Duel

The next morning Jack was sitting in Makino's bar at a table with a big smile on his face as he devoured a mountain of food. Around him, everyone looked far less happy.

Smoker had a black eye and multiple bruises all over, Luke also sported a black eye, but didn't look as beat up as Smoker did. Tashigi was sitting with an ice pack on her head, not wanting to do anything. Today was one of those very rare days where Tashigi didn't even get up to train, which for some odd reason seemed to make Jack even more happy.

Nami and Nojiko were suffering from hangovers, but other than that they were fine as they didn't participate in the events last night. There were a few of the 42 trainees that were also in the bar, but they were the lucky ones that didn't fight the night prior. The ones that did join in the brawl were either bedridden or were somewhere recovering.

Gion had also taken a beating in last night's fun and was sitting at a separate table with Tsuru. When Luke glanced over at her and saw the fat lip, busted nose, and black eye she sported along with a few bandages around her arms, he couldn't help himself but chuckle.

"That's the spirit!" Jack cheered happily as he slapped Luke across the back, causing him to wince in pain. His shout also caused Nami to hold her head in pain, which might have also been a goal of his.

"Not so hard, you mean thing!!" Luke spat out as he moved out of Jack's reach. Jack was the only one to come out of the fight unscathed, and he was the one who had caused the most pain to everyone.

"I do hope everyone is as excited about the duel later as I am!!" Jack announced to everyone, causing a few groans here, a few cheers there, a wicked smile from Luke, and a shudder from Gion. No doubt she was remembering her clash with Luke last night, which he seemed to enjoy far too much.

"You know, the more she challenges you, the more you get to beat her up right?" Jack said with a raised eye brow. Luke just shrugged his shoulders, not caring about it.

"Good morning bro!!" Soran said cheerfully as Makino brought her to the table with her own plate of food. "Good morning Soran! What are you doing today?" Jack greeted her with a big smile. "Big sis said she was gonna teach me how t-" Soran was cut-off as Nami put a hand over her mouth.

"I'm gonna teach her about keeping track of her money!!" Nami said, not even caring about her hangover anymore. Makino and Jack were both glaring at Nami, but she just whispered something to Soran and went and sat back down.

Soran looked to both Jack and Makino before she continued, "What she said!" Jack continued to glare at Nami for a few more seconds then turned back to Soran. "If she teaches you something, you tell Makino about it, and if she says to tell me, you come find me right away okay?" Jack said, hoping to get Makino to punish Nami if she ever tried to teach Soran about seducing men to get what she wants.

Nami started sweating at those words, imagining what kind of training Jack would put her through if he disapproved of something she taught. "Big sis would never teach me anything bad. It all will help me in some way or another in the future." Soran said with a thoughtful look on her face.

There was a moment of silence before Jack turned to Soran with a frown on his face as he said, "I've got good news and bad news, Soran. Which would you like to hear first?"

Surprisingly the entire room went dead quiet, everyone turning their attention to Jack. Even though this conversation had nothing to do with them, no one had ever heard Jack say, do, or to their knowledge, even think of anything bad around Soran, and now he was about to tell her bad news.

"Umm bad news first, that way the good news might make me feel better!" Soran answered with her heart melting smile. Jack let out a deep sigh before he said, "I won't be able to go with you to watch the island rise from the sea with the ancient dragons."

There was a moment where you could hear a pin drop, but it shattered when Soran screamed, "WHAT?!! You can't be serious?!! We have to see it!!" She had tears in her eyes that threatened to come down at any moment, and her sad face almost made everyone in the bar attack the person who could cause such a thing, then they remembered who said person was.

"I'm sorry!! I just have some other really important things I have to do!" Jack tried to defend himself, but the tears were already falling. "What's the good news?!!" Luke hurriedly asked, hoping to end the waterworks with something nice. Soran did calm a little when she heard Luke's question, but it was plain to see she was trying her hardest to keep the tears at bay.

After she had calmed, Jack inwardly thanked Luke and promised to do something nice for him later before he said, "I'm going to send you to the place early so you can meet one of the dragons and a new friend!! She has a Devil Fruit power that lets her talk to animals, and she is around your age! There is also a great mission that the two of you NEED to do!!"

