Post by Mr. Moon on Oct 13, 2022 4:51:31 GMT -5
Prologue
Because even the first round provided him with a strong and challenging opponent, Gabriel couldn´t afford to underestimate anyone, who was skilled enough to pass through the first round into the second. Well, at least not if he intended to win. Unfortunately, the brief meeting with Namkhai left him with an imposter syndrome that was still nagging at the corner of his soul and Isaac´s visit didn´t really help him focus on anything else, so the first order of business was to get his mind back in order. Herbal tea, meditation, Qui Gong, and rehearsal of techniques he studied in the past but still wasn´t really confident in them to use in an actual fight helped him a lot. So, when Myra and Beast returned to the room he was already back to his confident self. So, what if he wasn´t ready to die or kill to win this tournament? He was skilled and determined enough to secure victory on his own terms.
The rest of his day was spent…well with rest, quality food, good company of his fluffy malamute, and his own notebook, which was slowly becoming filled by his notes, born from the experiences he accumulated over the course of the past few weeks. Looking back, he had a feeling that a new martial art was slowly appearing on these pages, but being a good researcher and inventor, he didn´t want to rush to a conclusion and so closed his book and went to sleep way sooner than usual.
Before the fight
To ensure that none of the fighters oversleeps, Mr. Katsumasa employed his hostesses, sending them, sending them to wake up the sixteen participants of the second round. When the young brunet entered Gabriel´s room, the professor was already awake, sitting in a comfortable position, while focusing on his breathing during a morning meditation.
“Excuse me, Mr. Moon…?”A soft female voice disturbed his focus and brought him back to reality.
“Yes?”
He asked, perhaps more strictly than he should, causing that woman to flinch, although she still managed to keep her professional smile in place.
“I am sorry sir, but it´s already time, the second round is starting in fifteen minutes.”
The Professor nodded, slowly raising from his sitting position back to standing. The injuries he suffered yesterday luckily weren´t serious, but he still felt stiffness and discomfort at places where Komaeda´s fist hit him. A reminder that he has to be more careful in his next fight.
Waiting Room
“Please, lead the way.”
Being reduced to only half of the original participants, the fighter´s dress room surely felt a bit more spacious. As Gabriel entered, the overall mood seemed to be good. Most of the fighters were seemingly confident in their abilities and were joking with each other, mainly about the performance of those who didn´t make it into the second round. Only a few of them seemed to be a little nervous, like Gabriel. Whatever unpleasant feeling he had however quickly disappeared when he was approached by Kiozan, the large sumo wrestler whom he met even before this whole tournament started.
“Feeling nervous?”
The giant of a man asked with a booming voice while patting Gabriel´s back with his enormous arm.
„A little bit…“
The Professor smiled, feeling more at ease with the sight of a familiar face.
“I am not really used to performing in front of a such large crowd.”
The sumo wrestler paused for a moment before the whole dress room filled with his booming laughter.
“What are you talking about man? You are a professor. Being in front of other people is what you are paid for so, just pretend these people are your students and you are giving them a lecture about martial arts HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA”
His laughter resonated through the room but slowly died when the screen lightened up with pictures broadcasted by visual Den Den Mushi. The second round was about to start.
Three Battles
Python addressed the crowd from his VIP seat, talking into another Den Den Mushi, that was transmitting his amplified voice across the whole arena and into the waiting room.
“Compared to yesterday, we have only half the number of participants, but with the wheat separated from the chaff I can guarantee you that today´s matches will be even more exciting than those you saw yesterday!”
He paused, giving the audience time to express their excitement, before continuing.
“As you all remember, yesterday, we got our champions an opportunity to pick their own opponents, that will however change today as the matchups will be decided by chance! Mr. Katsumasa if you would be so kind…”
He turned to the host of this show, who raised a small linen bag. Python reached inside, facing the other way, before pulling out a small piece of paper.
“Well, ladies and gentlemen look like we are here for a treat even in the first match of this day! Please welcome into the arena the greatest Wrestler of our time who proved beyond any shade of doubt, that Wrestling is a real combat art. With 196 cm and 141 kg, Shinsuke “The Hell´s Angel” Mutoh!”
The whole arena erupted with loud cheering as the tall and incredibly muscular wrestler with a devilish mask painted over his face walked outside, encouraging the crowd to be even louder and more vocal during his entrance.
“Show off…”
Niko, a large tribal warrior with bronze skin covered in tattoos growled, while Python reached into the bag for the second time.
“And his opponent is another wrestler! With 666 cm and weight way above a single ton, Kiozan “The Demon Ozeki” Hariyama!”
In response to this, the oversized sumo wrestler laughed.
“Well, I pity you guys! Because this fight will set the bar so high, you won´t even get close!”
He boasted while walking outside into the arena, his words echoed by Python who himself was clearly excited about this match. Either that or he was simply an excellent promoter.
“Now this is something ladies and gentlemen! Old versus new! Tradition versus modernity! The size advantage is clearly on Hariyama´s side but will it be enough? Let´s find out!”
Python promised and these two titans delivered.
