Walking the Path of Heaven, Ruling Over All
Night fell quickly on Akane Beach amidst the cheerful laughter of the crowd.
Back at the opulent resort hotel, everyone changed out of their swimsuits and gathered in the luxurious restaurant to enjoy a free feast.
After a hearty meal and drinks, the energetic Natsu couldn't sit still any longer.
He put his arm around Jiang Bai's shoulder and enthusiastically suggested, "Jiang Bai, I heard there's a huge casino downstairs in this hotel, let's go check it out!"
Jiang Bai yawned, sinking into the soft sofa, and lazily waved his hand. "No way! A beautiful night should be spent in bed. Gambling is too taxing on the brain."
Upon hearing the word "casino," Lucy's eyes lit up instantly, gleaming with a light comparable to gold.
Casino!
Isn't that a great place to make money?
Most importantly, Jiang Bai has Mental Detection abilities!
That ability, which is practically a bug, is used to sense the outcome of a betting game; it's an invincible cheating tool!
Lucy's mind was racing with calculations. She wasn't greedy; as long as she could earn enough for her rent for the next three months, she would stop immediately and not be greedy at all!
Jiang Bai's lazy demeanor clearly indicated that he didn't want to move.
Lucy's eyes lit up, and she immediately thought of the only way to move this great Buddha.
She immediately put on a pitiful expression, moved closer to Erza, and gently tugged at her sleeve. "Erza, come with me. It's so lonely for a girl like me to go to a place like that."
Erza glanced at the time and realized it was indeed too early to go back to her room to sleep, so she readily nodded. "Okay! Sure!"
Jiang Bai watched Erza stand up and sighed helplessly.
There was no other way; my wife wanted to go, and as her husband, I couldn't just let her go alone.
Of course, the most important thing is that Erza is gone, and there's no point in being alone in the room.
He could only slowly get up from the sofa and follow the group towards the casino in the hotel's basement.
Upon entering the casino, the bustling and lively atmosphere immediately envelops you.
Natsu had long since disappeared. Jiang Bai glanced over and saw that cherry-colored head slumped over a roulette table.
He was puffing out his cheeks and blowing hard at the small ball rolling on the disc, muttering something under his breath.
"Go to number seventeen! Hurry up and get to number seventeen!"
A waiter in a vest stood beside him, looking exasperated, and politely but helplessly advised, "Sir, please don't do this..."
The ball eventually came to a slow, deliberate stop on another number, under everyone's watchful eyes.
"Damn it! So close!"
Natsu slammed his fist on the table in frustration.
"I clearly saw that ball was about to roll to number seventeen!"
"Ai!"
Happy nodded vigorously beside him.
The waiter wore a fake, professional smile that said, "I can't help it if you say that."
Just then, Natsu saw Jiang Bai walk in, his eyes lit up, and he rushed over as if he had found a savior.
He clung to Jiang Bai's leg, tears streaming down his face, "Jiang Bai! Please use your magic to help me! I just... gambled away all the money Happy had for buying fish!"
"What?!"
Happy, who was perched on Natsu's head Happy, instantly bristled, frantically flapping his little wings, tears welling in his eyes.
"Natsu! How could you do this! Jiang Bai, our fish!"
"Okay, okay,"
Jiang Bai was driven crazy by the noise from the person and the cat, and had no choice but to reluctantly agree.
"I'll only help you this once, and this won't happen again."
"Honestly, he goes to Jiang Bai every time he loses. He's like a child who hasn't grown up yet," Gray muttered from the side.
No sooner had he finished speaking than a faint voice sounded beside him.
"Lord Gray ~"
Juvia appeared beside him at some point, gazing at him with infatuated eyes.
"Ah! It's you!"
Gray recognized the strange girl from the Phantom Lord Guild and instinctively took a half-step back.
Jiang Bai kept his promise and, along with Natsu and Lucy, who were both excited, randomly found a gambling table.