Jack tried to make it sound extremely important to get her more focused on it instead of his being absent, and judging by her next words, it worked. "What mission?!" Soran asked a bit hopeful and excited.

Putting on a serious demeanor, Jack looked to Soran and answered, "The dragon on the island was left behind 1000 years ago, and needs to be back on his own island. You and the little girl need to keep the dragon safe, and when the time is right, you need to help the dragon back onto the island. It's too old to make it there all alone so I am trusting this mission to you. Do you accept the mission?!!"

Soran had stars in her eyes, and at Jack's question, she stood as tall as she could and slammed a fist over her heart before she shouted "YES SIR!! You can count on me!!"

Jack also stood straight and slammed his own fist against his heart as he shouted, "We give our hearts!!" Everyone around the room answered in kind before they cheered for Soran and congratulated her on such an important mission.

"You best pack everything you will need for a long while. You should be gone around 8 months to a year, so pack accordingly." Jack wasn't quite sure when Luffy would get here, but it should only be a few more months before the original cannon was suppose to start.

Luffy would never get there now, or be needed, so sending Soran ahead of time was his plan. Plus he didn't care all that much about some overgrown lizards. (A.N. Totally not because I didn't want to write about it! *Awkward whistling*)

"Are you kidding me?!!" The whole room silenced instantly as they looked towards the origin of the angry voice, everyone gulped. What Jack had failed to take into account was Makino and her being separated from Soran.

"M-Makino!! Y-You are obviously going with her right?!!" Jack nervously said as he nudged Soran's shoulder. "R-Right!! I was planning on having you come with me!!" Soran said nervously.

"We'll talk about this later!" Makino said, glaring daggers at Jack. "She's gonna end you." Soran whispered to Jack in a hushed voice. "She's gonna lock you in a cage and keep you in front of her at all times." Jack whispered back. "What was that?!" Makjno asked, shooting glances between the two.

"NOTHING!" They both shouted in unison. Makino stormed off into the kitchen leaving the room in silence. "So... Duel?" Jack said, not really speaking to anyone in particular. At his words, everyone got up and went out to the training field, where surprisingly there was already quite the crowd of spectators.

"These duels are quite popular. I'll bet we could make quite a large sum of money if we charged entry fee's." Jack said to Luke as they made their way to the field. Behind them, Nami cleared her throat before she said, "I... already did. We made $393,432 berries." Luke, Jack, Smoker, Tashigi and Nojiko stopped walking and stared at Nami.

"Greedy little witch! That's daylight robbery!!" Smoker admonished. "And when were you going to let us in on this?" Nojiko cut in with a glare. "I was going to give you all your $65,572 berries when this was all done!!" Nami said, hoping to placate everyone.

"Good job!" Everyone turned to look at Jack after he said that, only to see him holding a big thumbs up towards Nami. "We almost missed out on this golden opportunity. Plus it's not like we're forcing anyone to come and watch, so it's fine. Although I would appreciate being told beforehand so I know you aren't trying to hide this from us." Jack said, ending with a not so subtle jab at her for keeping it to herself.

"Deal, but if I'm gonna keep setting this up in the future, I expect a little bit more of a cut." Nami said happily. Everyone was glaring at the greedy little redhead, but what Jack said next made them all smile, and said redhead to frown.

"From now on you will get a higher cut than the rest of us, but we will be charging you wages for certain tasks." The gleam in his eye practically guaranteed Nami would go bankrupt if Jack had his way. "I TAKE IT BACK!! We split it evenly!!" Nami shouted, trying to get herself out of this.

"That's the team spirit! I knew you had it in ya!" Jack said with a smile as he put and arm around Luke's shoulder and continued on his way. "The way he spends his money you wouldn't think he was so greedy, but try to cut him out of anything and he robs ya blind." Nojiko said with a smirk as she followed towards Jack and the struggling Luke.

"Let go of me already!!" Luke shouted as he was struggling to get away from Jack. "Calm down will ya? I wanna propose a little wager here. Just between us." Jack said mischievously. "What kind of wager?" Luke asked warily, not trusting the look in Jack's eyes.

