Cards

Alyssia had sat on the ground as many ships had begun to dock on the port of the island.

It was the island that had been arranged for her battle and there seemed to be those that were prepared to watch from further away.

The ships that had arrived had Marine markings and flags on the ships which had shown their affiliation and identity.

There was a couple of others that had come along with them or had come on other ships which were some photographers that belonged to one of the newspaper groups.

Garp was sitting down on his own ship as it had docked while his students were busy trying to shake him awake.

Alyssia had continued to look over for a while before turning her attention back towards the cards in her hand.

They were shuffled before they had been separated into a couple of sections before being placed randomly over each of the sections until the deck was complete and shuffled again.

Alyssia looked towards the card deck that was face down on the ground then put her hand onto the top card. "What are the odds of me winning this?"

The top card was pulled up in front of her eyes which caused a smile to appear on her face. "Not bad."

The card was placed aside then her hand touched the top of the deck again. "Will I encounter any difficulties from this battle?"

Her face had looked seriously towards the card that had been taken before sighing. "Should have known."

She continued to pick up another as she had asked. "What are the odds of myself being put in a difficult situation?"

"What are the odds of others around me being caught up in it?"

"Can I find a way around it?"

There were different emotions that were shown on her face each time she had received an answer from the cards.

The card divination was a skill that belonged to Basil Hawkins that Alyssia had taken for herself some time ago, it was a skill that was rarely ever used but it was fun to play around with at times.

The predictions or probabilities that came from Basil Hawkins were usually correct and if Alyssia had been using the skill correctly then the answers she had gained should have some truth to them.

There were times when something was absolutely confirmed to be close to one hundred percent with little room for there to be any other outcome but there would always be a time where a 0.001% probability could be what could make things turn out differently.

That was enough to be called a miracle and being able to beat the poor odds that would be stacked against an impossible outcome.

All the possibilities and outside factors would be put together to result in the predictions that were shown on the cards.

The more direct the question that was asked, the more direct the prediction could be.

The more vague the question, the more difficult it was to get a completely accurate answer.

If someone asked if they would encounter danger soon and got an answer then they could continue to ask more specific questions to follow up on it.

They could go on to ask if that danger came from someone they knew or was in one of the places they were visiting that day.

Eventually the cause of the danger could be narrowed down and the cards could point them towards a direction that had a better probability of a safe and better outcome.

Once Alyssia had seen the results, she had looked over towards those that had accompanied her. "Stay on guard."

Archie and Carrot had accompanied her to reach the island and they had both stood to the side of her quietly.

The moment that they heard her warning, Carrot stuck out her tongue. "Sis Alyssia, you do not have to tell me. Eehe."

Archie shrugged. "I got it."

A large figure had got closer as they had stepped off from their ship, it was Garp who had finally woke up and looked very refreshed and full of energy.

He was not alone since he was accompanied by Helmeppo and Koby while further behind him were the figures of Sengoku and Tsuru.

It seemed like Sengoku and Tsuru did not fully agree with the fight that was about to happen but they had still begrudgingly come along to give their old friend and comrade some support.

Garp and Alyssia had finally met as their eyes had locked with each others.

The fighting spirit within Alyssia that had been suppressed for a long time had been ignited as she had met the intimidating eyes of Garp that had stared her down.

She had remembered that at the beginning of her journey she had wanted to reach the peak and become the world's strongest martial artist but many other pursuits and worldly matters had gotten in the way of that.

She remembered the promise that she had made to Don Chinjao to defeat Garp so she had to keep her word.

Alyssia stepped forward and stood in front of Garp. "How do you want to start this? Should we just begin or do we need some sign to start?"

Garp let out a laugh. "Bwahaha! Kid, you must be in a hurry to begin. Anything is fine with me."

Alyssia showed an excited smile towards him. "How about we begin then?"

Without warning the leg had lifted up and had sent a normal front kick towards Garp and he had been fast enough to hold up his arms in a cross shape to block it.

He looked a little surprised as his body had slid across the ground a couple of steps back. "It seems that I do not have to hold back against a kid like you."

Garp showed a wide grin which was a characteristic of those within the D clan whose name was still a big mystery to Alyssia who had slacked off on chasing the Poneglyphs.

All she did know was that their smiles did not waver in the face of high risk life and death battles and they even died with smiles on their faces.

Their bodies moved towards each other all of a sudden with superhuman speeds before crashing into each other.

A fist had met with a foot which had caused a large fallout in the surroundings but both had remained in place before pulling back their attack and switching at a faster speed to deliver another attack with their other arm and leg.