The commotion could be heard all around Salt Town. "Oh, what is it now?" asked an exasperated Puerco as he pulled a bullet out of a gangster's chest. He sewed up the gangster and let him rest for a bit as he stepped out of his back alley clinic to see what the fuss was about.

"Lucha! Lucha! Lucha! Lucha!" the audience chanted. The carnage from their ship (the Sweaty McMahon) drew the attention and jeers of the citizens of Salt Town. The trio of Shaska (with her human legs), Schwarz, and Lulupo made their way to the ring while Andy and Roxanne headed for the city (Sugar City). With everyone in town distracted by the pirates, Shaska thought she could leave the Humo Robinson unguarded.

"Dammit… just what we need right now. Pirates," Puerco moaned after seeing the crew's Jolly Roger on the flag and mast.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gents, we are the Squared Circle Pirates coming to you live from the Gokashi Kingdom," announced one of the commentators. "I'm Kogeki, he's Hodgkin, and we're here to bring you ALL the action right as it unfolds!" His loudspeaker could be heard over only a small area for now, but members of the crew scrambled to set up transponder snails to broaden their reach.

"That's right, Kogeki, in just two hours we begin our Heavenly Showdown where an island's strongest fighters take on our stable for a chance to win the coveted, the glorious, the Heavenly Showdown championship belt!!"

"The rules are simple: anyone is allowed to enter, last one standing who wasn't pinned for a three count or cries in submission wins the belt. And ANYTHING goes," said Kogeki, a very muscular man in a tiny jacket that ripped whenever he moved. "Pirates, Marines, ANYONE is invited to see if they can compete for the title!"

"Pretty ballsy of them to invite the Marines to fight, too," said Puerco.

"But if we win…" added Hodgkin. "The host island gets all their goods stolen, and their women-"

"This is your first and only warning," interrupted a voice over another loudspeaker. "This is Commodore Abelard of Marine Base G-12. We are giving you the option to come peacefully."

The audience booed the Marines as they surrounded the wrestling ring/ship with guns drawn.

"We want violence! *clap clap clap-clap-clap* We want violence!" they chanted.

"You want violence? I'll give you violence," the commodore muttered as he raised his hand to give the order to fire on the crowd.

"Uh, commodore, sir, surely we shouldn't just massacre a group of what seem to be harmless audience members," said a rather scrawny looking officer wearing a backpack.

"They're pirates, nonetheless. They're still clearly calling for violence," said a buff, red-haired officer, decked out in armor with a sword and shield.

"Thank you, Captain Franco. Lieutenant Johnson, you need to study up more on justice in dealing with pirates." said Abelard, a large man in full officer attire (suit, coat over the shoulders, cap).

Half the audience was still calling for violence, the other half was booing the Marines and throwing their popcorn at them, all while the Salt Town citizens outside the perimeter were cheering the Marines on.

"Interesting to see people cheering for the Marines when they've done jack shit to stop my brothers," Puerco grumbled.

"It seems Captain Fernandez's true believers are about to be under fire," said Kogeki

"That's right, Kog, how's the captain going to react to this one?" said Hodgkin, a bald man covered in tattoos.

"Now, hhhhhold everything!" said a voice over the Squared Circle loudspeaker.

At the same elevation as the upper stands but directly attached to the ship was what looked like an office. A sharply dressed, dark skinned man with slicked back hair and a slimy smirk on his face stepped out holding a transponder snail. The audience cheered.

"Captain Fernandez makes his appearance!" exclaimed Kogeki.

"Hhhhhold everything. You come to my arena, and threaten to kill my true believers…" he paused. "Without at least letting them have a good show first??" he said with a flourish.

Pirates in various states of wrestling garb (some masked, some not) began pouring into the ring from doors at the top of the stands. The audience cheered even louder and began chanting "this is awesome! *clap clap clap-clap-clap* This is awesome!"

The wrestling pirates moved at blinding speeds. Some flipped off the back of the stands, some just ran, but they were able to dodge the Marine grunts' gunfire. The audience cheered and chanted as Marines were subsequently piledrived, body splashed, and clotheslined.

