Glory Island Arc

"Excitement in the Town Square! Give it up for the West Blue's Champion!"

"So, without over exaggeration, this is a place where a bunch of idiots can come to get famous by beating up other idiots?" Atori asked mockingly as he casually munched on the popcorn in his hands and then grimaced when he saw that his bag was now empty. He looked down the wall that he was leaned against and looked at Ralli and Ches that were seated on the ground. The rainbow nodded and Ato scoffed before tossing the empty bag to the ground. "Sounds stupid to me."

They were all still at the festivities of Glory Island, lounging around in the square after getting something to eat. They'd sat through three quick fights courtesy of West Blue's Fight Club and were now in a bit of an intermission of the ceremony. The hundreds of spectators had taken to the various games around the area or to the food vendors over on the next street, if not just standing around in expectation of what was supposed to be the night's main event show.

Ches took a quick sip of his drink before opening his mouth to speak. "I don't think we're exactly in a position to comment, Ato. We did the same thing for a while too, you know." He threw a quick glance up at Atori, trying hard not to flinch at the glare of Ato's green eyes. "The only difference is that these fights happen once a week and are a bit…cleaner."

"Cleaner?" Ralli took his eyes off of his array of snacks to look at the rainbow.

"Yeah, cleaner. Basically, the people in these fights don't have to worry about losing by way of death. I can't tell you how many times I thought that I'd die in those seedy, underground death traps that Ato and I had fought in. This," he gestured to the surroundings in a grand sweep of his hand. " is something that I really wanted to be a part of. Just good, clean fun." He threw a handful of the popcorn into his mouth, munching on it with wide cheeks which made Ralli chuckle

"That sounds boring if you ask me," the brunette commented.

"So why'd you fight if you were so worried?" red eye asked again.

Ches stopped chewing on the popcorn in his mouth suddenly, looking a bit alarmed for all of a second before it passed and he chewed again, albeit a bit more slowly. He tossed one quick glance to Ato, seeing that the brunette was indeed listening and then turned back to the crowd of people in front of them. He shrugged. "Felt like it," was his nonchalant response around the mass of popcorn kernels in his mouth.

Ato made a mental note of yet another thing to learn about Ches in the future, but turned away to the stage nonetheless. The fat penguin man was walking back onto the platform and headed for the positioned den den mushi to speak.

"By the way, that's Tobias Grecko. He's the man behind all of this, the owner of the West Blue Fight Club, and promoter of their weekly 'Fight Night' exhibition. This festival that they're having right now is a pre-fest that they have the night before every Fight Night. And considering how many people are here, I'd say that tomorrow night's event must be something special." Ches took another quick swig of his drink before turning to Ralli. "So, if you want to become a fighter, that's the man that you need to see."

Ralli looked up at the stage, hardly getting a good glimpse of Grecko before all of the people began moving in for a better view of the stage. The only thing running through red eye's mind is the way the man smiled. Grecko seemed far from the type of man that you'd want to affiliate with. He shook his head in response. "Naa! I'd rather be King of the Pirates than fight for that guy."

"I figured," Ches smirked before tossing a popcorn kernel into the air to catch in his mouth. But Ato swiped down too quick and snatched the kernel for himself, earning a spiteful glare from the rainbow. "Hey!"

Grecko stepped right up to the den den mushi, his mischievous smile practically painted on his face. "Now, is the time that you've all been waiting for," the man's weaselly voice hissed through the speaker system. But the crowd seemed numb to Grecko's cunning and cheered instead with the thought of the main event. "Give it up for the Fight Night champion, the Bandaged Bruiser!"

On cue, the crowd erupted in a fit of rowdy cheering, children, men and women screaming without a care in the world. And as the crowd went wild, Grecko turned from the snail and watched as a mummified figure stepped onto the stage. Ralli and the others watched the supposed champ with unblinking eyes as he stepped up onto the platform. The guy was wrapped from head to toe in bandages and was dressed in the most ragged of clothing you'd ever seen. Not to mention that he was unbelievably small. The Masked Maniac could've been twice the size of this guy, and somehow he'd managed to become a champion? Ralli and the others shared a skeptical look before looking back onto the stage as the champ came to stand right by Grecko's side. The fight promoter sized up his champ in one fell swoop before taking a careful moment to look at the glorious golden championship belt around the man's waist.

"Now, we know that our champion is the strongest on all the seas!" Grecko chimed, turning back to the crowd with that sneaky smirk on his lips. "He's beaten anyone and everyone that has ever dared to stand in his way and has maintained a whopping 99-0 record!" The crowd cheered again at that bit of information, cheering the Bruiser's name with enthusiasm. "But did you know that there are people out there that dare to call our champion a hoax, a phony, a WEAKLING!" Grecko seethed, his voice invoking anger within the crowd.

