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Chapter 131: No Matter How Small the Chance, It's Still a Chance
Chapter 131: No Matter How Small the Chance, It's Still a Chance
"Whooohahahaha!"
Sag's boisterous laughter, tinged with a hint of arrogance, rang through the night sky. He slapped Hawkins on the shoulder with one hand and raised his wooden cup high. "Lads, let's welcome Hawkins to our pirate crew!"
"Ohh!"
On the deck, a large number of subordinates gathered as the kitchen crew hurried to grill food for the thousand-people banquet.
As soon as Hawkins drank the welcoming drink, Sag began the feast. At this hour, most of his men were still awake, either drinking in the ship's cabins or, like Arlong, quietly cultivating alone.
As an executive member of the Natural Disaster Pirate Group, Arlong had his own private room within the ship's cabin. The accommodations for the others were more mixed, usually with ten or so people sharing a room with bunk beds.
Of course, many more crew members chose to drink and pass out in the corridors and open spaces of the ship's cabin, at most covering themselves with a leather blanket.
After all, they were all sturdy and robust pirates who didn't bother with such formalities.
The Death Comet ship remained peacefully anchored.
"You drink too, have another cup, bottoms up! Yeah, that's it! Cheers!" Sag watched with satisfaction as Hawkins drained his wooden cup and then laughed heartily. "Later, calculate for me—if I go fishing again, unexpectedly, what are the chances of me making a catch?"
Hawkins shook his head slightly. "I can't make calculations; I can only divine. Compared to that—"
"It's all the same thing," Sag interrupted with a wave of his hand. "Anyway, leave it to you, Old Hawk!"
Hawkins: "..."
"My name is Basil Hawkins, not Old Hawk, and I'm not old either. I'm only twenty-nine this year."
Sag nodded to acknowledge Hawkins' protest but continued, "Alright, Old Hawk, hurry up and do your calculations. Your ability is so useful; don't waste it."
"My ability only amplifies," Hawkins said, shaking his head. He took out his tarot cards and, with a flourish, shuffled them skillfully between his hands, the cards flowing like a stream. "My divination is a power I inherently possess. I am a fortune-teller by nature."
There were other powers at play on the high seas, and sometimes they were no less formidable than the powers granted by Devil Fruits.
Hawkins had been a renowned fortune-teller long before he acquired the Straw Fruit, which only served to amplify his abilities, turning his predictions into absolute probabilities. Once he divined an outcome, it never proved wrong.
He drew the top few cards and affixed them to the straws protruding from his pant legs. After a quick glance, he said calmly, "Failure rate: 99.99%. Success rate: 0.01%. Captain Sag, just as I predicted before, the odds are not in your favor for fishing today."
"Hahahahaha!"
Sag threw his head back and laughed. "After the banquet, remember to bring me a fishing rod!"
"Hey, Sag, didn't the divination say that today isn't suitable for fishing?" Renee asked, puzzled.
"Doesn't a one-in-a-thousand chance still count as a chance? If there's an opportunity, we take it!" Sag declared as he downed a large cup of alcohol. "Until the very end, no one can predict the outcome with certainty. Not trying guarantees failure, but taking action leaves that slim chance. What if, by some miracle, we succeed?"
Hawkins' eyes narrowed as he studied Sag intently.
It wasn't that he was annoyed by Sag disregarding his divination or angry that his advice was being ignored. After all, Hawkins had only just joined the crew, and loyalty couldn't be expected so soon.
But now that he had agreed to come on board, he wouldn't just sneak away—that wasn't in his nature.
It was just that...
"What if, indeed?" Hawkins murmured.
Many things in life weren't certain—they weren't 100% or 0%. For instance, his survival rate and escape rate couldn't be absolutely guaranteed. Yet, Hawkins had chosen to ignore those slim chances, effectively treating them as 100% or 0%.
There was no such thing as absolute success or failure. No matter how dire the situation, divination always offered a glimmer of hope.
But that was almost as good as nothing.
Divination wasn't about gambling on luck; it was up to Hawkins to decide what to do with the information he received.
He didn't possess the strength to gamble on probabilities; Sag's power, in comparison, was overwhelmingly superior.
