Colosseum - Round 1, Group A - Luffy vs Alain

[Monkey D. Luffy]

Crinch, Crump, Fssshhh.

"That was for your salacious little stunt earlier," the crimson-mantled merc japed triumphantly, scraping the ashy remains of his target's kindled cap and grinding it further into the sediment.

Silence; suffocating silence befell the howling amphitheater. Traditionally livened by stains of spattered blood and cracks of shattered bone, the lusting masses receded to the stem of their seats.

"That . . . that hat was a precious gift from my childhood idol," the vapid pirate gritted, surveying with harrowing optics the charred cinders splayed beneath his assailant's tarnished boot. "I promised him that I would return it once I became the King of Pirates . . ."

This act of taboo broiled the captain to his core, breathing sparks of vehement embers into his furnace of rage. Poetic really, as the burning in his eyes emulated the fate of his prized possession, scorched to a crisp.

"Gold, jewels, antiques, delicacies, none of that means a thing to me! That heirloom . . was my ONE AND ONLY TREASURE!" Luffy snarked with grainy tone, affixing a frigid leer as both pupils contracted. His chronic, jovial quintessence curdled into a malefic veneer as he clamped ten digits into twin fists.

"BASTARD!!" The pirate thundered, jetting forth with momentarily explosive acceleration akin to a shuttle launch, unearthing sizable debris from his foothold and carving a fleeting fracture in Alain's keen focus.

"I WILL . . ."

The straw-cap-murderer feebly attempted to implore an azure barrier as last ditch defensive measures, albeit in vain. Luffy's stiffened mitt speared clean through the premature, translucent layers of brittle, incomplete magic as if it were made of sugar glass.

". . . CLOBBER YOU!!"

Kathwam!!

"GUH!" Alain cried out with a guttural wince as his body jostled and bounced along the branny pit, compliments of a concussive hard right. The mercenary's grandchildren would feel that wallop for certain.

Exploiting the cloaked bladeslinger's brief impairment, Mugiwara sprung his arm to the aft, extending it several meters and laying chase. "Gomu Gomu no . . ." Within proximal distance from his prey, the flexible pugilist withdrew his elastic limb, snapping it like a rubber band and driving a whizzing fist into the merc's exposed sternum. " . . . Bullet!"

Hawking up blood, saliva and a few molar fragments from the initial strike, Alain hobbled to his feet. Impressed by the fighter-for-hire's swift recovery, Luffy kept close watch on the opposition, wary of any further tricks of his trade.

"Huff, huff . . . not bad. Any more straight shots like that it might be lights out. Impressive raw power, but rudimentary style," the contestant confessed as he slowly melded into umbral glops and crept out of sight once more. "I prefer an approach with a touch more finesse."

"Ah? Where . . . ?" Luffy fidgeted, pivoting his rubber dome to pinpoint his concealed foe. Treading with no semblance of caution, the captain swung wildly at the open air hoping to hit pay dirt.

"That's really your strategy?" A wispy voice derided from indiscernible position, snatching Straw Hat's attention and soliciting another misplaced swat. A gentle breeze whisked beyond the pirate, gouging a slit along his outstretched extremity as he cringed from the sting.

"Psst, over heeeere," Alain uttered discreetly once more, following up with a stealthy gash as Luffy overshot his mark a third time.

"Wrong again."

Shunk!

"Yow, close but no dice."

Shikk!

"Tsk. Are you even trying?"

This game of cat and invisible mouse continued for minutes, Mugiwara's garments smeared with warm crimson after each persisting hack and slash. He just had to draw this cutthroat's number. Rotten luck to be drafted against a practitioner of bladed munitions, one of Straw Hat's weaknesses among a scanty list.

Growing frustrated, the fed up captain pondered a moment; a scarce sight to behold, succeeded by a dauntless grin. Stomping the turf beneath him to forge a grapnel, Luffy dug his foot several feet into the trench and proceeded to gyrate his torso like a spindle whilst coiling his free leg around his waist. Within seconds, he'd looped well over a dozen times.

"Gomu Gomu no . . ." Straw Hat chanted before unraveling like a spinning top and protracting his leg outward as a loosed whip, snagging a dagger from the armory rack between his toes. Reaching maximum torque and velocity, the human cyclone kicked up debris within the attack radius.

For Alain the Carnedge, there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

Chinkinkinkink!

". . . GARBAGE BLENDER!!"

Word Count: 730