71 Reaching The Finals

The next morning Ori and the rest of the Heavenly Demon's took their seats alongside the rest of the audience at the colosseum. No one said anything as they sat and watched whilst ignoring the roars of the crowds.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for has finally arrived. Silk, the Mink of the sea is going to finish his challenge of the colosseum. One way or another, things will come to an end today!

Without further ado let's introduce the fighters for today. In the challenger's corner, the man with 90 wins, Silk the Sea Mink. And his first opponent, the first of the 9 divine generals of Parch Island; General Latima."

When the crowd heard that they went wild with their cheers.

"General Latima, General Latima, General Latima!"

Sabo who had his head in the book on the colosseum explained.

"According to this the 9 divine generals of the island are usually in charge of the day to day protection of the island, but if a challenger successfully makes it to the 90 win mark, they will have to face the 9 divine generals, followed by the Island lord.

If they successfully beat any of the divine generals, they will be offered the position of a general with the weakest of the prior general's having to step down."

Whilst Sabo was speaking neither, Ori, Roman nor Shaya appeared to be listening. They were staring at General Latima.

He was a large man with short wavy brown hair and blue eyes, dressed in a golden coloured armour.

Roman who was still staring at the general on the arena frowned as he said.

"I can't feel any life force coming from him…"

Shaya looked at the brown haired general in slight confusion as she carried on.

"He really does feel like a corpse. Isn't this…"

Ori nodded as he finished her sentence.

"The effects of the Death Fruit!"

As he said that he looked up at the VIP box overlooking the arena.

Inside the VIP box, Oven was sat in the seat of honour with a frail looking old man who looked like he was made up of purely skin and bone sat beside him. The man had a full head of grey hair, cold silver eyes and a cunning smile that would make anyone think twice about trusting him. He was dressed in a black full length robe holding a wooden walking stick in his hands.

Standing just behind him was an attractive woman with long black hair and dark eyes. She was dressed in a man's black suit, a green scarf, a black overcoat with a white fur trim and a large cigar in her mouth.

Stood behind them against the back wall were 8 men, all of which had listless zombie like eyes.

Oven who was staring at Silk in the arena frowned as he said to the man beside him.

"Make sure to increase security in the arena today, I don't want him getting away again!"

The old man nodded with a cunning smile.

"I understand young master!"

"Croc… Haha I mean city lord, you heard the young master. Get it done!"

The black haired woman gave the old man a cold glance before nodding and taking her leave.

Oven watched her leave before turning back to the old man.

"To think you even managed to subdue a woman like Crocodile, I can't help but wonder how you did it, Beliard."

The old man respectfully replied.

"This old man still has a few tricks left in him."

Oven looked deeply at the old man who merely smiled leisurely in return before turning back to the arena. Whilst looking down at Silk, he asked Beliard.

"Do you really think it was the Heavenly Demons who intervened yesterday?"

The old man nodded indifferently as he replied.

"Between the sudden gust of wind used to carry Silk in to the air, the perfectly shot arrows that killed my men and the man who was able to get the best of you in a clash of strength, I'm sure of it."

Oven nodded in response as he thought to himself.

[How could a little Rookie who's never even been to the New World, know so much about Momma?! If it really is him then there's no way I can let someone with so much potential run free with such dangerous information!]

Back on the arena Silk and General Latima were stood silently waiting for the start of the match.

"Let the match begin!"

As soon as General Latima's voice sounded, both Latima and Silk fired into each other like cannons, punching out at the other.

As their fists met, Silk was forced back 3 steps but Latima was forced back 5. Silk looked coldly at the golden armoured man in front of him as his war intent soared.

"I can't afford to play around with you today!"

As he said that, his whole body was covered in electricity as he shot forward once more.

"Electro Strike!"

He appeared in the air right in front of Latimer with his knee aimed at the mans face. Latimer brought his hands up to block the strike but was still forced back 2 steps. Just as he regained his footing he felt Silk's foot strike his chest, which sent him flying out the ring.

Silk was panting lightly after that, but his eyes were still resolute as he looked up towards the announcer.

"Next!"

As soon as they heard his voice the crowd went wild with their cheers of support.

"Silk you're so strong!"

"Silk you're the man!"