"Oh it's quite simple really. I bet that you can't beat Gion without using your swords to attack during the duel." Jack taunted with a smile. "And what if I can?" Luke asked curiously. "If by some chance you can beat her without using your swords, I will get you any one thing in this world, no matter what it is." Jack said teasingly.

"And if I can't beat her without using my swords?" Luke asked, not wanting to be sucked into something that could be too troublesome. Jack smile evilly as he answered, "You have to be nice to Gion, and become her friend."

Luke's eyes went wide and his mouth fell open. "WHY?!! What possible reason could there be for you to want that?!!" Luke asked, half in panic, the other half out of straight curiosity.

Jack tapped his chin before answering, "I wanna put on a good show for the town, plus I think it would put Tsuru's mind at ease about you coming to kill Gion."

There was a pause before he added. "Consider it my final punishment as your teacher. Sure I might give you a few tips later down the road, but after tomorrow's ceremony, everyone will be done their training and can set off to do what they want. You will all have officially graduated Jack's House of Pain!"

Luke had a blank expression on his face as he said, "You are the worst. I accept!" They shook hands and Jack let go of Luke, a few moments later arriving at the field.

It was still a bit early for the duel when they got to the field, but everyone was trying to find a good spot to watch from. As soon as Jack got to the centre of the training field, he crouched down and touched the earth. The moment his finger met dirt, a black wave engulfed the entire area.

People panicked at first, but after a few seconds of nothing bad happening, they started to calm down. After a minute of the darkness reaching a large area, structures started to rise from it. It wasn't long before a massive colosseum was brought out of nowhere, and everyone was left flabbergasted.

The new arena looked like it could hold around 15 thousand people with all of the seats, there were food stalls, an announcer booth, washrooms, and more. The fighting ring was circular with a diameter of about 75 meters, which would allow for the appropriate amount of room to bash each others heads in.

Once everything was done, Jack walked over to a hotdog stand like he hadn't done anything and fixed himself a few hotdogs and grabbed a few bottles of Rum before giving the stall to some random civilian. He pointed to a few other people and to specific stalls, then went about to find a good seat.

After he sat down he looked to the still stunned audience before shouting, "Are you just gonna stand around all day or are we gonna get this show on the road?!!"

Everyone started moving after that, many people running to check out the new stalls with new kinds of foods, some getting the better seats, but the big 5 walked over and stood in front of Jack.

"How did you do this, and why haven't you done it before?" Nami asked sternly. It was only understandable, after all, with this they could be making money hand over fist with all of the stalls, but Jack just gave it all away like it meant nothing to him.

"Magic! As for not doing it before, I never really cared. Now I want to watch a show in style, so either sit down or leave the arena, you're blocking the view." Jack answered with a wave of his hand. He couldn't just say, "I bought it from a magic shop and brought it out using my Devil Fruit power." Now could he?!!

Everyone knew Jack was eccentric sometimes, but even this was a bit much. After giving each other a glance, they all shrugged their shoulders and sat down in the front row next to Jack.

"Could you please get me some snacks too?" Nojiko asked sweetly while fluttering her eyelashes at Jack. "*SIGH* You know you all could just do it like regular people and go to the stalls..."

There was a moment where everyone just looked at him expectantly before he gave up and brought out snacks for everyone. Tsuru who was sitting only a few chairs away from Jack and also got some free food and drinks. Of course Makino and Soran got lots of free stuff, and they were also sitting with Jack awaiting the event.

"You know, I don't know why you're setting all of this up for a 2 minute fight where Luke basically just picks on Gion." Tashigi commented as they all waited for the fight/bullying. "Who said this was the only fight?" Jack asked with a smile before taking another bite of his food.

"Who else is fighting?" Nami asked curiously. "It depends on who the winner of this fight is." Jack answered as he snatched a handful of popcorn from Soran. Everyone was curious where he was going with this, but he was being cryptic as always. Smoker had a grim feeling in his chest, already having an idea of who would be fighting next.

It wasn't too much longer before Gion walked into the center of the arena holding her sword. There were cheers all around, especially from Tsuru's group. After seeing Gion at the ready, Luke stood from his seat and walked towards her at the center of the ring.

