CHAPTER 139
"Welcome! Competitors. Senseis. Sponsors. Guests." The founder of the Sekai Taikai organization, an elderly looking man, stood up from his place at the front table and addressed the entire hall. As soon as he began to speak, the hall immediately went silent, all eyes firmly on him. "To those of you who haven't been before… welcome. To those of you who have… welcome back. To the sponsors and other guests… thank you so much for being here, and thank you for the generous donations you've made. This competition would certainly not have been possible without you."
Loud applause echoed around the vast hall as all of the dojos respectfully clapped for them. They clapped until the founder and head of the Taikai organization, a Japanese man who must've been at least in his mid 70s but looked absolutely great for his age, held up a hand to cut them off.
"Thank you." He said. "Now… if I could give a special welcome to a few people in particular. First of all, our defending champions, fighting out of Buenos Aires, Argentina… please everyone join me in welcoming back the students and senseis of Warrior Karate. Guys, stand up and give us all a wave."
The dojo sitting at the very front of table 1, signifying their spot as the apex predators of the food chain, stood up and gave a quick wave to the clapping students around them. They looked good. That was the only thing you could say about them. They most certainly looked the part. This was far from the first time they had been here, and by the looks of the banners of previous winners that adorned the walls, it wasn't the first time they had won either. The students all possessed a look of steely-eyed determination. They had a job to do, and they were going to go in and do it. Simple.
After the reigning champions had sat down, the applause died down and the Taikai organizer continued to speak.
"Thank you. And best of luck in your quest to retain your title." The man told them. "However… we also have a couple of brand new dojos to the tournament that I'd like to personally welcome, dojos who are equally eager to win as everyone else. Maybe even more so, given that infamous press conference from earlier today that I'm sure most of you have seen by now. Both residing in Los Angeles, California, let's all give a warm welcome to the two newest additions to the Taikai: Miyagi-Do Karate and Cobra Kai Karate."
Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai both stood up, receiving applause from the rest of the room. Even in the non-verbal gesture that clapping was, the Miyagi-Dos and Cobras could tell exactly what the rest of the room was saying to them. They were welcoming them, to an extent. But they were also warning them. Warning them that while they might have been easily the top dojos in the Valley, they weren't in the Valley anymore. Here, they weren't the alphas. They were the bottom of a barrel of a couple hundred of the best karate fighters in the world.
The Miyagi-Dos and Cobra Kais sat down shortly after, and the speaker then turned to face the long table that he was sitting at, where all of the rest of the sponsors and officials were sitting.
"Sitting at this table are some more people I'd like to thank." The founder continued. "We've got our incredible refereeing staff. We've got our medical staff. We've got our facilities managers. Without them, there's not a chance in the world that we could've held this event. So please, join me in giving them a massive well done for all of their efforts."
The loudest applause yet, the cogs that kept this massive tournament running were given the appreciation they most definitely deserved.
"However, those aren't the only people sitting beside me today." He continued. "As many of you who have been here before, we have a number of sponsors who have kindly lent their services to the event. Seated at this table alongside me, we have representatives from Adidas, Gatorade, Under Armor, Yamaha, Venum, Toyota, Sony and Burger King, all of whom are the title sponsors of this event. And for those of you who aren't aware, many of these companies are looking for global ambassadors for their brand. Put in a good enough performance in this tournament and you could find yourself with a sponsorship from any of these companies."
"Let me guess… you're looking at the Burger King one, aren't you?" Sarah murmured quietly to Marcos, knowing his incredibly fond affection for fast food, and for that joint in particular.
"Free burgers. What could possibly be better than that?" Marcos whispered back, grinning at her.
