Chapter 122 - 122: Flashback (3)

…

Looking at the blind man, Edam's eyes were drawn to the swordstick hanging by his waist and took another look at the game.

'Oh, I haven't played this game yet…'

With a faint smile, Edam went toward the man cheerfully. "Old man, let me play with you…!"

"Oh, you seem rather young to be here, young man, but do take a seat..." The old man said with a smile.

The female croupier who was near them then said. "Alright, we have another challenger for the blind man! Gentlemen, place your bets…"

"Hehe, I bet on black!" Edam exclaimed with a smile and placed a few of his casino chips on black.

"Hm, I will bet on white then!" The blind man smiled too and placed his bet.

"Alright, the bets are placed, let's go!" The female croupier then spun the roulette.

"I cannot be so unlucky right…?" Edam said and looked full of hope at the roulette.

But, as the roulette stopped, the result ended up as… "It's white!"

"..." Edam looked at it for a moment before. 

"Again, black please!" He placed another bet on it.

The blind man smiled and said. "White please!"

The croupier spun the roulette again as the result was… "White again!"

"Tch, black again!"

"It's white!"

"Again!" 

"It's white!"

…

…

After a dozen attempts and losses, Edam truly felt like crying and could only give in to the cruel reality that he was completely unlucky through and through!

Meanwhile, in the casino not far away from him, after having left in irritation, the girls lost Edam's trace for a moment as they searched for him. 

Hancock was especially worried. Leaving Edam in a crowded place was never a good idea.

"Sis, Edam is right there…!" Sonia and Marie said to Hancock as they pointed somewhere.

...

"Again-..." Edam was about to bet once again when he was interrupted.

"Ah, Issho! You're here, I searched through the ship to find you…" A man that was dressed in the same style as the blind man suddenly came and greeted the blind man. And whereas the blind man's dress' code is pointing to purple, that man wore more yellow clothes.

However, there was something that distinguished him from the other passersby, because on his shoulders, he wore a vice-admiral marine coat!

"Oh, Tokikake, weren't you at the Golf?" The blind man asked with a smile.

"Haha, yes but Gio-...!?" The Tokikake guy was about to reply when his eyes for a reason or another darted at the young man near Issho, that is to say, Edam.

"Ahh?! What the heck are you doing here, brat!?" Tokikake exclaimed and pointed at Edam with his finger.

"Old man Tokikake…" Edam's mouth twitched but then said with a deadpan face."No, wait a moment, I should be the one to ask you that, why aren't you arresting pirates out there?"

"You're really bold huh… and why aren't you coming back…?"

"I don't want to anymore… It just doesn't suit me…"

"Oh? You two know each other?" The guy called Issho asked curiously as Tokikake replied.

"Of course, that's the kid we told you about, Vice-admiral Garp's grandson, the little bold prodigy who was kept away by the fleet-admiral but then refused to come back…"

Issho couldn't help but laugh. "Hahaha… so you are the famous Edam…" 

"...? Yeah, and you are a Navy's officer, old man?" Seeing the blind man was easy to get along with, the latter instantly gained 10 appreciation points in his mind.

"Haha, just a Vice-admiral, nothing much…" The blind man laughed and said in modesty.

"Is it…?" Edam said and narrowed his eyes at the man.

"Oh right, didn't you see Gion…?"

"Ugh, she's here too…?" Now Edam's face turned unsightly, wanting to get the hell out of here, right this instant.

If Stella was Hancock's gentle big sis, then Gion was Edam's, nasty big sis, one of the few people he 'feared' not for her strength but her bothersome speech.

"Edam!"

Just as he was wondering what to say to get the hell out of here, he heard an 'angelic' voice calling his name as he immediately stood up.

"Ah, If you would excuse me, ahem, I've got to go now, see ya…!" With that, he grabbed Hancock, carried her, and fled.

"What? Hey, wait- ah…!" Hancock didn't get it when she was forcefully dragged by him.

"Ah, you brat…!" Tokikake called out but was interrupted by Issho.

"Hahaha, let him go Tokikake, a young man like him just cannot be suppressed by force… trying to in the first place was completely meaningless…" Issho said with a smile and laughed.

…

After fleeing from there, Edam finally stopped somewhere in this immense casino.

"Phew… It's good here…" Edam sighed in relief and looked around.

"Yes, and will you let go…?" Hancock said as she looked at him from below, currently laying in his arms in the legendary princess-carrying pose.

"Heh, you're so beautiful like this, I don't want to…" Edam laughed a bit enjoying his life right now.

