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Onigashima, prison.
"Kaido!"
Ace sat up suddenly, touching his whole body with lingering fear, his mind filled with images of himself being beaten up by Kaido.
When he saw the surroundings clearly and the blood-stained bandages on his body, his spirit couldn't help but feel confused.
It turned out to be a dream.
"Clatter, clatter~~~"
The sound of chains was exceptionally heavy.
Ace raised his hand to his forehead, his eyes caught the Sea-Prism Stone shackles on his wrists, and he understood his situation.
He was defeated by Kaido.
An unprecedented sense of frustration welled up in his heart.
"Damn it, that monster!"
Ace angrily threw punches, leaving blood-red fist marks on the wall, venting the unwillingness in his heart.
In the past, when he encountered enemies, no matter how strong they were, he always felt that he would be the one to win in the end.
But Kaido was completely different.
His proud flames, burning on Kaido, were like tickles, seemingly unable to cause any damage.
This is unreasonable!
He didn't understand, nor could he figure it out.
Without the blessing of his flame power, relying solely on physical strength was clearly not enough to defeat Kaido. In fact, he was completely overwhelmed.
"Captain Ace!"
The voices of his companions came from outside.
Ace quickly went to the cell door and saw his companions in the cell directly opposite. Everyone was wearing prisoner uniforms, their spirit weak.
Although he had expected it, when he truly saw his companions captured, Ace couldn't help but feel upset and anxious.
"Even you guys…"
"I'm sorry, Captain Ace."
His companions lowered their heads in shame and apologized.
They had dragged their Captain down.
"I'm the one who should apologize."
Ace sat down with his back against the cell door, raising his hand to cover his face.
If he hadn't stubbornly insisted on coming to Wano Country to challenge the Four Emperor Kaido, his companions would not have ended up like this.
If he couldn't even protect his companions, what right did he have to be a Captain?
He was too weak.
"Thud!"
After an unknown amount of time, dense footsteps approached from afar.
A familiar rough voice appeared.
"Send all these invaders to the Prisoner Mine."
"Yes!"
Ace's pupils shrank.
It was Kaido's voice!
Ace quickly stood up, watching helplessly as his companions were taken away by the pirates, and anxiously shouted at Daichi, "Kaido, where are you taking my companions?!"
"Where?"
Daichi looked at Ace, curling his lips.
"To hell, of course!"
"..."
Ace's eyes were bloodshot, and he roared uncontrollably, "Kaido, let them go, come at me if you have something!"
"The loser has no right to negotiate."
Daichi responded coldly.
"Also, I am not Kaido."
"You're not Kaido?"
Ace was utterly shocked.
This strong monster isn't Kaido?
"My name is Gudraton Daichi, an executive of the Beast Pirates."
Daichi calmly stated the facts. "Kaido is a hundred times stronger than I am. If he were to act, it would only take one swing to deal with an ignorant kid like you. Unfortunately, Kaido is not in Wano Country right now."
"What?!"
Ace clenched his fists in anger.
Kaido could defeat him with just one swing?
What a joke!
There should be a limit to looking down on people!
Daichi pulled up a chair and sat down, looking at Ace, who seemed to be provoked, feeling a bit troubled.
According to his initial plan, being evenly matched with Ace would be enough. Then he would just need to negotiate terms, and both sides would get what they wanted.
Unexpectedly, this kid actually became his personal plaything.
If it were a beautiful girl, it would be fine. He could keep her by his side to replenish his magic. But it was a man, and a restless one at that.
He didn't want to cause himself trouble.
Based on his understanding of Ace and his personal experience after fighting him, this kid was a stubborn one, and it was almost impossible to subdue him.
The Beast Pirates was not a loving family. They couldn't play the Whitebeard game. Ace's personality was destined to not fit into the Beast Pirates.
Leaving Ace would most likely result in the Prisoner Mine gaining an SSR worker, which was meaningless to him.
To kill him after using him would be against morality, and he still needed to use this kid, so killing the donkey after the mill was a bit unreasonable.
As for eating him…
F*ck, who suggested that terrifying idea?!
It was too horrifying.
Daichi quickly dismissed that thought.
Ace was just a Devil Fruit user, not the Devil Fruit itself. Putting aside whether eating him would be useful, Daichi simply couldn't accept such an act.
He was just a bad guy, not a pervert.
Business first.
Daichi stared at Ace.
"Do you want to save your companions?"
"What do you mean?"
Ace became alert.
Now that he was a prisoner, there was no reason for the other party to let him go.
Daichi grinned. "I can let you and your companions go."
"What's the price?"
Ace asked in a deep voice.
He wasn't a foolish younger brother. He knew very well that everything came with a price. If the other party was willing to let them go, there must be conditions.
Daichi took out a stack of bounty posters and threw them in front of Ace. "This is the price for all of you, adding up to about 400 million Berries. Let me round it up for you, let's say 1 billion Berries. 1 billion Berries to buy the lives of all your crew, isn't that a good deal?"
"1 billion Berries?"
Ace was speechless.
He hadn't expected that Daichi would ask him to buy his life with money.
It really was the style of a pirate.
But what was with the 1 billion Berries? Is that how you round up?!
What a good deal, my ass!
Ace was full of anger.
"I don't have that much money!"
"No problem, you can write an IOU."
Daichi smiled and took out the contract he had prepared long ago. He had already sent people to empty the supplies on Ace's ship, so he knew Ace had no money.
If Ace could produce this money, he wouldn't even want it.
What he wanted was this IOU.
Thinking about showing the IOU to scare those poor people when dealing with the Whitebeard Pirates in the future, Daichi couldn't help but grin.
Pay the money first if you have the guts!
Heh heh heh~~~
"The interest will be calculated at 30% per year."
"Hiss—!"
Ace gasped.
30% interest, that's 300 million a year!
Even "Loan Shark King" Du Feld wasn't that black-hearted!
Where would he get the money to pay it back!
Daichi raised an eyebrow.
"What, unwilling?"
"I… I'm willing!"
Ace gritted his teeth and agreed.
No amount of money was more important than the lives of his companions!
Daichi chuckled and took out a camera Den Den Mushi.
"Excellent, sign and press your handprint!"
"Also, put the IOU on your chest. I need to take a few photos as evidence, just in case you don't acknowledge it in the future."
"Brother Ace, you wouldn't want photos of you owing money to spread all over the world, would you?"
"..."
Ace's eyes were vacant, and he was manipulated by Daichi like a puppet.
Tears vaguely shimmered in his eyes.
It was over. If this got out, he would be ridiculed by everyone in the world, especially his family in Windmill Village.
This was more painful than killing him.
However, there was something even more cruel.
"Heh heh heh, take off your clothes too!"
"Stop your damn nonsense!"
"Do it yourself? Or should I help you?"
"Do you still want to save your companions?"
The unruly little pearls finally fell.
Ace closed his eyes in pain.
Devil, this guy is definitely a devil!
"Splendid!!!"
Daichi held a stack of photos and put them away contentedly.
"Next, let's discuss the second condition!"
"There's another condition?!"
Ace stared at Daichi with grief and anger.
If he didn't have Sea-Prism Stone on his hands, preventing him from using his abilities, he would definitely explode at this bastard in front of him!
Explode!!!
"Don't worry, this condition is very simple."
Daichi's gaze was cold.
"Kill someone for me!"
"Who?"
"Shogun Orochi!"
Pirates fighting, the Shogun dying violently.
And he and Yamato would turn the tide and save the collapsing building. Kaido would surely find the news very pleasant to hear!