WAR
The Journey of Martial

Dark

I was on my way back to my room and ready to finally get some proper rest when I heard voices calling out behind me.

“Martial!”

I spun around to see Ethan, Simon and Daniel jogging over. All three of them looked way too energetic for a day off and I was way too tired for that kind of vibe right then.

“Where are you going?” Ethan asked with a raised eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you’re about to waste your day off in your room.”

“I’m not wasting it,” I chuckled. “I just want to relax.”

Simon laughed and I knew they were up to no good already. These three were always cooking something up.

“Relax? You’ve been relaxing all morning, mate,” Simon said. “Come on! We’re heading out.”

“Yeah,” Daniel added. “Beach, jet skis, food, sun. A proper day out. You need it.”

I shook my head. There was no way I was letting them drag me into this. I had been outside enough for one week.

“I’m good, honestly. I’ll catch you guys later,” I said.

But none of them were having it. The three of them looked at each other like they’d already decided I was coming with them, whether I wanted to or not.

“Bro,” Ethan said as he stepped closer. “You just had the biggest fight of your life. We won. You’re Fighter of the Night and you want to sit in your room? This is like the biggest moment of your life.”

Simon clapped me on the shoulder.

“He’s right,” Simon said. “That’s illegal, I’m pretty sure.”

“Well, the biggest moment of your life so far,” Daniel grinned. “At least come out for a bit. If it’s dead, we’ll head back.”

“But it won’t be,” Simon said under his breath.

See, that right there is bad news. I knew they just wanted to let loose, but we’re not exactly known for being the quietest bunch when we’re together. I hesitated for a sec. Part of me wanted to lie down and switch off. Truth be told, I just wanted to avoid thinking about everything that had happened between Jessica and me. But another part of me knew they were right. I needed to get out of my head for a while.

I sighed because I knew there was no getting them off my back.

“…Alright. Fine,” I caved.

“Let’s go!!!” Ethan shouted.

Simon threw his hands up like we had just won another fight.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” he shouted.

“Knew you’d come around,” Daniel laughed and threw his arm over my shoulder.

Before I could change my mind, they were already pulling me to the exit. We piled into our Team New Zealand autonomous sprinter van, courtesy of WAR, and headed out toward the beach. The facility gates slid open as the city stretched out ahead of us in the shape of glass towers and screens that were brighter than the afternoon sun. People walked in and out of stores like they were late for something but the traffic moved smoothly through the centre of Fight Island.

Before we got anywhere near the beach, Ethan insisted on making a stop first.

“Quick detour,” he said as the van glided through the city. “Trust me.”

About thirty-five minutes later, we pulled up outside one of Fight Island’s massive shopping complexes. The structure was so huge that it blocked out the warmth of the sun above us and left us with nothing but the cool wind from the coast. Layers of glass and steel curved upward while digital displays moved across the exterior walls. One screen showed a slow-motion knockout from the previous night’s fights while another flashed luxury watch adverts beside promotions for upcoming WAR match cards. Massive holographic banners rotated between fighter rankings and betting odds. There were crazy sponsorship campaigns from brands I had never even heard of before coming to Fight Island.

Just like everywhere else on the island, people moved in and out constantly. They were dressed sharp like everyone had somewhere important to be.

“Bro…” Daniel muttered as we stepped out. “This place is ridiculous.”

Inside, the place looked even crazier. Wide walkways stretched in every direction. High-end stores lined both sides with glowing displays and polished floors that reflected everything around us. Screens changed as people walked past them with more ads. The entire place felt designed to keep people moving and spending.

As soon as we walked in, people started noticing me.

“Yo… that’s him.”

“Martial Wilson, right?”

“Team New Zealand! Fighter of the Night!”

Few people pointed while others came over for quick handshakes. One man asked for a photo with his daughter before I had even fully taken in where we were.

Ethan leaned toward me with a grin.

“Told you. Superstar,” he whispered.

I shook my head, but I still smiled a little. I still wasn’t used to all of this fuss over me. Then, we made the mistake of making our way into one of the clothing stores and things got out of hand almost immediately. But it wasn’t the fans this time.

“Yeah, nah, we’re not leaving here dressed like civilians,” Simon said as he started pulling jackets off racks almost as soon as we walked in.

Daniel held up a shirt.

“This is mine, bro. Don’t copy me,” Daniel said to me.

“I didn’t even say anything!” I replied with a laugh.

“That’s because you already know it’s fire,” he shot back.

Within minutes, we were all trying on outfits. We had clean jackets and fitted shirts, with fresh trainers to match. Everything felt expensive and looked sharp. It felt strange seeing all of us dressed like that. I mean, we had gotten kitted out for press conferences and even one or two nights out, but buying designer clothes like this on a random weekday was definitely something to get used to. Like we had stepped into a completely different life.

Then we moved on to the jewellery stores. There was everything in there. It looked like the kinds of drip you see in music videos. I’m talking chains, watches, rings and just about everything else. We looked around for a minute before an attendant came out to greet us.

“Can I help you gents try anything on?” she asked.

I could see that she was starstruck, too, but she kept it professional. I kind of like all of this. Ethan started pointing to a couple of things behind the glass first.

I walked around for a bit to look at all of the displays, but Ethan was already standing in front of a mirror and adjusting a chain around his neck.

“I’m not gonna lie…” he said. “I feel like a rockstar right now.”

“You look like one, too,” Simon laughed. “Don’t let it get to your head.”

Daniel looked over at me.

“Nah, seriously… look at us,” he said. “A year ago, we were just grinding at the Fight Academy. Now we’re out here like this?”

I looked at my reflection in the mirror.

A smart fit with no bruises showing and no sign of the fight from the night before. Ethan walked over and put the chain around my neck while I was looking in the mirror.

“There you go, starboy,” he said and walked off to find something else to wear.

“Yeah,” I said quietly. “It’s mad.”

None of it fully felt real yet. Still, I couldn’t lie. I liked it. We paid without thinking too much about it. WAR covered most of the cost anyway and whatever was left didn’t seem important in that moment.

