Boxing Match

"This is certainly a first for the Hellburger challenge. Can I get a picture for my wall of champions?" Rough House said excitedly, gesturing to a wall with about half a dozen framed pictures on it.

"I suppose you can. What about the reward for the challenge listed on the menu?" Cherry asked.

"Right. Ten thousand Beri to eat the whole Hellburger and to keep it down." Rough House said, fishing out a crumpled bill whilst fiddling with his den den mushi camera.

A drenched arm reached out and snatched the bill from Rough House's hand.

"This ought to cover your previously unpaid taxes as well as your newly incurred 'Winning a contest' tax. Thank you very much!" The Taxman said with tremendous satisfaction.

Cherry had to admit that the guy had nerves of steel to snatch money away from a pirate right under her nose.

She was just barely impressed enough with the sheer brazenness of it that she decided to let it go, at least this time.

The Taxman didn't say another word and simply marched out of the cafe with an air of undeserved self importance. It was an odd sight given he was soaked to the bone and had bits of seaweed stuck to him, as well as a little crab clinging onto his coattails with its pincers.

They finished their meals in relative peace after that and paid Rough House for the food.

"If you're looking for something to do, they've got a big boxing match scheduled for tonight at the arena. Some rookie pirate captain challenged Sweethaven's three best fighters to a no holds barred match. He'll probably get knocked out in the first ten seconds, but in that case they'll hold a real match afterwards." Rough House said, seeming a bit excited for the event.

"I'll check it out, thanks." Cherry waved goodbye.

Normally Cherry wouldn't care much for a local fight like this as one couldn't expect much from such a small scale event. This would be different though because there were a handful of devil fruit users in the town aside from her group and she figured that some if not all of them would be contenders.

'One of them ought to be that pirate captain. He probably thought he was clever for doing a no holds barred match with his devil fruit. Instead, he'll get a fair fight, the poor fool.' Cherry thought.

Of course, a pirate is a pirate so when he realizes his mistake there's a good chance he'll try to cheat or just straight up order his men to intervene.

'I'm not going to let you do that, though. Wouldn't be any fun to watch then, would it?' Cherry smirked.

"Are you really going to watch some no name pirate captain fight some country bumpkins?" Perona asked incredulously.

"I think it'll be amusing. You can be nostalgic over simpler times when you were weaker." Cherry explained.

"I was never weak! Hmph!" Perona denied.

"Maybe it'll be more interesting than it appears at a glance." Robin said knowingly.

Robin had Life Sense as well, so she had naturally discovered the other devil fruit users as well.

"Do you think they will have food there?" Cabernet asked.

"You just ate twenty burgers, you big cutie!" Perona reprimanded sweetly, giving Cabernet a pinch on her waist. "Where do you even put it all, huh?! I like food too, so tell me your secret so I can pig out without losing my figure!"

Cabernet just looked at Cherry with a questioning gaze. Cherry could only shrug her shoulders, she didn't have an answer to that either if she was being honest.

She'd guess that Cabernet had a body similar to that of a body cultivator given her connection with Cherry, but she couldn't be certain about that. It was possible she just didn't have the bodily functions that created fat as her primary form was a ship.

Whilst exploring the town, they came across an irate young woman who was pacing back and forth across the street.

"Oh, I can't WAIT to see that rude bozo get what's coming to him!" She muttered under her breath.

"Calm down, Olive. The fight isn't gonna come any faster with you huffing and puffing about it." A man tried to calm her down.

"Leave me be, Castor! He won't get away with insulting me like that! Calling me, calling me…" Olive growled, unable to finish her words.

"A bean pole?" Castor finished her sentence.

*BAP*

The man called Castor took a mean right hook to the jaw and went out like a light.

"Don't call me that!" Olive burned with fury.

Cherry thought that the insult the woman had apparently suffered, while certainly very rude, was not entirely inaccurate. Olive was incredibly thin, almost noodly. Despite this, she didn't have any bones showing through her skin as one would expect, so perhaps this was a normal and healthy weight for her.

"What are you looking at, huh? I've got more where that came from!" Olive noticed Cherry watching her antics. "Maybe you also think that I'm, I'm…"

"An ugly goose necked-" Castor groggily spoke without thinking.

*BAP*

Castor was out cold once again.

"Stop repeating those hurtful words!" Olive screamed with tears in her eyes.

Cherry decided to make a tactical retreat whilst the woman was distracted.

…

"Haha, Captain! These losers have no idea what they're up against!" A man with blond hair rising up from his head said.

"I'll put on a show the likes of which these people have never seen. The whole town will have their eyes on me!" The other man with green hair and sharp teeth said.

"And if they dare to intervene in the match, we'll just rough them up and take all their money! Hahahaha!" The blond man laughed.

"That's right. This town will never forget the day that the Barto Club paid them a visit! Hehaha!" The green haired man laughed.

…

The sun went down and plunged the town of Sweethaven into the darkness of night.

The big event that the townsfolk were eagerly awaiting was finally here and they all gathered into the arena to find themselves good seats.

Cherry and company managed to secure the perfect seats that were close enough to properly see the action, but far enough that they weren't in the splash zone for any blood or flying teeth.

"Ladies and gentlemen! The event you've all been waiting for has arrived! It's time for the foolish pirates who dared to insult our Sweethaven to have their behinds handed to them!" The announcer spoke, garnering many cheers from the audience.

"I will recount the nature of the challenge to those of you who have not yet heard. The captain of the pirate crew known as the Barto Club has mocked us since his arrival. When an upstanding citizen confronted him about these foul remarks, he had the nerve to challenge our town to a fight! Moreover, he dared to say he would face our three strongest contenders by himself, all at once in a no holds barred match!" The announcer recounted.

"Yes, I'll put 100 thousand Beri on Sweethaven's champions." Perona said, handing a wad of bills over to a bet taker.

"I'll put the same on the vile scoundrel." Robin said, earning a look from Perona.

"What? The odds are 15:1 and you never know what will happen on the Grand Line." Robin defended with a smile.

The bet taker accepted the bet with a look of greed and disdain towards her.

Cherry tripped him up as he walked past.

"Bring out our champions!" The announcer shouted.