Twisted Fate left the gambling hall with his head hanging low, the sting of his recent defeat leaving him thoroughly dejected.
As laughter and celebration rang out around him, he realized that other people's joy had absolutely nothing to do with his misery.
"Damn."
He let out a heavy sigh and turned into a nearby alley.
He did not have a single coin left and had no idea where he would sleep tonight.
Twisted Fate had always spent money as quickly as he earned it, so he had never managed to save much. After learning from past experience, he could no longer clean out an entire gambling table either.
People were jealous by nature. They would never allow a big winner to stroll safely out of a gambling hall with all their money.
Today, he had even lost every last coin he had set aside for his living expenses.
That was right.
Despite being a master cardsharp with almost unmatched gambling skills, Twisted Fate was constantly broke.
"When is this miserable life ever going to end?"
He sighed again.
He found himself missing the old days, when he had traveled wherever he pleased and gone on adventure after adventure with that man.
Ever since they had separated, Twisted Fate seemed to find himself in desperate situations like this far too often.
The noise behind him gradually faded as he walked deeper into the alley. Sparse moonlight spilled between the buildings.
Twisted Fate abruptly stopped.
A special card slid from his sleeve as his wary gaze settled on the fiery red-haired woman standing ahead of him.
"Which do you think is faster, your magic or my bullet?"
Sarah's lips curved upward as she looked him over.
"It's been a while. Seems you haven't been doing very well."
Twisted Fate realized that she did not appear hostile. At the very least, she was not charging toward him with murder in her eyes like the last time they had met.
This was not their first encounter.
The previous time, she had come after him as a bounty hunter.
Having already witnessed what she could do, Twisted Fate suppressed the urge to activate his card and disappear. Instead, he smiled calmly.
"Miss Fortune is every bit as beautiful as I remember. I'm only wondering how much a miserable wreck like me is worth these days."
"Relax. I'm not here to capture you this time."
Sarah raised both hands, showing him that they were empty.
"I came to offer you a major job."
"Me? Why?"
Twisted Fate slipped the card back into his sleeve.
"Because you're one of the few people who has ever escaped from me. With your unusual talents, I imagine you're the only person capable of doing this."
Sarah smiled faintly.
Her praise clearly pleased him. The corner of Twisted Fate's mouth rose before he began boasting.
"That's true. There isn't a place anywhere in Runeterra that can hold me. Go on, then. What do you need me to do?"
"I like that confidence. Two nights from now, I want you to infiltrate Gangplank's warehouse, steal a dagger, and bring it to me."
Sarah did not waste time and went straight to the point.
The smile on Twisted Fate's face immediately froze.
He gave her an awkward laugh.
"Unless I heard you wrong, did you just say Gangplank?"
Sarah nodded.
"There's only one man with that name in all of Bilgewater."
"You've got to be joking. That bastard isn't someone you want to provoke. I'm far too delicate to survive his revenge."
Twisted Fate took a step back, shaking his head repeatedly.
"There are things even you're afraid to do?"
Sarah raised an eyebrow, then chuckled.
"You should at least hear what I'm offering."
Twisted Fate fell silent and waited expectantly.
That was right. Was there truly anything in the world he was afraid to do?
The price simply had not been high enough yet.
Gangplank was certainly dangerous, but Twisted Fate's reputation was not built on empty boasts.
He had once been one of the most notorious thieves in Runeterra. Stealing something was precisely the kind of work he specialized in.
"I've already looked into it. The dagger was crafted by a renowned Noxian master, and it's worth a considerable fortune."
Sarah spoke openly. When she saw Twisted Fate's eyes light up, she laughed.
"No one in Bilgewater would dare buy it, but I would. I've already found a client with a convincing reason to purchase the dagger. Once the deal is done, I'll give you half the payment."
She paused.
"Three thousand gold coins."
"Three thousand?"
Twisted Fate's breathing stopped for a moment.
His pounding heart told him exactly how tempted he was.
Three thousand gold coins would keep him comfortable for a very long time. He had not seen that much money in years.
So what if the dagger belonged to Gangplank?
Once Twisted Fate stole it and collected his payment, he would board a ship for Valoran. By the time Gangplank discovered what had happened, he would already be long gone.
This was a job he could absolutely accept.
Twisted Fate made his decision immediately.
Seeing that he had made up his mind, Sarah continued.
