Completely unaware that Old Kik had just slapped him with the "ungrateful bastard" label,
Aus sat there looking dead serious, legs crossed and leaning back in his chair, watching the action on the table with laser focus and a grim expression:
"Hey... are you two some kind of card-counting pros?"
Staring at his absolutely unplayable garbage hand, Aus was starting to regret teaching them Fight the Landlord.
After sailing away from Ohara's waters, Aus got bored and broke out the entertainment gear Sami had packed—including a deck of cards.
He'd enthusiastically called over Mihawk and little Robin for a three-way game around the table.
Aus gave them the quick rundown on Fight the Landlord rules.
Smart cookies like Mihawk and little Robin picked it up instantly.
Then...
Then Aus started getting his ass kicked.
A bead of cold sweat rolled down his forehead as he watched Mihawk finish his hand again, disbelief written all over his face.
"Again!"
This new round was way more intense. By the end, Aus had two cards left while Mihawk and little Robin each clutched their final card.
If just... if just one of my cards can beat both of theirs, I win!
After losing hand after hand, Aus nervously swallowed and decided to cheat his ass off.
Moments later—
"Little hawk! You actually..."
Aus looked like someone had just told him Santa wasn't real!
Mihawk sat there perfectly straight, shooting him a sideways glance with the corner of his mouth twitching up. His eyes held that sharp look of someone who saw right through your bullshit:
"Just as I thought, Aus. You ended up cheating after all."
"Damn it!"
Little Robin stared at them both, totally lost about what this weird conversation meant.
But actually,
that seemingly innocent card game had layers of psychological warfare.
Knowing Aus way too well, Mihawk was already guarding against this move the second he got his cards.
Through all those rounds where Aus kept losing, Mihawk was preparing for him to cheat with Observation Haki.
Sure enough, in that final round, seeing Aus's expression shift, he knew this bastard was definitely going to cheat.
So he decided to stall for at least a minute after Aus played, refusing to play his own card.
As expected, what this guy saw in his future vision was Mihawk just sitting there holding his card—not playing it, not saying he couldn't beat it.
No way to tell if the card in his hand was high or low.
Really...
You can use Future Sight, huh?
I'll predict your Future Sight predictions.
Aus was getting heated:
"Fuck this game!"
"This is boring as hell!"
Aus threw his cards down and the whole table went clean—every card vanished into thin air.
Mihawk wasn't surprised seeing him throw a tantrum. Just shook his head, grabbed his sword, and went to the ship's edge to practice sword work facing the ocean.
Little Robin smiled.
Aus-sama was pretty entertaining too.
Hands behind his head, feeling bummed out, Aus's Observation Haki picked up some "prey" in his range.
That's when he cracked one eye open.
Snapped his fingers.
A News Coo materialized in his grip.
The confused little seagull was very fucking confused:
What the hell?!
Wasn't I just flying through the sky?
How did I end up here?!
After a brief moment of shock, the News Coo looked at the man holding it. After careful recognition, it immediately freaked the fuck out!
At maximum seagull speed, it yanked a newspaper from its bag.
Then quickly stretched both wings forward, respectfully offering the paper.
"Uh..."
This threw Aus for a loop.
Were News Coos this polite these days?
Even doing the full surrender bow.
Made him feel kinda bad about robbing it. His earlier depression mostly evaporated.
Sigh... might as well pay this time. They fly around all day selling papers—it's honest work.
But before Aus could teleport some cash from his Belly storage, the seagull held up a wing in a "stop" gesture.
Then pulled out some money from its tiny wallet.
Waved the cash in front of the stunned Aus and Robin, making damn sure they both saw it.
Then very seriously put the money back in its wallet.
Then gestured with its wings, basically saying:
"Boss, let's pretend you already paid. Please don't murder this seagull."
Aus: "..."
His eye twitched as he watched this professional seagull desperate to deliver its next batch of newspapers. Finally let it go.
Did Morgans train every single seagull?
Any random one he grabbed knew exactly who he was.
Pretty smart move. Last time's warning clearly got through.
Next time he'd spare their bird lives.
Shaking his head,
Aus sighed that as his status climbed, the world kept getting less fun. He'd have to work harder to find his own entertainment.
"Little Robin, read me the newspaper. Make it dramatic—really bring it to life."
"Yes, Aus-sama."
Aus lounged back with his eyes closed. In his past life he'd loved audiobooks and novels, especially human narration.
Little Robin took the newspaper and started reading carefully to Aus.
"Several days ago...
...Four billion four hundred ninety million Belly,
Dead or alive! Heinously evil!"
Aus: "..."
He slowly turned to look at Robin reading with such passionate hatred:
"Why are you spitting out 'heinously evil' like it personally insulted your mother?"
"Huh?"
Little Robin looked confused. Didn't Aus-sama want her to read with feeling and emotion?
She saw those eight characters [Heinously Evil, Dead or Alive] were in red, bold, with exclamation marks.
"Forget it... pretend I said nothing. Keep going."
Aus shook his head and kept listening.
"Great pirate Golden Lion breaks out of prison, successfully escaping from Impel Down..."
That guy finally busted out?
Only then did Aus remember he used to have a comrade.
Though he wondered why the bastard waited until 1500 to make his move.
If he got the chance, he could go shoot the shit with that old geezer.
With Aus's ability boosting their speed, the ship sailed fast and soon hit the edge of West Blue.
There was a town here that looked pretty decent—actually quite prosperous.
Aus and Mihawk got off the ship, followed by a tiny kid who barely reached Aus's knee.
"Well... let's grab some snacks. Eating proper meals all the time gets old." Aus said, hands in his pockets, looking up at the sky thoughtfully.
"Don't like it, don't eat it." Mihawk wasn't having any of his whining, speaking coldly as he headed toward the meat and vegetable stalls.
"Hey? Can't I complain about food?"
Aus felt helpless and quickly teleported to catch up. Then like he'd just remembered something, snapped his fingers to create a bag of Belly.
Tossed it to Robin.
Little Robin lit up, thinking she could finally be useful, her small face flushing with excitement: "Is there something you need me to buy, Aus-sama?"
"No... nothing."
Aus raised an eyebrow, his gentle smile curving upward, but his words hit Robin like a bucket of ice water.
"That's your severance pay. In this town,
you're getting off the ship."
🔥 Want to read the next 50 chapters RIGHT NOW?
💎 Patreon members get instant access!
⚡ Limited-time offer currently running...
👉 [Join on - patreon.com/DarkGolds]