"This is awesome! *clap clap clap-clap-clap* This is awesome!"

"That was pretty cool, not gonna lie," said Puerco.

"Commodore Abelard!" Fernandez called. "You come to my arena?! You play by my rules!!"

The audience cheered even louder.

"Make sure we have a sniper at the ready," Abelard said to a grunt, who saluted and ran off.

"What are your rules, Fernandez?" he asked, annoyed.

"I believe the announcers down there made it clear! Heavenly!!! SHOWDOWN!!!"

The audience cheered even louder still. The Salt Town citizens' boos and jeers grew louder to compensate.

"You send your best fighters to my arena! If they beat my guys, you get to claim my bounty! If we win, you get plundered!"

"Deal!" Shaska called out. "I want a word with you, pirate guy!" She cracked her knuckles. "You scratched my ship!"

Shaska was standing by the announcers table, flanked by Schwarz and Lulupo.

"A bewitching beauty arrives! It's famed bounty hunter and business tycoon, Shaska the Squeeze!" said Hodgkin.

Shaska drew boos from the audience, so she grabbed Kogeki's microphone.

"I'm not sure… if it's a business thing… or a bounty hunter thing… but BOO YOU TOO!!"

The audience booed even louder.

"PIRATES SUCK!!"

"Darling, I think you might be getting too much into this," said Lulupo as Shaska continued to argue with the audience.

"I say let her be a heel," Schwarz replied.

"Ah, but Miss Shaska, you're a wanted woman now," said Fernandez. "You can't collect my bounty. And now you're exposing your cohorts before the Marines!"

"It's cute you think I don't know a way around that," she bluffed. Despite all the time that had passed, it still hadn't quite sunken in for Shaska how she couldn't personally bring in bounties anymore. Old habits die hard.

"Yo!!" called out another voice.

A large, morbidly obese, dark skinned man with two swords and gang tattoos approached the announcer's stand and grabbed the other microphone.

"Yo! I know you can hear this, Chancho! It's Cerdo! We just got the perfect opportunity to finish this for good! You and me! We can fight it out and prove who the strongest really is!!"

"Uh oh," said Puerco

"Looks like there's even more competition," Fernandez added.

"Johnson. Franco. I want you two to enter his silly contest with me," said Commodore Abelard.

"Roger," they replied and saluted in unison.

"My men and I are entering too!" Abelard called out over his loudspeaker. Fernandez just smiled.

"Could you… hand me my microphone back, please?" asked Kogeki to Shaska, sheepishly. She obliged.

"And there you have it, folks. Eight more fighters offer themselves up for Heavenly Showdown!" Kogeki told the cheering audience.

"We want violence! *clap clap clap-clap-clap* We want violence!" they chanted.

"Two hours! You have two hours to steel yourselves, fighters!" Fernandez called out. "Use it wisely."

The crowd cheered for a little bit longer and then dispersed into the populace, who were not at all pleased by a large band of pirates roaming around like it was nothing. The Squared Circle pirates, outside of their wrestlers, weren't particularly violent (until they won, at least), but the disdain of Salt Town's citizens was palpable.

Andy and Roxanne approached Shaska with a loaded cart.

"Hey, Miss Shaska? There was already a deep fryer on the ship. I think I have a creative way to use our supplies on hand to set up a concession stand. The city was a long trip, anyway," said Andy.

"I ordered you to go to the city and get mozzarella sticks to sell. What do you think I pay you for?" she responded, blowing smoke.

"You… still haven't paid us yet," Andy replied. "The only one actually working for free here is Schwarz."

"We have more pressing matters. You want payment? That guy's your payment. Him and his merry men.

"You two try to find out all you can about our enemies," she said, pointing to Schwarz and Lulupo. "You two," pointing at Andy and Roxanne. "I'll help you set up your concession stand. I'll make whatever you cook sell like hotcakes. No booze, though. Audience isn't on our side as it is."

Schwarz and Lulupo asked around and listened for information, but everyone was tightlipped around them. Meanwhile, Shaska and the couple quickly assembled a makeshift concession stand near the announcer's desk so Andy could see the fighting too. The Humo Robinson was still a functioning Kemurchant store after all; they had most of the supplies they needed already. Everything but mozzarella sticks.