"Once you have the dagger, come straight to me. You hand over the merchandise, and I hand over the money. After that, you're free to leave. This is your advance."
She tossed him a heavy pouch.
Twisted Fate instinctively caught it. He did not need to count the contents to know there were at least two hundred gold coins inside.
"How do you know I won't take these two hundred coins and disappear?"
"You would have to stay away from Bilgewater forever. Besides, you're clearly not foolish enough to sacrifice three thousand coins for two hundred."
Sarah smiled calmly.
"You're a good judge of character."
Twisted Fate's smile became a little more sincere.
"Once I have the dagger two nights from now, where do I find you?"
"Butcher's Bridge. I'll be waiting."
Sarah turned and walked away, quickly disappearing at the far end of the alley.
Twisted Fate weighed the coin pouch in his hand again.
It seemed his days of poverty were finally about to end.
He could not help it. The money had appeared at precisely the right time, and it was an offer he simply could not refuse.
After leaving the alley, Sarah soon found Luke waiting nearby. Her smile became more natural.
"Nicely done. I didn't think you could actually take every last coin he had."
Luke glanced at her.
"So you never expected me to succeed in the first place?"
"Who said that? I had complete faith in you. If you hadn't cleaned him out, he wouldn't have accepted the job so easily."
Sarah blinked at Luke with the innocent expression of a sweet and harmless girl.
"All right. I suppose I didn't disappoint you."
Luke yawned indifferently.
"What are you planning next?"
"Now we wait for the real show to begin in two days."
Sarah's eyes gleamed, shining brightly even beneath the night sky.
Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
Night descended, but all of Bilgewater remained brightly illuminated. The harbor and docks were especially crowded and lively.
Juarez's ship rapidly approached the shore.
The moment it docked, he disembarked without stopping to rest and sprinted toward the Dead Pool, where Gangplank was staying.
Marsili, his lover, followed him off the ship. Her face was deathly pale, as though she had witnessed something terrifying, and she hurried after Juarez.
Something had happened.
Something catastrophic.
Only one thought occupied her mind.
Not even in her wildest dreams had she imagined that Gangplank's treasure island would be robbed.
The crew aboard the Dead Pool was still celebrating.
Three consecutive days of revelry had left them in a state of drunken excitement. One barrel of alcohol after another was opened.
Members of gangs loyal to Gangplank had also joined the celebration, including the Jagged Hooks, the Painted Brothers, and the Knifepoints. All three were infamous gangs throughout the Blue Flame Isles.
The Jagged Hooks were the most notorious of them all. They were known as Gangplank's most loyal attack dogs and committed every imaginable crime, often killing people simply for entertainment.
Juarez rushed aboard the ship and ignored the greetings from the crew, heading directly for Gangplank's cabin.
The sailors watched him with confusion, wondering what could have made him so frantic.
How could Juarez not be frantic?
He did not dare imagine how Gangplank would react upon hearing the news. He was even more terrified of what would happen if Gangplank learned that he had tried to conceal it.
"Captain! Captain, something terrible has happened!"
Juarez shoved open the cabin door and shouted repeatedly, though his voice was barely louder than the celebration outside.
Gangplank was sitting inside, slicing and eating an orange.
When he saw Juarez's panicked expression, his cold eyes turned toward him.
Juarez swallowed hard.
He had no idea how to say it.
Marsili entered behind him and closed the door. After a moment of hesitation, Juarez forced himself to speak.
"The treasures on the island... They've all been stolen."
There was a wet crunch.
The orange in Gangplank's hand was crushed instantly. Juice and mangled pulp splattered across the floor.
His hawklike eyes became colder than ice.
"What did you say?"
Juarez dropped to his knees, not daring to raise his head.
"All the treasure is gone."
Marsili nearly collapsed onto the floor as well.
"We reached the island and brought the chests to hide them in the lake, but there was no response for a long time. We sent people into the water to investigate, and every single treasure chest had disappeared!"
The longer she spoke, the colder the cabin seemed to become.
Marsili cautiously raised her head and saw Gangplank's merciless eyes burning with endless fury.
His expression remained calm and detached, but she knew him well enough to understand that a raging fire had already ignited inside him.
Gangplank stood.
"Where is Kru?"
His voice was freezing.
Kru was the guardian beast he had gone to tremendous lengths to obtain. It was exceptionally powerful, and any ordinary trespasser would have been nothing more than a meal.
