"Yoho, after a year, everyone has returned to this arena. First of all, let's thank Lord Arceus for providing the venue!"
Compared to the initial shyness during her first appearance, she had now fully adapted to such a grand environment.
The Viso-Viso Fruit was being used more and more skillfully in An's hands, projecting an all-encompassing introduction. Everyone was satisfied with this new host, except for one person—Queen.
This used to be entirely his stage, but with An's rise, he was now only responsible for hosting after the battles began.
On the surrounding stone pillars, the audience had also taken their designated seats, and with the pillars' elevation, the Navy's surveillance vessels lost their ability to control the internal situation.
As for spies, it's not so easy to infiltrate the Hundred Beasts now. Anyone coming here is either an elder or a cadre among the Numberer, and any unfamiliar face would be questioned multiple times while checking identity cards.
As for why this is necessary, don't ask. If you ask, it's because Queen doesn't want to be backstabbed. Even when accompanying Arceus and Kaidou outside, he prioritizes his own safety. Unless it's an extremely special situation, don't expect him to leave the base alone.
No one is eager to send intelligence personnel here at this time. These cadres usually operate in various seas, plenty of time to investigate them normally. Currently, the total bounty of the pirates gathered here exceeds 10 billion, a force that's extremely difficult to handle, so there's no need to provoke them now.
If Kaidou's current excitement is disturbed, there won't be any friendly developments afterward.
"Everyone is well aware of the swap battle rules, but to briefly repeat Kaidou's request: as long as no one dies, fight to the death! Now, the competition begins! After the division, you can choose your target to challenge!"
Then An crushed a small light ball, something Arceus had given her in advance: a special field controller. The hosting duties had already been transferred to An and Queen, while he and Kaidou were merely spectators.
Apart from the highest spectator seats around, the central arena underwent another massive transformation.
"From the mighty power of Lord Arceus, first comes... the ocean!"
A portion of the arena sank, filled with seawater, leaving only a few platforms to stand on, forming a unique water-based arena.
"Mountains!"
Ridges formed with protruding rocks creating a small mountain range. The weathered rocks filled the arena with dust.
"Rainforest!"
Plants sprouted from the rock crevices, quickly forming a small tropical rainforest. The dense canopy blocked the surrounding sunlight, bringing a unique rainforest mystery to the arena.
"Plains!"
The least change, apart from grassy patches underfoot, leaving the view wide open.
"Night!"
A section of the arena had its light extracted, shrouded in darkness, and night appeared out of nowhere in daylight.
Besides that, desert, city, ship decks - this island was divided into eight regions in the blink of an eye, each with its own combat style.
Numberer represents the combat power of the Hundred Beasts; they are not mascots but front-line warriors facing various combat environments.
Besides their ability and inherent strength, the surrounding environment can also affect a person's combat prowess. For instance, Alabasta's Crocodile, Devil's Triangle's Moriah, both have chosen territories best suited for their abilities.
In such environments, they can exert their full potential.
The same applies to Pokemon abilities; the ocean field suits Water-type Pokemon, while the night field allows Golbat to showcase its unique advantages. Precisely because of this, Arceus added more battle environments for this competition.
However, the choice of the field is not up to the challenger but the challenged. Nowadays, the Hundred Beasts mostly engage in external battles, rarely experiencing home-field advantage. To climb higher in rank, one must overcome the disadvantages posed by the environment.
.....
"Ah~ is it finally nighttime?"
Perona crawled out of a large sleeping bag on Kuma's back. Her night owl habits had improved, transitioning from a constantly inverted schedule to occasionally staying up late, a notable improvement.
Their position was just in the night field, so she thought it had already turned dark.
"But why is it so noisy, is the competition still ongoing at night?"
"It just started, Perona. Watch over Miaona and Wolf, don't get tricked by those two little brats like Bepo did."
"I'm sorry..."
Still half-asleep, Perona hadn't figured out what was happening when she heard Bepo's apologetic voice, then felt a weight on her arms as the two children were tossed over.
While Reine, Wanda, Bepo, Hatch, and other members of the Fur Race were all here, they were very interested in the swap battle. Only Perona neither wanted to compete nor to spectate, but since the whole family was here, she had been dragged along.
Conveniently, she became the perfect babysitter in Setsuna's eyes.
"Make sure they don't wander off before I return. I believe you can do it. I'll buy you that limited-edition dress afterward. I'm off now."
Saying this, she headed to her defense zone—the rainforest, her favorite combat environment.
As soon as Setsuna left, Miaona and Wolf became active again, plotting how to fool their sister. However, Perona wasn't as naive as Bepo, and in the next moment, the two were held tightly by Kuma on either side, with two Negative Ghosts monitoring them.
"Behave, and wait patiently for Setsuna's mom to come back. You can actually decide which area you want to watch the competition from."
Perona asked Bepo about what happened while she was asleep and then passed the task to Kuma. Compared to her, Kuma was better at keeping an eye on them.
In different arenas, the swap battle had already begun. Compared to the grand battles of previous years, the position changes this time were not too drastic. The reasons were partly due to strength, and also it was difficult to gather so many people at once in that period.
The most noticeable changes were among new-generation cadres like Jack and Maria, who have been steadily climbing their ranks and now mostly possess the capability to challenge those with single-digit numbers.
For example, Jack, as he previously mentioned to Mandfeish, had his sights set on NO.2 this time.
In past ranking battles, his position was continuously rising, and now he had chosen to reach the top in one move.
After a brief discussion, he headed to the arena chosen by Elizabeth...