Ultimate Fruit

Chapter 103: Finals

The instant Rebecca stepped foot on the newly placed stage, the crowd boo-ed on her arrival.

Hearing the jeering and boos from the audience, Lucas sighed. He can already imagine Rebecca biting her lip to force herself not to show any emotions.

After Doflamingo became King, it seems the people started to hate Rebecca’s grandfather, the previous King.

Speaking of the previous King…

Lucas frowned and expanded his Observation Haki.

...As expected, all the previously injured participants are now dumped in the basement below...

While the battles in the colosseum continued, the rest of the crew were also moving about.

Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Franky, Hancock, Law, Monet, Kinnemon, and Momonosuke were originally together along with Caesar who they are pulling along. But somewhere along the way, Zoro went missing somehow.

Sanji noticed and said that he would go back and fetch him but he passed by a beautiful dancer and was smitten by her curvaceous body.

The dancer pretended to be a damsel in distress but was actually working with Doflamingo to trap and capture the Strawhats one by one.

Sanji, being Sanji as he is...didn’t hate the dancer at all as he couldn’t bring himself to hurt a woman.

Perhaps moved by him, or just figured that it was idiotic to do anything to him, the dancer doublecrossed Doflamingo in the last second and helped Sanji escaped.

She revealed herself as Viola. The former Princess of Dressrosa.

Using her Glare Devil Fruit ability, she helped Sanji find Zoro who was together with the toy soldier with one leg then met up with a bunch of miniature people, the Tontatta tribe.

Betty, Nami, Usopp, Chopper, Brook, Kaya, Hina, and Kuina, who originally set off to find the SMILE factories also met with this tribe by coincidence.

Usopp, the great liar, had cooked up a story for the Tontatta tribe and said that they were relatives of Norland, who had met the Tontatta tribe in the past.

At this moment, Luffy and the others had arrived in Green Bit where they had a showdown with Doflamingo and his other crews.

Fujitora, the new Marine Admiral, was also present and wanted to capture everyone including Doflamingo but after receiving a message from the World Government, he could only grudgingly help Doflamingo get rid of the Strawhats.

Over at the Strawhat’s ship, Jora, a member of Doflamingo’s crew who had the Art Devil Fruit ability, arrived and intended to seize the ship and deliver it to Doflamingo.

However, there was a barrier in place which she was unable to destroy.

Igneel who was flying around it naturally saw them as well.

Without a moment to spare, he breathed out a fire breath towards them.

Jora and her followers can only flee while their hairs are on fire...

Everyone began moving as planned.

As for Lucas, he was leisurely watching the battle which was about to end.

“Yo. So you're here too?”

“Hm?”

Lucas heard a familiar voice and turned around.

Behind him, he saw a blonde-haired guy wearing fancy clothes and a tophat with a pair of goggles.

“Sabo? What, you’re here too?”

Lucas smiled.

Luffy, Ace, Sabo. Seems that they are all together again here in Dressrosa.

Lucas realized something and raised a brow.

“It can’t be you’re interested in this Magma Devil Fruit as well?”

“Haha, not really. We’re here in case Betty needed backup. I heard Ace was here so I came to have a look. Didn’t think I’d see you here as well.”

Sabo chuckled and walked beside Lucas to watch the stage.

“So where’s Ace anyway?”

“He should be around. Haven’t seen him again since earlier. Oh, right. Since you’re here anyway, help me out with something.”

“Hm?”

Lucas smiled mysteriously while Sabo just looked confused.

Sabo listened to what Lucas wanted to do and looked surprised.

Afterward, he nodded and agreed.

“Oh, something interesting just happened.”

Lucas turned back to the stage and saw Cavendish suddenly fall asleep.

Sabo looked as well and frowned.

“I’ve heard rumors about him…”

The instant Cavendish fell asleep, his eyes opened and his mouth turned into a grin. He had awakened his other personality, Hakuba!

They say that Cavendish is a genius with the sword, but Hakuba is even better than him.

