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Arthur stared at Issho, buzzing with an energy he had not felt in years. A true peer in Observation Haki.
Perhaps the only one whose sheer range could possibly match his own.
"If we really go at it..." Arthur pressed, his eyes gleaming with the same raw hunger he had possessed when he first set sail, "Spring Queen City sinks. Body count? Unthinkable. You do not want that blood on your hands. So how about it? Just Haki. Winner takes all."
Issho felt it clearly—the predatory excitement radiating from Arthur, a stark departure from his usual ice-cold arrogance.
This felt more primal, more dangerous. A man like Arthur was capable of anything. He had gambled his life for the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, murdered a child to threaten Tom for blueprints, charged headfirst into danger just to test his strength.
If Issho refused now, the consequences would be catastrophic.
'He is serious. He will burn this city down if I say no...'
Issho released a slow breath. A duel, like a gamble... the thought stirred something in him, the old itch. "A contest of spirit requires stakes, does it not? What are we betting?"
"You name it," Arthur replied instantly. Losing was not even a possibility in his mind. The chance to push his Haki, to feel that thrill again—he would risk anything for it.
Issho's blind eyes seemed to focus, turning toward Arthur. "If you lose... you can never kill another soul for the rest of your life. Agreed?"
The words were quiet yet landed with the finality of a judge's sentence.
'Never kill again?' Arthur frowned, actually considering it. Hunting Devil Fruit users, experiments... killing was baked into the damn plan.
"Cannot do it," he said flatly.
"Counter-offer. You want benevolence, right? If you lose, for the next three years, the Thunder God Pirates do not raid, do not pillage, do not burn. How about that?"
Three years without plunder? For a pirate empire, it was practically a vow of poverty. A massive gift to the world.
Issho mulled it over. It would not stop Arthur himself, yet it would cripple his empire's expansion, contain the malignancy. Three years was not forever, yet it was breathing room. A chance for justice to gain some ground.
"Agreed," Issho nodded solemnly.
"Then let us begin," Arthur grinned, practically vibrating with anticipation. He did not even bother asking what Issho would put up if he lost. Did not care.
The real prize was not some territory or treasure. It was the potential breakthrough this duel represented. He had a gut feeling, a prickle of intuition almost like... Future Sight? Could this be it?
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"RUMBLE..."
With a deafening roar, the massive chunk of island Issho had levitated slammed back into place, rejoining the mainland seamlessly. The people stranded on it collapsed, trembling with a mixture of relief and raw terror.
Issho raised a hand, and a large stone platform rose silently from the ground, lifting him and Arthur high into the sky, punching through the clouds into the brilliant blue above.
Up here, only the wind and the endless expanse remained.
"A wager requires fairness, regardless of the stakes," Issho said, producing three small, ivory dice from his robes. "We each roll once?"
"Fine by me."
They sat cross-legged on the stone platform, facing each other, barely two meters apart. Issho held the dice out toward Arthur.
"You may go first, Thunder Emperor."
"Do not mind if I do." Arthur scooped up the dice, his focus absolute. Just as he was about to toss them, he paused.
"What if you guess mine, and I guess yours? A draw?"
"Hmm... that does complicate matters," Issho admitted, scratching his scruffy beard. "If it is a draw, we continue until a winner emerges?"
"Hahahaha! Perfect!" Arthur laughed, then his hand snapped open. The dice flew upward, spinning wildly before tumbling back down toward the stone.
Predicting dice, like calling a coin toss, was not about luck—not at this level. The outcome was set the moment they left the hand, determined by the force, the spin, the whisper of wind resistance. A master gambler could call it just by sound. Yet this was not that kind of game. This was a clash of wills, of foresight.
Before the dice even left Arthur's palm, before they even twitched, Issho spoke, his voice calm and certain.
"Triple sixes."
"Clatter, clatter... clatter."
The dice bounced on the stone, rolled, and settled. Three identical faces stared up at the sky. Six red pips each. Perfect.
'Future Sight,' Arthur thought, a jolt of shock warring with grim confirmation. 'So it is real.'
Damn. An ability like that... how could you ever truly beat someone who saw your every move before you made it? Unless you hit them with something utterly overwhelming, something like Raigo...
Blindness sharpens the other senses. Issho had sacrificed his eyes and gained something far more terrifying in return. A balance, perhaps. Nature finding its own equilibrium.
"A simple trick, Thunder Emperor. Forgive my lack of subtlety," Issho said humbly, a gentle, almost self-deprecating smile touching his lips.
"Whew. Your turn."
Arthur took a deep, centering breath, striving for that state of perfect calm he had rarely touched—a mind like still water under a moonless sky. He tossed the dice back to Issho, then closed his eyes.
He felt the air currents brush his skin. Heard the distant clouds drifting on silent winds. Felt the subtle vibration of the levitating stone beneath him, even the microscopic scuttling of tiny insects deep within the rock.
His mind was usually a raging storm—restless, hungry for battle, for thrills, for the razor's edge between life and death. Too many desires, too many ambitions, too much noise. He projected an image of effortless control, yet true inner peace had always been a foreign concept.
Desire. It was the engine of humanity. Money, power, fame, strength, pleasure... Arthur embraced it all, reveled in it.
Yet it was precisely that relentless, burning drive that had chained his Observation Haki, kept it from reaching its final evolution.
This time, however... facing Issho, facing the tantalizing possibility of a true breakthrough... his mind settled. Became utterly, profoundly still. Like a mirror polished to perfection.
And in that instant of absolute calm, the world exploded.
Not into chaos, but into color.
His Haki, his inner sight, now perceived everything not just as form and presence, but as vibrant, shimmering hues...
"Clatter..."
The dice landed.
Arthur opened his eyes. Smiled.
"I also guess... triple sixes."
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