User blog:DancePowderer/Cosmic Combatants in the Colosseum

With the tournament just under way, we have now seen some of the fighters. We may not have seen what a lot of them can do yet, but we can apply names to faces for a lot of them. Let's find out a bit more about them. Hello, I'm DancePowderer, and welcome to One Piece Battle Betting Corner. We got a lot of people to look at today, so let's not waste any time. Please welcome today's panel, all of whom are fighters in the Corrida Colosseum this month: Lucy, Rebecca, Cavendish, Bellamy, Xai, and the winner of the Block A battle royale, Jesus "Mr. Store" Burgess! Welcome, all of you.

Rebecca: Great to be here.

Lucy: It's good to be back, not that I ever was, because there's no way I'd have been here before. It's not like I'm some strong main character or something...

Bellamy: I've been bouncing off the walls with excitement, waiting for this show to start. Seriously, your green room is trashed beyond recognition.

Xai: Don't thank me for coming if you want to live!

Cavendish: Gracing you with my beautiful presence is an honor. For you, that is.

Burgess: The Burgess thanks you for having me.

DP: I'd like to start with you, Burgess. Tell me, what was the first round like?

Burgess: Not much of a fight, if you want the truth. It was all Pavlovian muscle memory if anything. I hear a ding, and I just immediately start beating the snot out of everyone I see. Before I knew it, everyone was knocked out and the round  was over. I figured people were either cheering because I won or because I beat some guy nobody liked.

DP: Fascinating. Though I have to ask, why the alias?

Burgess: I didn't want to intimidate anyone by going as myself, so I put on the bag and called myself Mr. Store. It was on the bag so it was the first name I thought of. Though, after I won, I felt that, in order to truly be "The Champion", I myself would have to be declared the winner.

DP: Makes sense. On to our second wild card, Shenzy, I mean Bellamy the Hyena. Glad to see you're not dead. How did you make it back into your boss' good graces, might I ask?

Bellamy: I didn't. Doflamingo chose me so that he could watch me be humiliated after I disgraced his name. He was amazed I survived his appearance in Mock Town, and followed my career closely after that, intrigued in my rise to pirate stardom, mostly due to getting picked up by pirate Hollywood. He thought I could help generate a lot of attention with my infamy if I entered the tournament. I'll win the fruit, and then watch him die in a barrage of springs and fire.

Rebecca: Like hell you are! That fruit and the honor of murdering that blond prick are mine! You better hope you don't make the finals, because I'll be waiting for you there. I'm not losing. What Doflamingo did to me was far worse than what he ever did to you! You will taste the fury of my unbridled hatred, fury, and rage!

Bellamy: Bring it on, sister. But if I win, I get to take you to dinner.

Rebecca: Dream on.

DP: Whoa, guys, save this tension for the arena. Rebecca, you pretty much answered all my questions, so I'll just go right to king prettyboy, Cavendish. You seem oddly confident, and your bragging tells a lot. My question is, why?

Cavendish: Well, my confidence has a lot to do with my nickname, White Stallion. You see, the source of my confidence is comparable to that of a horse's leg. That confidence has transferred to my fighting, allowing me to stay calm yet forceful. That is why I...

DP: Now, Lucy, I have a question for you.

Cavendish: Hey! I wasn't done yet, you bastard!

DP: Why did you claim to be such a powerful pirate? Is Monkey D. Luffy someone you admire and want to emulate.

Lucy: If it's alright with you, can I speak frankly?

DP: This show has no bearing on the story and you all signed confidentiality agreements, so sure.

Lucy (taking off his disguise): The truth is that I really am Monkey D. Luffy. Lucy is just an alias so that I wouldn't give myself away. I just slipped up when I said I was Luffy in the locker room.

Cavendish and Bellamy: BASTARD!

DP: Now, after you declared who you were, were you surprised by some of the actions of the other fighters?

Lucy: Yeah, one guy said he almost had a heart attack or something. What really surprised me was another guy who said I was supposed to be 8 meters tall or something. How does that kind of rumor get started, really? Exaggerations of power I can understand, but height? People have met me, and probably spread the word that I'm around 5' 9", so the giant thing is just weird.

DP: Seems logical. Anything to say about the competition?

Luffy (pointing at Cavendish): I hope to pound that musquequeer!

DP: And lastly, Xai, your wrap-up?

Xai: People go into this tournament expecting one thing, but are almost always surprised. No one was expecting Store over here to clinch the first block that fast. All you can do is keep your wits about you and hope you don't get killed.

DP: Words to live by. Now we come to everyone's favorite portion of the show, the bets. Xai, you went last so let's start with you.

Xai: Champion's appearance was a total curve ball. 10 million belly on him winning this whole thing.

Rebecca: 35 million belly on me winning this whole thing! As long as I don't have to fight Senor Pink, this thing should be easy.

Cavendish: My bounty on me winning this whole thing! And double that if I fight Senor Pink. We will see once and for all who really is the top lady killer.

Lucy: 82 million belly on me winning my brother's fruit!

Bellamy: 100 million on me delivering to Doflamingo what's coming to him.

Burgess: My boss' bounty on Straw Hat winning. What? Mama didn't raise no fool. Lucy is the main character, nuff said. I've been through this kind of thing before, so I know how it turns out.

DP: Big players throwing around some big money. With that, we're just about out of time, but remember, those of you reading at home can also place your bets in the section. For OPBBC, this is DancePowderer, signing off.