The fighting fish in the water were dangerous, but not impossible to handle, and Diamante's reputation was still quite high.
Seeing Diamante fall into the water, many soldiers of the Donquixote Family jumped in and, under alternating cover, rescued him from the water, preventing this Devil Fruit user from sinking and drowning.
"Mr. Diamante has been defeated! His earlier battle ended up benefiting others instead. What a pity! The nameless old man Red and the cursed princess Rebecca have advanced! C Block's match will begin shortly, so please don't rush."
Though the audience booed loudly, dissatisfied with Rebecca's advancement, Gatz still loudly announced this already-decided outcome.
If Rebecca weren't so universally despised, Gatz would probably have congratulated her.
Although Rebecca's advancement was decided by Redfield, in the earlier battle she had displayed her Backwater Sword Dance, never taking or dealing a single injury from start to finish.
That alone was enough to earn announcer Gatz's respect.
Yet precisely because of that fighting style, in this blood-worshipping Colosseum, Rebecca became an oddity. The spectators who came to see people fight to the death were displeased, and this indirectly caused Rebecca's reputation to plummet even further.
Even though Rebecca had grown used to insults, hearing the voices still made her uncomfortable, but not this time.
[Helping you take down Doflamingo isn't out of the question.]
The playful battle, in which Diamante was defeated in an instant, made Rebecca realize that those earlier words weren't a joke. The old man before her truly possessed that level of power.
"Let's go. What are you standing there for? Since I said the ones advancing are you and me, it won't be anyone else. Whatever needs to be said can wait until later, we should leave the stage for the younger ones now."
"Old man, just who are you really?"
"Who am I? Merely an old man abandoned by the times. You can call me Red, but decades ago, the sea knew me as Redfield."
From Rebecca's heart, Redfield sensed a faint trace of desire. Previously, she could be considered as having no thoughts because of her disbelief. Now, Redfield was very eager to see what changes would occur in Rebecca after she witnessed his strength.
However, from her inner thoughts, Redfield could tell that she didn't recognize him. That made her potential usefulness drop considerably.
"No way… that guy… that guy's Redfield! How could the Aloof Red possibly be taking part in a tournament like this?!"
In addition to the spectators, those waiting in the Preparations Room could also see the fight in the arena. Among them, besides Marco and Katakuri, was another knowledgeable person: Buggy.
Rebecca, being a young princess, had never heard of the Red Count's fame, but Buggy was different.
"Aloof Red? Captain Buggy, who's that?"
"That's someone I met back when I was an apprentice on Captain Roger's ship. He had dealings with Captain Roger and Uncle Rayleigh, a troublesome monster."
Red Count's threat was unique. Alone and without a massive fleet, he wouldn't trigger large-scale battles, yet his unfettered and unrestrained actions have constantly given the World Government a major headache.
Buggy still remembered: when the Oro Jackson encountered the Red Count, Redfield and Roger had a brief clash, but it didn't last long before they declared a truce.
Redfield even joined the ship's banquet for a short while. After exchanging a few words with Roger and sharing a drink, he vanished without a trace and was never seen again.
Just a single glance made Buggy feel as though he couldn't hide any secret before the other, which was why Redfield left such a lasting impression on him.
"Guess it's better to forfeit after all! Hey, what are you doing?!"
Buggy's eyes widened as he watched one of his underlings toss a whole stack of forms into the registration box.
"Ah, sorry, Captain Buggy, I got too excited. Something like this should've been done by you personally."
"Yeah, yeah, after all, you're the one who's supposed to challenge the legends! But, well… you mentioned so many legendary names: Pirate King, Dark King Rayleigh, Aloof Red. I got excited and just tossed the forms in."
There was no rule in the Corrida Colosseum forcing anyone to participate. If he wanted to, Buggy could easily choose to flee. The problem was, doing so would make him lose face.
At that moment, he perfectly embodied the saying "going through hell for the sake of keeping up appearances," and had no choice but to prepare for battle.
Meanwhile, after the conclusion of the matches in A and B Blocks, Yamato and her group wrapped up their brief travels around Dressrosa and arrived at the Corrida Colosseum.
When they got there, they happened to witness the end of the match, and saw Redfield's final strike.
"This old man's strong! That move had to be at least as powerful as a Thunder 2-3Gua. Looks like this tournament's more interesting than I thought. Now I'll have something to show that b*stard father when I get back." [TN: I had mentioned it before in chapter 1028. Bagua means Eight Trigram, so in chinese fandom, they use 1-to-7 to compare the power of Thunder Bagua]
Most contestants preferred weaker opponents, but Yamato was an exception. Only if the tournament's overall quality was high could she report back successfully.
If she just crushed a bunch of weaklings, even if she brought back the Quake-Quake Fruit, Kaido would probably just use it as an excuse for "special training."