It was an excellent fight. Both men were physical bruisers, large, sturdy, and powerful and so challenged each other into a physical contest, where both were throwing and absorbing attacks of the other with very little to no defense. Hariyama because he was simply too big to maneuver around his faster and more agile opponent and Mutoh because taking damage was making it more exciting for the spectators. The whole fight lasted for around five minutes before Hariyama finally got an opportunity to finish it with his ultimate technique. Going into an incredibly low stance for a man of his size, he unleashed his Zudzeki, a blinding fast charge, that slammed his opponent against the wall of the arena. True to his art, Mutoh raised one more time from the sand to pose for the audience, before collapsing back, unconscious and so Hariyama advanced to the third round.
When he entered the waiting room, the giant of a man was heavily bruised and slightly limping on his left leg, but still smiling widely from the endorphin rush connected to his victory.
“Ohhh man I take it back!”
He laughed loudly when his eyes found the Professor.
“I hope you´ll guys put similar show, or even better!”
This prompted many smiles on the faces of the gathered warrior as the purpose of these words was clear. What the audience loved was hard, nearly even, exciting matches. Matches that left both the winner and loser bruised. And as Hariyama himself got his share of injuries in this fight, he could only hope that his potential rivals will go through the same, to even the odds before the upcoming rounds.
Meanwhile, the paramedics carried Mutoh from the arena, making enough space for the next fight, which was announced shortly afterward.
This time, Python reached into the bag, pulling both pieces of papers at the same time, before reading the first one.
“Now, with the first fight behind us is the time to greet the gladiators that will clash in the following match. First, the greatest star of the bodybuilding world, a man who believes that when you possess the ultimate power, there is no need for technique. The belief he proved right in the first round. Will he manage to do the same today? Ladies and gentlemen, with 205 cm and 210 kg, Ronnie “The Musuclar Beast” Reinhold!”
While not as high as Hariyama the man who raised from his seat was definitely a giant in his own right. Tall and incredibly muscular, with every muscle on his body perfectly defined he released a mocking snort addressed to the men he was leaving behind as he walked to the sands.
The Professor frowned. He didn´t know the man and never spoke to him in person, but still the way he acted and presented himself rubbed him the wrong way. Perhaps it was because they were the exact opposites of each other. One focused purely on physical might, while the other was a walking library of techniques.
Slowly, the cheering of the crowd weakened enough for Python to announce Ronnie´s opponent.
“And against him another giant of a man! Ladies and gentlemen, with 208 cm and 214 kg, Niko “The Beast of Destruction” Kauri!”
As the giant bronze-skinned, tattooed man raised to his feet and walked away, Gabriel´s frown deepened. Was this really all this will be about? While he liked Kiozan and respected his art, the last fight was a pure slugfest and since Niko in the first round defeated his opponent with nothing but raw strength, he really didn´t expect much from this fight. Man how wrong he was.
Because while the bodybuilder did as expected, unleashing barrages of his stone-shattering punches that had no technique or strategy behind them, Niko took a completely different approach, effortlessly dancing between each and every strike like life in the wind.
“Is he specialized in soft styles?”
Gabriel asked, unable to believe what his own eyes were telling him and he wasn´t the only one. The fact that such a physically imposing giant of a man could move like that dropped more than just a single jaw.
Finding his lost interest, Gabriel leaned towards the screen to get a better look. It took him a few exchanges but, in the end, he found it. The reason why Niko was so good at dodging was, that he wasn´t dodging at all! Every time, when Ronnie unleashed one of his punches there was a small, but noticeable shift in the bronze-skinned man´s posture almost as if he relaxed all his muscles to present no resistance to the incoming power. Basically, using his own opponent´s strength to avoid damage. The martial artist in Gabriel was amazed. In the past, he read about similar techniques, but he always thought these were simple myths as overriding one’s primal reflexes to tense their body in the face of imminent danger should be impossible. Or at least that is what he thought until getting the clear evidence of the contrary.
The Professor wished he took his notebook with him so he could make notes about the precise stance, timing, and breathing patterns he could occasionally see in Niko, because like this he could only rely on his memory and limited ability to “mimic” the muscular action together with his breathing.
As for the whole fight, it took the bodybuilder almost five minutes of intense trying to finally exhaust all his reserves, and at that moment Niko finally attacked. Lunching forward the tribal warrior threw his whole weight behind a single punch, that dropped the exhausted bodybuilder on his knees and decided the match.
When he returned to the waiting room, he was greeted by respect expressed with grunts and head nods from most fighters. Only Sakon was watching him with the eyes of someone who realized he might have one more rival than he expected.
Anyway, with this fight behind them, Python was about to reach into his bag to pull out another pair of names when suddenly one of the Katsumasa´s bodyguards approached him, whispering several words. Even though the screen was obvious how the experienced fighter deeply frowned, before exchanging several words with the host, only to turn back to the audience.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I just received very unfortunate news. As it turned out, two fighters, Mustang and Rudolf Barisnikof were forced to withdraw from the tournament due to an injury!”
This announcement elicited a strong response in the form of expressed displeasure from the crowd.
