312. Counter-kill

"Their greatest weakness is their self-proclaimed sense of justice!"

Seeing Fujitora standing there, seemingly bewildered, projected onto the Den Den Mushi, Gild Tesoro couldn't help but burst into laughter. "Just a bunch of Celestial Dragons' lackeys..."

As he spoke, a flash of disgust crossed his eyes. "Without money, you have nothing. Freedom is nothing but a meaningless delusion. If they had the ability to liberate freedom, none of these things would have happened!!"

"Lord Gild Tesoro..."

Tanaka stood cautiously beside Gild Tesoro; he hadn't seen Lord Gild Tesoro so out of control in a long time.

Gild Tesoro's expression calmed as he walked to the golden elevator. "Let's go down and wait for our prey to take the bait."

Golden King Hotel, casino area.

Two men in black leaned against a large pillar, back to back. One of them, with a long-barreled Fire Pistol strapped to his back, whispered, "Doug, has that Tiger Shark Tyler been dealt with?"

Doug adjusted his hat. "He got away. This guy is Devil Fruit User. I'm afraid if we make too much noise, the Surveillance Den Den Mushi Gran Tesoro will find out. Gild Tesoro won't let us run wild on this ship."

"Really? What a pity, missing out on a 90 million bounty..."

"What about you, Roland?"

"He's dead. I've hidden Heraclitus's body; I'm afraid that guy won't even know how he died."

"Kindness."

The two communicated quickly and seamlessly, reporting their encounters and how they handled them in the blink of an eye.

With a broad view, Roland looked at Fujitora in the distance. "That... that should be Marine Admiral Fujitora. Shall we go and get to know him?"

"Roland, you should know my personality. I don't like dealing with the Navy. I just want my bounty to be paid."

"But my intuition tells me that a good show is about to begin."

"Instead of wasting time, let's think about how to take down Buggy the Star Clown. Even if he's Shichibukai, as long as his bounty hasn't been withdrawn, it means we're qualified to take his life and collect the bounty."

"Well, Fujitora- sama, if you can come up with ten million Beli, I'll release these two little brats immediately, and I'll also give you the indenture contract~"

Baccarat smiled as she looked at Fujitora was standing there dumbfounded.

"Our contract didn't say anything about repaying ten million Beli, you liar!" the little boy shouted through gritted teeth, kicking wildly as he tried to break free from the two bodyguards beside him.

Baccarat bent down slightly, a chilling smile spreading across her face, and said in a sinister tone, "Wait a minute, little brother, there weren't originally ten million, but the contract clearly states that in addition to the principal, daily interest must also be calculated, so ten million Beli isn't surprising!"

The little boy shuddered, "Demons, you bunch of demons!"

Snap!

A crisp slap rang out, and the little boy's right cheek immediately became red and swollen. Baccarat withdrew her hand, looking coldly at the little boy. "Children shouldn't be so rude. They should obediently say 'I understand.'"

"Stop..." Fujitora's face was grim. "Put that ten million Beli on my tab. Once I get my salary, I'll pay it off for them immediately."

Baccarat's face instantly switched to a polite smile. "Then please, Fujitora, come back to redeem them after you have received 'sufficient' wages. Cash on delivery, that's the rule of business!" She emphasized the word "sufficient".

After saying that, he looked at the two children with a cold expression, "Take these two brats away and lock them up. Don't let them eat for three days!"

"Yes, sir." The bodyguard obeyed.

Just as Fujitora was about to say something, a rather magnetic voice rang out, "Baccarat, Mr. Fujitora is Marine Admiral, you are being extremely rude!"

Suddenly, a projection appeared in the middle of the hall, showing Gild Tesoro sitting on a sofa in one of the rooms, holding a glass of red wine, with his bodyguard Mr. Tanaka standing next to him.

Although Fujitora was blind, he could easily identify the source of the sound. He turned to face the projection and said calmly, "I have heard of the name of the Gild Tesoro. Could you please give me the honor of releasing these two children? I would be eternally grateful!"

"Haha." Gild Tesoro laughed loudly, then slowly stopped, looking at Fujitora with amusement. "It's not that I'm disrespecting Mr. Fujitora, but rules are rules. Once a precedent is set, endless trouble will come knocking in the future. Please forgive me, Mr. Fujitora..."

