"Are you serious? one billion berries, I..."
"I'll do it!"
Hearing Golden Lion say he'd put up one billion berries, Silver Axe was about to say he'd give it a try when Kaido jumped up to take the lead.
Kaido stretched his large hand directly in front of Rocks and said excitedly, "That's what you said, Shiki! If I beat Rocks, you give me one billion berries. Worororo! I believe my luck won't be any worse than yours!"
"Hmph, I'm a man of my word." Golden Lion sneered with his arms crossed, then looked at Rocks and added, "But only if this bastard doesn't throw the game on purpose."
Rocks chuckled. "Throw the game? That's impossible. Come on, Kaido, I'll play with you."
With that, the two of them began a game of rock-paper-scissors under the watchful eyes of a dozen or so onlookers.
"Rock, paper, scissors!"
Rocks and Kaido extended their hands at the same time.
Rocks showed rock.
Kaido showed scissors.
"First round, Rocks wins!" Golden Lion mocked Kaido from the side while keeping count.
"Just luck! Best of three! I'll definitely beat you in the next round! Again!" Kaido rolled up his sleeves.
"Rock, paper, scissors!"
This time Rocks showed paper.
Kaido showed rock.
"Second round, Rocks wins. Best of three—Kaido, you lost."
A mocking smile appeared on Golden Lion's dark face, which infuriated Kaido.
He reached out again. "Best of five! Again! I don't believe my luck is really this bad!"
"Hey! Kaido! You've already lost, let me have a turn!" Silver Axe shouted from the side.
"It's fine, one at a time." Rocks didn't mind Kaido's persistence and casually reached out his hand.
This time, he showed scissors.
Kaido showed paper.
"Third round, Rocks wins."
Kaido stared blankly at the result, his face full of disbelief. "How can this be? Is my luck really this bad? I... I don't believe it! Again! Best of seven!"
"Best of nine!"
"Best of eleven..."
"Tenth round, Rocks wins." Seeing Kaido standing there like a wooden statue after losing ten times in a row, Golden Lion grinned triumphantly.
"Well? Do you still think this is a game of luck?"
"I..." Kaido opened his mouth but couldn't find the words.
Silver Axe squeezed his way in, eagerly reaching out. "It's just that his luck is bad! My turn, my turn!"
A dozen seconds later.
Having lost twenty times in a row, Silver Axe also had a dazed expression of existential doubt on his face.
"Impossible, my luck couldn't possibly be this bad."
"You still think it's luck? Let me tell you, let alone ten or twenty rounds, even if you played a hundred or a thousand rounds with him, he would win every single one." Golden Lion shook his head.
Kaido was puzzled. "Why? Can he actually predict the future?"
He had only said it offhandedly.
However, he heard Carlo say with a faint smile, "That's right, he really can predict the future."
"What? Rocks can predict the future?" Kaido was shocked. "Is that your Devil Fruit Power? Are you a Prophet?"
"What 'Prophet'?" Rocks laughed in spite of himself. "This is just an advanced application of Observation Haki. In short, I use this technique to foresee what you'll do next, and then I make the best response in advance."
Everyone was astonished.
"Observation Haki has such a powerful application?"
"Is this technique hard to master? Even Shiki and the others don't know it?" Kaido pointed at Golden Lion, Whitebeard, and the others.
But Rocks shook his head. "No, Newgate and Shiki have already mastered this technique."
"Then why..."
"Because my Observation Haki is stronger!" Rocks said with a face full of pride. "I foresaw a further future! I foresaw that they foresaw my foresight, so I still win!"
While Kaido and the others were reeling from the shock, Carlo turned to Golden Lion and asked, "Shiki, does what you just said still count?"
"What?" Golden Lion frowned.
"The part about the one billion berries."
"What? You want to try and beat Rocks too?" Golden Lion looked at Carlo with disdain.
"Oh? Carlo, you want to play a bit too? Then let's have a few rounds." Rocks reached out, open to all challengers.
However, he was pushed back by Golden Lion.
Golden Lion reached out his own hand in front of Carlo. "If you want to play, I'll play with you. If you can win even one round, I'll give you one billion berries. If you lose, I won't ask for a billion; you just give me one hundred million berries. Well? Do you dare to play?"
Carlo only said one word.
"Bring it."
The two reached out and prepared.
"Rock, paper...!" Red light flickered in Golden Lion's eyes as he activated his Future Sight level Observation Haki.
Images from a few seconds later seemed to appear before his eyes.
He seemed to see what Carlo would throw, and as he extended his right hand, the corners of his mouth curled up uncontrollably.
"Scissors!"
"Jie-ha-ha-ha, I won!"
He laughed loudly, looking at Carlo with a smug expression, wanting to see that look of unbelievable defeat on Carlo's face.
However, Golden Lion was disappointed.
Carlo's expression remained calm and composed.
Meanwhile, the expressions of the people around them were full of shock.
Even Whitebeard and Rocks were somewhat surprised.
Kaido and Linlin's mouths were hanging wide open in shock.
This anomaly caused Golden Lion's heart to skip a beat.
"Could it be... I lost?"
"No! That's impossible!"
He quickly looked down, and his eyes widened instantly.
Looking at the gestures of their extended hands.
He had thrown rock.
While Carlo had thrown paper.
Seeing Carlo's five fingers spread out, Golden Lion looked up at Carlo as if he were seeing a ghost.
"Impossible! I clearly saw the future, and in that future, you were supposed to throw scissors! How did it become paper? This shouldn't be happening!"
The joy on his face froze and turned ugly once again.
"Don't tell me you've mastered Future Sight too?"
"No! Impossible! Even if you mastered Future Sight, your Haki's intensity couldn't possibly exceed mine. You're not Rocks! How could you have foreseen my foresight?"
"Impossible! Again!"
Golden Lion couldn't accept that he had actually lost to Carlo.
He reached out again, staring fiercely at Carlo as if trying to see right through him.
However, Carlo quit while he was ahead and didn't accept the challenge again, simply saying calmly, "Remember, you owe me one billion berries now, Shiki."
"It's over; now you owe him one billion berries too." Silver Axe looked at Golden Lion with a sense of shared misery.
"You bastard! You still haven't said how you did it!" Seeing Carlo stop, Golden Lion was enraged and tried to grab Carlo's clothes.
"Alright, alright, let's end the game here. We've reached our destination; it's time to get to work."
Rocks glanced at Carlo with a smile, then stood up and looked at the island appearing ahead of the ship.
Their goal for this trip, the International Charity Temple, Puttelocrone, had arrived.