Gabriel paused. This definitely wasn´t right. Mustang didn´t suffer any injuries in his first fight and his opponent was barely bruised. The confusion he could see on the faces of his fellow fighters was in his case masking a strong suspicion as unlike them he knows something they didn´t. Mustang wasn´t a real name, but rather a false identity used by a CP agent Myra pushed in the tournament. Thinking back, he didn´t really see him entering the dressing room today. Could it be that he was doing some shady things and was captured? Were they suspecting him and Myra now?
All these unpleasant questions became even stronger with the next announcement presented by Python.
“Well, with one of the Raven´s champions out, I think it would be fair to get a proper replacement in the form of their second champion, ladies and gentlemen please welcome Gabriel “The Professor” Moon!”
The Professor froze in place, but there was nothing he could do except enter the arena and so he headed that way, followed by strange looks of the remaining fighters.
Professor versus Executioner
Walking through the sand, the Professor tried his best to push all the disturbing thoughts away and focus solely on the battle ahead of him, but he wasn´t really successful.
Meanwhile, at an upper level of the auditorium, Python reached into his bag and pulled out the name of his opponent, sealing Professor´s fate.
“And against him the representant of the Baritsu Family! With the 189 cm and 99 kg Zion “The Executioner! Robinson!”
Turning around to face his opponent, Gabriel saw a man, almost as tall as himself, with shoulder-length blonde hair and an athletic body, hidden under a traditional Aikido uniform, which corresponded to the soft techniques the Professor saw him using during the first round.
Making his way toward the center of the arena, he greeted Gabriel with a smile.
“Did your friend chicken out?”
While stretching his shoulders by pulling his arms across his body.
“He isn´t my friend.”
Gabriel replied, taking a high stance that was resembling the Neko Ashi Dachi from traditional karate.
“Yeah, fair, fair I forgot you just both work for the Ravens right? Although I am surprised that the young lady allowed him to withdraw. Maybe it´s true what they are saying about her? That she is a softie?”
The Professor frowned. Hearing people calling him Myra´s subordinate was getting more and more annoying, but there was one more thing that he was curious about enough to forget about his usual response to this assumption.
“Wait, how do you know Myra´s family?”
He asked with a hint of curiosity in his voice.
“Myra´s? Well never mind, she didn´t tell you even the basics? We are enemies her family and mine, or rather…we are competitors in the same line of business. Although unlike the birdies we prefer to do our dirty work ourselves.”
Sighing, Gabriel opened his mouth to protest, but he didn´t get further than “I am not…” before Python started their match.
Judging by his previous fight and the uniform he decided to wear, Gabriel expected, that his opponent will be more passive and focused on defense and counterattacks. That was why he picked a fairly offensive stance for himself. So, when Zion suddenly leaped forward, throwing a fast punch against his head, he almost didn´t manage to react in time, just barely dodging by leaning his head to the side.
However, his opponent didn´t give him a moment to catch a breath and instead unleashed a barrage of swift jabs, while waving his body from left to right and up and down to constantly change their angle.
Still, on his back foot, Gabriel weathered the storm by dodging most of them and blocking a few more, earning only a smile bruise where Zion´s knuckles scratched him across his face and hit his left shoulder.
Finally, the attack slowed down, allowing him to back off, and creating some space between them.
“I remember now…”
He muttered, taking a more upright, defensive position with both hands held slightly in front of him in a circular guard.
“Baritsu family, they created the Gentlemen Art by putting together traditional boxing and jiujitsu am I right?”
His opponent grinned, taking a few jumping steps toward him.
“Well looks like they don´t call you the Professor just for fun huh? But yeah, the Baritsu family was so kind as to teach me their art.”
Zion mocked him with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
“But you also forgot one thing. It´s boxing, jiujitsu, and fencing!”
He suddenly lunged forward, using his hand as a sword in an attempt to stab his solar plexus
“Five Fingers Jab!”
Cursing under his breath, Gabriel intercepted his strike with his own palm, pushing it away from his body, before lunging forward himself and smashing Zion with his shoulder, forcing the man several steps backwards.
Unwilling to waste his first offensive opportunity, the Professor lunged forward striking with a closed fist against Zion´s abdomen. However, the assassin already recovered from the loss of balance and captured his arm, twisting and pulling Gabriel into a full shoulder throw.
The Professor hit the ground back first, thanking all gods he could remember for the fact that the flooring in the arena was made from the sand as concrete or any harder material would probably send him into the sweet darkness of unconsciousness right away.
Unfortunately, his opponent didn´t give him enough time to find the air that was knocked off his lungs as he immediately moved forward in an attempt to lock Gabriel´s arm into an arm lock. Cursing, the Professor twisted in his grip, trying to find a better position and pull his arm from Zion´s grip. The two men struggled for a whole minute before pure chance gave the Professor an opportunity to strike back.
Desperate to finally lock his arm, Zion leaned against Gabriel´s palm, using his whole body weight to keep it in place so he could change his grip just as the Professor got his feet on the ground.
{Dragon Palm}Starting from a relaxed stance, the user will reach out to their opponent until they get within one inch from their body. From there, they will create a wave of power that starts in their stance foot and pass through the knee, hip, torso, shoulder, elbow and finally fist in a perfectly linked and coordinated whip-like push. Because the path of this movement is very short, it can not cause any serious damage of its own. However, the "virtual weight" added by the elasticity will make it feel almost as if the target was pushed by a giant. Thanks to that, it´s capable of sending its target flying with considerable force, despite visually looking like a simple touch.