After shopping, we headed to one of the restaurants overlooking the main floor of the mall. The place was packed, but we got seated almost instantly. I wasn’t all that hungry, but it was nice to be fast-tracked like that.

“Of course,” Ethan said under his breath. “Perks.”

The restaurant was high-end with soft lighting and a full view of the mall below us. From where we sat, we could see people moving between stores while those giant screens carried on flashing overhead.

We ordered food, drinks, and pretty much everything else. While we waited, Ethan leaned back in his chair and looked out over the balcony.

“You know what’s crazy?” he said. “This is just one of them.”

“One of what?” I asked.

“The malls,” Simon replied. “There’s seven of these on Fight Island. Seven.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Daniel said as he shook his head

“Seven,” Ethan repeated. “And this one alone is bigger than anything back home.”

I looked out over the crowd again. Fighters, celebrities, and fans all mixed together like it was completely normal. The insane thing was that out here, people were more enthralled with us than with actual celebrities. Actors! Singers! Madness, I tell you.

“Feels like we’re in a different world,” I said.

“Nah, bro,” Daniel smirked and tapped the table lightly. “We’re just finally in the right one.”

The food arrived soon after and for a while, everything felt easy. Of all the restaurants we had been in, this was one of the best. It had a Michelin Star and everything. Platters of oysters rested on crushed ice beside grilled crayfish, king crab legs, seared scallops, bluefin tuna tartare and lobster pasta finished with caviar. Everything came out perfectly plated, with waiters constantly replacing drinks and bringing more dishes to the table before we had even finished the last ones.

We ate, laughed, and talked about the fight. We talked about the attention and what might happen next. But even then, Jessica stayed in the back of my mind. I still missed her and I kept thinking about how much she would have loved this place if she were here with me. I pushed the thought away for a while. Just for the moment, I didn’t want to think about everything that had happened between us.

“Alright,” Simon said as he stood up and stretched. “Beach?”

“Beach,” Ethan confirmed.

Daniel looked at me.

“You still with us?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “Let’s go.”

The energy inside the van stayed high during the drive to the beach. The boys kept talking and laughing while going over everything from the fight to the mall, but I had gone quiet. I pulled out my phone and stared at a photo of Jessica and me. She was smiling and leaning into me. I looked different in that picture. Between that photo and what I looked like in the mirror at the jeweller’s, it was like something had gone out. I wasn’t as light and calm as I looked in this photo with Jessica. It was like everything made sense back then.

My thumb sat over the screen for a while but it felt like a pain just to scroll away. I had thought WAR would make me the happiest man in the world, but all I really wanted was the woman I loved most. I still didn’t know how I felt about WAR. One thing I knew for certain was that I didn’t want to ruin what Jessica and I had, especially not after everything we had gone through and how far we’d come. I leaned back into my seat and exhaled slowly while trying to hold onto that feeling.

“NO WAY!” Simon’s voice exploded through the van.

I looked up instantly as he pressed his face against the window.

“No, no, no… that’s him,” he said as he shook his head. “That’s him!”

“What?” Ethan asked as he leaned over.

Simon turned to us with dinner plates for eyes.

“Is that Team Brazil’s captain? Thiago "Pitbull" Souza?” he asked before immediately looking back out of the window. “STOP. STOP THE VAN!”

Before anyone could react, he slammed the emergency stop button. The van slowed down and pulled over. Simon jumped out immediately and we followed behind him. Up ahead, just outside a high-end flower boutique, a group of men stood together. Right in the middle of them was Souza. He looked completely calm while everyone else around him moved and talked. We were spitting distance from the beach now and the sea air slapped us all in the face as we walked.

Simon started speed walking toward the group.

“Bro, slow down,” Ethan muttered, although he already looked amused.

We closed the gap quickly, but the second Simon stepped too close to them, the atmosphere changed. Souza’s entourage turned sharply toward us. One of them, who was a massive guy with arms the size of logs, stepped up and grabbed Simon by the neck before he could even say anything.

“Oi—!” Simon choked out.

“Hey!” I snapped as I stepped in.

All of us moved at once. Hands pushed against shoulders while bodies shifted around each other. It was close to turning into a real fight.

“Relax!” Daniel shouted.

“We’re not here for that!” Ethan added.

For a moment, it looked like things were about to escalate further.

“Pare com isso,” Souza’s voice cut through the noise immediately.

Everyone stopped moving. The big guy, who turned out to be Souza’s cousin, still had a hand on Simon but loosened his grip slightly.

“What is he doing?” the cousin asked in English with a sharp tone.

Simon quickly raised both hands.

“We’re just fans!” he said. “That’s it. We’re just fans!”

Souza spoke calmly in Portuguese. His cousin listened, then nodded.

“He says it’s okay,” he translated. “No problem. Don’t worry.”

The tension eased almost instantly. The cousin let Simon go fully and stepped back.

“Many WAR fans try to get close,” he added. “We have to be careful. We can’t risk injury.”

We all nodded. There was a short silence while everything settled down again. Then the cousin gestured toward the group beside him.

“This is family,” he said. “I’m his cousin.”

He pointed to the others one by one.

“His two brothers. My brother. His brother-in-law. And these 3 are his childhood friends and training partners.”

I looked at them properly then. They didn’t feel like security guards. They looked close with each other, like they had all grown up together and stayed together.

One of them said something in Portuguese while glancing toward me. Souza followed his gaze before the cousin looked back at us.

“They saw your fight,” he said as he nodded toward me. “They were impressed. Great win.”

I paused for a second.

“Appreciate it,” I replied.

I kept my voice cool and calm, but inside I was honestly starstruck. I tried not to look like the lady at the jewellers, but I mean, this was Super Featherweight Thiago "Pitbull" Souza. Team Brazil's captain. A man from Duque de Caxias, Brazil, who had come from nothing and built everything for himself. Like many Brazilian fighters, he carried more than just his own success. He carried family, community and the people back home who believed in him.