The stand sold steak fingers and fries, thousand berries an order.

"I thought you said you could cook things besides steak and potatoes," Shaska said.

"Not on short notice!" Andy replied.

Surprisingly, despite Shaska drawing massive negative heat from the audience, they started lining up at Andy and Roxanne's concession stand. Mainly due to Shaska's idea to set up a dunk tank right next to it where she could be dunked by unwitting strangers who didn't know she was actually a mermaid.

"Boo!! Pirates suck! Wrestling's fake!" Shaska repeated in order to get more customers.

"We had a dunk tank on the ship?" Roxanne asked

Time drew near, and the fighters secretly drew numbers for what order they would enter the ring, numbered one through fifteen. The Squared Circle band played to entertain the audience, which now included Salt Town citizens, Puerco, Marine grunts, and a mysterious man in an ornate outfit with extremely long legs.

"And we're back, ladies and gents! You know what time it is now," said Kogeki over the loud speaker.

"HEAVENLY! SHOWDOWN!!" cried the audience, followed by an eruption of cheering.

"Quick reminder of the rules: two fighters enter, then every ninety seconds another fighter enters. Only way a fighter leaves is if they're pinned or submit in the ring!"

"Or if they die!" Hodgkin added, "because this match is anything goes! Referee's only there to count the pins."

"And now, take it away, Santana!" said Kogeki, passing it off to a beautiful woman in the ring with a transponder snail.

"The following lucha is HEAVENLY SHOWDOWN and is for the Squared Circle championship! PLUS! The dignity and livelihood of the Gokashi Kingdom!

"Introducing our first combatant, the illustrious SEIRYU!!" she called out as a buff man in a dragon mask came down the stairs to the cheers of the audience.

"Aaaaaaaaand coming in second, Marine Commodore ABELARD!!" she called out as Abelard descended the opposite stairs to the boos of the audience.

The two men entered the ring. Seiryu offered a fist bump, but Abelard declined.

"Remember!" said Fernandez, "all who lose tonight are just sacrifices in the inevitable march of progress. The winner is not just the strongest, but is God's chosen!!"

The Squared Circle audience cheered; everyone else just looked confused.

"Now!! RING THE BELL!!!"

A Marine sniper shot at Fernandez, but missed, causing him to duck back into his office.

The match was on. Seiryu went for a kick at Abelard's chest, but he dodged, leading Seiryu to go for a grapple. Abelard appeared to not move, but Seiryu screamed and pulled away, hands dripping with blood.

"Hey, ref, anything goes, right?" he asked, to which the referee nodded. "Perfect."

Abelard's fists turned into drills. "I ate the Drill Drill Fruit. Any part of my body can become a drill." He started punching at Seiryu, who quickly dodged and jumped on the ropes.

Seiryu jumped off the ropes to attempt a stomp on Abelard's head, but he simply turned his head into a drill, sending Seiryu spinning into the opposite corner.

"Five! Four! Three! Two! One!" the crowd counted as it came time for the next fighter.

"Coming in now, is SHASSSSSSSSSSKAAAAAAAAA!!" called Santana, causing a chorus of boos to erupt from the crowd. Shaska was sort of relishing in their hatred now as she stood at the top of the stairs.

She jumped all the way from the top of the stairs to the ring, turning her legs back into tentacles in the process. Shaska landed in the ring, pinning both Seiryu and Abelard, but she, too, started screaming as soon as Abelard turned his power on. She released him, but pinned Seiryu for the full three count, causing even more boos.

"Seiryu has been eliminated," called Santana

"Seiryu, twenty seven million berries."

She turned to Abelard and backed up, tentacles bleeding.

"You. What did you do to me? Why am I bleeding?"

"How's this for an explanation?" Abelard asked as he charged with his fist drills out.

"So cooooool!!" Andy remarked with stars in his eyes.

Shaska merged her tentacles back to human legs, and the left one had a long trail of blood from the knee down.

"Damn. I can't get out of the way fast enough with my leg all messed up," she thought.