His reaction was driven by pure reflex drilled during countless hours of training and not a conscious thought or strategy. Relaxing his body for a brief moment, Gabriel created a wave of power that went through is whole body to the palm, pushing his opponent away. This was barely the best position to unleash this technique, so it lost some of its power, but still, it was enough to send the grown man flying away from the Professor in a high arc.
The whole arena erupted in loud cheering as Gabriel climbed back up on his feet, his right arm strained from the previous wrestling.
„Unbelievable ladies and gentlemen! Would you believe that the Professor possesses such incredible strength? Someone surely wasn´t skipping on his heavy lifting that´s what I say!”
Python´s voice boomed through the arena, mistaking Gabriel´s technique for a display of raw physical strength.
“Urgh…hey just don´t get cooky because of one lucky hit.”
Zion growled, climbing up to his feet, visibly shaken by the hit he took.
“If you think Baritsu can be defeated this easily, you are terribly mistaken! Rapier Rush!”
Screaming from the top of his lungs, Robinson charged forward, unleashing a flurry of rapid thrusts using his index finger instead of a sword.
Gabriel doubted that his attacks carried enough power to actually pierce through human flesh, but he still had to guard himself properly as each and every strike was carefully aimed at his pressure points, intended to paralyze his limbs.
Capturing every and each strike the Professor pushed at the wrist of the incoming limb with his palms, diverging it from its original target and away from his body. Zion was still pushing forward, trying to break his opponent´s defence at all costs. The two warriors were even when suddenly, the assassin of the Baritsu family made a mistake and overreached with his trike. Driven by his reflexes, Professor Moon suddenly dropped his center of mass, moving bellow Zion´s arm and rushing forward to grab his legs, tearing the man down into the sand. They wrestled, both men trying to get into a more favorable position, but in the end, it was Gabriel, who slowly and methodically worked his way toward his opponent´s neck, catching him into a rear naked choke.
{Squeezing Moon}Starting on the ground, together with his opponent, Gabriel starts slowly and methodically changing his grip and move his position like a python wrapping around his prey, until he´ll capture his victim in a rear naked choke.
“Hey did you know…”Gabriel whispered before his opponent lost consciousness.
“Despite being focused on locks and throws, Aikido is pretty weak on the ground.”
As his opponent finally fainted, the Professor released his grip, climbing up on his feet, with his forearm scratched as in the last few seconds Zion desperately tried to claw his way out of the hold.
“And that´s it, ladies and gentlemen!”
Python yelled into his Den Den Mushi.
“The winner is GABRIEL “THE PROFESSOR” MOON!”
Four Battles
“Humble my a**”
Growled Fu sarcastically, while Kiozan patted his back with his giant arm.
“Now that was a good fight man, really good. Just next time try to work a bit on your image!”
He laughed as Gabriel headed to his seat, gently moving with his right arm, which went through several lock attempts from Zion. Moving it was painful, but fortunately, nothing seemed to be broken or torn, giving him hope that it might recover for tomorrow’s match.
And while he was checking his arm, Python once again asked Mr. Katsumasa for his bag with names, reaching for yet another two papers.
“And here we go ladies and gentlemen!”
The retired fighter announced with excitement.
“First of our fighters utterly demolished his opponent in the first round with a single strike. Will he be able to repeat the same in the second round or will we learn something more about his mysterious techniques? Please allow me to present you, with a 194 cm and 118 kg, Namkhai “Titan of Bokh” Monkhbat!”
Hearing the name, Gabriel became alerted, turning his attention to the experienced warrior and then on the screen, so he could watch the match. From all these fighters around him, he considered Namkhai to be the most dangerous one, especially after their short meeting after the first round.
“Will his opponent be able to put up a better fight, or even break this man´s legend entirely? We shall see in the next few minutes. Ladies and gentlemen the East Blue´s kickboxing, with a 192 cm and 110 kg Raymond “The Stinger” Baars!
„Put up a better fight? Who does he think I am? I am going to break that cooky m*other f****!“
The tanned kickboxer boasted, visibly angered by the way Python announced his name as he walked outside. It would definitely be an interesting turn of events if he managed to live up to his boasts, but unfortunately, it wasn´t the case.
As Gabriel noted for himself, Baar wasn´t weak. On the contrary, for a man who spent his life doing combat sports in the East Blue he was incredibly strong, especially with his special front kick, which was using his big toe as a piercing weapon. But Namkhai was simply out of his league.
Moving with a precision of a well-oiled machine, the Bokh master neutralized all of the kickboxer’s attacks, slapping them away with his open palms, before launching forward, grabbing his waist and smashing Baar headfirst against the send so hard, he buried him in it up to that man´s chest. The whole fight didn´t take even a whole minute.
Clearly disappointed, Python waited for a few seconds, before announcing the winner, letting the crowd celebrate this dominant victory. The Professor was feeling the same, although probably for a completely different reason. Namkhai was clearly one of the most powerful and experienced fighters in this tournament. One that Gabriel would need to overcome to become the champion. A goal that would be much easier if he knew at least some of his opponent´s techniques and skills beforehand.