He was also the captain of Team Brazil, who were WAR 31 champions. Standing in front of him felt different because this was the level every fighter wanted to reach and whether I admitted it or not, I felt that the moment I saw him.

Simon, who was now fully recovered, laughed awkwardly.

“Can we get a picture?” he asked as he put his hands up in the shape of a camera. “Uhm… photgraphia?”

Souza gave a small nod.

We gathered together and took a few photos before we thanked them. We kept things respectful. A few moments later, it was over and they moved on. We stood there for a second watching them leave before Ethan finally turned toward Simon.

“What was that?” he snapped.

“Bro, you nearly got yourself choked out!” Daniel added.

“I had to!” Simon said as he threw his hands into the air. “That’s Souza!”

“You didn’t have to sprint at him like that,” Ethan replied.

“That was not a sprint,” Simon argued and rolled his eyes.

“That was a full attack,” Daniel laughed.

I shook my head while laughing with them.

“Next time,” I said, “maybe just… walk up normally.”

“Yeah, yeah… noted,” Simon grinned.

We headed back to the van while still laughing about it, but the moment stayed in my mind the entire drive. As much as we joked around, that was the level we were trying to reach, but we still weren’t there yet.

As the van slowed down near the beach, the ocean came into view first. It was just endless blue water that stretched toward the horizon while sunlight reflected off the surface. The closer we got, the louder everything became. Music blasted from different directions while people laughed and jet skis growled across the waves.

When we finally pulled up, the doors slid open and the heat hit us immediately. It was followed quickly by that cool ocean breeze, but it was the perfect temperature combo. The noise hit our ears next and then the attention followed. The second my feet touched the sand, people started noticing me.

Daniel chuckled to himself.

“Get ready, superstar,” he said.

More heads turned as the reactions spread through the beach crowd. I felt it before I fully processed it. People weren’t just casually looking at me anymore. They all really recognised me. Even a couple of girls walked past while trying not to stare too obviously. One of them looked me up and down. She smiled and then whispered something to her friend that made both of them laugh quietly.

Behind me, Ethan nudged my shoulder.

“Look at you, bro,” he said with a grin. “Already our group celebrity.”

I scoffed lightly, but I couldn’t really deny it. The whole thing felt different now. We didn’t waste much time standing around, though. The last thing any of us wanted was to attract a swarm of people. We were there to have fun. So, within minutes, we had jet skis out on the water.

“Last one back’s paying for food!” Simon shouted over the engines and waves.

“Say less!” Daniel fired back.

Then we took off across the water. The jet skis tore across the surface while waves sprayed around us and engines screamed beneath us. The wind slammed against my face and cleared my head in a way that nothing else had over the past few days. Every leftover thought and every bit of tension disappeared once we got moving.

I leaned into a turn and cut across Ethan’s path while he shouted something I could not hear over the noise. For the first time in a while, I stopped thinking about everything else and just enjoyed where I was. We must have been out there for an hour and by the time we made it back to shore, we were all laughing and shouting over each other while dragging the jet skis back onto the sand.

“Yeah, I smoked all of you,” Simon said confidently.

“What are you even talking about? You nearly flipped yours!” Daniel shot back.

“That was tactical,” Simon replied with a smile.

“Yeah, tactically stupid,” Ethan laughed.

I didn’t think we’d be hungry after the lunch we’d had, but the ocean was a real workout. The boys loaded up on grilled steak sandwiches, fish tacos, hot chips and fried calamari while I ended up with a grilled snapper burger and a cold lemonade that disappeared in about two minutes from the heat. We sat down while still riding the high from being out on the water.

I barely got halfway through my sandwich before it started again.

“WAR fighter, Wilson!”

I looked up as a guy walking past gave me a thumbs-up.

“Great fight last night!”

“Appreciate it,” I nodded.

A few moments later, another person came over. Then another. People kept stopping by our spot for quick handshakes, short conversations and photos. None of it was overwhelming on its own, but it never really stopped. Every few minutes, someone else recognised me.

“Geez, bud. Is this going to be your energy forever?” Daniel laughed.

“Yeah, just you wait for it to start happening to you,” I chortled.

More girls walked past as well. They slowed down just enough to look over or smile before continuing on. One of them stopped completely beside the table.

“That knockout was insane,” she said while holding eye contact with me a little longer than normal.

“Thank you,” I replied.

She smiled before walking away again. Needless to say, I could feel the difference in how people were reacting to me now. Everything had changed after the fight, and even though part of me enjoyed it, another part of me felt uneasy about how quickly it had all happened.

“Ay, ladies!” Ethan called out to them. “We’re also on the team, you know.”

The girls kept walking and laughed him off. Behind me, Simon laughed even harder.

“Mate… you’re like a chick magnet,” he said. “You are a new man. I’m keeping you around.”

The boys sat there watching the whole thing with smirks on their faces while I kept smiling politely and waving at people. I was really trying not to make a big deal out of any of it.

Even then, something about the attention still didn’t sit completely right with me. Maybe it was because everything had changed so quickly. Maybe it was because I knew that I was enjoying it more than I probably should have.

As we finished our food, I noticed another girl walking toward us before she even spoke. She carried herself differently from everyone else around her. She was calm and confident. She had this direct look in her eyes. Her long hair moved slightly in the breeze as she approached the table and she never once looked unsure about coming over to us.

She stopped directly beside me.

“Hey,” she said in a calm but playful voice as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

Her eyes stayed on me for a moment longer than necessary.

“My friends and I are heading to a yacht party later,” she continued. “You guys doing anything tonight?”

The boys immediately looked at each other. Daniel leaned back slightly in his seat and acted casual, like he always did.

“Not much,” he said. “Why, what’s up?”

She smiled like she already knew what our answer was going to be.

“We’re inviting you,” she said before looking at me again. “Especially you, Wilson.”

“Whoa,” Daniel cut back in. “Why just especially him?”

“I don’t know,” she replied before looking back at me. “He seems like fun.”

There was that look again. Without even realising it, I shifted slightly in my seat.