As soon as they were only a few feet from each other, Jack materialized out of nowhere between them with a transponder Snail speaker.

"ATTENTION LADIES AAAND GENTLEMAN!! IT IS WITH GREAT JOY THAT I AM HERE TONIGHT, TO BRING TO YOU THIS HIGH OCTANE EVENT!!! TODAY WE WILL WITNESS A CLASH OF TITANS AS TWO MASTERS OF THE SWORD GO HEAD TO HEAD!!" Jack paused as the crowd erupted with cheers.

"IN THIS CORNER, THE BABBLING HEROINE, GIIIOOON!!!" The crowd went nuts, cheers everywhere, some laughter mixed in as well. Gion was of course not happy and was giving a death glare to Jack, obviously not approving of her new title.

Not even bothering to give her another glance, Jack continued, "AND HER OPPONENT!! YOU KNOW HIM!! YOU LOVE HIM!! LUKE THE BOSSMAN STROUS!!" The crowd erupted once more, Jack adding his own cheers in there.

"ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLLLLLLLLLEEEEE?!!" The crowd went louder before Jack shouted "BEGIN!!"

At the signal to start, Gion shot towards Luke with her sword at the ready. She swung an over head slash, but in turn Luke ducked to her left and gave her a powerful Haki coated elbow to the back of her shoulder blade. Gion stumbled, but caught herself before whirling around in a defensive stance, ready to block any attack Luke would throw at her.

Contrary to what she was expecting, Luke was a short distance away from her with both of his swords Dawn in a defensive stance of his own. "I can't have you losing too quick here! We need to put on a proper show for the audience." Luke taunted with a mocking grin on his face.

Gion was infuriated that Luke wasn't taking her seriously and rushed towards him using Shave. She had appeared above Luke, her sword already in motion to cleave him in half, but the next second Luke also vanished, only to reappear behind her.

Luke bashed the back of her skull twice with a Haki coated fist before she was able to get away from him, although she was a bit wobbly, she was still on her feet. "Are those swords just for looks, or do you plan on using them?!!" Gion asked through clenched teeth.

"Hehe you can't even handle my fist, so what makes you think you can handle my blade?!" Luke taunted with a mocking smile. On the side, Jack was laughing his ass off at that.

"I don't know if he was intending that to be dirty, but that was hilarious!!" Jack shouted happily, only to get a slap to the face from Makino. "You keep your dirty thoughts to yourself!!" She reprimanded as she whispered something to Soran.

Meanwhile back in the arena, Gion's face was so red from embarrassment it was comical. She had heard Jack's comment, and after thinking the words over, she understood how they could be interpreted differently.

Luke on the other hand, had an ear to ear grin on his face because either way it got the point across that she couldn't handle him. "YOU CAN DO IT GION!!" Tsuru and a few members of her crew cheered her on, bringing her back to reality.

Gion used Moonwalk and launched herself through the sky in a random pattern, while at the same launching wind blades from her sword at him. Luke was jumping all around trying to dodge, but Gion was attacking rapidly and he ended up having to bring his sword up to block many of her attacks.

'She is getting serious for once...' Luke thought inwardly, while on the outside he was still smirking. As long as he didn't attack with his swords he would win his bet with Jack, and he still hadn't gotten completely serious just yet.

Jack watched as Luke was on the defensive, jumping around trying to dodge the wind blades. 'I might actually win this one' Jack thought with a smirk as he watched Luke block an attack with his sword.

Gion was attacking faster, predicting Luke's movements and not giving him an opportunity to get in close without using his swords. After a few minutes of running around, Luke found the opening he'd been looking for and used Shave to get to Gion's left side, then faster than the eye could follow, Luke sent a powerful Haki coated fist into Gion's ribs making her take a step back.

Luke took the chance and jumped towards Gion to deliver another blow, but at the last second she brought her sword up. On reflex, Luke brought his own sword up to parry the blade, but the tip managed to dig into Gion's hand, forcing her to drop her sword.

The crowd was silent as Luke stood over Gion, who had fallen to her knee's after she dropped her sword. Unlike what anyone expected however, Luke shouted, "DAMN IT!!" before looking over to Jack and gave him the middle finger.