"They are all looking at us though…" Hancock said as she calmly glanced around indicating for him to have a look. 

The two were drawing attention, making Edam smile mischievously.

"Let them look then, who cares, Heh…"

"Us, we care, sigh… can you stop doing that…?" Stella, who had caught up along with Marie and Sonia, released a sigh while Marie and Sonia laughed awkwardly.

"Hehe…" Edam laughed and put Hancock down.

"Ah… what a relief, I finally found you all…" Baccarat surged out of the crowd and exclaimed as she looked at Edam.

After having followed them for a while, this young man was the one that was especially drawing her attention to her surprise. 

She at first thought that it would be Boa Hancock but not at all.

"Oh, it's you, so what's the next activity?" Edam asked. 

Although he was losing, the girls seemed to have a good time here. They won no less than fifty million berries and the only reason they didn't have more was because of Edam's unfortunate luck.

And he noticed that Stella seemed to have particularly calmed down by now.

"Then would you like to go to the VIP room?"

"VIP room?" Hancock asked.

"Yes, bet big to win big, this is a new special gamble game designed by the proprietor Gild Tesoro, and can make you a billionaire!" Baccarat exclaimed with much enthusiasm.

"Hah?" Although she didn't have a bestial sense like Edam, Hancock wasn't stupid enough to think that becoming a billionaire was without any risk.

And the thing is, that game was designed by a man! Without talking about the fact that she just didn't trust men, she heard some stories about this Tesoro and the rumors just didn't help it…

However, the reason they came here was to look for this Tesoro, so...

"Hmm, then lead the way…!" Hancock said with her usual indifferent and somewhat condescending tone.

"Oh, amazing, fantastic…!" Baccarat said and led them to an elevator that took them to the VIP floor.

However, instead of directly through the door, Baccarat went to it and gave a tap to it as a strange guy with a large head and came out by traversing the wall.

"...?" Seeing that they all had questioning faces, Baccarat presented the guy.

"This is the casino security chef, M.Tanaka, he ate the through-through fruit and so can pass through every inanimate thing…"

"Welcome, sulululu…" The guy snickered before walking toward them.

His gaze went on Hancock as he offered his hand with an eager expression on his face.

"..." On the contrary, Hancock's eyes were growing colder as he approached her.

"Well, if you would take my hand-..."

However, before his hand could be handed out. "Ah, sorry dude…" Edam suddenly appeared and blocked the way as he spoke with a faint smile.

"Private property…" At that, Hancock's face blushed as red as a tomato.

"What-...?"

"Ah, but you can take my hand though, here…" Edam smiled brightly and even took the initiative to give his hand.

"Ugh… Fine…" Although there was an upset look on his face, the guy still took his hand.

Meanwhile, Hancock was having a good laugh in her mind, disgusted at this guy trying to take her hand and especially pleased with Edam's reaction.

Then Edam took Hancock's hand who replicate the feat and took the other's hands as they were then led through the door.

They arrived in an enormous hall where Giants, humans, fishmen, pirates, marines, etc… all kinds of people could be seen. 

When Edam saw the Navy officer, his eyes held some wariness at first hoping for Gion not to be here.

"Ah, do not worry, Gran Tesoro is a neutral country recognized by the World Government, the Navy let the pirates in peace here…" Baccarat said with a smile.

Down the stairs, some people were sitting and looking at a show where two giants brought two huge metal dice in front of a huge metal cup.

"The bets are set, the game will start."

And then, a huge brute walked in front to stand in front of both dice before glancing at them with a rather looking-down expression.

"And who's that idiot…?" Hancock asked leisurely with her arms crossed, having no care and just wanting to call him that.

Baccarat explained with a twitching mouth. "This is Dice, an ancient Deathmatch champion. But he was so powerful that nobody dares to fight him anymore…"

"Oh…" Edam let out quietly, having heard of those Death Matches before.

The guy called Dice then took the two metal dice with his bȧrė hand and threw them in the air with no difficulty.

"Oh… What a power…" A random guy said.

"Amazing…" The random guy's friend said.

The brute then took the huge metal goblet as the two dice fell in, and he performed a sort of jumping suplex. Taking an ax in his hands, he jumped high in the air before spinning rapidly in the metal cup direction.

Crack! Bam!

However, instead of using the ax, Dice violently banged his head against the metal cup, smashing it into pieces.

"It feels so good…!" Dice said with a euphoric face.

"..." Edam & co didn't say anything or more like they didn't know what to say.

"So how is it, exciting isn't it…?" Baccarat said with a smile.

"...What a nonsensical thing…" Hancock said with her arms still crossed.

