After that encounter with the mafiosos who wanted me to pay them for protection, I decided to go outside and take a walk to gain hints and other useful information we could use when dealing against that mafia family, the... Diabolic... something-something.
"Hmm..." I hummed in confusion as I tried to work my mind into remembering the name of the group, but I was incapable of remembering anything about them.
If I had to blame anything, I'd blame how sleepy I felt, that most of that stuff faded into the back of my mind.
The city of Djchuri in the morning doesn't show any differences to what I could see when we arrived last night. Due to the many factories present here, the smoke and overall air pollution create this dark and cloudy atmosphere over the whole town.
It doesn't help that the streets are even shadier than the city's climate. In just an hour of walking around, I saw three different gangs, some of them with kids even younger than me, duking it out on the street, extorting people for money, or plainly smoking while leaning into the buildings—most definitely defending territory.
And the people passing by acted as if this was normal, and why wouldn't they think this is normal? This is the city where families begin, the city with the most amount of crime.
Although, I also don't find it too weird. A bit extreme and more crime and gangs than I'm used to? Yes. However, back in Amagra'ra, I also had to deal with these small-time crime groups that target easy prey.
For example, while I was waiting in a convenience store to pay for a drink, I could see the store clerk doing shady business on the side with a mafia family. And I felt as if they wanted to get me involved, asking me what I was looking at them for. I only acted dumb, as if I hadn't noticed what they were doing.
"We may have a place to rest, but we don't have infinite funds. I'll have to make a quick buck to help on our journey," I mumbled while I rested my hand on my mouth.
Due to my lack of academic degrees, I've always had trouble finding somewhere that would accept someone like me to work.
"Oh, well. I always have manual labor," I sighed, as that was always my go-to whenever I had the need to earn money. Go up to some construction workers and ask them if they needed an extra pair of strong hands to help with work. Eight out of ten times, they just agree, I help them, and I get paid shortly after.
It, generally speaking, isn't that much money, but it is enough to survive for a couple of days.
"Ya sure you can work here, boy?" asked a muscly man with a set of horns on top of his head and long, hip-long hair. "We need strong men working here to move all these things!" He exclaimed while flexing his biceps.
"I'm pretty sure I can work here. I have past experience working here, and I've always been someone reliable," I calmly commented while rolling up my sleeves. "If you want me to show you my strength, then there's only one option, don't you think so?"
"Ah, I like the way you think, boy!" He yelled out, hyped, while cleaning the sweat formed on his forehead with a single wipe of his arm.
Immediately, he called for some other workers. "Ladies, this kid wants to show off!"
With that, the workers all left their places, calling for a short break to witness me proving myself to them. In a few seconds, they surrounded me and brought a big crate for me and someone else to lay our arms on.
"You can choose, kid. House invites your first match!" Some of them yelled while laughing.
"Such a generous group!" I joked.
Of course, I wasn't choosing someone I could easily win against. I had to choose the strongest guy around here.
"You! You seem like the strongest around here," I pointed my finger at a Miw. He was one of the tallest around here, and his arms looked like two tree trunks; his whole thigh looked to be as thick and wide as my entire body.
After a second of silence caused by their surprise, loud laughter followed.
"Step forward, Garcia!"
"The kid's got spirit!"
"Oh, man, I'm really gonna enjoy this one!"
Were some of the comments from the workers circling me.
The man, Garcia, stepped forward. He was definitely more than two meters tall; his white and black ears stood atop orange hair with some black stripes breaking the pattern.
"I'm surprised I was picked. I don't normally get challenged," he commented with a gentle and low chuckle.
"You're way more civilized than I expected," I commented while resting my elbow on the crate.
"And you're more expressive than I thought Reptilias to be," he answered back, also resting his arm on the crate. "No... an emotionless Reptilia is to be expected. You're different."
"We both are different than we expected. I think that's a good thing."
"True."
With that, we both locked our hands together and gripped strongly. I could feel as if my entire hand was being compressed under his insane grip strength. But I wasn't the only one; I also saw him close his left eye while I tightened my grip on his hand.
We both used our free arm to grab onto the other side of the crate and waited for the one holding our hands in place to call for the start of this arm-wrestling fight to prove myself.
"Fight!" As the voice was heard, I felt both our muscles tightening as we exerted our strength into our arms.
"Hnngh!" I groaned while forcing my arm to bend his, although he didn't budge a single bit.
"Hgg!" He also breathed out while trying to overpower me.
"No way..."
"You never see someone just go against Garcia like that!"
I heard two audible and loud cracks from the crate. Both came from opposite sides of the crate, the noise of wood cracking under pressure caused by Garcia and I gripping the edge so hard that it gave up under our strength.
I could feel the muscles in my arms working overtime as both hands were locked right in the middle even after continuous strength being poured from each side.
"Your scales are rough... Huff... They're rasping, cutting on my skin..." He mentioned while sweat dropped from his forehead into the crate.
Just as he said that, I saw blood—Garcia's blood beginning at the point our hands were locked together, then slowly flowing down both of our forearms.
"This should be the end normally..." I commented with difficulty while huffing.
"But we both have our pride on the line!" He managed to say while smirking. "Especially me, since you're not even using half your strength."
"Wha—?" I asked, surprised, causing me to lose focus.
He took advantage of my sudden astonishment and put in more strength.
Our arms were now at a forty-five-degree angle, in which I was on the losing side.
"This arm, this strength, those eyes..." He spewed out breathless while putting more strength now that I was closer to losing. "You can use those martial arts techniques, right?"
"I can."
"Then use them! Show me how much stronger someone who's trained their body with inhumane methods can be!" He yelled out, challenging me.
Body Strengthening Technique: Amplified Strength.
Body Strengthening Technique: Bear Grip.
Body Strengthening Technique: Arm Muscles—Burst.
With those techniques now taking effect, it looked like both of our arms snapped to the complete opposite side in a flash. The back of Garcia's palm crashed onto the crate, causing a devastating sound, as if someone had fired a shot from a gun.
"Agh!" Garcia yelled out, finally letting go of my hand and clutching his, which was bleeding on the front and full of splinters, with blood starting to gush out on the back.
"Shit, Garcia!" Were the general comments from the other workers, who only watched with open eyes.
"Kid..." Garcia slowly breathed out. "You're in! Someone stay with him and tell him what to do," he ordered while quickly shaking his hand.
"Sorry for doubting you, kid!"
"I guess tha' makes ya the strongest around here!"
The workers congratulated me while slapping my back, to which I answered with awkward laughs and high-fives to those that offered them.
"What are you idiots doing wasting your time!?" A man with big, round gray ears that were pink inside yelled angrily.
"Ah, boss. You see, this kid right here..." One of the workers wrapped his arm behind my neck and pulled me closer to him. "Offered to work with us."
"What!? You incompetent bunch already don't get anything done, and now you want to make a kid work!"
"Don'cha worry, boss! The kid's strong. He beat Garcia in an arm wrestle. He can do lots of heavy lifting around here."
"He beat... Garcia? Tch. Fine, then. He can work here." He threw his arms in the air as frustration set in. "But I'll keep my eye on you, got it? If I see you slacking off, you're getting not a single penny from me."
"Yeah, that's fine," I calmly replied.