"And finally…" The founder took a deep breath and smiled widely as he began to say this part. "As I'm sure most of you know, we are blessed enough that this tournament has expanded so far and wide across the world that we've had a number of celebrities and influential figures attend not just the final - even this dinner. With that being said, I'd like to welcome to the table a glittery star in the world of combat sports. Recently retired, he is the man who put the UFC on the map, undoubtedly the biggest star ever to fight for the franchise. Known for his brutal striking power and even more brutal words on the mic, it is my pleasure to introduce someone that I never, in my wildest dreams, could've imagined would be attending the Taikai when I first started the tournament 49 years ago. Ladies and Gentlemen, please put your hands together and give a warm welcome to the Irish fighting legend, Conor McGregor!"
Every jaw in the room, in particular from those who hadn't ever been to the Taikai before, hit the ground as they heard the name. Most of Miyagi-Do weren't huge fans of the UFC, but even they knew the name Conor McGregor. He was such a massive name in the world of sports, up there with the most famous across all sports, that there was no way that any of them didn't know who McGregor was.
In the other dojo, Marcos was absolutely shell shocked to hear the name. McGregor was his hero, his sporting idol. The way that the man had come from absolutely nothing in Ireland and had taken the UFC world by storm, completely conquering in a way that nobody had before him… Marcos had always dreamed of emulating McGregor's success and even surpassing it one day. While most of his neighborhood in Brazil supported the many Brazilian fighters in the franchise, Marcos was quite possibly the only one who supported McGregor. He stood on that hill alone and was ready to die on it, an absolute fanatic of the Irish superstar. It had also always been a dream of his to be able to share the UFC octagon with McGregor one day, his hero, his inspiration. For this reason, when the earth-shattering news had come out a few months ago that McGregor had been forced to retire early with a severe ankle injury, Marcos had been heart-broken.
Marcos was near tears of shock and awe as he watched his hero stride confidently into the room, waving at them all and then sitting down beside what looked like a friend of his, at the front official table. Weirdly though, McGregor didn't look exactly thrilled to be there. His attempt at keeping a neutral expression on his face wasn't exactly working, and frustration seemed to be prevalent.
"We are all honored to have Mr. McGregor here with us today. We hope that he'll enjoy this year's tournament enough to come again next year. He'll be around all night tonight, as well as around during the tournament itself, so please don't swarm him all at once." The Taikai founder said. "Without further ado, I can practically hear all of your stomachs rumbling. I'm sure you're all ravenous after the busy day you've all had. Let's not waste any more time and let's dig in! The buffet is in the back of the room. Please go ahead and help yourselves!"
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"Not hungry?" Robby asked, watching as everyone else at their table immediately stood up to grab a plate of food, and yet Marcos remained still in his seat, rooted to the spot. His eyes weren't even on the food, which was a miracle for someone who loved to eat as much as he did. Instead, they were still locked on the front of the room, where his hero sat less than 50 meters away.
Marcos eventually tore himself away though and turned to face Robby.
"Nah, I am. I just, uh… I want to go get a photo with him." Marcos said, gesturing towards where McGregor was seated. Robby looked towards that direction and nodded.
"You a fan?" He asked.
"The biggest." Marcos replied. "He was my hero growing up. I watched his career during my whole upbringing. Especially during the shitty times. I know it's stupid, but uh… seeing the confidence he always had in himself, even when his back was against the wall, kinda made me have faith in myself too. Seeing the way he was able to fight back against everything that faced him made me believe I could too. It's stupid, I know."
"Not stupid at all." Robby replied. "And you should go meet him now. Nobody else is around him. Everyone else is distracted by the food. After the meal, they probably won't be though, and you could potentially not end up meeting him in time. But now he's not talking to anyone so you should be good."
Marcos eventually nodded, trying to gather the courage to stand and walk over to his hero, feeling more nervous right now than he had in almost every single fight he had ever been in. But he knew he couldn't let this opportunity go to waste. He might never get the opportunity to meet his hero again, and right now he had a golden opportunity to do so.
"You're right. I'm gonna do it." Marcos decided, a lopsided grin beginning to spread across his entire face, unshakable. Marcos grabbed Sarah's phone, which was lying on the table, as his barely alive Blackberry couldn't take a photo to save its life. He then stood up, turned around and began to walk towards his hero…