One Piece: The Magician

Chapter 270 The Art of Bidding

As a piece of passionate and exotic music sounded, the lights in the venue dimmed, and the auction was about to begin.

The opening performances before the official auction are also very exciting, and with the strength of Carlo Auction House, they can always present a sufficiently satisfactory performance.

It's a pity that Sanji didn't come. If it were him, he would be very interested in this kind of performance.

Looking at the dancers with hot figures and enchanting movements on the stage, Sherlock pushed up his glasses with a calm expression.

The auction house converted from a theater provides a spacious enough stage. The changing light and dark lights make the dancers' dancing postures more dreamy and confusing. The flexible and stretched arms, the beautiful curves covered by the gauze, and the ups and downs of the plump breasts. , especially the weak and boneless slender waist, made the vast majority of male viewers swallow their saliva subconsciously.

"Hey, Sherlock, what do you think of these dancers?"

Jean showed a meaningful smile, turned sideways and whispered: "They are also the slaves to be auctioned in this auction, and they are female slaves who have been trained to absolutely obey all orders of their master."

"If you like one, you can tell me in advance. Don't worry, I won't bid against you."

"No, no, I'm not interested in these." Sherlock felt a little dumbfounded. He came to this auction just to join in the fun and had no intention of buying a slave.

"Oh, okay." Gene nodded nonchalantly, thinking that this guy with glasses was just being reserved.

After the unsatisfactory dance, the chief auctioneer of Carlo Auction House, Stewis, who was wearing a tuxedo and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, walked onto the auction stage. He first made a concise and formulaic opening statement, and then He skillfully picked up the hammer and knocked it three times, indicating that the auction had officially begun.

"First of all, our first auction item is the Heart of the Ocean, a precious jewel from the Kingdom of Alabasta"

Stewis made a gesture, and a beautiful model wearing a sapphire necklace walked out from behind the curtain on the side of the auction stage. At the same time, the curtain behind the stage was also marked with a close-up of the sapphire by the video phone bug. .

Under the illumination of the light, the sapphire emits a bright light that matches the deep ravine on the beautiful model's chest, causing the distinguished guests in the audience to exclaim in admiration.

But looking at the expressions on these guys' faces as if they were possessed by the soul of some crazy cook, Sherlock expressed sincere doubts about the object of their admiration.

"Alabasta is a desert kingdom with a long history. In that rich country, luxury goods such as spices and jewelry have always been sought after by nobles and wealthy businessmen from other regions." Auctioneer Stewis looked around the field Next, he talked eloquently.

Standing on his own auction stage, Stewis's face was full of confidence, and this absolute confidence that belongs to an excellent businessman can infect others, so that others feel that the products he recommends are the best.

"And this Heart of the Ocean has a strong sense of mystery in the history of Alabasta. It is said that this gem hides a huge secret."

Then, the chief auctioneer started with several allusions from the history of Alabasta. He was very eloquent, and the vivid stories he described might even Robin, an archaeologist, might wonder if there were any historical events. true.

Not only that, this guy was later even involved in the recent rebellion in Alabasta and the conspiracy of the Sand Crocodile to steal the country. According to his ambiguous statement, these things are actually inextricably related to this gem. Listen, The magician in the audience looked strange.

I really don’t know what Crocodile would think if he heard what the auctioneer said.Sherlock thought to himself.

However, not all the guests present were as knowledgeable as Sherlock. They all had expressions of confusion after being fooled by Stewis.

In the end, the starting price of the Heart of the Ocean was only 100 million beli. As everyone competed to bid, the transaction price was unexpectedly raised to 750 million beli, which made a certain glasses person lament that people are stupid and have too much money.

"Carlo's chief auctioneer is still so good. I thought the transaction price was only 200 million beli at most." Gene complained in a low voice. As a jeweler, he is very familiar with the value of gems. .

"Well, this auctioneer is indeed very eloquent and has a lot of imagination." Sherlock nodded in disbelief.

Auction is not the same as ordinary buying and selling. It involves a lot of knowledge, such as the identification of goods, the art of language, the psychological game between bidders, the evaluation of other people's price, the reasonable allocation of one's own funds, and the evaluation of favorite products. The trade-offs, etc.

So Sherlock likes to attend auctions, and most of the time he doesn't do it to buy something, but just to enjoy the process of bidding.

This should be the art of bidding.

Except for the first Heart of the Ocean, which was blown up to the sky by Stewis, the subsequent auction items all seemed to be quite satisfactory. Although stunning, they were far from as sensational as the first one, but the auctioneer Stewis specially highlighted and After introduction, they were all sold at very satisfactory prices.

Sherlock didn't just watch indifferently. He also tentatively raised the cards a few times, but they were all suppressed quickly.

By observing the clothes of the people participating in the auction, the number of times they raised placards, and the amount of price increase, Sherlock could conclude that at least three people were shills hired by the auction house to boost the price.

In addition, he also roughly assessed each person's purchasing power, and used this to analyze their psychological price for each auction item.

This was also a very difficult thing for Sherlock before, but since he awakened the Haki of Knowledge, his observation and perception abilities have immediately risen to countless levels, and he is naturally inseparable in collecting intelligence and grasping people's hearts. Same thing.

The next auction item was Hannabal's specialty: ten barrels of top-quality rum, with a starting price of 800 million beli.

These top-quality wines that have been aged for at least 40 years can be said to be sky-high prices, but Stewis' verbal attack quickly aroused the wine bugs in the hearts of everyone present. Just when they were hesitating how much to increase the price, one person's Raising the sign made them shrink back all the alcohol bugs.

"1750 million Baileys. The gentleman with glasses bid 1750 million Baileys. Is there anyone else who bids higher?"

Stewis held up the loudspeaker phone and asked loudly, but the silence in the audience showed that the stunning and rich auctioneer also knew in his heart that this product was probably going to be sold instantly.

The price is neither too much nor too little, just beyond the psychological price range of most people. Even if there are a few rich people who like the things in the cup who intend to increase the price, considering that the subsequent slave auction is the main purpose of this trip, they still give up.

The shills who invited malicious bidders at the auctions were even more troubled because they knew that the guy wearing glasses would only bid once every time. What if the guy with glasses stopped raising the price after they raised the placard? , then who will they cry to?

However, time could not tolerate their long-term honor. With the auctioneer's final decision, these ten barrels of top-quality wine already had a new owner, becoming the fastest transaction at the auction, and the surrounding guests could not help but turn their attention to The handsome young man wearing silver-rimmed glasses.

"Congratulations to the gentleman with glasses, I hope these fine wines can bring enough joy to your life." Although Stewis felt a little awkward, the chief auctioneer still smiled and sent his blessings, expressing Demonstrated good professional ethics.

"I really didn't notice it." Gene touched his mustache and said in surprise: "You are so interested in wine~"

"No, I just brought it for a friend."

Sherlock pushed up his glasses. If a certain green-haired swordsman hadn't asked him to bring some rum back, he, a guy who is extremely sensitive to alcohol, would not have bought these fine wines.

It's just that Zoro definitely didn't want him to buy such expensive wine.

"Okay, let's bring out the next auction item, which is also the last rare treasure." Stewis cleared his throat, adjusted his mentality, and said loudly:

"One of the 21 skills of the Great Knife, the famous sword is breathless"