"Rope?"
"I'm here."
"Can you tell me what you brought me here for?"
Whitley looked at the casino in front of her that couldn't even be described as gilded, but only as paper-thin, and asked the question with a face full of doubt.
"Not much. It's just that I've come to see it. I thought you'd be quite interested in this place."
Rope smiled and said, "After all, the trench merchants are huge and throw away a lot of money, this is the real money pit on this ship."
Whitley looked in front of him, the hotly dressed bunny emissaries, the exposed clothes worn by the dealers, the gamblers wearing masks, either blandly or wildly, for a moment suddenly felt that these people's world and his own were really far away.
"Do rich people like to gamble?"
Whitley asked suspiciously.
"Of course not, there are also those who like whoring and watching others play wild fights and no rules against each other, people? when you have money, you have to find a way to spend it. Getting down to the basics of human nature, there's never a shortage of money to be made. There's also no shortage of places to spend it."
Rope shrugged and said blandly.
Whitley looked at the masks on the faces of the gamblers, which were more symbolic than real, and said, "These masks, which don't hide their identities at all, serve the same purpose as the previous hidden box, right?"
"Very clever," Rope nodded appreciatively, "It's the magic of the ship, or the power of the shipping company, that's really working to keep anyone from putting their foot down here. A loss is a loss, a win is a win, and that's the rule the shipping company laid down on S.S. Anne."
"But there are also is some people who can't control this kind of rule, right?"
Although he said so, Whitley's two eyes stared straight at Rope, almost writing 'yes, I'm talking about you' on his face.
Rope shrugged, "Capital is weak, they will succumb to a power higher than themselves."
And you and I are that power.
That was Rope's subtext, and Whitley heard it.
And so she also realized what Rope really meant when she brought herself out to hang out for the rest of the day...
"Do you need to be like this? Bring me out just to help me build up my pride???"
Whitley looked at Rope in a good-natured and amused manner.
How could she not understand such a simple thing, just say the word and go through all the trouble?
"Useful, I don't want my apprentice to end up being a researcher who will be swayed by money." Rope looked at Whitley with rare seriousness and said, "This discipline of ours, or rather your and my responsibilities do not destine you and I to profit off of it."
"But as long as you still hold the responsibilities that this discipline gives you, then long there will be countless amounts of money in front of your eyes."
"The simplest example of this is that I interceded when the shipping company offended Manaphy, and then came into possession of some shares which represented a great interest."
"But Whitley, it's not right to get Legendary Pokémon to concede to humans for money. We are neutral, absolutely neutral. We are the reconcilers now, but we, afterward, will be the arbiters."
Rope's words were spoken in a soft voice, but they seemed to explode like thunder in Whitley's ears.
"Arbiter... arbiter?"
Arbitrate who, Legendary Pokémon and humans? Arbitrate the conflict between the two? How could that be possible! We're just humans, and who are humans to arbitrate Legendary Pokémon?
"It's possible." Rope said with a light smile as if he could see what Whitley was thinking, "What gives us the right to arbitrate Legendary Pokémon are the rules. It will also be strength."
Rope patted Whitley's shoulder and said, "That's why you should never pull back on your trainer strength either!"
Whitley rolled his eyes at Rope and said, "I know, I know! If you have something to say, why do you have to come to the casino?"
"To bring you closer to the real human nature." Rope put away the smile on his face and replaced it with an expression that was cold with a hint of contempt.
"What was that?"
Whitley really didn't know what Rope was even thinking sometimes. So much the same, Cynthia's sister being able to keep up with Rope's thoughts at all was really just impressive enough.
"Come on, let's go sit over there for a while."
Rope didn't answer her positively either, just smiled and sat down towards the resting area over there. As he walked away, he smoothly took the symbolic masquerade that was handed over from the waiter's hand.
Whitley sighed softly, really confused as to who was bringing who out to play.
Then quickly followed and took the masquerade as well.
——————————
"They're going into the casino."
The woman in the black suit subconsciously warned.
