One thing that must be stated is that the Seven Warlords of the Sea are currently at full capacity, or rather, this organization has always been full since its establishment.
However, almost every so often, a member will be removed by the World Government.
Most of the time, this is due to them being defeated by pirates. The Seven Warlords exist as a deterrent force against pirates for the government, and once they fail, they can only be removed.
A few are removed because they engaged in crimes that the government cannot tolerate.
Regardless of the reason, once a member of the Seven Warlords is removed, their position will become vacant, and the government will immediately search for a suitable pirate to fill that vacancy.
This is why in the original work, Ace receives the invitation to become one of the Seven Warlords.
And this Hanafuda is a current member of the Seven Warlords.
In the Seven Warlords of ten years later, he doesn't have a position anymore. By then, he might have been directly taken out by some pirate who popped out of nowhere.
But in this current stage, this guy is still quite famous across the seas.
He is known as the King of Lizards and has a peculiar hobby of collecting Ancient Zoan Devil Fruits. He should have gathered quite a few by now.
That's why Ian thought that, even if there weren't any suitable Devil Fruits for Kuina at the auction, this guy probably had one in his hands.
Hanafuda could almost be described as looking down on everyone. When he walked past Ian and the others, he merely turned his head to glance at Solem, then lost interest and continued walking away without a care.
Viola, slightly annoyed, said, "This is why I said we shouldn't hide our identities. These guys dare to act so arrogantly in front of us!"
If Ian had revealed his true identity, that green-haired guy from earlier, along with this so-called Warlord, would've been too scared to even stand.
Anyone who dared to say another word in front of Ian would have been considered to have guts.
Ian shot her a glance.
You've got the idea of using the fox to scare the tiger down to a T.
"This is what makes it interesting," Ian said with a light chuckle.
The key to "playing dumb to catch the tiger" is in first suppressing and then elevating.
Have you ever watched Chinese Cooking Master?
The point isn't to crush your opponent. The essence lies in the moment when you reveal your top-tier chef's armband.
"Let's go," Ian said, "to the venue."
This island often hosts auctions, so the venue is built quite luxuriously. At the very least, the entrance is grand and wide enough that even Solem could walk in without any hindrance.
At the entrance, people were registering.
They were recording the identities of those attending the auction. Of course, this wasn't a strict check—just giving a random name was fine.
The key point was that they would inspect the amount of money everyone was carrying.
Poor people don't have the qualifications to participate in the auction, and this also helps avoid deliberate disruptions.
Once the check is passed, they can enter the venue.
But not directly into the auction hall—it's a banquet hall where all attendees stay for the time being.
The organizers have prepared a lavish spread of food and drinks for guests to enjoy and socialize.
Here, the most eye-catching figure was the Seven Warlords' Hanafuda. Even for the underground world tycoons hosting the auction, the Seven Warlords were big names, let alone the attendees like the giant Solem.
However, everyone dared only to watch him from a distance. Hanafuda had a cold face, not saying a word, and showed no interest in socializing with anyone.
Compared to him, Tesoro and his group were much more flamboyant. They were happily devouring the food at a long table, perhaps gathering strength for the upcoming auction.
Ian also spotted Morgans. The guy was surrounded by a group of people and didn't seem to notice their arrival.
They didn't stay long either. Once the entry process was over, the organizers began distributing number plates based on the amount of money each guest was carrying.
The smaller the number, the more ceremonious the reception.
Morgans had mentioned that the top ten numbered plates had special VIP rooms.
Ian, of course, wasn't short of money.
When Solem had shown the few chests he carried earlier during the entrance inspection, the inspectors' eyes had lit up.
So, it wasn't until Ian received his number plate and walked into the number-one VIP room surrounded by a group of attendants that he suddenly remembered.
Isn't the first step in pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger already going wrong?
How is it that a guest being grandly received is still looked down upon?
Ian hissed in surprise.
Ever since crossing over, he had been following the "Dragon Overlord" script, but he never played the pig. He was still too inexperienced.
But now, it was too late for regrets. He was already sitting in the luxurious number one room.
How to describe the luxury of this room? Let's put it this way—Solem could stand in it!
All the facilities were complete.
The large one-way glass windows offered a clear view of the entire auction hall, without the worry of being seen from the outside.
From here, it was easy to see that the whole venue was structured like a giant fan, similar to the tiered classrooms in universities.
At the very bottom of the fan-shaped seats was a spacious platform where the auction took place.
At the top of the seating area were huge private boxes, but from this distance, the boxes were a bit too far from the auction stage.
The specially equipped projection phone bugs were designed to solve this problem. They allowed those in the rooms to see and hear more clearly than those in the circular seats below.
Moreover, if it weren't for Yamato's terrifying gaze, the etiquette girls who had brought Ian and the others here would have stayed to serve them.
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