REVIEWS AND POWERSTONES PLSSS!!!!!Chapter 228 Group Formation Time
The contestants finished their entrance, followed by a speech from Tesoro.
The general meaning was thanking the audience for their support, thanking Fish-Man Island for their cooperation, and thanking all the contestants for their efforts—that sort of thing.
Then finally, amid the audience's cheers, the final competition began.
The finals rules were made extremely complex, divided into four rounds.
In the first round, the three contestants each performed their talents, then through scoring by the audience and judges, an order was determined. The top two advanced to the winners' bracket finals, while the last place fell into the losers' bracket.
The second round was a match between the two contestants who advanced to the winners' bracket finals, with the loser also entering the losers' bracket.
The third round was the losers' bracket finals between the two who had fallen there.
The final round was the victor of the third round entering the championship finals against the victor of the second round to determine the ultimate winner.
The reason for making the rules so complex was purely because with only three contestants, if they simply determined the winner in one round, many audience members might complain it was too rushed.
The more complex the rules, the more they reflected the organizers' rigor.
Thus, the first round of the finals began.
The three contestants standing on the final stage were all mermaids—beautiful mermaid ladies at that.
No helping it. Though there were beautiful and charming young ladies among the fish-men, they were relatively disadvantaged compared to the mermaids.
Besides Queen Otohime, the remaining two mermaid ladies were both very beautiful girls who also possessed moving voices and graceful dancing.
In the eyes of the audience from overseas, these two ladies were far superior to that Queen Otohime.
In the first round of competition, Queen Otohime was placed third.
This order made the audience who came to watch the match start discussing again.
Why put her last again? Were the organizers rigging things again?
Even standing on the high wall at the plaza's edge, Brett could clearly hear such discussions.
One could only say the audience guessed quite accurately—wasn't Tesoro exactly engaging in major rigging?
Regardless of how the audience discussed it, the first round of finals still began.
The two mermaid ladies took the stage to perform in order.
Worthy of being strong contestants who stood out from thousands and finally reached the finals stage—whether their singing or dancing, everything was extraordinarily powerful.
At least Brett felt their true abilities were indeed much stronger than Otohime's.
"Ohh! This is so wonderful!"
"We'll always support you!"
"Everyone vote for them! Don't give that queen a chance to rig things!"
Just listening to the audience's cheers already showed their excellence.
But unfortunately—
Otohime was a cheating player.
She appeared.
Cheers far more exaggerated than before almost tore apart the bubble above Fish-Man Island.
The fish-men and mermaids who came to this plaza to watch this final competition shouted support almost crazily.
The humans who'd traveled from afar were completely dumbfounded.
Though they'd already known from watching broadcasts that this queen had extremely high prestige in this nation, wasn't this a bit too exaggerated?
Then they immediately understood why Otohime was so popular.
Otohime began to sing.
The previous two mermaid ladies had sung love songs, and they'd indeed sung that lingering, tender flavor.
Unlike them, Otohime sang a festival song.
It should have been a song known to everyone across the seas, mainly expressing people's joyful mood during festival atmospheres.
Whether in performance difficulty, the song's pleasant quality, or Otohime's singing level—all should have been far inferior to the previous two mermaid ladies.
But—
"Why? What is this feeling!"
"Why do I feel joy from deep within my heart!"
"Why does just listening to her sing feel like we're really celebrating a festival, feeling happy from the deepest part of our hearts!"
Everyone present couldn't help but show smiles on their faces at this moment.
Just like people feeling joyful in a pleasant festival atmosphere.
Some people couldn't help but shed tears of emotion.
"This, what kind of singing is this!"
"So, so deeply moving!"
"Mermaid Otohime, truly, truly wonderful!"
Cheers gradually rose.
"A remarkable ability!" Backstage, Tesoro exclaimed.
Though he'd already learned about it from Brett, this was the first time truly hearing this queen sing.
She truly possessed a very remarkable ability.
As Brett said, even without any insider manipulation, this woman could fight her way to the championship with her own abilities.
This ability to make others empathize with her—not becoming a star with it would truly be too wasteful, wouldn't it?
The song ended.
"OHHHHH! Queen Otohime!"
The thunderous cheers were far more exaggerated than before, almost making the entire Fish-Man Island echo with their cheers.
The people who'd traveled from afar finally understood why this queen had such popularity in this nation.
Hearing her perform live was a completely different experience from watching the broadcast!
It was truly a voice that could reach directly into hearts, making them feel as if they were in another world—a dreamlike voice!
Truly wonderful!
Brett stood on the high wall at the plaza's edge. Hearing the cheers coming from all directions, he quickly called his subordinates.
He told them to strengthen security work. In this situation, he feared something might go wrong.
In the first round, Queen Otohime unsurprisingly became first place. Then in the second round, she defeated another mermaid lady who advanced to the winners' bracket with overwhelming advantage.
After a brief rest, the fourth round championship finals—similarly amid full-venue cheers—achieved ultimate victory with crushing popularity.
When Otohime ascended the podium to deliver her acceptance speech, people watching the broadcast worldwide were somewhat dumbfounded.
They didn't understand—were those people who went to watch on-site also bought off?
How did they really let this unworthy queen win the championship?
Regardless, the final result was unsurprising. Amid countless cheers, mermaid Otohime stood on the victor's final stage.
"From now on, let me send Fish-Man Island's voice to the whole world!"
She raised her arms and shouted.
From all directions came flowers and encouragement.
Below the stage, Otohime's husband and children cheered excitedly. At this point, people had even forgotten they were this nation's princes—many people were already laughing and playing with them.
Almost simultaneously, at Mariejois directly above Fish-Man Island—
The Five Elders were also watching the broadcast.
"How ugly. Forcibly pushing this woman?"
The Five Elders sneered at Brett and Tesoro's methods.
"How's the situation there? Any results yet?"
"They've bought off a batch of fish-men and already have some results. Fish-Man Island indeed has many suspicious places, but the defenses are all very tight—"
After Fish-Man Island's finals came the final human competition zone.
Brett watched this broadcast together with Shyarly at the Mermaid Cafe.
When that young songstress displayed her voice again, everyone knew the ultimate victor couldn't possibly be anyone else.
"Uta! Uta! Uta!"
So naturally, amid the cheers of almost all audiences worldwide, the young songstress became the final group member.
Next came the final group formation moment.
The location would be Dressrosa.
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