"The champ'll kick their butts!" "He's the greatest!" "Our champ is champ of all!" the varying jeers ranted against Grecko's words, disgusted with the thought.

Grecko nodded his head in kind with their support before turning to the champion with a questioning eye. "Bruiser, do you think you are weak?" The muted champ turned his bandaged face over to Grecko, as his blue eyes looked right into the promoter's face. Then, all of a sudden, the Bruiser threw his head back with a mighty battle cry that struck out over the area like a siren. Everyone, including the trio of pirates, had to cover their ears from the onslaught upon their hearing and when he'd finished his mighty battle cry, he straightened back up and hit Grecko with the most damning glare possible.

The fight promoter took just a second to recover his hearing before turning to the audience with a pleased smile. "Well, I think that answers the question, right folks?"

"YEAH!" they cheered in kind.

"Are we going to let them keep taunting our champ?"

"NO!"

"Champ?" Grecko hissed, turning to the bandaged man again with a serious look. "Are…you…ready?" The champ nodded assertively just once and then Grecko turned around again to three huge men that stepped onto the stage – all three of them dressed in sumo attire. The three sumos moved up onto the platform, each of them taking a corner before focusing in on the champ. Grecko looked over the large men with a curt nod before looking at the crowd once more. "These are the Sumo Triplets of South Blue! A rival fight promoter from that dreaded sea has challenged our champion to a fight, doubting that the Bruiser can defeat the triplets. Do you agree with this man?"

The crowd instantly booed the thought. Even Ralli was booing loudly, cheering on the champ as if they were friends.

"I didn't think so." Grecko then turned back to the champ with that cunning smirk. "What say you, champ? Do you think you have what it takes to defeat the sumo triplets?" The champ didn't need half a second to nod his head, making Grecko's smile turn a bit sinister. "Is that so? Well, do you think you can do it in under ten seconds?"

"Oooh!" Ralli cheered, genuinely interested at the twist. "I don't think that the champ can beat them all in ten seconds. He doesn't look that strong."

"Who could defeat three sumos in ten seconds?" Ches demanded.

Atori scoffed. "I could."

"Me too." Ralli added.

"Whatever," was Ches's quick response.

Back on stage, the champ had pondered the question for about two seconds before nodding his head once more, making Grecko ooh! and aah! with glee. "Our champion truly is something else, is he not?" The fight promoter then moved off of the stage with the smile on his face. "Well then, champ. Don't let us hold you back. In fact! Let's cheer him on for encouragement folks!" Grecko stepped off into the crowd, carrying the den den mushi as he spoke. "From here, we'll give you the countdown, Bruiser. You've got until we reach the count of ten to take down all of those sumos, got it?"

The champ nodded and he'd hardly gotten the chance to take a fighting position before Grecko called, "1!"

The sumos bolted right for the champ. All of their massive frames shook the stage with each stomp they took until they'd run right upon the Bruiser. And with a collective roar, they all threw fists toward the competitor.

"3!"

The champ managed to evade the collective attack and moved to the side of sumo one. But he'd hardly had a second to analyze the situation before sumo one spun around with a massive arm to take him out. Bruiser narrowly dodged the arm of sumo one, but was caught off guard as sumo two swung out with a fist that knocked him across the stage.

"6!"

Sumo three rushed from his brothers and stomped right over to the dazed fighter. The champ just barely made it to his feet before he was forced to dodge to the left of the sumo three's punch and then his eyes widened when he saw the other two sumos charging in for the attack.

"8!"

The champ sprinted away from sumo three, moving right for the other duo. He ducked under a punch from sumo two and leapt over a clumsy kick from sumo one.

"9!"

The sumos all turned back to the champ, growling menacingly as they saw the champ just stand there. The bandages around the mouth of the Bruiser seemed to shift a bit, almost as if the champ was smiling. And then, the sumos noticed they were positioned one in front of the other, in a straight line.

"10!"

The champ broke off the surface of the stage and sped right for sumo one. Before the huge man could even think of moving, the champ was off the ground and shooting forward with a thunderous punch. Sumo one's face contorted with such pain from the impact and soon enough, he was blown off of his feet and sent crashing headfirst into sumo two, and then the two sumos crashed into sumo three. The sheer power of the champ's punch blew the trio of sumos off the stage and crashing down into the surrounding audience, all of them unconscious.

