There was less and less time left, this was the first group to arrive at The Box’s facilities. Throughout this week, more trips would be made on this same cruise for all the other groups.

Before dinner, I was able to watch several sparrings between them from the camera room. Although most were just to pass the time among friends, it was enough to make me even more excited about seeing them face each other seriously in The Box. I couldn’t wait. Suddenly, I couldn’t help but smile as I saw an interesting situation through one of the cameras. "Looks like they can’t either."

After leaving the dining room, we headed to one of the many leisure areas on the cruise. We bought drinks from a vending machine and entered a recreational zone. The colorful lights and the various games were really eye-catching — it had been years since I’d had time to visit places like this.

To begin with, we decided to play a round of bowling. Despite my lack of experience, I didn’t do so badly and managed to come in second. David came in first without much effort; he always threw the balls to the same spot calmly with a slight margin of error. Joan, on the other hand, well… let’s just say more balls went off the lane than stayed on it.

After this horrible performance, Joan suggested a game of ping pong to try to redeem himself. We took turns playing; the winner stayed at the table and waited for the next opponent.

Joan was quite good at playing, maintaining his champion status until the end.

"Is there room for one more? Said an unfamiliar voice.

"Ohh, is a new challenger approaching?" Said Joan proudly, smiling.

"Who are you?" David asked cautiously.

"Lucas López, pleasure to meet you" Said the stranger, extending his hand with a smile.

"Likewise, I'm Lorenzo, this is David, and the very lively champion over there is Joan" I said, shaking his hand.

"Well, Joan, how about a match?" Said Lucas smiling as he approached the table.

"Of course" Answered Joan.

A moment later, the game had already started. Everything proceeded normally until Joan finally decided to use a spin shot — the same one that had beaten both David and me before, a shot hard to predict for any beginner.

Point. 

As expected, Lucas wasn’t able to stop Joan’s shot, but he didn’t seem angry. Rather, he looked surprised. I could even swear I saw him smile.

Joan needed just one more point to win. Everything continued normally until Joan throwed his spin shot again, but at that moment, Lucas showed a big smile.

Point.

 David looked just as surprised as I did by what had just happened — Lucas not only avoided Joan’s shot, but returned it using the same spin technique.

"I thought you were a rookie. Have you been letting me win?" Said Joan, surprised.

"Of course not, I really don’t play this much, it was just luck." Lucas replied with a smile.

After that, there were no more surprises. Joan scored one last point and remained the champion. Since we were tired, we decided to head to our rooms and Lucas offered to join us; he didn’t seem to know anyone else.

Once outside, we saw a machine for measuring punch power — it was impossible not to want to try it.

"This is what I'm really good at." Said Joan, smiling excited.

"In my opinion, you'd better stick to ping pong" Said David, trying to tease him.

Joan ignored him and proceeded to throw a powerful right. Unlike in a fight, he could take the liberty of winding up the punch and building power. 973 points. "Beat that if you can, shorty" Said Joan, smiling.

"Are you proud of that?" Said an unfamiliar voice.

We all turned around, and at that moment we saw a small group led by a young guy with dark skin who seemed about my height.

"If that's all you've got, maybe you should just jump off the ship now" He continued.

"And who are you supposed to be? I'd at least like to know who I’m going to beat up" Said Joan, furious.

"Bruno Khattabi, though you probably won’t remember after you get knocked out" He said, stepping forward threateningly.

They were only a few meters apart frontera each other and didn’t seem willing to listen to reason, so the best thing I could think of was to try to step in and separate them.

"If you have issues, why not settle them tomorrow with a sparring match?" I said, stepping between them, when suddenly and without warning, I felt a strong punch land on my cheek.

"Sparring? These little professional kids don’t fight unless they’ve got the protection and comfort of their gloves. In my neighborhood, they wouldn’t last a single day — those are real fights" Said Bruno while shaking his right hand after hitting me. "Who's next?" He added with a smile.

Joan looked like he was about to lunge at him when Lucas stopped him and helped me up. "I hope you're okay with me" He said, looking calmly at Bruno.

David helped me stay on my feet while Lucas approached Bruno. I couldn't believe that for a moment I’d forgotten that everyone on this cruise was a boxer. I knew I had to stop the fight, but I was really curious about their skills.

Again by surprise, Bruno lunged at Lucas, who still seemed calm. He started with a simple one-two, though his technique was a bit odd. But Lucas dodged it easily. It continued like this until, after a failed right hook, Bruno used the momentum to spin on himself and throw another one — Lucas barely managed to dodge it.

"Pivot punch..." Said David

"...an illegal move in boxing."

The fight continued with Lucas dodging all of Bruno's punches using quick footwork, but refusing to counterattack. What I didn’t expect was what happened next.

Bruno, tired of being dodged, stepped on Lucas’s foot to stop him from escaping and threw a powerful right. But… at the very moment the punch was about to land, Lucas managed to free his foot, though it was already too late to dodge. So instead, he did something that surprised us all.

Lucas took the punch by slightly turning his head — a common boxing technique — but the surprising part was that he used the momentum of Bruno’s punch to spin on himself, counterattacking with a pivot punch that stopped just in front of Bruno’s face.

"Need more?" Said Lucas, emotionless.

"No need, I’ve seen enough. Go to bed already" Said a voice from a speaker that surprised us all. Fernández seemed to have been watching from the start.

Bruno and his group turned around and left without saying a word. After confirming they were gone, we said our goodbyes and everyone went to their room.

As for me, even though I’d been punched, all I could think about on the way to my room was how beautiful the stars looked that night.