"How are we betting?"
Tsunade dropped the chest to the floor and stared Rakuya down, utterly confident.
"Keep it simple. High or low?" Rakuya smiled.
"Fine."
Porcelain-smooth skin, eyes lowered in thought, she agreed without hesitation. It had been too long since her last gamble. With a chance like this, why not double her stake completely?
"Refreshing."
Rakuya flicked a hand. Fruit plates and teacups vanished from the table. He set the dice cup down.
Tsunade's eyes gleamed as she sat, already calculating her path to victory.
"High versus low," Rakuya said, scooping the five dice into the cup. He set his wrist spinning. The cup flipped and rolled, whirled up and down, the crisp clack of dice against wood so quick that Momousagi's eyes went dizzy just watching.
Tsunade sat very still, ears pricked, listening for every bounce.
Thump.
The cup settled. The last echoes faded.
Rakuya lifted his hand and looked at her with a half smile. "High or low?"
"High."
She hesitated a breath, then pushed two hundred thousand Beli onto the high field. She knew the rules, which saved Rakuya the lecture. Once she withdrew her hand, he tipped his chin.
"Momousagi, lift it."
"Oh. Right."
Momousagi stepped up and whisked the cup away.
"One, three, three. Seven. Low," Rakuya counted, amused. He had Momousagi do the reveal so Tsunade could not accuse him of palming the dice.
"What? Lost already? Talk about rotten luck." Tsunade glared at the pips, deflated for all of three seconds, then rallied. "Losing the first hand means the wins are coming. Two hundred thousand is nothing. Again."
She tossed over the stake.
"Continue."
Rattle rattle rattle.
Thump.
"High again. No way it is low twice."
"Momousagi."
"Two, two, three. Seven. Low."
"What? Again? Damn it." Tsunade's fist tightened, temper flaring.
"Still playing?"
"Playing. I am winning it back."
—
"Damn it. Lost again. One more."
"Hahaha, finally a win. Here it comes. Rakuya, you are going broke today."
"Hmph. Beginner's luck. Again."
An hour later…
Tsunade's eyes were bloodshot. Her mood had curdled. Frustration simmered off her in waves.
"Damn it. Lost again. Deal."
She slapped the table, impatient.
"Sorry. You are out of bankroll," Rakuya said lightly, already reaching to gather the dice.
"What?"
Her head snapped around. The two chests that had glowed with gold moments ago were empty to the bottom, not a single coin left.
Cleaned out.
"Tsunade, better get back to kneading shoulders if you want Beli," Rakuya said, looking every bit the cat that swallowed the canary.
"No. You are not walking away. We keep playing."
She grabbed his sleeve and barked like a cornered tiger.
"With what? You have no money."
"I will stake a month of wages. I will bet my chores."
"So a salary advance."
"Advance, rollover, whatever. I am betting."
Rakuya chuckled and produced a slip. "Then sign. One month of making the bed, turning it down, massaging and rubbing shoulders."
"Done."
She scrawled her name without blinking.
An hour later she had lost that too.
"Another month."
Ten minutes later… gone.
"A year."
"Keep going. Twenty years."
By sundown, she had wagered away fifty years. In one day, she had handed over five decades of youth. From now on, she was a maid by contract and by fate.
"Still want to play?" Rakuya asked, looking down at her stormy face and the fat stack of IOUs in his hand.
"No." Tsunade stared at the chits and felt her guts knot with regret.
"Good. Your next fifty years are mine. If I say east, you do not go west. If I say south, you do not take a step north. Remember that."
"Hmph." She turned away, sulking and stubborn.
"Momousagi, take your sister Tsunade out for a walk. Losing hurts. Since you are in a mood, Tsunade, you have today off. Tomorrow, you are back to my massage schedule." Rakuya waved the IOUs in front of her, then drifted off as if he weighed nothing at all.
Perfect. One afternoon, and he had secured fifty years. More profitable than selling tickets to punch Celestial Dragons.
No wonder people in the real world lose everything to gambling, rob for gambling, or jump when they cannot pay.
"Argh." Tsunade clenched her fists until her knuckles whitened. Regret chewed her hollow.
Why not just spend the money properly? Why gamble? Why bet her own future? Why?
Fuming to the point of violence, she let Momousagi drag her to Fish-Man Island. She borrowed three million and headed straight for the Celestial Dragon punching gallery to vent her rage on living sandbags.
Rakuya, meanwhile, had already maxed Sea Sovereign and slipped into Water-Meld, gliding unseen into the Holy Land of Mariejois.
Inside, four Elders sat in council.
"Who is there?"
The swordsman Elder's eyes snapped to a teacup, blade flashing. A horizontal slash screamed out.
Crack.
Table and cup split cleanly in two.
The other three turned, scanning the air.
On the once empty tabletop, water gathered into a wavering human silhouette.
"Rakuya?"
"Brat. You actually came."
"What is that ability? Even a blade cannot touch you?"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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