Chapter 102: Resolve

Lucas waited for Ace to return to the waiting area before approaching him.

On the stage, the fight for Block B has started which included Bellamy and Bartolomeo.

Lucas ignored the shouting and cheering on the stage and walked straight towards Ace.

“Hey. Fancy meeting you here.”

“You...Luc-!”

“It’s Lucy.”

“Ah, right. Haha! Who knew that we would meet here as well!?”

Ace laughed and the two of them walked to a secluded corner.

Lucas asked.

“So? What are you guys doing here? I assume the rest of your crew are also somewhere in Dressrosa, right?”

“Yeah. Well, we received news that Akainu’s Magma Devil Fruit is here so we came hoping to get it. As annoying as it is, Akainu’s pretty damn strong with that power and we didn’t want to have the enemies have it. Aren’t you the same?”

Lucas chuckled and shook his head.

“No, I just found out about it and came to have fun. We’re here to kick Doflamingo’s ass. Well, Luffy is anyway.”

Ace laughed as it was very Luffy-like.

Lucas thought for a moment and warned him.

“Things are going to get pretty heated up on this island. The Revolutionary is also here and working with us.”

“Huh? The Revolutionary? Did Luffy’s father actually start to look for him?”

“No, I met the East Army Commander Bello Betty before going here. Her goal is to destroy the SMILE factory and stop Doflamingo from supplying artificial devil fruits to the World Government. Since our goals are the same, she tagged along as well.”

Ace nodded and frowned.

“So he’s working with the WG...no wonder he can still brazenly become the King of this place even though he’s no longer a Shichibukai.”

“Yeah.”

“Alright. Sounds fun! We’ll help too!”

Lucas smiled wryly when he heard that and couldn’t help but pity Doflamingo.

That guy sure is unlucky...Luffy, Ace, the Revolutionary...I don’t think I need to make a move on him anymore.

Lucas chuckled at the thought.

“And? How about this Magma Fruit?”

“Haha! This and that are different! May the best man win! Ah, but of course, you still need to win in your block. If you lose...that would be too embarrassing, right? Hahahaha!”

Ace laughed out loud while Lucas rolled his eyes.

Oh, you said it! If I don’t sweep the floor with you later, I’d be too ashamed to face Roger and Whitebeard!

Lucas and Ace grinned and shook each other’s hands. Then, they separated.

Lucas watched the match and saw it was nearing its end.

The Prodence King let out his King Punch and directly blew everyone on the stage. However, there was still one man left standing.

The man who ate the Barrier Devil Fruit...Bartolomeo!

“That fruit...reminds me of that time in Wano…”

Lucas sighed as he recalled his time back in Wano. Back then, he had also faced a Devil Fruit user of the same power then he fought Kaido.

Now that Bartolomeo has this ability, it meant that the previous host had died.

Lucas turned to look at the stage.

Bartolomeo was able to easily defeat the Prodence King who was already weak from releasing that punch. It was said that he could only use that ultimate move of his one time during a fight.

“Ehh!? The winner of Block B is...damn! Bartolomeo!!!”

“Hehahahaha! Go to hell, everyone!”

The crowd boo-ed at him but Bartolomeo didn’t care and simply laughed while cursing everyone.

Lucas shook his head.

Towards this guy who is actually a huge fan of Luffy, he couldn’t care less. Still, he is quite strong so it wouldn't harm taking him in as an ally.

After their battle, the injured people were sent off to the infirmary.

Bellamy was being dragged by two employees and passed by Lucas.

When he did, he turned his head to the side and didn’t want to face him. Lucas didn’t look at him as well but spoke.

“You’ve changed. Bellamy.”

“...Is that a compliment or ridicule I hear?”

Lucas pretended not to hear that and asked.

“Have you been there? The Sky Island?”

“...Yeah.”

“How is it?”

Bellamy grinned.

“It’s like a dream…”

Lucas grinned as well and placed his hand on his shoulder as he used his ability to heal him.

“If you have nowhere to go, come find me.”

“...Thanks, Lucas.”

After saying that, Lucas left and headed towards the stage. It was time for his battle with Block C to begin.

Bartolomeo, who was also leaving the arena, happened to overhear a bit of their conversation.

Eh? Lucas…!?

Lucas stepped foot on the arena and stood at the center. He closed his eyes patiently and waited for the start of the battle.

“Without further ado...let the battle...BEGIN!!!”

The moment right after he said that, Lucas opened his eyes and smiled.

“Let’s take care of the small fries first…”

A huge burst of Emperor’s Haki was unleashed and covered the arena.

A large portion of the contestants rolled their eyes up and foam started to appear in their mouths as they fainted.

Those that survived had pale faces and sweat trickling down their spines.

“What...monstrous Haki!”

“Who the hell is this guy!?”

Ace, who was watching this from the sides, cursed in his mind.

