[116] The Colosseum (4)

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Chapter 116: The Colosseum (4)

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The plan was to let Hashirama win the D-Block battle royal. There would be 139 people that would be fighting there, and Rebecca would be fighting with the intention of thinning out the numbers for him.

After that, the four winners from the four blocks would enter a battle royal with four of Doflamingo's minions. The plan from there was to grab the fruits and deliver the one Hashirama wanted to Rebecca; after which he was sure the situation would spiral into further chaos that would be the climax of this country.

"Now we just wait for Block D's game to start." Hashirama told her, ruffling her hair as she looked up at his face like a little puppy, her eyes glistening.

"Ahm,"

He heard the old gladiator from before clear his throat, and turning to him he found all the gladiators looking at him. The middle-aged man spoke for all of them.

"I thank you, traveler, for doing this for us. You said you have personal reasons behind it, but still. We shall leave the princess in your care, along with our Kingdom."

They bowed. In unison, the dozens of gladiators from not only this cell but from the cells nearby bowed to him. It was a bit odd, but Hashirama was used to this by now after living as Alabasta's Hero Knight for a few years.

Speaking of Alabasta, it had been a while. He missed that place a bit, truth be told. Perhaps it was time to give the King and Queen a call after dealing with Doflamingo, they should be a lot calmer than before now.

After the gladiators raised their heads, he reassured them with a smile. Then he reached out a hand for Rebbeca to grab onto as she stood up.

"There is no need for such courtesy, benefactor." She said even as she held onto it and stood, wiping her wet eyes once and for all. "I am not a weak little girl."

She put her helmet back on as he gave her a bat on her back. He waved at the gladiators one last time and left the area, walking back to the waiting room with Rebecca by his side.

* * *

"Hey, where did you go?!"

When he returned to the waiting room, Boa Marigold leaped at him. She lifted him up by his waist, gently, and looked into his masked face with a frown.

"I eagerly came back, only to find you were gone."

"Because you wanted a kiss?"

"Yes."

"Hancock will be mad."

"...!"

Marigold flinched, opening her mouth to say anything, but then closed it again.

Both Sandersonia and Marigold had a terrible crush on him, however, the first girl held onto her emotions because of Hancock, their oldest sister. Marigold, however, was a little less giving. Maybe because she was slightly spoiled, being the youngest sister and all that, but she wanted him despite knowing Hancock wanted him too.

"I… I see. I am sorry."

Marigold put him down with a sigh held back, crossing her arm and looking at the arena below. Her focus was not on the match or course, it was clear from her sour expression.

Hashirama didn't like this. Was his presence creating disharmony within the three sisters? Not that all three of them were pretty, perhaps the two younger sisters, or at least Marigold, felt unjust that Hancock received all sorts of benefits, while having suffered not as much as a slave. Hashirama didn't like this development.

Kissing her would have been easy, as Hancock wasn't here to see it, but really, he liked Hancock more than the other two sisters. So he'd rather not do his usual open games with the sisters until he confirmed Hancock's understanding of his relationships.

"Would everything be alright?"

Beidou asked in a whisper. Rebecca looked anxious too, very worried that this banter might put Marigold against him in the finals.

"I think she'll be fine. Anywho, I am not prepared for the larger drama that may come from advancing with her."

"You are… popular."

Rebecca looked strange as she spoke, perhaps a teenage crush broken.

"Oh- wow," On the other hand, Beidou looked stunned. "Your case is getting better. Loyalty from you is shocking."

"…"

Hashirama gave her a dry look.

….

Focusing on the arena, he was slightly surprised to find the battle royale near its end. It had been half an hour, and Marigold's match had lasted longer than this.

The main player of the block was his cousin, Marianne. She looked nowhere near what she looked in the cannon timeline, having received the Coby treatment. She was taller, curvier, and obviously stronger.

The arena was odd. It was like a chess board now, with blocks of color filling it. There were blocks of all seven colors of the spectrum, and the weaker fighters must have had a hard time even walking on them.

That was [Colors Trap] yet now it was obviously much stronger than its cannon counterpart. Even now, as only the peak of the block remained, they had to be careful to not step on the wrong block of tile.

Each color represented a control over emotion. Hashirama obviously didn't know them in detail, but from observing for a bit, he realized the yellow color made anybody in contact depressed, dejected, and slow in their movements.

"What a dangerous ability."

Some might think since Marinnae had transformed the entire place with this ability, that was clearly a "Jutsu" as he could feel chakra from it, her other abilities would be weak, but that was not true.

If any enemy dared approach her, she kicked them and sent them flying. If it's a particularly strong and large enemy, she rather planted their head on the floor with a punch that distinctly reminded him of Tsunade.

"Odd. With this much benefit over the others, the match should have ended in its first ten minutes. Why is it still on?"

