domineering?
Seeing her settle down, Noyer was finally satisfied. He made conversation to learn more about Mary Geoise, looking for direction for his next plan.
Speaking of Mary Geoise, aside from the mysterious Imu who hadn't shown their face, only the Five Elders — the leaders of the Celestial Dragons — might be experts.
However, even with his current identity as a Celestial Dragon, meeting the Five Elders wasn't simple, let alone copying their talents. The only real benefit was the luxurious treatment, which made one reluctant to leave.
But he didn't want to be a Celestial Dragon for life. He had to gain some benefits and leave. For example, if Mary Geoise caught fire again, it should draw quite a few experts to provide support, right?
At the very least, a Marine Admiral would show up, right? Last time, Noyer had failed to copy the Pika Pika no Mi from Kizaru — a missed opportunity that still frustrated him. But pulling off something like this would require planning an escape route. Even he couldn't handle fighting that many people at once.
Saint Shalria was panicking. Her body had gone completely stiff. At some point, Noyer — lost in thought — had placed his hand on her thigh and was moving it unconsciously.
The rough hand wandered without purpose. Saint Shalria clamped her legs together, not daring to breathe heavily, afraid of making strange sounds.
She glared at him with shame and anger, raising her hand to push him away, but her strength and gaze were weak and soft — not frightening at all.
Just then, Saint Rosward and Saint Rolmotte returned. Noyer snapped back to attention and quickly withdrew his hand.
Saint Shalria breathed a sigh of relief as the large hand retreated. Then she heard her father ask, "Daughter, how was your chat with Saint Rolwiff?"
Her father was asking if she was satisfied. Saint Shalria was about to say something negative when Noyer, leaning beside her, suddenly extended his hand again.
"Saint Rolwiff is… ah!" Noyer reached out and grabbed her from behind. She let out a shocked cry.
Rosward said with confusion, "What about Saint Rolwiff?"
Saint Shalria felt her face heating up. The strange sensation kept making her dizzy, leaving her unable to speak clearly.
Seeing the two old men becoming suspicious, Noyer steeled himself and twisted clockwise. Saint Shalria had been holding on, but this completely broke through her defenses.
Pain! A pain that went from flesh to heart!
But beneath the pain, she felt something else that touched her heartstrings. She suddenly thought of those slaves she had beaten, scolded, and humiliated.
So this is what it feels like to be bullied. Not bad…
Saint Shalria — who had always been high and mighty, oppressing others — seemed to unlock some incredible attribute today.
The noble Celestial Dragon lady's expression became increasingly hazy, a drunken flush filling her face as she said, "Pretty good… Saint Rolwiff… pretty good."
Saint Rosward didn't notice anything unusual and nodded joyfully, "That's good. Saint Rolmotte and I will arrange the marriage alliance right away."
Saint Shalria nodded and walked away with difficulty, taking small steps with her legs clamped together. Noyer casually delivered a resounding slap that landed squarely on target.
The two Celestial Dragon old men turned around at the sound. Noyer put on a gentlemanly appearance and smiled lightly, "See you next time, Saint Shalria."
Saint Shalria felt somewhat dazed. This novel sensation seemed to open the door to a new world. With tears in the corners of her eyes, she tried hard to act nonchalant and said:
"Okay…"
Noyer watched the father and daughter leave, looking at Saint Shalria with confusion. This girl seemed overly sensitive.
He hadn't really done much — his hand hadn't gone far at all. How did she end up looking like she'd just come out of a nightclub?
He really should find time to see Robin. As a young man surrounded by beautiful women every day, Noyer was finding it increasingly hard to restrain himself.
After seeing off Saint Rosward, Saint Rolmotte dragged a few Celestial Dragons out to watch battle slaves fight. Noyer had no interest in such things and chose to stay at the family residence.
After confirming there was no surveillance, he picked up the Den Den Mushi, said a few words, then hung up.
After a long wait, just when Noyer was getting impatient, a door-shaped shadow finally appeared in the air. Even after telling Blueno the location, creating a long-distance portal still took this long.
The air door opened, and several people stepped through. Enel, Blueno, Lucci, and Wyper emerged one by one. If there were background music, these guys making such a flashy entrance would definitely fill the screen with comments.
As soon as they stepped out, the air door fluctuated violently and vanished. Blueno collapsed to the ground, sticking out his tongue in exhaustion.
Noyer smiled as he looked at Enel, "Your injuries healed that quickly?"
Enel raised his head with familiar arrogance, "I am a god. These injuries are nothing."
Though his tone was just as haughty, Noyer sensed something different. He used the system's scan on Enel and saw exactly what he'd expected.
Enel's negative red talent 〔Arrogant False God〕 had dropped two levels to Blue Rank.
So this is what it means for a talent to disappear. Being brutally beaten by Kizaru had shaken him, causing his Arrogant False God to downgrade. One more beating might reduce it to White Rank, and another after that would probably erase it completely.
Kizaru was really something — when it came to fighting, he didn't hesitate.
Lucci surveyed the room, "You ran into a Celestial Dragon's house?"
Noyer lay back on the large sofa, grabbed the expensive-looking bottle of red wine from the table, poured it into a glass, and drained it in one gulp, "Yeah, and the stuff here is pretty good."
Enel casually took some apples from the fruit bowl, "I really don't understand why these worthless people get such good treatment."
Noyer drank the wine boldly, let out a satisfied sigh, and said, "That's why the Celestial Dragons are the world's greatest cancer."
