Chapter 61: The Twelve Seats of the High Table

O-Ren Ishii's background story heavily mirrored Luca's, and even their future goals were strikingly similar.

However, her past was much more tragic than Luca's. When she was nine years old, she witnessed her parents being murdered by yakuza rivals in a blood feud. The samurai sword that pierced her mother's corpse also drove through the floorboards, almost killing her as she hid underneath the bed.

Ever since that day, she had sworn to exact bloody revenge.

Now, she had successfully eliminated her enemies and become a top-tier international assassin; her next goal was to inherit the criminal empire her parents once ruled.

Meanwhile, Luca's father, old Greco, had been arrested on murder charges and sentenced to a dozen years, only to be assassinated shortly after entering prison.

To a certain extent, their backgrounds were evenly matched. Both were assassins; one wanted to be a godfather, while the other wanted to unify the Tokyo underworld.

Luca felt they should have plenty of common ground.

Just as Luca was pondering this, the system interface popped up.

【You provided clues and assisted the FBI and police in suppressing the chaos at the "Joe and Mary" club, maintaining peace within the establishment...】

【Acquired Skill Points X10】

【Acquired Skill Fragments X5】

Not bad!

Thanks to Denham and Richie for the generous contributions!

.......

At the entrance of the club.

Denham was cooperating with his colleagues to clean up the aftermath.

Richie and David were also helping out.

McClane sat beside the ambulance, enjoying the ministrations of a young female paramedic who was bandaging his wounds. The poor girl had been terrified by the blood-soaked man, but upon a thorough examination, she realized they were all superficial scrapes and scratches, amounting to nothing of importance.

"I heard you single-handedly stopped a gang war," the paramedic asked curiously. "This is my first assignment, and I already ran into a badass cop like you."

McClane winced slightly. He had fought a Japanese lunatic for half a day, chipping his blade in the process, only to let her slip away in the end.

Outrageous!

Yet, come to think of it, she was easily the most formidable individual in solo combat that McClane had ever fought—none excluded.

Word had it that the Pigeon was also quite strong, but since they had never crossed paths, his exact strength remained unclear.

"I'd rather not be this badass," McClane sighed. "If only the world didn't need people like me to step in... Hiss~~!"

McClane tensed up. "What are you doing?"

"Disinfecting your wounds."

"This might hurt a little."

"It won't hurt."

"Hiss!!! Didn't you just say it wouldn't hurt?!!"

......

"David, once this whole thing is over, I think I'll resign."

Richie leaned against the door of the police cruiser, gazing at the club with a nostalgic expression, taking a massive drag from his cigarette.

"Afraid of running into tonight's mess again?"

"Not entirely," Richie shook his head. "Before joining the anti-narcotics task force, I was already studying for the bar exam. I plan to become a lawyer... Washington suddenly stepped in and recruited me for anti-narcotics operations... This whole anti-narcotics stint was just a detour. Afterwards, I'm going to practice law."

"I thought you wanted to dedicate your entire life to fighting drugs."

"I'm not that selfless and great. Let's just say I did it for my own obsession."

Richie shook his head, flashes of being ostracized within the police department playing in his mind. He had been doing the right thing, only to be suppressed by the righteous police force.

He couldn't swallow that humiliation, and he had grown thoroughly disillusioned with the police department.

To achieve his goal, he would stop at nothing to win this war, even dealing with the devil and aligning with the mafia.

Even if he was going to quit, he was going to drag a bunch of corrupt cops straight down to hell with him, motherfucker.

"Man, your cynical talk is making me feel like being a cop is pointless," David patted him on the shoulder. "Cheer up. We still have the choice to do the right thing. Look at old Pigeon—he's a mobster and he's still out here defending peace, hahaha."

Richie gave a dry chuckle. "I hope so."

......

Inside a safehouse in Long Island.

"Gomen nasai! Mr. Greco!"

O-Ren Ishii sat seiza-style on the floor, bowing deeply to apologize to Luca. "I underestimated the enemy's strength. My recklessness led to the failure of this assassination operation..."

She kept her head lowered in repentance, her voice dripping with genuine sincerity and vexation.

Having successfully assassinated numerous gang bosses in the past, she had never failed a single time and was quite confident in her own abilities.

She had thought this mission would be a breeze, too.

She never expected the situation tonight to become so complicated. To this day, she still couldn't figure out how an assassination had suddenly devolved into a gang war, nor why a man like McClane was so freakishly powerful.

A huge chunk of her subordinates had inexplicably been wiped out.

It was a complete, one-sided rout.

Luca listened silently to her apology.

He had already figured out the situation: the Deadly Vipers had accepted Dominic's commission to assassinate Galante and Richie, with Bill acting as the bridge of communication between the two parties.

However, Luca wasn't entirely clear on what kind of agreement existed between Bill and Dominic. Were they planning to jointly prop up Frank to run the New York drug market? Or was there some other exchange of interests?

