CHAPTER 138
"Holy sh…" Hawk's voice trailed off as the Miyagi-Dos, both senseis and students, all walked into the Great Hall that evening for dinner, and they saw the incredible setting that had been put together for the banquet. The vast room consisted of a few long tables, each of them covered by an expensive silk tablecloth, topped with fancy cutlery, plates, glasses and everything else that gave them the impression that they were eating dinner in Buckingham Palace, not in the dining hall of a Karate organization.
The Miyagi-Dos had briefly walked past the dining hall earlier during the tour, but now that they were inside, they were able to study their surroundings in greater detail. The room was a capsule of history. It had been barely touched over the years, except to restore it as parts of it began to fade. Exactly 50 years since the tournament had begun, and each year was represented on the Great Hall's walls. All 49 of the prior winning dojos had been photographed and printed onto a large banner that adorned the wall - the 50th winner yet to be determined. They saw a visual representation of the evolution the tournament had gone through, as it began solely in Japan, but then as it expanded further, winners began to change to other countries in the region, and before long, there were countries all over the world that were taking home top prize.
As soon as they walked into the hall, they were quickly met by a Taikai staff member, who was standing by the door and greeting all of the guests as they walked inside.
"Ah. Miyagi-Do students. Good evening." The staff member said, smiling at them. "Welcome to the annual Sekai Taikai welcome banquet."
"Thank you for having us." Daniel replied. "Wow, this place looks incredible!"
"Thank you. Yeah, it's the biggest event we do here at the facility. It's the only time we have absolutely everyone together. Hundreds of people, whether it be students, senseis and even a whole bunch of the sponsors of the event, come together and celebrate."
As the man spoke, a few of the Miyagi-Dos couldn't help but glance around the room, eyeing to see if the Cobra Kais were around, all of them on guard. However, with around 400 people in the hall, all of them dressed in cocktail dresses and black tie suits, they couldn't see if their adversaries had arrived yet.
"Please, let me show you to your table." The staff member said, before leading them through the hall to the spot in the room where the Miyagi-Dos had been placed by the seating plan, a name tag with each one of their names already on the table in front of each plate. "Because you guys are the newest dojo in the tournament, you're going to be sitting at the last table: table 7. Your performance in this year's tournament then affects where you're seated at next year's tournament. With the first 4 dojos seated at table one, the next 4 at table two, etc."
"What is that table for?" Robby asked, pointing away from the 7 main tables and instead to the table that seemed to be separated, away from the others, at the very front of the room. It had been lifted on a step a few feet higher than the other tables so whoever was sitting at it would be able to look down upon all of them. The table was smaller than the main tables, but it looked a lot more formal. In fact, the chairs at that table seemed to look like thrones more than anything else.
Looking at where Robby was pointing, the Taikai official smiled.
"Ah yes. That table over there is where all of the Taikai officials and celebrity guests sit." The man informed them.
"Hold on… hold on… celebrity guests?!" Sam exclaimed.
"Well with a tournament as big as ours, normally we have quite a few celebrities coming to watch the grand final from all over the world. We expect, with the amount the tournament has grown in size this year, particularly in North America, there will be more people than ever. One or two of these people, who are actually really into the Karate part of it, sometimes choose to be here for the entire tournament, so they come to this dinner."
"Who's here this year?" Hawk asked eagerly. The man chuckled.
"I'm not entirely sure, I'm sorry." He replied, although the wide grin on his face told them that he knew exactly who it was, and that it was really good too.
Eventually, the Miyagi-Dos arrived at their destination: the corner of Table 7, where their names had been placed, indicating that that's where they were seated for the night.
"So this is where you're going to be served food." The man informed them. "Of course, this is a social event more than anything else, so you're welcome to get up, walk around and get to know all of the others at any time of your choosing. Apart from during the speeches of course."
"Awesome. Thank you so much." Miguel said as the Miyagi-Dos all sat down and took in the scene around them. Seeing all of their competitors all in one place, seeing the sheer number of the hundreds of people they'd be up against, it was a nerve wracking feeling. But it was also an awe-filling one. They had made it here, up against the very best of the best. They might have been the people sitting at the very edge of the last table, meaning that they were the very bottom of the food chain, but they were still there all the same.
"You all look great." Daniel told them. "Have I told you all just how proud of you I am for getting this far? No matter what happens in the next two weeks."
The Miyagi-Dos all smiled at him and nodded. Well, all of them except Demetri, who for once did not speak. He was silent, deep in thought, pondering something that the staff member had said.
"Uh… guys?" Demetri slowly spoke up, everyone - 6 senseis and 4 senseis - all turning towards him.
"Yeah?" Robby asked.
"I, uh… I was just thinking about something that guy said. He said that we're sitting here at this table, on the end of this table, because we're the last dojo to be added to this tournament, right?"
"He did, yeah." Sam nodded. "Why?"
"Well there was one other dojo that was added this year too, right? Cobra Kai. According to what the guy said, logically, wouldn't that mean that they're sitting right beside us?" Demetri, the smartest one of the group, was first to catch on.
Flashes of horror darted across all of their faces as they realized that he might just have a point. Sure enough, as Johnny reached over from his spot at the inside edge of the group to grab the nametag of the empty place beside him, he turned it so that the entire group could read it. Reluctance and annoyance flashed in their eyes as they took in what it said and the meaning of it. They did so silently until all of a sudden, a rough hand gripped Johnny on the shoulder, from a figure standing over him from behind.