As far as the remaining fights were considered non was this fast and decisive.
In the battle between two ancient styles, Suzuku Miyazawa defeated Fu Chien with the help of his Wind Palm. Incredible technique, that allowed him to strike with enough strength and power to create blasts of compressed air that were carrying the force of his attacks over a long distance. Which was yet another ability, the Professor considered to be a pure myth. With its use, he managed to keep a safe distance from Chien and his electricity-based attacks.
The next fight was between August Lee a crazed ninja fanboy, who was dressed in the black uniform of his heroes, using strange techniques based on misdirection and attacks from an unusual position. However, even this tactic wasn´t enough to match the raw speed of Goalan Saw Pang whose elbow strikes were sharp enough to cut through human skin and flesh as if they were equipped with a fine blade.
Neither of these fights lasted longer than five minutes, with the exception of the last where Sakon Kiyomori a young patriarch of a clan of assassins clashed with Carlos Aapulco, a wild fighter who was mixing classic boxing with capoeira. Their fight seemed to be almost even for a very long time as Carlos seemingly kept his opponent on the defensive with his wild and unpredictable combinations that Sakon couldn´t really figure out. Well, at least that’s how Python was describing the match. But From Gabriel´s perspective was simply toying with his opponent. Dodging his attacks only so barely, letting him push more and more until he would use everything in his repertoire. Then and only then he returned the favor, defeating the boxer in a swift exchange of powerful strikes that were comparable to a cannonball in a power.
And with that, the second day of Python´s tournament concluded.
Meeting Niko
“Yeah, glad to see you too.”
The Professor smiled, scratching the oversized malamute behind her ears. But even her happy face couldn´t put his mind to ease.
“What´s going on here…”
He mutters for himself, earning a confused head tilt from his fluffy companion.
“Nothing…I…let´s just hope he didn´t do anything illegal. After going so far I don´t want to be kicked out just because Myra decided to take him with us…or worse.”
He added after a short pause.
“Wooof?!”
Beast asked, licking his nose in an attempt to cheer up her master.
The Professor sighed, but then forced himself to forget about these worrisome thoughts, at least for a moment, and smile.
“Yeah, you are right. Not much I can really do about this right? Do you want anything to eat?”
This question was met with even happier woofing and jumping and so they left their room and headed toward the restaurant, which was an integral part of this large recreational complex. Or at least that was the plan until he opened the door leading outside, only to find Niko standing there.
“How did you learn it?!”
He snapped at him instead of any greeting, his heavily muscular body pushing into the room. Surprised, Gabriel moved out of his way, calming down Beast who growled into the bronze-skinned man´s face.
“Did you steal it? How many had to die for you to wield it´s power?”
Facing accusations that weren´t making any sense to him, Gabriel turned his head to the side expressing his confusion.
“I am sorry, but…”
Niko however didn´t seem to have the kind of patience that would allow them to engage in a rational debate, as he grabbed the Professor for his jacket and slammed him against the wall of his room.
“Don´t play dumb with me!”
He yelled.
“Python may be blind, but I know what I saw! Mura is part of Maunga Manawa! It´s my birthright. You have no right to wield it!”
While still confused about what was going on, Gabriel´s brain started putting some dots together. Thanks to his background as a history professor, he actually understood the word used. Mura meant flame in the language of several tribes that were living in far south parts of the East Blue, while Maunga Manawa meant Heart Mountain. Name of a village perhaps? He knew he heard it somewhere but couldn´t really remember where or under what circumstances.
“That…”
He tried to explain he had no idea what was going on, but before he could say anything more three suits-wearing bodyguards rushed into the room.
“What´s going on here?!”
Their leader, a shorter bald guy with incredible musculature yelled at them.
“All fighting outside of the arena is strictly prohibited!”
Niko looked at them with a murderous gaze, before releasing Gabriel from his grip.
“It doesn´t matter. In the next round or the other ones, I´ll beat it out of you. Don´t you dare to lose before that!”
He growled, leaving his room.
The bodyguards were carefully watching him, before turning to the Professor.
“Are you all right sir?”
Gabriel nodded.
“Yes, it was just a small misunderstanding, nothing else.”
Their bald leader looked at him with more than just a bit of distrust but didn´t say anything and with a single gesture called his men off.
“If you say so…have a pleasant day.”
And with that they left as well.
Research
It took him over three hours of going through his notes and the large bag full of books and scrolls he took with him for this journey before he finally found the answer. It wasn´t a place it was a martial art, a very old one, one that was considered to be extinct. It was mentioned in a book written by a traveling master more than two hundred years ago. As it usually went the man was trying to forge his own legend and legacy and so was traveling from island to island, challenging every other martial artist he could meet, describing their styles and tactics. Among them was also a practitioner of tribal art that was mimicking the five main forces of nature, water, stone, wind, fire, and wood. The description given to them was very vague but by connecting it with what he went through he could identify that what Niko was using in his fight against Ronnie was probably water and the fire or mura in their language was the ability to increase the weight of one’s attack through the rapid application of muscular force. In another world the flexibility of his Dragon. But why was he so upset about it? That was the question he couldn´t find an answer to. After all the same basic principles were appearing across dozens if not hundreds of styles so why to make such fuss about them using similar techniques?
