Chapter 690: Supply Exceeds Demand, Prices Rise

“!!!”

Shanks, lying on the ground, suddenly opened his eyes, and then saw his “dead” companions surrounding him, looking at him with a smile.

Reaching out to wipe the tears from the corners of his eyes, Shanks, who was not stupid but usually carefree, quickly realized what was going on.

“…Uta and you are all fine, that’s great.”

Shanks naturally wouldn’t blame his daughter. He got up from the ground and said with both confusion and pride: “I didn’t expect Uta’s ability to be so strong that even Kaido could be simulated. I didn’t even feel anything broken…”

He got stuck in his throat halfway through the words, because Shanks, who stood up, had already seen a certain “returning” Blue Star and his group of cats.

“Xie Wen –!!!”

Shanks squeezed out Xie Wen’s name viciously from his teeth.

If he didn’t know which Kaido he had just fought with at this time, he would be too stupid.

"Ahahaha! No need to thank me, this is what I should do!"

The cheeky Blue Star ignored Shanks's murderous look and gave him a thumbs up.

"I..."

Shanks held his breath in his chest and almost suffocated.

But thinking about it carefully, he had to admit with a wry smile that if it weren't for Xie Wen's trick, his relationship with Uta might not have been able to ease so quickly...

Well, Shanks, who had been receiving wrong information, didn't know that if it weren't for Xie Wen and the little cats' instigation, he actually only needed to say a few good words to Uta, and the other party would most likely forgive him, and there was no need to toss so much.

It's a pity that he didn't know.

So...

"He still has to thank us!"

After returning to the real world, Xie Wen said to the cats.

Facing Xie Wen, who was irritating but did "help" him, Shanks decided to ignore him after some hesitation. He directly moved his eyes away from Xie Wen and came to Uta...

"That's great, Uta... You're fine, it's really great..."

Having just experienced "life and death", Shanks didn't mean to be reserved at all. He quickly stepped forward and hugged Uta, who looked a little nervous.

"Shanks, you... aren't you angry?"

"Of course, you are my daughter, how could I be angry with you."

Shanks answered without hesitation.

Uta was relieved and hugged him, "I'm sorry, I didn't believe Shanks and everyone in the Red Hair Pirates."

"No, I should be sorry. No matter what the reason is, a father should not abandon his daughter."

Seeing the father and daughter open their hearts to each other, Xie Wen and the others in the Red Hair Pirates did not disturb them. Yamato was moved by the scene and hugged Kaido next to him. After a slight stiffness, the big Maine gently put his paw on her head.

"Hehehe~ Brother Xie Wen has never been angry with Klee~"

(つω)つ

The little puppet happily hugged Xie Wen's neck and rubbed his cheek hard.

"Hmph!"

(=`へ=)

The gray barbarian on the other shoulder hugged his arms, "This idiot has only these advantages, meow."

After saying that, the arrogant little kitten began to glare at Xie Wen with his eyes slanted...

If you don't touch me again, I'm going to bite you, meow!

Although Huiyuan Meowth didn't say anything, Xie Wen could easily tell what she meant from the expression of this little tsundere.

Not wanting to be bitten, he naturally reached out and stroked the kitten's head.

"Hmph~"

(=`=)

Huiyuan Meowth continued to look disgusted, but the little head was very honest and cooperated with Xie Wen's palm to slightly turn left and right, and the throat kept making "Hurry Hurry" sounds.

In addition to these two kittens, other cats also came to Xie Wen's side. Even with the help of Robin and Baby-5, he was still in a mess.

Just as Xie Wen was busy stroking all the cats who came over to act coquettishly, Shanks and Uta were about to end the conversation between father and daughter...

"... Shanks, before becoming a musician of the Red Hair Pirates, I must stay in Elegia and restore its former glory."

Uta took the initiative to mention his next plan. Shanks naturally would not stop Uta's choice. He stroked her head and said, "No problem, do whatever you want. I and everyone in the Red Hair Pirates will support you."

"That's right! Uta! Even if you're not on the ship, you're still a member of our Red Hair Pirates!"

The members of the Red Hair Pirates who had been paying attention to the two of them all spoke up at this time, which moved Uta again.

