"Master, I'll go get you some food and water!"
Chris was determined to enter the Death Cube. Unable to dissuade him, Lafitte went to pack a bag for him, tears in his eyes.
But Chris smiled and waved a hand. "No need. Don't forget, I designed every game here. This old man is the master of God King Island."
Chris's back had always been hunched, but now confidence filled his face and he stood straight as a god ruling over heaven and earth. Haki radiated from his every movement.
Chris took nothing with him. Just before leaving, he stopped and said, "Remember, even if I don't make it out, don't hold a grudge. Understand? If someone really wins the grand prize, congratulate him for me."
"Master, you..."
Chris's words left Lafitte uneasy, but Chris offered no explanation. He waved goodbye, then opened the passage into the Death Cube.
"000."
The moment Chris entered the room, he checked the number on the iron door. Then he slowly turned himself upside down and hopped toward the door opposite him.
Each time he hopped, a poisoned arrow shot out beneath his feet. They whistled past his ears and struck the opposite wall, their sharp heads sinking all the way into its solid bricks.
Worse still, the poison on the arrowheads spread outward. Soon, cracks like spiderwebs covered the bricks, and pieces began to flake away. The arrows were not only sharp; their poison was vicious.
No one was allowed to break the rules of the game. But Chris did.
He did not know what trap each room held. If he wanted to find out, though, he could.
The answer lay in the codes behind the iron doors. Each code represented a trap.
Chris had never been unable to learn them. He simply had