Since a bastard like Bill was capable of backing O-Ren Ishii to compete for the throne of the Tokyo underworld, he was probably quite interested in the New York criminal underground.

"Ms. Ishii, you merely accepted Dominic's commission, is that correct?" Luca suddenly asked.

"Your boss invited us to his estate for half a day."

It was Elle who spoke. She glanced at Luca, scribbling in a small notebook. "At the time, Bill even suggested we team up with you. He knew who you were, Mr. Butcher, but our Cottonmouth here didn't take you seriously at all..."

"Gomen nasai..." O-Ren Ishii apologized once more. "Mr. Greco, I did not mean to offend you. I am willing to apologize for my failure."

Luca's gaze flickered with an inscrutable light, and he murmured, "I understand."

Inwardly, he couldn't help but marvel that if he hadn't intervened, this crew of assassins might have actually pulled it off and taken out Richie and Galante.

Who could possibly stop O-Ren Ishii?

Only a monstrous anomaly with cheat codes enabled, like McClane, could have held her off.

In terms of pure combat prowess, this SR-tier female assassin was among the absolute elite in this world.

She wasn't lacking in capability to eventually unify the Tokyo criminal underworld.

Of course, this underworld queen had yet to begin her grand reign. In the original plot, it wasn't until the "Black Mamba" was wiped out entirely at her wedding that Bill secretly used the organization's resources to help O-Ren unify the Tokyo underworld.

—O-Ren Ishii's parents had once been bigwigs in the Tokyo underworld, and they had joined forces with other gang leaders to establish the Gang Council. That was why she possessed the status and qualification to contend for the position of boss; otherwise, what right did a mere assassin have to become a yakuza boss?

Therefore, if Bill could help her become the supreme boss, why couldn't the Ambassador of Peace?

Unify the Tokyo yakuza and maintain peace in the underworld!

Compared to the melodramatic love-hate entanglements between Bill and the Black Mamba, Luca was far more interested in unifying the Tokyo underworld... He remembered that the "Japanese Yakuza," also known as the "Japanese Syndicate Council," held one of the twelve seats at the High Table.

The High Table...

The American Mafia Commission held a seat, the Japanese Yakuza held a seat, plus the Italian Camorra, the Russian Bratva...

If O-Ren Ishii could be the boss, why couldn't the Boogeyman?

In the future, the Ambassador of Peace wouldn't mind turning all twelve seats of the High Table into his own people.

Everyone could sit together harmoniously at the High Table, playing poker and jointly building world peace.

Just thinking about it made the future look so bright~~~

Let's start with a small goal first—hmm, developing a friendly relationship with O-Ren Ishii.

"This wasn't entirely your fault."

Unlike the way he chewed out Elle, Luca spoke to O-Ren with a calm voice. "Do you know why I didn't make a move until the very end? That bald-headed man—you fought him, so you should know very well just how terrifying his strength is."

O-Ren Ishii: "......"

Strength... it was hard to say, but fighting that guy gave you the lingering despair of wailing on a boss for ages, only to realize you had barely shaved off a thin layer of its health bar.

"Now it seems that the police and the Bonanno family were well prepared. You were already being watched the moment you stepped into the club!"

Luca stated, "Ms. Ishii, you actually did very well. To be able to escape alive after walking straight into an ambush—that is already a stroke of fortune amidst misfortune."

"Gomen nasai!" O-Ren Ishii still kept her head bowed. "My past experiences made me arrogant and disdainful of the enemy. This failure is a profound lesson for me! I must apologize for this defeat!"

You Japanese people really are eager to take the blame for everything... Luca thought to himself that he hadn't even started gaslighting her yet, and she was already deep into self-reflection.

"Just commit seppuku," Elle teased maliciously. "Otherwise, how else are you going to prove your sincerity?"

O-Ren Ishii raised her head, pretending not to hear Elle's remark, and stared straight at Luca. "Mr. Greco, I hope we can continue cooperating to complete the assassination. I must wash away the humiliation of this failure!"

Luca didn't rush to agree, soothing her instead, "You're injured; get some rest first. It's safe here. Once you've recovered, we can discuss it then."

O-Ren Ishii's expression remained stubborn. "Sir, these minor injuries to me—"

"Ms. Ishii, what you need right now is to recuperate."

Luca interrupted her, extending his hand with a smile. "I am willing to cooperate with you, but I also ask for your trust. If you want Galante's head, I can bring it right to you; if you wish to take his life with your own hands, then please adjust your condition first, and then fight side by side with me!

I will not look down on you just because you are a woman, but I will harbor doubts about you because of your distrust!

This is our first collaboration, but I hope it won't be the last."

Luca's voice seemed to possess a bizarre, captivating magic. O-Ren Ishii felt the man's sincerity, along with that elusive trace of trust.

"I understand."

Taking a deep breath, she clasped Luca's calloused, warm hand. "Mr. Greco, thank you for your trust. I look forward to our cooperation."

【Bond: Attention...】