“The party’s gonna be crazy,” she added. “Trust me.”

Before anyone could answer, her phone buzzed in her hand. She looked down at the screen and smirked slightly. Then, she put the call on speaker.

“Is Martial Wilson with you?” a loud voice asked immediately.

The boys burst out laughing.

“No way,” Ethan said. “He’s like James Bond now, this guy.”

“Man, I saw your fight last night!” the guy on the phone continued. “I bet big on you and you made me a ton of WARCOINS with that knockout. I owe you, bro!”

I smiled despite myself.

“You guys need to come through,” he went on. “We’ll be at the house for a bit first. I’ll have Mary show you the way.”

‘Mary.’ I thought to myself.

She looked at me and gave a small nod before slipping her phone back into her bag.

“So,” she asked, “what do you say?”

The boys were already completely sold on the idea. I could feel it without even looking at them, but none of them answered right away because they were waiting for me to decide first.

I stopped for a moment and Jessica immediately came to mind. Her face and the photo on my phone. The way things had been left between us. It all came rushing back in and a part of me knew I should probably go back and try to fix things. At the same time, everyone kept telling me she needed space. It might not have made sense to anyone else, but right then, this felt like a way to stop thinking about everything for a while.

‘Just one night away from all of it,’ I thought to myself.

“…Yeah,” I said finally. “We’re in.”

The reaction from the boys was anything but subtle.

“Let’s go!” Simon said under his breath.

Mary smiled like she had expected the answer all along. She turned and pointed farther down the beach, where four women were stretched out across tanning beds while laughing and talking together. They looked airbrushed and like they belonged in a magazine shoot.

“Those are my friends,” Mary said. “You guys want to come join us?”

The girls waved toward us after noticing we were looking over. None of us even pretended to think about it.

“Yeah,” we all said at the same time.

Mary laughed softly at that and reached out to take my hand without hesitation. I paused for half a second before letting it happen and then followed her across the beach toward the others.

The closer we got, the more unreal the whole situation started to feel. The girls greeted us easily and pulled us into conversation straight away. They asked about the fight and joked with the boys. They laughed with us like we had known each other for longer than a few minutes. Everything about the interaction felt easy and for a beat, it genuinely felt like I had slipped into a different version of my life.

“Drinks?” Mary asked while staying close beside me.

“Yeah,” we all replied.

The girls headed toward the bar while we stayed behind for a second. Ethan looked at me with this befuddled look on his face while Simon laughed and clapped me on the back.

“Bro…” Ethan said quietly. “This is insane.”

“Mate, you’ve hit the jackpot,” Simon added. “This is what WAR fighters live for.”

I smiled slightly but didn’t say much back. Part of me was enjoying everything happening around us, but another part of me knew this wasn’t the full picture. No matter how easy the moment felt, there was still something underneath it that didn’t sit fully right with me.

A few minutes later, the girls came back carrying drinks and handed them out one by one before sitting down with us. Mary passed me mine and sat close enough beside me that I could feel the warmth from her shoulder. We stayed there for a while, just talking, drinking and laughing.

The sound of the ocean rolled repetitively behind us. Waves crashed against the shore while the sun sat low enough in the sky to swallow everything in warm light. For the first time in days, my head finally felt quiet. Yes, I thought about Jessica, but there was no pressure sitting on me and no constant noise in the back of my mind. I was just there in the moment, enjoying it for what it was. I hadn’t been this present in a hot minute and I was grateful that the boys had brought me out. Every single stop that we’d made had unwound me more and more.

After a while, Mary looked around and looked over at us.

“You guys ready to head to the party?” she asked.

The boys nodded immediately, but one of the girls mentioned that it was a one hour walk from the beach. All three of them instantly pulled faces.

“Yeah, that’s not happening,” Simon said.

I leaned back slightly before looking at Mary.

“Why walk,” I said, “when we’ve got the sprinter van?”

“Say less,” Simon replied as he normally did.

It took us about a minute to get to the roadside and then we were all piling into the van. There were too many people and not enough seats, but nobody cared. The girls climbed in. They were all laughing while squeezing themselves into the remaining space. It was one of the minivans and we clearly hadn’t thought it through all that well because one of the girls, Tiffani, had to hop onto Ethan’s lap. Mary stood at the door and looked in. There weren’t any seats left and I knew almost instantly what she was thinking. She sat directly on my lap and turned slightly so she could still face me while the doors slid shut behind us.

“Where is it?” Simon asked.

“188 Seabrook Heights, West Fight Island,” Mary said.

Simon entered the destination and the van pulled away smoothly. The energy inside stayed loud for the entire drive. Music played from someone’s phone while conversations overlapped each other and people laughed constantly, but even with all the noise around me, I stayed aware of one thing the entire time. Mary’s arm rested lightly against mine while she was on my lap. Whenever the van turned, she shifted naturally against me to steady herself. She acted like the closeness between us was completely normal.

A 50-minute walk wouldn’t translate to a 50-minute drive, though, so I was grateful for that fact.

Outside the windows, Fight Island passed by in flashes of glass buildings and the usual crowds of people moving through the city like this lifestyle was ordinary to them. As we got closer to the destination, the surroundings started changing. We got through rows of smaller houses before the buildings became larger and the money in the area became obvious immediately without anyone needing to say it out loud.

Eventually, we pulled up in front of massive black iron gates that stretched high enough to block everything behind them. Mary leaned forward slightly and pulled out her phone.

“Joe, we’re here,” she said into a voice note with a smile before nudging my arm lightly. “Let us in.”

A few seconds later, the gates slowly opened and the van rolled forward. The movement felt so heavy and deliberate, like we were being allowed into a place we didn’t belong. The moment we entered the property, all of us stared ahead at the estate in front of us.

The place didn’t even look real. A massive house stretched across these perfectly cut lawns while lights reflected off huge white walls and a pool shimmered under the last shreds of the sunlight. Sand-coloured stone walls rose beside huge floor-to-ceiling glass panels while the warm exterior lights reflected up from the ground onto polished white surfaces. Balconies wrapped around the upper levels. Tall cypress trees lined the driveway that led toward a courtyard fountain. I had never seen anything like this outside of TV in my life.

