The Colosseum

After settling Modi in the tavern, he went out to ask around about this auction.

After all, the auctions in his memories were still the ones Luffy attended on the Sabaody Archipelago.

With many questions in mind, he went to Uwin Town's largest underground colosseum.

Colosseums tended to be places where wild people hung out, belonging to the dark underworld; this was where the real intelligence market was.

As soon as he stepped inside the arena, he could hear the roaring din of the crowd.

At a single glance, there were nearly ten thousand people!

"Great!! I actually won the bet!"

A man in the audience waved his hands excitedly, loudly challenging a companion who had just refused to believe his guess.

On the stage, a man had already collapsed, with fresh blood still pooling around him.

Beside him, the victor raised a human ear—this was the winner's display of triumph!

"Alright, let's congratulate the pirate Gouritz on his victory!"

Up on the stage, the host used his words to hype up this bloody victory.

Yet another wave of uproar swept through the crowd as everyone's primal instincts were completely ignited.

Insane!

This was Swain's only comment on these people.

Right after that, the host announced the next match.

"Next up, the pirate Gouritz versus the marine Isofu!"

There were even marines?!

This truly opened Swain's eyes; he hadn't expected a marine to participate as well!

Sure enough, this colosseum really was a mixed bag of fish and dragons. No wonder the guards hadn't checked anyone when he went in earlier.

Gouritz on the stage looked a bit flustered, but still walked off to the backstage area for an intermission.

This left Swain feeling somewhat curious, so he asked someone sitting next to him, "Is—is this Isofu very strong?"

"Yeah! He's won seventeen matches in a row! He's today's reigning champion!"

"This Gouritz probably doesn't have a shred of hope of winning, and he's a pirate to boot. Since Isofu can take his head in exchange for a bounty, he's probably going to make a killing!"

"Then I'm betting on Isofu for this match! I'm bound to make a bundle again!"

"Will there be a reward for the final victor?" Swain asked.

"Of course there is! It's enough money to last a lifetime!"

"What the hell do you know, it's a treasure map!" someone nearby chimed in.

Then two more people chimed in with different rewards. They didn't know what the prize actually was either, and most of it was just hearsay.

Swain waited a bit longer, but finding that no one was talking about the auction, he prepared to leave.

Suddenly, another loud shout erupted all around.

As it turned out, the match on stage had already been decided, with the marine winning without a doubt!

"Was the show exciting today? Did you have fun?"

The host worked up the emotions of the audience.

"If anyone becomes the ultimate victor tonight, they will receive one auction ticket!"

"Good! Good! Good! Good!"

The audience roared.

"Is this auction ticket very precious?" someone asked.

"Definitely. How could ordinary people ever be qualified to attend?"

"Word has it that the auction in two days will feature top-tier slaves and Devil Fruits!"

"Ah! Devil Fruits are going to be auctioned off too?"

"That's right. The underground auction here in Uwin Town is probably second to none in the South Blue. Celestial Dragons have even crossed sea domains to buy things here in the past!"

"I heard that Red-Haired Shanks has been here, too!"

The crowd chimed in one after another.

This piqued Swain's curiosity. Turns out, tickets to this auction were this hard to get.

However, wasn't just such an opportunity right before his eyes now?

Besides, even the strongest reigning champion seemed... not all that impressive in terms of strength, at least in his eyes!

He motioned for a server nearby and asked, "Is it still possible to enter the competition?"

The female server politely replied, "Yes, sir. You just need to go to the registration desk and sign a life-and-death waiver."

"Alright, thanks!"

Turns out it was that simple!

Following the server's instructions, Swain then headed over to the registration desk to sign his name.

However, he did keep his guard up and used an alias instead of signing his real name.

After waiting for about half an hour, he heard the host call out his name.

"The next match is: Kaido versus Kurk!"

Yet the arena didn't have the roaring noise from earlier; instead, people looked at each other in blank dismay.

"Kaido? Which Kaido? Is it that Four Emperors Kaido?"

The others were curious about this question, too.

"Idol! How could it possibly be Beasts Kaido? If he came here, everyone in this arena would probably run away. That's a Four Emperors! A Four Emperors!" He even emphasized it twice, just to wake his partner up to the fact that a Four Emperors was a true emperor and would never come to a place like this.

