"Hey!!! Crocodile!!!"
"Easy there, you're going to stomp the accelerator to pieces…"
"And you too, Hawk Eyes, no need to stare so hard, right…"
So this is what they call "not interested" and "bored," huh???
Even if they pretend on the surface to be indifferent and disdainful, once it involves winning or losing, they become this serious.
Is this the competitive instinct of men?
Even someone like Crocodile, whose psychological gender is male, can't avoid it.
"Everyone, you can see that the mysterious racing team that performed extremely strongly in the previous matches has now met their opponent!!!"
"The race car driven by the Straw Hat crew is showing absolutely no sign of falling behind in this match!!!"
The race car sped along the super-long and winding track. Sanji controlled the steering wheel; with his Observation ability, he was always able to make the smoothest and most fluid driving maneuvers.
"Sanji!!!"
"Go for it!!!"
Nami and the others watched from outside the field. On the big screen, the Straw Hat crew's race car overtook one after another, charging straight toward the mysterious race car at the front.
"We have to win, this is a one-million Belly entry fee!!!"
Nami shouted from the sidelines.
Perhaps hearing the beautiful lady's call, hearts swelled in Sanji's eyes, and he immediately worked even harder at the controls.
But in Crocodile's eyes, this scene was as laughable as children playing house.
She glanced sideways at the rearview mirror, at the Straw Hat crew constantly closing in, and immediately yanked the steering wheel hard. A dazzling drift flashed by, kicking up a vast cloud of sand and dust.
This made Sanji furious.
"Hey!!! Just now it was a sandstorm, now it's dust that blows right into us—aren't you playing dirty!!!"
"Are you trying to make me look bad in front of the beautiful ladies?!!!"
Compared to Sanji, who was red with rage, Zoro took a swig of alcohol and was utterly calm. The extreme speed didn't affect him in the slightest.
"Well… since it's a no-rules race, using items and abilities is normal, right?"
A dangerous smile spread across Zoro's lips as he stood straight up from the convertible. Using tremendous strength, he hooked his foot onto the race car, freeing both hands to draw his swords.
"Perfect, I could use some booze money too~"
With a sudden exertion of force, Zoro spun like a whirlwind, his blades unleashing spiral slashes.
"Three-Sword Style!!!"
Countless great-swordsman-level slashes burst forth, cutting through the sand and dust and charging straight toward the unclear area ahead. With such a wide-area attack, something was bound to get hit…
What answered him was an emerald-green giant slash.
"What the—?!"
Cold sweat appeared on Zoro's face. He quickly coated his hands with Haki and began chanting. Luckily his chanting was fast enough—before the huge emerald slash arrived, he finished and countered with a big move, just barely neutralizing that basic attack.
"You've got to be kidding, that slash…"
Although he blocked it, the road ahead had already been severed.
"Not bad, Hawk Eyes."
Orin looked at the road behind that had been cut apart, smiled, and praised him.
"It was just a warm-up."
Without even looking back, Mihawk closed the window, returned the cross-shaped dagger to hang around his neck, and stared coldly ahead, as if he had only done something utterly insignificant.
And so, under Crocodile's lightning-fast control and Hawk Eyes's calm command of the overall situation, the mysterious race car pulled far ahead, racing alone toward the finish line.
And at this moment—
"Charge!!!"
A loud shout came from behind. Suddenly, from the pillars on both sides of the track, two elongated arms reached out and grabbed the race car, then like a slingshot, the entire Straw Hat crew's car was flung rapidly into the sky.
"This… this is…"
Even the commentator seemed stunned by this maneuver, mouth agape.
"The Straw Hat crew's race car is actually flying over!!!"
"Are they going to take the championship?!!!"
The spectators watched in a frenzy as the Straw Hat crew's race car leapt over the mysterious car and shot toward the finish line.
"Rush straight to the finish in one go!!!"
Luffy raised both fists and shouted with burning passion, which made Nami and the others outside the field, along with some spectators, jump to their feet in excitement.
"Crossing the line!!!"
At this moment, the commentator's voice rang out loudly.
"Let us congratulate!!!"
"The final champion is—the mysterious race car!!!"
The Straw Hat crew: ???
Hawk Eyes, Crocodile: …
Orin: (￣y▽￣)~
"Wha… what?!!!"
Luffy stood up in disbelief, looking toward beyond the finish line—right in front of their own race car, the mysterious race car was parked there, as if it had appeared out of thin air past the finish line.
And the figures inside the car had already disappeared without a trace.
At this moment, Orin and the other two had already appeared inside a bustling shopping mall.
But for some reason, both Hawk Eyes and Crocodile looked not too good. Even though they won, they just couldn't feel happy.
"Why did you have to Warp over there? I could've rolled them back with a single sandstorm!!!"
Although like Orin they both used abilities, at least attacking and then winning would give some sense of achievement. Warping straight to the finish like Orin—didn't that just wipe out the meaning of the race?!!
"You guys… did you really get serious with a bunch of brats?"
Orin didn't care much about it, and took the two of them toward the VIP room.
And what about the Straw Hat crew?
Although they inexplicably lost the race, they were lucky in other events and quickly earned tens of millions of Belly, making the brats wildly excited.
What they didn't know was that the casino's rule was to bait first and then reel in.
Seeing that the time was ripe, Baccarat encouraged them to go play some bigger games.
They arrived in front of the VIP room. Baccarat knocked on the wall, and soon a big-headed doll drilled out from the wall. He smiled at everyone.
"This is the casino's head of security, Tanaka. He is the user of the Through-Through Fruit and can pass through any inorganic matter."
Hearing this, Robin felt some surprise about this fruit.
"Ignoring obstacles and passing through? Sounds like a lower-tier version of the Warp-Warp Fruit."
The big-headed doll looked at the Straw Hat crew, his eyes now full of amusement.
"I'll take you to the VIP room. By the way, there is currently a special distinguished guest playing inside the VIP room~"
He led the Straw Hat crew into the VIP room. Everyone was focused on the same place: a long-haired man sat at the table, smiling as he looked at the gambling table inside, casually tossing out several special chips.
"I bet on odd, 10 billion Belly."
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