"I saw it..."
Ming spoke impatiently.
The black-suited woman then responded before bowing apologetically towards Ming.
"What do you think they went to the casino for... Rope doesn't like gambling, and that little girl is certainly even less likely to like gambling."
Ming was also feeling weird about what the hell was going on.
"I'm not sure."
The corner of the black suited woman's mouth twitched, how could she know what Professor Rope was thinking...
"...is there something in the casino that I don't know about?"
Ming's eyes steeped, then looked at the Captain and droned.
"There is a hidden casino in the casino, and in that casino...anything can be pressed into service..."
The captain did not hesitate to say.
"...Why didn't I know this casino existed?!"
Ming's eyes were close enough to kill...
The captain gulped a mouthful of saliva, then lowered his head not daring to look directly into Ming's eyes, his tone of voice was quite calm.
"The chairman said... that was your last lesson of the classroom of the classroom, and it's better for you, now, not to know about it."
The corner of Ming's mouth lifted into a sneer, "What? He personally handed over so many matters to me, and now he's still afraid that there are some things I won't be able to accept?"
After saying that, she looked at the little girl called Whitley on the video, "Rope took Whitley and I can't go, am I even more than a little girl?"
Saying that, Red Rose got up sharply, then picked up her trench coat from the back of the chair, then opened the door and walked out with big strides.
Behind her, the black-suited woman glared fiercely at the captain, who on the contrary was not afraid of this and although higher than his own status, but even less free woman than himself.
The woman in black suit followed Ming's footsteps and then walked out of this monitoring room together.
And after the two walked away, the captain took out his cell phone from his own pocket and dialed a number.
A moment later, the call was connected.
"Chairman, Miss already knows about the existence of 'Paradise'."
The captain's tone was still quite calm, but looking at his clenched, even slightly shaking hands, one could tell that his mood wasn't actually calm...
The person on the other end of the phone didn't reply right away, and only the sound of his fingers lightly clasping the table rang out.
The air in the monitoring room was nearly frozen, and the captain dared not even breathe.
After a long time, a gentle voice finally rang out.
"It's alright, it's been hard on you, I think that girl Ming should have gotten angry at you as well. She is that temperamental, I'll say sorry to you on her behalf."
"No, no, no, Chairman, you're too kind, it's only right, it's only right to let the young lady lose her temper."
The captain was busy and panicked.
Just kidding, he dared to let his own chairman apologize to himself? This wasn't even a matter of not wanting to do it anymore, this was really not wanting to live.
"Ming this girl has been spoiled by me since she was a child, this time she should have a big fire."
The chairman looked like he wasn't even listening to the captain's words.
"By the way, it's because Rope entered 'Paradise' right."
"Yes, Professor Rope went into Paradise too. It was with a little girl who went in."
"It looks like it's a lesson too...wouldn't it be too much of a rush...Rope the little guy is a first time teacher too..."
Once again the Captain was silent...what could he do? That was something that really couldn't be mixed up in words.
"Keep an eye on it, since they're all going to class, let the 'Paradise' people be able to increase the scale today."
"Okay, chairman! I will!"
"Hard work."
——————————
Whitley was feeling a little less comfortable.
It was dark in here. There were only two overhead lights in the center, hitting the empty space right in the middle.
Where there were two men dressed plainly, even a little lugubriously.
"Rope, they're..."
"Real gamblers, people who dare to put everything they have on the table..."
Rope shrugged.
"They participate in this gamble, and when they win they get everything a person has, from money, to wives, children, parents, and even everything else, even their identity is winnable..."
Whitley glanced at the two men on the stage, one with long hair and a menacing expression . One wore a wrinkled black suit with dark glasses and scowled.
"Ho ho ho! Welcome, guests, to this new round of our 'Desperado'!"
A clown wearing a clown suit with pompous demeanor and movements walked to the front of the stage, then smiled and said, "The two contestants this time! One is Alfaro, who has already won four consecutive victories at Jedi's! He has already come to our Jedi's stage for the fourth time!"
