章 180: 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.

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章 181: Three vs One

"Our first contender is a regular fighter here in our boxing arena! He's a bit slow, both with his punches and his mind, but he can give and take hits all day long! Bullo 'Oxblood' Oxheart!" The announcer shouted.

A heavyset man walked with thunderous footsteps into the boxing ring. He easily stood three meters tall and his fat failed to hide the massive muscles bulging beneath the skin of his arms. His legs were as thick as an elephant's and he clearly knew how to use them with his immovable fighting stance.

The crowd cheered, but it was clear they were more filled with anticipation for the next fighters than they were with Oxblood.

"Next we have the man with a mean streak longer than the Grand Line! You would all hate his guts on any other day, but today he's one of our heroes! Bluto 'The Terrible'!" The announcer said with mounting excitement.

This one was barrel chested and hairy. He was shorter than Oxblood at two meters tall, but his presence was much greater. His wide smile showed off his inner cruelty without any shame and he practically had malice dripping off of him.

The crowd cheered louder this time, but Cherry felt that they were forcing themselves to do so out of fear. She could understand why just by looking at Bluto's wild eyes darting around as if in search of someone who dared not to cheer for him. When those eyes landed on Cherry's group, his smile widened and he sent a provocative wink their way.

Cherry wasn't sure if it'd be more or less annoying for him to be flirty with them than for him to look for them later to teach them a lesson for not cheering.

"For our final champion of Sweethaven, we have our favorite sailor with a heart of gold! His punches knock the air out of the lungs of his enemies and leave the ladies breathless! Popeye 'the Sailor Man'!" The announcer screamed, standing from his seat in his excitement.

The last of Sweethaven's defenders was a short man standing only one and a half meters tall. He was far from handsome with his overdeveloped jaw, mouth with no teeth, and one missing eye. He had a lanky build, the sole exception being his massive forearms with an anchor tattooed on each.

Despite his less than traditional 'beauty', the crowd went wild at the sight of him. Especially the ladies in the audience, some of which even fainted in all their excitement. The woman named Olive was heard shouting over the crowd from a VIP box telling Popeye to "Punch his lights out!".

Bluto spotted Olive and blew a kiss at her which Olive desperately scrambled to move out of the way as if there was actually something to dodge.

"Last and certainly least, we have the challenger. Bartolomeo 'the Cannibal'." The announcer spoke without any of the zest he had for the previous three.

The crowd went completely silent. They already understood that Bartolomeo would love their boos and jeers from the time that he'd already spent on their island and they wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

"Hehahahaha!" Bartolomeo's laugh was heard clearly in the silent arena. Even their stubborn silence was something he enjoyed.

"Does he eat people?" Cabernet whispered.

"I think it's a pun that means he mocks people. I hope." Robin answered.

Bartolomeo started hyping up the crowd with his back turned to his three opponents, by which I mean that he was hurling insults at them. Soon enough people couldn't take it any more and started shouting at him, much to his amusement.

*Ding!*

The starting bell was suddenly rung by an old woman with a familial resemblance to Oxblood, rather than by the official bell ringer. Bluto and Oxblood paid no mind to that however as they charged Bartolomeo who had his back turned. Popeye, the honorable man that he is, tried to argue that it was a false start, though his voice fell on deaf ears.

Bartolomeo seemed completely oblivious to the two large men rearing up to punch him in the back of the head. The crowd were on the edge of their seats hoping that the rude pirate would get his just desserts.

*Bong! Bong!*

Oxblood and Bluto's punches were suddenly stopped before they reached their intended target. Instead they landed on what appeared to be a large, blue tinted glass pane.

"Wow! You were sooooo close to breaking my barrier! How scary!" Bartolomeo spoke with a smirk, his tone laced with mockery and sarcasm.

Cherry was looking at the barrier with sparkling eyes. 'Those punches were completely absorbed by that barrier of his, and with no sign of stress at all!'

Granted, the punches weren't all that strong. Oxblood had enough experience to know better than to go all out without knowing for sure your attack would land, and Bluto was cunning enough to know better as well.

However, seeing the barrier between them, they were emboldened to try a bit harder this time.

The judges told Popeye to just get on with the fight, so he had turned his attention to the barrier as well.

Bluto's form expanded in size and his skin took on a pink shade. His nose protruded and became rounded while his ears got longer and floppier. The end result looked like a hybrid between a pig and a man.

"There it is folks! Bluto's famous Oink Oink Fruit!" The announcer shouted.

Bluto and Oxblood took up positions that would allow them to maximize their punching strength. Normally it would be difficult to perfectly line up a blow like this, but with Bartolomeo hiding behind his barrier they had all the time in the world.

They wound back their fists in sync with each other and coated them with the densest armament haki they could manage.

Cherry was actually a bit impressed with the strength of it. They could both contend with super rookie pirates on their own, let alone in a three on one fight.

*BONGBONG!!!*

The resulting sound of the collision between their fists and the barrier was much louder and the winds produced by the strikes were proof of the enormous gap in power between these punches and the first ones.

Still, the barrier was unshaken with not even the smallest crack.

"Hehahahaha! Weak! Lame! Are these losers the best that this crappy town could scrounge up?!" Bartolomeo was completely unconcerned by their power.

He turned his back to the two fighters once again which made them seethe with anger as the pounded away at the barrier.

"""BOOOOO!""" The crowd hated him and he lapped it up.

Bartolomeo started picking out specific people to mock in a more personal manner.

He pointed at a man next to his wife. "Hey big nose! Does that thing poke your ugly wife in the eyes when you kiss her?"

He pointed at another man. "Your toupe is really convincing, sir! I almost couldn't tell it was made of ass hair!"

He pointed at Olive in the VIP box. "Oh look! It's the bean pole! Don't you just hate those bean pods without any beans inside? Just a flat disappointment." He groped the air with both hands in front of his chest.

Bartolomeo sensed a flash of killing intent at that last comment about Olive's less than ample chest. He eagerly searched the crowd for what he assumed was another flat chested woman with insecurities he could poke at.

Bartolomeo locked eyes with Cherry who looked rather irked.

"C- C- C- C- Cherry Nee-san?!" He sputtered in shock.

Cherry raised an eyebrow at this odd behavior. "What the fuck?"

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