Golden hair, snow-white towering Himalayan peaks, and an unfathomable Mariana Trench of cleavage.
The woman sitting in the private room had definitely changed somewhat from her 2D anime appearance, gaining a breathtaking, highly realistic beauty. But with that distinct, violet diamond-shaped mark on her forehead, along with the desperate assistant and the pet pig, Darian knew perfectly well exactly who she was. The reality of his situation crashed down on him: he had indeed crossed dimensions again.
While Darian was staring in a momentary daze, trying to process the fact that he was currently sitting fifty feet away from the legendary Tsunade Senju...
CLANG!
A group of menacing-looking thugs violently kicked open the wooden door of the izakaya and stormed inside!
The once bustling, noisy restaurant seemed to have been suddenly put on pause. The clinking of glasses and cheerful chatter vanished instantly, replaced by a terrified silence.
The scarred, muscular leader of the thugs swept his fierce gaze over the terrified patrons, ignoring the trembling cowards completely. His eyes finally settled on the private booth—the only group that hadn't reacted in panic.
"You really are hiding here!"
In an instant, the scar-faced giant roared and strode menacingly toward Tsunade's booth.
Then, he immediately dropped into a perfect, high-speed gliding knee slide across the wooden floor!
Skrrrt!
He slid to a halt, kneeling perfectly in front of Tsunade, who had lazily turned her head to look at him with half-open, intoxicated eyes.
Then, completely destroying his intimidating aura, the massive thug burst into genuine, ugly tears. With snot running down his nose, he lunged forward, clung tightly to Tsunade's bare leg, and began to wail at the top of his lungs.
"Big Sister! I'm begging you on my knees, please pay us back! We don't want the medical expenses for the beatings anymore, and we'll even consider the massive interest as a free gift to pay for your drinks! But you can't possibly walk away from the principal loan of one million Ryo by cheating us out of our money with fake IOUs!"
"I have elderly parents to support, young children to feed, and several high-maintenance mistresses on the side!" Scarface sobbed hysterically. "I make a meager, honest living by running a completely illegal casino and lending money at insanely exorbitant interest rates! Do you have any idea how hard the economy is right now?! If you don't pay back the money you lost at my tables, all my brothers here will starve to death on the streets!"
While Scarface pleaded and cried with great, theatrical emotion, tears streaming down his face, he also gave a sharp, subtle wink to the few dumbfounded underlings standing awkwardly behind him.
The next second, the four or five fierce-looking henchmen he had brought all rushed over, threw themselves onto the floor, and knelt down, wiping away fake tears and wailing in chorus!
When it comes to the most touching, desperate, and tragic displays of debt collection, it truly broke the heart and brought tears to the eyes of those who heard it! Even the other diners, who were initially terrified by the violent entry, found their eyes reddening with sympathy, sighing loudly.
"Paying back debts is a fundamental matter of honor!" one patron whispered.
"Sigh... the world is really going to the dogs when a woman does this."
"I've seen this scarred man before. He's a powerful, terrifying figure who runs the Yakuza casino in the town to the east. I never imagined he'd be reduced to begging like this. How pitiful... how lamentable... how utterly tragic!"
Perhaps it was because Scarface and his thugs were crying so pitifully and loudly that the onlookers couldn't help but feel sorry for him, completely ignoring the fact that he was a literal villain who ran an illegal casino and lent money at loan-shark interest rates to break legs.
Even the way the patrons looked at Tsunade and Shizune seemed a little judgmental and hostile.
Faced with this incredibly embarrassing, public situation of being personally confronted by a weeping creditor, Shizune—who was rather thin-skinned and modest—felt absolutely mortified.
Although she had been traveling around the world with Lady Tsunade for years now and was entirely used to seeing these kinds of 'small, public debt scenes' all the time... it never made it any less humiliating!
Especially since they currently only had exactly enough money in their coin purse to pay for the initial meal they had eaten. Because Tsunade had selfishly ordered two more expensive bottles of premium wine to spite the thugs, they were now completely broke. They hadn't even secured a hotel room for the night yet! Where the hell were they supposed to get the extra cash to pay the restaurant, let alone the massive principal of one million Ryo?!
Then, at that moment, Tsunade—perhaps a little annoyed by the crying ruining her buzz—said impatiently, "I will definitely pay you back the money I owe you eventually! And I will also pay you the interest! Okay? So stop whining, don't bother me while I'm enjoying my drink, and get as far away from my table as possible!"
It's just a little debt, why chase us all the way to the next town?! Tsunade thought irritably.
Tsunade, whose relaxed mood had been thoroughly ruined by the sobbing Yakuza, was very annoyed. She slammed her hand heavily on the table. "Waiter! Two more bottles of wine, and put today's entire restaurant bill on their tab!"