“Wooooof….wooof woof!”
His line of thought was interrupted by a wet nose that started poking him in the face while its owner growled impatiently.
Pausing, Gabriel looked at his watches and then at the Beast terrified of how much time already passed.
“Oh, I promised you lunch and it´s already nearly dinner time!”
He laughed, earning a judgmental look from his fluffy companion.
“All right, all right, I am sorry, as an apology what about a large roast beef?”
“WOOF!”
The happy barking and wagging tail were telling him, that everything was forgiven.
Third Round
When they assembled in the waiting room, the last eight warriors who passed the opening rounds Python took a word announcing another change in the rules.
“Ladies and gentlemen!”
His voice boomed through the arena, strengthened by the broadcasting Den Den Mushi.
“Please allow me to welcome you on the third day of our tournament! Before we´ll start, there is one last update to our rules! As you know only eight warriors passed through the grueling first rounds proving to be among the bests of the bests in the whole East Blue, so to make their life a bit easier and you more excited about what will come next, we decided that this will be the last round when we´ll choose the opponents randomly and for the fourth and final fifth round, we´ll use a standard tournament ladder! But how shall we fill it? Let´s find out!”
And there it was, another draw. The Professor would be lying if he said he wasn´t nervous and he could see he wasn´t the only one in the room. The reason was mainly because of what Python didn´t tell rather than what he did. Simply told with Mustang and his opponent yesterday’s disappearance they were one fighter short meaning, one of them will advance to the next round without a fight gaining a significant advantage over the others. Not only would he get a whole day of rest, but also an opportunity to watch his tomorrow opponent fight which, in the case of people like Namkhai and Sakon who didn´t show their true techniques yet could be the difference between victory and defeat.
Of course, the cynic in him doubted that they would let fighter connected with Ravens pass when this situation happened because of another fighter connected with them, but if the draw was truly random, perhaps there was a chance.
The first fight Namkhai versus Goalan Saw Pang, an interesting matchup between a physical powerhouse and a very technical fighter. When Namkhai´s name was drawn as the first one, Professor´s heart almost stopped half expecting that he´ll see his name coming right afterward, but it didn´t happen. And instead, he got an important opportunity to judge his own chances and strategies against the Titan.
The second fight, Suzuki Miyazawa versus Gabriel Moon. Whatever it was really chance or Python´s and Katsumasa´s doing it wasn´t the Professor who would get the opportunity to sit this one out and instead he was paired with a dangerous fighter capable of using the wind to attack from distance.
The third and last fight of the day was Hongi Mudo vs Sakon Kiyomori meaning that Kiozan was the lucky one, which Python also announced.
“Unfortunately, ladies and gentlemen with both Mustang and Rudolf withdrawing from the tournament because of injuries sustained in the first round, we lack a proper opponent for our last fighter, Kiozan Hariyama meaning he will advance directly into the semi-finals. Is it unfortunate? Yes. Is it fair? Absolutely, because what is luck than another important part of one´s strength!”
The crowd applauded, while Kiozan grinned at his part of the bench.
“Well, now I feel kind of inappropriate here. Should I go upstairs to join the audience?”
He laughed, earning several smiles from his fellow fighters.
“Don´t you dare to lose before we´ll meet in the finale.”
Niko growled, murdering Gabriel with his gaze.
“Finale huh? Shouldn´t you rather focus on the opponent at hand?”
Sakon laughed, earning himself another part of the tribal warrior´s ire, while Namkhai and Goalan were walking outside into the arena welcomed by deafening cheering and applause.
“So, who do you think will win?”
Kiozan moved from his corner next to Gabriel, who didn´t even look at him as he didn´t want to lose the beginning of their fight.
“Heart says Goalan, brain Namkhai…”
The Professor uttered making the sumo wrestler smile.
“Really? Come on, be more optimistic!”
Gabriel opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by Python´s booming voice.
“And FIGHT!”
Turning his head back to the screen, the Professor watched as Saw Pang rushed forward, while Namkhai lowered his stance into a more defensive position.
“Interesting, he was never this passive in his previous fights…”
Gabriel noted as the Titan of Bokh dodged the initial elbow cut by tilting his body backward and then sidestepped to avoid a powerful knee strike.
“Is he afraid of these sword-like elbows so much?”
That was very uncharacteristic of the man who up until now finished all his fights with an overwhelming offense. But perhaps he painted him as too much of a boogieman in his mind, when in fact he was still just a human. And what kind of human wouldn´t be afraid of getting cut even if he was used to punches and kicks?
“Well, obviously not this human…”
The Professor sighed for himself just three seconds later as out of nowhere, Namkhai rushed forward with his hands outstretched in what looked like a poorly planned tackle. At the moment almost everyone, Gabriel included thought that he overreached, as Goalan countered almost immediately, with a downward elbow strike aimed at the back of the Titan´s neck. It was a perfectly executed knock-out blow but surprisingly it didn´t work as in the last second Namkhai dropped even lower, hitting his opponent´s hips with his palms a split second before the elbow hit the base of his neck causing almost no damage.
