Cocoyasi Bay, inside the temporary camp.
Koby had already fallen asleep while guarding the Pipi Shrimp. Zoro and Ren, who had just returned, decided to spend the night onshore.
Thanks to the instant noodles they'd brought, they only needed to boil some water on the ship to have a satisfying meal.
"So, you went through all that trouble just for that girl… Nami? How can you be sure she'll follow through on that bet?" Zoro asked, downing the last mouthful of hot soup.
"They don't have a choice, Zoro. Weak people never do."
Ren shook his head. A man like Zoro, strong and confident, probably couldn't understand what it meant to be powerless.
It was just like when Ren used to get into fights at school—if your opponent was stronger, any resistance was just a joke.
So, he learned to be slick instead. He earned the reputation of "someone you don't want to mess with" by bribing delinquents with cigarettes stolen from home.
It was the same with Nami and Nojiko.
In their situation, those two clever girls clearly knew they couldn't resist him, so all they could do was restrain themselves and obey his arrangement.
Even as they watched him take away their treasure, they had no choice but to hope Ren would keep his word.
The only countermeasure they really had was to call for the Arlong Pirates' help.
After all, Ren had technically broken into Nami's house and stolen from an officer of the Arlong Pirates. Whether for pride or obligation, Arlong would have to deal with someone who dared provoke a Fish-Man.
But Ren knew Nami well—she was terrified. If the Fish-Men got involved, Arlong would just find an excuse to seize the seventy million Beli himself.
Rather than gamble on Arlong's nonexistent conscience, it was smarter to gamble on Ren—the man who had openly shown interest in her, and who was, most importantly, human—born and raised in Cocoyasi Village.
He wasn't a Fish-Man. He was one of her own.
The incident at Cuckoo Island had served as a key turning point in all this.
So, even if things hadn't gone exactly according to plan, the outcome still suited Ren perfectly.
He'd achieved everything he wanted—and might even gain a little extra.
For instance, the Marine officer working with the Fish-Men to investigate the stolen treasure—Captain Nezumi!
"Well, that's your business. I'm only responsible for keeping you alive," Zoro shrugged, heading back to the ship to sleep.
He didn't need to stand guard during the first half of the night. The latter half until dawn was his shift.
Working under Ren didn't mean starving three days out of four—but getting more than three or four hours of sleep a day was a luxury.
His boss had a real talent for causing trouble.
Ren sat on the shore, listening to the rhythmic crash of the waves, occasionally checking his gilded pocket watch.
He was waiting for midnight—to start a round of draws.
Against opponents like the Arlong Pirates, the more trump cards he had, the better.
From the start, he had never planned to return the treasure taken from Nami's house.
What? You say that's bullying the weak? Robbery?
Since when could a good man be accused of robbery?
Everyone knows that even if a good man kicks down a widow's door at night, he must have a reason.
Likewise, Ren was merely borrowing those treasures temporarily for their "shared goal." Whether he'd return them… well, once Nami lost the bet and became his woman, what difference would it make?
What was hers was his—and what was his was still his.
When the pocket watch struck midnight, Ren lit a cigarette, invoking the blessing of Lady Luck.
"Dimensional Roulette—Ten Advanced VIP Spins!"
{Obtained: Eye of the Herald}
{Obtained: Liberator – Hammer of Freedom}
{Obtained: C4 Bomb}
{Obtained: Mazu Golden Idol}
{Obtained: Crafting Table}
{Obtained: C4 Bomb}
{Obtained: —}
{Obtained: —}
Ten radiant lights appeared around Ren. When the glow faded, he was left holding a box of blue-gold pills.
Ren stared at it for a moment, then tossed it into the sea.
No joke—the ocean didn't need more Viagra.jpg.
Then he began checking the rest of his rewards.
No new skills this time, but six useful items in total.
[Eye of the Herald]
Origin: Runeterra
Type: Consumable
Effect: When crushed, summons a spectral Rift Herald that charges forward in a cone, dealing damage powerful enough to destroy a small building.
Cost: None
Ren now held what looked like a magical trinket—a small eye-like gem glowing faintly blue, within which seemed sealed the shadow of a monstrous beast.
Holding it to his ear, he could almost hear its furious roars, as if promising to annihilate everything in its path.
A one-time-use item from League of Legends—and a potent one at that.
Ren recalled the Rift Herald's size from memory and compared it to Arlong Park's headquarters building.
Roughly half the height.
Just imagining a monster of that scale slamming into the building… yeah, that was a terrifying thought.
He solemnly tossed the trinket into Chester's mouth for safekeeping.
If it accidentally activated aboard the Pipi Shrimp, the ship would be finished.
Still, with this in hand, Ren could already picture his plan for storming Arlong Park.
[C4 Bomb ×2]
Origin: CrossFire
Type: Explosive
Effect: Plastic explosive with immense power. To activate, input sequence 22345678. Detonation timer: 360 seconds.
Cost: None
Note:Beep—Bomb has been planted.
Ren chuckled. CrossFire's classic bomb pack—its power was… debatable.
Too weak, and everyone in the blast radius would still get obliterated. Too strong, and somehow the buildings stayed intact.
Still, better safe than sorry. He carefully stored both C4 charges inside Chester.
Currently, Chester's inventory contained:
Dragon's Breath rounds
Invisibility Potions ×2
C4 Bombs ×2
Broken Bamboo Copter
First Aid Kit
Dragon's Breath drum magazine
Six inventory slots filled already.
Ren inspected the next item—a cube-shaped box marked with a faint 3×3 grid.
[Crafting Table]
Origin: Minecraft
Type: Low-Dimensional Rule Object
Effect: Combines materials into tools and weapons following fixed recipes, consuming a large portion of the raw materials in the process.
Cost: None
Note:This is Minecraft.
"What the—?"
Ren blinked in disbelief, holding the cubic box. A Minecraft Crafting Table? Seriously?
He was familiar with the iconic single-player game Minecraft—a paradise for farmers, artists, and adventurers alike.
He'd played it before, though he hadn't stuck with it long.
But he'd never forget the Crafting Table—it was literally the foundation of the game, the starting point for every tool and weapon.
Here, though, it seemed rather useless.
After all, there were no zombies to fight.
Then—
"Wait… if this showed up, that means the roulette isn't limited to anime worlds anymore. Even single-player games count… right, Don't Starve too. Almost forgot that one's single-player."
"If the Crafting Table can appear, then that means other useful Minecraft items might show up too… like the Totem of Undying, or enchanted books…"
"The prize pool just got a whole lot bigger."
(End of Chapter)