"...That's stupid…" Edam said with a confused and also curious face. 

'Is that so impressive…?' Seeing the shocked and impressed expression of everyone after watching this show, Edam truly wondered if it was so difficult…

"Now, dear clients, we will lend you three hundred million to play…"

"Three hundred million…?" They were all shocked by the exaggerated digits.

Just as Edam was wondering about something, the spectating people exclaimed to the sides.

...

"M. Tesoro!"

"M. Tesoro is here!"

...

"...?" They all turned around to look when they saw a pink-dressed green-haired guy walking down the stairs along with the Security Chief, Tanaka, and an unknown girl.

"My my, welcome to Gran Tesoro. I hope you're having a good time?" 

This guy was of course the much-awaited Gild Tesoro!

The guy wore a big and confident smile as he walked with his arms open. His eyes would always wander toward Hancock, seemingly very interested in her.

'Oh, we're already meeting the Casino King huh…' Edam thought and then looked at Stella.

Her eyes under her hood were even more disturbed and she was even taking a few steps back.

He went to her side to speak a few words while Tesoro introduced himself and continued with a big smile.

"Sis, you okay? We can just…"

"No, I'm fine…" Stella said and then lifted her head to look at the man.

"Haha, since you're already here, how about you…pla-..." His eyes then suddenly darted toward the hooded Stella looking at her clear blue eyes as his big smile stiffened and he stuttered. 

"... Play…a special... game..." Tesoro even unconsciously took a step back.

"...? M. Tesoro? What's happening?" The young girl by his side asked.

"H- huh? Ah, I apologize…" Tesoro shook his head as he took another look at Stella.

However, as she too was taken aback, she hid her face by looking at the floor.

'Those eyes… no, I should be dreaming, there's no way…' Tesoro thought and shook his head once again as his face regained his smile.

"Ahem, sorry for that, so I was saying, would you like to play a special game? The rules are simple, if you win, you will win ten times the gain, but if you lose, you don't need to pay me ten times…" As he spoke, his gaze would subconsciously wander toward that hooded woman.

"Interesting, do you want to play…?" Edam looked at Hancock & co.

They all refused as Hancock spoke for them. "No thanks, Edam I think that we shouldn't play this game..."

"Hmm…" Edam looked at them before a smile came upon his face.

"I wanna play!" Edam exclaimed with a smile.

"Sigh…" Hancock released a sigh having guessed that something like that would happen.

Tesoro had a smile at that as he replied. "Good, we have a challenger today…!"

With that, both Edam and Tesoro sat as they then bet. Edam had a faint smile eagerly looking at the result to come.

The brute Dice performed his show once again.

However, Baccarat, who was near, took a glove that was covering her hand and approached Edam.

"You're so incredible Mr. Edam, I wish you good luck…" Baccarat said with a faint smile as her hand approached him to touch his shoulder.

"..." Edam didn't even turn to look and stare at his ongoing game. His tail that was swinging around suddenly stopped in its track and dropped...

But,

*Tap*

"...?!" Her wrist was unexpectedly caught by Hancock. "I would advise you not to touch him…" and she flung her hand away.

"I, I just want to wish him good luck that's all…" Baccarat then retreats before looking at her hand while sweating a bit.

Lifting her hand, she then looked at Edam's back as a dreadful feeling slowly overtook her.

When her hand was about to touch Edam, she felt her hand strangely slowing down while a bizarre bloodthirsty red glow appeared at the place she was gonna touch as a freezing sensation froze her spine.

The more she watched his back, the more dreadful it became in her mind.

His monkey tail was even swinging around happily around or as if to say 'do not touch'.

Hancock who returned to her previous position glanced at Baccarat and met her eyes before looking away in indifference. 'That was a close call, a bit longer and her arm would have been ripped off…'

Yes, the reason she had stopped her wasn't because she was about to harm Edam, she instead stopped her before Edam harmed her.

After having lived so long with him, Hancock learned the different ways and pattern of how Edam's bestial senses reacted to outsiders sneaky or ȧssassination movements.

First, If his tail slows down, it would mean that it is not a danger.

In the second case, If his tail rose straight up with his fur standing on their ends, then Edam would dodge.

However, if his tail's fur stands on their end but his tail slowly drops down… 

Then, for this third case…

Hopefully, the opponent is strong and can evade or he/she should prepare to lose an arm at least…

And the worst is that Edam just didn't have control over this third case and wasn't even aware of doing it sometimes… it just naturally happens, exactly like the name implies, this is an instinct.

