"Boy, are you looking for death? Asking us for money now?" the jailers shouted from the stands, scowling at Shin Kawa.
"If you don't hand me the five million Berries today," Shin Kawa replied, his tone icy, "I'm afraid things won't end so easily."
The crowd gasped—and then, with a blur of movement, Saludes leapt onto the arena floor. His three-pronged trident gleamed under the harsh lights as he kicked the fallen Number 38 aside.
"Now, your opponent is me," Saludes said coldly, pointing the trident at Shin Kawa. "Want to gamble again?"
"Sure. What's the bet?" Shin Kawa asked, calm as a still pond.
"If I lose, I give you five million. If you lose, I spare your life," Saludes said, his voice like steel.
Shin Kawa's eyes narrowed. Perfect. A real challenge. And a chance to speed things up.
"What if I don't want to gamble?" he asked, pretending to hesitate.
Saludes' lips twisted into a grim smile. "That's fine. You'll live—if you're lucky."
Shin Kawa's mind raced. Dangerous people in this prison were either sent below or killed outright. Saludes wanted to test him. Perfect. Shin Kawa no longer cared about small reputation points. One duel would never be enough.
Time to blow up Advance City from the top floor down.
The first step: take out Saludes.
"I'll take your bet," Shin Kawa said, a smirk tugging at his lips. "But I want to raise the stakes."
"Oh? Go ahead."
"If I lose, I keep my life. If you lose, you keep yours."
Saludes froze. "You… think you can defeat me? Go to hell!"
He lunged, trident stabbing toward Shin Kawa's chest.
"Overestimating your speed!" Shin Kawa murmured. Konoha Instant Body Technique!
In an instant, he vanished—reappearing behind Saludes.
"Too slow!" Shin Kawa whispered.
Saludes' eyes widened. He swung again, but Shin Kawa's next move struck with devastating precision.
Power Prelude!
A blur of speed and explosive force, Shin Kawa's right foot connected with Saludes' chest.
BOOM!
Saludes flew across the arena, slamming into the icy floor with a bone-shattering impact. Silence gripped the crowd.
Then, eruptions of cheers. Prisoners pressed against the bars, ecstatic. Saludes had tormented them for years; now, he lay defeated.
Jailers panicked. "Stop him! Alert Warden Satie!"
But Shin Kawa didn't flinch. Surveillance bugs transmitted every second of his fight to the entire prison. Let them watch. Let them come.
Ding! "Congratulations, host. Enemy defeated. Reputation +5,000."
Five thousand reputation points for a single fight—this was beyond Shin Kawa's expectations. In just ten minutes, he had accumulated 5,500 points. Magellan himself might be worth tens of thousands.
The jailers scrambled into formation, aiming weapons at him.
"Fire!" one shouted.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bullets tore toward Shin Kawa, but he didn't flinch.
Konoha Instant Body Technique!
He moved faster than the bullets could travel, weaving through them like a phantom. With another step, his fists struck, tearing through the front row of guards.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The jailers fell, disordered and defeated. The prisoners erupted in cheers.
"Brother! Help us! Let's fight together!" a voice shouted from a nearby cell.
The noise multiplied as countless hands rapped on the bars. The iron clanging echoed like a drumbeat across Red Lotus Hell.
Shin Kawa's lips curved into a smile as he glanced at a monitoring bug on the wall.
"Since you all asked for it," he murmured, "let's turn this into a carnival."