The previously deafening stands fell silent in an instant, before cries of shock swept through the arena like a tidal wave. "What just happened? He was defeated that quickly?"
But the Mink Tribe, a powerful race specifically praised in the One Piece manga, was not so easily taken down. Before the referee could even reach him to check his injuries, the gorilla Mink had climbed back to his feet.
Even the horrifying wound that had looked so gruesome gradually stopped bleeding, drawing thunderous applause from the stands.
Yet the bewilderment on his face surpassed that of most spectators. A question that sounded identical to theirs, but whose meaning only he understood, filled his mind. "What just happened?"
"What just happened?" Mousse in the VIP section asked the very same question.
Mousse had seen far more than the average spectator, so his confusion ran even deeper. "It can't be my imagination, can it? Sister Amande was never this fast before. The difference is enormous! Wait, that gorilla too—starting from his third step, he became abnormally fast. With the speed of a power-type fighter like him, he should have become famous long ago, right? How could he still be some unknown nobody?"
After stubbornly getting back up, the gorilla Mink quickly launched another attack. But compared with his first charge, which had seemed certain to succeed, he was much slower this time. He could not even evade what looked like an almost leisurely slash from Charlotte Amande.
After another spray of blood, the grayish-white fur covering his body was almost completely dyed crimson.
Perhaps because that sword strike had been so slow, the pain the gorilla Mink suffered was amplified many times over. The man who had not uttered a sound after the first blow now let out a shrill, miserable scream.