Lara's POV;

Noa told me during breakfast, that he will surrender. He wasn't seeing any reason to fight against me. He could spar on the ship or an island whenever he wants to, so showing his or my skills in public would only be counterproductive.

Jonny, who was present, decided to also not fight Lia. His reasoning was the same, why fighting in public when they can do the same in private. Both Lia and I understood and agreed to do a training fight when we have time.

The organisers were not amused by the sudden loss of fights, but could not do anything against it. 

That's why the first fight was between Cooler Dy and Mrs Chicken Wing. It was over after five seconds. And four of those seconds were needed for the commentator to realize that it was over.

Mrs Chicken Wing kicked the Devil Fruit user into the arena wall and he fell into the water, from where he had to be saved.

Sabo, who's fight would have been next, didn't happen as well. Galina, the winner of the last round yesterday, said that she saw no way to beat Sabo. His fight against Yosaku showed her that he was faster, stronger and able to use Haki. 

That left the organisers in some trouble, today was meant to have four fights, not one that was over before anyone could see what happened. They needed only a few moments to decide on what to do. They would simply do tomorrows round today, of course after asking us if we were even willing to fight or also wanted to surrender. We four agreed and it was announced that the semifinals will start today and not as scheduled tomorrow. 

That is why I was now again standing in the arena, with the strongest thing I know in this world in front of me. This fight will either have me winning with little to no problems or the people will see me getting defeated by a hen. Good that I don't care about the opinion of others.

 The commentator had just started the fight and I was facing The Hen of Death, the 1.3 billion Berry worth chicken. Mrs Chicken Wing, Batilda, third of Poultry, most likely a member of the ruling family, and deadly skilled in any form of Haki. There was only one chance for me to come out of this fight without damage. 

“Mrs Chicken Wing, I have a proposal”, I said and looked into the hen's eyes. Mrs Chicken Wing tilted her head to the side and clucked, telling me to continue. 

“If you let me win I will give you a batch of corn, worth a whole months of my allowance. That should be equal to at least two tons of corn. What do you say? You don't need the Devil Fruit anyway.” Yes, I am trying to bribe a chicken. How else am I going to win? I am working on at least three skills that should be able to harm her, but the key word is working.

She stared at me, not clucking or moving at all. Then suddenly a blast of strong Conqueror Haki flew out of her and hit anything within the ring. The ground cracked from the blast, the water around the ring made waves and the air looked as if it was ripping. 

Still, my [Calm Mind] was stopping me from feeling anything. Only a blast of wind hit me, the true power of her blast had no effect. She saw my lack of struggle, nodded her head, and then fluttered up to the viewing platforms. 

The audience was silent, not really knowing what has happened. “I think participant Mrs Chicken Wing has just surrendered. That means that Slicer Lara will rise up to the finals and will face either True Shot Lia or Sabo. A fight that will take place in a moment. Please stay seated.” Announced the commentator. His voice was slightly resigned as if he wasn't believing in any more cool fights today. 

But the next fight promises to be good. Lia against Sabo, one who uses mostly distance attacks and the other a close combat fighter that can crush anything in his hands. I hope Lia will stay at a distance.

The commentator started the fight and a series of four pings rung through the arena, followed by four cracks. There were now four holes around Sabo and he had his pipe, already enhanced with Haki, in his hands. 

“Damn, that was fast”, mumbled Sabo before vanishing from the sight of many. He came back into view half a dozen meters before Lia. Where he stumbled briefly, but then used his pipe to deflect another five pebbles.

He almost danced closer to Lia, parrying and evading pebbles while getting closer. When he reached her he was mid-swing. His pipe came down at Lia but was stopped by a single hand of her. There was no whoosh of air, nor dust blown up. It looked as if Sabo hasn't put any strength into his attack. 

“What the?”, asked Sabo before being kicked by Lia. He shot off like a rocked and tumbled once before he was able to control his body again. 

Still, he stood up as if nothing happened. “That kick had more power than what it should have had. You are using your Devil Fruit, aren't you? And the sudden increase in weight as well. Man, your fruit is strong”, he noted more than said and put his pipe into a holster on his back.

Right after his body turned black and a shock wave was left behind when he kicked off. This time he did not slow down when he came into Lia's gravity well. He crushed the dozen pebbles that were sent on his way with his fingers and even threw one or two back, who were hit with other pebbles mid-air.

He reached Lia and was still fairly fast. Lia's eyes were focused on him, tracking any of his movements, but her body seems to be not up to the same speed. Sabo reached out with his hands, aiming for Lia's head. Lia, however, must have seen this with her Observation Haki and moved her body to the side, a fluid Kami-e move. Sabo missed Lia's head, but he switched to her shoulder. He must be able to anticipate the moves of a Marine Skill user. 

 She wasn't fast enough to evade that too and he clamped down the same moment Lia hit his upper thigh with a clawed hand. Both of their hands dug into the others flesh, but neither managed to break skin or bone. 

Lia was not really proficient with Armament Haki, so she reduced the damage with her Devil Fruit, while Sabo seems to be fairly skilled with it. I think both will have a large bruise from this.

