Chapter 94: The Ransom

Due to the Celestial Dragons being kidnapped, Kizaru, who initially planned to casually handle the situation and brush off some insignificant pirates, became slightly more serious. With a flash of light, Borsalino quickly arrived at the auction house on Sabaody Archipelago's Grove 1. The auction house was already surrounded by Marines, but seeing the admiral appear, they all immediately saluted.

Kizaru ignored them and walked straight into the auction house. Inside, there were still layers upon layers of Marines, and of course, Kizaru immediately spotted the man surrounded in the center.

His first impression of Linton was that he was unusually calm, at least not showing the panic of someone surrounded. Kizaru roughly understood what this meant: strong self-confidence. This was another arrogant kid, Kizaru judged.

"Admiral Borsalino!" the captain from before quickly saluted Kizaru.

"How's the situation?" Kizaru asked, nonchalantly touching his head.

"He hasn't made any unusual moves, but Saint Rosward's condition doesn't look good," the captain replied.

Indeed, Saint Rosward had fainted again, having lost a significant amount of blood. Although his chest could still be seen rising and falling, death was inevitable if this continued. Although people in the One Piece world had strong constitutions, Saint Rosward didn't seem to be one of them. He probably wouldn't last much longer.

"Troublesome," Kizaru said, still looking lazy, but he walked towards Linton. "Young man, what's your name?"

Linton was a bit nervous now, not because he was afraid of Kizaru, but mainly because he was worried that he wouldn't get his hands on the Devil Fruits. In fact, Linton was feeling quite apprehensive. If Kizaru thought he was fast enough to save the hostages and decided to attack, Linton wouldn't be able to do anything. After all, he had the Battle Spirit on him. If Kizaru made a move, Linton would be forced to fight him, unable to stop even if he wanted to. If Kizaru escaped, he would definitely chase after him, and the hostages would be lost, along with the Devil Fruits. So for the sake of the Devil Fruits, Linton couldn't let Kizaru attack yet.

He carefully placed his hand on the three Celestial Dragons beside him. Seeing this, Kizaru stopped moving forward. After all, Linton was still acting very aggressively, and he didn't want to provoke him. One Celestial Dragon was already injured like this; if anything else happened, it would be difficult to explain. Taking the blame was the most troublesome thing, Kizaru thought.

"He calls himself Linton, 'One-Punch Marco,'" the captain stepped forward and said, since Linton didn't answer.

"One-Punch Marco?" Kizaru frowned. "That name Marco sounds familiar. Linton, is it? The Marco you're talking about, isn't it the one I know?"

"Probably the one you know," Linton said with a smile.

"Aren't you afraid of Whitebeard's crew coming after you for saying such things?" Kizaru asked.

"Why? I'm telling the truth," Linton said.

"How terrifying," Kizaru said with a smile. Of course, he didn't believe Linton's words and was just playing along. While seemingly making small talk, he was actually probing Linton. However, his Observation Haki clashed with Linton's, and Kizaru sensed it, but he didn't show it.

"Why do such a thing? Even if you get the Devil Fruits, you won't be able to escape from here, right?" Kizaru continued.

"What's it to you?" Linton said.

"It seems you have a way to escape. A Devil Fruit ability?" Kizaru was already calculating the information Linton had revealed. There were indeed many Devil Fruits with strange abilities. Perhaps Linton had such an ability. After obtaining the fruits, he had a way to escape. It was probably because of this strange ability that he wasn't worried about being hunted down by the Marines.

After some probing, Kizaru gave up on attacking. Sengoku's order was to attack directly if he could save the hostages, but if not, then follow the demands and find an opportunity to attack later. Of course, Linton couldn't be allowed to escape, and they couldn't really let him take the Devil Fruits.

Kizaru didn't find an opportunity. The other party also had Observation Haki; this guy did have some strength. Although Kizaru felt that if he was fast enough, he would have a chance to save the hostages, the problem was that it would be difficult to explain if he injured the Celestial Dragons, and what he feared most was trouble.

After a brief standoff, someone brought the Devil Fruits. It was someone from the World Government. After Sengoku made the call, they immediately gathered the Devil Fruits and sent them over. For them, the Devil Fruits were not as important as the Celestial Dragons. These fruits could be given away, but the Celestial Dragons must be unharmed, and the villain who kidnapped them must pay the price.

