One Piece: Gambling to The Top
Chapter 62 - 62

A/N: Chapters ahead at patréon

www.pátreon.com/Blazuki.

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Alabasta. The palace of the royal family, the Nefertiti family. In the main hall. 

"Two hundred million!" 

The young blue-haired princess, her hair floating back, opened her brown eyes in shock as she read the newspaper. Not only her, but her dad, the king, is there. 

"How in the hell can he get such a high bounty in such a short time," Cobra exclaimed as he was about to snatch the newspaper from his daughter. 

Vivi pulled the newspaper closer to her face, making Cobra's hand slip. 

She was focusing on Josh's face, before looking at the news down. 

"He, alone, took a commodore and a captain with their squads." Vivi swallowed his saliva. "A marine base was defeated. X Drake is having brain damage, while Captain T-Bone, Ship Slasher, is under health care…" 

After exclaiming shock, Cobra sat on his throne and rubbed his forehead. "I never thought he was that strong the day he came to ask for money." 

Vivi turned to Cobra. "Dad. Do you really believe he is an evil person as this article portray?" 

The king sighed, not daring to raise his voice. "He is a young man. Remember when he said he is putting his head in front of Crocodile for us, he risked his life to save this country. He paid a debt back… He is good us, evil to someone else." 

Vivi had a small tear dancing on her cheek. Sweeping it, she said. "But I feel bad for him. He deserves better." 

The king only nodded with his head. 

"Dad. Prepare me a boat. I will replace him." Vivi said as she stood up

Cobra fell from his throne and looked at his daughter in shock. "What! are you crazy!" 

"I want to go!" Vivi, despite only being 15 years old, had enough courage to enrol in a dangerous organisation one year ago. 

Knowing his reckless daughter, Cobra believed that she would do it anyway. But he didn't know if she can succeed again. 

"Even if you can go. What direction should you take?" Cobra yelled, putting some rationality to her. "Besides, what would happen to this country if the princess becomes a  wanted criminal."

Vivi turned her face, embarrassed and almost crying  

"I can give you hope." Cobra lifted his head. 

Vivi looked at him. 

"If you believe in his strength, he may be able to become a warlord once his bounty hit a certain mark," Cobra said. 

"That's…" Vivi put her hand on her mouth. After a moment of thinking, tears started streaming out of her eyes. "Poor guy. He must now be annoyed with facing all those bounty hunters… I can't imagine being his place." 

-x-X-x- 

"Come to papa…" 

Josh was sitting on the top of the sail, waiting for some bounty hunters to arrive. He was just a man who is waiting for his living. 

Because of his new bounty, Josh had a greater hope now. With stronger bounty hunters after him, it means more money pouring in his pocket, and thus, more Draw Points. 

The girls down were working and doing their duty, from cleaning the ship to cooking and navigating. Josh was the fighter of the group and the one who is making living. 

The time was passing while Josh was moving in the sea, trying to gain more power on his way toward the New World. 

However, the process was slow. It was hard to navigate in the Grand Line, and getting noticed by bounty hunters was not so likely to happen most of the time. 

Not to mention, sometimes, bounty hunters don't have all of their money with them, so Josh felt like he should replace their basement sometimes. 

Where there is a will, there is a way. 

Josh would sometimes take a longer rest in the islands he passes by. 

That way, he would be noticed by some bounty hunter or two. 

It worked.

Sometimes, however, Josh found himself annoyed by a bunch of broken dads. They just wanted to feed their kids while losing their rationality to attack wanted like him. 

However, on the other hand, he would replace strong ones. They have between 20- 60 million Berries with them. In most cases, Robin or Mikita would be enough to deal with them. 

Moreover, If Josh ever passed by a ship of pirates, he would use Shave and Moonwalk and sneak to see if they have any worthy treasure. (A/N: Nami found her soul mate) 

Just in three weeks, because of such mentality, Josh managed to collect 300 million berries. 

