Chapter 104: Hot Spring And Banquet (part 2)
The outdoor hot spring exclusive to the former Foll Pirate Crew executives—
“Plop!”
“Ah~ Refreshing!”
Aoxi, who entered the pool first, let out a long moan, then began dog paddling in the water.
In the spacious women’s bath, at this moment, only the three of them were enjoying the warm spring water.
Meanwhile, Ember and the group of big men were all in the adjacent one.
“I didn’t expect there to be such a large hot spring in the garrison.”
Obei also comfortably leaned against a stone.
“Fenrir is originally a volcanic island, so having hot springs is normal.”
La didn’t rush into the water; instead, she first used the gold hair ornament behind her ear to tie up her long golden hair.
“According to the local archives, there are eighty-eight clearly identified hot springs on the entire island.
Among them, eighteen are suitable in temperature and size, and this one is the second largest.”
“It’s this big and still only second place? What about the largest one?”
“The largest one is at the foot of the mountain, with an area about the size of a soccer field, and it’s very close to the residence of the former captain of the Foll Pirate Crew, which is now where Captain Kaido lives.”
“Boss Kaido… yeah, with his massive build, he really does need a bigger hot spring.”
Thinking of Kaido’s height of over seven meters, even this pool, which was half the size of a sports field, would probably feel cramped.
After taking some effort to tie up her hair, La slowly immersed her body into the pool.
……
“Ouch!”
Splash~
Suddenly, a startled cry broke the tranquility here, followed by a splash from the partition directly splashing onto Obei’s face as she was enjoying with her eyes closed, causing her to furrow her brows instantly.
When she opened her eyes and looked, sure enough, she saw a red unidentified object flailing in the water.
“Hey! Aoxi, what the heck are you doing again?”
“Gurgle gurgle~ Pfft~”
Aoxi poked her little head out of the water and said awkwardly:
“I just heard them chatting excitedly over there and wanted to flip over to take a look~”
“Who would’ve thought this bamboo partition was so slippery…”
“Tsk~”
Obei was somewhat speechless at Aoxi’s antics.
You’d say she doesn’t care about her gender… this girl never dresses like other pirates in just an open vest or bare-chested; even now, her bath towel is properly wrapped above her chest.
But say she does care… this one usually goes around with “this lord” this and that, and just now she even tried to flip directly to the men’s side.
“Can’t you just settle down for a bit and properly soak in the hot spring?”
Obei turned over, directly facing away from Aoxi, as if too lazy to look at that dumb face.
“Hey~ Don’t you know, this opportunity is once in a blue moon!”
“What once in a blue moon? Watching men bathe? Haven’t you seen that before?”
“No! What are you even talking about?”
“I mean that guy Ember! He’s an ability user, right~ Now soaking in the hot spring, he’s probably like a limp shrimp.
If we go over now, we can easily pin that guy in the water and give him a good beating!
For daring to boss this lord around these past few days!”
With that, Aoxi started flailing her hands and feet again to take action.
“Aoxi, quiet, sit down.”
“……”
“Oh.”
The three didn’t speak anymore, just quietly enjoying this rare leisure time.
……
This banquet wasn’t as grand in scale as the previous one; the participants were only the pirates currently on the island and the newly joined Skipgate and others.
However, though the total number was less than four hundred, the banquet’s formality was a bit more proper than last time.
After all, this was to formally introduce the Foll Pirate Crew members to the others in the Beasts Pirates; from now on, everyone would be companions under the same flag.
……
Obei still disliked such noisy environments as always, quietly sipping juice alone in a remote corner.
In contrast, Aoxi thrived in such occasions; if not for her small body, she’d already be arm-in-arm with Brother Burufaruto singing away.
But she still didn’t dare to drink alcohol.
……
“Go for it, Brother Burufaruto, don’t lose to this little brat Aoxi!”
“That’s the spirit! Big Sister Aoxi! You can definitely overpower Brother Burufaruto!”
