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| - Art and Sid exploded through their individual door, only to immediately come to a stop. For, you see, the room that they had burst into was completely dark. “What the...?” Sid asked, looking frantically around. “Come to think of it, have you ever been in a gambling joint before?” the first mate asked, peering around as well. “Nah,” the navigator answered, “didn’t really have them on my original home island or on Harbinger. Marine outposts and all that.” “So you’re a born and bred army brat?” “Guess so. Hey, do you think that my-” At that moment, lights exploded through the room! As the two pirates hurriedly used their arms to shade their eyes, the actual structure of the room became clear... They were standing on what looked like a small hallway, though at the very opposite end of it were two smaller corridors. Down one was a massive punching machine, and the other was an entrance to an unknown area. As D’Artagnan and Sid took in their surroundings, Crowe’s voice crackled over a hidden intercom. “Welcome to my game, dammit...” he said as grumpily as possible, “here, we’ll be playing my favorite casino game of all time, dammit...” “And what is it?!” Sid called out. “Human Pachinko, dammit...” “EH?!” the two pirates asked in shock! “Now one of you get ready to become a ball. The game works pretty simply, dammit...” A small panel in the wall right next to them slid open, revealing a truly massive pachinko playing field, complete with a large series of pins, several gates, and a slot machine in the center. “Basically, dammit...” Crowe continued, “you’ll be launched into the playing area. While you’re there, you have to do your best to get to the center gate in order to start the slot machine while avoiding a large amount of hazards built into the ‘board’. If you can do that, and get 3 Crowes in a row on the slot machine, than the next person needs to avoid the center gate and land in the payout gate, which means you technically win... but that person will also be fighting me personally, dammit.... Any questions, dammit...?” “What happens if we win?” Sid asked. “And why do 3 of you get the jackpot?” Art inquired as well. “First off, dammit...” Crowe answered, “I’m the one who came up with the game, so I’ll be deciding what gets the jackpot, okay, dammit...? And secondly, if you win... you win. You get to move on to other, harder games, dammit...” “Well, seems simple enough,” D’Artagnan concluded, before turning to face Sid, “so who’s up first?” “There’s really only one way to decide this, huh?” the navigator returned, “decide by gambling by gambling...” “ROCK!” “PAPER!” “SCISSORS!” “Alright!” Art said, rolling up the sleeves of one of his robes as he stepped towards the punching machine, “I’m up first! Let’s start this, crow guy!” “It’s CROWE, dammit...” the bounty hunter grumbled, “and begin...” The sound of a button being pressed was heard over the mike. The punching machine suddenly came to life, the fist launching forward directly at the Majin! Art allowed the fist to smash into his back, sending him careening through the air and heading rapidly towards a small square that marked the exit. Alright... he thought to himself, here goes nothing! D’Artagnan cleared the entrance to the board, flying out into open air as he soared into the arena. The board itself appeared to be a simple blue wall, slanted slightly downwards, with a wide variety of silver-colored pins with black tops emerging from its surface. In addition, there were a variety of gates open all over the board, save for a massive central gate with a slot machine located directly above it. “So I have to aim for that...” Art said out loud as he landed on the first of the pins... From the very top edge of the board, a small slot opened... and a massive amount of earth and boulders suddenly began rolling out, heading towards the blonde haired Majin! “W-what the hell?!” he gaped as it toppled towards him. “I did say there were hazards, dammit...” Crowe muttered over the intercom, “your fault for not listening...” “I didn’t think they’d be like thiiiisssss!” Art cried as he leaped from his current pin right as the rock avalanche struck it. The Majin twisted through the air and landed safely on the side of another pin, only to leap out of the way once more as a massive amount of snow and ice chunks slammed down towards it! “Tchh...” he hissed in frustrated as he bounced off another pin, beginning to leap-frog from each of them in turn in order to reach the gate, which was getting rapidly closer by the second. Right as it was only within five pins or so, Art felt a massive amount of wind suddenly brush against him! “What?!” he snarled as he was blown off his current pin and out into the open air, only for another bit of wind to seize him and pull him towards one of the other gates, “what the hell is it this time?!” “We can’t just let you reach the gate that