Chapter 1210: Those Who’ve Seen the World and Those Who Haven’t

“Looks like they’re not all small fry, there are a few passable ones here, Katakuri brother.”

After one strike, ninety percent of the Zone A arena were cleared out, leaving only a few still standing on the stage.

“One… one strike! Two people cleared out most of the contestants with just one strike! This seems to be the shortest match ever in the Bullfighting Arena. Is this the strength of the Sea Emperor’s sons?! Only the Fishman Fighter Hack, Elizabello II’s legion, and a few others managed to withstand this attack, it seems the winner of Zone A has already been locked in advance! Unexpectedly, the all-out battle would end so swiftly, but don’t worry, because there are equally exciting matchups, at least seven more today, even excluding the finals!”

Expanding five matches into eight was roughly reserved based on the information of the participants.

The arena has a limited capacity, each round can only hold around two hundred people, anymore and the ones near the edge would be bitten off by the fighting fish before the match could even start.

Plus, there’s another issue — political maneuvering.

Just by looking at the list, Doflamingo could guess eighty to ninety percent correctly who would advance, making those monsters burn themselves out with mutual competition is the way to increase his people’s winning chance, but Doflamingo didn’t do that.

He could have put people from BIG MOM, Whitebeard, and Hundred Beasts in the same area, which would consume a great deal of power, but after the Quake-Quake Fruit business is over, his trade must go on.

Who knows if any faction might get petty about it, thinking Doflamingo did it on purpose, so he simply spread these forces across different stages, giving them equal advancement opportunities, then when they get taken out in the finals, they can’t complain.

Eliminating ordinary contestants while taking care of advancing choices looks like there’s no shady deals, yet it’s full of them everywhere, one could say Doflamingo went to a lot of effort for this.

By all means, Diamante, as a defender, could go straight to the finals, but Doflamingo made him compete directly, only the ones assigned are all ordinary contestants without much fame.

…

“So… so strong…”

“Still far from it, the one who summons demon is Charlotte Daifuku, the one steaming is Charlotte Owen, both are sons of BIG MOM, each with a bounty of three billion Belly. Even though they are among the stronger in BIG MOM’s children, they are not the strongest, the one wearing the scarf is the most troublesome.”

Normally, Luffy, having seen grand battles during the war at the top, couldn’t pay attention to those monsters, focused solely on rescuing Ace, and wasn’t significantly aware of the combat.

This is his first time as a spectator, closely observing the battle of New World’s strong figures.

When he first set sail, Yamato did fight, but at that time Luffy was too weak to see clearly, only now does he truly appreciate the power.

With Ace’s narration beside him, Luffy also understands more.

In a way, Rayleigh really only taught the basics, Luffy is essentially ignorant of the New World, Rayleigh just brushed over the details, hardly mentioning the specifics.

In comparison, Rayleigh just read book titles, Law gave a cursory directory read on the ship earlier, only Ace really explained the content of the book.

“But… why do I feel like Hekul is looking down on them a bit?”

Luffy appeared quite surprised, as Ace expected. Luffy is naturally the type to get surprised easily, but Hekul’s composure made him find it odd.

He remembers clearly that this rhinoceros beetle is highly intelligent, at least in Ace’s mind, Hekul’s intelligence surpasses Luffy’s, and it’s always with Luffy, yet its demeanor suggests it’s seen even bigger spectacles.

“Hmm? Hekul has always been like that, nothing strange.”

Everyone has their little secrets, Hekul too, has something it hasn’t shared with Luffy — its origins.

Though it left Wano Kuni shortly after birth, during its brief stay, it witnessed battles among officials, saw clashes between Kaidou and Yamato.

The fight-until-you-drop combat was far more thrilling.”

Owen and Daifuku were just warming up, as some knowledgeable audience members anticipated Katakuri to be the winner, Katakuri himself was analyzing his opponents in the finals, not wanting to reveal too much true ability before that.”

…

The spectators really enjoy the show, but it’s different on the stage; even if they haven’t left due to Daifuku’s and Owen’s attacks, they felt a great threat.”

“That was close….”

Looking at the burn marks on his left arm, Hack’s muscles all tensed up, he was near the edge, by the time the Hot Wind Fist reached him, its power was greatly weakened, yet it still caused considerable trouble.

On the other side, Providence Kingdom’s legion underwent a sharp reduction, in front of Elizabello II stood only Dagama and two guards, they solely relied on Dagama’s recruited meat shields to withstand Owen’s remaining Hot Wind Fist power.

“Your Majesty, how is it looking?”

Dagama’s tone was slightly anxious, Providence Kingdom had big ambitions for the Quake-Quake Fruit, and with Elizabello II’s special capabilities, Dagama had done a lot of preparation before the fight.