A Princess's Heart, an Honor Belonging Only to Rando
"Sister, you..." Loki looked at Meila beside him in astonishment. Mela suddenly realized her slip of the tongue, and her face turned even redder.
"Ahem! I was just cheering for the many indomitable warriors on the field! Their courage deserves our praise!" Meila coughed twice, trying to find a weak excuse for her outburst.
"Haha! Your Highness is right! The warriors are all excellent! Let's cheer for every warrior who fought to the last moment!" The meticulous Loki could easily guess his sister's thoughts, but as a princess of a country, it would be somewhat of a bad influence if the masses discovered that she admired a stranger.
"Your Highness is so magnanimous! Let's cheer for these brave warriors!" Seeing this, the host hurriedly raised the microphone, trying to stir up the atmosphere.
Finally, standing in the center of the field Teach heard the cheers of an avalanche, though they weren't for him...
"Hmm? Why is that princess looking at me like that? Could it be that she's captivated by my charm?" The oblivious Teach had long forgotten his flirtatious words to the princess, and his nonchalant attitude only fueled her endless speculation!
"Could it be that he's too shy to look me in the eye? Hehe, that must be it!" Our innocent and romantic princess didn't realize the seriousness of the situation. Alas, Teach's irresistible charm!
The first round of the competition has ended, Teach returned to the rest area. After returning to the area, he clearly felt that the giants around him were looking at him with more respect. In this country where the strong are respected, great strength is far more important than noble status!
"Hahaha! Captain is so handsome! It'll be my turn to fight soon, so keep your eyes peeled and watch!" Burgess stood with his hands on his hips, extremely proud. As a former gladiator, he valued the honor of a warrior and the praise of the crowd immensely!
"But Captain, that giant princess's gaze towards you seems a little strange!" Laffitte chuckled, covering his mouth.
"This is perfectly normal! In Elbaf, a princess's partner must be someone of great power! And the princess in the stands is our king's eldest daughter! She is currently 80 years old and in the prime of her life; the line of admirers could stretch all the way to Warrior Village!"
Rando nodded. Considering the Giant' long lifespan of three hundred years, an 80-year-old princess was equivalent to a human girl in her twenties. There was no problem with saying that, but others might find it a bit strange.
"80 years old..." Teach paused, thinking, "Pops's only in his 70s, right? If you keep bringing this up, I'm not sleepy anymore! Imagine, Teach, who's over three meters tall, is holding a princess who's over nine meters tall—one's 40, the other's 80..."
"Forget it, forget it! Women will only slow down my tooth extraction. Being single is better!" Teach shook her head, indicating that she was not worthy of such a life. Little did she know that Domi was watching all of this. While she was secretly pleased, she couldn't help but make a huge wish!
I will help the captain pull out all the enemies' teeth!
Time flies, and the second round of selection has already begun. 49 Titans plus Burgess slowly entered the arena. Of course, given Teach's experience, neither the onlookers nor the Titans in the arena dared to underestimate this thin and short guy!
With the referee's whistle, the battle began! As everyone expected, Burgess once again demonstrated the power of an outsider! Although it didn't have the overwhelming impact of Teach's fight, his immense strength and brutal, realistic style of combat still earned him everyone's admiration!
After enduring an even more brutal beating, the giants collapsed, bruised and battered. It's worth mentioning that there was also a favorite to win the championship in this match, who fought with Burgess for a long time. Although Burgess eventually knocked him unconscious with a powerful elbow strike, he himself also suffered many wounds!
"Hahaha! I'm the Champion Burgess!" Burgess struck his signature pose, the gleaming gold belt around his waist shining brightly in the sunlight!
Although everyone admired the strength of these outsiders, their expressions were still not very pleasant!
What was supposed to be Grand Gladiatorial Tournament between the strongest warriors of all Elbaf ended in two losses! This truly dampened the spirits of those giants! If a few more terrifying individuals like them were to appear, wouldn't their gladiatorial games become a stage for outsiders?
Of course, given the nature of the Giant, most of them wouldn't blame Teach and his group for coming to participate in the competition; they would only think that their own country's warriors weren't strong enough!
The competition was intense, and finally, it was Rando's turn for the fifth match! This dwarf giant, who had set sail at a young age to hone his skills, finally stood on the stage of the highest honor belonging exclusively to the Giant!
"Is this another outsider?" "Not sure, but he's significantly taller than the previous two!" "Such height is extremely rare even among outsiders, isn't it?" "But look at his muscle definition, he looks like a miniature giant to me..."
The audience was abuzz with discussion, with most believing that Rando was also an outsider, given that his height was equivalent to that of a child among the Giant!
Upon hearing this, Rando couldn't help but clench his fists!
"No way!" A loud shout interrupted the audience's discussion. A giant who had accompanied the group to the competition was yelling, "Rando is one of our people! He's only this tall because of a congenital disability! Please don't hurt him because of his height! He's a worthy warrior!"
These heartwarming words brought tears to Rando's eyes, and after hearing the giant's explanation, the audience realized their mistake and apologized for their words, while offering sincere encouragement to the young warrior!
"Haha! Today I'll prove with my Iron Fist that height doesn't mean everything! So what if I'm disabled!" Rando roared, then clenched his fists! A blackish-red Armament Haki covered his fists. With his extraordinary talent, his Armament Haki was only one step away from Advanced Armament Haki!
"The match begins!"
At the command, Rando's moment to prove himself had arrived!
"Let's start with a Conqueror's Haki to calm our nerves..."
(Let me see, who looks confused? Rando has Conqueror's Haki, as mentioned before! By the way, the content in parentheses is not included in the total word count of this chapter.)