Chapter 188: Hidden Circumstances
Fujitora liked gambling; it was his personal hobby, and this preference had become an inseparable part of his life.
As for what others did, he originally couldn't interfere and didn't want to.
However, Fujitora had his own sense of justice in his heart. Although he hadn't yet become a Marine Admiral, he still wanted to do what he could within his power. On this island, because of the existence of this casino, the common people had lost their will to work, and their lives had already plummeted. If this continued, the consequence of families being ruined wouldn't be far off.
So, after understanding the situation, Fujitora had been wanting to eliminate the source of decay on this island.
That was why, after spotting Ian, he chose to join forces with him. His original intention was to use Ian's gambling at the casino while he manipulated things from the sidelines, winning all the casino's funds, and then seizing the opportunity to propose conditions for the casino to move away from the island.
But accidents always happened. This Old K had used some unknown method that even prevented Fujitora from helping Ian win, and instead, they lost everything in one go.
Fujitora was puzzled, so out of caution, he initially planned to leave temporarily. However, Ian didn't have that patience. Since Fujitora's method didn't work, he would proceed with his own original plan.
So, he flipped the table.
After a moment's thought, Fujitora also felt that Ian's approach seemed better, so he tacitly agreed.
"You don't understand!" Old K shook his head and said, "I can't leave!"
Ian was stunned for a moment, feeling that there seemed to be some kind of story behind this.
But before he could figure it out, Old K had already drawn the scepter in his hand. It turned out that the scepter was actually a concealed Western sword. Since Ian had already made a move, he naturally had to resist.
However, what Ian didn't expect was that as Old K thrust his sword toward him, he shouted loudly, "Watch out, I'm going to stab your right side!"
Ian was a bit surprised. Could this guy have some kind of knightly spirit?
Old K's thrust wasn't very fast. Ian saw that he was indeed aiming for his right side, so he instinctively dodged slightly to the left.
But unexpectedly, Ian's left arm was suddenly stabbed by Old K's sword!
Pain shot through him, and Ian was very surprised. What was going on? His opponent's sword had clearly been dodged, so why had he suddenly been injured!?
"I'm going to stab your left side!" Old K shouted again, and with a whoosh, he thrust toward Ian again.
Feeling that something was off, Ian didn't rush to attack Old K but dodged once more.
This time, he was smarter and dodged with a wider arc. Yet, the same thing happened again. Old K's sword clearly missed him, but it left another bloodstain on his right arm.
What the hell was this? Ian was confused. Could this guy be a Devil Fruit user? But what kind of strange ability was this?
Just then, Fujitora's surprised voice came from behind, saying, "Young man, why are you moving into his sword?"
"Moving into his sword?" Ian was initially puzzled by this remark, but then it suddenly clicked, and he immediately activated his Psychic Field.
"Stabbing your left side!" At that moment, Old K shouted again and thrust toward Ian once more.
But this time, Ian didn't dodge immediately. Instead, he used his Psychic Field to perceive Old K's true movements.
Then, a strange thing happened. Ian's eyes clearly saw Old K's sword thrusting toward his left, but in his Psychic Field perception, it was actually aimed at his right!
His eyes had been deceived! Ian realized this and casually swung his sword down, directly cutting into Old K's blade.
The Enma Sword, enhanced with hardening, sliced Old K's sword in two, and Ian then placed his own blade against Old K's neck.
"So it still doesn't work, huh?" With a clang, Old K looked at his broken sword and smiled bitterly.
"Are you a Devil Fruit user?" Ian asked him curiously. "That's a strange ability!"
Old K shook his head, dropped the broken sword in his hand, and said, "I'm an Illusion Fruit user!"
Ian suddenly understood. Illusion, huh?
"You can use your voice to make your opponent experience illusions?" Ian asked him.
"Yes. A pretty useless ability, right?" Old K spread his hands and said, "In this New World, as soon as you encounter someone who can use Observation Haki, this ability becomes useless!"
Ian nodded. Indeed, an illusion was always just an illusion, not real. Especially since this ability had to be activated through sound, it easily aroused suspicion. With a little attention, one could notice the trick.
Especially when facing someone like Fujitora, who was blind, this ability was completely useless...
"You used this ability to make us lose at dice earlier, right?" Ian asked again.
"Yes!" Since things had come to this, Old K was quite straightforward and confessed everything: "What came out earlier was indeed a triple, but I used my illusion ability to make you see a different result."
"So, we actually won?" Ian said with a smile.
"Yes, you won!" Old K nodded. "But making my casino move away from this island is impossible."
Ian's expression darkened, and he said, "What do you mean? Are you trying to make me kill you?"
"That's not it!" Old K shook his head. "The truth is, I'm not the owner of this casino at all! Killing me won't do any good!"
Hearing this, Fujitora couldn't help but ask in surprise, "What? You're not the owner either?"
"Have you ever seen a casino owner show up so easily?" Old K spread his hands.
"What's going on? Explain it clearly!" Ian sheathed the Enma Sword, sat back down, and switched to a Shaila card to heal his wounds.
Old K sighed and said, "I was originally just a low-level pirate, born in the New World. By chance, I obtained this Illusion Fruit and became a user. At the time, I was full of ambition and formed a pirate crew, planning to explore the New World with my companions. As a Devil Fruit user, I had some reputation and was wanted by the Marines for forty million Berries. But what I didn't expect was that after being wanted, I was targeted by the Marine's G5 Branch!"
"G5 Branch!?" Ian's eyes widened when he heard this. "You were caught by them?"
"Yeah, I was caught!" Old K smiled bitterly. "They planned to burn my entire crew to death at the time!"
Ian felt a bit of sympathy for this guy. How could he not know what the Marines of the G5 Branch were like?
This branch was currently the only fully operational Marine branch in the New World, with relatively high combat strength, serving as a forward outpost for the Marines in the New World.
However, the Marines of this branch were outliers within the entire Marine organization. They rarely followed orders from Marine Headquarters, acted on their own, and had terrible conduct. When they caught pirates, they usually didn't send them to prison but instead tortured and killed them for fun.
Despite this, Marine Headquarters tolerated their existence. They understood that to survive in the New World, a polite approach wouldn't work. Only by being more pirate-like than the pirates themselves could they stand firm in the New World.
The G5 Branch had indeed achieved this. Their crazy and audacious behavior allowed them to thrive in the New World. Many pirates here might not fear Marine Headquarters' forces, but they would flee in panic upon hearing the name of the G5 Branch. Pirates even called the G5 Branch the "Madman Branch," which showed how bad their conduct was.
Especially according to Ian's memory, the current base commander of the G5 Branch was Vergo, a pawn planted by the Seven Warlord Doflamingo within the Marines. Vergo was never a good person, and under his command, the G5 Branch's personnel couldn't possibly be any better. Especially now that the Punk Hazard incident had already occurred. Before long, Doflamingo would likely start cooperating with Caesar to produce SAD, and Caesar would begin his research on human gigantification. The kidnapped children would become test subjects.
And Vergo's subordinates in the G5 Branch were the ones who lied to cover up the truth...
"They caught you, so why did they let you go?" Ian asked.
"They discovered my ability!" Old K said. "So they threatened me with the lives of my companions, forcing me to open a casino on this island to make money for them. For them, my Illusion ability was most useful in gambling!"
With that, Old K spread his hands and said, "Now you understand why this casino owner shows up so easily? Because I'm completely alone on this island now!"