Chapter 247: The final round
Dialogue "sample"
Thoughts 'sample'
Author notes -sample-
Disclaimer: One Piece and all of its characters belong to Eiichiro Oda.
Chapter 247: The final round
"How do you figure it out?" Asked Sabo.
"You keep looking in the direction where Luffy is sitting."
"Ah…hehe, I'm usually better at this kind of thing, I couldn't help it…" Sabo looked somewhat ashamed.
"Are you going to tell him?"
The smile vanished from his face.
"I know I should, but…"
"what are you worried about?"
"I recall their faces of disappointment when they were told I had amnesia…I let them down, both Luffy and Ace."
Vivi smacked his head.
"Are you stupid?, you know them better than I do. They would be too happy to have their brother back to care about anything else… Promise me that you will talk to him before leaving, and send a letter to Ace or something. Will you?"
Sabo nodded repeatedly.
"I will…thank you."
"Excuse me…"
A nervous attendant came onto the balcony. Sabo was quick to put his helmet on and Vivi gave the young attendant a look that made him shiver.
"Yes?" she asked.
"T-The…the finals are a-about to b-b-b…" the young boy was unable to finish his sentence.
"Begin? we will be there in a second." Sabo decided to intervene.
The attendant bowed and left in a hurry.
"Am I that scary?" Wondered Vivi.
"There is a certain aura around you…never mind that. How are we going to handle the finals? There will be the four winners from the blocks A to D and a member of the Doflamingo family." Said Sabo.
"I don't think Bartolomeo is going to cause much trouble, his style is very much defensive. The most problematic is going to be Burgess."
"You can leave that big guy to me." Sabo gave her a thumbs up.
Vivi nodded.
"That's fine. I had some business to settle with the Doflamingo family anyways."
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The arena had been quickly reformed for the finals.
The platform was much smaller than before, leaving a big pool of water all around it. The water was filled with dangerous giant fighting fish and would become deadly for any fruit user to fall in there.
A small wooden platform was temporarily placed to allow the competitors to access the arena.
Once the four of them were in place. The commentator got started.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it is finally time! Our strongest four competitors will be battling against each other to earn this price!"
Everyone's attention was grabbed by an attractive attendant carrying a blue box, decorated with expensive jewels.
She then opened the box and showed it to everyone in the stadium. Inside it, resting on a velvet cushion, was a very peculiar blue fruit with strange markings.
"Devil fruits are all rare and precious. But the one provided by the Doflamingo family this time is something else. We have received confirmation from the World Government about the identity of this fruit…"
The audience watched with attention the fruit that looked like a blue pineapple while listening to the commentator's words, wondering what kind of powers such an object could grant them.
"This…is no other than the legendary "goro-goro" fruit, also known as the lightning logia !. Whoever eats this fruit could become a god with the power of lighting at its fingertips!"
The audience went crazy with the news. Some of them cheered with excitement while a few tried to get closer to the attendant holding the box and maybe steal it.
Those were promptly stopped by the strong security guards who were surrounding the attendant.
She then brought the box to the area where the commentator was standing and placed it on a platform that had been prepared for it.
Everyone was eyeing the fruit with greed in their eyes, but they knew it would be foolish to try to steal anything from the Doflamingo family.
"Now, as many of you already know. The finals will always receive the addition of one more person. A representative from the Doflamingo family, our wonderful rulers, will take part in the proceedings. If the four block champions want to get their hands on the price…they will need to defeat this next man…"
A skinny but very tall man walked through the wooden plank towards the arena.
He had a thin-looking sword strapped to his belt and a creepy smile on his face.
"I'm afraid that this year will be particularly tough for the contestants. For this year, the representative from the Doflamingo family is no other than one of the top officers…the Hero of the Coliseum!... Diamante!"
The audience erupted into cheers.
"Diamante is the best!"
"Show them how is done!"
"Yeah!, the Hero is here!"
Despite all of the nasty Doflamingo and his crew had done to the citizens of this kingdom, the majority of citizens remained ignorant of everything.
For them, the Doflamingo family were nothing short of heroes who came just in time to save them from the evil King Rikku and made their island prosper afterward.
Diamante arrived at the arena while he waved around at the crowd with a smile. He was truly a beloved figure.
"Now we are all here!" the commentator started.
"The winner from block A, Jesus Burgess."
He received quite a few cheers.
"From block B, we have the not-liked…Bartomeo, the man-eater!"
The audience booed at him while others shouted death threats.
"The winner from block C, the lovely female gladiator, Lucy!"
Vivi seemed to have a lot of fans in the audience, she even heard Luffy shouting her actual name.
"And finally, from block D, we have the mysterious knight, Sabo!"
The audience did not know what to think about Sabo. The fight on block D had ended in such a bizarre manner but a few people still clapped for him.
"And the finals can start…NOW!"
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