“Okay, folks! I think you've all been waiting long enough…” A few minutes later, with everything ready, the gravelly-voiced emcee returned to the center of the ring, hyping up the atmosphere again, “This is the first time since the ‘Deck Boxing’ matches started that we've had contestants from outside pirate crews participate, and the person they're challenging… is our one and only… Viking!”

For a moment, the crowd erupted in a clamor.

Most of the pirates were clearly supporting Viking—in this kind of "restricted" match, his undefeated strength was beyond question.

However, there were also quite a few people who had bet on Snow; for no other reason than his odds were very high.

It wasn't that Brother Garlic and the others had intentionally wanted to raise his odds, it was just that Snow's slightly thin frame didn't look very durable…

Although Snow's physique was pretty good compared to ordinary people, the kind that showed he usually worked out; but… compared to this group of muscular, hulking pirates whose arms were thicker than your legs… he was still a skinny runt.

“Gentlemen, please come to the center.” After attracting the audience's attention, the gravelly-voiced emcee summoned the two boxers, clearly about to announce the start of the match.

According to the rules, he patiently repeated them one more time, then asked, "Understood?"

Snow and Viking both gave him an affirmative answer.

Having received their replies, the gravelly-voiced emcee took a few steps back, "Alright! Then… I declare… the match between 'Snow, the most talented man with the most dazzling moves in the history of Aotian Divine Fist for the past two thousand years,' and our 'forty-six wins, forty-six victories, supremely skilled, and terrifying defending champion'—Viking…"

He combined the introductions and opening remarks into one long sentence…

“Now… begin!” The gravelly-voiced emcee always managed to exit the ring just as he finished speaking, as if he had eyes in the back of his head.

"Heh…" The moment the gravelly-voiced emcee uttered the word "begin," Snow slowly raised his left fist with a smile and extended it forward.

This gesture was a form of "greeting" in the ring.

Of course, it wasn't asking the opponent for mercy… it was just a polite gesture similar to the handshake between captains before a soccer match.

At this time, the opponent should also extend a fist and gently touch it to the other's outstretched fist… and only then enter the "battle state."

Viking naturally knew this common knowledge, and he was a man of great poise, so he responded without thinking.

Who knew…

Whoosh—

Just as Viking slowly extended his right hand, preparing to gently touch the opponent's outstretched fist,

Snow suddenly took a step forward and swung his right arm, throwing a haymaker at the opponent's head.

"Holy sh*t!" Viking was shocked.

Snow's behavior was like… shaking hands with you while taking advantage of your moment of relaxation to slap you across the face with his left hand.

Even the pirates couldn't stand such shameless behavior, and a chorus of "holy sh*t" and "what the f*ck" erupted from the crowd.

But in any case… it wasn't against the rules, so the match continued.

"You little bastard…" At that critical moment, Viking relied on his instincts to duck and retreat to the side, barely managing to take the punch on his left shoulder. At the same time, he was cursing in his heart, "To think you'd try to pull such a trick on me…"

Because that punch had come too suddenly, Viking's defensive movements and power adjustments weren't in place, which caused his left arm to feel slightly numb after taking the blow.

Fortunately, he was experienced and didn't give Snow a chance to press his advantage, immediately raising his left arm and throwing two jabs at the opponent.

These two punches weren't meant to gain any advantage, but rather to "attack as defense," forcing the opponent back.

"Tch… as watertight as I imagined…" On the other side, Snow was thinking, "He used an extremely precise movement to minimize the damage from my sneak attack, and quickly utilized his arm span advantage… limiting my pursuit and gaining valuable adjustment time… Can a 'boxing king' level opponent really be defeated with 'tricks'…"

Indeed, even now, Snow wasn't very confident about it; but… since Brother Jue had dragged him onto this stage, he had to use every trick in the book to try and win this match.

In the next second, Snow raised both fists and held them on either side of his head, lowering his upper body as much as possible and rushing towards Viking's chest extremely quickly.

"What's he trying to do now?" Viking didn't panic, and his stance didn't waver.

Whoosh—thump.

Immediately afterward, Snow's left hook bypassed Viking's defensive hand and struck the latter's torso from the side.

With Viking's strong muscles, a few punches to the torso wouldn't be anything…

After taking the punch, Viking retreated, moving clockwise around his opponent with steady steps, and threw a left straight at Snow.

Bang—

The punch was powerful, but Snow had already returned to his defensive stance, firmly guarding his head with the outside of his fists.

After blocking that blow, Snow repeated his old trick, once again crouching down and charging forward.

Whoosh whoosh—

This time, he launched several quick, short uppercut combos at close range, aiming for Viking's chin.

"I see…" Viking continued to evade and deflect, still not suffering any real damage, "So that's your plan…"

Viking retreated and circled, but Snow followed him like a shadow, always charging into the opponent's chest in a low defensive posture.

"From the very beginning, he gave up on 'trading blows' with me, completely ignoring my movements, and adopting this method of 'continuous close-quarters pressure'…" As Viking thought this, he had already retreated to the corner of the ring and was tackled around the waist by Snow.

Thump thump thump—

While holding his opponent, Snow frantically took advantage of the opportunity… to strike his opponent's right torso.

"In close combat… using these powerless but indefensible haymakers… constantly attacking my liver…" Viking sneered inwardly, "Hmph… and here I was expecting something, but… is this the level of my opponent…"

"Kid…" At this moment, Viking suddenly spoke to Snow, "Do you think… that by entering a 'close-quarters grappling' state, you can drag the match into your third-rate rhythm?"

Snow didn't respond, just silently continued to throw punches.

