The Grand Line, Reini Island.
Outside the slave shop, Gild Tesoro sat cross-legged on the ground.
He spoke excitedly to the cage:
"Stella!!!"
"I'll have enough money soon!"
"Look! Look!"
"In another month! No!!!"
"Half a month!!"
"Just half a month, and we'll be together!"
As he spoke, he secretly revealed a bit of the money in his arms to the gentle, golden-haired woman.
Stella smiled gently:
"Really!"
"That's wonderful."
Tesoro nodded heavily:
"Yes!"
"Then we....."
Stella just looked at him gently, nodding continuously.
She was actually very happy too, but until the last moment, she dared not hope...
She had experienced too much in her short life, of having hope only to have it dashed away...
After chatting for nearly half the day, the slave shop owner came out and said helplessly:
"Alright, alright, don't block here and delay my business."
"It's been three years, and it won't make a difference by one or two days."
Tesoro got up awkwardly, smiling apologetically at the owner.
The owner waved his hand, letting him leave.
Stella and the owner watched Tesoro disappear, and she took a puff of her cigarette:
"Congratulations, that silly boy will soon have enough money."
Stella looked gently in the direction Tesoro had disappeared:
"Thank you too, boss, for not selling me."
The slave shop owner shook his head:
"I've seen a lot of human suffering."
"But I've never seen anyone as interesting as you two."
"I also want to see how far that silly boy can go."
"Who would have thought....."
Drip, drip, drip...
The sound of leather shoes approached, interrupting their conversation.
Looking at the person in the black suit who walked up and stood before him, the slave shop owner hesitantly asked:
"Hello, are you here to buy a slave?"
The first words from the man in the black suit sent a chill through the slave shop owner, rendering him unable to think:
"I am a guard for Saint Charlos, you don't need to know my name."
"I'm just here to inform you that Saint Charlos has taken a liking to this slave."
"You know what to do, right?"
"Hmm?"
The slave shop owner shivered:
"Yes! Yes! Yes!"
"Since Saint Charlos desires her, it is her honor!"
"I'll get her key right now..."
The man in the black suit interrupted him:
"No need."
"Saint Charlos doesn't lack the money for a slave."
"It will be the usual price."
"And that boy, does he come here every day?"
The slave shop owner nodded quickly:
"Yes, yes!"
"That boy comes here every day at four in the afternoon."
The man in the black suit nodded:
"Very good, tomorrow at four in the afternoon."
"Saint Charlos will come to collect, make sure you prepare well."
The slave shop owner nodded frantically:
"Understood, understood!!"
The man in the black suit turned and left. After a long while,
The slave shop owner collapsed onto the ground, covered in a cold sweat.
He couldn't help it. Although he ran this business, he feared the Celestial Dragons just as much as anyone else.
If he accidentally angered these important figures, he could die at any moment...
Struggling to his feet, he looked at Stella:
"Damn it, get ready properly. You'll be going to enjoy life with a Celestial Dragon tomorrow."
He then turned and left in anger.
People in this business were generally not good people to begin with.
He had only been watching Stella and Tesoro for amusement, to feel superior and show pity, to enjoy that condescending feeling.
But when these two caused him to offend a Celestial Dragon, and he was ordered around like a dog by a Celestial Dragon's guard in front of a slave, how could he not be angry?
Stella, in her cage, was unable to recover for a long time.
After a while, in despair, she hugged her knees and trembled:
"It's like this again, just when there was a glimmer of hope, it was shattered in an instant..."
"Do I really not deserve to live in this world... why..."
"Why treat me like this..."
She buried her head deep in her knees, tears streaming down her face.
In the largest building in the town.
Everything had been renovated to welcome the Celestial Dragons.
Inside the building, in a magnificent hall, Saint Charlos was leisurely eating snacks.
He recalled the scene he had chanced upon earlier in the day, that blinding smile...
The man in the black suit, who had returned, quickly approached him and bowed:
"Respected Saint Charlos, the matter you instructed has been handled."
Saint Charlos nodded casually:
"Does that boy come here every day?"
The man in the black suit nodded:
"Yes, every day at four in the afternoon, he appears at the slave shop."
Saint Charlos suddenly started laughing, and his laughter grew more perverse.
"Good, good, good."
"I'm truly looking forward to it."
"How will his expression be when his hope is cruelly crushed? It will be too interesting."
"Hehehehehehehe!"
He laughed with a twisted, grotesque smile.
The prolonged arrogance had begun to warp some people into becoming truly monstrous...
----
The next day.
Tesoro, who had arrived at the slave shop full of joy and anticipation, ready to see his beloved, was stunned.
Stella was now exceptionally haggard and had lost her usual smile.
Tesoro rushed to the railing, gripping it and trying to stick his head through:
"Stella! Are you alright!"
"What's wrong!!!"
"Stella!!!"
Hearing Tesoro's cries, Stella finally came back to her senses.
She looked at Tesoro, revealing a smile of despair. Before she could speak, a disgusting laugh rang out.
"Hehehehehehehe!"
A Celestial Dragon, accompanied by two guards, suddenly emerged from the shop. The slave shop owner followed them, bowing subserviently.
Without waiting for the Celestial Dragon's instruction, he proactively opened the cage door, dragged Stella out by the iron chain around her neck, and handed her to Saint Charlos.
Seeing Stella treated like this, Tesoro angrily rushed forward, attempting to snatch the chain.
However, the guards beside Saint Charlos instantly appeared before him and slapped him twice.
*Slap! Slap!*
He was knocked to the ground, his face bleeding from the impact.
Saint Charlos laughed with a twisted expression, looking at Tesoro:
"What a fine slave he is."
"I will cherish her dearly."
"After all, it's wonderful that one can buy anything in this world with money."
"Hehehehehehehe!"
He smiled with satisfaction, his perverse desires fulfilled by watching Tesoro struggle and rage on the ground.
He tugged on the chain in his hand and walked away.
Stella, pulled backward by the chain around her neck, had tears streaming from the corners of her eyes.
For the last time, she gave Tesoro that familiar, gentle smile:
"Thank you."
"I was happy to have your good intentions."
"I felt truly happy from the bottom of my heart."
"Tesoro."
Watching Stella being dragged further away, Tesoro went mad...
Several days later, at the Holy Land Mary Geoise.
In a dark interrogation room.
*Sizzle—*
"Aaaahhhhhh!!!"
The sound of burning flesh echoed as Tesoro, who had deliberately committed a great sin to be captured and become a slave to a Celestial Dragon, was branded with the Hoof of the Sky Dragon.
Watching Tesoro struggle, his eyes rolling back from the pain, the Celestial Dragon holding the branding iron laughed perversely:
"Hehehehehe..."
*Sizzle—*
The branding iron was pressed down again.
Even amidst the agonizing struggle, a final sliver of hope remained in Tesoro's heart.
"If I also become a slave of a Celestial Dragon, I will be able to see Stella..."
----
The Holy Land, Mary Geoise.
The Five Elders gathered as usual in the great white palace.
The Elder holding his cane spoke to the others:
"What do you think about that Dragon?"