[Hajime POV]
After signing up for the tournament, I went to where it would be held. I didn't plan on missing this event.
As for my plan? It's simple. Once I win the tournament, I'll challenge the kings to a fight, where the winner gets the throne, and they can add as many fighters to their side as they want (obviously minus myself); while also betting my Nth metal mace and Excalibur Blessing, for if they win, one weapon for each king.
Most people would see such a surefire bet as a trick, and I'm confident that Mason and Mikayla would probably realize it, too. The kings would accept it regardless.
They had the common sense of teenagers and the arrogance of kings. With each of them getting a cool magic weapon, they would be tempted to accept, but being allowed to add guards to their team would make it foolish not to accept. After all, though I look older than others my age due to my supernatural body, I still look younger than they do. I wouldn't even be surprised if they agreed to fight me alone.
As for others accepting the outcome? The kings would agree in public, so going back on the deal would make them untrustworthy in the eyes of their people.
Though I wasn't connected to the throne in any familial sense, that wouldn't be much of a problem. The kingship of the island was connected to magic, and one thing most magic recognizes is fair contracts.
I am offering up something just as valuable as the kingdom, while also giving them a fair shot by letting them recruit others to fight for them, and by proxy, the kingdom. While the kings do have a long-lost brother, who has a claim for the throne, he is currently the king of Mindu and is unaware of his heritage.
Even though he'd have a claim, he's a forgotten prince yet to be sworn in. His claim will become null if the current kings give away the kingdom.
If there is an issue with me not being a royal family member, I'll keep the twins around under a Geass. That said, I doubt it would matter. During the season two finale, Brady was under the control of the evil king, but was still able to touch the rings, showing they aren't all-powerful.
As evil as all this might sound, my plan will only benefit others.
Firstly, the triplet kings are all of questionable intelligence and frequently cause problems for the island. Literally, on day one, Brady and Boomer broke a sacred ruby and nearly destroyed the island.
While they might have saved the island several times, their misadventures often put its residents in danger. They are irresponsible, causing major problems, which they must clean up.
The kings also don't do anything besides sit in their castle, indulging themselves. If they weren't dragged out of their rooms for important ceremonies, they would likely stay indoors all day, ironically, the safest thing they could do for the island.
If I were to be king, not only would I immediately eliminate any potential threats, with three being the most dangerous: Kaita the bat rider, the evil sorcerer Zadoc, and the evil king Kalakai.
Of these three, I can kill the first two using my soul fruit powers, while I can use my Geass on the last one, who is currently sealed as Lanny's fish. I'd also have to use it on Lanny, but that's not an issue. I just need to ensure the two of them stop trying to cause me problems.
-----
[Third Person POV]
As Hajime sat, waiting for the tournament to start, the arena began to fill up. While most of the people watching were human, you could see several members of the other island tribes throughout the crowd.
The most noticeable were the flagi, a tribe of green-skinned people who can turn invisible.
Soon enough, several people, including Hajime, gathered in the center of the arena for the tournament. Before it could begin, the kings stood up from their chairs to deliver a speech.
Boomer stepped forward first, "Dear citizens of Kinkow, welcome to our tournament of warriors! I'm sure you're all curious about why two handsome kings like ourselves would make this tournament."
"That's right, Boom. We're hosting this tournament so we can find the best warrior on Kinkow. Now, as we are very generous kings, we have promised the winner that they will get to request one thing from us," Brady continued. "Now, without any further ado, let the tournament begin!"
Because over one hundred people had signed up for the tournament, quite a few people passed the first round without fighting, but Hajime was not one of them.
His first opponent was a very large and muscular squonk who ended up looking like a really buff preteen.
Hajime relied purely on his physical abilities to avoid anyone thinking he was cheating, even if there were no rules against magic.
When the squonk charged at him, Hajime barely had to react. Sidestepping his opponent, he grabbed them by their arm and shoulder, and flipped them onto their back, easily claiming victory.
While Hajime's next two opponents were easy, just being regular islanders, by his fourth match, almost all the remaining contestants were guards.
As Hajime stepped up to his fourth opponent, the guard he would fight cracked his knuckles and several other bones, which he had done to intimidate others in each of his matches.
When the bell rang, Hajime ran forward, wanting to take the initiative this time.
Once he was within his opponent's guard, he started treating them like a Wing Chun dummy, striking them all over, countering attacks before they started.
The guard went down in less than a minute, while Hajime took deep breaths. Though not truly tired, it was better to look like he was exerting himself for the fight.
As the matches progressed and the winners were determined, one by one, people were eliminated from the tournament.
Hajime had reached the semi-finals with three others. Looking at the first match, he saw Mason Makoola, the head guard, pick up and slam his opponent onto the ground like he was a kid who lost in a game and destroyed their computer in anger.
When Mason was done, he looked at Hajime and his opponent, ready to face whoever came out on top in the next match.
