CHAPTER 140

As Marcos neared the Irish legend, he began to hear snippets of the conversation McGregor was having with the friend beside him, as neither was talking particularly quietly at the front table, and they were the only ones sitting at the table too as everyone else in the process of grabbing food.

"I told you, Conor. These events are really good for your image. It's good for the PR." Marcos heard McGregor's friend tell him.

"I don't need any fucking PR. I make enough money as it is." McGregor bluntly replied.

"No. You made enough money." His friend told him. "You're no longer in the UFC. They've dumped you to the side. You're going to need a next chapter and fast if you want to be able to stay in the limelight. More than just owning a liquor brand or anything."

"And I'm supposed to find that next chapter here in Japan?" McGregor remarked.

"Maybe. There are a lot of talented young fighters here. Maybe you'll see someone you like. You know we're looking for a new champion at the gym. You could help us coach them to the UFC."

"Ha! No chance that's happening!" McGregor laughed. "None of these rich kids have even close to what it takes to ever make it to the UFC!"

"I don't know about that." His friend replied. "That champion from last year from Argentina that they were talking about… he's already a 3 time champion himself, and his team has won it 5 of the past 10 years. He seems very promising. Maybe you'll take a liking to him when you see him fight."

"Maybe." McGregor scoffed, still slightly disbelievingly. At that moment, the two men noticed Marcos approaching nearer and nearer, and they turned their attention to him. "Can we help you with something?"

For a few moments, Marcos' words were caught in his mouth. He was trying his hardest to process the bombshell that he had just overheard, and the fact that he was in the presence of his hero made it all the more difficult. McGregor's gym were looking for a new fighter?! A young fighter that they could help train and eventually help reach the UFC?! Well, Marcos definitely knew a guy who would be interested.

He didn't say anything about that though when he finally spoke again. Instead, he was rendered a stammering, starstruck fan, who was barely able to get the words out of his mouth as he asked for a photo with McGregor. McGregor was kind enough, used to the love from his fans, and so he took a quick photo with Marcos, said a few words of encouragement and good luck, before wishing him well and sending him on his way.

It was only a minute-long interaction, but for Marcos it meant the absolute world. It reminded him, if he even needed reminding, of the fact that the whole reason he had agreed to join Cobra Kai in the first place was to compete in this tournament and gain the media attention necessary to make it as a professional fighter. Well this door that had been wedged open by eavesdropping on Conor McGregor was definitely one that Marcos wanted to explore further. But to do that, he needed to perform well in the tournament. It added pressure to the already boiling pot, but it was pressure that Marcos was ready to take into his stride. He could do this. If he won the tournament, and won it convincingly, who knows where he'd be afterwards? Who knew whether his life would ever be the same again?

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Dinner commenced, but it was far from a traditional sit-down affair. Instead, there was a lot more of a social element to it. Barely any of the students remained seated where they had initially been taken to. Instead, they all scattered all over the room, eager to talk to those in their dojo and those in other dojos too. Some of these competitors had been fighting against each other for years now, so friendships had been formed, friendships that could only come to fruition once a year when they flew to Japan and met up. Needless to say, there were a lot of cheerful reunions as people gathered, caught up and had an all-round great time.

As Marcos walked around the room, simply trying to comprehend the sheer amazingness of the circumstances he was blessed enough to be in, also still trying to come to terms with the fact that he had just met his hero and had just taken a photo with McGregor that would be printed on mega-size paper as soon as he returned home.

All of a sudden, as Marcos was still deep in thought about the meeting with McGregor, he felt someone tapping him on the shoulder. He turned around to see an unfamiliar person that he had never met or seen before. He had many similar features to Marcos, so the boy figured that he was also Latin American, and he was also a similar age, so Marcos assumed he was another competitor.

"Are you Marcos? Marcos Oliveira?" He asked. Marcos nodded.

"I am, yeah. Do we know each other?" Marcos asked him. The boy shook his head and held out a hand.

"Joao. Joao da Silva. Nice to meet you." He said. Marcos shook his hand.

"Brazilian?" Marcos questioned, recognizing the sound of the name, even if he didn't know the guy. Sure enough, the boy nodded.

"I am. From Rio actually." He told him. Marcos' eyes widened.

"No way! Me too!" Marcos exclaimed. The boy nodded. Although the two of them were both clearly from very different socio-economic classes, as this boy definitely didn't talk, act and present himself like someone who had been born and raised in the slums.

"I know. I actually heard about you over there before I left, that's why I recognized you. My barber lives in your favela. Or lived I guess. When he heard I was competing in this, he remembered that you were too and told me to try and meet you. He's convinced you're going to win it all."

"Glad he remembers me at least." Marcos chuckled, knowing exactly who the boy was referring to, as there had indeed been a barber who had lived a few doors down from him during his childhood.

"Remembers you? Out there, they're all but making fan posters for you!" The boy exclaimed. "Every single person who walked in while I was getting a haircut, as soon as they heard us talking about the Taikai, their first question was about you. They all know you're competing, and I know that hundreds of Brazilians there are rooting for you already, before the tournament has even started."

"That's sweet, man. Thank you." Marcos murmured. "Let's hope one of us can bring a title home for Brazil, give us something to celebrate after so long without a Brazilian winning."

