"Bloody hell, I'll cripple him!"
Seeing his lad smashed down with a pipe, Caballo Díaz's head was on fire.
Especially when he heard the man in front of him was the little scumbag who'd crippled Tomás el Podrido a few days ago.
That made him even more determined to finish him!
"Get him!"
Seeing four or five lads rushing at him, León felt helpless. It seemed he'd have to get stuck in today.
But it didn't matter. He'd come off a battlefield; how could a handful of thugs worry him!
The first lad charged with a blade and went straight for León's head.
In that moment León's eyes flashed fiercely. No one could even see his hands move; there was only a bang, and the man's navaja was knocked flying.
"Ahh~"
There was a scream like a pig being slaughtered, and the lad howled, clutching his broken arm.
"What?"
"Sure enough!"
After a single exchange another of his lads was crippled. Caballo Díaz's face turned grave; he knew he'd met a master!
But he couldn't show fear. Besides, he'd got where he was through hundreds of fights, carving it out with blade and gun.
After León had put down four of his lads in a row, Caballo Díaz finally came at him in person.
A knife swept in from the side. Anyone else, Caballo Díaz would definitely have taken an arm off.
León's body sprang backwards, dodging by a hair, and his clothes were sliced open.
This Caballo Díaz had some skill; at least his knife was fast enough.
But it was no use, because León was faster and stronger.
"Clang!"
The steel pipe struck the back of the blade, numbing Caballo Díaz's arm, and before he could recover, León struck again.
"Ahh~"
Caballo Díaz's screams rang out and drowned out every other sound. Both sides looked over, eyes wide.
"Hey~ is that Caballo Díaz?"
"How did he get beaten like that?"
"No, it's the boss!"
"Cristo, go and save the boss!"
…
Caballo Díaz was in a sorry state now, both arms broken, his head split and bleeding!
And around him five Ribes gang thugs lay on the ground wailing. The only man left standing there was León!
Clearly he'd done it all himself, and plenty of people had seen him do it!
"Save the boss!"
The Ribes men rushed over to drag Caballo Díaz back, but León's side wasn't to be outdone and wanted to finish them all.
Caballo Díaz's position was no small thing: he was the top man under Gerry Reyes, the Ribes gang's captain in Barceloneta!
What was a top man?
He was Gerry Reyes's best fighter, the Ribes gang's number two in Barceloneta.
You can imagine how high Caballo Díaz stood, and how badly his fall would hit Ribes morale.
So one side lost its nerve and the other was fired up, and the Ribes gang was soon routed.
The gang fight ended in victory for León's side.
"Hahaha! We've run the Ribes bastards off, the port district is ours!"
A bald, fat middle-aged man laughed. He was the boss on León's side, Francisco Gordillo.
Francisco and Fraile sounded close enough, and with his fat head and big ears he looked a bit like a jolly friar, so everyone called him el Fraile.
But his real position was enforcer of the Sala network, second only to the leader, and he was in charge of the port district operation this time.
There were many gangs in Barcelona, but by origin they fell into three camps: the Porta faction, the Sala network and the Llevant mob!
Through continual splitting, these three great forces had turned into hundreds of gangs, large and small.
Among them, the Ribes gang was the biggest branch of the Porta faction, strong enough to hold half the Porta faction's entire power.
The Ferrer outfit, set up by Limpy Ferrer in the days of the black-market empire, and the Puig Crew, one of Barcelona's four great gangs, both belonged to the Llevant mob.
As for the Sala network, it was even more complicated. Though it had the most members in Barcelona, it was also the least united.
It had dozens of crews inside it, none answering to any other, none obeying another, and they often fought among themselves.
The Sala network were one of the biggest crews in the Sala network, and now they had beaten the Ribes gang at a stroke and taken control of the port district.
"Who crippled Caballo Díaz? El Fraile will reward him handsomely!"
After the excitement, Francisco Gordillo didn't forget the biggest hero. In terms of merit, if León hadn't taken out Caballo Díaz, the Sala network wouldn't have beaten the Ribes gang so easily this time.
At that moment everyone's eyes turned to León. Gordillo looked at him too, but he was puzzled.
That face was very unfamiliar! Whose lad was this!
"What's your name? Who's your boss?"
Gordillo stepped forward and asked warmly, beaming like a jolly friar.
León hadn't expected things to turn out like this. He'd wanted to coast, take his thousand pesetas and leave, but he'd never thought he'd make a name for himself!
One man downing six Ribes lads, including Gerry Reyes's top man, Caballo Díaz. It was hard not to become famous.
The eyes of the lads around him held nothing but admiration!
But León could only shake his head gently and say, "My name's León Vidal. I'm not with the Sala network, and I'm not with any gang!"
Not one of the Sala network?
Gordillo was stunned for a moment, then realised León must be a "hired hand".
When two gangs clashed, they'd pay to bring in extra bodies. After all, in a gang, more lads wasn't always better.
Because too many lads was more than anyone could afford!
Paying lads every month was a lot of money. After all, who'd run with you if you had no money?
On top of that, if a lad got lifted, the gang had to pay his bail; if he ended up in hospital, the gang had to cover that too. It all added up.
So the gang had standards when taking people on. They had to be willing and able to fight, and León fit the bill perfectly.
Hearing he hadn't joined any gang, Gordillo was tempted!
This was a fighter! He had to win him over!
"As they say, all men are brothers. You've helped el Fraile a great deal today, so you're el Fraile's brother!"
"I never treat a brother badly!"
"And with your skills, joining the Sala network, you'll never be wasted!"
"What do you say? León, come and work for me!"