As they stepped onto the field, Hajime quickly moved toward his new opponent.
The guard, who had seen his previous matches, knew not to let him get close.
Doing whatever he could to keep the child in front of him at arm's length, the guard didn't realize that he was slowly moving back to keep his distance.
Soon enough, the two of them were at the arena's edge.
Using a little more of his physical ability, Hajime got in close and swept the guard's leg out, pushing him out of the area and claiming victory.
After a short break so the two finalists would be at full strength, the finals were ready to begin.
"Dear Kinkowians, before us we have our two finalists. On the left, we have our head guard, Mason Makoola!" Brady started.
"And on the right, we have a child who took out several fully grown men, and we are going to talk to those guards later, Suko Hajime!" Boomer finished.
As the two opponents faced each other, there was a very noticeable height difference, with Mason being around two feet taller.
"You know, if you surrender now, I won't have to fight you. I've been told I'm quite intimidating." Mason said, trying to avoid beating up a child.
"I'm not going to give up a guaranteed victory."
The match began immediately.
Mason rushed at his younger opponent, but Hajime avoided everything Mason tried to do.
Switching to offense, he ran at Mason and punched him in the chest, sending him back a few meters, stunning everyone watching.
As Mason tried closing the gap again, Hajime managed to run circles around him, somehow ending up standing on Mason's shoulders while he was trying to wrap his head around what was happening.
"Don't feel too bad about losing to me. I'm much stronger than I look."
Striking at a pressure point on Mason's neck, Hajime jumped off his shoulders as the over six-foot man faceplanted on the arena floor.
"It seems like we have a winner! Everyone, give a round of applause for all today's fighters."
As the crowd burst into applause, Hajime stood there calmly waiting.
"So, Suko, what do you want as your reward for winning the tournament?"
"I wish to make a bet with you, two kings.
I have two magic weapons that grant the wielders the powers of gods, and you two have your kingdom. You can get whoever you want to join you, but by tomorrow, we will fight, and the winner gets everything."
As he finished speaking, the entire arena went silent.
Brady soon spoke up. "You don't think we'd accept losing our kingdom, do you?"
"No, that's why I said you can get anyone else, except me, of course, to join you in the fight. If you beat me, you'll get these two weapons." Hajime said, bringing the mace and Excalibur out of his inventory and showing off the two magic weapons.
"And if we still don't accept?" Boomer said.
"Then I can only say, Ba-gawk!" Hajime taunted, mimicking a chicken. If there was one thing the twin kings couldn't ignore, it was being called a chicken. "As I said, your majesties, you can bring as many guards with you to fight me, and if you win, you get my magic weapons. If I beat an army of guards, then I get the kingdom. It's fair, no? I can throw in a spaceship if the magic weapons aren't enough."
"We accept!"
"Boomer, cool it," Brady chastised. "We accept your terms, but you'd better have that spaceship when we win."
"I will see you tomorrow, your majesties."
As Hajime left to head toward the tarantula tribe, Mikayla and Mason, who had just woken up, approached the twins, shocked by their bet.
"My kings, are you aware of what you just did?" Mikayla asked them.
"Mikayla, it's cool. Do you think we'd lose to a kid when I'm packing these puppies? Boom, boom, pow!" Brady said, flexing his non-existent muscles.
"Ignoring that, he said we can bring as many guards as we want, with you and Mason there, we can't lose."
"In case you forgot, he just defeated my father. Not just beat him, but toyed with him."
"My kings, are you sure it was a good idea to bet your kingdom? They're just magic weapons, it's not like the kingdom doesn't already have some."
"Yeah, but you never let us use them," Boomer complained before Brady spoke up.
"Besides Mason, it's not just about the weapons."
"Is it because he called you chicken?" Mikayla asked. "Are you so prideful that you'd risk losing your kingdom to a simple insult?"
"What, no. He said we could get a spaceship too. If he pulled those weapons out of nowhere, he probably has a real spaceship too."
"Well, I hope you know what you're doing, otherwise you might lose the kingdom," Mikayla said as she walked off.
"She's right, my kings, now if you'll excuse me, I need to gather the guards to prepare."
Mason walked off, leaving the twin kings alone to think about what had happened.
"Hey Boomer, you don't think we'll lose the kingdom, do you?"
"Well, we will with that attitude. Now come on, if we're going to fight, I need to get my fighting pants ready."
As the two kings went home to their castle, an angry troll-shaped person holding a fish bowl came out of the shadows.
"If the kings lose, the kingdom will go to some random person. I won't have them take my kingdom from me," Lanny said.
"Yeah, but remember; if he wins, you won't have to deal with those idiots anymore," Yamakoshi said.
"And we have to deal with a king who might actually learn what we're trying to do."
"Then don't fail like you've been doing," Yamakoshi said as they went to an unknown location to plan.
__________
Author's Note:
Thanks for reading; I'll see you next time!