The hum of whispered conversation had strained into something tighter — more tense — as the price for the Storm-Storm Fruit inched closer to the 50 million mark. Beneath the gold-lit awning of the underground auction house, a tempest of tension seethed more violently than any Devil Fruit power could manage.
"Forty-nine million!" shouted one of the auctioneers with professional flair, voice echoing beneath the chandelier-dotted ceiling.
There was a murmur, and then silence. All heads swung toward the remaining bidders.
Solian Flare and his team were seated at the back of the room, where the darkness couldn't entirely banish the lethal glint in their eyes.
They did not slouch. They did not hide. They did not need to.
Solian lay back with his arms crossed, lips curled in that effortless smirk that made one wonder if he was amused or preparing to immolate them.
"Still in orbit around fifty," Kael 'Rustfang' complained next to him, arms crossed over his chest. His scarred fingers tapped out an invisible rhythm on his armored sleeve. "Are we actually going to let these idiots peck at it like pigeons?"
"No," Solian said. "Not anymore.".
He stood — easy, fluid — and that alone altered the temperature in the room.
Itachi, who was leaning against a pillar with his arms crossed, nodded wordlessly. "There are several crews looking at us. None of them want to be the first to make a move against us… but they will if we hesitate."
Vance cracked his knuckles, the sound like breaking stone. "Then let us not hesitate.".
"About time," Jorin grinned, his red-striped cloak stirring slightly as he changed position, his eyes shining with anticipation.
Milo silently raised his sniper goggles. "I've already tagged the enemy gunners. If somebody so much as blinks wrong, I can take them out in mid-blink."
The Twin Tempest twins were at the edge of the group, creepily synchronized as always. "The wind changed," Lyra whispered.
"And so will the tide," Kyr said.
Solian stepped forward. No need for dramatics — the mere fact of his presence sent a hush washing through the hall. The auctioneer paled for half a second, eyes darting to the golden card Solian held in his hand.
"Fifty million, flat," Solian said, his voice level, clear, unemotional.
A moment's silence.
And then—
Whispers, swift and hushed. All eyes turned to them. Faces went pale. A few jaws clenched. The most powerful crew in the room had spoken, and suddenly everyone else remembered exactly where they were on the food chain.
The announcer strained to keep his voice steady, though his Adam's apple bobbed. "Fifty million berries bid by… Solian Flare of the—ah—the Flarebound Pirates!"
Someone at a back table choked audibly. One of the pirates started to rise, but Kael's look alone pinned him to his chair.
"Fifty million once—"
Silence.
"Going twice—"
The Fogfang Pirates, who had sat with their arms folded and no wish to die today, made no sound.
The Ashen Rooks, who had seemed so sure just a moment prior, were squirming under Milo's unemotional stare.
The Jagged Spine Crew? Their fishman captain looked down, lips sealed. They all knew.
Solian didn't need to struggle here. They'd already triumphed.
"Sold!"
There would have been a cheer in some other auction, some other hall, but here — there was none. The auctioneer coughed, gestured, and attendants quickly enclosed the fruit in a reinforced case, bowing stiffly as they moved forward to the Flarebound crew.
Jorin gave the delivery boy a sloth-like wave when he took the case. "No bowing necessary. Just scurry off and hope we don't forget your face."
The instant the fruit touched Solian's hands — its glossy glass case still closed — he stared at it for a long time.
Black-purple swirling skin, blue lightning veins barely visible under the surface.
The Storm-Storm Fruit. A logia-class Devil Fruit that has the power to manipulate weather itself — wind, thunder, clouds, and lightning.
"Trouble," Kael muttered, loudly enough for the crew to hear. "Not that we have it. But now everyone wants it."
"They'll come," Vance said.
"They should," Itachi said. "It would save us the effort of having to hunt down more bounty later."
Solian smiled weakly.
"We don't run from storms," he said, turning to the now-silent hall. "We bring them."
And with that, the Flarebound Pirates turned and began to walk out — as if no one in the room could stop them.
Because no one could.
As the door closed behind them, whispers began again.
"That's Solian Flare… his bounty's over 450 million now."
"Did you notice who he had with him? Rustfang, Ironfist, Crimson Fang… even that sniper Milo. and the Twin Tempest—"
"And. was that Itachi?!"
"Crazy. That's a death wish."
"No… that's the death of anyone stupid enough to get in their way."
Standing in the shadows, one man was still upright after the crew had gone by. His eyes were slitted, and there was a strange sheen that danced across his lenses.
A voice beside him whispered, "We have to tell the broker about this."
He did not say anything at once.
Then: "Yes… tell them. Solian Flare now has the Storm-Storm Fruit."
His lips curled.
"And chaos comes."