This casino was huge. Finding one person was already difficult. Finding someone who was deliberately trying to avoid them was even harder, even with four of them searching.
They wandered around and around, and at some point Shanks disappeared. He probably took the chips and went off to play somewhere.
After another round of searching, they still did not spot Rayleigh. On the other hand, Shanks' ten chips had somehow turned into a whole pile. He could barely hold them, and a few were on the verge of slipping out at any moment.
"Shanks, you're amazing. You actually won this much," Bai Chuan said, his eyes lighting up. He had only just realized Shanks was this skilled at gambling.
"I don't even know how it happened," Shanks said with an embarrassed grin. "I just placed a few bets randomly, and before I knew it, it became this much."
"Shanks, you won that money using my money, so everything you won is mine," Buggy said at once. He was not about to let Shanks enjoy this for free. He had to find a reason to claim it.
"No way. I won it, so what I won is obviously mine," Shanks shot back.
As he spoke, Shanks pulled out chips worth 10,00010,000 Beli and tossed them to Buggy.
"No, all of it is mine," Buggy said greedily. He snatched the chips quickly, but his gaze still stuck to the pile in Shanks' arms.
"Enough, you two. Stop arguing," Bai Chuan cut in before it got worse. "We didn't find the vice-captain here, so we should switch to another place."
"As for these chips, we'll cash them into Beli later and split it three ways, alright?"
"No."
The moment Bai Chuan said it, both Shanks and Buggy rejected it at the same time.
This was Shanks' hard-earned win. Even if he did not care much about money, he was not about to hand it over for nothing, especially when Bai Chuan had not done anything.
As for Buggy, it was even simpler. The more people splitting the money, the more he felt like he was losing.
"Yo, what are the four of you doing here?"
Hearing that familiar voice, Bai Chuan turned around. The person they had been looking for was standing right there: Vice-Captain Rayleigh.
"Don't tell me you're into this too, Bai Chuan?" Rayleigh sidled up beside him and spoke with a shameless grin.
"What are you thinking?" Bai Chuan said. "We're here to find you."
"Find me? What, did you idiots cause some trouble and now you want me to wipe your asses?" Rayleigh asked lazily.
"What trouble? We came to talk business," Bai Chuan said.
"Oh, business? No rush. We can talk later," Rayleigh said. "I'll play a couple rounds first."
As soon as he finished speaking, Rayleigh walked over to Shanks and took all the chips from him. He did not even spare the ones in Buggy's hand either.
"Perfect. Saves me my booze money."
Holding Shanks' and Buggy's chips, Rayleigh was secretly delighted.
"Forget it," Bai Chuan said with a helpless shake of his head. "We've already wasted this much time. A bit more won't kill us."
He followed behind Rayleigh, because he also wanted to see how this stuff was played.
But honestly, Bai Chuan could not tell whether Rayleigh's gambling skill was terrible or his luck was just awful. Bai Chuan had not even fully figured out the rules yet, and the chips in front of Rayleigh were already gone.
At the very least, it had to be around 1,000,0001,000,000 Beli.
Could this be the Pirate King world's ultimate fat sheep?
"Alright," Rayleigh said, interest gone the moment his chips ran out. "What is it? Say it."
"Vice-captain, we just learned that for the Log Pose to record the next island's magnetism, it'll take three years," Bai Chuan said.
"Oh." Rayleigh strolled to the bar counter, ordered a drink, and took a big gulp with an unconcerned expression.
"Vice-captain, aren't you worried?" Bai Chuan asked, staring at him.
"What's the point of worrying?" Rayleigh said. "If we have to wait, then we wait. Besides, we went to sea for freedom. We go wherever we want. We're not obsessed with one place. And in the end, there's always a way."
"So you mean we just wait here doing nothing?"
"That's not what I mean," Rayleigh said. "Do whatever you want. Just don't disappear when it's time to leave."
"But if the Log Pose isn't full, how do we leave?" Bai Chuan pressed.
"Who knows? Let's see what the captain comes up with," Rayleigh said carelessly.
Bai Chuan felt it was better to just get to the point.
"Vice-captain, we know where there's an Eternal Pose to the next island."
"Oh?" Rayleigh's expression finally shifted a little, a faint surprise in his eyes. "You actually know?"
"Yeah. There's one in the Moer Kingdom's warehouse," Bai Chuan said.
Rayleigh's gaze moved to Kather·Lynn. Kather·Lynn gave a small nod, admitting it.
"Makes sense," Rayleigh said. "A royal family having something like that is normal."
"But the thing we want comes with conditions, right?" Rayleigh added, thinking for only a moment before he hit the core of it.
"I need you to escort me back to my country," Kather·Lynn said. "The payment is the Eternal Pose."
"Sounds pretty good," Rayleigh replied.
"Then you agree?" Kather·Lynn's face lit up with surprise.
"No." Rayleigh shook his head. "I'm not going."
"You said you're not going, but you didn't say they can't go, right?" Kather·Lynn said quickly.
"Mhm. If they're willing to take your job, I can't stop them," Rayleigh said.
"That's great!" Kather·Lynn turned around and looked at Bai Chuan pitifully, like a kitten that had been abandoned. "Bai Chuan, you'll escort me back, right?"
Bai Chuan fell silent for a moment.
He and Kather·Lynn were not family and not friends. Saving her twice already could be considered doing more than enough. But if he turned around and acted like nothing mattered, he could not do it either.
He was soft-hearted now.
If he left Kather·Lynn here and she got caught because of it, he would probably remember it for the rest of his life. It might even become a knot in his heart.
"You can go," Rayleigh said, seeing Bai Chuan's hesitation.
"How so?" Bai Chuan's eyes brightened.
"If I'm not wrong, getting her back to her country means passing through a battlefield," Rayleigh said. "And for you, a battlefield is the best training ground."
"A battlefield? I'm not going," Buggy said instantly, shrinking back the moment he heard the word.
"Shut up. Nobody asked you," Kather·Lynn snapped, immediately trying to silence him. She did not want Buggy's words affecting Bai Chuan's decision.
"Alright," Bai Chuan said. "I think we can go."
"Me too," Shanks agreed. He also wanted to temper himself and become stronger.
"Then how long can we stay on this island?" Bai Chuan asked Rayleigh.
"Who knows?" Rayleigh said. "This island is big. We'll probably stay around half a year. You might even run into other people from the crew while you're on the road."
"Why?"
"Because there are battle junkies on the ship," Rayleigh said. "And the others can't stay in one city forever either. With this many cities, they've got to visit a few. Otherwise, wouldn't this island trip be wasted?"
"That's true," Shanks said, following Rayleigh's logic. "Whenever we run into a large island, we stay for a long time. Almost everyone ends up exploring more than half the island before we set sail again."
"If that's the case, then we don't need to rush," Bai Chuan said.
Thinking about it, it made sense. Roger had been at sea for years, yet the Straw Hats reached the border between the Grand Line and the New World at Sabaody Archipelago in less than a year.
That alone showed the Roger Pirates' sailing pace was much slower than most other pirate crews.
/-\
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