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"Had enough to eat? Good. Then swallow this."
Aaron watched as Absalom, his belly nearly bursting from how much he'd eaten, finally stopped and leaned back with a satisfied look. Without expression, Aaron reached into his coat, pulled out a small black vial, and placed it on the table in front of him.
Absalom's eyes immediately shifted to the black vial.
This time, he didn't foolishly try to bargain with Aaron or ask what was inside. He simply grabbed the vial, uncorked it, and swallowed the contents in one go.
Inside was a single red pill. When Absalom's tongue brushed against it, he noticed it tasted sweet — almost like candy. But after swallowing it, nothing seemed to happen. Confused, he looked back at Aaron.
"You're right — what you just swallowed is poison," Aaron said calmly. "But it won't act immediately. It takes about a day before it activates. When that happens, if you don't get the antidote within one minute, you'll die a horrible death. The suppressant that keeps the poison in check is in my hands. As long as you obey me, I'll give you a dose every day."
Aaron seemed pleased with Absalom's behavior and explained the situation without a hint of emotion.
Two months earlier, Aaron had ordered Williams to find a poison strong enough to keep Absalom under control.
Williams, fully aware of how valuable Absalom was, had been dispatching merchant caravans to neighboring nations in search of it. Finally, about half a month ago, one such caravan returned from the Kingdom of Alabasta with exactly what Aaron had been looking for — a deadly poison derived from a rare toxic plant that grew only in the Alabasta desert.
Rumor had it that once the poison activated, it caused the victim's body to rot away entirely.
Aaron had already tested it on a few pirates who had killed people on his turf — and the results were devastatingly effective.
Even though Absalom had expected as much, hearing for certain that he had just ingested a lethal poison drained the color from his face. If what Aaron said was true, then for the rest of his life he'd be under the thumb of this devilishly cunning young man.
The thought of losing his freedom and becoming nothing more than Aaron's slave cast a shadow over Absalom's heart. His expression grew bleak.
"Relax," Aaron continued. "There's also a one-time antidote that can completely neutralize the poison. Help me steal a Devil Fruit from the Donquixote Auction House, and I'll give you that antidote — along with a hefty sum of money so you can disappear for good. I, Aaron, always keep my word."
Having once been a slave himself, Aaron knew exactly what Absalom was thinking. After striking him with the stick — the poison — he dangled the carrot — freedom.
People only move forward if they have hope.
Sure enough, the light returned to Absalom's eyes as soon as Aaron mentioned a chance to regain his freedom.
"The Devil Fruits from the Donquixote Auction House… You mean those two I overheard Gilbert talking about before?" Absalom asked.
He'd grown smarter now — realizing immediately that Aaron hadn't specified which Devil Fruit he wanted.
"That's right," Aaron nodded. "The one that looks like a giant man-eating plant's maw. It's still inside the Donquixote Auction House."
With the target clearly identified and its location known, Absalom felt a surge of confidence. Puffing out his chest, he declared, "No problem. I'll sneak in tonight and steal it for you."
Aaron chuckled at Absalom's sudden confidence and shook his head. "Not yet. The Donquixote Auction House is full of traps, heavily guarded, and there's even a Devil Fruit user protecting the fruit. Trying to steal it right under their nose is impossible."
He then shared with Absalom the intelligence he had gathered over the past two months.
Ever since learning of the Munch Munch Fruit, Aaron had been relentlessly collecting information about the Donquixote Auction House.
To aid his efforts, he had been training hard to improve his Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki), gradually expanding its range. It was still at a basic level, but now he could cover up to 200 meters around him.
Once he could cover most of the auction house with his haki, he often disguised himself as a passerby and loitered nearby, using his Observation Haki to pinpoint the fruit's exact location.
It worked. Before long, he had located the Munch Munch Fruit inside the auction house — and learned just how formidable its defenses were.
As expected, the Donquixote Auction House was directly connected to the Donquixote Pirates. Through his haki, Aaron sensed the presence of Pica and Lao G, two of the crew's top officers.
Pica, wielder of the Stone-Stone Fruit, and Lao G, a martial artist still at the peak of his power.
Judging by their auras, each was at least as strong as a Marine Headquarters colonel — formidable enough to rival even Horton in a one-on-one fight. Especially Pica — if he activated his Stone-Stone powers and transformed into a massive stone giant, Horton would almost certainly lose.
If even Horton couldn't take them, Aaron definitely couldn't. And if he couldn't defeat them, brute force was out of the question. He would have to find another way.
And that's where Absalom — the Invisible Man — came in. He was the key to stealing the Munch Munch Fruit.
But even with Absalom's powers, it wouldn't be easy. The auction house was a fortress built entirely of stone.
With Pica as a Stone-Stone Fruit user, the entire structure was his domain. The moment he sensed an intruder, escaping would be nearly impossible.
Aaron had also learned from Shuma that the fortress was filled with traps. Even with the Suke Suke no Mi (Clear-Clear Fruit), if Absalom didn't know where those traps were, barging in blindly could get him killed before he even laid eyes on the Devil Fruit.
In short, the Donquixote Auction House was a deadly den of dragons and tigers. Stealing anything from it would be near-impossible without the strength to defeat Pica and Lao G outright.
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