CHAPTER 101: THE HUMAN BODY
"!?!"
Colonel Stryker stood frozen, his brain struggling to process the words.
Baki? Yujiro's son? Romance?!
The legendary Yujiro Hanma actually cared about the dating life of a teenager? The sheer domesticity of the concern was more shocking than the Ogre's physical violence.
While the group stood in a daze, Yujiro reached out and gripped the rappelling line with one hand. He hooked his feet into the lower cable and, with a sudden, elastic surge of power from his core, launched himself upward.
WHOOSH!
With a single jump, he ascended several meters, his grip on the rope anchoring his massive frame against the wind.
His strength, core stability, and biological coordination were bordering on the supernatural. He didn't climb; he leaped up the line.
Zip! Zip! Zip!
In three or four explosive bounds, he reached the open cabin door nearly a hundred meters above. He vaulted inside and vanished from sight.
As if responding to a silent command, the pilot didn't wait for the Colonel. The helicopter tilted and began to roar away from the Espoir.
Stryker cursed under his breath. He sprinted across the deck, lunged for the end of the rope, and was jerked into the air, swaying precariously as the chopper headed back toward the mainland.
Thwump-thwump-thwump-thwump...
The military helicopter faded into the night, having arrived and departed like a localized hurricane.
The deck of the Espoir was silent.
The survivors watched the dark sky, no one daring to be the first to speak. The man who held the title of "The Strongest" had appeared like a god, swatted a life away, and vanished.
Ren Shiroki, still lying with his head in Fusui's lap, stared upward. Katsumi Orochi, propped up by Suedo, looked equally dazed. Every person on that deck felt a profound sense of "Insignificance."
The silence was finally shattered by a wet, gurgling scream.
"WAAAAAAAGGHHH!"
The group turned toward the sound. They saw the caved-in bulkhead wall and the pool of dark crimson beneath it. In the center of the gore, Sadakuni was twitching. His body was racked with involuntary tremors as he let out a thin, high-pitched wail of agony.
No one doubted that Yujiro could have killed him instantly. But the Ogre had chosen to hold back just enough. He had left the revolutionary with one final lungful of air, ensuring that the man who "never feared death" got to experience the full, unadulterated "Might" of his own mortality.
Sadakuni's ears, nose, and mouth were leaking blood. He had lost control of his lower body. His face was a mask of jagged, weeping ruin.
"It... it hurts..."
The revolutionary wheezed, his voice a pathetic rattle. He had seen a thousand men die. He had laughed at their "cowardice." But as the void opened beneath him, Sadakuni realized he was just another animal.
"I don't... want... to die! I yield! I YIELD...!"
Sadakuni's body went limp. His eyes, fixed in a bloodshot stare, finally went vacant. He was dead.
The spectators swallowed hard.
Madarame Baku stepped forward, his boots clicking in the puddles of blood. He reached down and closed Sadakuni's staring eyes.
"He didn't need words to break the lie," Baku whispered. "Yujiro Hanma made a fanatic realize he was just a human. In the end, he made a monster surrender."
"That is the Strongest Creature on Earth. That is the ultimate Man of Absolute Might."
With Sadakuni dead and the gamble concluded, the long night on the Espoir drew to a close.
Ren Shiroki didn't have the energy left to care about the logistics. He lay back, closing his eyes as the "Might-Users" began to clean up the board.
Baku began a high-speed negotiation with the Leader of Kakerou; Kaiji Itou waited for the payout that would finally clear his name; Chairman Hyodo cackled to himself; Tonegawa barked orders to his subordinates; and Akagi Shigeru simply stood by the railing, lighting a final cigarette.
The "Specialist Force" arrived to seize the missiles, and since no one wanted to be on the ship when the "Tragic Accident" occurred, the evacuation was rapid.
Baku and Souichi reached an agreement. Besides the individual stakes, they had to settle the matter of the Espoir's ownership.
Ren held the purchasing rights, but he was broke and had no use for a haunted cruise ship. Baku acted as his agent, trading the rights to the Nogi Group for a massive, "fire-sale" cash payout.
A fortune was wired into Ren's account before the ship even hit international waters. The Combat Hub finally had its war chest.
One Week Later.
Ren had spent seven days in a high-end medical facility.
