Marvel: Starting From The Bottom

"I accept!" Zala looked at me with disapproving eyes while Zoro was smirking. 

"Are you sure about that?" The Lord asked. "Our battles are no games. We only host death-matches." 

I nodded. "How many matches do I have to participate in?" That is what I want to know. 

"You can either fight ten matches with strong opponents or you can fight one match against our strongest warrior." 

That's a no brainer. "I will fight the strongest." Risky move? Not really. If there was an omega level mutant in the Savage Lands, I would have known about his existence when I scanned the place. But I got no reading which means that there are none.

"You can't be serious." Zala expressed her displeasure but unfortunately for her, I was quite serious.

"I am serious, princess." 

"Very well, make the preparations." The king said. "You may rest for the day. We will host the match tomorrow." 

I nodded.

"This is not fair!" The princess screamed. 

"What do you mean, Zala?" The king asked with a confused face.

"He has to prove himself but what will he gain in the end? Nothing!" Oho! I like where this is going. "If you are making him fight. We have to reward him with something better if he wins." 

The king contemplated for a while and ended up nodding. "Indeed." He looked at me. "Young man, 'if' you win." He emphasized the word IF. "I will grant you one wish. As long as it doesn't harm my tribe, it will be fulfilled."

"Thank you, my lord." Exactly what I needed.

Zoro tried arguing but was stopped by the Lord.

…

[Later]

"You are an idiot." *Sigh*

"Maybe, but I had no other choice." She frowned at my words.

"No other choice? You didn't even look for any." That's true. "And you accepted the match and not just any match… you are going to fight against our strongest warrior!" 

"I know." We were out, near a lake. "But I am confident in my abilities." 

"That doesn't matter!" She nearly shouted. "You are going to fight Boro! He is a monster. And you are going to fight him in a deathmatch." 

"*Sigh* You saw me fight the Ettutu right?" She nodded. "Then answer me one thing. Who is stronger… The Ettutu or this Boro?" She seemed to think about it for a little while.

"I would say that they are both equal. But the Ettutu has poison at its disposal while Boro has his speed. If they fought, it would end in a stalemate. But in a death battle, it will all come down to luck and strategy."

This made me smile. "Then you don't have to worry about it, princess. Because I am stronger than the Ettutu."

"But-" I shook my head.

"No buts. I will win, don't worry about it."

I know that I will.

…

…

[Next morning]

The colosseum was huge and overpopulated. I didn't know that the Savage Lands had such a high population. 

The king took the seat at the top with the princess sitting next to him. Zoro stood behind her. 

"My tribesmen. Today we are here to witness the battle between the savior of our beloved princess and Boro!" This made them go crazy with cheers. 

He looked at me. "Are you ready?" He asked and I nodded.

"Very well." He turned around to look at the announcer. 

"Participants, please enter the stage!" 

I nodded and took the steps towards the stage. The crowd didn't booed as I would expect. Despite them giving me suspicious looks when I came here, they were now curious instead of suspicious. Which is most probably because of my status as the princess's savior.

But that didn't matter either as all of them shouted at the top of their lungs when a monstrosity of a man entered the battlefield. He was over eight feet tall with a bald head and muscles that seemed as hard as stones. He had a spear in his hand.

"BORO!" "BORO!" "BORO!" "BORO!"

Well, there is my opponent. 

He raised his hand which made the crowd stop cheering. 

"So you are my opponent?" He lowered his head to look at me. 

"Indeed, I am." 

He grinned. "Don't die very soon, little man."

I raised an eyebrow. "Hoo~ We will see who falls first, big guy."

Zala said that he is known for his speed. And looking at his massive body, I can say that his strength must be just as impressive as his speed. 

And speed with strong strikes is a deadly combo.

He was about to reply when the announcer's voice came from the top.

"Warrior's are you ready"

I nodded with Boro doing the same. 

"Then start!"

The moment he told us to start, Boro rushed towards me with his spear… which grazed my gauntlet.

Anti-metal is an extremely dangerous element. A mere scratch from it was enough to melt my metallic gauntlets. 

"You are agile." I smirked at the compliment. "But you won't be able to dodge every attack." 

"We will see." I said and pulled out my claws. His eyes widened at the sight.

"What are you?" He must have never seen a mutant or a human with superpowers as a matter of fact. 

"You will soon find out." 

I dashed towards him with my claws ready to pierce his skin.

My legs helped me to dart towards him and also increased my speed. But of course… it was not going to be this simple. 

He stopped my claws with his anti-metal spear.

And that's another reason for me to obtain the metal. It's extremely dense which makes it a good defense-wise while maintaining its offensive properties. 

