“Bet big, bet small!
Place your bets!”
The dealer’s hoarse shouts were drowned out by the deafening roar of the crowd.
Beside the smoke-filled gambling table, dozens of gamblers were packed tight, their eyes bloodshot as they stared at the Dice cup in the center, suppressed roars rumbling in their throats.
“Big!
It’s definitely big!
This handsome guy has won seventeen times in a row!
Bet with him, it’s a sure win!”
“Bullshit!
How can luck be good forever?
Listen to me, bet small against him!
One round and we’ll turn it all around!”
Lucas leaned back in his chair, his left arm draped casually around Baccarat’s waist, pulling her halfway into his embrace.
The dealer opposite him was sweating profusely, cold sweat dripping from his jawline onto the gambling table, staining a small dark patch.
Gritting his teeth, he took advantage of the moment he bent down to reveal the Dice cup, using his knee to trigger the mechanism under the table with an extremely light and fast motion.
This was an old casino trick; he could change the Dice count without anyone noticing.
It had never failed before.
However, under the invisible influence of the Lucky Lucky Fruit, the gears under the table jammed with a “click.” The mechanism had malfunctioned.
The dealer took a deep breath, suppressing the panic in his heart, forced a professional fake smile onto his face, and slowly lifted the Dice cup.
The next second, his smile froze on his face.
Three Dice, six-six-six, big.
The dealer’s worldview nearly collapsed.
He had cheated, and he still lost?
What kind of monster luck is this?
This isn’t scientific!
“That’s it for today.” Lucas patted Baccarat’s waist and stood up with a smile, “I’m taking my wife back to rest.
Please exchange these chips for Berries.”
Baccarat looked up and cast him a charming, flirtatious glance, her eyes hiding a touch of reproach, as if blaming him for taking verbal liberties with her.
“The two of you, please follow me, the exchange room is this way.”
The dealer pretended to be calm as he gathered the mountain of chips on the table and led the way with his head bowed.
His steps were unsteady, and his back was already soaked with cold sweat.
Lucas’s ears twitched slightly, and he followed, keeping his arm around Baccarat without changing his expression.
The corridor grew deeper and the lights dimmer.
Pushing open a heavy metal door, they entered a closed lounge.
A burly, bald man was sitting on the sofa with a wide, arrogant stance, toying with a switchblade in his hand.
“Before you make your move, I want to ask one thing.” Lucas scanned his surroundings.
“Are the Berries really stored here?”
“Kid, you’re quite smart to have noticed something was wrong.” The burly man sneered and stood up abruptly, his muscles bulging, “It’s a pity, being too smart is just stupidity.
Remember in your next life, don’t be too greedy!”
“You’re finished!
If you kneel down and beg for mercy now, there’s still —” The dealer, having just found a backer, was preparing to act like a bully and shout a few threats.
“Bang!”
A dull, explosive sound rang out.
The burly man backhanded the dealer, smashing his head to pieces.
Red and white matter splattered the wall, and the limp corpse collapsed to the ground.
“Trash.
You couldn’t even win while cheating; what’s the use of keeping you around?”
The burly man spat, then turned to look at Lucas and Baccarat, his eyes fierce enough to eat a person.
Dense, long white fur suddenly erupted from every pore on his body.
His size swelled in a few seconds, his head transformed into a ferocious bear head, and his height neared five meters, filling the entire room.
Zoan type: Polar Bear Fruit, Beast Form!
A violent aura washed over them.
Baccarat’s expression changed drastically, and she instinctively wanted to retreat, but her wrist was firmly gripped by Lucas, leaving her unable to move.
Seeing the furry giant paw strike with a gust of wind, she closed her eyes in fear.
A dull sound of bones cracking exploded.
Lucas raised his right arm and drove his fist straight into the bear paw.
The moment the furry bear paw collided with the human fist, the giant paw exploded like a rotten watermelon.
Flesh, shattered bones, and white fur splattered everywhere, but were steadily blocked by an invisible Haki barrier half a meter in front of them.
An overwhelming force of recoil poured out along his fist.