From his side, Beidou asked. Well, there were only three others in the arena now along with Marianne, but still. It had been half an hour, Beidou had a point.

Hashirama soon realized what was the problem.

'She doesn't have much chakra. It's not that she expanded them in this fight, but it's like… her total reserves are just small as they are. Very small. Damn, I think I had more chakra when I was a toddler.'

Marianne was deliberately dragging the battle so that she could recharge some of her Chakra. The next two blocks meant two more hours, but if she dragged this battle instead of ending it in the first ten minutes, she would have another additional hour to recharge her chakra. It would surely be helpful to her in the finals.

Hashirama was amused by this sort of development. Uzumakis had very large reserves of chakra in Naruto Anime, yet here she barely had anything. Her body was very resilient and strong though, he had to admit.

"It was a very bad idea if she's dragging the battle intentionally."

Rebecca said, pointing at one of the remaining fighters left in the arena.

"There is an issue. That man is King Elizabello II, the Fighting King. There are rumors that he once destroyed an enemy fortress with a single punch. People say it's just a bluff, but I know it's true."

Rebecca had the attention of Beidou and Hashirama, as she kept pointing her finger and explaining.

"Look how he is 'warming up' while the other two in the arena are keeping him protected. One of them is his Minister, I don't know the other one. Elizabello is about to use his King Punch."

Beidou blinked, surprised as if she had recognized the name. Hashirama knew of it too, having heard about that back in Alabasta, from one of King Cobra's stories.

Legends said that a fully charged [King Punch] could take out an Emperor if it landed right.

Nobody had any idea of its lethality, but Hashirama thought it may be possible. After all, people like Shanks and Whitebeard were pretty vulnerable as defense wasn't their forte. Though it was another question if they used Haki to coat their bodies.

Regardless, a fully cooked King Punch could at least take out the side of the arena that it would land on. That much Hashirama was sure of.

"How curious."

Hashirama was intrigued. Jutsus made from Chakra was somewhat magical, but this didn't have anything like that. Why would warming up for an hour allow him to use an attack like that? Something that his body clearly wasn't capable of, given he couldn't do it on command.

Sure, maybe the lethality wasn't much, probably around one of Garp's Galaxy Impact, or weaker, that Garp could do in just seconds. In that case, what would happen if someone like Garp warmed up for an hour with King Punch's secret style?

"Maybe it'd take out a continent…"

Hashirama wanted to learn that power, he decided. He needed it.

Hashirama couldn't help but imagine his Thousand Handed Wooden Buddha each using King's Punch. Even without much warmup, it'd be devastating.

"Ra? Your expression is..."

"Get used to it, he's weird like that."

Hashirama was broken out of his daze when Marianne rushed to the remaining enemies. She went towards Elizabello, probably having noticed something was wrong with his warm-up.

The two that protected the King lunged at her, and she stepped in the air to dodge. Then, with her finger straight, she shot towards them, sending bolts of compressed air at them.

"Marine Six Powers!?"

One of the participants in the waiting room yelled, shocked. A few gasps followed, stunned at her display.

The two [Finger Pistol] shots didn't take out the enemies, but her next [Tempest Kick] did. With the two of them flown out, she managed to reach the top of King Elizabello.

Sadly, Hashirama was sure that was the end of her. Elizabello was currently threatened and so he would punch. It might actually kill her, though he doubted it, but what he didn't doubt was that she was done for.

Except none of that happened.

"[Genjutsu: Rainbow Eyes]"

King Elizabello paused in his spot as Marianne's red eyes went through seven cycles, seven bright colors, as they mesmerized Elizabello in a supernatural way. He had paused as if stuck in time.

"Oh."

That took Hashirama aback. He was flabbergasted.

“Genjutsu? No way.”

She hadn't yelled any of her attack names before, but she did this time. Maybe not only the color of her eyes, but the sound of her voice also helped cast it. But the fact that she could cast it at all was… fascinating.

It should have been impossible. The general rule of Genjutsu shouldn't allow for it to happen, as a Genjutsu worked by sending your chakra to overpower your target's, and causing it to flow in a way to show their brain hallucinations, and likewise. But King Elizabello obviously didn't have Chakra, Hashirama could tell. Yet, she cast a Genjutsu on him — somehow.

"Marianne, huh… how intriguing."

Surely, she would have been destroyed if Elizabello launched that punch. But as he had frozen, that left Marianne an open chance to land another tempest kick that sent the King flying into the water.

Marianne landed on her feet, sighing in pity even as the Host announced her win.

["Unbelievable! We didn't get to see the legendary King Punch, but maybe that's for the better for our viewer's safety! The victory goes to the bewitching eyes, Marianne!]

That must have been costly. Based on her sour expression, her plan to save Chakra had gone down the rail.

For once, Hashirama was interested in meeting this cousin of his.

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