One of the top Frontier Agents

The next couple of hours passed by like a breeze. I continued winning, adding to my pocket over 500 Million Beris. I was making off like a thief, and no one was any the wiser. The table host just kept happily handing me chips until he had to call for more to be brought to the table.

That was the first mistake.

At one point, when my winnings had hit the 300 Million mark, I declared from my seat, "I'm buying everyone a drink! Whatever they want, it's on me!" This caused a large insurgence of waitresses to come out of hiding to take orders, and then once everyone had a fanciful, overpriced drink in their hand, I was handed a bill for 27 Million Beris. I might have miscalculated how many people were enjoying themselves in Raindinners that day, but I still happily paid for the beverages with my winnings.

This was, perhaps, the second mistake I made.

Soon as I had tallied my winnings, I began to wrap things up, pulling my chips back towards me and bagging them for later. "Normally I would love to stay and take more of your money, but I think that's enough for today!"

Now this use of the word 'Normal', which had so far been my catch phrase as a pirate, was not at all spoken to convey my powers to it. It was honestly a mistake, the phrase being such an everyday statement I had somehow missed saying it.

That was the third mistake.

As I stood up to leave the roulette table, a hand met my shoulder and held me to my seat. It was a small, dainty feeling hand, but it seemed to either be forcing me down, or it was somehow heavier than I thought. Which was pretty weird.

I looked behind me and locked eyes with this girl who was grinning at me from underneath a bright yellow cap with these amazingly gorgeous green eyes. She wore a vibrant yellow dress with fruit slices on it, and a denim jacket over that. In her hand was a green cocktail of some sort, which she held gingerly between her fingers. Her other hand held a striped parasol that was open above her head, despite her being indoors.

"So you're leaving already?" she asked. Her voice had volume to it, though it did not seem as if she was projecting her voice much.

Before I could speak, she had twined herself around me and sat in my lap, holding me in place. "That's unfortunate. I had heard that there was some hotshot over on this side of the casino winning big time. I wanted to come congratulate them and maybe bring them some extra luck. Oh, and also thank them for this drink." It was then that I noticed the light blush that colored her cheeks. It seemed she might have been a little tipsy.

"Oh? Well.. I suppose I could stay for a couple more games. There's nothing wrong with that. In that case, thank you for dropping by, and I hope you're enjoying your drink. I can always order you another, if you want."

"Oh that would be wonderful!" she cheered. "So what's your name, stranger?"

I smiled at her excitement. It was actually contagious. "Well, my name is Tsujo. What about you? Who is my Lady Luck today?"

"The name is Mikita. I hope you remember it!"

There was something in the way she spoke that made me feel distrusting of her. Was she a gold digger? Only interested in men who had money? Or was she genuinely seeking his attention. I had to know. "Well then, Mikita, you should know it's normal to be completely honest with me. Why are you really here?"

"Well, to be honest, I was told by Crocodile that some upstart was taking all his money, so he wanted me to put an end to it before things got too far. Call me one of his agents that deals with unruly clients." The entire time she held her smirk, and she was still boring her gaze straight into mine. My pupils felt hot from the constant contact.

I coughed, "Ahem, o-of course!" My mark was way off. She wasn't interested in me or the money, she was protecting the casino from losing too much money! This was now dangerous. Also did she feel heavier all of a sudden? Her petite stature stayed the same, but my legs were becoming numb from how are was sitting on them.

"So I just wanna see your method. I wanna see how a guy like you is capable of winning so much. Got it?"

I tried to look back at the other players, trying to get some kind of support from them, but it seems the mention of Crocodile put them off, and they were suddenly minding their own business. The dealer as well was now very quiet and interested only in pretending to stack chips.

"So you think I'm cheating? How would I be able to do such a thing?"

Mikita shrugged, and once again, I felt her weight press into me an impossible amount. Like the weight of my lies was catching up with me. I was visibly sweating now.

"Ooooh, I never said cheating. Regardless, let's see how you play. If I catch you cheating, you go to Crocodile, and you can explain things to him and his Manager. If you lose, then we take all your earnings and you leave here without a single Beri to your name."

"Umm, and what if I win and you find that I'm not cheating?" I had to ask. If there was any way out of this situation without any kind of detainment or ****, it was mine too find.

"Hmm, well, if you win, and I find you're not cheating, then I suppose I should read you somehow." She put her finger to her cheek, as if she was actually thinking about letting me go. It was worth a shot.

But I could not have the dealer mess this up for me. If Mikita saw him trigger the roulette, that would be a dead giveaway to our deal.

"Ya, no problem. But, hey, get this, it's normal for you specifically to ignore me after a snap my fingers. And then you can pay attention to me again when I clap."

A flash of irritation crossed her face. Another moment of impossible weight, but then lightened up to near normal. What was going on here? "Ya, I know. You think I don't know something obvious like that?!"

Instead of getting pulled into a pointless argument, I merely snapped my fingers and watched as her facial expression became bland. Disinterested. She was pretending I wasn't even there.

The only way out of this was to lose it all. She would not believe I won all of that money in a couple hours by doing low-tier bets. I had to bet it all on a single number, but then the shooter would try and get the marble into whatever I bet on. "Dealer, it's normal not to **** the marble on this next game. Leave it just like it is."

The host nodded his head, not even daring to speak in front of Crocodile's agent.

I clapped my hands together, and Mikita's grin came back, her green eyes meeting with mine as she leaned over the table. "So what will it be, Mr. Tsujo?"

I swallowed whatever was in my mouth hard. It was now or nothing. I pushed ever token I had back onto the board. 500 chips worth a million Beris each. I decided to place them on 22 Black. No clue why. It was a number I had not chosen before, so why not? Mikita seemed to take interest, cooing as the dealer counted the bets. I was really the only one betting. Everyone else, even people from other tables who had heard the excitement, was peeking over. This was about to be the biggest win, or the worst flop. And my chances were slim and none.

The shooter prepped the roulette and the pill, and then spun both. The marble traveled across the ring, and you could hear every time that it ran over a stile. Everyone's breaths were held while I lamented my luck, while simultaneously trying to figure a way out of this situation with my money. It had all happened so fast I could not react to things in my favor. I was playing defense. I could **** them all to stay here while I make my getaway, or I could get Mikita to follow me somehow. I did not know what the best solution was.

Now the pill was bouncing, colliding with the walls as the roulette's spinning slowed. True to my instructions, the dealer was not affecting the wheel at all. It was all a free-moving spectacle. Pill bouncing around the wheel from the one, then to twelve, next the fifteen, and then twenty-three. All around the board. Then it began its final spin. I did not watch the number I bet on, I watched the pill. Any moment it would dip into a stile and spell my fate.

Any moment.

And then it dipped.

There was silence.

The first person to speak was the dealer. "22 Black? Payout is 35:1. With wager of 500 Million Beris, that is 17.5 Billion Beris. Congratulations, Mr. Tsujo."

What the hell just happened?...