Martial Arts Worlds

A mighty ship vessel bearing the flag of the Animal Kingdom smashed through the waves of the stormy World Seas.

"How far are we from Black Rock?"

A large-bellied man asked the ship's captain.

"Whew…"

With a cigar in his mouth, the ship's captain looked at the horrible weather and cocked his head slightly.

"At dusk, maybe. It's bad weather."

With a nod, the large-bellied man put the raincoat's hood over the horns on his head and went back inside.

He then shook the rain droplets off his raincoat, slid his hands inside the pockets, and went to check on the seven representatives.

He was responsible for taking them to Black Rock by the orders of Beast King Vladimir, and failing him was the last thing he wanted.

They were going to head to Black Rock before the start of the tournament, where they would live for the next month while waiting for humanity to choose their representatives.

Originally, they scheduled the tournament at the end of the seventh month, and they were about a month away from that date.

When he arrived at the common room of the ship, he saw the representatives doing their own things.

They weren't talking with each other to increase camaraderie. No, that's not how they did things.

While they were going to fight humans, they were also fighting each other, as they were all part of the same generation.

There was only one going to be the strongest of their generation, and at the current moment, it was Beast Prince Arazimir, but none of them were discouraged by that.

It just made them try harder to catch him.

'When I look at whom Animal Kingdom chose as their representative, I don't think there is any chance that humanity will win.

'I took a glimpse of the Junior Martial Arts Championship, and it was… disappointing, to say the least.'

The fat man thought to himself.

"Hey, you!"

At that moment, the fat man got called out, and with a high-pitched voice, he said.

"Y-yes?"

A dark-haired young man, whose hair was almost blue-black, walked over to him with speed behind his steps.

"Is there a way to see who humanity chose yet?"

Singlar asked.

"Ah… No. Human Government has not made it to the public just yet, as they will do their selection behind closed doors.

"I think they haven't started their first selection just yet. Today is Sunday, so it will be the last day that they will choose people for the first selection."

The fat man said with a quite shaken expression.

Black Panthers, like Singlar, were extremely rare, and they were almost extinct.

It happened during the great war between Black Panthers and Blood Lions, which split the Animal Kingdom in two.

It was a war that happened during the Age of Fist and Blood, so there weren't many people that even remembered that.

So, when the fat man looked into Singlar's dark eyes, he was trembling inwardly, as he himself was from the Hare clan.

The Black Panthers was a royal race, while the Hare clan was just a small clan that had been working for the Beast King of the Animal Kingdom for who knows how long.

Beast King Vladimir was just one of many from a long lineage of Beast Kings. It was always the strongest Animalkin who was Beast King at times.

About thirty years ago, Beast King Vladimir killed the previous Beast King and officially took the throne for himself.

"Hmm, is that so? Shame."

Singlar went back to sitting by the window, just watching as the rain pattered against the window, and the conversation in the room died with him.

Zacred was by the kitchen, cooking dinner for himself.

Percival, the sneaky fox, was reading a book under the fireplace's heat.

Dawn stayed away from the fireplace. She didn't like the heat. And stayed in the corner of the room, which was coldest and further from the fireplace.

She was just scrolling on her phone, like most teenage girls did, completely uninterested in things happening around her.

"…"

On the roof of the ship, Beast Prince Arazimir sat cross-legged, his hands on his knees, and the rain fell all around him.

He was twitching and turning his body every now and then, trying to dodge all the rain, and surprisingly enough, he had been staying dry.

He had been sitting on the roof for close to an hour, and yet, not a single piece of his clothing had turned wet.

At that moment, one raindrop landed on his shoulder, which he failed to dodge, and immediately, Beast Prince Arazimir's eyes shot open.

When his eyes opened, he unleashed his dangerous aura that stopped the rain around him. They were stuck in air, not falling, as if they were frozen in time.

His eyes turned glassy and red—the red hair of his turned longer—and his teeth looked far too sharp.

His nails grew—they turned red—and with them, he sliced through the raindrops, cutting them in half, and they then continued falling past him.

At that moment, he turned left and saw a person running on the water—the person jumped on the ship to the shock of the crew and smiled cheekily.

"Sorry about that, guys!"

Shafira waved her hand and entered the indoor part of the ship.

"Did she… just run on the water?"

"Fool, don't you know who that was? That's Shafira Baridah, the young lady of the Cheetah clan, and she is the disciple of the Queen of the Cheetahs!"

While the human media had been hyping up Räphael Vitesse-Royale as the fastest fighter in the world, the Animal Kingdom's citizens believed that the fastest came from the Cheetah clan.

"You've been looking at me for a while now. I don't like that."

Beast Prince Arazimir said coldly and turned around to see Alistark leaning against the railing of the ship at the back.

Alistark looked stocky but graceful, with sandy hair with faint tuft-like points at the temples and eyes rimmed in dark lashes like fur markings.

"I am just disappointed we couldn't end our fight in the King of the Beasts tournament properly."

Alistark said coldly.

"…Disappointed that you couldn't lose? Everyone is usually happy that they don't have to fight me, but you want to willingly fight me?"

Beast Prince Arazimir scoffed.

Alistark stayed quiet, staring at Arazimir with a steely gaze, and then headed back inside.

'…Lynxes.'

Beast Prince Arazimir shook his head, sharpened his blood-colored claws, and let out a low growl.

'In sea, in land, and in sky, there is no one in this generation that can hope to match with me.'