With Kru guarding the island, how could the treasure have vanished even if someone discovered the place?
"Kru has disappeared as well," Juarez hurriedly answered. "There was no sign of it anywhere in the lake. No matter how many times we called, it never appeared."
Marsili spoke without confidence.
"It must have run away..."
"That's fucking bullshit!"
Gangplank could no longer suppress the fury inside him. He slammed a hand onto the table, cracking the wood.
"I raised Kru myself from the time it was small! I couldn't get rid of it even if I tried. There's no chance it ran away!"
He did not shout. Instead, he forced the words through clenched teeth, his voice low and vicious.
"Someone might have lured it away, though."
Marsili trembled from head to toe and nearly burst into tears.
"Captain, now that you mention it, I found this in the lake."
Juarez quickly stood and handed him a playing card.
It was slightly larger than an ordinary card and made from an unusual material. Strange designs had been engraved across the back, making it obvious that it was not made from normal paper.
Gangplank took the card and examined both sides, his expression dark and uncertain.
Juarez and Marsili were trusted subordinates. Neither of them would have the courage to deceive him.
"Captain, I recognize that card," Marsili said in a trembling voice.
"Speak."
Gangplank's gaze immediately snapped toward her.
"Several new bounties have appeared in Bilgewater recently. One of them is for the owner of cards like this, a man named Twisted Fate. He's a skilled thief and has angered several people by robbing them, so they placed bounties on his head. Leaving one of his cards at the scene of a crime is his signature."
Marsili hurriedly told him everything she knew.
Her explanation also jogged Juarez's memory.
Gangplank rarely paid attention to nameless nobodies in Bilgewater. He usually cared only about whether the price on his own head had increased again.
His subordinates were different. They occasionally checked the bounty boards.
Juarez had indeed seen Twisted Fate's bounty.
"Twisted Fate, you filthy bastard..."
Gangplank crushed the card into a ball. Fury surged through his cold eyes.
"Find him."
He forced out every word through clenched teeth.
"Find him, no matter what it takes. I want him torn apart and ground into dust."
It was as though he were chewing the rage inside his chest into pieces.
No one had ever dared to challenge him with such arrogance.
No one.
Rat Town was under Gangplank's control and also served as the territory of the Jagged Hooks. It was effectively one of his strongholds and was regarded as forbidden ground in Bilgewater.
Anyone who trespassed was rarely questioned before being attacked.
The infamous Jagged Hooks killed for entertainment.
Although some of their members had gone to join the festivities at the harbor, plenty had stayed behind to patrol the area.
Twisted Fate lowered the brim of his hat while hiding in a dark corner and enduring the stench rising from every direction.
He was not particularly skilled in a direct fight and generally avoided confronting cruel and vicious men head-on.
He had already scouted the area and located the main warehouse.
All he had to do was steal the dagger and leave.
Being discovered would be extremely dangerous, but there would be no danger at all if no one discovered him.
When several patrolling members of the Jagged Hooks moved away, Twisted Fate immediately sprang into action.
The moon disappeared behind thick clouds, and shadows smothered the entire dock. Huge wooden crates had been carelessly stacked throughout the harbor, providing perfect cover for anyone trying to sneak through.
Several men carrying crossbows stood on the roof of the main warehouse. They were probably the night watchmen, but they were shouting to one another so loudly that they sounded like drunks arguing in the street.
Twisted Fate could have covered himself in bells and run straight past them without those idiots hearing a thing.
He mocked them silently as he crept toward a window and peered inside.
The main warehouse contained several smaller storage rooms, each holding different goods. The dagger was inside one of them.
After observing the place, Twisted Fate had already determined which one.
The problem was that a Jagged Hooks guard stood outside every storage room.
That was hardly enough to stop him.
A card sprang from his sleeve and landed in his hand. It danced lightly between his fingers, flipping back and forth with effortless grace.
He had practiced the technique until it came as naturally as breathing.
This part would be easy.
As the card gradually began to glow, Twisted Fate opened his mind and allowed his consciousness to drift outward.
Countless images appeared before his eyes.
A crushing pressure descended on him, nearly forcing him to the ground.
He half closed his eyes and focused, searching through layer after layer of overlapping images until he found his destination.
A familiar energy suddenly surged against his chest.
His figure flickered, and a chaotic wave of light and shadow flashed around him.