He didn't even look at it; he just pointed to a number randomly.
To everyone's astonishment, the ball landed precisely on that number.
The chips he won instantly piled up into a small mountain.
Lucy and Natsu's eyes turned into money symbols.
However, before they could be happy for long, Jiang Bai really did what he said he would do Take Over quit, no matter how much the two of them pleaded and begged.
Erza found a corner to play cards by herself; she didn't want to cheat using Jiang Bai's magic, as there would be no fun in winning that way.
Just as Natsu and Lucy were entangled with Jiang Bai, trying to win by just a little more.
A magnetic male voice, with a slightly quirky accent, rang out behind them.
"Boy! As a gentleman, you should have manners, do you understand?"
Natsu turned around and saw a man in an extravagant suit and sunglasses standing there. His entire body, from his face to his body, was full of sharp, angular lines.
"Square... square?"
Natsu blurted out a sarcastic remark almost instinctively.
Wally, known as "the Square Guy," wasn't angry. Instead, he struck what he thought was a very cool pose.
"BOY! I have something to tell you."
"A man only has two paths to take: either become a mature man and live gracefully, or..."
Before he could finish speaking, Wally's figure suddenly flashed, and he instantly rushed to Natsu's side.
He gripped Natsu's shoulder tightly with one hand, while with the other he pulled out a dark, menacing pistol and shoved it into Natsu's mouth with lightning speed.
Stop and die. Understand?
This sudden turn of events caused an uproar throughout the casino.
"It's a gun! Run!"
The surrounding gamblers screamed in terror and scattered in all directions.
"What are you going to do to Natsu?!" Happy yelled anxiously.
Jiang Bai remained calmly standing in place, even taking a sip of the juice the waiter brought him.
Are you kidding me? With Natsu's inhuman physique, how could he possibly be killed by such an ordinary firearm?
He instantly understood that this was the beginning of the Tower of Heaven storyline.
However, Jiang Bai wasn't worried at all.
Unlike the original story, Erza in this world never had the experience of being a slave in the Tower of Heaven, and therefore had no sympathy or guilt towards those people.
He couldn't imagine what reason Erza would have to surrender and be taken away by the other party, just like in the original story.
While Jiang Bai was pondering, Wally had already finished his performance.
"Bang!"
A gunshot rang out, Natsu fell to the ground, motionless.
"Natsu!!" Lucy screamed in terror.
"In your next life, be an elegant man, boy!"
Wally blew the smoke from the muzzle of his gun and struck what he thought was a cool pose.
"This is the first time someone has dared to put on airs in front of me," Jiang Bai's voice rang out leisurely.
His adolescent delusions have resurfaced.
Jiang Bai slowly walked forward, gazing up at the ceiling at a 45-degree angle, and said slowly, "The old man once said that I am the man who walks the path of heaven and is in charge of everything."
After saying that, he couldn't help but silently complain to himself: Damn it! Why didn't I just change my name when I was a kid? Wouldn't it have been better to be called Souji Tendou? That would have been so cool!
After finishing his rant, Jiang Bai said to the "corpse" on the ground, "Alright, Natsu, how much longer are you going to lie there? Is the floor comfortable?"
"What?"
Wally's smug expression froze instantly.
He has already...
Before he could finish speaking, Natsu sprang to his feet with a somersault, rubbing his cheek and slurring, "Damn you, Square Man! That hurt!"
"Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed in surprise.
Seeing that Natsu was fine, Lucy's unruly soul started to burn again. "Speaking of which, did the president really say that kind of thing?"
"Are you even human...?"
Wally stared wide-eyed at Natsu, who was completely unharmed.
"Who has time to listen to your nonsense! Watch this, Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
It has to be said that Wally is no match for Natsu when he gets serious.
The fist, burning with flames, slammed solidly into Wally's face, knocking him unconscious with his eyes rolling back. Of course, Natsu held back, only rendering him unable to fight.