I didn't bother wasting time. 

Taking the advantage of the grip of my claws on the spear, I swirl around to deliver a roundhouse kick to his face. 

He might be fast but he is nowhere near as fast as me. The kick grazed his face, making blood drip from it. He stumbled back a little before regaining his posture once again.

"You are not bad."

A feral grin appeared on my face. "I am just getting started."

…

…

[[Hans O'Heina]]

This man is strong. Even excluding those claws, I have never seen someone outspeed Boro. 

Boro is one of the top fighters of our tribe and the fact that this man is going toe to toe with Boro is worrisome. Is everyone from the outside world just as strong as him? I will have to ask him later… if he survives.

*CLANG*

Looks like I will be able to get some answers. 

"You are doing great, Marcellus!" If my daughter's excited face was not enough, the blood-covered Boro was enough to explain the current status of the match.

This man… Marcellus managed to slash Boro's ċhėst. Not just slash it, but ripped a part of Boro's flesh with his claws. 

Boro cried in agony as the man named Marcellus dug his claws onto his abdomen. 

"Enough!" My shout echoed through the stadium, stopping the man from killing Boro. Boro might have lost the fight, but if I let him die… it will be a major loss for the tribe. 

Boro laid on the ground, huffing. While the man was frowning, most probably because of me stopping the fight. 

"Your Highness." He called. "You said that this was a deathmatch, then why stop the match before any one of us had died?" 

"Young man. You are an outsider, other than the rules that everyone must follow like... never lying or betraying… other rules don't apply to you. This is no different."

He frowned once again but ended up nodding. At least he knows when to stop arguing with a king.

…

…

[[Marcellus]]

I already knew that he would pull something like this. No king would let their best soldier die that easily and Boro is his strongest man. 

But.

"Since you stopped the match, my lord." He looked at me. "That means that I won. I didn't give up but you interfered on the match… meaning that Boro lost even without him surrendering."

The king clenched his fists. 

"And since I won. I can ask for a reward… as you promised." A promise is a promise. And if he tries to break it, I will have no choice but to fight them all… which I wanted to avoid.

He stared at me for a while. "What do you want? Money, power, or…" He looked at his daughter. "The princess."

This got everyone to gasp. I had every right to ask for her hand in marriage. But I knew that this would cause chaos and I definitely didn't come here for a wife.

I shook my head. "The princess is one of the most beautiful women that I have ever seen." I started. "But I cannot ask her to marry me." 

Zala frowned. "Don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with the princess. The only reason that I cannot ask for her hand is that… I hail from another land. A land far beyond the seas which does not practice the rules and traditions of this land. If I marry the princess, she will not be happy… and I do not want that." I looked at the king. "So, my lord. I cannot ask for her hand… I do not have the right."

I do, but I want the anti-metal damn it! Not some blonde princess. 

The king looked pleased. Wait?! Did he think that my goal was the princess? 

"You are an honorable man." Yep, that says it. He did think that I was aiming for the princess. "Ask… What do you want? As long as it can be found in our land, I will give it to you." 

Zala rose from her seat. "I, Zala O'Heina… The Princess of the Savage Lands, promise you that we will keep the end of our bargain." She… sounded a little angry. "Ask, outsider. What do you want?"

Ye… She was angry.

"I do not want your wealth, my lord, and princess." This got them to raise their eyebrows. "I simply want the ore that you use to create weapons."

This confused them all. 

Now, anti-metal was not found everywhere… even within the savage lands. It wasn't like normal rocks that you would find laying around. 

But despite this, it was bȧrėly as rare as iron. 

"Are you sure that's all you want?" Well, I need to confirm one thing. 

"Indeed my lord. But forgive me for not explaining my request properly." He nodded. "I do not want to take some of the metal with me."

Again, confused faces all around. 

"I want to trade with you. I will provide you with shinier metals, clothing that I am wearing, and many more. In return I want you to trade me the ore." 

This caused a commotion within the audience. They loved shiny metals, which can be easily proved by the jewels that they wore… and the clothing that I am wearing was exotic for them. They do not wear clothes that cover their entire body, so they are interested in my clothing.

"Are you sure that the ore is all that you want?" I nodded.

"Yes, my lord." Unlike the Wakandan people who know the value of vibranium, these people do not know the value of anti-metal. Which makes it far easier to open a trade route with them.

"Very well then. I accept." The colosseum was filled with applause. "My fellow tribesmen! Since we have got a new business partner, we will be hosting a feast tonight!"

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

The applauding was ear-deafening. But man… another party?