Fujitora's expression darkened slightly, but Gild Tesoro changed the subject, "However, it's not entirely without a chance. The rules of a casino are, of course, 'gambling.' I can lend you five million Beli in chips. If Mr. Fujitora is confident that he can win ten million Beli in addition to the initial investment, then redeeming those two brats will become a piece of cake. What do you think of this suggestion?"

Fujitora was a compulsive gambler, sometimes even risking his life. Naturally, he readily agreed to Gild Tesoro's suggestion, "A bet? Perfect! I'll take it!"

"As expected of Marine Admiral, you certainly have guts!" Gild Tesoro gestured, "Baccarat!"

Baccarat took out a box containing chips, removed her right glove, and handed over a piece of paper. "Mr. Fujitora, please write an IOU."

The moment Fujitora took the note, Baccarat "accidentally" touched it, but he didn't mind. He had a marine next to him check the words on the IOU, and after confirming that it was correct, he signed his name on it.

"We'll take care of these two little ones for now, and we'll wait for Lord Fujitora to unleash his divine power and redeem them!"

Baccarat put her gloves back on, covered her mouth, and chuckled softly.

"Human nature is treacherous..."

Buggy, who had won a considerable amount of Beli, returned to the lobby from the underground boxing ring. He was about to take the elevator to the hotel upstairs to rest for the night when he saw the scene before him.

Although he didn't know Gild Tesoro's plans, Buggy found it quite interesting that he seemed to be going to take action against Fujitora, so he stopped to watch.

Carina walked ahead of Buggy, but when she realized he wasn't following, she turned back and returned to Buggy side. Following his gaze, she looked at Fujitora and Baccarat, who were placing bets at the gambling table. Her eyes darted around as if she were thinking about something.

Fujitora stood in front of the gambling table. After losing five rounds in a row, he finally realized something was wrong. By then, he had already lost one-fifth of his chips.

Under Smoker's instructions, the Marines marked the pirates hiding on the Gran Tesoro. Once the mission was complete, they would return to rendezvous with Fujitora.

Smoker frowned slightly, somewhat displeased. He had thought Fujitora was done gambling, but it turned out he was still gambling. As Marine Admiral, this kind of character was truly worrying.

The marine who had been accompanying Fujitora quickly explained, which made Smoker understand the situation. "Oh, I see..."

He glanced at the two children whose wrists were tightly bound, then gave Baccarat a cold look. The latter SMILE with narrowed eyes, her attitude and thoughts unreadable.

"Something's not right..." Fujitora stood still, seemingly realizing something.

"What's wrong? Are you going to place a bet or not? So many of us are waiting for you, hey!"

The dealer quickly shouted to Fujitora.

Fujitora turned around, his right foot caught on a pebble that had somehow sprained its ankle, causing him to fall to the ground. He reached down and touched his ankle, finding a bruise...

This sudden turn of events left Smoker and the other marines stunned. Admiral Fujitora... had twisted his ankle!!

"How is this possible!"

"You tampered with it?!" Smoker, quick-witted, instantly turned a sharp, questioning gaze to Baccarat beside him.

"We are a nation recognized by the World Government, how could we possibly tamper with your navy!" Baccarat covered her mouth and laughed, trying to hide her utter shock. To be able to realize this so quickly, neither the White Hunter nor Admiral Fujitora in front of her could be compared to those fools from before!

"Madam, you must have bumped into me just now."

Fujitora stood up from the ground, slightly opening the whites of his eyes. "Although my eyes are blind, my heart is not. On the contrary, I see more clearly than anyone else. If I'm not mistaken, you must be Devil Fruit User."

Baccarat involuntarily took a step back, a bead of cold sweat dripping down her tense face. Her voice trembled slightly as she tried to remain calm, "Lord Fujitora must have misunderstood. I'm just a lowly receptionist, not some Devil Fruit User at all."

"Why don't you give it a try and see!"

Smoker's right arm transformed into white smoke and suddenly swung towards Baccarat!

Bite--

A low sound rang out, and a golden ring was thrown from the ceiling. As it fell, it expanded and suddenly formed a golden wall, separating Smoker's White Blow from Baccarat.

"What do you want to do!"

Gild Tesoro, with Mr. Tanaka on his back, slowly descended from the ceiling, his face grim as he glared at Smoker and shouted, "Does the Navy think they can do whatever they want? This is my territory!!"

