Ba-Bump.
Blurry vision. Muffled sense of hearing. Darvy's head rang, and it felt as if he had taken a long sleep.
Above all else, the sound of his heart beating was the loudest to him. It was beating with energy and vigor unlike how it has been for years since his birth.
'I...'
Darvy's brain then began to process the information.
'I fought the guy. I passed out after.'
He began to calm down. His irises constricted. His breathing slowed. The blurry vision cleared. The muffling of the noise disappeared.
He noticed that he was lying in a medical room of sort, atop a soft bed that he's never experienced before.
Slowly, he sat up by pushing his hands against the mattress.
"...?"
And there, he immediately realized, that there were numerous tubes attached to his body. Those tubes were connected to packs that contained fluids that he couldn't recognize; he simply concluded that they contained the necessary nutrients to keep him alive.
"Hey! Can you hear me?!"
Then, the voice reached Darvy. Turning, he saw a doctor wearing his gown, who was staring at Darvy with that of bewilderment as he adjusted his glasses. With him were other doctors, who were just as surprised.
Darvy reached his neck and felt that the metallic collar, the explosive that resembled ones which the dogs wore, was still present on him. Suppressing an urge to grimace, he finally responded to the doctor by nodding.
"What a timing, I got to say."
Seeing Darvy's nod, the doctor spoke.
"Now, if I was meant to treat you as an average patient like any other, I would've recommended you to stay in bed and recuperate for at least a week. However..."
He sighed before pointing at a screen placed at one corner of the room,
"Look."
Darvy looked at the screen and saw... the ongoing tournament. He turned to the doctor for an explanation.
"It's been a month since you fainted."
Darvy's eyes widened at that.
"The tournament has long begun its third round that eliminates 125 out of 250. To accommodate for your condition, your match was pushed to the last in order, but it is quite close to the end."
Just then, the slide-open door behind the group of doctors opened, and the sounds of hills tapping the floor resounded throughout the room.
The soldiers, appearing behind the doctors, shoved them to the side, and walking through the newly created path was the brunette Celestial Dragon, Topman Vallerina.
Hurriedly, the doctors bowed down to her. The one who was speaking to Darvy until now then reported,
"A-As you ordered, we notified you immediately after his wake, Saint Vallerina."
"Good."
Ignoring them, Vallerina walked up to Darvy with the same, amused smile she puts on her face every time she sees him.
She then grabbed Darvy's cheeks harshly and turned his face left and right.
"Is there any lingering problem on his body?"
"A... further check would be required."
"Hmm..."
Vallerina let go of Darvy's face and hummed.
Frankly speaking, she didn't expect Darvy to win this round, one that required him to fight someone at the 10th ranking.
True, she may have thwarted the match-up draws in the first and second rounds, purposely making Darvy's life harder for her entertainment. However, she didn't interfere this time around, and having ended up with the opponent much worse than when she was involved, she doubted that Darvy, even with his wits, would manage to win this one around.
"...Well, there is no need to worry about it."
Thankfully, she already made a countermeasure for this.
Gazing at Darvy's red eyes for a brief moment, Vallerina turned and walked away.
"Your fight will be held tomorrow. Be prepared."
"...What if,"
As Darvy opened his mouth and spoke, Vallerina stopped her walk and turned her face, raising an eyebrow out of curiosity.
"I haven't woke up in time? What would have happened then?"
"Haha,"
Vallerina laughed lightly.
"A slave's participation is mandatory regardless of its quality. Does that answer your question?"
"...Yes."
So he would've been sent out to the pit, unconscious and completely vulnerable.
'...How laughable.'
Darvy felt as if he was suffocating. Locked behind this collar, locked behind the title of slave... it reminded him of his home island. The same helplessness as back then was present.
Freedom.
He began to understand more, of why the pirates were so yearning for freedom.
It wasn't about good or bad. It wasn't about right or wrong. There wasn't some noble goal about it either.
It was simply that you had the power, power to have the control of your own life. To pirates, freedom was the indication that they weren't helpless.
It was their greatest treasure.
'So I too, will be free.'
As Vallerina walked out with her guards and the door closed, leaving Darvy with the doctors, Darvy clenched his hands tight.
'I am slave to no one but myself.'
__________
[Ladies~ and gentlemen~!]
The colosseum bustled as Celestial Dragons, who've been enjoying the euphoria of bloodstained battles for days, were excited to experience yet another one.
[Look how the time flies quickly! We're already nearing the end of the third round of this season! Unfortunately, due to how short-lasted some fights were, we only have two to go!]
Some Celestial Dragons yelled angrily at that.
[H-Haha, but worry not, your majesty! In case you've forgotten, I would like to remind you... that there still is the punishment waiting after!]
Just like that, those Celestial Dragons calmed down, excited once more. Truly, their brains centred on the idea of pleasure.
[Now, let's see which of the two matches will be going first! C'mon, magic roulette, show us the way!]
Down below, Darvy was placed in a cage listing the number 250. Including him, there were only 4 cages at the edges. Considering how he was chosen quite early in previous rounds, this scene felt unfamiliar to him, not that he paid much attention on it.
Rather, he looked at his hand, clenching and opening it repeatedly.
'Something...'
Something felt different.
In the past, every single motion which he made was stressful, though such sensation dulled out over time. Every time he moved, his body felt heavy beyond belief, and coupled with his lack of stamina due to lack of muscles and balance, he was forced to utilize his wit to its end while tolerating the stress.
However, it was different this time around. Though there may be no outward change of his body, Darvy knew that there was definitely a change from the inside. This sensation he felt as he clenched and opened his hand... felt comfortable. Though it may have been something normal and granted to others, to Darvy, it was something blissful, something which he hasn't experienced since now.
