It's not clear who made the rule, but anyone who goes to a lei tai (martial arts stage) to compete seems to need a nickname.

"Bottle Opener" and "Triceratops" are naturally not their real names.

Of course, this is also a good thing, because... if such competitions used real names, the audience might hear introductions like, "Let's welcome, John Smith, and James Brown!" which would be quite boring.

Getting back to the main topic...

Surrounded by the boisterous cheers of the pirates, the two contestants slowly walked toward the center of the "ring."

The gravel-voiced man stood between the two of them with practiced ease, preventing any physical contact before the official start of the match.

The two contestants also used this last bit of preparation time to check their boxing gloves (provided by the organizers of the deck boxing match; to ensure the safety and entertainment value of the competition, contestants had to wear gloves to participate).

When the atmosphere was sufficiently heated, the gravel-voiced man began to recite the rules: "There are five rules: First, no props of any kind are allowed. Second, no special abilities are allowed. Third, no hitting below the belt. Fourth, no malicious crippling of your opponent. Fifth, no killing."

Here, he paused, then added, "Those who violate the first four rules will be immediately judged as losers. As for those who violate the fifth rule... hehe..."

He just smiled and didn't say what the punishment for killing would be.

However, all the crew members knew the consequences...

On the Queen Anne's Revenge, "deliberately killing a crewmate" was a matter of principle. Anyone who committed such an act... even if they fled to the ends of the earth, Blackbeard would find them and administer "exemplary justice."

"Alright, do you two have any questions?" After a few seconds, the gravel-voiced man glanced at the two "fighters" and asked.

"No."

"Let's get started."

The two responded quickly and decisively, like two male beasts in heat, full of fighting spirit and overflowing energy.

"Then... the first match of the day, 'Bottle Opener' versus 'Triceratops'... now... begin!"

The gravel-voiced man's enunciation of those words was also very skilled. He spoke while backing away, and by the time he finished the last two words, he had already left the confines of the "ring."

*Poof—*

Just one second later, the sound of fists colliding rang out.

It should be noted here: the boxing gloves used in this "deck boxing match" were specially made of magical materials; in addition to the protective functions that ordinary boxing gloves should have, their most important function was to "limit the user's upper limit of physical skills."

Because the members of Blackbeard's pirate crew were generally very strong, if they fought bare-handed, even without using "special abilities," it would easily lead to a situation where "three punches and one kick, one person's skin is torn, and another person's bones are broken."

Such a match, if one was not careful... could lead to accidental injury or even accidental death.

Therefore, Garlic Head and the others came up with the idea of "boxing gloves" - people wearing these gloves, their strength, speed, stamina, resistance to blows and other basic attributes related to physical skills... would be suppressed to a certain level; in this way, it could be ensured that the "deck boxing match" would be mainly a contest of skill, rather than a simple contest of combat power.

Of course, the "limiting force" of the gloves themselves also had a limit. Once the wearer's physical ability exceeded the functional limit of the item, there would be no difference between wearing them and not wearing them.

That's why... none of the ship's officers could participate in this competition.

*Puff puff puff—*

While I was explaining the setting, Bottle Opener had already gained the upper hand in the match.

He relied on a series of fast and powerful consecutive strikes to gradually force Triceratops to the edge of the ring... or rather... next to a wooden barrel.

"Hey! Hold on, you bastard!"

"Go! Beat him down!"

"I bet a week's worth of booze on this! Beat him to the ground!"

Those "spectators" standing outside the circle, who had placed bets... were not stingy with their vocal cords; they were all shouting loudly, expressing their positions and motivations in a blatant manner.

Perhaps this was not the best atmosphere for a competition, and it had nothing to do with sportsmanship.

But... for this kind of wild competition, this was the right atmosphere.

"What do you guys think?" At this moment, Feng Bu Jue, who was clinging to a rope net high up, watching the boxing match, said to his two teammates beside him, "Who will win?"

Honghu and Snow were also hanging on the ropes, using their superhuman vision to observe the situation on the ring.