Everything about the estate looked like money. It was like every part of it had been designed to impress people the second they saw it.

‘It’s doing its job,’ I thought to myself. 

“What the…” Simon stopped himself halfway. “Nah, this is bigger than my whole neighbourhood back home. Is this real?”

Ethan leaned forward while staring out of the window.

“Who is joe?” he asked.

Mary shrugged casually like none of it was unusual to her.

“His dad’s rich,” she said. “Sold his casino business and moved here during Phase 2. Joe was born here. His mum works for WAR… something high-level. She’s got an HQ pass.”

She smirked slightly before glancing back toward the girls.

“Some people just have all the luck on this island,” she added. “We met him working at one of his dad’s clubs on the island.”

“Must be nice,” Ethan muttered.

I shook my head quietly and laughed under my breath. At that point, the whole day had stopped feeling real to me. It felt more like I had somehow stepped into somebody else’s life for a few hours. It was legit a Twilight Zone moment.

The van finally pulled up near the front entrance and the second the doors opened. The sound out there hit us immediately and I realised just how padded that van was. How hadn’t we heard it before? Music blasted through the estate while deep bass shook through the ground beneath our feet. I could hear voices and laughter spilling through the air from every direction while people filled the property. Everyone was wearing designer clothes and expensive jewellery with drinks in their hands. They moved around the estate like they completely belonged there and it hit me just how perfect it was that we had gone shopping earlier.

This was not just a normal house party anymore. Before we could properly take any of it in, a voice suddenly sliced through all of the noise around us.

“WILSON!”

A guy came rushing toward us full of energy like he had been waiting for our arrival all day. The girls ran past us to meet him first. They hugged him and laughed exaggeratedly loudly.

“Joesph!” they shouted.

So this was him. The big money. Joe didn’t slow down too much for them, though. He pushed straight through the group and dapped up the boys one by one before stopping in front of me. Without hesitation, he threw an arm around my shoulder like we had known each other for years.

“Martial Wilson!” he shouted over the music with a grin. “Fighter of the Night himself!”

He looked around like he was presenting me to the entire party.

“Man, that fight was crazy. You snapped him. I had a WAR watch party and everyone went crazy after that KO victory. Congrats, bro!”

I laughed and matched his energy.

“Appreciate it,” I said. “This place is insane. Is it all yours?”

“Nah, nah. My parents’ place,” he replied casually.

I looked around again while trying to take everything in properly.

“This place is insane,” I repeated. “What do your parents do?”

Joe shrugged like none of it mattered much to him.

“My dad’s into real estate,” he said. “Used to run casinos before he moved everything over here.”

He scratched the back of his head slightly before continuing.

“My mum… I don’t really know, to be honest. She never talks about it. I just know she’s a lawyer for WAR or something like that. Big clients and contracts… all that stuff. I don’t really get it. I don’t need to!”

He laughed and we all just kind of laughed with him. There was something casual but strangely vague in the way he explained it, like even he didn’t fully understand the world he’d grown up inside.

“You were born here?” I asked.

Joe grinned.

“Yeah,” he said. “Twenty-six years and counting.”

He spread his arms slightly toward the estate around us.

“Grew up on this side. West Fight Island. I know pretty much everyone around here”

Then he grinned again before tightening his arm around my shoulder slightly.

“And tonight?” he said as he leaned in just enough to make the next sentence sound serious. “This is your night.”

A second later, he pulled back and clapped his hands together once.

“Come on,” he said as he led us inside.

The second we walked through the doors, I felt so alive. The lights flashed across all of the crowded open spaces while music shook through the walls. People who were too in the zone to notice any of us brushed past the gang and me. They moved through every part of the house with drinks already in their hands like they were in their natural habitat. A full bar glowed under blue and yellow neon lighting. It was onyx granite with gold speckling all through it and gilded balustrades holding up the glasses rack. There were conversations overlapping in every direction and it was a lot to take in.

The whole place felt more like a private nightclub than someone’s house. Everything about it felt exclusive. It was as if everyone there already belonged to a different level of life, especially Joe. He stopped in the middle of the room and turned toward the crowd.

“Yo, everyone!”

People looked at him instantly. The music kept playing, but attention moved toward us almost immediately.

“This is WAR fighter Martial Wilson,” he shouted while pointing directly at me, “and… Team New Zealand!”

“Hey, at least we got a shout-out,” Simon leaned in and said to Ethan and Daniel.

For a second, the room went still before the reaction hit all at once. I’ve never heard so many cheers break out across a house. It felt like I was back in the arena. People shouted from different directions.

The energy in the room jumped and people started coming over to us with fist bumps and hugs. I didn’t know any of these people who were all over me. Someone slipped a number into my pocket and I’m pretty sure Daniel got one, too, though he wasn’t complaining. I must have had about a hundred quick conversations like we were already part of the scene around them. The music somehow felt louder while the lights mashed together with the faces around us. It made everyone look like a painting.

We moved further into the party, and within minutes, it stopped feeling like we were visitors anymore. Somehow, we had already become part of it.

Right then, my phone buzzed inside my pocket. I pulled it out and saw Oli’s name on the screen. I hadn’t heard from him since the beginning of fight week. For a beat, everything around me faded into the background. The music, the lights and the conversations all disappeared while I stared at his name longer than I probably should have.

My thumb lingered over the answer button and I knew I should pick up. I was going to, but then someone bumped into my shoulder and the full noise of the party crashed back into my head again.

I couldn’t answer here. It was too loud anyway. At least, that’s what I told myself before I pushed all the air out of my lungs and declined the call. I slipped my phone back into my pocket.

“I’ll call him later,” I muttered to myself.

“Yo!”

Joe suddenly reappeared beside us, holding a bottle of Veuve Clicquot up like a trophy. I knew it by its yellow label. They had brought these out for us the night before. I knew I was going to be regretting the headache in the morning, but this was what this lifestyle was all about. We fought hard and we partied hard.

