Important Author's Note at the bottom please read!
In the Ring Once More!
Maria was sitting along in the locker rooms. The rest of the fighters were gone and waiting outside. Her fight was about to start. There was a fight currently going on outside and honestly, it was lasting longer then it should. Neither fighter looked particularly strong and more importantly they both looked like they would lose quickly to her. She would beat them both and then move onto the semi-finals where she would do battle with Hiro-Shu.
This was her returning match to the arena and she was highly anticipating the fight. The URA was highly praised for their fights as well as competitors. She had only fought here once or twice and both times they were tough fights, which was exactly what she wanted. She wouldn't obtain the title of the strongest if she fought with weaklings. If she won this tournament she would quickly become in the crossfire of almost all powerful pirates. A champion of the URA tournament...she smiled as she leaned back and sighed. Her anticipation for the fight building with every passing second. Her eyes were constantly on the screen waiting for the fight to end.
Finally the bell rang indicating the fight was over. Maria didn't bother to wait for the introductions and raced out to the arena, she leapt over the pit and landed into the arena. The crowd immediately shouted with joy. It was rare to see such excitement when the person in the arena is putting their lives on the arena. Maria shrugged it off. The Infinity Pirates were already gathering a pretty infamous name in the arena as a bunch of insane idiots. She was a member of the Infinity Pirates as well, so she was just going along with it and based on the crowd's reaction she did a good job.
"Well..." said the Longarm as he paused in shock. He had no idea about how to handle this situation. "Uh...that was Maria of the Infinity Pirates! She is one of their newest members, but many of you may remember her as well! She was previously a contender for 'Strongest Unarmed Fighter'. An unknown incident occurred many years ago and we all thought that it forced her to retire, but apparently that was not a fact! She is here again with the Infinity Pirates, aiming to take the URA by storm!"
The fight was already getting his mind off of dinner last night. He didn't expect Karasu to look like he did. In terms of sheer physical strength no one could beat Karasu or even match him. His Bounty Name was 'Pure Demon' Karasu. They called him that due to his overwhelming power and yet...the demon that had slain and overpowered hundreds of men looked like that...it was unthinkable. Even worse, when Mikoto had asked him what had happened, Karasu went ballistic! He leapt across the table at him with unmeasured strength and tried to kill him! Trevor had to call in four fellow URA members just to tear the two of them apart. Not only that, but the look in Karasu's eyes weren't that of hatred or anger...they were of fear. Whoever did that to Karasu instilled in him a great fear. A fear so great that simply remembering the event sent him off into a fear-fueled frenzy.
Trevor chuckled as he watched Maria in the ring. Mikoto wasn't going to appear today and Karasu was taking his time. So Trevor would've been all alone on the stadium's throne. He would've been at least if it wasn't for Duncan who decided to join him on the main stage. The two of them were both onlookers for this upcoming fight.
Trevor loved the gory scenes that the URA provided. This was the sole reason he liked his job as the Shichibukai, the Marines could just die out for all he cared. He didn't give a crap about the fact that they retracted his bounty, if anything he resented it. Now no bounty hunters came after him and Trevor was stuck simply picking on and attacking pirates and a few Marines. Needless to say, Trevor was also greatly looking forward to Maria's fight. He had caught a few of her fights and they were excellent the same kind of blood-spilling fights that he performed in the ring. He was looking forward to this scene of blood.
Duncan glanced down at Trevor. He knew that look on Trevor's face. It was the same look Trevor wore when he saw Makada fight for the first time. Right after that Trevor offered Makada a position as a staff-member as long as he won ten consecutive fights and sure enough Makada proved himself. Makada was one case as it currently stood he was the only staff-member who Duncan could rely on to help protect the URA everybody else was useless. However, Duncan could not allow someone like Maria to join...she blatantly charged in before her introduction! Combine that with her crew, who all disrespected both the arena and Trevor, himself, Duncan hated them all. If need be...Duncan would eliminate her himself.
"Now her opponent!" shouted the Longarm into the mic. "There are a special group of Marines! They are the kind that loves blood and betting! Please welcome into the ring two top-notch murderers! However, these Marines won't be taking part. They brought in a scapegoat! Welcome into the ring a prisoner of Impel Down's lesser known cousin! He was arrested for the murder of twenty Marine officers during a failed attack on a Marine base, he is the 'Silver Gloves' Shigeta!"
Two men wearing Marine uniforms marched into the room. The crowd burst out into curse words insulting the Marines as they walked into the room. They ignored the crowd and kept walking. Both of the Marines were holding an iron chain that dragged behind them. At the end of the chains was another man. The chains were connected to several locks that held the man's arms, neck, and legs in place, allowing just the barest of all movements. The man was rampaging about. He twisted and tugged on the chain in a maddening rage.
The two Marines lead the man into the arena. Once inside the Longarm shouted, "FIGHT!" The Marines removed the chains and drew them back out of the ring. Shigeta didn't waste a second and charge across the ring at Maria. Maria leaned back allowing the reckless and full-powered punch graze above her chest. The man had numerous bruises and scrapes all over his body. He looked like a battle-weary warrior. He didn't stop at all. He moved in with a flurry of punches all of them barely grazing Maria due to her expertise in fights.
The guy's swings were wide and reckless. He had numerous openings. Ordinarily this made him an easy prey for an experienced fighter like Maria, but the sheer number and speed of his punches were inhuman. The strength was also above and beyond that of any human. Maria moved forward and into the hurricane of punches. This was an incredible burst of power, but Maria could easily bob and weave through the raining punches. Once she got close enough, she swung her body around and landed a quick, compact and powerful punch to his jaw.