{Shidekh}Advanced version of the previous technique, during which Namkhai will charge forward as usual, however, instead of using his arm to ward off possible counterattack, he will go even lower with his stance, reaching forward with both of his arms, to hit his opponent´s hips to disperse the power of their counter before it can land. Then, with their muscles forcibly relaxed, Namkhai will lift them up in the air and throw against the ground with all of his strength.
Surprised, Goalan didn´t even manage to put up a proper defence, when Namkhai lunged forward to get a better grip, raised him high in the air, and threw him against the ground with his full strength, rising a large cloud of sand into the air.
„What the…is that guy indestructible?!“
Hariyama exclaimed, expressing verbally what Gabriel just thought for himself. What he just witnessed shouldn´t be possible. Although Namkhai got to him first, that little push against Goalan´s hips shouldn´t be enough to put the experienced boxer out of balance so he should definitely feel that hit but instead, it was Saw Pang who was lying on the ground unconscious while the Titan was celebrating his third victory in a row.
“Maybe, or perhaps there is some trick behind it…”
The Professor muttered, going back and forth through that moment in his mind, trying to figure out what he saw. There was no muscle tension that would point towards some variation of body hardening technique, so what was that…
His line of thought was interrupted by Python who started announcing the second round just as Namkhai returned back to the waiting room and the paramedics carried his opponent away.
“And now! With the first fight behind us, let´s all welcome the protagonist of our second match! Ladies and gentlemen, please applaud Suzuki Miyazawa and Gabriel Moon!”
Hearing his name, the Professor raised at his feet but paused as Kiozan grabbed his shoulder.
“Hey and don´t forget if you win you have to celebrate with the crowd.”
He grinned, making Gabriel smile as well.
“Yeah, I´ll try to remember it.”
Professor Moon nodded, walking into the arena to meet with his next opponent.
Unlike many other fighters, Suzuki was only of average height being shorter than even the Professor, however, his athletic body packed some serious musculature and dozens of scars, that together with his bright red mohawk were giving him quite a wild look.
“Ready to die?”
He asked just as Python was ordering them to take their stances.
“No, not really.”
The Professor answered truthfully.
“AND FIGHT!”
Gabriel vs Suzuki
Expecting his opponent to jump forward to create a distance between the two of them for his ultimate technique Gabriel lunged forward sending a strike against Suzuki´s solar plexus but to his surprise, the experienced fighter didn´t move an inch. Instead, he intercepted Professor´s strike, pushing it away from its target.
Frowning, Gabriel tried to shorten his stance to improve his mobility, but Suzuki was already at him, with a swift rush of punches, forcing the taller fighter into the defensive. With his stance less than optimal, it didn´t take much time for Professor Moon to lose his balance, which was a moment the other combatant was waiting for. Rotating his body into a side stance, Suzuki lunged forward, sending Gabriel flying with a powerful elbow strike.
“Hey, did you really expect me to be a one-trick pony like these other guys?”
He asked sarcastically.
“Well hate to break it to you buddy, but that wind strike is just a trick I learn to impress ladies. The truth is I am just a master of basics, that´s why I never lose!”
He boasted, earning a huge cheer from the crowd, while the Professor was climbing back at his feet With a hand at his chest where the strike landed. It hurt like h*ll, but fortunately, nothing was broken…yet.
Seeing him back at his feet, Suzuki immediately rushed forward, trying to punch Gabriel´s head. Still, a bit shook by the previous hit he only barely dodged as the knuckles on Miyazawa´s fist swiped across his face.
Trying to press his advantage the shorter fighter lunged again, repeating the same elbow strike from before. This time the Professor managed to dodge in time, but Suzuki seamlessly changed the pattern of his attack into a rising elbow strike, forcing Gabriel to retreat another step if he didn´t want to be knocked out.
{Phantom Step}
Using the essence of Swiftness in his basic walking techniques, Gabriel can hit the ground beneath his feet more than ten times in a blink of an eye, gaining the ability to run with a blinding speed for a short period of time. This allows him to cover a lot of ground quickly, just to avoid an incoming attack or reposition himself during combat.
Using the essence of Swiftness in his basic walking techniques, Gabriel can hit the ground beneath his feet more than ten times in a blink of an eye, gaining the ability to run with a blinding speed for a short period of time. This allows him to cover a lot of ground quickly, just to avoid an incoming attack or reposition himself during combat.
Hitting the sand under his feet dozens of times in a blink of an eye, Gabriel managed to not only dodge the incoming elbow but also to create a distance between himself and his opponent, just to catch his breath and readjust his stance.
“High-speed movement huh?”
Suzuki grinned, twisting his body to the right while keeping his palm close to the chest ready to strike.
“But that just means you are in the perfect range for WIND STRIKE!”
As he yelled these two words, he punched forward, creating a powerful blast of compressed air, that rushed toward Gabriel, who had no other option than to dodge again.
“Phantom step.”
Moving with a blinding speed, he rushed to the side, dodging the incoming blast only to find out, that Suzuki adjusted his position to be able to fire another one.
“Too predictable!”
He yelled, shooting another of his Wind Strikes.
“S*it, like this I´ll just tire myself out, I have to close the distance…Phantom Step”
The Professor cursed at his own mistake, dodging the second strike but this time rushing towards Miyazawa instead of simply dodging his attack.