The clown passes the microphone to the long-haired man's mouth then asks, "Come on, come on, tell us. Alfaro! Do you have no fucking money to spend? Or have you already played the last poor woman to death? Hahaha!"
The people in the stands made a ball of laughter at the not-so-funny joke.
Rope and Whitley didn't laugh. neither did Ming or the woman in the black suit.
Alfaro gave a cruel smile and said, "It didn't play dead. that was my biggest bargaining chip! I just ran out of money to spend."
"Unfortunately, I'm only afraid that even if you didn't play dead, you've already been played to death... After all, what you're matching your current assets to is the one in front of us, Mr. Takahiro, a middle-aged man with nothing to lose!"
"The chips he's holding out are his own little life and his own daughter, oh, the clown has seen that cute and pathetic little girl. What a heartwarming sight! Too bad... there are only so many chips left!"
Once again the stage caused a roar of laughter over the unfunny joke.
"Alright! Let's see the chips!"
The clown snapped his fingers, then behind Alfaro four lights shone on the four tables.
"A house!" The clown said, pointing to a house deed.
"A car!" It was a very expensive sports car, but unfortunately it looked like it had been in battle...
"A woman!" A woman in revealing clothes, with a pretty face and a hot body but with lifeless eyes was cowering in the corner of the cage.
"And... a life!" And so another light hit Alfaro's body.
Applause erupted from the audience, and someone else threw something in their hand towards the side, and upon closer inspection, it was casino chips...
Alfaro made a pompous bowing gesture.
"As for the other side!"
The clown pointed to Takahiro.
"Mr. Takahiro's chip, a child!" The lights illuminated and a little girl dressed as a cherub appeared in a cage.
The child looked around at the wolf-like eyes and cowered in fear towards the corner of the cage.
Takahiro subconsciously reached out towards the child, but the child saw the movement and shrank back again.
Whitley's lips pursed as she glanced at Rope and realized that Rope's expression wasn't calm either...
And on the other side, Ming watched the on-stage scene with anger burning in his eyes...
——————————
"Chairman... the ship will be destroyed..."
A man in a silver suit looked at the middle-aged man sitting in the boss chair, wearing pajamas and said.
"This is that girl Ming's final test...if she can pass then she will be able to take over my job...if she can't...then get ready for a change."
The middle-aged man in the pajamas yawned and looked like he hadn't slept a wink.
"The problem is Professor Rope, Chairman, Professor Rope will tear S.S. Anne apart!"
The silver-suited secretary said with helpless pain, "That ship is expensive!!!"
"Aye aye, chump change, just paddle it, get ready to arrange for two rescue teams to go over there, I reckon that little Rope fella really wouldn't lay a light hand on it either."
The middle-aged man in pajamas said with an indifferent face. It was as if what was about to be destroyed wasn't the cruise ship S.S. Anne, known as 'the world's most luxurious', but a small sampan...
"The problem is that it's worthless, Chairman! And it's also flat out pissed off Professor Rope's ill feelings!"
"The ship is destroyed, what more does he want? Come over here and beat me up? Yes, if beating me up will take the edge off, that's fine. But that's Rope, what a smart kid. He'll understand."
The middle-aged man in the pajamas, stretched out and said, "A businessman?...it's not uncommon for him to lose a bit of his conscience. Besides, it was only once."
The silver-suited secretary could only shake his head and stop talking.
Such a test was cruel, it was nothing to test yourself, but to involve Professor Rope wasn't it a bit too...
The silver-suited secretary quietly retreated out.
"Old Chairman, yes yes, it's me, the test for Ms. Ming has already started. But Professor Rope seems to have gotten involved as well."
And in the middle of a certain manor.
A gray-haired old man's cell phone almost didn't hold...
Looking at the picture on the table of Rope knocking Hooper out with a punch, he was a little taken back for a moment...
"How did Rope know?"
"We're not really sure..."
The old man rubbed his temples then said, "I see. You get ready. Call me anytime when something really goes wrong..."