The punch was an extremely powerful counter. Maria's own body strength along with her mechanical arms was all put into it. Even without that, the pride of the counter was the fact that it returned the opponent's power back at them. Shigeta's power along with Maria's power was all sent into his jaw. Maria smiled as she felt his jaw basically disintegrate from the punch. The bones in the jaw collapsed as it came flying through and it was reduced to a fine powder. Maria smiled as she turned around. A one minute KO and a one-hit KO just like she was planning. She began to leave the arena when all of a sudden the obnoxious announcer's voice cut into the air.
"DESPITE THAT MIRACULOUS PUNCH THAT MARIA USED IT LOOKS LIKE SHIGETA JUST WON'T STAY DOWN!" announced the Longarm. The crowd immediately went wild as they heard the announcement. Maria turned around and froze as she looked at Shigeta already charging back at over with wanton carelessness.
The two Marines snickered at the ringside as they watched the fight. "Shigeta is a prisoner at our new prison. Its even replacing the current Impel Down...its reputation has been sullied so this new prison is said to be unstoppable. The second floor of this prison is Shigeta's home. On that floor for the first week of a prisoner's stay we flood their bodies with a drug. This drug creates fluctuating hormone levels, so much so that the prisoners becomes extremely violent and fight all the time. The drug also blocks out all senses of pain, making them an incredible fighting machine."
The other Marine smiled and chimed in, "not only that, but when the drug only lasts 12 hours after injection. When that 12 hours is up they face one of the most extreme withdrawal symptoms. They face true hell until their next dose which is 12 hours away. Half of the time they are doped up where they don't feel pain and accumulate bruises, the other half of the time they are feeling the greatest pain of all. Compared to that life the pain of a simple tournament battle is like a mosquito bite."
"That's right and best of all we can use these guys to make a killing in the URA! The Warden even signed off on this fight as long half of the profits go to upgrading the prison, but still that still leaves a couple hundred millions for us!" shouted the Marine officer, "and we aren't even putting our lives on the line to earn it!" A chunk of rock came flying through the air and at the Marines. They ducked out of the way. They turned their attention back to the ring. Maria was huffing and puffing, a chunk of the ground was missing at her feet. "Look at the dumb broad in the ring! Is she really such a hypocrite that as a fighter in the ring, who has become famous for causing numerous deaths in the ring, that she'd get made at people who supplied those weak morons!"
Maria stepped forward and towards Shigeta, who was breathing heavily and still throwing wild punches, though none of them came even close to Maria's body. Maria stood in front of him, "my name is Maria Euthanatos. My last name is said to stem from the word 'Euthanasia', which is the practice of killing someone who is sick or injured for a merciful reason. As a fighter, I usually turned my back to things like mercy...however, this time...I think it will be a death for merciful reasons."
Maria reached out and placed her hand in front of Shigeta. Shigeta immediately calmed down, whether it was due to confusion of why his prey was acting like this or if he truly wanted Maria to end it right there. His body stopped. Maria delivered two quick punches, one was an uppercut to his already shattered jaw, the second was a downwards blow to the top of his head. The two forces collided like an alligator's mouth snapping shut onto Shigeta's head. The force from both blows held Shigeta's head still without moving, but the damage spoke for itself. Whatever was left of Shigeta died in that instant. Maria left the ring without another word.
"Oh, shit!" shouted the two Marines as they twisted around and fled the arena afraid of what Maria was going to do to them if she saw them wandering around the stadium. As soon as they exited the stadium they bumped into a man and fell to the floor. Standing above them was Makada. "Watch where you are going!"
"Do you guys remember what you bet when you entered that man in the fight?" asked Makada calmly as he pushed his sunglasses further up his face, covering his eyes. The two Marines nodded. Of course, they did they bet Shigeta! Why would they put money up for a prisoner? Even if he lost they would only be losing a prisoner, who cared! "You guys bet the life of human and I'm here to collect your debt. After all, we can't very well collect the life of a man who died now can we?"
The two Marines looked over at each other. They did bet the life of Shigeta when they entered the tournament. However, Shigeta lost and their betting chip disappeared. The URA never got the human life they were promised if their fighter lost. "Take him!" the two Marines shouted pointing at each other.
Makada frowned as he drew his sword. He brought his sword straight through the two men. The two men stood there neither of them moving as Makada re-sheathed his sword. "I think you misunderstood me. I came here to collect the life of a man, but I guess the lives of two pieces of shit are good enough." The two men collapsed onto the ground. Both of them dead.
(-in the locker room with Maria-)
Maria was carefully going back over her mechanical arms, making sure that they were both still at full power. They looked to be good enough. That was good news. She didn't want to be out of the fight this early due to a mechanical failure.
"Hello, Maria," said a voice. Maria twisted around to find Trevor standing before her. She brought her two arms up ready to fight. "Please don't...I don't want to waste such talent. I'm here to offer you a job. Your record speaks for you...5 fights in the URA, all wins. About twenty other fights...all wins again. I would love to have you as a guard."
"I'd rather sell my soul to the devil," growled Maria glaring Trevor in the eye. "Compared to you he is a real sweetie! Just leave the locker room now brat and I won't kick your ass." Maria was in a bad enough mood as is, she didn't want to see Trevor now.
"Oh, really?" asked Trevor with a smile. "What if I told you I'm willing to do a better deal then the devil? Your undying loyalty to me and the URA...and I will let not only your entire crew go free-of-charge, but I'll also let Mikoto go."
The Devil's Offer!
Bad news guys. It has recently been brought to my attention that this story goes against rules (no interactive stories are allowed (which includes Submit Your Own OC's stories despite their popularity))...in other words...this story will probably be closed down unless I either a) get rid of that section, b) find an alternative place to post it, or c) some other alternative. If you reviewers would be so kind as to give me hints and information to solve this problem...I would be very grateful! I'll put whatever plan of action we can come up with into action on Tuesday!