BLAAS

DURBAN / THE DRY DOCKS

Blaas runs the dry dock in Durban, fixing pumps and diving bells between long smoke breaks. Every fish on the waterfront knows the rule: never touch the puffer. One spine and you're done. Sardines cross the road when he walks past.

He isn't a pufferfish. He's a klipvis who took up the cigar ends the dockworkers flick into the harbour, and twenty years later he's round, he wheezes, and his bluff has never once been called. The King had him tested by his chef. The result is in Die Boek: poison: gill cancer.

He wants his page back before every sardine in Durban finds out they can have a go. He would also like a word with Volt about the blackouts. Possibly several words, between coughs.

THE PRIZE The King Prawn keeps a book on every fish on the coast. Every year he hosts Snoek'em and puts Die Boek up as the prize. He has never lost. Every invitation comes with the fighter's own page enclosed, so they know what's at stake.