easily, dammit...” Crowe’s voice explained. “The hell you can’t!” D’Artagnan grumbled as he barely managed to make another pin, wrapping his arms around it in order to hold himself in place as the wind tugged the edges of his robes towards a nearby smaller gate, the very tip of them scraping the entrance. “Ghh...” the Majin grunted as he forced himself up onto the surface of the pin, resisting the wind suction as much as he could. With great difficulty and straining of muscles he managed to force himself into a standing position, and refocused his eyes on the gate landing in the center of the ‘board’. Dammit, he thought to himself, even if I DO manage to get to the center gate in all this mess, I have no way of knowing if we’ll even get the jackpot! How am I supposed to...! The Majin jerked his head upwards, staring straight up at another rock avalanche that was barreling down towards him! That’s it! he grinned, before crouching slightly and leaping up into the air, barely avoiding the avalanche as it crashed around the pin. However, rather than immediately moving onto the next pin, he reached down, snatching the largest rock he could carry with his two hands and continuing his leap away! “Alright!” he cried, “now to just get it to- GHK!” The wind current had seized him again, and he was being rapidly pulled towards yet another small gate, located only a few measly feet from the desired gate! “Oh, come on!” Art yelled as he was yanked towards the gate, “I can’t just lose now, dammit! Hrnghh...” The Majin concentrated, tightening the muscles in his leg to their utmost limit, before swinging his leg forward as fast as he could! “KHAMSIN MUS!” His leg struck a nearby pin, causing a small shockwave to rise up and release a compressed air slash that flew through the air, right into the gaping maw of the gate that he had to avoid! As soon as the slash passed through the gate, the sound of it slicing into something was clearly heard, and the gate began to belch smoke and sparks, the wind suction dying down. “Yes!” D’Artagnan cried happily as he landed and bounced off another pin, putting all his strength into it! The resulting push sent the Majin flying past the center gate, and right as he reached the center of it, he lashed out with his knee, cracking the rock he held in his hands in half, and immediately lobbing one half into the gate! “Wow, dammit...” Crowe observed as he watched the proceedings from a small, out of the way room, through a visual Den Den Mushi that was projecting onto the wall in front of him, “he figured out that trick faster than a lot of people, dammit...” “It’s not exactly complex,” came Gambull’s voice from another Den Den Mushi on the wall, “just let me know what happens next.” Art landed on a nearby pin located a short distance from the slot machine, which had started up once the rock had made it through the gate, all three slots spinning madly, a variety of options flashing before the Majin’s eyes. He stared long and hard at the spinning slots, his eyes straining to pick up any pattern or combination... And then he had it! Art grinned, before putting another burst of strength into his legs, leaping across towards the gate and by another rockslide before throwing the other half of the rock through the gate. The first of the three slots stopped, displaying a chibi-fied version of Crowe’s face. “Okay...” D’Artagnan muttered to himself as he lifted up his other hand; revealing another rock that he had snatched from the rockslide he had passed earlier, “here goes... ROUND TWO!” The second rock flew from his hands, zipping across the board and landing straight into the gate! Once more, a slot stopped, this time being the second, also revealing Crowe’s face. The Majin finally tensed himself greater than ever before, as he leaped back to the glass covering that allowed onlookers to view the board, his feet cracking it slightly as they smashed into it. “And... ROUND THREE!!!” Art finally cried as his eyes and legs worked in tandem, releasing a burst of strength as he flung himself across the area, his body flying into the gate as the final slot stopped... displaying Crowe’s face one more time! “I’ll be damned, dammit...” Crowe gaped in amazement at the Majin’s feat, “that time... and that speed... and accuracy... it doesn’t happen very often, dammit...!” “Moohooohooohoo!” Gambull’s voice laughed from his Den Den Mushi, “mooost excellent, hm?” “I don’t get it, dammit...” Crowe grumbled, “he won, how’s that a good thing?” “He’s obviously played these sort of games before,” the leader of the Cowsino Bounty Hunters explained, “no novice can perform a feat like that.” “Then does that mean...?” “Very much so. Let’s add a little... redirect to that particular gate. I want to face this Majin brat head on. It might very well be my most challenging game in a long time...” Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
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