The crowd was stunned for all of three seconds before they erupted with such a massive cheer, it felt like the whole island would shake apart from their declaration. Meanwhile, the trio were standing to the side, still too shocked to be annoyed by the rowdy cheer.

"Well I be damned. The guy actually did it," Atori marveled.

"What a punch! That guy's incredible!" Ches exclaimed.

And Ralli just rocked back and forth on his feet with a wide smile on his face.

Just as the crowd was beginning to calm itself, Grecko stepped back out onto the stage, his face a portrait of sneakiness. "Wasn't that great!" he cheered, rousing another declaration from the crowd. He stepped right over to the champ, snatching the Bruiser by his arm before thrusting it into the air. "Give it up for the Fight Night Champion!" More cheering and over all screaming. "Yes, folks! This is the kind of excitement Fight Night promises and if you truly enjoyed yourself tonight, then you'll be bursting with joy this time tomorrow night when our beloved champ dukes it out with the master thrasher, the minister of mayhem! It's going be the Bandaged Bruiser vs the Madhouse Brawler!"

With a swing of his hand, Grecko pointed off to the side of the stage, where a tall man stood. The man's skin was nearly as dark as the brown hair that flowed from his skull past his shoulder. He wore dark, heavy boots over even darker pants. And around his torso was a long, sleeveless trench coat that was left open to show his rigged midsection. His large muscle mass in addition to the menacing scowl over his face, and you had a recipe for danger. Indeed, he looked like one heck of a brawler. The kind that wouldn't hesitate to crack you over the skull with a 2x4 or pound your face in with a brick.

The Brawler allowed his scowl to bore into the champ's face for just a moment before raising a single arm, thrusting a fist in the air to already announce his triumph. Half the crowd seemed to roar with excitement while the other half seemed to boo the challenger's bold move. Meanwhile, the champ simply stepped closer to the Brawler, walking right until he'd reached the edge of the stage, before unfasting the champion's belt around his waist and thrusting into the air, a sign of his dominance as champ. The crowd went wild as the fighters simply glared at one another.

"24 hours, people!" Grecko's voice suddenly chimed in, his own eyes watching the display between the fighters. "24 hours until the start of the most exciting show on the West Blue. We'll see you all again…at Fight Night!" Streamers and fireworks exploded from the stage, the spectacle show igniting the area with dancing lights while the two competitors didn't break contact for a second.


"That. Was. So. COOL!" Ralli exclaimed, the boy practically bouncing off the walls with excitement.

The trio walked along the streets of Glory Island's town, having left the town square once the pre-fest had come to an end. Ralli had wanted to bring the duo back over to some food stand that he'd saw earlier, but was saddened to find that the stand closed. And now, with nothing else to do, they simply walked, taking in some of the sights of the area.

Atori scoffed at Ralli's childish excitement. "I think the whole thing was staged. No way one guy is so strong to have taken out three sumos with only one punch. C'mon, they had to have paid them off to fall off of the stage like that. And then the cheesy little 'I'm gonna kick your ass' glare-off between the the champ and that other guy at the end. It seems a little too real for my taste. I'd much rather fight underground style."

"With all of the blood, sweat, and gore that comes with it?" Ches crooned and sighed when Atori happily nodded his head. "That sounds like you, Atori."

Ralli just stuck out his tongue. "You just like hurting people, Ato!" And the brunette didn't deny the allegation.

Instead, a silence fell on the crew for a while as they'd continued walking. It was only after they'd realized that they'd walked down the same street three times, that Ches spoke up again. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm not ready to turn in for the night yet." And Ralli and Atori were quick to voice their agreements, earning them a sly smile from Ches. "Well, then. Let's go somewhere I'm sure Atori can enjoy." He started walking, making the others follow from his cryptic words. "It's not a place full of blood, gore, or fighting. But, I think it's a place better suited for fellows such as us," he added after a moment.

Atori rolled his eyes. "Stop trying to be cryptic and just tell us where we're going!" he demanded and suddenly stopped on a dime when Ches whipped around to them both with a cunning smirk.

"Why, the area of excitement for all pirates on Glory Island!" the rainbow declared before turning back around and stepping off again. "Let's go party it up on Pirate Alley!"


A pretty short update for you guys, but I just couldn't find too much else to add into this chapter. Don't fret, though. Because our favorite pirates are on their way to the illustrious Pirate Alley! There's no way that this will turn out bad, just no way at all...absolutely no way. XD And how about that champ! Three sumos down with one punch? Talk about a mega punch! Expect excitment and more action for the next update.

See ya next Wednesday!