Shameless! Absolutely shameless!
Scarface was trembling violently with raw anger, but he didn't dare to physically retaliate or draw a weapon!
The horrific scene they had experienced at her hands back in their town was still vividly burned into his retinas today.
Those who run illegal casinos are rarely good people; this wasn't the first time they had encountered desperate gamblers who borrowed money and couldn't repay it. Usually, they just broke their legs or sold them. Moreover, Tsunade and Shizune were two incredibly beautiful women. Scarface had initially thought that even if they lost everything, he could easily resell them to a high-end brothel and definitely not lose any money.
Scarface had indeed thought exactly that way when he initially approved the massive loan. After all, with Tsunade's legendary, statistically impossible bad luck, even if his casino didn't actively cheat the games, he was guaranteed to make a massive profit!
Everything had been going smoothly at first. The one million Ryo he had loaned her was completely gambled away at the tables in almost no time flat.
However, just as his men were about to surround her and demand the money back or take her by force, the blonde woman had simply grabbed a napkin, scribbled a completely blank, worthless IOU without saying a word, slammed it on the table, and then calmly turned to leave.
His eyelids had twitched with pure rage at the sight of such blatant disrespect!
As for what happened next when his men tried to stop her... well, you can imagine.
Dozens of his armed thugs were all brutally taken down, their bones shattered in a matter of seconds. And his once-thriving, luxurious casino was literally reduced to a dilapidated, crumbling pile of rubble with three sides leaking air by a single, casual punch to the floorboards from the blonde woman.
His initial, safe investment of one million Ryo had instantly transformed into a worthless IOU, massive hospital bills for his men, crippling casino reconstruction costs, and lost daily interest.
All of these massive financial losses combined were so great that he felt like he was going to vomit blood every time he thought about it!
Today, after much difficulty and tracking, they had finally received news that they had managed to corner these two troublemakers here in this small town. Scarface had sworn to his bosses that he would get the money back no matter what, even if he had to beg on his knees!
However, before any money was even discussed, she was actually forcing them to pay for her expensive drinks first?!
What the hell kind of logic was this?!
Thinking of this absolute injustice, the scarred man, overwhelmed with genuine grief and financial ruin, cried even more bitterly. No matter how violently or impatiently Tsunade tried to shake her leg to dislodge him, he refused to let go, clinging tightly to her calf like a barnacle.
This scene was truly heartbreaking for the onlookers.
Since their fearsome leader was abandoning his pride and going all out like this, his underlings followed suit. They crawled across the floor and began clinging desperately to Shizune's legs. After all, compared to that cold-blooded, volatile blonde monster, this nervous little assistant was clearly much easier to politically 'bully' into feeling guilty...
Shizune really couldn't bring herself to physically kick or hit these guys. After all, Lady Tsunade did legally owe them a massive amount of money, and they had every right to come and collect the debt. She couldn't just attack crying victims directly, could she?
Just as Shizune was at a total loss for what to do, Tsunade reached into her kimono. She pulled out a massive, thick handful of crumpled paper notes from the impossibly deep 'two-dimensional pocket' of her massive cleavage and slammed them heavily onto the table!
"I have no cash! But I have a huge stack of IOUs and promissory notes from other towns! Do you want them?! I'll give them all to you right now if you just shut up!"
Looking at the massive, thick stack of scribbled IOUs and worthless promissory notes, Scarface suddenly turned entirely ashen-faced, his tears stopping.
He should have realized it much sooner. Given the blonde woman's absolute, unapologetic shamelessness and her casual skill in writing IOUs, he was clearly never the first victim of her scams, nor would he be the last!
What disheartened the Yakuza boss even more was that despite having accumulated such a massive, thick stack of unpayable debts, the woman was still sitting here drinking premium wine and living a very comfortable life.
What did this tell him? They were absolutely confident and completely fearless! No one in the world could physically force them to pay!
Scarface absolutely refused to believe that no one before him had ever chosen to use lethal force to collect their debts, but the outcome for those brave loan sharks was certainly tragic, just like his own ruined casino.
It's over! Scarface realized with dawning horror. This money is definitely gone forever.
Thinking about how they had traveled thousands of miles on foot, braving wind and rain, enduring countless hardships, before finally tracking Tsunade down, only to be told by her that she had no money and offered him the debts of other ruined casinos.
"Waaaaah!"
The arduous, exhausting journey to collect the debt, coupled with the painful realization of his total bankruptcy, caused the several burly, scarred men to burst into genuine, ugly tears of despair—a truly heart-wrenching scene.
Now, not only was Shizune at a total loss, but even Tsunade—who had never taken these pathetic guys seriously—couldn't help but rub her temples, showing a rare headache.