Still, Sabo's attack looked to continue and increase in strength, while Lia's was already finished.

Sabo's second hand came up, also formed into a claw and enhanced strongly by Haki. He grabbed down, trying to reach Lia's wrist. Intending to break it and stopping her from throwing any more pebbles. 

It would have reached her if there wasn't suddenly an explosion on Sabo's back. Lia has had compressed the air behind him and let it go in an expanding shock wave. The blast moved his upper body forward and down. He overreached and missed Lia's wrist entirely. He was also now almost face to face with her. A chance that she used, by giving his nose a devastating headbutt. It didn't break, thanks to his strong Haki, but the power and short dizziness made him lose his grip on Lia's shoulder. 

Lia brought both her arms forward as if she was pushing something away and generated a strong blast of wind. It picked Sabo up and flung him off of her. However, Lia wasn't finished, she grabbed into her pebble pouch and pulled a hand full of black bullets out. Each was made out of extremely condensed iron.

They were flung off with her unwounded shoulder and broke the sound barrier right after leaving her hands. The almost invisible bullets raced towards the still flying, but ready, Sabo. All of them reached him at the same time. All of them strong enough to easily pierce stone, steel or wood. 

All of them were instantly hit away by an almost closed clawed hand of Sabo. Seems like the further shut his hands are the stronger his attacks get. And he must also have found out about Lia's Devil Fruits 'weakness'.

She can manipulate anyone who isn't protected by Armament Haki. The effect of her manipulation is almost negligible if her enemy has a full body coating of Haki. She can still increase the pressure of hits and so on, but blood pressure and everything internally is almost impossible. 

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Haki blocks Devil Fruits, it's as simple as that.

But back to the fight. The audience was roaring loudly. The commentator, whom I have blocked out so that I can better concentrate on the fight, seems to be shouting something, which I am not bothering to hear. 

And Sabo had landed safely on his feet. His hands now almost closed and his whole body still coated in Armament Haki. 

They eyed each other for a moment and then Sabo suddenly jumped to the side. The air on his last position exploded. As well as the air where he now would have been had he not jumped forward the moment he touched down.

Lia was plastering the arena with small-sized pressure bombs. All of them strong enough to rip an ordinary Marine into tiny pieces, but Sabo wasn't as weak. He took almost no damage from them. 

He still had to move and keep his Armament active. It will be tiring and he will slow down. He will have to get on the attack again, or his chances of winning will lower as time goes on.

That's why he faced one of these blasts full on to get within close combat again. His now fully formed fist hit Lia's left shoulder and she was not able to dampen the strength enough. Her shoulder broke. 

Lia's face remained impassive, she did not back away but was using the force of the hit to whirl around and kick out at Sabo. He stepped to the side and evaded the kick, but the force blade that shot off, cut into his belly. It overcame his Haki and drew blood.

Yet Sabo simply clenched his abs together and used his muscles to press the wound together. His right hand was also again on his way to hit Lia. Its aim was her right chest side. 

At first, I did not know why he would attack her there, but then I saw why. Lia will need to evade the attack if she does not want to risk a deflated lung. But if she does then he will hit her right arm. The fight has shown that Sabo is faster than her.

I was almost sure that she will get a broken arm from his next attack, but then Lia used a low powered pressure bomb right next to her own right side. She did not decrease the impact but rather increased it. The added force flung her out of Sabo's reach and he hit only air.

They had now some distance again. Sabo was panting from exhaustion but did not look like he would loose anytime soon. Lia on the hand did neither pant nor did her face show any signs of pain. 

But her left arm was almost useless with a broken shoulder. While her right shoulder will have less manoeuvrability from the first attack. She was no longer able to throw things as strongly as she would need to.

In this fight, her chances of winning in close combat are low or almost none existent now. She could try and go into the sky, but Sabo might have Geppo as well. She had underestimated him and tried to fight where she has not her main strengths. The moment he coated his whole body in Armament was the turning point. It shows that Haki is superior to Devil Fruits. As well as Lia's obvious 'weakness' in extremely close combat. The arena is simply not big enough for her. 

Still, Lia won't give up. She hates losing and will fight until either I tell her to sop, which she would do only grudgingly, or when she is no longer able to fight.

That's why I wasn't surprised when she did a little jump and took off into the sky. Sabo followed her with Geppo, however, the moment he got close he was pushed back by a whitish wall. 

The why was shown when I saw Lia's concentrated look. She was compressing the air molecules so strongly that they are forming a wall. Now Sabo will need to get through this before even thinking of attacking Lia.

And all around Sabo whitish balls began to form. Each growing smaller by the second, starting with the size of a car and stopping at the size of a football. He looked at them worriedly and dropped his Geppo in the next instant. The closest white ball lost it's compressing power and the contained air was released in a much stronger pressure bomb than anything he saw before. 

It did not destroy anything, as it was in the air, but the wind was strong enough to blow any food and drink that stood around away. Some even had to grab their children, their light bodies were slowly being lifted off as well.

A good two dozen of these balls were now floating around Lia, acting as air mines for her defence. But that was only her defence. Next, she grabbed into her pouch with her right hand and pulled five small knives out. 