Not only that, Hakuba is capable of extreme speed and would look as if he is just a gust of wind.

In a blink of an eye, he had slashed every single competitor in the stage.

Rebecca, who had noticed his peculiar situation, managed to dodge in time and only knocked her helmet off her head.

After that, Hakuba fell asleep again and turned back into Cavendish...only, he was still asleep as well.

Just like that, in a surprising turn of events, Rebecca had...won!

Sabo smiled as he saw that.

“To be able to see through Hakuba’s movements...that definitely wasn’t luck.”

“Heh. She’s a stubborn woman for sure.”

Lucas chuckled and shook his head.

He started to stretch his neck and waist.

“Well then. Time for the last battle.”

“Un. I’ll go deal with things on my end as well. Don’t beat up my little brother too much.”

“Haha. I can’t guarantee that! I still need to beat him enough for all the pain and suffering his fathers gave me!”

“...”

Sabo was speechless.

After a period of rest, the winners of each block started to appear one by one.

“The winner of Block A! The mysterious combatant...ASE!!!”

“The winner of Block B! You all hate him for it...Bartolomeo!!!”

“The winner of Block C! He didn’t move a single step...Lucy!!!”

“The winner of Block D! By some stroke of luck...Rebecca!!!”

“And finally, our very own...Mr. Diamante!!!”

The announcer riled up the audience as the contestants emerged one after the other.

Just as he was about to announce the start, a bunch of contestants from Block D started to protest.

“Stop this fight!”

“Get Rebecca out of the ring!”

“Redo Block D!”

Lucas turned to look at them and shook his head.

Before he was about to do anything, Diamante stepped forward and stopped them.

“You don’t know when to give up, do ya? Results are results, morons.”

“Get out of our way!!!”

Diamante grabbed his cape and covered his body as Batman would.

The angry contestants charged and swung their swords at him. However, their swords actually broke upon hitting his cape and even producing a metallic impact sound!

Bartolomeo was intrigued as it looked similar to his Barrier ability.

“Hm?”

“Though it might be fluttering in the wind right now, this cape is steel!”

Diamante then pulled out a strange bendy sword and swung it forwards. As he did, the sword twisted and changed form into a raging bullhead.

“I ate the Flutter Devil Fruit! Anything I touch will flutter like a flag!”

He swung the bullhead sword towards the contestants.

“Corrida Glaive!”

“Gaah-!?”

The contestants were thrown back and started to drip blood. The blood passed through the crisscrossed platform they were on and dripped into the water.

“You might want to take a few steps back! For the finals, Fighting Fish befitting the occasion have been released.”

As if on cue, a huge blackfish with a bull-like head started to charge towards the injured contestants.

“They’re quite sensitive to the smell of blood.”

Diamante grinned.

*Boom*

“Uwaaaah!!!”

The Fighting Fish charged at them like a bull and tossed them to the water beneath the stage.

Diamante picked up a mic and announced to everyone.

“Fighting Fish of a different class than those seen earlier! Did you see that!? That charge! It reaches even the contestants inside the ring!”

Diamante laughed.

“Lawless, villainous! They are really a nasty bunch! We’ve taken the boss class Fighting Fishes from each school! And on the back of just one of these fishes...is this tournament’s prize! The Magma Devil Fruit!”’

“Oooooohhhhhh!!!”

“The rules are simple! Steal it! The last person standing in the ring will be the victor!”

Seeing as the audience’s excitement was at its peak, the announcer continued.

“Here it is everyone! The final battle! To whom will the Magma Devil Fruit go!? Now…”

*GONG!!!*

“There’s the gong!!!”

The gong’s sound resounded throughout the colosseum along with the crowd’s cheers. However, there wasn’t any movement in the stage just yet as the contestants simply looked at each other.

Lucas looked towards Ace, Bartolomeo, and Rebecca first before looking at Diamante.

Scratching his head, he had an awkward smile.

“Anyway, let’s deal with this guy first?”