This damn bastard...using such tremendous haki in a simple fight!

The audience watching this was also surprised as they didn’t know why the majority of the contestants had fainted. They didn’t experience it themselves and didn’t know who did it.

Only those few experts who were watching immediately stood up and gazed at the man who stood in the middle.

Lucas looked at the remaining contestants and chuckled.

He saw there was a giant participating and grinned.

“Let’s start with you first.”

The giant, Hajrudin, gritted his teeth as he knew he met a powerful opponent.

He raised his shield and prepared to slam towards Lucas.

Lucas held out his hand and caught the shield with his bare hands.

Just as everyone thought that he would break, the ground beneath Lucas cracked but he was still standing still.

Then...he raised his hand and...tossed the giant!

“Ahhh! The giant flipped over!?”

“How is this possible!?”

While everyone looked shocked to see the giant fall so fast, the other contestants started to move.

They acted as if they had agreed beforehand to take out Lucas first.

Actually, none of them discussed anything. They just knew that with Lucas on the stage, it would be impossible to win!

The only option was to band together!

Lucas didn’t mind and laughed as he faced them at the same time.

Destroying Cannon Ideo...The Flower Country Gang, Sai, Boo, and Don Qinjao...Jean the Robber...The Funk Brothers…

The first to arrive towards him was Ideo. He had protrusions on his shoulder and his punches also seemingly exploded upon contact somehow.

Lucas was reminded of an old move he used in the past. 

Seeing as he was close, Lucas pulled his fist and prepared to hit him as he clad his fish with his own haki.

Ideo seemed confident of his own punch as well so he pulled his fist to match Lucas.

“Hakai Ho!”

“Boost Punch!”

*BOOM*

Two explosive punches met and exploded.

When the dust settled, the one on the ground was Ideo while Lucas looked as if he didn’t have a scratch on him.

Then, Jean the Robber finished stealing the weapons in the arena and started to throw the swords towards Lucas.

On another side, the Funk Brothers combined as the smaller brother used his ability as a Jacket Human and had the larger brother wear him. He similarly charged at Lucas on another side.

Lucas smiled and didn’t move as he caught the fist of the Funk Brothers. The sword thrown by Jean passed through his body and stabbed the Funk Brothers instead.

“Guh-!?”

“Logia!?”

Jean cursed and he started to charge at Lucas while imbuing Armament Haki on the swords.

Lucas flipped the Jean Brothers over towards Jean and stretched his palm at them.

“Gyojin Karate Ogi...Buraikan!”

The Funk Brothers and Jean both felt an immense force crash towards them before being flown away off the arena.

The crowd was alarmed and excited.

“This time it’s Fishman Karate!?”

“Just who is this man!?”

Watching this, Rebecca was also surprised.

She didn’t think that the guy who talked to him earlier was this strong!

Still...she must win!

Lucas looked towards the remaining people left in the arena. The Flower Country Gang trio.

Don Qinjao jumped and fell down with his flat head pointed downwards. This was the man who was well known for his hard head.

Both Sai and Boo rushed towards Lucas on both sides and prepared to attack.

Lucas snorted and settled Sai and Boo first.

He punched both his fists to the sides and a tremendous force rushed out.

“Gyojin Karate...Karakusagawara Seiken…Double!”

While Sai and Boo were flown to the sides, Don Qinjao was about to land over him as well as his head was clad with Armament Haki.

Lucas grinned and clad his fist with Armament Haki as well and punched towards Don Qinjao’s head!

The two of them unleashed their Emperor’s Haki as well and black lightning-sparked upon contact!

The whole colosseum felt the pressure the two of them released and they all broke a sweat.

Don Qinjao landed and chuckled.

“Boy, for you to have the Emperor’s Haki...are you trying to be a King?”

“Heh, King? Sorry, that seems too troublesome for me.”

“Is that so. Who taught you that Haki?”

“If I tell you, you’d be shocked.”

Don Qinjao snorted.

“If you don’t want to say, then I will make you speak!”

He clad his arm with Armament Haki and punched.

Lucas grinned and met him with his punches as well.

Perhaps annoyed that this wasn’t getting anywhere, Don Qinjao used his hard head again and smashed his head forwards.

Lucas punched as well. This time, instead of meeting it head-on, he punched at the front half of his flat head.

Then...Don Qinjao’s head suddenly grew long!

Don Qinjao’s eyes rolled upwards and he fainted to the ground.

Lucas chuckled.

“Old man, I gave you your pointy head back so don’t hate me.”

He shook his head.

This guy, Don Qinjao, used to have a pointed head and he had treated it as his most powerful weapon. However, during a fight with Garp in the past, his head was struck and it was flattened by Garp, causing him to hate Garp’s family for three generations.

The whole colosseum was silent.

Finally, they all snapped out.

“...He won…”

“THE WINNER OF BLOCK C! LUCY!!!”