"Well. Isn't this a fun coincidence?" The familiar drawl of Cobra Kai's tall, white-haired sensei remarked, his hand touching Johnny's shoulder playfully. In a flash, Johnny had shot to his feet, slapping Silver's hand away from me.
"Don't touch me." Johnny snarled, his fury towards the man only burning more intensely as he watched Silver chuckle wildly. All of Cobra Kai stood behind him, a mixture of different facial expressions on show to demonstrate their opinions about this seating plan. Silver and Kyler looked positively thrilled. Marcos and Sarah both looked really worried. Shawn and Kreese looked ready for a fight. Kenny and Piper were more neutral to it all.
As Johnny and Silver squared off with each other, their faces inches apart, Johnny watched Silver, not even a hint of fear on the man's face, even as Johnny curled his hands into fists so tight circulation was unable to reach past his knuckles.
"Now, now. Mr. Lawrence. Is striking me really the best idea? With all of these people around? I would hate to see what becomes of your dojo if you do. If I had to guess, I'd predict you would be on the first flight back to L.A. And what a shame that would be."
"He's right, Johnny." Daniel murmured from a few paces behind Johnny. "You can't hit him."
Gut instincts battling with common sense, thankfully the latter won out this time. Johnny, scowling with fury at the man opposite him, reluctantly stepped away, though the dojos were still walking in a rigged minefield, with every step containing the potential to trigger an explosion.
"Smart man. I thought you'd choose that option." Silver remarked, his condescending tone only pissing Johnny off further. "Now… don't look so sad. It's not all bad. We still get to sit next to each other all night!"
That didn't seem very likely. There was no chance the two men, with the amount of ego and hotheadedness between them, would be able to go through the entire night sitting next to each other without igniting a riot to rival Armageddon. Everyone between both dojos knew that, and it was the absolute last thing any of them wanted. Which was why Robby and Sam both found themselves making their way to the edge seats closest to the Cobra Kais. They were the two with the best relations with the Cobra Kai students. No… they were the two with the least bad relations with the Cobra Kai students.
"Dad. Let us sit here." Sam and Robby said to Johnny and Daniel respectively, the two senseis currently sitting closest to Cobra Kai, a recipe for disaster in the eyes of everyone, hence the need to change.
"What? No chance." Daniel responded quickly.
"Please. For everyone's sake." Sam murmured. Even the other Senseis, Chozen and Barnes, knew that if they wanted any chance of making it through the night unscathed, they sure as hell wouldn't be doing so if Johnny was sitting next to Silver and Daniel was sitting next to Kreese.
As the Miyagi-Dos all shuffled their spots at the table to allow Robby and Sam to act as buffers between the rest of the dojo and Cobra Kai, their rivals did the same. Or at least, they tried to. As the only people with semi-decent relationships with Robby and Sam, Marcos and Sarah also moved to sit in Kreese and Silver's seats. Kreese agreed to allow Sarah to sit beside Sam, but Silver was much more reluctant to relinquish his seat next to Sam.
"No. Mr. Oliveira, stay where you are." Silver ordered him, though Marcos didn't listen. Instead, he turned slightly towards Kreese.
"Sensei Kreese?" Marcos asked. Kreese looked from Marcos to Silver to Marcos to Robby, before eventually turning back to Marcos and nodding.
"Marcos sits there." Kreese quietly demanded. Marcos allowed half a smirk to appear on his face as he walked past Silver's thunderous expression and took his place on the edge of the table, opposite Sarah and beside Robby. However, as he was standing up, before he could sit down, he felt Silver squeeze his arm with a vice-like grip and prevent him from doing so.
"Mr. Oliveira. I am your sensei. I gave you an instruction. You will obey that instruction." Silver slowly stated, in a tone that warned Marcos not to test him. However, Marcos wasn't so easily deterred.
"You're forgetting… I don't take orders from you. You're not my sensei and you never have been, Mr. Silver." Marcos replied, before sitting down in the seat, ignoring the unbridled rage that was beginning to appear on Silver's face, Kreese trying to hide the mirth from his face at his former ally being humbled by his own student. Marcos didn't care that they were in the presence of the enemy, and demonstrating the civil war within the dojo in front of them wasn't the smartest idea. He didn't trust Silver at all. He knew what Silver had done to Kreese, and he knew that Kreese still very much didn't trust him, and that was good enough for Marcos. While people such as Kenny and some of the other students had welcomed Silver back with open arms, Marcos remained loyal to his real sensei, Sensei Kreese, and didn't roll out the red carpet in the same way, even after all of the money thrown around for his benefit. He could appreciate what Silver had done for him by bringing him back, but that didn't change the fact that he was Sensei Kreese's student, through and through, and no amount of money would change that.
So Marcos sat down, beside Robby, nodding at the boy, who watched the encounter between the Cobra and his sensei, slightly entertained. It reminded Robby of the times both while he was in Cobra Kai and after he left when he had come face to face with Silver and straight-up refused to kneel and respect his authority. Marcos had balls, that was for sure.
Following in Robby, Marcos, Sam and Sarah's lead, the rest of the students all sat down for the dinner. Tension was still sky-high, but at least now they had a 4 person buffer between the two dojos to try and prevent things from getting too out of hand. But still. It was going to be a long night, that was for sure…