Although, if it was reacting would mean that the other party had ill intentions, Hancock didn't want today to be a bloodthirsty event.

As for why such a violent response from his primal instinct, Hancock herself didn't know, but she once speculated that it was following his current mood.

But what was somehow funny to her was the lack of response toward herself, it just didn't seem to work on her, seemingly incapable to react.

For a reason or another, this made her happy.

Crack! Bam!

The metal cup cracked as the result came up which was… Edam's defeat!

"..." Edam was kinda silent at the result.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

"Haha, we didn't even need your powers Baccarat…" Tesoro clapped his hands and he stood up.

"In- Indeed…" Baccarat laughed awkwardly before glancing at Edam with wary eyes.

"Your powers?" Hancock asked, looking at Baccarat.

"Yes, I've eaten the luck-luck fruit which enables me to steal people's luck, although I didn't need to do it…"

"Now that I think about it, you now have a debt to pay back…" Tesoro said with a smile and then glanced at Hancock and Stella who was hooded. "Or… those two women can cover your debt…"

"Hehe…" However, while Tesoro was clapping his hands, a laughing sound seemed to come out of Edam.

"...?" Tesoro stopped clapping his hands and looked at him with a stunned expression. "What… you've gone crazy…?"

"Hahaha…" Edam then laughed heartily.

But the latter seemingly didn't care.

"You..." Seeing him ignoring and most of all laughing in front of his face, Tesoro's anger shot up.

Still ignoring him Edam then called out. 

"Hancock..."

"...?" Her eyes widened stunned by the call as she replied wryly. "Yes?"

"That's it, I had enough…"

"Is, Is that so… then what do you wish to do…?" Hancock asked him with a soft smile finding the situation rather funny. From his way of speaking, he was clearly pissed.

"Let's deal with our matter and get back home-…" Edam said but was interrupted midway.

"You f*cker! Don't you laugh in front of me!" Tesoro screamed in rage.

"What about it? I laugh if I want to, dumbass!" Edam retorted with a challenging attitude and began to walk forward.

"You little sh*t, you think that you can fight me in my city?!" Tensor exclaimed and then waved his hand around as some spark of electricity appeared and…

Tching!

"...?" Edam who was walking forward completely stopped in his track as his body starting from his feet suddenly solidified and transformed into gold.

"Haha, you were all trapped since you entered this ship. The rain of gold has already covered your bodies…" Tesoro looked at Edam and then added.

"You seem to be a very stubborn guy, don't you? So, to make sure that you will pay…" Tesoro then pointed at Hancock.

Tching! 

"...?" Gold then slowly began to cover her body… although there wasn't a single trace of worry or whatnot.

At this sight, Edam's two black eyes went down some degrees as he looked at his body and…

Boom!

His body burned a golden-red aura before exploding out, blowing everything away from him.

"...I won't kill you, just redo your face a bit…"

With that said, Edam rushed at Tesoro and his crew.

…

*Half an hour later*

Tesoro was lying somewhere completely beaten to a pulp and bleeding.

When Edam was gonna hit him yet again…

"Edam! That's enough already!" Stella shouted softly.

During the fight, she had tried to intervene but Edam just didn't listen to it. 

"Ugh…" Tesoro who was lying down looked on as Stella went to his side and kneel near him.

"You idiot, what about me? Am I allowed to laugh in front of you?" With that, Stella took her hood off and revealed her face to him.

Her eyes were filled with tears as she looked at him while his eyes slowly went from confused to surprise and shock.

!!!?

"You, Stel-...Wha- No, that's, that's, impossible, I don't believe it…!"

"Believe it…" Stella said and bit her lips.

"That's impossible! It has to be a dream! It has to be!" And then, just like Stella, his eyes were slowly filled with tears.

"I can hit you again if you want…" With a complete lack of tact, Edam whispered to the side with a cold smile as he patted his clothes to get rid of the dust.

"Hey, you quiet down! Come here with me..." Hancock seeing that, pulled him by the arm close to her and dragged him elsewhere for the two to have a good reunion.

"..." Edam pouted a bit as he was dragged away. "He's the one who started…"

"Yes, yes, I know, let's go eat something shall we?" Hancock whispered with a smile.

"...Alright, let's go!" Although he was not totally reconciled, the call of the food was stronger.

…

And just like this, Stella was finally back again with the man that she has been searching for.

While the great man known as the Gold Emperor began to change under the influence of a certain woman and did good of his immense wealth.

….

/////////

I really struggle to finish this chap for god sake! We can finally come back to present!

I didn't put the fight because... who actually cares how he beat the guy right?