Chapter 17: A Bad Man's World

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(Nix)"Yo, have you noticed something...odd?"

(Pepin)"What do you mean?"

(Nix)"We've been looking around for a few minutes now, but I haven't seen a single woman, not even some little girl or...even one of those Okama guys."

(Pepin)"Okama?"

(Nix)"Yeah, they have an entire island to themselves, and they just like to dress up as women. I read about in school."

(Pepin)"Oh...cool."

(Nix)"But still, we have a better chance finding Marcus ourselves than seeing some chicks."

There was an audible growl from both of their stomachs.

(Pepin)"We've been searching for a while now, I say we take a lunch break."

(Nix)"Sounds good to me! Mawgona probably found him by now."

They walked into a nearby bar, and it looked like it was ripped right out of Gunsmoke. (Love that show.) Men with big hats and a revolver or two sat around eating, drinking, gambling around the larger tables, it was a cowboy's paradise.

To their relief, the person at the counter was female, which at least let them know that they weren't all dead or something. But the waitress had an "I'll act happy to be here, but I'm actually terrified" expression, and she wore this strange looking metal thing on her neck.

(Waitress)"Welcome to our perfect little island, how may I help you two men?"

(Nix)"Uh, that's weird/ We'll take a couple drinks, and get us whatever food's good here."

(Waitress)"What a fantastic choice! I'll have that ready in just a moment!"

As she went to the back room, the duo shared an awkward star at each other.

(Nix)"Did you hear the way she spoke? Like she was held a gunpoint. It may be a hunch, but I got a bad feeling about this place."

(???)"Your feeling ain't wrong."

(Nix)"Huh?"

The man sitting next to him had a shiny gold badge on his chest, a brown mustache, and eyebrows so big you couldn't see the eyes underneath.

(Bill)"You boys must be new around here. I'm Bill, the Sheriff of Viva-La-Vaego. And to answer your question, yes, things are not right with this place."

(Pepin)"What exactly?"

(Bill)"A few years back, everyone was equal, man and woman. But then Marcus, as well as his two partners stole ownership of the entire island from the mayor. He's basically made everyone of the female gender a slave, doesn't even count them as Human beings."

(Bill)"And that collar on that girl's neck? It's rigged to explode the second she tries to leave this island."

(Pepin)"The hell? What's his deal with women?"

(Bill)"Nobody knows, maybe something happened to him with some girl, could be anything. Things are pretty bad, but there is one way all this can be fixed. That Marcus is a man of his word, and he said that if anyone beats him in a bet, then he'll leave this place forever."

(Bill)"Unfortunately, he said that about 8 years ago, and nobody has beaten him ever since."

(Nix)"Well let me tell you this, our Captain is the guy you've been waiting for! I've seen him gamble, and he's damn good at it! Even if he doesn't win, I'm sure he'll just beat the hell outta him!"

(Bill)"I hope you're right about that, I've seen too much pain and sorrow in the eyes of the locals for too long."

(Meanwhile)

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