"Hahahahaha!" Shanks, in a good mood, took his daughter in his arms and walked to the center of the crowd, "Everyone! Let's have a party!"

"Oh oh oh oh--!!!"

Xie Wen: "..."

If I remember correctly, didn't we have a party not long ago?

Although I know that holding a party is the norm for pirates, isn't this a bit too frequent? You can wait until tomorrow at least?

Of course, Shanks also has his reasons...

"The previous banquet was to celebrate the reunion with Uta, but now this one is to celebrate the reconciliation with Uta!"

彳庍口巴.

Xie Wen shrugged, it didn't matter to him anyway.

"Ahem, Xie Wen, our wine was already finished at the last banquet. Do you think...?"

Shanks didn't leave in a hurry, but rubbed his fingers in a flattering manner.

Xie Wen: "..."

"Didn't you agree to exchange the devil fruit for it, nya? Where is the devil fruit?"

(=`へ=)

Before Xie Wen could say anything, Haibara stretched out his little paw to ask Shanks for payment.

Originally, she was not very interested in these things, and she also knew that Xie Wen actually didn't care so much.

But the problem is...

She has developed the ghost medicine core and the hardening medicine core, but she has been unable to obtain new animal fruits. Even the animal fruits that Whitebeard said he wanted to find for her have not yet been found.

Therefore, Haibara Miao, who was eager to add new members to his "winery team", had to resort to charity.

"This...can I owe it first?"

Shanks scratched the back of his head and awkwardly discussed with the little cat.

"It's been so long and you haven't found even one Devil Fruit?"

Xie Wen, who was always at odds with the jujubes, didn't care about this, but he still couldn't help but asked curiously: "You don't care about this at all, do you?"

After all, Shanks is also the Four Emperors... Oh, now that he is the Fifth Emperor, it shouldn't be too difficult to get a Devil Fruit.

"It's not because of you."

Shanks said with some complaints: "Because you let the news that Vegapunk can copy Devil Fruits spread, the price of Devil Fruits increased sharply during this period, and as soon as they appeared, they would be bought or taken away by others. Let’s go, so even if you have a devil fruit in your hand, you won’t be exposed easily.”

"Well……"

Xie Wen touched his nose. He didn't expect that he originally planned to add some trouble to the World Government, but ended up inadvertently trapping himself. I guess it was also because of this reason that there had been no news from Whitebeard.

"No, even if it's because of the artificial Devil Fruit, that technology can only replicate animal-type ones, and it has nothing to do with super-human ones."

"Ah? So there is still such a saying?" Shanks scratched his head, "I asked why the animal-type fruits grow the most..."

At this time, Xie Wen also realized that except for the World Government, others did not know that there was this restriction, so it was normal for the collective price increase. As for the animal department, the price increase was the largest, mostly because the World Government also participated.

"Wait, it's still wrong!"

Xie Wen frowned and continued to ask: "When I asked you to help collect Devil Fruits, the news about artificial Devil Fruits had not yet spread!"

"Uh... isn't that... Ibuki hasn't finished drinking the wine before?" Shanks smiled awkwardly, "I thought there was no need to rush, so I didn't collect Devil Fruits right away. When we wanted to start collecting, The price has gone up, and besides..."

He glanced at Keli Meow on Xie Wen's shoulder, spread out his hands, "I was also injured by Xiao Keli's bomb, which delayed a lot of time."

Well, reasonable and convincing.

Xie Wen, who had satisfied his curiosity, signaled Suixiang to hand the Ibuki wine to the red-haired pirates first, then scratched Haibara's chin and comforted him: "It's okay, it's okay. At worst, we can go find it ourselves. I know one There may be animal-type devil fruits in this place. After everything on Elegia’s side is settled, we’ll go there to look for it.”

The animal devil fruit that Xie Wen mentioned was the vampire fruit in Sleeping Ancient Town. Although it was a setting in the derivative game, Xie Wen had already understood it. There was indeed a "lonely red" person in the city, so Vampire fruit is also possible.

Anyway, they don't have the last clue to the historical text of the road sign now, so they don't want to go anywhere.

However, before they went to Sleeping Ancient Town, a better place suddenly appeared...