Although she was a degenerate gambler with horrible luck, she wouldn't normally outright refuse to pay her losses if she had the cash. But the fundamental problem was that she owed far, far too much money across the nations. This was evident from the massive, thick stack of IOUs and promissory notes she carried in her cleavage.
If she hadn't been physically the strongest kunoichi alive, she would have been hacked to death by loan sharks decades ago! There were even frequent cases of desperate casinos hiring professional ninja assassins to kill her, but unfortunately for the bounty hunters, those mediocre ninjas were absolutely no match for Tsunade, one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha.
So over time, she developed the highly efficient habit of simply "hitting and running," constantly moving on to a different location whenever the heat got too high. She was revered in the underworld gambling scene as the "Legendary Sucker"—a massive, fat sheep waiting to be sheared!
Unfortunately for the casinos, this "fat sheep" was only playing the game to get the thrill of the gamble. In the end, because of her impossible bad luck, she would inevitably lose everything, leave behind countless worthless IOUs, and violently walk away.
This was exactly why there were so many ruined victims!
Tsunade had originally planned to go to this town's local casino for a few games after finishing her drinks, but after this highly public, annoying incident, she knew her cover was blown. She had no choice but to give up her plans in disappointment.
After downing the last bottle of wine in one massive gulp, Tsunade stood up. She casually stuffed all the IOUs and promissory notes back into her deep cleavage, then shouted, "I'm leaving."
"Excuse me, Ma'am, your bill... who exactly would like to pay it?" The restaurant owner asked with a strained, terrified smile, quickly stepping out to stop her from walking out the door.
Tsunade immediately looked down at Scarface on the floor. But Scarface had already had enough of this nightmare. He angrily shouted, "Don't even think about it, you demon! I'm not paying for your booze!"
"Consider it an extension on my loan. I'll pay you back together later," Tsunade said in a very familiar, dismissive tone.
"Do you think I'm completely stupid?! You never even considered paying me back a single coin! I guess I'm just unlucky to have met you, but you just wait! I'll ruin your reputation!"
After uttering a few harsh, empty threats with a fierce expression to save face, Scarface scrambled up and led his underlings to run away out the door before she could punch them again.
At this exact moment, sitting at the only empty table near the door, Darian was staring blankly at the chaotic scene, entirely lost in his own thoughts. He was trying to figure out how the hell the Rainbow Mist worked and how he was going to return to the One Piece world. He hadn't even fully conquered Robin yet, and he had an entire harem of beautiful women waiting for him back on his ship.
Scarface, humiliated and storming out the door, seemed to have taken the wrong medicine. He noticed Darian staring blankly at the scene. Because Darian was deep in thought, his resting face looked slightly amused. Scarface immediately assumed this strange, tall foreigner was silently mocking him and his men for crying.
Scarface thought to himself that if he couldn't physically beat that blonde monster of a woman, he could at least beat the crap out of this flashy, arrogant pretty boy sitting alone to vent his frustrations.
He stopped, turned, and yelled aggressively at Darian, pointing a thick finger in his face. "Hey! You arrogant brat! What the hell are you looking at?! Can't you see I'm conducting serious debt collection business here?!"
After being violently yelled at by Scarface, Darian snapped out of his deep thoughts and came back to his senses.
Are you actually talking to me? Darian thought.
Darian frowned deeply and looked up at the scarred man, his dark eyes narrowing into a cold glare.
Seeing the sheer displeasure and lack of fear on Darian's face, the scarred man—who was already boiling with humiliated anger—became even more agitated, stepping into Darian's personal space. "What are you going to do about it if I yell at you, pretty boy? Huh?!"
BOOM!
A massive, tearing gust of wind blew through the room. The ambient light inside the izakaya suddenly became much brighter—because a massive, jagged hole had instantly appeared in the thick wooden wall leading out into the street.
The scarred man who had been yelling in Darian's face had completely disappeared from sight.
Of all those present in the restaurant, only Tsunade—with her Kage-level vision—clearly saw exactly what had just happened. Her eyes, which had been lazy and swollen with alcohol just seconds prior, instantly cleared, widening in absolute shock before narrowing into sharp slits.
Tsunade saw it very clearly: the tall, strong, scarred man weighing nearly 250 pounds was sent flying straight through the solid wooden wall and across the street by a single, impossibly fast, casual backhand slap from Darian.
Without any detectable chakra fluctuations whatsoever, relying solely on raw, monstrous physical arm strength, Darian had effortlessly swatted a burly man like a bothersome fly.
.....
.....
.....
Give me powerstones.
Support me and read advance chapters on patreon.com/ImmortalDaoWriter