The polar bear brute let out a shrill howl as his massive body flew backward, smashing straight through the thick alloy-reinforced wall and crashing heavily into the vault next door.
Flying Berries banknotes fell onto him like snowflakes.
Baccarat curiously extended a slender finger and poked at the invisible barrier in front of her.
This was the thing that had blocked all the flying flesh and blood just now.
“Don’t touch it, you’ll get hurt.” Lucas reminded her in a low voice.
She sheepishly withdrew her hand and curled her lips in a subtle gesture.
Lucas stepped onto the sticky, blood-stained floor and walked to the surveillance Den Den Mushi in the corner.
He faced the lens, showing a bright yet evil smile, intentionally letting the other side record his appearance clearly.
After confirming this, a wisp of azure electric arc flashed across his fingertips, and with a “zzt” sound, the Den Den Mushi instantly turned charred and died.
After doing all this, he stepped into the vault.
The brute was already dead.
Lucas squatted down, pierced his fingertips into the other man’s neck, and activated the power of the Vampire Fruit.
Blood, life energy, and the Lineage Factor belonging to the Devil Fruit were continuously extracted.
With skilled technique, he separated the Lineage Factor and guided it into a pear in a fruit tray nearby.
The peel quickly turned yellow, and black spiral patterns emerged on the surface.
A brand new Polar Bear Fruit was quietly reborn in his hands.
Baccarat had no interest in his mysterious operations.
Her gaze had long been completely captivated by the mountains of Berries in the vault.
Bundles of banknotes were stacked neatly from the floor to the ceiling; she had never seen so much money in her life, and for a moment, she was dazed.
The two of them found over a dozen large suitcases and spent a full half hour packing up the Berries in the vault.
In the middle of the night, they dragged several cases full of money and returned silently to the hotel where Lucas was staying.
“By the way, I haven’t asked your name yet.” Lucas leaned on the sofa, watching the red-haired girl squatting on the floor counting money.
“Baccarat.” She didn’t even look up, her fingers tapping the bills rapidly, her tone full of unconcealable excitement.
“Miss Baccarat, I have a new proposal, do you want to hear it?”
“Go ahead.”
“Be my woman.
Follow me, and you’ll have endless money to spend.”
“Cough—cough cough!”
Baccarat was choked by these words, which were so straightforward they were rude, causing her chest to heave.
She looked up and glared at him irritably: “Who are you?
You think you can buy my whole life with this bit of money?”
She could earn money herself; it wouldn’t be that easy to make her completely devoted.
“It’s not just money.”
Lucas stood up, and with a flicker of his figure, he appeared in front of her.
Before Baccarat could react, he reached out, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her.
The moment their soft lips touched, Baccarat’s body stiffened.
She had absolutely no experience in this area, and her mind went blank instantly.
Immediately after, a gentle and mellow energy was transferred over along their tongues.
That was pure life energy.
A warm current spread from her throat to her limbs, as if she were soaking in a warm spring, every inch of her skin stretching and renewing itself.
After a long while, their lips parted.
Baccarat was both shy and angry, and just as she was about to activate the Lucky Lucky Fruit to teach this lecher a lesson, a small mirror was handed to her.
The woman in the mirror had skin that had changed from its original healthy wheat color to a fair, delicate, cool-toned white; the fine lines at the corners of her eyes had vanished without a trace, and she looked at least five years younger, glowing as if she had been reborn.
She touched her face in a daze, the anger in her eyes quickly replaced by surprise.
“I can make you stay young forever.”
Lucas’s voice sounded in her ear, “Now you can tell me your answer.
But think clearly, if you follow me, you will likely be targeted by many people in the future.
Eternal youth is too easy to make people jealous.”
On this ocean where the weak are prey to the strong, love is a luxury, far less reliable than hard cash and concrete power.
For Baccarat, who had interests carved into her bones, there was simply no reason to refuse a man who was powerful, good-looking, could provide her with endless money, and could give her the eternal youth that women dreamed of.
Even if there were risks ahead, it was worth a gamble.
She looked up, her green eyes shimmering with water, reflecting the light, stunningly bright.
“I do.”
As her voice fell, she raised her hand and slowly unbuttoned the first button of her top.