"I don't know much about boxing," Honghu replied in an noncommittal tone after hearing this, "But looking at the scene... isn't that 'Bottle Opener' about to win?"

"Hehe..." At this moment, a look of veteran sophistication appeared on Snow's face, and he chuckled, "Brother Honghu, you've misjudged this time..." He paused for half a second, and said confidently, "In my opinion... although the boxing level of these two is not very good, relatively speaking, 'Triceratops' knows a little bit of basic common sense, so..."

"Oh?" Honghu was now quite experienced. As soon as he heard the meaning in these words, he understood that Snow was preparing to take the opportunity to brag, so he also went along with the flow and continued, "Brother Snow, you seem to know a lot about boxing... why don't you analyze it for us..."

"Yes." Feng Bu Jue also followed up, "I'd like to hear it too."

Even though Triceratops was still being beaten on the ring while the three of them were talking, Snow still spoke eloquently with a confident look on his face: "Actually, for insiders, these are all obvious things..."

"First of all, look at the posture of the body, the stance of the hands, and... the footwork.

"Look carefully... from the beginning of the fight until now, even though he has been forced back by the opponent, Triceratops' overall posture hasn't changed much, and his footwork has maintained a fast and steady rhythm.

"Secondly, look at the defense...

"Professional boxing defense is a very high-level skill; many people think that boxing is a simple sport of two people beating each other, but in reality... its technical content is much higher than many seemingly flashy sports, and 'defense technique' is the most important part of this.

"Those who think this sport is simple, if they face a professional boxer, let alone exchange moves... even if the opponent doesn't punch and lets them hit, they can't win... because in front of professional defensive skills, ordinary people's fists can't even touch the opponent's body.

"Of course... the Triceratops in front of us is not that powerful, he's just entry-level at most, but even so... so far, his defense is still 'impenetrable'."

"Wait a minute." Honghu interrupted at this time, "It's not quite right to say 'impenetrable', is it?" He pointed in the direction of the ring with his finger, "Triceratops has been getting beaten all the time."

"However, there hasn't been a single 'effective punch', has there?" Snow replied, "Professional-level punches are another matter, but at least this 'Bottle Opener's' fist... like now, hitting the arm or the outside of the body, or being blocked by the glove... the damage caused is almost negligible."

"Not only is there no damage, but on the contrary... it also leads to his stamina decreasing faster than the defending party." At this moment, Feng Bu Jue suddenly took over Snow's words and said this.

"Heh..." Snow smiled immediately, "So you understand too... are you pretending again?"

"Yes." Feng Bu Jue admitted without caring, "I just wanted to take the opportunity to show off my knowledge in front of you two when I asked the question. I didn't expect... you're also a knowledgeable person, so I'll let you do the bragging."

"Uh... after hearing these sincere and crude words..." Snow squinted and complained, "Should I admire your frankness, or be amazed at the thickness of your skin?"

While they were chatting, the situation on the ring... suddenly changed.

It was seen that Bottle Opener gradually showed signs of exhaustion in the situation of repeated attacks and repeated failures; his fists no longer had the strength and speed of before, and his breathing became heavier and heavier.

Seeing this, Triceratops knew that the time had come, he seized a gap in the opponent's punch... and hit Bottle Opener's chin with a jab counterattack.

Don't underestimate just one punch, an "effective" punch is more useful than ten "ineffective punches" that are blocked.

Bottle Opener staggered at that time, lost his balance; he took several steps back before regaining his balance... barely avoiding falling to the ground.

Triceratops sneered and chased after him, unleashing a combination of punches.

Bottle Opener had consumed too much stamina in the previous attack, and his reaction couldn't keep up, so he was immediately defeated.

Triceratops, however, used the width of the arena with light footwork, flexibly changing his moves, combining the real with the virtual, and quickly disrupted Bottle Opener's footwork and posture... As a result, it was only natural that loopholes appeared in his defense.