"You actually got proud over beating such weaklings? Seems you've fallen!"
Yamato could easily imagine Kaido shouting something like that while swinging his Hassaikai down at her.
If she could just stir up some big news, maybe she could have a couple of days of peace.
"No, I don't think it makes any difference."
The one who refuted Yamato wasn't Robin, it was Ulti.
"My dear daughter, it seems you've gotten stronger again! Let's review our training, Thunder Bagua!"
Ulti imitated Kaido's tone perfectly, shouting as she threw a punch toward Yamato.
Because of their height difference, Ulti's horizontal punch only landed on Yamato's stomach. Though it didn't hurt her, it completely shattered her fantasy.
"Damn it! Don't let reality crush my dreams! Can't I just fool myself for a bit?!"
"It's useless. That idiot Kaido will never let you off, you know that."
There were few who dared to address Kaido directly by name and even label him with strange nicknames. Yamato was one, and Ulti was another. But Kaido's attitude toward the two was very different.
He didn't care at all about Ulti, the child of an old friend, but when it came to Yamato, he always found new ways to "educate" her with his fists.
"He's not an idiot, he's a b*stard!"
"What's the difference? Idiot or b*stard, either way he'll find an excuse to beat you up."
The tsundere, who should have been naturally countered, launched a successful counterattack, and twice in a row at that. It was Robin who ultimately ended their pointless argument; after all, the master manipulator sits at the top of the restraint chain. [The Chinese term restraint chain often refers to a system or mechanism where certain elements restrict or counter each other in a cyclical fashion, such as type advantages in games, or a chain of dominance and restraint among different entities.]
"Alright, here's a list of the main contestants for this tournament. These are the ones worth paying attention to, take a look."
While Ulti and Yamato were squabbling around, Robin hadn't been idle. All around the hidden corners of the Corrida Colosseum, several arms with eyes had sprouted. Her Flower-Flower Fruit was already investigating the information about enemies.
"As for that old man… he's probably the biggest threat. Red Count • Redfield, he's a pirate from the same era as Roger. Honestly, if he were a few years younger, even Mr. Kaido might take an interest in him."
It might sound cruel, but among the seven of them, even adding Speed and others to make ten, when it came to intellect, all of them combined still couldn't match Robin alone.
Robin had clearer impressions of these well-known powerhouses. From the pattern on Redfield's umbrella, she quickly confirmed his identity.
She then briefly explained Redfield's background to Yamato, allowing the fantasy shattered by Ulti's punch to piece itself back together once more.
"Alright, he's the one. As long as we have a good fight in the finals, it should be enough to get by for a few days when I return."
"I still think you should focus on mastering the power inside you as soon as possible. Based on your current situation, unless you completely defeat Mr. Kaido, or reach the level that Lord Arceus is satisfied with ahead of time, you'll only be able to delay things at best."
"It's not that easy. Dad's been acting weird these past few years; sometimes he's really lax, other times he's even stricter than that b*stard father. And Reshiram isn't easy to talk with either… sigh, it's tough."
While Yamato was lamenting her rough future, Speed and the others who had gone to register also completed their task.
"Miss Yamato, it's done. You're in Group H, Lady Ulti and Lord Page One are in Group G, and the three of us are in Group E. If today's matches keep up this pace, it won't be long before it's our turn."
Entering as spectators, Yamato's group didn't attract much attention from the crowd; after all, everyone's focus was on the contestants. Redfield and Diamante's battle had destroyed most of the arena, which was only just rebuilt using Pica's ability.
Diamante's defeat was outside of Donquixote Family's expectations. With Doflamingo preoccupied with Law, the remaining officers had no choice but to accept the result and initiate Plan B.
There was no chance of obtaining the fruit themselves anymore, so the best option was to hand it over to the Beasts Pirates. At least letting that "ally" get the fruit would minimize their losses.
That was why Speed and the others had been divided into three groups. To ensure the highest possible chance of advancement.
Among those who advanced, only Katakuri noticed Yamato's arrival. Earlier, he had picked up on the arms Robin had created for reconnaissance and, following the trail, discovered Yamato and her companions.
"The Beasts Pirates' Oni Princess… this tournament's turning out to be even more complicated than I thought."
There was no true alliance between Big Mom and the Beasts Pirates. Their relationship was as fragile as paper. When there were no points of conflict, they could sit down and share tea, but once there was something worth fighting over, no one would willingly back down.
Katakuri didn't know Redfield's current strength. He simply assumed the other was already an elderly man in his twilight years, and figured that if he just dragged it out a bit, he might still be able to handle him.
However, Yamato, who was in her prime, was even more of a threat than Redfield in his eyes.
"Is that little girl really worth being so wary of, son of Charlotte Linlin?"
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