250 Block B

Bartolomeo was thrilled. First he got to witness a battle between Zoro-senpai and Cherry-senpai and now he had the chance to show off his skills!

He looked over his shoulder and saw Luffy-senpai, Cherry-onee-sama, and Sanji-senpai watching the match and nearly fainted. He only managed to stop himself for fear of embarrassing himself in front of his heroes.

*PING*

A gladiator tried to swing a mace at Bartolomeo's head, thinking that he was distracted gazing out of the arena longingly. Instead his mace hit something immovable and shattered in his hand, the recoil causing fractures in his hand and arm.

Bartolomeo had come a long way since his first fateful meeting with Cherry-onee-sama, Robin-nee-san, and Cabernet-nee-san. Now he was able to create small barriers in quick succession to counter attacks with perfect timing. This allowed him to keep the nature of his abilities secret for longer.

"Hm? Did you just do something? I wasn't paying attention. Well, since you're on the ground already I'll bestow upon you my favor." Bartolomeo gave a loud snort and spat a wad of snot and saliva onto the fallen gladiator.

Another area he had improved in was his mockery. His extreme disrespect made his opponents angry and angry opponents made mistakes.

As expected, some of the more honorable combarants were enraged by Bartolomeo's actions. A few even abandoned their assault on King Elizabello II's forces to teach him a lesson, in spite of the threat the King Punch posed to their chances of victory.

The announcer was similarly outraged and whipped the crowd up in jeering at Bartolomeo. Their boos only encouraged Bartolomeo, however, more than cheers ever could. The feeling of being despised by so many people was second only to the feelings he felt in the presence of the Straw Hats.

He couldn't just stand back and hide behind his barrier, though. That would make him look terribly uncool in front of his senpais. So he rushed forth into the group of fighters that intended to deal with him.

His attackers thought him a fool for voluntarily placing himself in their midst, becoming surrounded and flanked from all sides. They immediately moved to capitalize on this grave mistake, several of them acting in tandem to strike at the same time. This was a simple matter as they had fought in the colosseum as a group many times before.

*PIPIPIPIPIPING!*

Their weapons shattered and they fell to the floor with broken bones. Another brave, but foolish soul lunged forward just after with his spear. He thought whatever Bartolomeo did shouldn't be something he could maintain or do in quick succession.

Bartolomeo bent forward and the spear tip was abruptly redirected upwards by an unseen force. A blade appeared from Bartolomeo's heel as he swung his leg into the gladiator's undefended groin.

A great disturbance was felt by even the men who weren't watching that part of the arena at that moment as the men of the audience collectively winced and groaned in sympathy. Right after was a great uproar calling for Bartolomeo's disqualification.

Unfortunately there was nothing to be done about him, as the Doflamingo family had long done away with the rules meant to protect the fighters from such tactics.

The few who remained began to back away, fearing they would suffer the same fate and deciding to just go back to their siege against Elizabello's forces.

Meanwhile, Bartolomeo crouched down over the involuntary eunuch and ripped a loud fart on his head. He sent a glance towards the observation window of the waiting room and saw Cherry buckled over with a hand clasped over her mouth. To those who didn't know her, she would appear as if she was about to be sick. In reality she was barely containing her laughter.

The recipient of the impromptu castration had harassed Rebecca in the waiting room before the fights had begun, so needless to say Cherry felt no pity towards him. Rebecca on the other hand, being the kind girl she was, at least felt a little bad for the man, knowing that his disdain towards her was likely based upon the lies of Doflamingo.

Sanji was egging Bartolomeo on, shouting that he should cut his "other head" off too.

Needless to say, Bartolomeo was in bliss seeing two of the Straw Hats approve of him. He was mildly disappointed that Luffy didn't seem to care one way or the other, but he WAS pretty focused on the jumbo bucket of popcorn he was eating, so that was okay.

*SPROING*

The sound of springs spronging brought Bartolomeo's attention back to the battle just in time to see some blond jerk with spring legs flying towards him as well as a fishman wearing a karate gi.

"Nothing personal, rookie, but I've got more on the line for this tournament than you do!" Bellamy said with his tightened spring fist ready to fire forward with great force.

"I cannot allow such an uncouth man to even have a slim chance of winning this competition." Hack the soldierfish fishman said resolutely.

"TWO OF THE TOP COMPETITORS OF BLOCK B ARE TEAMING UP AGAINST THE VILLAINOUS BARTOLOMEO! IS THIS THE END FOR THE BASTARD?!" The announcer cried without an ounce of impartiality in his tone.

"Time to bring out the big guns I suppose." Bartolomeo said calmly, bringing up his hands and twisting his fingers together. "Or should I say, the big barrier?"

*PONG PONG*

Hack and Bellamy simultaneously slammed into what looked like a pane of blue-ish green glass. Unexpectedly that pane of glass did not shatter, rather it was Bellamy and Hack who shattered when they struck it!

"Hehahahaha! What a couple of losers!" Bartolomeo mocked and picked his nose with his pinky.