“Oh oh oh! Brother Burufaruto at 1.5 to 1, Big Sister Aoxi at 2 to 1~ Bets are set, no takebacks!”
“I bet five thousand Belly on Brother Burufaruto to win!”
“Six thousand from me!”
“I’m betting on Big Sister Aoxi!”
……
“Hmph! Uncle Burufaruto, give up! You can’t beat me in strength!”
Aoxi placed her right hand on the table, provocatively glancing at Burufaruto across from her; they were about to arm wrestle.
Due to the huge disparity in size, Aoxi’s little hand was completely enveloped in Burufaruto’s large palm; at first glance, the two weren’t even in the same weight class.
“Heh! Little Brat Aoxi! You’re two thousand years too early to beat me!”
The Fighting Fish-Man big man across from her responded with a contemptuous smile.
“Then you’re twenty thousand years too early!”
Regardless of the facts, in the pre-match trash talk phase, Aoxi never let anyone gain the upper hand verbally.
“Hey! Let’s do this!”
Seeing the two seated, the referee promptly gave the signal.
“Begin!”
“Hah!”*2
One big and one small, one thick and one thin, one red and one white—two hands began exerting force simultaneously.
But right from the start, Burufaruto sensed something wrong; a tremendous force was erupting from the center of his palm!
『Hm, ah?!』
『This, this isn’t right, is it?』
Seeing himself about to be pushed down without any resistance, in shock and doubt, he no longer held back and immediately unleashed full power.
Veins bulged on his thick arm, muscles several times denser than a normal human’s pumping out powerful strength continuously.
“Hah!!”
Full power!
Burufaruto unstoppable!
Fighting Fish-Man at full throttle!
Fierce! Dominant! Strong!!!
His momentum right now was fifty times more powerful than ever before!!!
Under the Fish-Man’s immense power, the balance was broken, and the scales of victory began tilting toward Aoxi…
Eh? Wait?!
Aoxi?
How could this be? Impossible!
Burufaruto watched as his arm, already starting to twitch slightly from overexertion, continued to be pressed down bit by bit uncontrollably…
No!
This won’t do!
If he got pinned down in public by a little brat not even fully grown, his career as the reliable big brother in the Beasts Pirates would end right there~
『In that case, don’t blame me for being despicable, Aoxi!』
The proud Beasts Pirates executive, the valiant Fighting Fish-Man, the battle-hardened Pirate Crew big brother—Burufaruto narrowed his eyes, a strange gleam swirling in them, as if he’d made a certain decision.
“Uh… hm?”
Aoxi, in the midst of the intense arm wrestle, suddenly felt something touching her under the table and immediately realized.
『Heh! Resorting to dirty tricks when you can’t win fairly? What a filthy adult~』
No intention of tolerating it!
Fair and just little Aoxi grabbed the thing with her other hand and planned to flip the table.
But the moment she touched it, that wonderful and familiar feel made her pause!
『Hm? This, this is?!』
『This is Belly?! And it’s Skeleton Yukichi bills worth ten thousand!』
In handling crew affairs these past few days, plenty of Belly had passed through Aoxi’s hands; she could tell the denomination at a touch.
“How about it! Aoxi, is this bit of strength from me enough?”
Noticing the change in Aoxi’s expression, Burufaruto knew his “off-the-table move” had initially succeeded.
“Heh~ Passable, but this little strength won’t beat me.”
Though she said that, Burufaruto clearly felt the force from the other side weaken a bit~
『Quite the appetite! This little missy.』
Gritting his teeth, another one…
Hm, weakened a bit more, but still not enough.
Another one!
Another one!
……
As Burufaruto’s money ability erupted, Aoxi’s arm was gradually pressed to the table; she was just a little from losing.
Just a little more!!
The surrounding pirates had already started cheering!
“Haha! Aoxi, now I’m going all out!”
With victory in sight and having sunk so much cost, Burufaruto completely let loose.
