Chapter 174: Boa Hancock Auctioned Your Dignity

Chapter 174 - Boa Hancock Auctioned Your Dignity Once the crowd poured into the grand tent, they found themselves staring up at a wide, beautifully decorated stage. But none of that mattered, because the figure standing at the center outshone every last bit of splendor. A woman, no, an empress, stood tall and impossible to ignore. She was strikingly tall for a woman in this world, well over six feet, her posture so imperious it made everyone else seem like insects groveling at her feet. Her long, ink-black hair spilled down her back and over her shoulders like silk curtains, framing a face so exquisite that men and women alike forgot how to breathe. Dark blue eyes, rimmed with thick lashes, glared down with a haughty disdain, her narrow waist cinched perfectly above wide hips and long legs wrapped in a vivid sarang. A white cape fluttered behind her, while a thick snake coiled lazily around her shoulders, flicking its tongue at the crowd. Every eye in the room locked on her, their awe hanging thick in the air, until the woman sneered. "Hmph. What status do you peasants think you have to look upon this empress?" Her voice was smooth like honey but every word was dipped in scorn. "If you don't sit down this instant, I'll gouge out your eyes and feed them to my darling Salome here." She lifted her arm; the snake's head rose in tandem, tongue flicking as if eager to taste flesh. Her insult was so sharp that not one person dared feel offended, many actually flushed red with delight, honored that someone so divine would even threaten them. They scrambled for their seats like children before an executioner's block. A small, disdainful smile tugged at the corner of the woman's perfect lips as she surveyed the now orderly crowd. "Good, obedient peasants." She lifted her chin imperiously. "This empress is Boa Hancock and you worthless things should feel blessed that I've deigned to waste my precious time hosting this auction. Now, shut your mouths and bid. Should I see a single hint of disrespect" Her slender fingers traced the snake's head lovingly. "your corpse will be my darling's supper tonight." An old man whose face was sunken but his eyes were burning with a sick devotion suddenly burst out, "Please kill me, Empress! My life is fulfilled now that I've witnessed such beauty, please, let me die by your hand!" A ripple of laughter tried to rise, but it died instantly when the painted clown from earlier flickered into existence right in front of the groveling fool. The clown's manic grin was back, eyes wide with gleeful menace. Without a word, his polished shoe slammed into the man's face with a sickening crunch. The old man collapsed to the floor, limp as a rag. The clown turned that painted smile to the rest of the audience, who froze in terror. "It's already more than fortunate that our vice leader is here in person." The clown's voice was soft and syrupy but everyone felt themselves shaken to the core, "If any of you dare harbor improper thoughts about our Empress, you'll be dead before your filthy minds can finish the idea." To prove his point, the clown snapped his fingers. The old man's limp body vanished with him in a flicker of chakra and the heavy silence that fell after told everyone that their lives meant less than dust if they overstepped. Up on stage, Boa Hancock sneered again, flicking her cape back as if swatting away an insect. She clapped her delicate hands once and a masked maid entered, carrying a polished tray draped in silk. With a flourish, Boa pulled the silk aside to reveal an ancient-looking scroll. She cast a lazy, scornful glance over her audience, "This scroll contains a full legacy of Wind Style techniques, from your pitiful E-ranks to decent A-rank jutsu. There is no minimum bid. Every raise shall be no less than ten thousand ryo. We only accept cash, unless you'd rather exchange your life instead, though even that wouldn't be worth it." A slow,smile curled across her lips as she leaned closer. "Now, begin." The tent went dead silent for a single breath, then erupted in a frenzy. "Ten thousand!" "Fifty thousand!" "One hundred thousand!" The bids climbed like a wildfire and the price ballooned, cresting past three million before the wave finally slowed, then kept climbing with smaller increments until it settled at fourteen million ryo. The final winner was a squat shinobi with scars down one cheek, he exchanged a bulging sack of bills for the scroll right there on the spot, hands trembling as he sat back down. More than a few eyes tracked his every move with thinly veiled malice. Boa (Ren) watched everything with a hint of satisfaction, this was one of the better things he had prepared and it was put as the first item of the auction, because he needed to set the momentum straight. Anyway, even if these jutsu's came to light no one would link him or the village, because these were just common wind jutsus that every great village had, and he had even tweaked some of them so no one would doubt them. Tweaking the jutsu wasn't even a big problem, with his current wind and chakra control mastery he could produce low ranking wind jutsu like scraps, so now him selling these jutsu's was just honest business, and he wasn't thinking about his benefit alone. He had already placed a bunch of butterflies lead by Ko outside, they are preparing a memory altering Genjutsu which would take effect as soon as they left the tent and everything that happened here would be extremely blurry, especially who bought what, so in a way he was also giving an after sale service for free, in this economy. His eyes roamed to the back where Roku was sitting, disguised as a young man half his age, but Ren could find him easily. He looked at Roku and thought, 'Hehe, it's good that you came, otherwise, there would've been more trouble.' ~~~ With that, the auction continued and both Ren and the audience were more than satisfied. Ren pocketed a mountain of ryo because he kept throwing cutting insults at them while dressed as Boa, which only fired up their pride and greed enough to push the bids higher and higher. Meanwhile, the audience had the honor of being scolded by such a divine beauty and, in return, walked away with things that could genuinely boost their strength, a win-win, if one ignored the theatrics. Finally, it was time for the last item of the night, and almost everyone present already knew what it was so Boa didn't waste any more words. She clapped her hands sharply and another maid entered, pushing forward a massive trolley with something large hidden under a heavy red silk cover. Boa grasped the edge of the cover and, with a dramatic