The loud bang was followed by loud chatter of surprise at the arena. The audience stood up and protested. No one expected Xu Lan to emerge victorious at the preliminary round! The aristocrats who placed their bets on Dashiell earlier began to curse at the organizing committee.

“… Everybody, please calm down. We… Hello?” In the midst of consoling the audience, the commentator received a phone call.

“Everybody! Anyhow, it’s undeniable that our rising star, Xu Lan won the competition at the gold competition zone! As everything happened too quickly earlier, let’s replay the match on our screen. Please, admire his outstanding skills! Are you ready to cheer for him? Go!” the commentator pointed his hands at the huge screen in an exaggerating motion.

As Xu Lan rolled away from the flimsy baffle, half human, half cow, Dashiell fired his shot. The sturdy floor cracked and sparks flew all over.

‘Don’t trust anyone, not even your eyes and your mind. Sometimes, your eyes and your mind could be deceiving you.’ As Xu Lan recalled Bai Wu’s words, his body became lighter. With a firm stomp on the ground, he leaped skyward and fired two shots.

His light-as-feather body somersaulted in the air. With that, Xu Lan successfully evaded Dashiell’s counterattack and landed behind him. With another two shots, the half human, half cow felt a searing pain in his back. He spun around to face Xu Lan.

Shush! While turning around, the half human, half cow made contact with the flimsy baffle and accidentally triggered the trap set by Xu Lan. The baffles immediately collapsed onto him. Xu Lan took the opportunity and shot him in the head.

Victory! Once again, Xu Lan’s victory was announced on the screen.

The audience was momentarily stunned by the development. Once they realized what happened, there were waves of protest. Xu Lan won with an unprecedented move. Throughout the history of the arena, no one secured victory through careful scheming. The audience was clearly unhappy with Xu Lan’s innovative trickery.

“Cough, cough. As I’ve said before the match started, the contestants may engage any means necessary to shoot their opponent down. The results will be final. Moreover, we all know that the arena is not a place where you can win with muscles alone,” the event chairman took the mic from the commentator and explained.

“…”

“Alright! It’s time to move on to our main event — the battle between the defending champion and the challengers! Same rules apply here, shoot your enemies down with whatever means necessary. The last person standing will receive one million yuan in cash and a pistol with unlimited ammo! Are you ready? Let’s look forward to the exciting match!”

The camera panned out and focused on the middle of the arena. Six contestants were brought into the arena at the same time, and Xu Lan was the shortest and smallest of them all.

“Lucy?” Xu Lan murmured as he looked at the man with a white beard who was not much taller than Xu Lan. Xu Lan immediately made a dash to the nearest baffle.

‘Bam! Bam! Bam!’

“Little mouse, do you think the same trick will work twice?” the defending champion laughed wildly. With the four pistols in his hand, he started firing shots rapidly in all directions.

Darn! No one mentioned that the defending champion was a tentacle monster! Xu Lan got shot in his arm as he did not have time to dodge. The other four contestants were shot by bullets too.

“How long has he been the defending champion?” Xu Lan asked Luffy, who took shelter at the same baffle as he did.

“He has been the defending champion since the eighty-seventh match. It’s been ten over matches now,” Luffy raised his brow and answered frankly. ‘Bam!’ Luffy shot the lion who extended its head right next to Xu Lan.

“Hey, would you like to work together? We can take him out first.”‘Bam!’ Xu Lan offered as he shot another foolish contestant who was trying to make a move.

Meanwhile, the defending champion did not stop attacking. All four guns were firing rapidly.

“… Why not? Let’s make those sons of a bitch lose their money!” After firing a shot at the defending champion, Luffy rolled forward and gestured for Xu Lan to follow behind!

‘Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!’ The sound of flying bullets could be heard everywhere in the arena. They stood opposite each other and Xu Lan crept forward after rolling. All three of them sustained different levels of injuries.

‘Bam!’ Xu Lan pulled the trigger for once last time with his hand that was numb from the recoil. The defending champion and Luffy collapsed at the same time.

‘Congratulation on accomplishing your first mission, new member. The reward is 900 gold coins. As for accomplishing the hidden mission which is to form an alliance with Luffy, you shall be rewarded with 200 gold coins. You have 1000 gold coins as of now. You will be transported home in 5 seconds.’