Chapter 158 A Couple of Underdogs*

Needless to say, Isaac and Tank's fight had ended quickly. It was clear that Isaac was at least an adequate fighter, but only against opponents of a similar size. Tank's enormous bulk was not to be laughed at, and Isaac certainly wasn't laughing when Tank managed to pick him up and drop him down outside the ring. Everybody else was though, and Isaac descended down to the cabin to sleep off his humiliation.

Several other crew members had their fights, most were only a few minutes long, but occasionally there was a match-up of a couple of good fighters who were pretty evenly matched. Midas and a man named Kent were one of these. The two were of roughly the same size and weight, and their abilities pretty on par with each other. Jorl admitted that they'd been on the ship for almost the same amount of time, and had almost always competed with each other.

In truth however, the two fights that most of the crew were waiting for were from Aegin and Rassa. These were two individuals the crew had yet to see the skills of. None of them knew much about the two, only that they'd come from Eldovia, and had always kept mostly to themselves.

Aegin was called up first. He only gave Rassa a short questioning look. To which Rassa shrugged, and Aegin grinned.

It was Rassa's approval to use as much force as Aegin wanted. Out on the open Ocean, there was little to worry about regarding their skills being talked about, and considering they still had two weeks before they reached civilisation, it should be enough time to earn the respect of the crew.

Aegin was paired with Loft. Loft was an average looking guy, but Rassa knew he must have had some form of fighting ability. Jeremiah and Midas wouldn't put any of the crew on watch without it. The only one on watch duties without fight training was Ebony, and she was up in the crow's nest so was considered pretty out of the line of fire so to speak.

Prior to the two-year gap when they didn't meet, Rassa had understood that Aegin was trained, but was not overly motivated to do much. Afterwards, when they'd met up again, Rassa had come to understand that Aegin's time training with Phillip had led to the ex-Ridgeman being far more confident in his abilities, and hence never inclined to turn down the opportunity to flex his skills a little. Except against Rassa, who after an initial sparring session on the road had affectively killed any of Aegin's hopes of winning against him.

With that being the case, Aegin walked into the 4-metre diameter ring with all the confidence and swagger of someone already crowned the winner. He took with him one of the two-metre-long staffs, one of the few who had brought weapons in with him. It was not that Aegin was incompetent in hand-to-hand combat, it was just that - and only Rassa would know this - he wished to show off a little.

The crowd allowed it thinking that Aegin felt a little more secure with a weapon in his hands.

Loft grinned, thinking it was going to be an easy win as he took his stance and waited for the call. Aegin stood on the other side of the ring, leaning lazily against the upright staff as he waited.

"Ready...fight!"

Loft advanced steadily, and Aegin shifted slightly. Loft had his fists raised up, just below his face. As he got within about a metre of Aegin, Aegin kicked up the bottom of the staff towards the oncoming Loft. Loft caught the movement in surprise, he'd expected the staff to be wielded from around Aegin's waist like most others did, not from below. He moved his hands, blocking the staff's advance and knocking it back to the ground. Aegin grinned shifting his weight onto the staff as he took two steps around the edge of the ring and lifted off the ground to kick towards Loft from the side. Loft's eyes widened at the sudden realisation that he was facing an opponent that was a lot more proficient than he'd initially ascertained.

He braced himself as he twisted towards the oncoming kick, and caught Aegin by the ankle. Aegin seemed to flip mid-air, twisting so that his other leg caught Loft around the waist, then he released the staff, letting his hands fall the ground for leverage. Using that, he lifted the unprepared Loft off the ground and flipped him over. Loft landed hard on the deck, half in the circle and half out, the wind knocked out of him.

"Aegin's win!" called Ebony in the shocked silence of the crowd.

Aegin released Loft and flipped up to stand, offering a hand to the winded sailor.

Loft coughed, then accepted the aid up, "Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

Aegin shrugged, "Here and there".

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Loft looked slightly unsatisfied with the answer, but accepted it. It wasn't his place to ask. By this stage the crowd was cheering for the unexpectedly good fight.

"Alright, alright!" Jeremiah called, "Break it up, time for lunch!"

The crew happily took a break, Ebony scaling up the crow's nest to resume her watch for a while.

It was a clear day, and with nearly everybody above deck Jeremiah had let her off for the morning. Tomorrow, after half of the crew had been eliminated, someone would be put up on watch for them all.

Jorl approached Aegin over lunch, grinning and slapping the young man on the back, "Quite the skills you've got".

Aegin grinned at the praise. Rassa remained silent.

Jorl continued on as he sat down, "You get it from this one?"

Jorl pointed at Rassa, and Aegin coughed, his bubble of arrogance bursting, and Rassa chuckled, "Something like that".

"Always a mystery you two," Jorl grinned, "You're going to open up one way or another".

Rassa shrugged, "Maybe one day".

"Well, at least this competition will be interesting. Couple of underdogs you two are".

Rassa didn't argue.