Their encounter was brief.
Issho was still traveling, and he didn't stay long aboard the Navy warship. He declined Aleus's invitation and didn't speak with the Navy Hero, Garp, for very long. Instead, the old gambler invited Aleus to play cards with him aboard the merchant ship.
Aleus readily agreed.
As a result, he spent the whole night gambling aboard the merchant ship and lost more than twenty million Berry.
Issho was blind, but his gambling skills were frighteningly good.
This wasn't some unusual application of Observation Haki. Neither of them used any extraordinary abilities at the table; both kept their Observation Haki and Neural Scan actively suppressed. Aleus's crushing defeat was purely a matter of skill. Compared with Issho, an old gambler who had spent his whole life at the card table, Aleus's skills were still wet behind the ears!
Early the next morning.
The game was over.
In the end, Aleus hadn't managed to turn things around. He'd lost completely.
"Mr. Issho, it's time for us to part ways."
Aleus emerged from the cabin and waved goodbye to Issho, who had followed him out to see him off.
"...Prince Aleus, safe travels."
"Mr. Issho, I hope things go your way, too."
The black wings on Aleus's back spread wide. He flapped them and flew away from the merchant ship, returning to the warship anchored nearby.
Issho stood in the cabin doorway, leaning on his cane. He 'watched' the brightly colored figure gradually disappear into the distance, then sighed softly after a long while.
What a complicated and peculiar young man.
Cold, warm, cruel, kind, reckless, rational... Issho 'saw' too many shifting colors in this young prince. It was as if someone had poured far too many colors into a dye vat, leaving behind a muddy shade that defied