flourish, pulled it down, revealing a raw, hefty ore. Even at a glance, one could see where the rock had been chipped away to expose gleaming veins of metal. The entire audience leaned forward. Everyone here knew exactly what this was. Boa's voice cut through the hush, with that same disdainful tone, "As you might have guessed, this is an ore of chakra metal but not just any chakra metal. This comes straight from the Land of Lightning's main mine, which produces chakra metal highly conductive to lightning chakra. Refined properly, it can enhance the power of your lightning-style jutsu by a significant margin. Since this is still a pure ore, you can shape it any way you desire, if you have a capable enough blacksmith that is." Everything Ren said was true. He really had sourced this from the underworld black markets in the Land of Lightning just a few days ago, if he was going to pose as an auction house, he wasn't about to tarnish his "reputation" by pushing fakes. Besides, this piece was meant for Roku to take anyway; Ren planned to get it back later, no matter who ended up winning the bid tonight. If, by some fluke, someone else did get their hands on it then, Ren would simply find them later, cast a little genjutsu, reclaim the ore, and even refund the money, no harm done. If he really wanted to sell something like this for profit, it wouldn't be here in the middle of nowhere, maybe he'd run a "White Tiger Auction House" in the Leaf later on, where he could fetch a far higher price. The possibilities were endless, but for now, he'd keep this precious ore for himself. He also had in mind to offer some of it to Yugao if she wanted it after all it wasn't every day you came across such a pure chunk of lightning-conductive chakra metal. This piece alone had cost Ren nearly fifty-five million ryo and the lives of a few unlucky underworld guards who'd gotten in his way. Once the audience had feasted their eyes long enough, Boa's lips curled into that same disdainful smirk as she announced, "The starting bid is thirty million ryo, and every increment must be at least three million." Just like that, the bidding war exploded again. There were far fewer people left than when the auction started, but plenty still had deep enough pockets or the desperation to push the numbers higher. There wasn't shortage of money in the shinobi world, after all, in the shinobi world, a skilled rogue hunter could rake in this much in just a month or two, if they had the guts. Of course, Ren never cared about the finer details, it was easy for him because he was him. For everyone else, it was a blood gamble. But every man in this tent tonight had come prepared, ever since word spread they'd brought every coin they could scrape together for this chance. The price quickly climbed to fifty-one million which was almost matching what Ren had paid for the ore in the first place and that was when Roku finally joined in, his shrill old voice was modified to sound like a young man just like his appearance "Fifty-four million." The bidding however, didn't stop there. It surged past sixty, then seventy, until Roku raised his bid again, this time to eighty-one million ryo and at last, the entire tent fell silent. No one else dared compete, after all this amount had already crossed the base threshold of refined chakra metal, but this one was just an ore, but somehow this young man kept increasing the bid. The others in the crowd stole quick glances at Roku but immediately looked away when they felt the cold, suffocating edge of his killing intent. No one here was stupid enough to test him unfortunately. Boa did her usual dramatic three asks, each one dripping with contempt, before she snapped, "This pure lightning-conductive chakra metal is sold to a slightly richer peasant for eighty-one million ryo. And with that, this auction concludes." Roku stepped forward to exchange the money, his eyes gleaming with an eagerness he couldn't fully hide. He tested the ore briefly, confirming its quality, then sealed it away in a scroll. Watching him, Boa kept her haughty sneer but felt a flicker of curiosity beneath the facade, not that she'd let it slip. She turned that disdainful gaze back to the rest of the room. "What are you peasants waiting for? Leave." A wave of crushing chakra spread out from her body, rolling over the crowd like a suffocating tide. Those who had been lingering scrambled to their feet and stumbled over each other to get out. Roku seemed like he wanted to say something but the moment he felt that overwhelming suppression, he thought better of it and vanished into the night with his prize. Outside, the winners clutched their new treasures and rushed away, eager to disappear into the shadows before anyone could think of robbing them. Not that it would matter since they were already caught in Ko's Genjutsu, though none of them could sense it. A handful of the more sensitive ones might have noticed something off, but the sheer pressure of that oppressive chakra wave left them no time to think so they ran. Back inside the tent, the clown emerged from the shadows beside Boa, his grin as cruel and unsettling as ever. "Shall we start, boss?" Boa didn't answer. Instead, she stepped down from the stage, her elegant silhouette drifting through a thin stream of smoke that leaked from her body. Within moments, the tall, impossibly beautiful pirate empress melted away and in her place stood a blue-haired kid with a faint, satisfied smile. The clown fell into step just behind Ren as he strode out of the tent. The smile on Ren's face widened a fraction as he murmured, "No. Not yet. Let the other interested parties play their hands first, then we'll act." With that, he flickered away, leaving the clown and the empty tent behind. A heartbeat later, a dense cloud of smoke billowed out, swallowing the entire area. When the smoke finally cleared, there was nothing left, no tent, no stage, no trace that an auction had ever taken place here at all. Just like that the Azure Dragon Auction House was gone and a game of prey and predator was about to begin deep into the night. ~~~~~ {Originally I wanted to begin fighting in this Chapter but I felt like it was better to wrap up the auction first and then go to the auction in one good push.} {Also, comment below if you want the White Tiger Auction House, Vermilion Bird Gambling Den or the Black Turtle (?) Trade Pavilion in the future.} {If you want, you can support me on pat-reon} {Thanks Sabi, Aus234, Thomo, Gavin, Tyler and ProfoundMagician for supporting me on pat-reon.} { h t t p s : / / w w w . p a t r e o n . c o m / Z e e n o n } {You know what else} {280 Stones = Extra Chapter} {STONES!!!!}