Everything happened too quickly.
So quickly that Arashi didn't even have time to stop it.
By the time he snapped back to his senses, blood was already pouring from the middle-aged man's eyes.
Two horrifying wounds stretched from his brows down across his face.
"Damn it!"
Seeing that the man had already blinded himself, Arashi finally reacted and immediately shouted behind him,
"Loli! Hurry and get bandages and medicine! Quick!"
Despite having gouged out his own eyes, the middle-aged man showed no sign of pain.
He simply nodded slightly toward Arashi and spoke softly,
"I saw everything you did in the city."
"Thank you, kind-hearted traveler."
"I've already memorized your appearance."
With that, he picked up his shovel and slowly stood.
Blood continued running down his face, yet relying solely on his memory, he calmly began shoveling dirt into the grave, burying the dead one scoop at a time.
"Let me do it."
Arashi walked over, took the shovel from his hands, and began helping.
At the same time, he said,
"My name is Arashi."
"I'm a traveler."
"A traveler?"
The middle-aged man paused slightly before bowing.
"My name is Issho."
The moment Issho stabbed out his eyes, Arashi had already recognized him.
This man was none other than the future Marine Headquarters Admiral—Fujitora Issho.
The reason Arashi hadn't recognized him earlier was simple.
His eyes had still been intact.
More importantly, his appearance was completely different from the version seen in the original story.
No purple robe.
No Marine coat.
No sword-cane.
There were no horrifying scars on his face either.
In short, the current Issho looked nothing like Admiral Fujitora.
Dressed in rough homespun clothes and barefoot, with his garments stained red by blood, he looked more like a walking corpse that had crawled out of a mountain of dead bodies.
Before long, Perona returned with bandages and medicine.
"Meeting someone is fate, Mr. Issho."
Arashi handed the shovel to Robin and turned toward him.
"Sit down."
"Even if you no longer wish to see the filth of this world, your wounds still need treatment."
"If they get infected, that'll become troublesome."
"I'm only a traveler, but I know a little medicine."
"Thank you for your kindness."
To Arashi's surprise, Issho didn't refuse.
Instead, he sat cross-legged and smiled.
"Before closing these eyes forever, I never expected I'd still get to see a glimmer of light in this world."
"Traveler..."
"You're a good man."
"Forget it, Mr. Issho."
Arashi began cleaning the wounds around his eyes.
"Being a good person isn't easy in this world."
As he worked, Arashi couldn't help admiring just how ruthless Issho was toward himself.
Those two strikes had completely destroyed his eyes.
Unless someone replaced them entirely, there was no possibility of recovery.
Of course, even if Arashi could somehow perform an eye transplant right now, Issho would never accept it.
This had been his own choice.
Because he no longer wanted to witness the evil and ugliness of the world.
Perona didn't interrupt.
Instead, she ran into the residential district and returned with several more shovels for Robin.
Robin immediately used her Flower-Flower Fruit powers to speed up the burial process.
By the time Arashi finished cleaning and bandaging Issho's wounds, the mass grave had already been completely covered.
"Thank you so much, Traveler."
Issho touched the bandages wrapped around his face and slowly stood.
Then he asked,
"If I may be so bold... what is the situation in the city now?"
"The pirates have retreated."
"The rebels have been suppressed."
"The war is over."
"I see."
Issho nodded slightly.
Then he bowed deeply once more.
"In that case, I should take my leave."
"With your condition, where exactly do you plan to go?"
"If you have a destination in mind, I can give you a ride."
"No, no."
Issho waved his hands hurriedly.
"I can't trouble you any further, Traveler."
"Stop being stubborn."
Arashi rubbed his forehead.
"Just tell me where you want to go."
"Well..."
Issho paused.
"I don't know yet."
"But I want to leave this country first."
"Farewell, Traveler."
"What a stubborn old mule."
Arashi felt a headache coming on.
Although the mission reward was only three thousand Travel Points—and he honestly didn't care that much about the points themselves—he had already found Issho.
There was no way he was letting three thousand points walk away.
So he decided not to waste any more words.
"Mr. Issho."
"If you don't want to owe me a favor, then let's gamble."
"Hm?"
The moment he heard the word gamble, Issho instantly stopped walking.
Then he turned around.
"What are we gambling on?"
Holy crap.
He really is a gambling addict.
Watching Issho completely freeze at the mention of gambling, Arashi couldn't help feeling speechless.
At least in this regard, he was exactly the same as his original counterpart.
The Fujitora from the original story was a notorious gambler.
Gambling was practically part of his life.
He frequently used gambling metaphors in conversation and often bet on outrageous things.
Sometimes he'd even place other people's lives on the line as stakes.
The man was absurdly reckless.
"Rock, Paper, Scissors."
Arashi stepped in front of him and said calmly,
"One round."
"If you lose, you'll accept my goodwill and let me take you out of this country."
"After that, wherever you want to go is your business."
"If I lose, you can leave immediately."
"And I'll save myself the trouble."
"Rock, Paper, Scissors?"
Issho tilted his head slightly.
Apparently, he hadn't listened to anything after the word gamble.
Grinning broadly, he said,
"I like this game."
"Very well."
"One round to decide everything."
"Although I'm blind now, I trust that a traveler such as yourself won't break the rules."
Arashi smiled.
Then he rolled up his sleeves.
"Alright."
"Rock, Paper, Scissors—shoot!"
Issho lost.
And he was extremely unhappy about it.
Because Arashi had completely awakened his gambling spirit, yet never gave him a chance to win it back.
Before he could demand a rematch, Arashi simply dragged him aboard the Traveler.
The moment he stepped onto the ship, Issho immediately challenged Arashi to another game.
Arashi refused every single time.
The more Arashi refused, the more anxious Issho became.
Unable to endure it any longer, he challenged Perona instead.
Unfortunately, Perona had absolutely no interest in Rock, Paper, Scissors.
So Issho turned to Robin.
The result was tragic.
Robin had long since mastered the true essence of Rock, Paper, Scissors under Arashi's teachings.
She defeated Issho ten games in a row.
By the end, the future Admiral had lost so badly that he began questioning his entire existence.
He finally sat down on the deck in complete silence.
As the Traveler slowly departed the harbor of the Kingdom of Hauting, Arashi finally received the system notification announcing his mission reward.
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