Chapter 33 - Victor versus Lilly, Part 2

Up in the stands, Garp, who was munching on the crackers suddenly paused, "What just happened? Did that girl's attack actually hit him?"

At the same time, Tsuru, who was sitting nearby quietly muttered, "Men…" then followed a half smile.

Zephyr's reaction was only to shake his head, while Kong and Sengoku kept their usual expressions.

Down at the ring, Victor wiped the little amount of blood dripping from his cheek, which had already healed. "All that for a drop of blood…" He said before crossing eyes with Lilly who showed a triumphant smile.

"I'm honestly surprised you fell for that…" She said.

"Bold move…" Victor responded.

"I suppose the same distraction won't work twice would it?..." She asked knowingly.

"Well… Depends on the amount of distraction… I wouldn't mind being completely distracted…" Victor replied cheekily.

"Haha…" She laughed before saying, "you do know I'm four years older than you?"

"That won't be a problem…" He said, before asking with a raised brow, and a cheeky smile, "to you?"

Lilly's response was a quick *SORU*, however Victor saw her move a mile away. He dodged to the right, subsequently, his free hand punched.

*BOOM*

To everyone's, even Lilly's unlikelihood, Victor punched her flying like a rocket out of the ring.

*Cough*

Blurting a mouth full of saliva, she raised her body from the ground with the support of her arms. She turned her head, only to see Victor squatting next to her, eyes closed, with an innocent smile.

"That hurt…"

"Probably…" Victor responded.

"I didn't expect you to punch me out of the blue… I thought you'd let me demonstrate my abilities for a bit longer."

"You can though… may be tonight… after dinner…" Victor said while standing back up, spreading his hand for Lilly to take.

She pondered. She's almost twenty, and for sure has had her fair share of fun.

But.

Never with a man younger than her. And Victor was only 15.

"Whatever, he asked for this… and he's cute…" she thought, taking Victor's hand.

She turned her head to the referee, "I give up," before saying quietly enough only for Victor's ears, "Pick me up at nine…"

Then she walked towards the exit.

"Winner, participant #69. Victor!!!"

A loud cheer followed, meanwhile Victor also started walking, but not towards the exit.

He jumped to the stands where a few friends from his batch sat to observe the battles. He wanted to see Sakazuki and Borsalino's match before leaving.

"Participant #80 Borsalino, and Participant #17 Kylian, please come to the battle stage."

As soon as the second match arrangement was announced, everybody, the onlookers, as well as some of the high-ranking marines started whispering.

Most of them, if not everyone, all thought the matches were rigged and the big three were deliberately prevented from battling early in the games. And now, their speculations are basically confirmed.

"Everything to this point has happened according to chance. It was nothing but a coincidence that the three had not faced each other." Kong spoke loud enough for all the high-ranking officials to hear; however, everybody had a face that said, "shameless bastard… At least admit it in front of us."

The match ended in less than a minute, and Borsalino came out victorious. Kylian was strong, proficient in five out of six Rokushiki techniques, plus intermediate level Armament and Observation Haki.

However, against Borsalino with nearly the same physique, coupled with the bug level Glint-Glint Fruit, he had little to no chance of victory.

Next, it was Lionel versus Zlatan. The battle lasted for nearly two hours, and the match ended in Lionel's favor, however, by the end of it, both participants were seriously injured, and not in any shape for a battle anytime soon.

And in the last match, Sakazuki against Salah concluded the moment it began. Like most of Sakazuki's opponents, Salah directly surrendered, avoiding the one-sided, merciless beating.

Sounds of whispering and a lot of murmurs spread out all over the battle stadium. Now that the four matches had ended, and far too hurriedly than everybody had expected, the audience watching from far and near protested their unsatisfied feelings.

After all, only Victor versus Lilly, and Lionel versus Zlatan, could be considered a battle. The other two, one was a short minute of one-sided beating, and the other, a direct forfeit.

But Kong ignored everything. After all, the main objective was to attract more talents to the marine's side, and that could be achieved after demonstrating the monster trio's capabilities.

Everyone's attention suddenly focused on him, as he stood up, holding what appears to be a Transponder Snail. A moment later, his loud voice rang spread to the stadium, and from the screen all over the world.

"Every two years, the marines conduct a knockout battle system amongst the elite recruits, in order to select the best out of them. We reward the best three recruits with the rank of at least Captain level, and depending on the recruit's performance, even Rear Admiral level. This year's batch has now concluded the top four students and they are Borsalino, age 26, Sakazuki, age 23, Lionel, age 25, and Victor, age 15.

Now I know that all of the audience here and watching from around the world were expecting a flashy battle amongst the top eight participants. Please rest assured, you will get it. Also, I must tell you, the four participants that had just lost their battles, they were not weak.

Lilly, Kylian, and Salah lost because between them, the three that had won had far too large a gap in strength.

Zlatan may have lost, but he was nearly equal in strength compared to Leonel. I'm sure you all enjoyed their battle.

We will next be conducting a draw to select who amongst the four will battle first, but, before that I would like to announce that the four participants, Lilly, Kylian, Salah, and Zlatan, all four of them will be awarded the rank, 'Captan', on the graduation ceremony."

A thunderous clap from the many, many audiences followed Kong's announcement, before it subsided again, to let Kong continue.

However, Kong sat down, but at the same time, "now, without further ado, Borsalino, Sakazuki, and Victor, please come to the battle ring and pick a small ball. Like before, each will contain a number, and will indicate who you will be up against after the draw.

The first battle will be, the pertinent with #3 Sakazuki, against the pertinent with #4 Borsalino.

The second battle will be, the pertinent with #1 Victor, against the pertinent with #2, Leonel.

"Ladies and gentlemen, since our participants all had battles today, and are not at their peak, we will be continuing tomorrow after their rest.

And the first match will be; Sakazuki, Logia Magma-Magma Fruit, versus, Borsalino, Logia Glint-Glint Fruit.

You have all witnessed the state of our fourth participant Lionel, after his fight today. His match against Victor will commence after he recovers, or after a decision is made regarding it, by our officials.

Which will also be announced tomorrow after Sakazuki and Borsalino's battle.

Now, to everyone watching here at the stadium and around the world… Please be sure to watch the much-awaited battle between two Logia's. It will be epic; I have no doubt."

The narrator ended his announcement, and everybody started walking out, including Victor. He seemed now in a very good mood, looking forward to some very late action.

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