‘Balance,’ I thought to myself.

“You guys want a drink or what?” Joe asked.

Before I could answer, Daniel jumped in.

“Hell yeah!” he shouted.

That was all it took. The cork exploded out of the bottle while champagne sprayed across the room, and within seconds, all of us were drinking like there was no tomorrow.

Glasses turned into shots and shots turned into more shots as the night kept escalating around us. I could have sworn that the music was getting louder with every drink and everything around me was speeding up more and more.

“Come on, Wilson!”

Mary grabbed my arm before I could even think properly.

“Let’s dance,” she shouted.

The next thing I knew, I was standing in the middle of the crowd and surrounded by strobe lights.

‘Not this again,’ I thought to myself for a split second.

I could see Tia’s face yelling at me in the club. I could see Jessica’s disappointed face. But my thoughts felt more like flashbacks than any kind of reality. My head was already swimming and there were too many people around me to make a smooth exit in my state. The music was pounding hard enough to feel through my chest. The boys were right there beside me as they laughed and shouted. They were dancing with the other girls, too. It was just good fun. It was nothing more than that.

For a while, I let myself do the same.

I moved with the crowd while the alcohol smoothed out the sharp edges of everything that was fighting its way back into my head. The energy of the room pulled me along with it, but I kept having these brief flashes when I started thinking about everything outside the party. It just felt off.

I looked around the room while people danced and lost themselves in the night around us. Everyone there looked free. Everyone looked like they were exactly where they wanted to be.

For some reason, I didn’t and I hated that.

Tia and Jessica flashed through my mind again and then Sarah’s voice came back in, too.

“You’re not the same guy.”

I clenched my jaw slightly while the thought stayed with me.

‘Was she right?’

Because standing there surrounded by money, attention, music, liquor and people treating me like I was important should have felt incredible. Instead, I felt strangely disconnected from it all. I was slowly drifting into a version of myself I didn’t recognise anymore.

A girl leaned closer toward me so I could hear her over the music.

“She likes you, Wilson.”

I glanced over toward Mary.

She was laughing while spinning slightly as the music dropped around her. She looked completely comfortable and natural in that environment.

‘Is this where I’m supposed to be? This is why I came to this island, right? To have a better life and level up.’

Everything about the night kept pulling me deeper into it and part of me wasn’t sure if I wanted to resist it anymore.

Then Joe’s voice suddenly cut through the music.

“ALRIGHT!”

People immediately turned toward him.

“Let’s hit the yacht!”

The energy jumped again. People cheered while groups started moving toward the back of the estate together. That’s when I finally saw it properly. The house backed directly onto the water, and at the end of a private pier, a massive superyacht waited with lights that shone a brilliant white against the dark ocean behind it.

“This is insane,” Ethan muttered beside me.

He was right.

We followed the crowd outside into the night air while music poured out onto the grass behind us from the house. The sand was up ahead and it led down to a small dock with what would have passed for a smaller yacht docked by it. They took us over in groups, starting with Joe, our gang and the girls.

I didn’t think anything could top what I had seen already, but this was a completely different level from anything I had experienced before.

The cold night air coming off the water started clearing my head a bit as we got closer to it. It wasn’t enough to sober me up fully, but it was enough for me to properly take in how massive the superyacht actually was up close. It towered over the dock like a floating hotel. It was easily four or five storeys high with multiple decks stacked above each other. The white deck lighting was so glitzy. There was no other way to describe it. Dark-tinted glass wrapped around the upper levels while chrome railings and these impossibly perfectly polished white panels.

When we were helped onto the yacht, there were huge open lounge spaces that stretched across every floor. Crew members moved around the deck in black uniforms while music pulsed faintly from somewhere higher up above us. This was literally like a building on the water. It was gargantuan.

The place looked unreal. Glass walls reflected mood lighting and people were already dancing like the party had been going for hours when we’d, in fact, just got there. Joe moved quickly while giving me a tour of the place. He barely slowed down while he pointed things out.

“Sound system’s custom. Top floor’s where it gets crazy. There are private rooms down there and a cinema in the back…”

Then he grinned the cheekiest grin I’ve ever seen a grown man make.

“We’re heading out in twenty.”

At that point, none of it even surprised me anymore. Heading out to where? Who knew? I was just going with it. After that, I found the boys again. They were still drinking and fully caught up in the vibes around them while the girls stayed close beside them.

It didn’t take long for Mary to appear in front of me again.

“Hey,” she said in a voice that was much softer this time. “You having a good time?”

“Yeah,” I replied with a small smile. “It’s… crazy.”

That part was true.

She stepped closer without hesitating.

“Come with me.”

Her hand found mine again and this time, I didn’t even flinch a little. I let her lead me away from the noise and through one of the hallways before taking me into one of the private rooms. The door closed behind us, and everything felt quieter in an instant. The music had all but faded into the background while the air inside the room became more intense and personal.

She pushed me gently back onto the edge of the bed while keeping her eyes locked on mine.

Then she kissed me.

I didn’t have a second to think but, to be honest, I knew where it was going before we even got down there. It was so fast that it made me think she had already made up her mind before we even walked into the room.

For a moment, I let myself get caught up in it. The alcohol, the adrenaline, the attention and the chaos of the night all mixed together around me while she moved closer.

Then Jessica came into my head instantly.

Her face. Her smile. Her voice.

My Jessica. The way she looked at me when it was just the two of us made everything else fade into the background. For a moment, the alcohol had made it easy to stop thinking clearly. Then reality hit me. This was not who I wanted to be.

“Wait.”

I raised my hands and stopped her gently but firmly before things could go any further.

“You’re beautiful,” I said while catching my breath, “but… I love my girlfriend.”

The change in her expression happened immediately. The softness disappeared from her face and her eyes got so dark before I could say anything else.

SMACK!

She slapped me clean across the face and it echoed through the room as my head snapped to the side and my cheek started burning. She didn’t say a single word after that. She just stood up, grabbed her things and stormed out of the room. I didn’t think it was possible to slam a pocket door, but she managed to do it. It was hard enough to shake the walls slightly.