Only then did the crowd experience a sudden flash of realization. It was just that Swain adopting the moniker of Teacher Kaido was way too misleading!

As the host finished the introduction, "Kaido" made his debut via the Projector Snail!

Up on the viewing platform, a few people reacted: ?????? Isn't this the young man who was just talking with us?

"I'm betting on Kurk!"

"Kurk is a bounty hunter, you know! He's killed pirates worth ninety million!"

"I'm betting on Kurk, too!"

"..."

Hardly anyone bet on Swain.

Gambling was one of the two major joys of the colosseum, and they began placing their bets on this duel one after another.

Just by looking at his build, Swain looked far weaker.

That Kurk had a three-meter-tall physique, broad shoulders and a thick waist, with several knife scars on his face, making him look like a god of slaughter.

Yet strength wasn't defined by body size; otherwise, wouldn't the giants be invincible in this world?

As the match began, Kurk launched his attack!

With a forward-pouncing palm aiming for the throat, bang! The floorboards on the ground cracked open, kicking up a large cloud of dust.

Yet Swain easily dodged it!

"You're too slow! Your speed still needs improvement."

Swain said unhurriedly.

This infuriated the big man before him, who felt Swain was humiliating him and snapped, " brat! Don't get too cocky."

Instead, Swain went, "Huh?"

He didn't understand why this guy was getting angry; if someone pointed out his flaws, he would be overjoyed!

Seeing Swain show such disdain, Kurk grew even angrier.

With a loud roar, he picked up speed with long strides and leaped toward Swain, trying to tackle him.

Yet how could he ever get his wish?

Instead, he heard another blow from Swain: "Your strength isn't even as high as the big lizard in my backyard."

Dodging in an orderly fashion, it didn't affect Swain's speech in the slightest.

The audience was also clamoring, "What the hell?! Why is this kid acting like a monkey! Hurry up and take the hit!"

"Yeah, let the big brute punch your head off!"

"That's right, take the hit!"

The people in the audience who had bet on Kurk naturally egged him on.

Of course!

There were also people who had bet on Swain, but they had wagered very little money, so losing wouldn't be a big deal anyway.

Feeling the support from the audience behind him, Kurk regained his full confidence and tried to provoke him:

"Brat, if you've got guts, stop running!"

Hearing that, Swain actually stood right where he was without moving.

Seeing Swain stand still, Kurk was overjoyed!

"Go straight to hell!"

He wound up a punch and struck toward Swain's head.

He was going to use this punch to blow Swain's head apart!

The audience burst into loud cheers, seemingly assuming the battle was already over.

"This kid is still too young; how could he fall for this big brute's provocation!"

"Going up on that stage to duel was a mistake! He's simply an idiot!"

The people who had crossed paths with Swain earlier chimed in one after another.

They had extremely low expectations for Swain!

Even the host was already preparing to have the staff clear the scene.

However!

A dramatic scene unfolded!

Swain threw a punch of his own. It looked so frail and weak; the only slightly strange thing was that his fist was pitch black!

Fist against fist!

With almost a crushing momentum, Swain smashed Kurk's massive fist to pieces and sent him flying straight out of the arena with a single punch!

Suddenly!

The scene fell completely silent!

Even the people who were getting ready to pop champagne stopped their movements, staring dead at the scene before them.

Extremely unreal!

This was everyone's internal thought at that moment.

Swain, who had caused this commotion, stupidly bared his teeth: "I won!"

Only then did they snap back to their senses.

"What was that just now?"

"His fist turned black! He definitely used a weapon!"

"That's right, that's a weapon! It's cheating!"

"That's Armament Haki!" reigning champion Isofu said in a deep voice.

His gaze fixed intently on the young man on the stage named "Kaido".

Strong! This was the impression he got.

"Armament Haki? What the hell is that?" someone asked, puzzled.

Naturally, there were people knowledgeable in these areas who stepped up to popularize the science:

"This is a kind of human potential, a type of Haki that can armor oneself. It's very hard for ordinary people to learn!"

Only then did the crowd recover.

The youth before them... was an expert!