"The incompetent sit in high positions, possessing everything without effort, enjoying privileges wherever they go. Who exactly were the Celestial Dragons' ancestors? Were they really gods?" Wyper looked around the grand mansion in confusion.
Noyer shrugged, "Who knows."
He kicked Blueno, who was lying on the ground.
"You're way too weak. Just teleporting to the Red Line and you're exhausted?"
Easy for you to say!
This was Mary Geoise — to arrive here accurately, Blueno had pushed his ability so hard his kidneys were practically falling out!
He kept gasping for breath but didn't dare contradict Noyer.
Ever since Noyer first cut him with a knife, triggering the Black Gold talent's inner demon characteristic, Blueno had been terrified of him. Because the fear ran so deep, this mental influence on his abilities caused him to grow extremely slowly.
Fortunately, Blueno was no longer an enemy. Now that he'd joined Noyer's camp, this inner demon would presumably disappear over time.
Noyer patted him and began issuing orders, "Wyper, pretend to be a slave and stay with me. No one should pay attention. Big Battery has Observation Haki — go out and gather information for me, but be careful not to let the guards notice. Lucci, take Blueno and blend in with the government personnel. You're familiar with that side, so find a reliable escape route."
Lucci frowned, "Why do we need an escape route? Can't we just have Blueno take us away?"
Noyer smiled mysteriously, "I'll be bringing a lot of people. I'm afraid Blueno won't be able to maintain the portal that long."
Lucci raised an eyebrow, "What are you planning to do?"
Noyer explained his plan, "Rolwiff's father is hosting a gathering tonight. Many people will attend."
Enel didn't understand the significance, "So what?"
Lucci seemed to catch on, his eyes widening, "You want to kidnap the Celestial Dragons?"
Noyer chuckled, "At least fifty Celestial Dragons are expected. If we kidnap that many World Nobles, imagine the ransom we could get…"
Lucci rubbed his temples, "I really don't know if following a bold captain like you is right or wrong."
"Once you're on a pirate ship, no one can escape."
Noyer was still talking to Lucci when a series of knocks and shouts came from the door.
"Saint Rolwiff! Let's go have some fun!"
Noyer gave the others a look. Lucci quickly pulled Blueno through a door to escape, and Enel transformed into electricity and fled.
Wyper pretended to be Noyer's slave, following obediently behind him.
Noyer, wearing Saint Rolwiff's face, pushed open the door — wow!
His eyes felt like they'd been soaked in chili water as he saw two more "handsome" faces comparable to Saint Rolwiff's!
Noyer suppressed the urge to vomit, "What are you doing here?"
The two Celestial Dragons looked stunned, "Before you left, didn't you agree we'd go to the battle slave arena together when you got back?"
Noyer nodded, his expression unchanged, "Ah — yes, I did say that. What were your names again?"
The two Celestial Dragons looked at each other, then politely introduced themselves.
"I'm Saint Patrif Charlmont, and this is my younger brother Saint Patrif Charmond. You don't recognize us?"
Noyer had a sudden realization, "Of course not — I was just testing you."
The Celestial Dragons prided themselves on their noble bloodline and disdained relations with any race outside their own. They practiced intermarriage within the clan to produce offspring.
This explained why the Celestial Dragons had low fertility rates and, like these two, generally low intelligence.
As for Celestial Dragons having many wives, they merely treated women as playthings to satisfy their perverted desires. Once the Celestial Dragons tired of them, those abducted women were — at best — sent back to their families by the government. Most suffered mental breakdowns and became catatonic.
The worst cases didn't need mentioning — the Celestial Dragons had killed them all.
The two Celestial Dragon brothers were now taking Noyer to a private entertainment activity among the Mary Geoise nobility.
Every family had abducted slaves, roughly divided into two categories.
One category was pleasure slaves — female slaves with excellent appearances and figures, strong male slaves, and people of various races. The Celestial Dragons tortured them for entertainment.
The other category was battle slaves. Though also for entertainment, they had high combat abilities and were sent by the Celestial Dragons to fight for their viewing pleasure.
Saint Charlmont looked enviously at Wyper behind Noyer, "Saint Rolwiff really comes from a great family. Even your battle slave has such presence. How about selling him to me?"
Wyper's cold killing intent surged. He wanted to kill this Celestial Dragon on the spot.
Noyer quickly held him back and said coldly to Saint Charlmont, "Don't provoke him. If he kills you, I won't care."
Saint Charlmont laughed dismissively, "If you won't sell, you won't sell. What are we betting on for the battle slaves this time?"
The two brought Noyer to a spacious battle slave arena. Many Celestial Dragons sat in the VIP seats watching the show.
This was a private venue set up by the young Celestial Dragon nobility for battle slave fights. The young nobles would bring out carefully selected battle slaves and bet against other families, winning various rewards.
Of course it wouldn't be money — the Celestial Dragons looked down on that. It was usually rare treasures.
Saint Charmond received a package from his subordinate, took out several items, and shouted excitedly in the arena, "Whoever beats my battle slave gets to use these!"
Noyer took a closer look. The patterned sphere this guy threw out from the bag looked like a Devil Fruit.
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T/N: Comment, give me Power Stones, like and favorite, it all supports me and makes me go foward with this. Appreciate my other stories as well, I guarantee the good work!
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Take a look at the new books I'm translating on my profile, Cyberpunk 2077: A God-Level Skill Every Day and Infinite Worlds: Building the Strongest Harem! They are also on my website for $5 and $1.5, respectively!
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)