"Indeed, 'Deck Boxing' doesn't have in-ring referees, and after you stick to me like this… no one will come over to separate us," Viking said, "But you seem to have overlooked one thing…"

At this point, he stretched out his arms and grabbed Snow, turning the tables and holding him in a clinch.

"What?" Instantly, Snow's arms above the elbows and his torso were encircled by the opponent's thick arms and body, unable to move. "This…"

"Hey! Referee!" Seeing that the situation was bad, Feng Bujue immediately looked at the gravelly-voiced emcee and shouted, "What's going on? Did this turn into Greco-Roman wrestling?"

"Bear hugs have always been allowed," the gravelly-voiced emcee said calmly, "As Viking said… we don't have in-ring referees in this boxing match; so, we have to find a way to prevent frequent occurrences of 'immediately rushing forward to hug the opponent, attempting to slowly grind them down with close-quarters attrition tactics'."

"Tch… you should have told us this before the fight started…" Feng Bujue muttered softly, but he didn't make any further complaints, because he knew that it was useless to say anything now.

"Heh…" On the other hand, Snow, who was currently enduring Viking's "bear hug," naturally heard the conversation between Brother Jue and the gravelly-voiced emcee. He immediately wore a wry smile and thought to himself, "I was careless… No wonder no one used 'close combat tactics' in the previous two matches. The reason why the four boxers were 'moving and striking' from beginning to end was… because no one wanted to stick close and engage in this kind of strength-based game…"

As he pondered, his body began to creak, and it seemed that the bones in his arms and the ribs in his torso were reaching their limits.

"Kid… fractures don't count as 'disabilities.' If you think that you can just grit your teeth and break a few bones to make me be ruled as a loss… then you're thinking too much." Viking had a great advantage in size. "Bear hugs" were clearly a very exhausting activity, but he was still able to spare the strength to speak during the process. "I advise you to surrender now, and you can suffer a little less…"

"Hehe…" Snow smiled, "Mr. Champion… you seem to have overlooked one thing too…"

As soon as he finished speaking, a change occurred.

Just as the surrounding audience thought that Viking was about to win… Snow exerted his strength and broke free from the opponent's clinch by a few inches.

"Ugh… you…" Viking was also surprised. The strength of this skinny runt in his arms far exceeded his expectations.

"Just now, I was a little dazed because I didn't know I could use this kind of move… I wasn't prepared enough, so I was a little confused." Snow was also gritting his teeth and saying while forcefully breaking free from the opponent's embrace, "If we're really going to compete in strength… I'm not at too much of a disadvantage…"

He was right. In terms of "physical fitness," players were absolutely not at a disadvantage.

Although Snow, who had been leveling up with Brother Jue all the way, was relatively poor in terms of specialization, the character's "physical fitness" was only related to "level."

And the physical fitness of a level 40 player had already far exceeded the level of ordinary humans… by a lot.

"Restricting gauntlets" only "restricted combat power exceeding a certain value," but they didn't "proportionally weaken the wearer's combat power." For example, if the limit of the gauntlets was "ten or less," then… a person with a combat power of fifteen would become ten when wearing them; and a person with a combat power of ten would also be ten when wearing them.

There was no doubt that Viking's and Snow's original combat power were both above the limit of the gauntlets, so no matter who's original combat power was higher or lower, there was almost no difference in their strength and speed after wearing the gauntlets.

Their difference… was mainly reflected in height, weight, arm span, and muscle strength.

But at this "wrestling" stage, Viking's advantages were useless…

"Damn it…" After resisting for about ten seconds, Viking gave up. He knew that in this "grip" and "struggle" duel, the latter would be less strenuous, and continuing would be detrimental to himself.

So, he suddenly released his strength and retreated two steps to the side, taking the opportunity to attack Snow with two punches.

Snow's reaction wasn't slow either. The moment the opponent's clinch was released, he knew that there would be a follow-up move. He also made evasive movements without stopping… readjusting his ultra-low posture, swaying his body from side to side, and once again displaying a forward-rushing pressure tactic.

"You really think you can win with this kind of boxing?" Viking retreated, defended, counter-attacked with punches, and maintained his distance. "If this were a regular match, your tactics would probably be considered successful… those painless punches you landed on the outside of my torso would be used as the basis for judging the end of the round." He paused, his movements not faltering at all as he spoke, "But in this deck boxing match… do you think… that my stamina will be exhausted first by your nibbling attacks, or will I catch you in a flaw and knock you out first?"

Snow didn't respond to Viking's words. He continued with the original plan and rhythm, continuing the kind of unwatchable, entanglement-style attacks that prevented both sides from displaying any advanced techniques.

"Hey! That guy named Snow! You're too shameless!"

"What 'man with the most dazzling moves'? I could fight better than you!"

"Fight properly, you bastard, this isn't a children's fight!"

"Viking! Take him down! Go!"

Such a match was bound to cause dissatisfaction among the audience, and their reactions said it all.

"He's indeed an admirable opponent…" Honghu, who was standing on the sidelines, also showed a rather solemn expression at this time. "Even though we adopted those tactics, he didn't become impatient in the slightest; even if he's angry inside, his control over his body is still so calm…"

"In simple terms… he hasn't been drawn into our rhythm," Feng Bujue interjected.

"Yes… if it were someone else, they might have given up on 'beautiful boxing' long ago and switched to the same tactics as us, counter-attacking Snow's liver in close combat," Honghu replied.

"That's normal…" Feng Bujue said, "The strong should be like this… If he abandons what he's best at and lowers himself to entangle with the weak… the risk of losing would actually increase." He paused for half a second, "Of course, all of this… is within my calculations." He shifted his gaze to Viking's face, then smiled, "So please fight fairly to the end… and lose the match in a dignified manner…"