"God I hope so." Joao replied. "It's my third time competing. And next year, I'll be too old, so…"

"Well that's definitely not happening!" A loud, mocking voice came from behind them and before Marcos could react, he felt himself being roughly bumped into from behind. Marcos toppled forwards, and it took Joao catching him to prevent him from landing flat on his face. After he steadied himself, Marcos turned to see the entire championship winning dojo, the Argentinians, walking past them, led by the reigning champion, a 20 year old boy who wore a malicious smirk on his face.

As the group walked past them, Marcos, kind of annoyed, called after them.

"Hey! You just bumped into me!" Marcos exclaimed.

"Welcome to the Taikai, comemierdas." The leader chuckled, before leading his group away from them.

"Dicks." Marcos mumbled under his breath after they were out of earshot.

"You'll get used to it, don't worry." Joao reassured him. Marcos shook his head.

"What the hell's their problem?" Marcos grumbled. "Thought they were the champions. Why do they bother trying to bully people?"

"They don't. At least, they don't bully most people." Joao told him. "It's only because we're Brazilians."

"Yeah, and?" Marcos asked. Joao raised an eyebrow.

"Come on! You've never heard of the Brazil Argentina rivalry in sports?" Joao asked him. Marcos shrugged.

"Thought that was only a football thing." Marcos remarked. Joao nodded.

"It is. But with the number of egotistical, immature jackasses we've got here, it's just as big here at the Taikai between Brazil and Argentina as it is in football. The stupid kids competing have all made it that way. It's just a shame we can't really do anything back to them."

"Why not?" Marcos asked. Joao laughed and pointed behind him, where all of the banners of previous winners hung.

"Have you taken a peek at that wall?" Joao remarked. "That dojo and Argentina have won it 5 years in the past 10. Meanwhile, Brazil… we haven't won it in God knows how long. It might be a rivalry, but it's not exactly a close one. At least not recently."

Marcos slowly nodded, taking all of this in. Most of the time, whenever he thought about himself competing in the Taikai, he thought about it as himself representing the Cobra Kai dojo. While that was definitely still a big thing, ever since he arrived, whether it be through the questions asked during the press conference or listening to Joao talk, he realized just how big of a deal it also was to be able to represent his country, to be able to to represent Brazil. It was the country that had given him almost everything he had, the country that had shaped him almost as much as any parent could've, and he was beyond honored to be able to now fight for his country in this tournament.

"Well let's change that, shall we? Let's bring the trophy back home to Brazil." Marcos encouraged him.

"For sure." Joao replied. "Anyways, man. It was a pleasure to meet you." Joao said.

"Yeah, you too." Marcos replied, before the other Brazilian teenager turned and walked away.

After he was gone, Marcos was left pondering. He was thinking about everything. About fighting for Brazil. About fighting for Cobra Kai. About fighting for his mother, Sarah and Kreese, the only 3 people to have always believed in him. He was simply wrapped up in his own thoughts, so much so that he didn't even notice Sarah walk up behind him and wrap her arms around him from behind.

"Hey, beautiful." She murmured as she hugged him from behind. Marcos turned to face her, a smile inevitably growing on his face as he stared into the eyes of his gorgeous girlfriend once more. It was a few hours after the dinner had started, and things were starting to wrap up with the dinner, with students and senseis beginning to shuffle out and walk back to their dorms for the night.

"Pretty sure that's my line." He replied.

"Who's that you were just talking to?" Sarah asked curiously.

"Oh, uh… a guy from Brazil. He actually grew up in the same city as me too, so we got to talking."

"That's awesome." Sarah smiled at him. "This place is crazy, huh?"

"You could say that again." Marcos replied. "Meeting everyone… it makes you realize just how big this thing is. Like there really are people from all over."

"Exactly. I was talking to someone who says she's from Alexandria. I wasn't going to ask her to her face, but where the hell even is that?!"

"It's a city in Egypt." Marcos replied. "But like seriously, people from Egypt, people from Brazil, hundreds of people from everywhere else in the world… we're supposed to beat all of them?!"

"We're supposed to give every ounce of energy we have. Whether we beat them or not is less relevant at that point." Sarah reminded him reassuringly. "Look, I'm absolutely exhausted. I'm going to head back to the room now."

"Same. I'll come with you. I feel like I've been up for days." Marcos murmured.

"Well I mean you kind of have." Sarah commented. "We haven't slept since L.A apart from a tiny bit on the plane, and that was way more than 24 hours now."

"God. I feel like I'm going to drop dead asleep just listening to that fact." Marcos remarked. "You ready to go back?"

Sarah nodded.

"Just one thing I kinda want to do first." She said, before taking his hand and walking him back in the direction of the corner of the room, to the table that they had initially started the night by sitting at.

"What are we doing?" Marcos asked, though he already kind of knew what his girlfriend had in mind. Seated at the table that they were walking towards were all 6 of the Miyagi-Do students. They were without the senseis as the older men had already left for the night, but all of the students were still present as Marcos and Sarah walked over to them.

Hearing them approach, the Miyagi-Dos all looked up from their conversation, and a few of them tensed up slightly at the sight of the Cobras.

"We don't want any trouble." Sarah began by saying, making her intentions known. "We just wanted to wish you all good night and good luck in the tournament. We might not see you guys until the prelims start, so just good luck from us."

"Why do you want us to do well? Shouldn't you want us to do as badly as possible?" Hawk asked. Marcos shrugged.

"We're rivals. Nobody said we have to be enemies though, right?"

"Right." Robby firmly replied, sending a silent statement to all of his Miyagi-Do teammates. Sam also smiled faintly at them and nodded.

"Good luck to you too."