Chapter 73: Vivi's Observation Haki

Vivi and the middle-aged man in the light purple kimono roamed around the city aimlessly.

The casinos in the capital of Lulusia Kingdom were raking in unbelievable profits, and their jubilant atmosphere was akin to a perpetual New Year's celebration.

They were ecstatic, but nearby pirates were having a stroke of bad luck. No one's money fell from the sky, and neither Vivi nor the middle-aged man had the habit of carrying hundreds of millions of Berries with them. Moreover, it was not very practical.

Their approach was quite similar: Out of money? Time to catch some pirates!

In the New World, pirate bounties were generally quite high. Just catch one, and the bounty easily exceeds tens of millions.

Vivi was more selective in her choice of targets. She avoided pirates with exceptionally high bounties or those with powerful connections. The middle-aged man in the light purple kimono, on the other hand, had no reservations. Any pirate would do for him; he didn't even care to remember their names.

They captured pirates and then headed to the casinos to lose their money. After losing, they'd go out to capture more pirates.

As they continued to lose, the casino owners' vaults could no longer hold all the money, and the World Government's bounty redemption stations had exhausted their cash reserves. They were left penniless!

With no money, what could they do? They could only issue promissory notes. Those who held their promissory notes could redeem them at other government stations for cash.

Vivi didn't mind using promissory notes, so she took them to the casino.

"Exchange these for chips," she handed the promissory notes to the casino staff.

At first, the staff didn't quite understand what these were. It wasn't until the casino owner personally inspected the promissory notes that he had a sudden realization.

"Where did you get this... voucher?" It was quite coincidental that Vivi had walked into the same casino in the southern part of the city as she did three days ago.

The casino owner had personally acted as the dealer and had seen Vivi lose thirty-nine times in a row, starting the capital feast in the capital of Lulusia Kingdom.

Now that he was looking at the voucher with the World Government seal, as well as Vivi's calm expression, an overwhelming sense of fear washed over him. His avarice waned rapidly, and beads of cold sweat formed on his forehead. In the end, he found himself caught in an odd circle where the more he thought, the more afraid he felt, and the more afraid he felt, the more he thought...

"Hahahahaha—!" Vivi laughed.

She could "see" the fear in the casino owner's heart very clearly and part of it was a push from her.

This awakening was different from acquiring skills; her Observation Haki had suddenly manifested on her panel as "Observation Haki Lv4 (600/1000)." Now, her Observation Haki was her highest-level skill after "Etiquette," surpassing "Dance," "Music," and "Swordsmanship" by a considerable margin.

Below her Observation Haki, a unique skill called "Suggestion" appeared. This skill allowed her to observe others' emotions and implant subtle suggestions in their minds without their awareness. It was an application of Haki that belonged exclusively to her.

Many people had been subjected to some form of suggestion in their lives. For example, someone may have needed to catch an early morning train at 4 AM and kept that thought in mind before going to bed. They might wake up naturally just before that hour without the need for an alarm clock. That was a form of suggestion.

Vivi's Suggestion was similar in concept but involved implanting specific commands into the minds of others. She wasn't entirely sure how to use it or what its full capabilities were. Today's visit to the casino was partly an experiment to test her skill and, of course, to retrieve her lost money.

Her perception utterly overwhelmed the casino owner. He had no resistance against her suggestion, and at this point, he was nearly dumbfounded.

"Where did I get this voucher, you ask? It was given to me by a World Government official. Do you really think someone here would dare to forge such a document? Now, hurry up and exchange it for chips. Today, I want to continue playing!"

The reputation of the World Government was too intimidating for anyone to easily challenge. Even the nobles behind these casinos dared not offend this behemoth. Faking a government document was a foolish act that could be easily verified, and no one here was willing to take such a risk.

"These pirates, are they…?"

"All of them are my captures. After all, I didn't bring many Berries with me, and in order to enjoy myself here, I had no choice but to capture a few pirates in exchange for money, right? What is the problem? Perhaps I'm not welcome here?"

"No, no, you're very welcome," the casino owner replied, his face turning pale. He wiped the sweat from his brow and hysterically shouted to those nearby, "Quick, quick, get her some chips!"

...

Vivi had won!

Today, she had consecutively bet on black for thirty-nine rounds, and miraculously, the whites that haunted her for the past two days never appeared. She not only recovered the 30 million Berries she had lost at this casino but also earned an additional 10 million Berries.

Without saying the usual "I'll be back tomorrow," she exited the casino with Ain and Binz brimming with joy.

Not long after her departure, the middle-aged man in the light purple kimono arrived at the same casino.

The middle-aged man was quite polite and seemed a bit embarrassed as he presented a voucher that made the casino owner's heart skip a beat. In a consultative tone, he said, "The World Government officials said there's no more cash available in the Lulusia Kingdom, so they issued me this voucher. Can I exchange it for chips?"

This time, the casino owner was somewhat skeptical regarding the voucher presented by the man in the light purple kimono. Vivi's previous suggestion had been hastily and forcefully executed without any preparation. Now that the casino owner's mind had recovered, a counter-reaction occurred. His emotions suddenly became quite agitated.

Unconsciously, there was a trace of malevolence in the way he looked at the man in the light purple kimono.

No matter how skilled an actress Vivi was, she wasn't truly blind. Her companions, Ain and Binz, who had been with her the entire time, didn't appear ordinary either. Furthermore, Vivi, who possessed all three forms of Haki, exuded tremendous psychological pressure on ordinary people even when she wasn't using them.

What were the principles of a cruel, ruthless real world? Even in Lulusia Kingdom, many principles held true. Women, the elderly, children, and the disabled were best left untouched. Vivi was not very old, she could relate to the child category to some extent, so she fell into two and a half categories, making her someone to avoid provoking.

The middle-aged blind man, dressed in a light purple kimono, only occupied one of these "threat categories." Moreover, his tone was gentle, and he was the second person to arrive, so the casino owner began to doubt.

'Could this guy be a scammer? Does he know that the blind woman took money from me just now and came here to deceive me?'

He signaled, and several burly men armed with steel pipes and machetes encircled the area from different directions.

The middle-aged man in the light purple kimono sighed softly and said, "Is this really necessary? The old me had no intention of resorting to violence."

He lightly tapped his bamboo cane on the ground after saying this. In the next moment, a fiery red meteor, carrying immense thermal energy and kinetic force, descended from the sky. 

In the horrified gazes of countless onlookers, it crashed directly onto the casino!