Even Linton was surprised by the speed of the World Government. They delivered ten fruits so quickly? Should he have asked for more? But now the most important thing was to get his hands on the goods first.

"The ransom you asked for is here," Kizaru said.

"Bring it over," Linton said directly.

Kizaru nodded, and two Marine soldiers carried the chest over to Linton. Keeping a short distance, Linton had them stop and put down the chest.

The two soldiers quickly opened the chest, and ten Devil Fruits of various colors and shapes appeared before Linton. Linton felt that they hadn't deliberately chosen bad fruits. After all, he had given them very little time. He originally said to wait for an hour, but because of Rosward's bleeding, they didn't even have an hour. In less than twenty minutes, they had delivered the goods. They were really anxious.

Of course, another reason they didn't choose was probably that they didn't think he could escape from this place. They probably had a dragnet set up outside. Since they didn't think he could leave with these fruits, there was no need for them to be picky.

"The goods are here. Release the hostages," Kizaru said.

Linton didn't say anything. He directly pulled up Saint Rosward, dragged him forward two steps to the chest of Devil Fruits, reached into the chest, and while no one was paying attention, touched all the Devil Fruits and chose to upload them. Then he reached out and closed the chest. Presumably, no one saw that the Devil Fruits inside were actually gone.

Linton immediately opened his system shop interface. Seeing his points, Linton couldn't help but feel his heart skip a beat. The number displayed was 1.46 million. He had come with a three-digit number of points, and now he had suddenly gained 1.46 million. This was too profitable. All his efforts had not been in vain.

Of course, Linton mainly used these points to exchange for skills. Although his goal in earning points this time was to increase his authority, that was not urgent. After participating in the Paramount War, he would definitely get more than a million points. What he needed to do now was to quickly increase his strength again, because the Paramount War wouldn't be easy. There were many people to deal with.

"Hey..." While Linton was thinking about which skills to choose, the captain couldn't wait any longer and shouted at Linton.

"Don't worry, I'm a man of my word. I said I'd release the hostages after receiving the ransom, and I'll keep my promise." After collecting the fruits, Linton directly swung Saint Rosward in his hand and threw him forward. All the Marines were shocked, and several soldiers in front rushed forward to catch Saint Rosward. Fortunately, Linton didn't use much force, so they managed to catch him.

"Take the other two at the back yourselves," Linton said. Hearing Linton's words, several Marines who were already nearby quickly stepped forward and stood in front of the two Celestial Dragons, protecting them and taking them away.

"Oh?" Kizaru was very curious. Linton just let them go, why? He initially thought Linton would continue to hold these Celestial Dragons hostage, as this was one of his ways to escape, but Linton readily let them go, which surprised him. So, as he thought, this guy's Devil Fruit ability was his way to escape? Was that why he readily let them go?

Anyway, the three Celestial Dragons were quickly taken away and protected. The Marines breathed a sigh of relief when the three left. They had checked, and Saint Rosward was still alive. He should be able to be saved after returning. At least the worst hadn't happened, so they wouldn't be implicated.

But soon, they looked at Linton, all raising their weapons, ready to attack at any moment. Of course, Kizaru was the highest-ranking officer present, and they were waiting for his orders.

"To think you'd release them so easily. You really are a man of your word," Kizaru said. "But how will you escape yourself?"

"Don't think you can still escape!" the captain next to him immediately said. "This place is completely surrounded! Surrender!"

"I've always thought your Marine way of thinking is strange. Who said I was leaving?" Linton said with a smile. "I mean, if you want me to leave, you should at least make me feel threatened, right? With just these guys... it doesn't seem like enough."

"Oh, how scary." Kizaru narrowed his eyes. "So you're saying I'm not your opponent?"

"Didn't you hear my nickname? One-Punch Marco. How do you think you compare to Marco?" Linton said.

"Whitebeard's first division commander is indeed strong, but let's not talk about whether that's true or not. Even if it is, I'm not that bad either," Kizaru said, stroking his chin. "Speed is power, you know... Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?"

"Enemy target detected. Activating automatic combat mode."

Suddenly, a prompt appeared, and Linton's body started moving on its own. Raising a hand, a black palm directly blocked Kizaru's kick aimed at his head.

"Speed of light, nothing special," Linton said calmly.

(End of chapter)