'Ah, there she is~!' Gild Tesoro thought, his eyes pausing on Cherry. 'My beautiful golden goose~'
Harpin D. Cherry was a woman who represented unprecedented value for him. Although he hadn't watched the battle of Marineford himself, he had heard about what Cherry had apparently done for Whitebeard; making him fight like a young man again and even visibly recover from the wound he gained during the battle.
Who knows what other miracles she could accomplish? No matter what they were, they would bring him immense influence and wealth when he monopolized her. It didn't hurt that she was apparently the daughter of Dracule Mihawk, the strongest swordsman in the world, either! That was quite the connection in its own right.
Romance? Of course, not. His heart is long frozen solid. The only thing it can love now is cold hard cash, and Cherry was worth a million times her weight in gold!
First things come first, though. He could tell already from the way she was frowning at him that she was a difficult woman, so he would need to corner her with both the carrot and the stick.
"You're the Casino King guy?!" Luffy asked belligerently. "I'M gonna be King of the Pirates!"
"The future king of the pirates, hm? What an honor…" Gild Tesoro moved his gaze to Luffy. "In that case, why don't we make a little wager?"
"Hm?" Luffy tilted his head in confusion. Wasn't he already doing that?
Gild Tesoro walked down the stairs and plopped himself down onto one of the sitting mats. "If you win the next dice throw, I'll give you ten times the amount that you bet."
"T-ten times?!" Nami started to drool.
"What's the catch?" Jinbe piped up reasonably, as one of the only responsible adults on the crew.
"Nothing much. You'd lose your own wager of course, and…" Tesoro looked thoughtful for a moment. "How's about Miss Harpin joining me for dinner as well?"
"I refuse!" Luffy declared instantly, causing Tesoro to almost fall flat from surprise.
"Why not?" Tesoro asked, the smile on his face noticeably less pronounced.
"Yeah, why not?!" Nami demanded an explanation. That was 6 BILLION Beri he was throwing away!
"I won't gamble away one of my friends! Not even for just one meal!" Luffy explained seriously.
Cherry was genuinely touched. It was just a meal after all, and it wasn't like she'd be at any more risk than she was already being in the same room as the guy who could manipulate all the gold in the room at a whim. Yet he stubbornly refused to do so anyways.
Cherry patted Luffy's shoulder. "I appreciate that Luffy, but you should ask me first."
She looked at Tesoro. "Since I'm involved, you won't mind me adding my own wager on top of his, will you?"
"Of course, of course! That only makes it that much more exciting for me! I'm so wealthy these days that I have to do at least this much for it to be any fun." Tesoro said, happy that things were going his way. "Would you like to borrow some more chips?"
"How about a billion?" Cherry said with a casual smile.
"What?! You can't gamble that much on one roll of the dice!" Nami 'whispered' loud enough for the whole room to hear her.
"Sure, why not!" Tesoro was ecstatic. This was perfect!
"Alright! Let's do it!" Luffy was still a bit hesitant, but since Cherry gave the okay then it was fine, he reckoned.
"We just have to believe in Luffy's luck!" Nami clenched her fists in anticipation.
More chips were brought out and piled atop the 600 million Beri pile in front of Luffy. Cherry took a seat on the mat next to Luffy on the side away from Tesoro. She wasn't entirely sure what his aim was yet, but she wasn't going to risk him getting handsy. She might just kill him on the spot if he did that, and that would be going too easy on the man.
"All in on Odd!" Luffy declared confidently. Cherry wondered if Dice would moan again now that he was in front of his boss.
"Would you like a drink, Straw Hat-san?" Baccarat approached Luffy with a glass of champagne.
"Hm? No thanks-" Luffy refused just as Baccarat tripped and landed right on top of him.
"You lucky bastard!" Sanji seethed at the sight of Baccarat's chest pressed up against Luffy's.
The very next instant, Dice's head crashed into the iron cup and shattered it.
"MMMmmmMmmMmM~~~~~~!!!" Dice did indeed moan again.
"Six! Even!" the announcer declared.
"Bad luck…" Tesoro smiled ear to ear.
"Huh? I lost?" Luffy wondered aloud.
Baccarat clambered off of Luffy, feeling just a tad depressed after Luffy showed basically no reaction to having her lying on top of him. 'I knew it. I turned thirty just last month and I'm already losing my touch…'
"Luffy lost? That's impossible!" Nami was in disbelief.
"Impossible? The odds are 50:500 though…?" Jinbe once again being the voice of reason.
"You sneaky bitch…" Cherry said. It superficially seemed that she was upset that Baccarat was making moves on her captain, until she spoke again. "You used a devil fruit on him."
Everyone's head swiveled to look at Baccarat in confusion and curiosity.
"Oh my! That's a wild accusation to make out of nowhere, don't you think?" Baccarat remained calm.
Cherry didn't even need her Life Sense to make that conclusion. She had felt Luffy's luck flood out of him and into the woman, luck being a part of one's fate and all. There was something that Baccarat didn't understand though, and that was that a child of destiny's luck shouldn't be tampered with. Not unless you wanted to guarantee your own downfall.
Cherry could already feel the threads of fate shifting around, undoubtedly to make Baccarat life a miserable existence until the day she died. If she was lucky, that day would come sooner rather than later. Living a long life with destiny conspiring against you was a sure way to find out just how much suffering one person can experience.
A cultivator could defend themselves from a backlash like this and move on with their lives after some moderate consequences, but a Mortal woman? Cherry almost pitied her.
Almost.
"You cheated!" Luffy pointed a finger at Baccarat.
"Hey now, do you have any proof?" Tesoro asked with an infuriating smile that was practically a confession in its own right.
"Cherry said so!" Luffy declared, as if that settled the matter. Such was his absolute faith in his crew.
"Hearsay from a pirate wouldn't get a conviction in a court of law, and it means even less on MY ship." Tesoro spoke smoothly. "Now then, how much do they owe, Baccarat?"
"1.32 billion Beri, Tesoro-sama~!" Baccarat chimed right on cue. "And one dinner date~!"
The monetary debt was a huge blow to the Straw Hats on its own, but the "dinner date" felt much heavier. Could they leave one of their own to the mercy of these unscrupulous schemers, all by herself? No, they couldn't. It wasn't a lack of faith in Cherry's capability, but rather the principle of the matter.
Weapons were drawn immediately, much to Gild Tesoro and his people's seeming amusement. Luffy stood up quickly and-
"Ack?! My back?!" Luffy clenched his lower back with both hands in much the same way you'd expect an old man with chronic back pain to do so.
Instinctively, he tried to shuffle over to Chopper and… slipped on a banana peel in the most cliche manner possible, sending himself bouncing across the room and smashing into a wall.
"""Luffy?!""" they were shocked at this apparent clumsiness.
"That's another 5 million Beri for wall repairs." Tanaka rose out of the floor and spoke.
"I don't recommend violence. You won't win; not on my ship." Tesoro spoke. "It's best to just pay up… if you can, that is. If not, we'll have to put you to work."