Yet, at this moment, Sag wasn't feigning his words or belittling Hawkins' divination abilities. Hawkins could sense that Sag genuinely believed in his ability to sway those minuscule odds.
"I have a question," Hawkins said, his eyes fixed on the wooden cup in his hand. "If you were in my position, what would you do?"
"Me?" Sag paused, then laughed. "If I can win, I'll fight. If I can't, I'll run. And if I can't escape, I won't make it easy for my enemies!"
Hawkins considered this for a moment before shaking his head. "But the outcome would still be death.
"You."
Sag patted him on the shoulder and said, "First of all, our situations are different. I'm stronger than you, and I have more resources. No matter who it is, I will have the strength to fight. If you don't fight, do you think the enemy will spare you? Don't rely too much on your ability. A one-percent chance is still a chance, and a one-in-a-thousand chance is the same."
He bared his teeth and laughed, "If you're afraid to die, then what's the point of being a pirate!"
Being a pirate meant having a disregard for life and death.
Sag was very dedicated as a pirate; aside from stealing, he was also prepared to die!
Hawkins understood what Sag was trying to say. At this point, would it be better to surrender and just stay alive, waiting for a future opportunity?
But if he went to sea with this mindset...
Sag would only grow weaker!
This was also why Hawkins himself was not strong.
He relied too much on his abilities and couldn't accept the idea of surrendering so quickly, which put him in a contradictory state of mind.
Fundamentally, this guy remained unsatisfied. He, of course, did not believe Hawkins possessed much loyalty, especially since it had been less than a few hours since he had joined. Sag exuded a kingly air, but his opponent was no simpleton, nor was he feeble. He would not wish to join Sag's pirate crew, just as he had refused in King's Valley Town.
"Ah!"
Sag suddenly remembered something and glanced at Hawkins, a smirk tugging at his lips.
He recalled.
Hawkins had formed an alliance with someone two years later, intending to go and subjugate Red Hair, but then he had encountered Kaido. It was because he had divined that he would die that he had joined Kaido's pirate crew.
But later on, he started to feel imbalanced because, aside from himself, none of the other pirates from that same period had surrendered.
Drek?
That guy had originally been a marine; there was no surrender for him, he had gone to be a spy.
So the one who felt the most imbalanced was Hawkins himself, which was why, at death's door, he had gone to ask Drek about it clearly, only to end up looking like a clown.
But now, that situation wouldn't happen because, before he had even reached Shambody, he had been intercepted by Sag.
In this situation, his sense of imbalance would be much less.
And hearing Sag's words, Hawkins remained silent.
Was he afraid to die?
He wasn't afraid to die.
He just didn't want to die meaninglessly.
Death was the ultimate punishment for a person. No matter if it was humiliating or glorious, once one died, everything was gone.
Even though Sag was his enemy, and even though he had boarded his ship, the current Sag was still the person he wanted to challenge.
"A one-in-a-thousand chance is still a chance."
Hawkins looked at Sag and said, "You've said so much to me; aren't you afraid that I'll challenge you again?"
"Whoohahahaha!"
Sag burst out laughing, then slapped Hawkins hard on the back, making him stumble, the cup in his hand swaying.
"I'm not afraid of challenges!"
He drained the cup of its alcohol and bared his teeth, saying, "Hawkins, I'll give you the chance to challenge me. If you win, you can do whatever you want, but before that, you have to work for me!"
Loyalty?
Sag valued these things, having promoted him to an executive position, but now it wasn't necessary to examine them. Whether or not he was loyal didn't matter for the time being; as long as he didn't betray him, that was fine.
As for later...
Once they had more time, more territory, and a larger organization, that would be out of his control!
He couldn't guarantee absolute strength; what qualifications did Sag have to be a Landlord King?!
There was no law among pirates; there were plenty of ambitious people!
In Sag's eyes, strength was his law, his birthright!
If he wanted to rule over others, he could only rely on that!
"Let's challenge something else first!"
Sag refilled his cup with alcohol and raised it toward Hawkins, saying, "Let's challenge each other to a drinking contest!"
"Your success rate for this challenge is 90%, and your failure rate is 10%."
Hawkins raised his cup and clinked it against Sag's, saying, "My success rate is 10%, but with this probability, I want to give it a try."
Even the tiniest chance was still a chance.
He wanted to know if Sag's overwhelming confidence was because of this.