In the next instant, Twisted Fate was standing inside the storage room.
The room was pitch-black. He could not see a thing, and the guard outside had no idea someone had already slipped past him.
Twisted Fate moved his arm, and another card appeared between his fingers. It emitted a weak glow, barely illuminating his surroundings.
He quickly found his target.
Twisted Fate opened the box in front of him. Resting on a bed of black velvet was an exquisitely forged dagger.
"Simple."
He smiled to himself and reached out to take it.
Click.
Twisted Fate froze.
He knew that sound.
It sounded exactly like the safety being released on a shotgun.
He moved the glowing card forward, revealing the dark mouths of two gun barrels aimed directly at him.
A dreadful suspicion immediately formed in his mind.
"Twisted Fate. It's been a long time."
The familiar voice was deep and rough.
Twisted Fate raised the card higher, allowing its glow to reveal the man's mocking face.
It was painfully familiar, though more weathered than he remembered.
Graves.
A man he would never forget.
Long-buried memories flashed rapidly through Twisted Fate's mind.
He and Graves had once been inseparable partners, notorious thieves whose exploits had become famous throughout Runeterra. Their trail had stretched across the northeastern coastal towns and far beyond.
Every crooked card game, every major heist, every impossible escape, they had fooled everyone and left their pursuers chasing shadows.
Then, one day, their endless good luck finally ran out.
The enforcers captured Graves alive, and Twisted Fate had been forced to abandon him and escape alone.
Twisted Fate later learned that Graves had been thrown into the Locker, a prison whose very name terrified criminals.
He had tried countless ways to rescue Graves, but every attempt had failed.
Eventually, he had been forced to give up and continue traveling from place to place.
They had not seen each other for many years.
During that time, Graves had suffered inhuman torture inside the Locker.
Whenever he imagined the man who had abandoned him, and perhaps even betrayed him, living freely outside while he rotted in prison, his hatred became impossible to describe.
"Malcolm, how long have you been standing there?"
Twisted Fate's face brightened with an exaggerated smile of delight.
The expression was so obviously fake that it would not have fooled a child, yet there was not even a trace of fear in his eyes.
"Save it. I only have one question."
Graves's eyes burned viciously as he raised the shotgun and aimed it directly at Twisted Fate's detestable face.
"Why?"
"Do you really need to point a gun at me? We're old friends. This seems a little excessive."
Twisted Fate still wore his unhurried smile, his voice gentle enough to soothe someone to sleep.
Graves acted as though he had not heard him.
"Tell me why you ran away and left me behind."
His cold gaze never moved.
"Ten years. Do you have any idea how I spent those ten years?"
Graves growled the words through a lowered voice. His eyes opened wide, burning with fury and hatred.
"Listen, Malcolm. I'm very happy to see you again, but this is neither the time nor the place for this conversation."
Twisted Fate continued smiling. In truth, the smile had never left his face.
"Don't call me that!"
Graves growled again, sounding almost irrational.
"Malcolm is dead. You made that choice. Why did you betray me? How much did they pay you?"
Twisted Fate took a deep breath.
"Why would you think that? You know what the situation was. But right now is not the time to discuss it."
His fingers twitched.
Despite all the years they had spent apart, Graves still understood him better than anyone.
He knew Twisted Fate was about to use one of those cards to escape.
The instant a card appeared between Twisted Fate's fingers and began to spin, Graves pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Bang!
The sudden gunshot thundered through the warehouse.
The blast tore through the card and shredded it into fragments, nearly taking Twisted Fate's hand with it.
"You idiot!"
Twisted Fate screamed, roaring hysterically.
"You're going to bring everyone down on us! Do you have any idea whose territory this godforsaken place is?"
"You think I give a damn?"
Graves loaded another shell.
"If you knew what I went through in prison, you'd understand exactly how I feel right now."
"Understand, my ass, you moron!"
Twisted Fate could hardly believe this one-track-minded idiot.
The warehouse door burst open.
At least a dozen members of the Jagged Hooks charged inside, shouting as they came.
Twisted Fate had spent the entire conversation trying to calm down the unstable man in front of him, but the outcome was every bit as disastrous as he had expected.
He had known this would happen from the beginning, yet some unrealistic part of him had continued clinging to hope.
Now that hope had been completely shattered.
Graves had never learned to think before acting.
He had not changed at all in ten years.
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