Chapter 450: Tempting Fate

Chapter 450: Tempting Fate



Luffy was shouting Tama's name and Zoro's face shifted into a dark look, but Cherry was... annoyed. She belatedly realized that, not only do Hawkins' tarot cards have mysterious fate altering powers, but that just declaring the game itself probably lulls his opponents into letting him draw them.

People dumb enough to toy with fate were exceptionally rare in the Myriad Realms, but they were also exceptionally dangerous. To their enemies as well as to themselves and their allies. Which is why Cherry knew to stay far away from them.

Hawkins drew another card. "The Fool, reversed. How unfortunate."

The moment Hawkins finished speaking, a few of his men started attacking each other instead of Luffy and Zoro.

'Ah, so that's how it is...' Cherry thought. 'He's offsetting the inevitable consequences by providing an inbuilt pathway for fate's ire to flow. Sloppy, but effective.'

Cherry flickered out of sight, reappeared behind Hawkins whilst standing on his mount, then stabbed her sword between his neck and shoulder into his torso.

Hawkins flinched in surprise, but otherwise remained calm. Cherry felt a powerful pressure trying to force her sword out of his body, but she managed to waggle and twist her sword a few times before that happened.

Four straw dolls popped out of Hawkins' body and at the same time four of his men collapsed in the battlefield with blood spewing from their necks.

"I wonder how many times you can do that? Once for each of your men here?" Cherry wondered aloud.

Hawkins was suddenly glad that he hadn't explained his limit of ten like he usually does. Doing so would normally serve to devastate his enemy's morale as they realized they would have to kill him eleven times. It would likely have the opposite effect to reveal that half of his remaining lives were destroyed with one move.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

With perfect timing, Zoro cut down one of Hawkins' minions that served as one of his extra lives, causing yet another straw doll to flop out of him.

"Wow, it works that way too? I guess you don't have that many, huh?" Cherry chuckled. She was no longer on the back of his steed and held both of his hostages under each of her arms a small distance away. "What a worthless ability..."

'It only seems that way because you're a bunch of sadistic freaks of nature!' Hawkins wished to retort. He didn't, because it would shatter his image as someone who was always calm and composed.

Nevertheless, Hawkins understood that he was in a bit over his head here. He almost ripped a card out of his deck and hoped that fate would be kind to him.

"The Devil, reversed." Hawkins smiled and shouted, "Retreat!"

Hawkins spurred his mount into motion and he was off towards the horizon with unearthly speed. Cherry sent a flying slash after him, but despite the fact that Hawkins' was slower than the attack, he seemed to outrun it regardless. She gave chase on foot, pushing herself to the limits of her speed, and still he outpaced her.

Cherry slowed to a stop after a few kilometers and growled, "What kind of bullshit is this?!"

"Just some... wild animals, nothing serious. These fine folks helped me out," Otsuru said, not wanting to worry her.

"I see," Okiku said, looking gratefully at the group now.

"Food!" Luffy cheered, growing impatient with the pleasantries.

"Yes, of course. Would you mind entertaining my guests while I prepare the food, Okiku?"

Otsuru said, already rushing into a nearby building without waiting for an answer.

Okiku turned her attention back to the group and smiled. "Thank you."

"Hm? What for?" Luffy picked his nose.

"For helping Otsuru, and for your timely arrival. That sumo wrestler you saw won't leave me alone, he keeps trying to court me," Okiku spoke and gave a small bow of the head.

"If he's bothering you, why don't you just kick his ass?" Cherry asked.

"Not every woman is a monster like you," Zoro said.

"Huh? Are you asking for one of my special deep tissue post-exercise massages?" Cherry threatened, making Zoro shake his head swiftly. Calling those 'deep tissue' was a bit of an understatement and Zoro made a point to avoid her after his routine exercise no matter how

effective they were.

"Are you a masseuse?" Okiku asked conversationally.

"I know a bit, but I've got strong fingers to get into those problematic areas," Cherry said,

wiggling said fingers.

"They feel great!" Luffy exclaimed.

"They feel great to you because your flesh is all rubbery," Zoro corrected.

Okiku smiled at the banter and Otsuru soon came out with some food for everyone. They were modest portions, but Luffy had already eaten a fair amount earlier, so he wasn't complaining. When she got to Cherry, she accidentally dumped a bowl of red bean soup all over her.