[Ding! There it is—3 vs 184!]
"...Three?"
Darvy raised his head, returning back to the pit in front of him.
Two cages—not including his—opened. Two slaves made their ways out.
And one of them, the blonde man ranked 3, he was the one whom Darvy heard about from Scorpion.
Rank 3: Brody, with the Doriki of 1980.
He was tall, seemingly over 2 meters. He was lean and muscular. His green eyes, containing a predatory gaze, told Darvy that he was the same as Scorpion—someone who enjoyed his stay in this colosseum as an 'entertainer'.
"What are you waiting for?"
Grinning devilishly, Brody spoke to his opponent who was trembling just upon seeing his appearance.
"Go grab your weapon, silly."
While telling his enemy to do so, he didn't follow the suit but simply stood still with his hands in his pockets.
"B-Brody... p-please..."
His enemy didn't listen. Instead, he knelt and began to beg, absolutely terrified.
"S-spare my life... J-Just knock me out... I... I'll be your dog for a year—no, a lifetime! P-Please..."
"...Hey."
To that, Brody lost his grin. Frowning deeply, he threatened,
"Haven't you heard what I said?"
Marching to the kneeling one, Brody reached his hand out, grabbed the man by his shirt, effortlessly lifted him up, and growled,
"Have you not heard my order? Haven't I told you to grab your weapon?"
"Y-Yes, I did hear, b-but—"
"THEN FUCKING OBEY, USELESS PIECE OF SHIT!!!"
Brody then threw that man all across the pit, causing him to crash onto the wall full of weapon. With a boom, the man fell and the weapons, also falling out of their holsters, crashed atop the fallen man.
"U-Ugh..."
The man, crashed under the heavy weights of weapons and shields, groaned miserably. It was evident that he was absolutely terrified with his body trembling hard.
Though there was a groan, the man didn't seem to have noticed his pain as much. After all, his shaking eyes were headed at the enraged Brody; the fear for this monster of a man overtook the pain.
Darvy watched as Brody executed the man in a violent manner. He felt Brody's attempt to exert superiority onto him, and deduced that Brody was trying to tell himself that he wasn't a slave like others, that he was superior to them.
"Hahahaha!"
Darvy saw Brody laughing maniacally and making a bow to Celestial Dragons as if he was a comedian. Though the Celestial Dragons looked at him in nothing but disgust and amusement, Brody didn't seem to have noticed.
The sand pit swirled and consumed Brody along with the scattered body parts of his opponent. They disappeared, and Darvy knew that his turn has come.
[Now, for the final match of the day, we have the return of the dark horse who managed to defeat the Doriki of 600 with his puny 3! The odds of his victory back then was a sheer 10000.5, which is transferable to essentially 0%!]
Darvy's cage opened, and with spikes protruding from the back, he was forced to walk out.
[However, will this miracle boy be able to pull out a win once again when his opponent, this time around, is none other than Rank 10: Masasuri? 250 vs 10, here we go!]
Darvy saw his opponent, one with a long black hair and equally black eyes. In contrast to those blackness, this man's wings—yes he had wings, huge ones at that—were white. Though he was filthy just as Darvy was due to their statuses as slaves, the overall appearance of this person, Masasuri, reminded Darvy of the image of a 'fallen angel' which he once got to see within a book before.
Then, what happened was sudden.
There was no talk. There was no warning.
Grabbing one lance that was fallen on the ground due to the previous fight, Masasuri suddenly flew up and threw the lance at Darvy at an incredible speed and strength.
Boom.
The lance landed right in front of Darvy as he stepped back swiftly. The ring of dust arose centring the spot that the lance was struck on, showing how much force was packed within.
"What?!!"
To that, Vallerina stood up from her seat, clearly surprised. Angered, she turned to one Celestial Dragon,
"Zygmunt!!"
"What?"
Said Celestial Dragon, obese and surrounded by young women slaves, smirked and chuckled.
"We made a deal, didn't we?!!"
"What deal? I don't remember anything~"
"You—"
"Vallerina."
Marchen interrupted her from the side.
"Calm down. He's just one slave, and you can always get a better replacement. No need to lose your dignity just because of this."
"Damn it damn it damn it damn it damn it..."
Sitting back down, Vallerina chewed her finger nail frantically.
'What is...?'
Unaware of what was going on above, Darvy found himself undergoing a bizarre experience.
'Just now, what...'
His eyes contained Masasuri in the sky, with another lance in his hand. The speed at which he dropped, grabbed a weapon, and flew back up was extremely quick; Darvy understood why this man was able to attain 10th rank.
However, that wasn't the point. As Masasuri threw the lance with a formidable strength, Darvy saw.
The lance was travelling at him, at what appeared to be a slow speed in his eyes.
Yes, it was true that his sense of sight was always good. This slow motion was something that his eyes have been sighting for a long time.
The main difference stemmed from the fact that... he was able to react. His body was able to match his sight.
He reached his hand out. And then,
"...Huh?"
Vallerina's anxious chewing of her finger nail stopped. Marchen widened his eyes.
"HAA?!!"
The obese Celestial Dragon, Zygmunt, rose in shock.
After all, Darvy caught the lance that was flying straight at him at a speed unrecognizable in those Celestial Dragon's eyes, with his bare hand.
And there, swiftly rotating his body by using the momentum within the lance, Darvy threw said lance at a speed just as explosive.
Swoosh!
Masasuri, wide-eyed, slowly raised his hand and reached his cheek. He found the blood.
"You..."
He then narrowed his eyes at he looked at Darvy, who seemed confused just as him.