"Silk you can do it, win the golden warrior belt!"

Ori who was looking down at the match smiled slightly as he said.

"His boundary's stabilised, and he seems to have improved slightly from yesterday…

Not bad, not bad at all!"

Shaya nodded with a smile as she said.

"As expected of Fisher Tiger's son!"

On the arena, Silk's next opponent had appeared. He was tall slender man stood at 6" with blue hair and black eyes. He was dressed in a navy blue hooded assassin's robe with a short sword in each hand.

"The next opponent, the number one assassin of Parch Island and 2nd Divine General; Shadow! Let the match begin!"

As he said that, Silk darted towards his opponent aiming to finish the match with one punch. As the punch landed, Silk didn't feel the contact he was expecting, in fact he didn't feel any form of contacting.

The image of Shadow's body faded with into the air and Shadow appeared right behind him.

"After image?!"

Feeling the presence of the man behind him, Silk didn't hesitate to throw himself forward to escape the clutches of the assassin, but before he escaped he felt a searing pain on his back where Shadow had cut him. Luckily he had thrown himself forward as soon as he felt a threat behind him, or that injury could've proved fatal!

As soon as he got to his feet and looked around, he realised that he couldn't follow the movements of the assassin with his eyes, so he decided to close them. As he did, a skin tight armour made of electricity formed around his skin.

Shadow appeared right behind him and thrust his sword forward aiming for Silk's heart. Silk seemed to have sensed the danger approaching and leaned to the side. The sword that was aiming for his heart pierced his shoulder, but thanks to the electro formed armour it didn't go all the way through, only managing to pierce the shoulder by an inch.

As soon as he felt the short sword touch his electro armour, Silk's elbow shot towards the face of the man behind him.

When he saw the incoming elbow Shadow tried to pull the sword out but he realised it was lodged in too tight. By the time he realised he was going to have to abandon his sword it was too late.

Crack!

Half of the bones in Shadow's face were broken from that strike. Silk thinking he had won tried to regulate his breathing, but in doing so he dropped his guard allowing for the deformed assassin to get a final shot off slashing out creating a horizontal gash across Silk's chest.

"Arrgh!"

Silk lashed out in anger and pain punching the man square in the chest sending him flying straight out the ring.

[How the hell was he able to move with half of his face caved in like that?!]

Silk looked down at where Shadow just was trying to understand what happened.

He was now panting, heavily and blood was dripping from his chest, but he didn't care his eyes were still determined and full of confidence.

Roman who was looking down at the fight, said lightly.

"He should be on the verge of comprehending observation haki!"

Shaya frowned as she continued.

"Yeah, but if he had done so before the match, that kind of opponent never would've been his match. Now he's suffered take 3 direct attacks, and his injuries aren't light."

Ori didn't reply, instead he was staring into the unwavering eyes of Silk.

The next 7 matches got progressively harder, but Silk's will had allowed for him to defeat his opponents despite his injuries.

His clothes were dishevelled, and his body was torn and battered but the light in his eyes still shone with unwavering conviction.

It was unclear when, but the audience was no longer cheering, they were all sat in their seats watching the bloodied Silk on stage with nothing but the utmost respect.

Clap, clap, clap.

The attractive female city lord dressed like a man walked out on to the arena whilst clapping.

"You have done well to make it this far; your efforts are truly commendable! But unfortunately, this is as far as you go."

Silk didn't reply, he just eyed the city lord with caution, as every cell in his body was telling him to run. It was as if he was stood against a wild beast king that would kill him without a second thought.

[I can't give up, not now! I can't afford to lose, I have to win this!]

Thinking to there he slapped himself in the face with both hands and squatted down adopting the horse stance with his right fist by his hip and left webbed palm opened facing the city lord.

Seeing that the already weary man before him had no intentions of giving up, Crocodile shook her head helplessly and said.

"If you want to find out the difference in strength between us the hard way, suit yourself!"

As she said that she turned to the announcer and nodded indifferently.

"The man that's kept us entertained for the past 10 day has finally done it, he's clawed his way to the very end. His body broken but his spirit soars, can he pull of another miracle, or will the invincible city lord retain her title as the cities strongest?!

Let Silk's final match in the colosseum, begin!"