Silence swallowed the room after she left. I sat there for a few seconds while my heart hammered in my chest and my face stung from the slap. I didn’t want to lead her on, but I felt like I did just by omission. I didn’t tell her that I was taken from the jump and that’s what led us here. Even with all of that, deep down I knew I had done the right thing, even if the moment itself felt terrible. Still, this was the second woman that I had kissed outside of Jessica and I felt dirty. I felt like I was allowing all of this to sweep me up. Then, on the other hand, I felt angry because I was meant to be young and living it up out here.

But she was the one I wanted even before we got to this island. For the first time since we had fought, I remembered that.

When I stepped back outside into the party, I could already tell people had noticed something. I don’t think anyone had heard the slap over the music but they had clearly guessed what had happened from the way Mary left the room. I caught whispers and side glances from people. Some gave me smirks almost immediately because word moved fast in places like this.

Eventually, I found the boys again. They were standing by themselves and the second they saw me, they burst out laughing.

“Where’d our girls go, Wilson?” Ethan asked with a grin.

“Yeah,” Daniel added while shaking his head. “Five minutes, bro. That’s all it took.”

I rubbed the side of my face and let out a breath.

“Yeah… something like that.”

“Yeah, thanks for that, bro,” Daniel said while still grinning. “Guess we’ll just party alone now.”

I forced a half-smile, but before I could say anything else, a guy came sprinting toward us from deeper inside the party. I mean sprinting! His face looked pale and his breathing came out uneven like he had just seen something he could barely process.

“Joe—Joe—” he stammered as he finally reached us.

Joe frowned immediately.

“What is it?”

“They’re here,” the guy said while struggling to catch his breath. “Fighters—at the front gate—”

“What fighters?” Joe snapped.

The guy swallowed hard before answering.

“Team South Africa.”

Silence hit our group immediately and I felt my stomach drop. Joe looked genuinely confused.

“What? I didn’t invite them. What are they doing at the house?”

The guy shook his head again and his voice sounded even more unsettled now.

“They’re not just standing there… they’re…”

He hesitated before forcing the words out.

“They’re smashing a van outside. Windows, tyres and everything. They asked whose it was.”

For a beat, nobody said anything. Then all of us understood at the same time. It was our van.

“…That’s ours,” Simon muttered. “But we parked inside. At least, we hopped off inside.”

“Autonomous vehicles aren’t allowed on the estate,” Joe explained. “They’re automatically sent back out to wait at the guest gate.”

The music from the party suddenly felt far away and muffled. It was like the entire atmosphere behind us had disappeared. Joe’s expression changed completely.

“Let’s go. Now.”

None of us hesitated after that. The boys, Joe, a few members of his security team, and even some curious people from the party moved quickly back down to the mini yacht. Getting to the superyacht had felt so quick but now it felt like an eternity to get back. When we docked, we moved together toward the front of the estate. The further we walked away from the house, the more the music faded behind us and the heavier the atmosphere became.

By the time we reached the gates, I saw it immediately. Our sprinter minivan sat there completely wrecked. The windows had been smashed in and shattered glass covered the ground around it. The tyres were ripped apart. It was destroyed.

I felt a fire brew in me the second I saw it. This wasn’t random damage. This was a message. Then I saw them standing beyond the gates like they owned the entire place.

Super Lightweight "Manslaughter "Zeke Langu, Team South Africa’s captain, was the first one. Diamonds covered him while a fur coat hung from his shoulders and gold grills flashed every time he smiled. Behind him stood nine other men. All of them looked like they were built like houses and they stood completely still while they watched us. Women's Super Flyweight Ronda Ndlovu stood with them as well. He had his arms crossed and eyes locked directly onto us. He looked cold, unbothered and dangerous.

Joe slowed down beside me and for the first time since we met him, he looked like he genuinely didn’t know what to say. We were badly outnumbered and they knew it.

Even so, I stepped forward anyway with my jaw clenched and my heart pounding hard enough that I could feel it in my chest. Joe cleared his throat beside me and tried to calm himself.

“Can I help you?” he called out.

His voice sounded sterner than I expected and Zeke stepped forward slowly while adjusting his coat. It’s like he was stepping onto a stage instead of standing outside a destroyed van.

“I was informed,” he said in a smooth voice that was full of arrogance, “that there’s a Super Lightweight from Team New Zealand here.”

“Oh, yeah?” Joe said.

Then Zeke smiled.

“Yeah,” he said. “And I got excited. I thougt maybe I should join the party”

His eyes moved across our group while he searched for someone.

“I wanted to speak to Ari Morgan.”

Ari wasn’t there, but they already knew that. Zeke’s eyes kept moving before finally stopping on me and his smile widened.

“Wait…” Zeke chuckled as he turned slightly. “Is that THE Martial Wilson?”

Ronda smirked beside him as Zeke laughed under his breath.

“We should’ve brought Sizwe here.”

Joe stepped forward again and tried to take control of the situation.

“You’re not invited,” he said firmly.

One of Zeke’s guys immediately stepped forward as well. He was tall and aggressive. He spoke with a low and sharp voice.

“Who said we needed an invite?”

Joe’s security reacted instantly by closing ranks in front of us. At that point, the situation felt one bad decision away from turning physical. Then a girl’s voice suddenly cut through the silence behind us.

“Leave! Or we’re calling the FI police!”

Zeke burst out laughing.

“The police?” he mocked while shaking his head. “Relax. We’re just talking.”

Nothing about his eyes matched the laughter, though. They stayed fixed on me the entire time.

“I just want to see Ari,” he continued casually. “Captain to captain. Super Lightweight to Super Lightweight.”

He paused briefly before smiling wider.

“After all…” he said, “captains don’t get to hide, do they?”

Joe didn’t move.

“He’s not here,” he said.

This time, his voice sounded stronger, but Zeke stepped closer toward the gate until he was close enough for me to clearly see the detail in his grills.