Kureha Shinogi's fees were astronomical, so Fusui Kure had pulled some strings. She'd had Ren transferred to a private hospital owned by a Kure affiliate. The doctors there were specialists in "Abnormal Trauma," and Ren received elite-level care for a fraction of the cost.
He returned home with his arms in slings and his leg in a heavy walking cast.
Over the next ten days, the reconstruction of the Soul Combat Hub began in earnest. Following Kaede Akiyama's recommendation, Ren hired a high-speed construction crew. The frame of the new facility was already rising from the dirt.
Arisa spent her afternoons acting as the on-site supervisor, while Marco and Fusui helped haul the lighter materials.
Madarame Baku visited once or twice to give updates on the "Association" politics. The Espoir had "sunk" in a deep-sea trench, and the Association was still processing the sudden membership of a youth from Toshima.
Evening. Shiroki Property.
The sun was setting behind the steel skeleton of the Hub. The construction crew had packed up for the night.
Two visitors walked through the gate.
The first was Kureishi Mitsuyo, the pink-haired MMA pro and bone-setter.
The second was a youth with a mop of shaggy blonde hair and a lean, lithe build. He looked to be about eighteen or nineteen, dressed in a fashionable tracksuit. He had a bright, energetic face that radiated confidence.
Kureishi whistled as he looked at the construction site. "Incredible! This place is going to be bigger than my Dojo!"
He waved to Arisa and introduced his companion. "Arisa-chan, meet my top student—Cosmo Imai."
"Nice to meet you!"
Cosmo gave a cheerful bow. He and Arisa hit it off immediately; their energy levels were a perfect match.
"So, Sensei," Cosmo asked, looking around the yard. "Where is he? The guy you wanted me to study? The 'High-Level Striker'?"
"Hmm..."
Kureishi rubbed his chin and pointed to the far corner of the lot, near the stacks of lumber. "Over there. He's working the bag."
"Working the... bag?"
Cosmo blinked.
Kureishi had told him that Ren Shiroki had survived a "Gruesome Draw" followed by a "Sonic Slaughter" less than three weeks ago. A man who had his leg burst and his ribs cracked should be bedridden, not training.
Cosmo walked over to look.
There, standing in front of the 150kg heavy bag, was Ren Shiroki. He was shirtless, his torso and arms still wrapped in heavy medical tape and plaster casts.
He was hitting the bag. Hard.
Using his heavy, cast-wrapped fists, Ren delivered a steady rhythm of punches. Sweat was pouring off him, soaking through the plaster until it looked translucent. He didn't look like a patient; he looked like a machine that refused to be shut down.
THUD. THUD. BANG!
"He... he's been doing that?" Cosmo gasped. "In those casts?"
"All day," Arisa said, leaning against a post while eating a popsicle. "He took a break for lunch, but he's been at it since 8:00 AM."
Cosmo stared at her. "He's going to shatter his bones again! Aren't you worried?!"
Arisa shrugged, perfectly serene. "I always think for the best. My luck is top-tier, and Onii-chan being this lively is a good sign. Why worry about a healthy man?"
Cosmo: "..."
Cosmo: "..."
Cosmo: "Eh?"
The "King of Stranglers," a Kengan prodigy himself, couldn't fathom the Shiroki family's logic.
"This is... physiologically impossible," Cosmo whispered.
Kureishi patted his student's shoulder.
"Maybe by the books, Cosmo. But the 'World of the Strong' has its own rules."
"When you apply a massive load to a healing bone while focusing your 'Battle-Spirit,' the body adapts. It hyper-calcifies. It evolves. The human body is a reservoir of hidden potential."
"If you ever want to beat me, kid, you're going to have to learn how to ignore 'Common Sense.'"
On the other side of the yard, the rhythm of Ren's strikes accelerated.
BAP! BAP! BAM! THOOM!
The power was increasing with every rep.
Finally, with a sound like a small explosion—CRACK!—the heavy plaster cast on Ren's right arm shattered into a thousand pieces. Fragments of white stone and rolls of gauze flew across the grass, revealing a muscular, fully healed forearm.
"Haha!"
Kureishi laughed, slapping his thigh. "See? The human body... simply magnificent, isn't it?!"
☆☆☆
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