Gion who was looking up to Luke was confused more than anyone, but her thought process was cut short as Luke held the tip of his sword to her throat. "You lost" Luke said as he glared daggers at her. 'I was so close!!!' He was thinking as he stared into her eyes. 'He's going to kill me!!' Gion thought internally.

Before anyone could do anything, Jack appeared beside Luke holding his arm into the air. "WE HAVE OUR WINNER LADIES AND GENTLEMAN!! WHAT A MATCH TO BEHOLD!!"

The crowd erupted with cheers, then Jack reached down and helped Gion to her feet and raised her uninjured hand before shouting, "AND HOW ABOUT HIS COMPETITOR?!! SHE FOUGHT MAGIFICANTLY!! I DARE SAY YOU WOULD BE HARD PRESSED TO FIND A LADY OF HER CALIBUR ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD!!"

Again the crowd went nuts at Jack's words. Taking the speaker away from him, Jack looked to Gion and said, "You have done great. Hold your head high and enjoy the rest of the festivities." Gion smiled at his words and made her way over towards Tsuru to have a seat.

"AND NOW, WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A COMPETITION!! A BATTLE ROYALE FOR ANY WHO WANT TO JOIN. THE LAST MAN OR WOMAN STANDING WILL RECEIVE 100 MILLION BERRIES OR..." Jack paused for dramatic effect before pulling out a map and holding it up for all to see.

"THIS MAP WHICH WAS DRAWN BY A PIRATE CAPTAIN ON HIS DEATH BED, LEADING TO ALL OF HIS WEALTH THAT HE ACCUMULATED OVER HIS LIFE. THERE COULD BE MILLIONS OR BILLIONS OF BERRIES, GOLD AND JEWELS, BUT IT IS UP TO THE WINNER TO DECIDE."

Jack let everyone think about it for a second before continuing, "ANYONE CAN TAKE PART IN THIS COMPETITION, MYSELF, LUKE AND TSURU EXCLUDED!! THOUGHS THAT WANT TO TAKE PART WILL ENTER THE RING. YOU HAVE 15 MINUTES TO DECIDE!!"

As soon as Jack finished speaking he and Luke made their way over to their seats before grabbing some snacks. "Let me see the map!" Nami demanded as she held out her hand expectantly.

"Only the winner will get this map, so if you want it then win the battle royale." Jack said as he made the map disappear. "If you had that map this whole time then why have you never shown it to me?!!" An angry Nami asked as she glared at him.

"*Sigh* If I showed you all of my treasure maps then you wouldn't want to do anything else but go looking for them. Plus they're mine, not yours." Jack said tiredly, not wanting to deal with this greedy little vixen.

"Maps? As in plural? How many do you have?" Nami asked with money signs in her eyes. "My god you're greedy!!" Nojiko said, not even bothering to look at her sister. "Forget about the maps!! Maybe I can let you buy them off me in the future, or we can go looking for them some other time, but for now we won't be going treasure hunting!!" Jack said firmly, not budging an inch on the matter.

In response, Nami got up from her seat and walked into the arena. Smoker got up from his seat and started walking into the ring as well, but was stopped when Tashigi asked, "Why are you going to participate in this?" Smoker looked back at her and answered, "To make sure she doesn't win."

That was all he said before he continued on his way. Tashigi just shrugged her shoulders before making her way into the ring as well. "Are you going to participate as well?" Jack asked Nojiko who was still in her spot. "No, I'd rather watch them beat each other instead. Plus I already got most of everything I want." Nojiko answered calmly, not taking her eyes off the slowly filling arena.

After 15 minutes the arena was filled with 35 fighters. 17 of them were from the 42 monsters Jack had been training, 3 of the big 5 were in there, and 22 of them were from Tsuru's crew. Jack appeared in the arena and made a made a platform rise at the push of a button.

"IF YOU ARE KNOCKED OFF THE PLATFORM OR GET KNOCKED UNCONCIOUS THEN YOU ARE OUT. THERE WILL BE NO WEAPONS OR DEVIL FRUIT POWERS ALLOWED. THERE WILL BE NO KILLING, ANY RULE BREAKERS WILL BE PUNISHED SEVERLY. WHEN YOU HEAR THE BELL, THEN YOU CAN BEGIN."