Then...
"None of you drunkards can hold your liquor!"
Under the deep night sky, Sag looked at the drunkards lying all over the place and stood up, laughing loudly, "Lily, go get a fishing rod. I want to try that 0.01% chance!"
One in a thousand?
That was still a chance!
What Hawkins didn't know was that, upon hearing those words, Sag was thrilled.
"As a person who's always unlucky no matter what he does, he'll never succeed. Otherwise, why would he have changed so many jobs?"
"Now, someone is telling him that there is a chance of success, it's just a bit small. A small chance is still better than none!"
"He will definitely catch something!"
The next day, in the afternoon, the Death Comet sailed across the sea, its outline visible as it approached an island, heading towards its destination.
In the conference room on the third floor, Palu was busy moving chairs for the executives to sit down.
In addition to the three main executives and Arkin, the only other person present was Hawkins, who had just joined them.
Of course, he had lost the drinking contest the night before and had been sleeping on the floor until noon; after lunch, he had barely rested when he was called to the meeting.
As for Sag, he walked up the internal stairs to the second floor with a gloomy expression, glanced at them, and said, "You're all here."
"What's wrong with him?" Renee asked, turning to Marika beside her.
"Ah, it seems like he tried to go fishing again last night, but didn't catch anything." Marika chuckled softly.
"Shut up! Nonsense about not catching anything. The fish must've been asleep at midnight. Next time, I'll choose a better time, and I will definitely catch something!"
Sag rolled his eyes, sat down in the chair at the head of the table, and said, "Lily."
Lily nodded and said, "We've spotted Anu Country, so let's discuss the specific plan now."
Palu was asked to bring in a blackboard, and Lily pinned a map of Anu Country onto it. They, of course, had a map of Anu Country, thanks to the intelligence provided by Donquixote Doflamingo, which included a mountain at the center of the island, with flatlands surrounding it, and the king's castle atop the mountain.
"We'll land first, then use the Curse of the Golden Curse to guide us to our destination to see if there's any gold there. This is our primary objective. Secondly..."
Lily stood up, pointed to a town marker in the southeast position on the map, and continued, "White Harbor, the closest location to our route, is also the only port town in Anu Country. It is also a bustling town where many people purchase stone materials and stay, so there are quite a few industries worth robbing. However, this will be our last step."
As a kingdom with a single trade product, it naturally needed external goods to enrich the country, and a port was indispensable for this, making it the most prosperous place as well.
She went on, "Our secondary objective is to raid the king's castle first, then head southeast from the castle, and finally raid White Harbor. Once we're done, we'll set sail."
Raiding the port first would easily attract the Navy, and if that happened, they wouldn't be able to venture deeper into the island's land. After all, sailing depended on their ship, and if it were surrounded, things would get tricky.
That's why the port would be their last target; once they were done, they could set sail again.
"That's a great plan."
Hawkins was also thinking about the key points and nodded, "I'm quite interested in the so-called curse of Anu Country."
He had learned about the Curse of the Golden Curse after he woke up.
For Hawkins, curses, zombies, and the like were quite intriguing, and he really wanted to see them for himself.
"Old Hawk, calculate the chances of the ship being discovered by the Navy if we anchor it here." Sag said.
Hawkins' primary role was far more important than his combat strength.
In fact, even before Sag finished speaking, Hawkins had already started his divination when Lily was explaining the plan.
As soon as Sag's words landed, Hawkins affixed the last card to the straws protruding from his pants and said, "Northeast direction, 5% chance of being discovered by the Navy, 95% chance of successful concealment."
Of course, Sag understood where to anchor the ship without the need for divination.
The Death Comet wasn't suitable to head for the port at the moment; they would wait until they raided the port to move together, so they could more conveniently and successfully carry out the robbery without being pursued by the Navy.
After all, this island had a Navy base, and it was right next to White Harbor.
Anchoring the ship in the northeast was because that area was closest to the calm belt, where the Navy wouldn't patrol.
However, the probability calculated by divination still pleased Sag.
"Let's do it!"
Sag laughed heartily, "Leave half the crew to watch the ship, and the rest will follow me. Then, when we give the signal, have the remaining crew head to White Harbor to meet up with us!"
(End of Chapter)
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