One Piece: Dream of Immortality-Chapter 673: Wagers
Chapter 673: Wagers
The Thousand Sunny pulled up to the shore of the inner island, dropping anchor as the crew prepared to disembark.
Even from there, they could already see and hear the sounds of revelry towards the center of the island, which was pretty impressive given that the island itself wasn’t
that
small and the storm whirling overhead was still going strong.
"The Whitebeard pirates know how to party," Franky let out an impressed whistle.
"Do you think they have meat?" Luffy was already starting to drool.
"Why wouldn’t they have meat? Of course they’ll have it," Usopp gave his captain a dumbfounded look.
"Maybe the old man is vegetarian?" Luffy surmised.
Off to the side, Cherry was chatting with Robin. "I wonder how this is actually going to go."
"What do you mean?" Robin questioned.
"Whitebeard is a man who went to war with the World Government to save a single crewmate. Ace might have been a surrogate son of sorts, but his whole crew is family to him. I can’t imagine he’s eager to wager his crew in a silly game," Cherry explained.
"Mm," Robin hummed. "I’ve been wondering about that too. It’s the same for Luffy; I don’t know what he’s thinking, making a challenge like that."
"Well, Luffy at least has the defense of being an overconfident idiot," Cherry chuckled. "At the time of the original challenge, maybe Whitebeard was just confident in beating us, but he shouldn’t be so self assured
now
. Which begs the question of why he’s pushed to do this so soon."
"Perhaps he wants to do it before you and Luffy get any stronger, not to mention that the rest of us are no slouches either," Robin smiled.
"Maybe," Cherry conceded. "I doubt he could back out without becoming a laughing stock the world over. Though, I expect it’s more a matter of personal pride than any care he has for the opinions of others."
Regardless, Cherry thought the old man was scheming something. Not in a treacherous way, but rather seeking out a solution that didn’t involve betting crew members. "I reckon he’ll make it a single coin game, and wager our jolly rogers."
Robin’s eyes widened. "Ah. I could see that. Do you think Luffy will draw him a new one?"
Cherry snorted. "I hope so."
...
As bustling as the party had seemed from a distance, it could not compare to being right in the thick of it. It wasn’t just that the Whitebeard pirates knew how to party, but also the presence of someone else that brought the atmosphere to another level.
"Did you miss me, Straw Hat? Fefefefefe!" Foxy laughed. "I bet you didn’t expect to see me again, did you!"
Luffy tilted his head. "Who the heck are you?"
Foxy collapsed to his knees, his sky-high mood coming crashing down from a single sentence.
"How could you be so cruel, Straw Hat?!" Porche was already trying to soothe her captain’s shattered heart. "Did you really forget that we took your first time?!"
Several Whitebeard pirates whirled around with shocked expressions.
Luffy’s head tilted even further, beyond the point at which it’d really start to hurt for a regular person. "I don’t recall."
"Y-you can’t fool me, Straw Hat!" Foxy seemed to rouse himself. "No matter what you say, it was the foxy pirates who first challenged you to a Davy Back fight!"
Luffy’s head snapped back to its natural position. "OH! It’s split-head! I recognize your stupid haircut!"
The words struck Foxy like a blow to the gut, sending him face planting into the dirt.
"Captain?!" Porche yelped.
"Burned," Hamburg giggled a few feet behind him.
Eventually, foxy recovered from even that devastating blow to his ego. "No matter, Straw Hat! It just so happens that Whitebeard needed a neutral party to referee your Davy Back fight! Naturally, that led him straight to us!"
"Didn’t you grovel and beg for three days to let us do this, captain?" Hamburg asked.
"Shut. Up." Foxy hissed at him from the side of his mouth. "So you’d better be polite, Straw Hat! You wouldn’t want to bias the judges against you, now would you?! Fefefefefe!"
"You’re already biased against us, jackass!" Usopp accused.
"Hmph, hardly," Foxy stroked his goatee. "You aren’t the first crew that I’ve lost a Davy Back fight to, you know. Everybody starts somewhere. Naturally, I’ve not held any grudges against you lot."
"Uh-huh, sure," Nami rolled her eyes. "It’s not like we don’t already know your underhanded tricks, so I’m not worried."
"U-underhanded?! Me?!" Foxy feigned shock and offense. He didn’t do a very good job of it, what with a big smile on his face. "I’d never do
anything
that violated the spirit of our most sacred of traditions! Certainly not under the keen eyes of Whitebeard himself!"
That actually was a pretty good argument.
"Besides, this whole thing is going to be aired to the world; live! Feeeefefefefefe!!!" Foxy laughed uproariously.
"Ah, so that’s his angle," Brook nodded.
"What? What?" Carrot hopped in front of him.
"He wanted to embarrass us in front of the whole world," Brook explained.
"Eh?! But that’s so mean!" Carrot spun around to glare at Foxy with a pout.
"It’s not like it’s going to work out that way," Pudding scoffed. "Even if we lost every game, nobody would dare to laugh at us."
"We aren’t going to lose, anyways," Sanji spoke with confidence.
"Of course not!" Pudding chirped in a brighter tone.
"Food!" Luffy shouted, having grown impatient, and immediately pushed past Foxy and bee-lined for the nearest food stand.
...
They found Whitebeard set up in a big tent, along with the rest of his commanders.
"Ah, Straw Hat. It’s about time you got here," Whitebeard said, guzzling down
way
too much sake. "Took your time, didn’t you?"
"You
try finding an uncharted island you’ve never heard about the very day you’re told to go there!" Nami growled with uncharacteristic bravery.
"Gurarararara!" Whitebeard didn’t seem to take offense. "I’m just teasing, you little brat. We didn’t expect you to get her for another three days, at least."
"You mean
you
didn’t!" Ace walked into the tent. "I’m the only one who bet on you showing up today. Oi, Vista! Pay up!"
Vista clicked his tongue and fished out his wallet, parsing through the Beri within. "This is bullshit..."
"Now that everyone is here, let’s talk terms, then," Whitebeard set his cup down with a clumsy clatter. "But first..."
Whitebeard grabbed a pistol and fired it through the tent’s roof.
Luffy grabbed somebody else’s pistol at random and did the same.
"It’s official, then," Whitebeard smiled, but it was a savage thing, nothing like the fatherly smile he was wearing when they came in. "First thing’s first, what are we wagering, because I’ve got a feeling you aren’t any more willing to lose your crew than I am, are you Straw Hat?"
"I won’t lose!" Luffy declared.
Whitebeard chuckled, but it was a bit mirthless. "Don’t be so arrogant, boy. You can’t participate in every game, and I can assure you that we’ll be playing at least three."
That immediately threw out Cherry’s theory of playing for flags.
"Here’s what I propose," Whitebeard leaned forward. "Seeing we’re both ’Emperors’ now, we’ll play for territory."
.
!
Chapter 673: Wagers
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