"Brother Honghu, can you see the difference between the two's punches?" At this moment, Snow spoke again.

Honghu also quickly replied, "Ah... in contrast, it's quite obvious. Bottle Opener's punches mainly rely on brute force, using instinctive punching postures to strike... while Triceratops' punches rely on 'explosive power', not just the arms and shoulders... he uses the power from the lower body to the back; after throwing a punch, his body can also quickly regain its balance and prepare for the next action."

"That's right, this is the difference in the 'offensive' aspect." Snow nodded and continued, "To win in this kind of boxing match without 'rounds of rest', mastering the correct punching method is a prerequisite... otherwise, it will be like that Mr. Bottle Opener... even if he seizes the opportunity to attack first, he will exhaust his stamina in a very short period of time and fall into an irreversible defeat."

*Bang—*

Before Snow could finish speaking, Bottle Opener's sturdy body had already fallen to the ground on the ring.

"Knockdown!" The gravel-voiced man shouted loudly at the first moment, and began to count, "One, two, three..."

Just now, while Snow and Honghu were discussing punching methods, Bottle Opener on the ring had eaten five or six more "effective blows" from Triceratops... and these five or six blows were enough to end the contest.

"Four... five... six..." Although the gravel-voiced man could see at a glance that this guy couldn't stand up anymore, in order to create a good show, he was still counting there, and consciously counting slower and slower.

"Get up! Bastard!"

"Damn... my booze money is gone."

"Yeah~ Good job! Nice hit!"

Seeing that the victory or defeat had been decided, the audience's reactions were naturally mixed; there were winners, and there were losers... Fortunately, there was an upper limit to the amount of betting in this gamble (this regulation was instructed by Blackbeard through the mouths of the officers, and it was this move that kept the deck boxing match under control within the scope of "small bet is fun", and there hasn't been any trouble so far), the winners couldn't make a fortune, and the losers wouldn't jump into the sea to commit suicide.

"...Nine...ten!" The gravel-voiced man spent nearly twenty seconds to finally count those ten numbers.

He then jumped into the arena, grabbed Triceratops' right wrist, and suddenly raised it high: "Winner! Triceratops!"

At the moment the result was announced, cheers, boos, and disappointed sighs... intertwined and rang out.

Next, it was time to "settle accounts" for the first round's bettors, and to "place bets" for the second round.

This matter was still handled by Garlic Head and the other two; the time required to settle accounts was not long, because only those who won money needed to settle accounts. And the time for the second round of betting was not very long, because in the first round, there would definitely be people who "lost everything" or "won enough", so they would not participate in the subsequent betting.

In short, after seven or eight minutes, the preparation work for the second round was ready.

The gravel-voiced man once again stood in the center of the ring and said loudly, "Guys! It seems that today's warm-up match ended a little too quickly, didn't it?" He paused, and laughed, "It doesn't matter... the sooner we finish watching the rookies peck each other, the sooner we can see the main show!"

As a host on a pirate ship, he didn't need to pay too much attention to his words and deeds, and didn't have to worry about offending people at all; for example, the sentence "rookies pecking each other" in front of him, if it were placed in a formal competition outside, it would definitely be inappropriate for the host to say this; but on a pirate ship, let alone shouting "rookie", it doesn't matter even if you curse... the foul-mouthed pirates wouldn't hate each other because of a few unpleasant words.

"Now... please..." After a few seconds, the gravel-voiced man's tone rose a few points again, "The current defending boxing champion of the deck boxing match..."

At the same time, Hairy Man was actually holding an inverted iron bucket and using two broken broom handles to beat out a tight drumbeat.

"Forty-five matches... forty-five wins..." The gravel-voiced man didn't report the number of knockouts, because all the victories in the deck boxing match were knockouts, "To this day, he has no knockdown record... an absolute master who easily wins every match with absolute advantage...

"He is a giant from the north...

"He is a sea monster who crawled out of the abyss...

"He is the manufacturer of pain and the trampler of confidence...

"He is... 'The—Vi—King—'"