As Abelard charged at her, Shaska shifted her stance. She held her left palm out and her right fist back, then as soon as he got close enough, she thrust her fist forward. "Arabesque Brick Fist!" she cried.

The force from Shaska's fist created a shockwave in the air's water vapor, which in turn was strong enough to send Abelard flying out of the ring. "He's out, right?" she asked the ref. The ref shook his head. "Pin or submission in the ring only."

"In the ring, eh?" Shaska thought aloud. She stepped out of the ring to the boos of the audience and made herself right at home at the announcer's table.

"Room for one more?" she asked, resting tentacles on the announcers' shoulders.

"Five! Four! Three! Two! One!"

"Introducing… the warrior of one thousand deaths… SENSHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!"

A wrestler in a black and grey mask and markings on his left pectoral made his way to the ring. He moved slowly, but when he got to the center, he put his hand on the Jolly Roger in the middle, as if drawing power from it.

"C'mon, ya rube! No one believes you're ACTUALLY some kinda 'thousand death warrior'!" Shaska mocked from the sidelines. "Grow up!"

Senshi turned his focus toward Shaska and started lumbering toward her. She simply tapped two fingers to her forehead and began drawing water vapor from the air.

"Senshi… fifty one million berries… a Cerulean Cannon should put you down nicely," she muttered to herself. Unfortunately for her, she still had to contend with Abelard, who made his way around the ring and charged at her again with drill fists out. She narrowly avoided a drill punch, and used what little power she had in her current Cerulean Cannon to blow him away again.

"Crap. I can't grab that guy or else he'll drill me, and I bet THIS guy will turn me into a pretzel if I get near him."

"Five! Four! Three! Two! One!"

"Please please PLEASE be friendly," Shaska thought as they counted.

"Coming to the ring… Marine Captain FRANCO!!"

The pirates all booed, but the citizens and Marines gave the buff redhead massive applause as he saluted at the top of the stairs. Franco equipped his sword and shield, then called out "Shave!"

"Aw, crap."

He appeared in the ring almost immediately and delivered a mighty kick to Senshi's gut followed by a shield bash. This made Senshi even more mad. He grabbed Franco by the shoulders and started headbutting him repeatedly, eventually making him buckle from the pain.

Shaska slinked around the ring, trying to find a place to hide from Commodore Abelard, but finding a hiding spot is difficult when you're ten feet tall. Especially when there's a constant trail of smoke coming from your exact location.

As Franco tried to steady himself, Senshi sent him running into the ropes, setting Senshi up for a clothesline as Franco ran back.

"Begone, foul villain!" Franco called out as he planted his foot down and went for another kick-shield bash combo, this one seriously doing damage to Senshi.

Now Senshi was trying to steady himself as Franco brought him to the ground and pinned him for a full three count.

"Senshi has been eliminated."

"Five! Four! Three! Two! One!"

Shaska crossed her fingers as she weaved past Abelard's drill punches.

"There's still nine more fighters left to enter the ring," said Kogeki.

"Oh, come on."

"Introducing… Marine Lieutenant JOOOOOHNSOOOOOON!!"

"Oh, come on!!"

Once again, the pirates booed, but the applause from the Marines was more half-hearted this time as the scrawny man saluted.

Abelard continued his relentless pursuit of Shaska, only now he was assisted by Franco and Johnson. Johnson activated his Devil Fruit, turning him into a half-human, half-ostrich hybrid, and he glided down from the top of the stairs to deliver a flying kick to Shaska's face, dragging her along the ground as he finished his descent before slamming her headfirst into the stands.

"Franco! She's all yours!" he called out as a large, cartoonish pair of robotic hands popped out of his backpack, picked up Shaska, and shoved her back into the ring, semiconscious.

Franco made a move on her, but she came to and turned her legs back into tentacles. "Who said I was done??"

She sat up and grabbed Franco's ankles with her tentacles, tripping him. Unfortunately, she tripped him onto her. And while she managed to withstand Franco's weight, she wasn't able to hold on when Johnson jumped on Franco's shoulders, causing them both to pin Shaska's shoulder blades to the mat.

"One! Two! Three!" the ref counted.

"Shaska has been eliminated," said Santana

TO BE CONTINUED