Ace nodded silently and Rebecca also nodded.

“Agreed.”

Lucas turned to Bartolomeo but when he met his eyes, Bartolomeo suddenly fainted…

...Eh...no way…

Lucas’ mouth twitched when he saw that and a frightening thought appeared in his head.

It can’t be that...the Bartolomeo here isn’t a fan of Luffy...but a fan of me!?

Lucas felt his head hurt and worried how troublesome the future will be from now on…

Anyway, one down.

Diamante seemed to know what Lucas and the others were thinking and started to laugh.

“Hahaha! You think all three of you can deal with me if you joined forces? How ridiculous! Listen up! I am-”

*BOOOOOM!!!*

Lucas didn’t bother letting him finish speaking and simply flashed in front of him and swung his fist.

Diamante wasn’t able to react in time and even his steel cape wasn’t enough to protect him as Lucas’ punch sent him flying to the edge of the colosseum!

Lucas snorted.

“A nobody.”

“...”

The whole colosseum was silent and everyone’s jaws had dropped on the ground except for two people watching on the stands.

Robin silently chuckled while covering her mouth while Luna didn’t even bother hiding it and simply laughed and clapped.

“Waaaah! Daddy! So awesome!!!”

Lucas heard her cheers and gave her a thumbs up from the stage.

Finally, the crowd reacted.

“Whaaaaat!?”

“D-Diamante-sama was…”

“So easily!?”

“W-who the hell is this guy!!!???”

Lucas ignored everyone’s confusion and turned to look at the remaining two contestants.

He looked at Ace for a second then turned to Rebecca. In his mind, he just wanted to have a showdown with Ace.

Rebecca froze when she saw Lucas look at her and sweat started to pour down her back.

However, she continued to stand her ground and had her sword readied in front of her.

Lucas smiled and disappeared from her view.

The next second, he reappeared behind her and struck the back of her neck just enough to make her faint.

“Sorry about that. But please sleep for now.”

Finally, he stomped his feet and controlled the water beneath the stage to grab the Magma Devil Fruit on the back of one of the boss Fighting Fishes.

A pillar of water rose from the side and landed on his hand.

“I have the Devil Fruit. All that’s left is…”

With the extras out of the way, he stretched his neck and looked at Ace.

“Hey. It’s just the two of us now...shall we start our match?”

“...”

Ace didn’t speak and continued to stand there.

Meanwhile, in another area of the colosseum, Sabo was running around and beating up Doflamingo’s men so he could head to the place beneath the colosseum where the injured contestants were sent.

This was part of Lucas’ plan that he spoke to Sabo earlier.

While he distracts the eyes of everyone else on the stage, Sabo would go and rescue the others who were imprisoned by Doflamingo.

Lucas originally planned to have a long and drawn-out match with him and Ace. Diamante and the others were just in the way so he settled them quickly.

With his and Ace’s ability, he can make a showy match filled with explosions and loud noises which are enough for distraction.

“Hm? Oiii! Sabo! You’re here too!?”

“Huh? Ace!?”

Hearing the voice calling out to him, Sabo turned and saw Ace waving at him.

Confused, he asked him.

“Is the match already over?

“Hm? Ah...well, I handed out my identity to someone else.”

“Huh?”

“Anyway, what are you up to? Seems fun! Let me join too!”

“...”

Back on the stage, Lucas was confused about why Ace was staying silent.

However, he didn’t mind it much and charged at him. He was slower than normal since he wanted to whisper to Ace about acting and making it showy.

But when he neared Ace, Ace suddenly pulled his beard and his helm a bit so only Lucas could see.

Seeing the face beneath the helmet, Lucas froze.

Then, before he could think of anything, a slender hand grabbed the Devil Fruit case he was holding while another hand grabbed his shirt and...pushed him off the stage!

Lucas was still confused and could only stare at ‘Ace’ blankly while falling into the water.

*Splash*

“...”

Once again, everyone fell silent.

Even Robin and Luna was shocked!

What...just happened!?