"WHAT A TERRIBLE TURN OF EVENTS! INSTEAD OF BARTOLOMEO LYING ON THE GROUND IN A PUDDLE OF HIS OWN BLOOD, AS WE ALL WANTED TO SEE, IT WAS BELLAMY AND HACK WHO WOUND UP ON THE GROUND INSTEAD! WILL SOMEBODY KILL THIS ROTTEN SON OF A BITCH ALREADY?!" The announcer shouted irately.

The muffled sounds of a scuffle were heard over the speakers before falling silent. Soon after a different voice spoke up. "Apologies, ladies and gentlemen. Our usual announcer, Gatz, has suddenly fallen ill and will not be able to finish commentating on the tournament. Please welcome one of the Doflamingo Family's contenders as a temporary replacement, Señor Pink!"

"""Kyaaaaa~! Señor Pink!""" cried many women from the audience.

Cherry turned her gaze to the commentator's box to see this guy that had so many fangirls going wild over him.

"What the hell is wrong with these people…?" Cherry said, dumbfounded by the juxtaposition of the screaming women and the man-baby they were fawning over.

Cherry looked to Rebecca, her eyes begging for a reasonable explanation for the madness she was now witness to. Rebecca, sensing the question without the need to hear it, elected to explain.

"Señor Pink is actually one of the more down to earth officers of the Doflamingo Family, and often shows others kindness. He's also known for rejecting the advances of the many young women who throw themselves at him as being far too immature for him, which only stokes the flames of their passion. I don't get the whole baby thing, though." Rebecca explained what information she had absorbed over the years about the man.

"Oh, I guess I get it then." Cherry said simply.

"You do?!" Sanji was in disbelief.

"Yes, Mr. Prince, I do. An older man in a position of power that respects young women enough to reject them is bound to be popular no matter how he looks." Cherry said, waving away his doubts.

Sanji pondered that notion. Would he have the strength of will to deny so many beautiful women practically throwing themselves at him?

Señor Pink spoke up through the speakers. "I admire this Bartolomeo's 'I don't give a fuck what you think' attitude. I wonder if he'll work under me."

The crowd was silenced by that comment, as it completely went against the collective attitude against Bartolomeo building up over the duration of the match. Soon after, the cries of many women were heard screaming "Señor Pink~! So hard boiled~!"

Bartolomeo responded by showing off his two favorite fingers towards Señor Pink in the commentator box, the ones right in the middle of each hand. The crowd immediately turned hostile against him once more, shouting that he was an "ungrateful swine" for disrespecting Señor Pink.

"Not even afraid of revealing his true thoughts towards his future superior, truly a man after my own heart." Señor Pink praised. "Oh, it looks like Elizabello is about ready to go."

This immediately drew the attention of everyone, combatant and spectator alike. Elizabello's military advisor, Dagama, could faintly be heard cursing as that little fact was leaked before he wanted it to be.

The audience on the other side of the arena started to realize that they were in the direct path of the King Punch, an attack known to be able to shatter fortresses. Panic set in as they desperately tried to vacate their seats and the competitors rushed towards Elizabello in a last ditch attempt to stop him.

"How foolish. Even if he's not completely ready to go, the amount he's built up can still be unleashed as it is. I wouldn't want to be in front of him if I were down there." Cherry said.

In fact, all the energy he needed was already prepared. All that was left to do was to properly focus it to maximize destructive potential while minimizing waste.

Whilst Cherry said she didn't want to be in front of him, secretly she kind of did. She wanted to experience the supposed world's strongest attack first hand. Maybe she still would if he pulled a win here, but that depended on whether the King Punch was stronger than Bartolomeo's barrier.

Chaos erupted among the ranks of Elizabello's guards, half of which were merely playing along in an attempt to capitalize against Elizabello. Sadly for them, Dagama already anticipated their betrayal and initiated a betrayal of his own!

"I'm ready!" Elizabello said, sweating profusely from strain.

"Do it!" Dagama responded as he dived into the moat to save himself from the coming disaster.

"KING… PUUUUUUUUNCH!!!" Elizabello shouted, his voice easily eclipsing the clamor of the crowd.

The very air shattered. Cherry, even with her enhanced senses, failed to even see the king's arm move. One instant it was drawn back, and the next he had already followed through. For the briefest of moments there wasn't a sound in the world. In the next moment all the sound came rushing back all at once in an ear splitting shockwave. The raw power of the punch even created a blinding flash of light that obscured the vision of most of the observers.

When everything calmed down, hardly anyone remained within the arena, most having been thrown into the moat without the slightest chance to defend themselves.

King Elizabello II stood and observed his handy work, expecting the announcement that he had won to come within seconds. It did not, and he saw the reason why.

"Hehahaha!" Bartolomeo laughed mockingly. "I'm a barrier man, you can't touch me with such a pathetic punch! Barrier Crush!"

Bartoloemo sent his barrier flying into Elizabello, who lacked the energy to dodge out of the way. He was struck head on and knocked out cold.

Bartolomeo spun around and looked to the waiting area window, hoping to get some praise for his victory.

*WHACK!*

Bartolomeo fell to the ground unconscious after a blunt claymore struck him over the head.

"I apologize for using you to survive the King Punch, and I thank you for the spot in the finals that I couldn't have attained without your assistance," the old gladiator, Ricky, said sincerely.