The Last Spade Chapter 10
The time was twelve forty five. Vincent was in the stands again next to Kaba. "Thanks for the sword. It really came in handy." "You're welcome, my friend. By the way, we are hosting a feast tonight and every night following until the tournament ends. From here on out the victors all get a place of honor. I hope that you are the one to sit in the place of honor, in the final night." Replied Kaba. "after what I have seen it looks like Barry might be my only challenge." Said Vincent.
Both contestants were in the ring at this time. Saldik "The Behemoth" the first mate of the Hopalong Pirates he had a shock of orange hair and had black eyes. Saldik stood about six foot five, he wore from neck to foot, dark brown, crude leather body armor complete with shoulder and knee pads. He had earned his nickname for the massive stone hammer he carried with him as a weapon. His battle prowess was known across the East Blue, one of his favorite tactics was to either cripple an enemy ship by destroying their masts and control rudder or sink them by punching holes in the hull with his hammer. In fights only the quickest or the strongest enemies were able to stop or dodge even a single swing of his hammer. This earned him his bounty of eleven million beli.
On the other hand Layton was a complete unknown. There were no rumors of him doing anything of note. No one knew how he had attained his bounty. The only thing that made sense was his nickname. Laytonlike the rest of his crew he wore an all black cloak that fell down to his ankles. Underneath his cloak was an all black attire. The hood of the cloak was up over the back of his head. His face was covered by a plain white mask, with no defining features. It simply had slits over the eyes and nose. Every member of the crew dressed exactly the same, so they were easy to pick out of the crowd. The only thing that separated Layton from the rest of his crew is that there was a black stripe that went vertically down the mask. Vincent hadn't noticed on previous days but there Layton had a massive crew of nearly a hundred people. They were all dispersed throughout the audience, filling nearly half the bleacher space.
It was time for the match to start. Yamon stood up from the judges box. "Once again the rules remain the same. Begin!" Layton lifted up his right arm, in his hand was a large yo-yo. He began to spin the Yo-yo in circles around himself. At this point Saldik ran forward with his hammer at the ready. Layton did not react to this at all. When the distance was closed, Saldik Jumped up in the air and brought his hammer down at Layton's head. * FWOOMP * The only reaction that Layton had taken was to raise his left hand and intercept the course of the hammer. The hammer had been stopped completely.
Saldik Landed and made some distance between himself and Layton with a confused look. Layton just stood there spinning his yo-yo. After a moment Layton spoke for the first time. "That should be enough." Layton stepped forward and swung his yo-yo at Saldik . Saldik stood there and grabbed onto the Yo-yo "Do you honestl-" Suddenly the yo-yo exploded in Saldik's hand. When the smoke cleared Saldik was still standing but he had dropped his hammer and he was cradling his mangled hand.
Layton had closed the distance in this time "Let me return to you the gift that you so kindly gave me a moment ago." Layton smashed his left hand into saldik's face. Saldik was shot across and out of the arena. Layton walked up to his yo-yo, which had not sustained any damage from the explosion, and picked it up. He looked up to the judging box "Don't you have something to announce?" he almost hissed at the judges.
Everyone was in shock. This unknown pirate with a measly three million bounty had just destroyed one of the most notorious pirates in the east blue. Yamon stood up "before declaring your victory we must determine what weapons you used. We must verify that it was you who fought and not the power of one of your many allies." Yamon was saying what everyone else was thinking, he must have cheated. Layton was silent for a moment "Technology, the nature of which I would rather not go into at this time. I would be willing to show one of the judges, but no one else.
The judges agreed to this. Yamon would go into the discussion box, which had been set up for the judges. While that was happening Laupa and Maka went over to Saldik who had been knocked unconscious by the force of the last blow. Saldik had been burned on the entire left side of his body. His arm had gotten the worst of it. From the elbow up the skin was completely blackened and burnt. His face had been hit so hard that his nose had been flattened and he had lost nearly all of his teeth. Barry and the rest of the crew had gone to his side the moment he had fallen out of the ring. "That bastard! This is a tournament of good will. We are not supposed to destroy our opponents, it defeats the purpose! Can you help my first mate?" asked Barry to Laupa. "honestly I think he is going to have to lose the arm. He won't die from these injuries, but he will never be whole again." Responded Laupa. "He can't lose that arm. He needs it to fight with. Please I am begging you! Save my friend, all of him." Pleaded Barry. "I am afraid that it is beyond my abilities and facilities." Replied Laupa mournfully.
Maka spoke up at this time. "I can save his arm, but I am going to need blood, of the same type that he has. Also whomsoever offers, cannot tell anyone how I save his arm." One of the crewmembers spoke up, it was a young girl of maybe fifteen "I'm Tilly I have the same blood-type as the first mate, and I'm also really good at keeping secrets!" she said earnestly. "I am sure you are" said Maka with a small smile on her face.
The entire crew carried Saldik to the emergency tent and waited outside until the operation was done. About twenty minutes in Yamon and Layton stepped out of the discussion box. Yamon stood up on the podium and announced "Layton has after much deliberation won the match fairly, he will be moving onto the semifinal round. Rember that there will be another celebratory dinner at the pub tonight at seven o-clock. The semifinal rounds will begin tomorrow at two pm."
Vincent walked up to Laupa, who had been refused admittance to the emergency tent. "What do you think she is doing in there?" he asked. "I haven't a clue. There isn't a single thing that I could have done but, from what I have seen she is more knowledgeable than I am. Maybe she knows something that I don't know about burns, but I cannot for the life of me understand why she didn't want my help." Replied Laupa. "I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens"
Three hours went by. During this time Vincent and Barry shared a conversation. Both began to know each other better. By the end of the three hours Vincent and the whole crew were sitting around in a circle sharing drinks and laughing boisterously. "Do you mind if we have some of that?" everyone turned. The voice belonged to Saldik. He, along with Maka and Tilly were standing at the flap of the tent. Considering the condition he had been in Saldik looked amazing. He was bandaged from hip to head, his arm was in a sling but he clearly still had all five fingers, and there was some sort of green mash in his mouth that he had removed to speak. "only if the good doctor says that you can drink." Responded Barry with a grin on his face. "I think a drink is just what the doctor ordered." Responded Maka while she took an entire bottle of rum from Barry and began drinking. Shortly thereafter the part moved from the competition grounds over to the pub where they were treated like royalty, at the expert hands of Kaba.