“Oi! Look! That guy...he hasn’t taken a single step since the beginning!”

When one of the people watching noticed this, everyone also took notice.

They looked back at the stage and saw that Lucas was still standing in the middle of the arena.

Though the ground beneath him had cracked, he was still in the same spot!

“You’re right! Damn! How monstrous is this guy!?”

“He just took down a legend! How strong do you think he is!?

Robin and Luna watched Lucas while smiling.

“Daddy! So strong!!!”

“Fufu, he’s strong isn’t he?”

Ace sighed when he watched the battle end. However, he was also excited.

“I’m all fired up!”

However, just as he was getting excited, someone approached him from behind.

Ace turned around and was surprised.

“Huh? You are…”

…

Amidst the cheers of the crowd, Lucas found Robin and Luna and waved towards them before leaving.

After he left, it seems the arena was no longer able to hold itself and crumbled into pieces.

The whole crowd was shocked.

It was as if the arena would have long been destroyed if it weren’t for Lucas!

But because of this, it would still take some time to replace the Arena so the fight for Block D could only wait for now.

As Lucas left the arena, the people around him made way for him like he was some sort of plague.

He saw Rebecca approach him with a smile.

“Congratulations. You're very strong.”

“Thanks.”

As they walked, Lucas noticed there was a cafeteria here as well so he might as well eat.

When Rebecca saw where he was looking, she smiled and took out her purse.

“Let me treat you to a meal.”

Lucas glanced at her suspiciously but nodded.

“Thanks then.”

Afterward, she led him to an area in the colosseum. The Gladiator’s quarters. However, some call it Prison instead.

As the two of them sat at the side, Rebecca started to chat with him while he ate.

“Your battle is amazing! I didn’t think you were so strong, Lucy.”

“It’s alright. How about you? Feeling confident in your fight? If I remember right, that Cavendish guy is also in Block D. He’s pretty strong.”

Rebecca revealed a sad smile. It was obvious that she wasn’t feeling very confident about herself.

Suddenly, hands appeared at the bars of one of the quarters behind them and grabbed onto Lucas.

Lucas knew what was going to happen but didn’t react as much.

“Rebecca! I got him! Quickly do it!”

Rebecca gritted her teeth and held her sword.

She charged towards Lucas, preparing to stab him.

Lucas sighed but didn’t move.

*Stab*

Blood dripped down from Lucas’ body as the sword went through him. He didn’t bother using his logia ability and just let her stab him. Anyway, this much wouldn't kill him at all.

He didn’t have a change of expression as he looked at Rebecca.

“...And? Supposing you could kill me, what’s your plan to deal with the winners of Block A and B? How can you win in Block D?”

“I-I...I...how come you can still talk like that!? I stabbed you!”

Lucas shook his head and with a bit of force, he was able to break free from the people holding him.

As for the sword stabbed on him, he pulled the sword and wiped his blood.

Rebecca’s eyes widened when she saw the wound was already gone.

“How…!?”

“Girl, plenty of people stronger and larger than you want me dead. Did you really think you can deal with me just like that?”

Hearing the harsh truth, Rebecca’s sword fell to the ground and she fell to her knees.

She had a blank expression on her face and looked like she was about to cry.

Towards this girl in front of him, Lucas didn’t know what to do and scratched his cheek.

Lucas raised his hand towards Rebecca.

The people in the quarter saw this and hastily shouted.

“Rebecca! Run!”

“No good! He’s gonna attack!”

However, Rebecca didn’t move at all. She saw a hand come down on her and she simply shut her eyes to prepare herself.

“You can do anything you want to me…! I accept my punishment!”

Lucas’ hand froze and his mouth twitched when he heard that.

He sighed and placed his palm on her head.

“Hey, a lady should say such things, you know? Otherwise, it could easily be misunderstood…”

“...Eh?”

Rebecca felt the warmth on her head and was surprised.

She looked up and saw Lucas grinning at her behind his fake beard.

“I know you have your reasons for joining this tournament...but you don’t need to worry.”

“...What do you mean?”

“Hehe. Soon, Doflamingo will be defeated. After all, when my captain says he wanted to kick his ass, he’ll definitely do it.”

Rebecca’s eyes widened.

She didn’t know why, but there was something about Lucas that made her believe him.

“So there’s no reason for you to fight here anymore. Just be a good girl and forfeit. Afterward, you'll see Doflamingo will be brought down.”

Rebecca fell silent.

After a while, she stood up, picked up her sword, and wore her helmet.

She wiped the tears in her eyes and turned away from Lucas.

“Thank you...but...I don’t want to be protected all the time! This time...I want to fight as well!”

Lucas looked at her back and smiled.

“That’s fine as well...good luck.”

“...Thank you.”

Rebecca turned her head slightly and nodded at him before walking back to the area with resolve.