“Please send your Captain a message,” he said while looking me up and down like I was beneath him. “I’m looking forward to our match and my first and last fight of WAR 34 with him.”

The tone in his voice changed slightly after that. It was less playful. In fact, it was more serious.

“I want to see if the hype is real… or if the Team New Zealand captain is just another highlight.”

Silence settled over everyone after that. It was the type of heavy silence that made the air around us feel uncomfortable even without anyone moving.

Then Zeke stepped back and smiled again.

“I wish Team New Zealand the best of luck,” he said as he clapped his hands facetiously. The smile he pasted onto his face looked even more fake and mocking.

“And next time—” Zeke said as he gestured lazily toward the destroyed van behind us. “Park smarter.”

His entire crew burst out laughing after that. It was loud and deliberately disrespectful.

“Gents, asambe,” Zeke said to his team and a second later, he casually waved his hand and the group turned away before climbing into their white SUVs.

Then, they drove off slowly without any urgency or fear. You could tell that they believed they had already won something before the fight had even happened.

All of us stood there watching them leave while the party music continued playing faintly behind us from inside the estate. Even with the music still going, nothing felt like a party anymore.

Joe finally exhaled slowly.

“…What the hell was that?” he asked.

Nobody answered him because we all understood what had just happened. This wasn’t random and it definitely wasn’t over.

“I think we should head back,” Ethan finally spoke up for us all after the silence had settled.

There were no jokes this time and no smiles from anyone. One by one, all of us nodded in agreement because the night was clearly finished after that. We didn’t leave immediately, though. Instead, Joe led us into one of the side living rooms after telling security to shut the music off. We were the only ones off the boat, save for a handful of others, after all.

The room felt completely different from the energy that we had experienced outside. It was heavy and nobody properly sat down. We were all just hovering.

Joe spoke first.

“What was that?” he snapped, sounding more frustrated with himself than anyone else.

He dragged a hand through his hair while pacing back and forth across the room.

“I didn’t invite them. I don’t even know those guys like that.”

One of his friends leaned against the wall with crossed arms while thinking things through.

“Someone tipped them off,” he said bluntly. “They didn’t just randomly show up. They knew you were here. They knew who was here.”

That immediately changed the mood in the room again. People started looking around subtly after hearing it. These were quick looks that were filled with suspicion.

“You’re saying someone in my party set that up?” Joe asked as his tone heated up.

“I’m saying,” the guy replied, “there’s a lot of people out there. One message or even one drunk post… that’s all it takes.”

Joe clenched his jaw.

“Great,” he muttered. “That’s exactly what I need.”

Ethan stepped up and tried moving the conversation toward something more practical.

“Do you have cameras? Anything that caught what they did to the van?”

Joe froze for a second before scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

“…No.”

All of us stared at him.

“I turned them off,” he admitted. “My parents monitor everything remotely. I didn’t want them seeing… all this.”

He gestured vaguely toward the house.

“I figured one night wouldn’t hurt,” Joe went on.

Simon let out a disbelieving laugh.

“Yeah… well. That backfired.”

Joe just stared toward the window in the direction of the destroyed van before speaking again in a quieter voice.

“I’ve got neighbours on both sides,” he said. “High-profile people. If they saw that…” He shook his head. “And if my parents find out I had WAR fighters here again? After what just happened?”

“Again?” Simon asked.

Joe exhaled sharply.

“I’m finished,” he said.

The room went quiet after that while all of us looked at each other in total disbelief, but the reality of the situation had finally settled properly over everyone. What had started as a party had somehow turned into something far more serious. I personally couldn’t believe that Team South Africa would take it that far. This was grounds for disqualification and Zeke had dragged his whole team into it.

But with no cameras and Joe trying to do damage control, I wondered whether that would even fly.

‘Probably not,’ I thought. 

Joe let out another frustrated breath before pulling out his phone.

“I’ll call you guys a taxi and I’ll see what I can do about that van.”

Nobody argued with him because there was nothing left to say at that point. The night was over, so we said our goodbyes quickly before stepping back outside.

“What in the world?” Ethan said.

“I know,” Simon chimed in. “Crazy.”

We left behind the lights, music and energy that had felt unreal only a few hours earlier. That was the longest wait for a E-cab I had ever had and the taxi ride itself back to the Team New Zealand facility stayed quiet for most of the journey. The vibe inside the car felt off.

“Coach is going to flip when he sees the van,” Daniel said as we got closer to the facility. “How do we even explain that?”

Nobody answered because none of us had a real explanation.

I leaned back in my seat and stared at the ceiling while everything from the night replayed itself in my head. The party, Mary, Zeke showing up and the destroyed van. All of it kept running through my mind over and over again.

“It’s my fault,” I muttered eventually.

Simon immediately looked over at me.

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

“I should have never brought us there,” I said. “Zeke didn’t care about the party. He didn’t care about Joe. He wanted to mess with Team New Zealand. He wanted to get in my head before his fight with Ari.”

I swallowed before continuing.

“If we wasn’t there… none of that would have happened.”

Ethan turned around in his seat and looked at me seriously.

“Mate, stop that,” he said firmly. “Zeke’s just stirring things up. That’s what guys like him do. This isn’t on you.”

“He trashed the van because he’s a coward,” Daniel added. “Not because of you.”

I didn’t answer them after that because even if they were right, it still didn’t feel that way to me. I could still picture the way Zeke looked at me while standing outside those gates. Like I was nothing. Deep down, I had a feeling this situation was nowhere near finished.

As we could finally see the Team New Zealand facility in the distance, I felt my anxiety skyrocket because I could already imagine Coach Flynn’s reaction once he saw the condition of the van.

He wasn’t going to be happy, but we hadn’t wrecked it. He had to see reason.

‘Right?’

I also had no idea how we were supposed to explain any of this without making the situation even worse than it already was. One thing was clear, though. When we eventually stepped onto the WAR canvas against Team South Africa, it wasn’t just going to be about the tournament anymore.

This time, it was going to be personal.