After saying that, Jack disappeared from the arena and back in his chair. A moment later there was a loud *DING* and everyone started hammering away at each other. Tsuru's group looked as though they were teamed up and were taking on a few people together.

Smoker was mowing people over and tossing them out of the ring, regardless of who they were. Nami had somehow managed to get a small group of guys to help her take out everyone else and Tashigi was running around Tsuru's crew and either throwing them out of the ring, or beating them unconscious.

Smoker took the time to rush Nami and her little entourage of guards and made swift work of them. Nami knew she could beat Smoker and tried maneuvering around him, but was ultimately thrown out of the ring. "I'll get you for this!!" Nami yelled, vowing revenge, but Smoker only laughed before throwing more people out.

After 30 minutes of fighting the only ones left were Smoker, 3 of Tsuru's crew, and Stain. The five of them were all breathing heavily, but they all had determined looks on their faces.

Stain was doing extremely well, having defeated Tashigi a few minutes ago when she least expected it. Smoker had taken the majority of everyone out, and it was plain to see he had exhausted himself quite a bit, but was nowhere near done.

The three girls that were standing shoulder to shoulder had their eyes on both men, waiting to see who would strike first. Smoker had his eye on Stain, who in turn was eying him back. They had fought several times over the last few weeks, and both were monsters.

The three woman watched as the two men rushed each other, getting ready to intervene if an opportunity presented itself. Smoker and Stain clashed a few times, but it was plain to see that Smoker had the upper hand. They clashed for a few more minutes until it looked as though Smoker was going to throw Stain out of the ring, but at the last second the three women rushed towards Smoker.

Instead of being able to attack, Smoker was on the defensive, which gave Stain enough time to recover. Smoker was eventually pushed out of the ring, but managed to take one of the girls with him, leaving only three opponents left.

Stain was past the point of exhaustion after dealing with Smoker, so when the two women rushed him, not giving him a chance to recover, he could only defend until he was ultimately pushed out of the ring. There was an uproar from the crowd, especially from Tsuru's group.

"Your subordinates are quite something. Their team work especially is pretty great. They must have been through a lot together." Jack complemented to Tsuru who had a warm smile on her face.

"I am very proud of them. They have stood beside me faithfully and I will stand beside them as well." Tsuru commented at Jack's praise. In the ring the two women were breathing heavily as they eyed each other with big smiles on their faces. A moment later and one of them walked over to the edge and jumped out of the ring.

"That was anticlimactic!" Luke shouted in annoyance. Everyone expected this outcome when it was just the two girls, but Luke still wanted to see some more fighting. "If you want, you and I can go out there and duke it out?" Jack asked with a smile on his face.

Luke paused for a few moments before he started cheering for the two girls. "Spoilsport!" Jack said before making his way out to the platform where the winner was still standing.

Luke still had a clear memory of getting his ass kicked last night in the bar fight, and the thought of recreating that was too much for him. When Jack got to the girl he asked, "What is your name?" The woman smiled at him before answering, "My name is Stella."

Jack pulled out his speaker before shouting, "AND THE WINNER IS STELLA!!" The crowd cheered again for her before Jack asked, "SO TELL ME STELLA, WHICH PRIZE DO YOU WANT?!"

The crowd went silent, Nami was crossing her fingers as Jack held the Speaker in front on Stella. "I WANT THE 100 MILLION!!" She answered with a smile on her face. Jack pulled out a case and handed it to her before saying, "You and your friends did wonderfully. You all enjoy it."

She nodded happily to him as she accepted the case of money before running over to her friends. "AND THERE YOU HAVE IT LADIES AND GENTLEMAN!! I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED TODAY'S FESTIVITIES AND WISH YOU A GOOD DAY!!" After saying that, Jack vanished from the stadium, not wasting anymore time here.

"Where did Jack go?" Nojiko asked curiously. Everyone looked around, but couldn't find him. "I bet he's back at the bar." Tashigi commented, everyone nodding at her words. "Let's all go and relax." Makino said happily as they all left the stadium. It was only after they got out of the massive building that everyone's attention was drawn to the giant pillar of midnight flames off in the distance.