The Blind Bandit

Chapter 3

The light slowly dimming to put Xin Fu in the spotlight, a girl with black hair mostly obscured by a green prize belt could be seen.

Raising her championship belt above her head under the loud cheering of the crowd, the girl was revealed to actually be a short child, barely reaching the waists of the female assistants standing next to her.

As the spotlight dies down, the girl offers her championship belt to the assistant on her right, while the other one removes her cape, and they both walk off.

"What, the Blind Bandit is just a little girl?" Ace said, squinting his eyes sceptically.

Looking at the lack of shine in the little girls eyes, Thatch queried, "Is she really blind?"

"I think she is," Haruta answered, also staring at the small child.

"Is she going to be alright?" Thatch said with a hint of worry in his tone.

"Let's just watch and see," Ace said, waiting for the match to begin.

Confidently putting his foot on the floor, cracking it in the process and throwing up some dust, The Boulder said, "The Boulder feels conflicted about fighting a young blind girl."

"Sounds to me like you're scared, Boulder!" The young girl mocked, pointing at The Boulder.

After a pause where The Boulder looks stunned, he said, "The Boulder's over his conflicted feelings."

Narrowing his eyes and making a dramatic, crushing gesture, he continued, "and now he's ready to bury you in a rock-alanche!"

"Whenever you're ready, The Pebble!" The Bandit said, throwing her head back as she laughed.

"She's sure got spunk, if anything," Thatch said, also chuckling a bit.

"It's on!" The Boulder yelled, facing the Bandit and taking a step forward.

His heels hitting the ground, the shock waves reach the Bandit and travel up her body.

Moving forward, she opened her arms as soon as she registers the shock wave indicating the movement of her opponent.

As she moves forward to finish the set up for her attack, The Boulder moves forward, bellowing a slurred battle cry.

The Boulders foot striking the ground again, another shock wave moving out from him.

The Bandit who has begun to swing her right foot in an arc toward the ground in front of her, strikes the ground.

Her strike creating a shock wave in the arena floor that churns up the ground in the direction of the Boulder, in a straight line.

The Boulder whose foot meets the shock wave just as he puts it back on the ground. The shock wave makes him drop down onto the ground in a perfect split.

With a look of excruciating pain on his face, The Boulder painfully cried out.

"Ooooooh, that's got to hurt," Thatch said with a look of excitement, while Ace's sceptical and Haruta's neutral look quickly turned to one of surprise.

The Bandit, making a chopping motion with her right hand, erupts three stalagmites from the ground near The Boulder and eject him from the ring.

Slamming him into the wall beneath the stands and slides, down into the crevice between the arena and the stands, the Bandits face softens into a crafty and satisfied smile as Xin Fu speaks.

"Your winner, and still the champion, the Blind Bandit!" Xin Fu announced as the Bandit, raised her right fist in victory

"How did she do that?" Ace asked, still processing what he just witnessed.

"That's so cool," Thatch said with a twinkle in his eyes as he cheered for the Bandit's victory.

Jumping down from the announcer's tower and landing next to The Blind Bandit on the arena floor, Xin Fu holds a green bag in his left hand.

"To make things a little more interesting, I'm offering up this sack of gold pieces to anyone who can defeat the Blind Bandit!" Xin Fu exclaimed, motioning toward the champion.

"What? No one dares to face her?"

Standing up from his seat, Ace said with a slight smirk on his face, "I will!"