Of course, the weeks weren't always collective. Sometimes, Josh would be chased by the marines across the sea. But he would always manage to escape before a real strong backup comes. 

Since Josh got 300 drawing points, he decided to use them all while moving in the sea, on a specific night when the girls accept to have a foursome. That was his lucky night. 

Josh decided to split it. 100 Draw points for a 100 draw. And 200 for 20 draws, which gives him better chances for higher-ranked rewards. 

Josh was playing with ten points for each draw, to collect better rewards. 

Because of that, he got excellent Rank and good rank many times, raising his agility by 40%, and now, with a few epic items, he has enough strength to lift a dead-weight of 30 tons. And that without his Devil Fruit. 

Of course, Josh didn't forget to help the girls with what they need. 

Mikita needed agility since Josh had been trying to teach her how to use Shave during the last three weeks. 

She is progressing though. On the other hand, Robin needed strength. 

With more strength in her arms, she can do great damage. 

If each arm of her can lift 6 tons, then she may become a top powerhouse. 

However, bad for her, Josh would give her a small percentage of pills and elixirs. But still, she has the power now to lift nearly 3 tons with each arm. 

Marianne, on the other hand, was… Marianne. Josh would just lift her and put her on the shoulder to see the sea. 

She needs neither strength nor agility. Only some stamina cigarettes. 

Talking about Epic items, Josh got 5 of them. And no Legend this time. 

Since Legend Rank items were precious, Josh wondered how many Draw Points he needs to have a high chance to get them. 'It won't be less than 100 million.' 

It was a common rule even in the religions — the more you give the more you take. 

Back to the five Epic rank items, 3 of them were used to increase his strength, one was given to Robin. 

The other item was Angel Tears that delete the weakness of Devil Fruit. 

Josh had saved that to put it in Robin's drink. He didn't want to tell her in case she would feel too suspicious. 

After all, Robin thinks that Josh gets those items from secret merchants. And knowing that she is so curious about history, Josh didn't want her to know about the Angel Tears, or he may not be able to get some sleep after staying awake for a week. 

The last item was candy to increase one of his abilities by 33%. Josh had, this time, used it on spiritual talent, which made him able to learn things faster by 400%.  

"Great."

Josh let a scoff as he was standing on the top of his ship. The Spiritual Talent was really helpful. It helped him to control the Demonic Energy that his Devil Fruit gave. 

Staring up at the sky, Josh's leg turned into a demon-like leg, which was covered by his pants. 

Red aura-like energy covered that leg. Jumping up slightly, Josh kicked up. A red arc left his leg, making its way to the sky. 

"Bravo…" Mikita, who was drinking tea, cheered up for Josh as she was watching him from far. 

Josh only turned and smiled. Looking at his hand, he believed that this is the result of the talents and power-ups. 

Josh thought that the talent he has would help him in learning things that don't have physical concepts, such as Haki. 

On the other hand, it helps him with Swordsmanship. He knew that since both physical and spiritual talent was helping him improving each day. 

'With more time, I will have an easy life.' 

Josh nodded as he turned his head. 

Mikita seemed to try to fight boredom in any way possible. 

On the other hand, Marianne was standing and drawing something. 

Since she was quite far, Josh activated his Zoan's fruit, his eyes turning red sharp, increasing his senses, and he noticed. 

'She is drawing hentai. Me banging her in doggy style while choking her?' 

Marianne was making sure to paint while being far from everyone. Narrowing his eyebrows at the tempting idea, Josh turned his head and looked at Robin's position, where she should be navigating. 

Robin, in the last few days, has been acting weird. Ever since they stole this ship, she was suppressing a negative emotion. She never told him. Josh, however,  knew that since he could hear her heartbeat. 

'Where is she?' Josh thought as she wasn't in her spot. 

Scanning the ships with his enhanced hearing, Josh finally found that she was in the kitchen. The sound of pages being flipped could be heard. Nodding with his head, Josh told Mikita and Marianne to take their time, as he would come back soon. He needed to talk with Robin and made her open up enough to tell him.