"Gilder Gild Tesoro ..."

Smoker recognized Gild Tesoro, withdrew his fist which had turned into white smoke, and frowned at him. "This should be asked of your subordinate... or did you authorize this?"

"What nonsense are you spouting!" Gild Tesoro's face was extremely displeased. "I've been doing my best to be a good host and treat you kindly, but you're the ones with ulterior motives. Do you even deserve to be called the Navy?!"

That being said, he finally realized that he had underestimated Fujitora, who had been drafted by the World Government and promoted to Marine Admiral through exceptional means.

The ability to sense something was wrong in such a short time and immediately discover that Baccarat was Devil Fruit User —this terrifying insight is simply unprecedented!

Moreover, even this White Hunter Smoker is quite skilled; he's Logia Devil Fruit User's very difficult to deal with!

Gild Tesoro's initial idea was to use Baccarat's Luck-Luck Fruit ability to absorb Fujitora's luck and make him lose all his chips in gambling. If the other party was unwilling to accept it and continued to gamble in the form of debt, that would be ideal. If he only lost five million and stopped, it would be fine. Even Marine Admiral would find it absolutely impossible to pay off this debt all at once.

Gild Tesoro wasn't trying to control Fujitora with money, but rather to use it as leverage. As Marine Admiral, his gambling addiction and massive debts were a huge scandal that could cause an unprecedented uproar!

Once spread by those with ulterior motives, it will damage not only the navy's reputation but also the credibility of the World Government!

After the defeat at Marineford War, the World Government and the Navy have become less reliable in the eyes of people around the world. The fact that a newly recruited Marine Admiral has engaged in such behavior has extremely terrifying consequences and impacts.

Gild Tesoro didn't think Fujitora would dare to accept such an outcome. He had seen many navy officers who worked diligently for their careers. As Marine Admiral had risen to the rank of admiral in one fell swoop, he would probably cherish his hard-won position more than ordinary people and would not give it up easily.

He had assumed everything would go according to plan, but when he faced the blind man in person, he realized that the man was not so simple. His intuition told him that this man was cunning and difficult to deal with.

"Using Devil Fruit powers to set traps for Marine Admiral —even the ruler of a nation would find the consequences unbearable..."

Fujitora, abandoning his usual calm, became unexpectedly aggressive. "Shouldn't you give me an explanation for this matter?!"

Smoker glanced at Fujitora, understanding his meaning. "Gild Tesoro, if you can't explain it, then please come with us to Marine Headquarters. This ship, in principle, should be confiscated by the World Government. The Celestial Dragons... would probably like it very much."

Gild Tesoro, who had originally intended to use the Celestial Dragons as a shield, was speechless, a hint of anger flashing across his face. If the person threatening him wasn't a Marine, or was just an ordinary Marine, he would have torn that foul mouth to shreds and easily settled the matter. However, the person standing before him was the World Government's "top combat force."

"It's just a joke, we're practically family with the Navy, haha!"

Gild Tesoro forced a smile, now only wanting to get rid of these marines as quickly as possible to avoid causing unnecessary trouble.

"Tanaka, bring me the contracts for those two brats!"

Mr. Tanaka passed through the ceiling and returned to the hall in just a few seconds, holding two copies of the contract agreement in his hand.

"This is the contract agreement." Gild Tesoro took the two pieces of paper and the IOU signed by Fujitora, tore them into pieces, and said, "It was just a joke. Alright, these two brats are free now!"

"It was just a joke... It seems I misunderstood."

Fujitora remained calm, knowing that even a rabbit will bite when cornered. Having achieved his goal, he didn't pursue the matter further. "Then I'll take my leave."

He turned and instructed the marines to take the two children and leave.

Watching Fujitora's retreating figure, Gild Tesoro's expression was a mixture of emotions. He struggled to control himself. Although he considered himself the god of the Gran Tesoro, he had no choice but to submit to the behemoth that was the Navy. The more he did so, the more uncontrollable his anger and resentment became. This feeling involuntarily reminded him of the scene twenty years ago when his beloved was taken away by Celestial Dragons —powerless, completely at their mercy...

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and squeezed out a few words, "Remember this, Fujitora, the White Hunter!"