She reached her arm backwards and five small holes opened up in her defensive wall. Before closing right after she had thrown her knives. They speeded down at Sabo and he managed to evade three, before having to deflect one and getting stabbed into the lower calve by the last one. 

“I think I have to come up with something serious”, muttered Sabo while pulling the knife out of his leg. He kneeled down and plunged both his hands into the arena. Then he grunted in strain and broke a large part of the arena out of the ground. It easily was large enough to fit a house inside. 

The massive rock was lifted over his head and flung at Lia. It sailed upwards and crashed into two of her pressure bombs, both exploded violently and pulverised the rock. However, I could see both the upside and what was happening down in the arena. Lia could not.

That was why she did not see Sabo crouching down and then doing a massive jump. He shot off with an audible bang and clasped both his hands spear-like in front of his face. His index fingers posed as the tip of the 'spear'. “[Dragon Spear]!”. Sabo hit the airwall of Lia and pierced through it. The compressed air grated the skin off of his hands, but his flight continued and he reached Lia. She has had only seen him when he impacted with the wall and was not yet fully out of his flight path.

Sabo's hands pierced into the left side of Lia's abdomen and only stopped when they were halfway inside her body. This is a serious wound and I had to stop myself from jumping at Sabo for truly wounding my Lia. 

Lia stared unblinkingly at Sabo and lifted her hand right in front of his face. A white sea stone pebble was in between her thumb and index finger. And the air around her hand was rippling with the contained strength behind her next shot. 

Sabo ripped his hands out of Lia and was just in time to place them in front of his face when she shot her pebble off. This attack was meant to kill. Sabo was only a blurred form when he crashed into the arena. His body doubled the size of his previously made crater.

This must have hurt, but Lia herself wasn't looking any better. She was clutching the hole in her belly and must also simultaneously stop the blood from flowing out of her. It stops her from bleeding out, but a lot of cells are now cut off from the needed blood flow. Not that they were possible to be supplied, to begin with, the hole in her stomach made that rather hard. I am almost sure that she won't die from this, even if left untreated for a moment longer. Our healing factor should be strong enough.

She touched down on the ground and watched the dusty crater warily, another pebble was in her hands, but I don't think she is able to throw it effectively.

She did try when Sabo came shooting out of the hole. Visibly slower than at the start, but still coated in an also way weaker Armament Haki. The pebble was evaded, rather than deflected. Sabo's hands were bleeding rather heavily.

And she did try to evade the attack at her neck but was too wounded to do so. Sabo's hand hit her and she lost her consciousness. The only way for him to win and not kill her.

The next second I threw Jo down into the arena. He shouted out in shock, but landed without problems right next to Lia and started her treatment without pause. He had his supplies with him, knowing that one of us could get wounded. 

I was next to them a second later, having used Soru and some Armament Haki to get me down fast. 

“Sorry, she would not have given up and her wound might have become more serious if the fight had continued. My organisation wants the Devil Fruit, that's why I too couldn't give up.” Apologised Sabo instantly. He was a panting mess, sweat-soaked and his hands bloody. There was no skin on them and one was pierced while the other still had the pebble stuck inside the bone.

I needed a few moments to stop myself from killing him this instant. He hurt my Lia! His death should be painful and in long-suffering. But my crew would not like it if I kill him now, he was a 'friend'. The Revolutionary Army would also become our enemy and this was never meant to be a true fight. Only the stubbornness on both sides allowed it to escalate this strongly. So I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. 

“I know, I would have stopped the fight, had I known about the strength of your so-called [Dragon Spear]. Still, I don't think that you will be able to win this tournament. Your hands are in no condition to fight or even move much. And I'm also not sure if I can hold back enough to not kill you. I seriously don't like it when my Lia is in pain.” I gnashed out, the air around me was vibrating from my, in anger activated, Devil Fruit.

“Jo?”, I asked in concern, ignoring the in apology low bowed Sabo completely. 

“She stopped the blood with her Devil Fruit, I can give her something that makes her blood coagulate faster, but I will have to operate her. We need to bring her to the Shadow for that.” He explained and I scoped Lia carefully up. Sabo, even with his wounded hands, grabbed Jo and we both left the arena with Geppo. 

The island wasn't large and we reached the ship quickly, there I carefully carried Lia inside our medical bay and let Jo do his work. Lia woke up during the operation. Something Jo did not expect. She did not want to be narcotised but agreed when I told her that it will help Jo. 

The operation took him over four hours, but Lia did not die and he assured me that she will get back to full health. But only if she gets enough rest and does not strain herself more than necessary. 

I waited for her to wake up. Watching her sleeping form and stroking her head. Nojiko found me like this and told me that Sabo had officially won the fight, but had not surrendered. He got his hands first treated by a local doctor and later again by Jo.

He also wishes to speak with me. I asked her if she could tell him that I will come once Lia wakes up and tells me that she is better. I was still angry at him and Nojiko surely has heard the unspoken promise of death if Lia does not tell me that she is better.

Stupid prideful Lia, this fight wasn't important. And even more stupid Sabo for hurting her.