Chapter 49: The First Crew Member
"If you still want to play, I can keep you company."
"Alright, I'll roll the dice. No problem with that, right?" Sanders replied.
"No problem," the blind man agreed.
The bystanders, who had witnessed Sanders chase away the thugs, assumed he was a righteous person. But now, seeing him ready to gamble with the middle-aged blind man, their expressions quickly turned to disdain. They thought Sanders might just be aiming to take all the man's money.
However, with Sanders standing over two meters tall, no one dared to step forward and scold him. They could only stand by and look at the blind man with pity, thinking that after escaping the wolves, he had fallen into a tiger's den.
"It seems like this poor blind man is bound to lose all his money today," they thought.
"I'm rolling," Sanders said casually as he shook the dice a few times and placed the dice cup on the table.
"You go ahead and guess first," Sanders suggested.
The middle-aged blind man placed some chips on the table. "I'll guess big," he said.
Sanders matched his bet and opened the dice cup. It was big.
The crowd turned their attention to Sanders, anticipating that he might cheat. But, to their surprise, Sanders immediately pushed the chips over to the blind man.
"Let's go again," Sanders said, shaking the dice once more.
"I'll guess big again," said the blind man.
It was big again, and Sanders handed over the chips. They continued.
Big, small, big, big.
No matter whether it was big or small, the blind man always guessed right.
After playing over a dozen rounds, the middle-aged man seemed a bit embarrassed.
"Why don't you guess first this time?" he offered.
"Sure," Sanders agreed with a nod.
Big, small, big, big, small.
Out of five rounds, Sanders guessed correctly twice.
By now, the onlookers had understood the situation. The tall young man standing before them was genuinely gambling with the blind man, relying on pure luck. But it seemed like the blind man had an extraordinary stroke of luck, always guessing right first.
And indeed, it was all about luck. Sanders wasn't playing any tricks or using his Observation Haki to "hear" the dice; he was playing fairly.
Seeing that there wasn't much excitement to be had, the crowd gradually lost interest and began to disperse.
Once everyone had left, Sanders once again let the blind man guess first. The two continued playing a few more rounds, with the blind man winning every time.
After a while, Sanders smiled and said, "Issho, aren't you cheating a bit by using Observation Haki?"
Issho froze for a moment, then laughed awkwardly.
"I consider the abilities I possess to be part of the gamble," Issho replied. "You seem to know who I am?"
"I do, in a way."
"It seems you came looking for me, then. What business do you have with me?" Issho asked.
Rather than answering directly, Sanders posed his own question: "What brings you to a Warlord of the Sea's territory?"
"Just got the itch to play a few rounds."
"Do you really think I'll believe that?"
Sanders couldn't help but smirk. There were plenty of casinos in port cities closer by; why would someone come all the way to Rainbase just to gamble? Issho, a future critic of the Warlord system, now showing up in the territory of one of the Seven Warlords, was clearly not here just for fun. It was as believable as someone claiming to go to a foot massage parlor for "proper" massages—it was nonsense.
"What do you think of the Warlord system, Issho?" Sanders pressed.
Issho paused before answering with a smile, "I'm just a common man. It's not my place to comment on the World Government's policies."
"How about Crocodile then? Do you think his presence here is good or bad for the people of Alabasta?"
"Crocodile is considered a hero in Alabasta," Issho replied, still avoiding a direct answer.
"A hero? A pirate being called a hero? Do you really believe that?" Sanders burst into laughter.
Issho fell silent for a moment before asking, "May I know your name, young man?"
"Sanders," he replied.
Issho's closed eyes suddenly opened, revealing his pure white irises. "A big name indeed. What business could someone as famous as you possibly have with an old man like me?"
"I recently formed a pirate crew, but right now I'm all alone. I came to invite you, Issho, to join my crew. With your strength, you shouldn't remain unknown."
Sanders spoke earnestly.
"I don't currently have any intention of becoming a pirate," Issho replied after a brief pause, politely turning down the offer.
He didn't claim to be weak or make excuses. Sanders, a man renowned across the seas, had clearly come to find him, fully aware of his strength. Over forty years of life had given Issho many chances to display his abilities, and many people knew of his power. There was no point in using an empty excuse to refuse.
"I know you have your own sense of justice, Issho, but following me won't prevent you from realizing it. You may have heard about my past."
"If that's the case, you should understand that the Marines and the World Government's version of justice isn't necessarily true justice."
"I'm not a good man. My hands are stained with blood, but before I went to prison, every pirate I killed had it coming. When I broke out of Impel Down, I didn't release a single pirate."
"Since then, the Marines and government officials I've killed all had it coming too."
Sanders spoke calmly.
"I sympathize with what you've been through, and I agree with your actions," Issho replied without hesitation. He had a strong sense of justice, but that didn't mean he was rigid. From Sanders' perspective, Issho could even understand seeking revenge on the world.
"I'm only 19 years old. I need someone with a sense of justice to guide me," Sanders continued. "At my age, I could end up ruling part of the world for fifty years. If I were to become a tyrant, countless civilians would suffer."
"Don't you want to save those millions of innocent people, Issho?"
Sanders valued Issho not just for his strength but also for his sense of justice and concern for civilians—values that aligned with Sanders' own beliefs, shaped by his upbringing.
"You wouldn't become a tyrant," Issho said with a smile. He understood that Sanders was appealing to his sense of justice to recruit him, but he didn't feel offended—he actually found it amusing.
His Observation Haki wasn't as advanced as some, unable to read people's innermost thoughts, but it was good enough to give him a sense of a person's nature. And he didn't feel any "tyranny" from Sanders.
"People change, Issho."
"Well, I don't have much of a choice, do I? After all, I did use my Observation Haki to win quite a bit of money from you earlier."
Issho lowered his head and pretended to think seriously, then, as if making a tough decision, he said, "To keep word from spreading that I cheated, leaving me without anyone to gamble with, I'll have to work for you."
"Captain!"
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T/N:
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