A big handful of banknotes was stuffed directly into Aoxi’s hand under the dark table.
And the instant the banknotes left his hand…
“Smack!”
Aoxi’s little hand was cleanly slammed onto the table.
“Oh!!!”*n
“Brother Burufaruto wins!”
“Yay!”
“Worthy of being the crew’s big brother!”
“Brother Burufaruto, we admire you!”
……
“Ha, haha~”
Burufaruto quietly hid his right hand, which could no longer exert force, and laughed a bit weakly:
“How about it? Your Uncle Burufaruto still has some strength, right!”
“Indeed, Uncle Burufaruto lives up to being the second Batul in our Beasts Pirates; I lose convinced!”
Aoxi clasped her hands in a salute of submission; after all, since she’d taken the money, she had to play the part.
Aoxi had already quietly counted; this empty-hand white wolf play netted her a hundred thousand Belly!
Burufaruto really had quite the fortune~
For a zero-cost hundred thousand profit deal, let alone losing publicly, even calling him “godfather” wouldn’t be out of the question!
『Eh! To encounter such a sucker… ah no, wise lord this time, it’s truly clouds parting to reveal the sun, bird soaring to the blue sky~』
However, just as everyone was hyping Burufaruto with chatter amid the atmosphere, a discordant cold voice sounded.
“What a shoddy foolish play, wouldn’t you say, Aoxi?”
Uh…
At these words, the surrounding cheers instantly stalled.
Who? Who?!
Someone dared to question this clash between real men…
Many pirates were about to slam the table in retort, but upon seeing it was Obei speaking, they all fell silent.
No joking!
The scene of her punching out an earthquake not long ago was still fresh; that kind of fist power—touch it and die, graze it and get hurt—was no joke.
If it came to raw strength, probably only Boss Kaido in the whole crew could arm wrestle her.
Seeing everyone go quiet, Burufaruto could only steel himself and step forward, trying to laugh it off…
But someone was faster than him.
“Hey! Obei, don’t spout nonsense here!”
Aoxi slammed the table and shouted:
“I lost this match fair and square; the uncle won upright! How dare you, you three-inch winter melon, wag your tongue here!”
Her tone was firm, as if she were truly speaking righteously.
“Oh? Then what’s that ten… mmph!”
Before she finished, Aoxi teleported over and covered Obei’s mouth, then frantically signaled with her eyes.
Red:『How did you notice?!』
Blue:『Of course I saw it; it was so obvious.』
Obvious?
Aoxi followed her line of sight and glanced back, realizing this angle perfectly viewed the area under the table just now.
?!
Tsk! Damn! Careless!
Next time, should cover it with a tablecloth.
Luckily this spot was remote, with only Obei around.
Red:『What do you want? Expose it and it’ll be hard to find another sucker next time.』
Obei didn’t respond, just extended her left hand, casually inspecting her nails.
Red:『Fifty percent! Why not just rob me?!』
Blue:『Am I not robbing you right now?』
Red:『Impossible, at most thirty percent! No more… wait, fine, fifty it is!』
Seeing the other stand up with no haggling intent, Aoxi could only grit her teeth and agree.
Blue:『Heh! Just a little Aoxi~』
Painfully pulling five Skeleton Yukichi bills from the still-warm stack in her pocket, Aoxi shakily stuffed the Belly into Obei’s hand, then turned back to Brother Burufaruto and the others with a forced smile:
“Haha~ This little brat Obei just can’t accept seeing her admired big sister lose.”
“It’s fine, a few words of comfort will do.”
“Sorry to make everyone laugh~ My little sister pup caused a scene.”
“Oh, oh, is that so?”
Hearing Aoxi say this, the pirates all relaxed.
After all, she was just a child under ten~ Admiring her big sister made sense.
“Yeah, I told her, everyone knows Uncle Burufaruto’s character.
His heart is so pure, his actions so upright—how could he possibly play-act with me?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Right.”
“Let’s keep drinking, everyone.”
“Drink!”
……