“I told you you are predi…”
The shorter fighter grinned, as he tried to smash Gabriel´s face with an elbow strike but stopped mid-sentence when the Professor blocked him by turning his shoulder into that strike, returning the favor with an elbow strike of his own.
“Son of a…”
Suzuki cursed blocking the strike with his forearm before trying to get his knee in, only to hit another block from Gabriel.
“Impossible!” Ladies and gentlemen, I honestly don´t know what to tell you right now! Exchange this fast from zero distance, that´s not something you´ll see every day!”
Both men were trading blows back and forth much faster than should be possible for mere humans. Suzuki was mainly on offense, using his elbows and knees in a manner similar to Goalan´s style of boxing, while Gabriel was more on the defensive, diverging his attacks away from his body while trying to find a space while trying to find enough space to unleash his own technique.
They were locked in this breathtakingly fast exchange for a nearly whole minute until Gabriel finally noticed an opening, moving his nearly relaxed arm under Suzuki´s guard to touch the center of his chest.
“Dragon Palm!”
Creating a sudden wave of power, that went through his whole body to the palm, Gabriel sent Suzuki flying across the arena crashing him hard into its walls.
“F*ck, so that´s how you sent Zion flying…”
Miyazawa cursed as he slowly climbed back to his feet, visibly shaken by the impact, while Gabriel was trying to catch his breath as the previous exchange took a lot from his reserves.
“Not, bad, not bad at all. Perhaps you are more than a guy with few fancy techniques!”
He yelled, charging heedlessly against the Professor. Gabriel didn´t rush anywhere. He just adjusted his stance, while focusing most of his attention on his breath to regain as much energy as possible.
“Well, I´ll take that as a compliment.”
He muttered, twisting his body to the right to avoid a shoulder strike, that carried the energy of Suzuki´s charge.
With such speed, Gabriel expected his opponent will have trouble stopping at the sand and so moved to get into his back but was surprised when the shorter warrior not only managed to stop in time but also managed to unleash an incredibly swift barrage of punches in his direction.
“What the…”
The Professor cursed as while lacking some of their previous power each and every one of these punches was incredibly fast, almost enough to overwhelm even Gabriel´s abilities to react and defend himself.
“Hohoho, that´s some old-fashioned way to throw a punch!”
Python exclaimed.
It took Gabriel a few more seconds before he realized what was going on. His shoulders! Suzuki was using a high-speed rotation of his shoulders to throw a consecutive barrage of strikes without putting his whole body into it.
“So, you can keep up with my Grinder? So, what about this one?!”
Suzuki boasted, throwing another straight punch. The Professor moved to deflect it however just as his palm approached his opponent´s wrist he dipped in his knees, waving the whole body in a way that changed the straight strike into uppercut that collided with Gabriel´s chin.
That strike was so strong the lights went out for a moment and when he came back to his senses a moment later Gabriel realized he was staggering backward heedlessly, desperately trying to catch his balance. Suzuki immediately rushed forward, scoring another two blows, one at the Professor´s face and the second one at his abdomen, trying his best to capitalize on the chance he got.
Hurt and confused, Gabriel swung his arm heedlessly, trying to chase his assailant away and create some space to put himself back together, but the only thing he managed to do was get his arm captured and then twisted into a perfectly executed lock, that forced him into a deep bow to avoid any serious injury.
“Sh*t”
The Professor cursed, pretty much expecting this would be the end for him, but instead of breaking his arm or finishing off, Miyazawa only tightened his grip while boasting.
“See, told you to have no chance of winning.”
He grinned above him.
“There is a difference between the two of us you know. While you were in your cozy home studying all these fancy techniques I fought in real matches. That gives you something no training in the world can reproduce, no matter if it´s done by the Ravens or anyone else!”
A sharp pain was shooting through Gabriel´s arm from the wrist to the shoulder forcing the primitive parts of his brain to try their best to find the way out of the trap he got himself into even if it means using tricks, he will otherwise consider despicable.
As his opponent was talking the Professor moved his free arm, reaching down to grab a handful of the sand below him, throwing it across his shoulder with all his force while moving his head down to protect his own eyes.
“Thanks for the tip.”
He muttered as Suzuki cursed, letting go of his arm to clear his eyes from the sand Gabriel threw in them.
“SH*T SH*T!”
As his opponent was trying to back away, desperately rubbing his face, Gabriel turned around getting ready for a strike. His right arm wasn´t seriously injured but stiffened after being locked for so long so he had to go with his left.
{Dragon Fist}
Starting in a deep stance, with one arm slightly forward and the other back, near the waist, the user briefly relaxes their body, only to create a wave of power, that starts in their stance foot and pass through the knee, hip, torso, shoulder, elbow and finally fist in a perfectly linked and coordinated whip-like punch. Because each joint is adding extra torque and acceleration to the strike maximizing its virtual weight, the resulting strike is almost as heavy as if it was thrown by a giant.
Starting in a deep stance, with one arm slightly forward and the other back, near the waist, the user briefly relaxes their body, only to create a wave of power, that starts in their stance foot and pass through the knee, hip, torso, shoulder, elbow and finally fist in a perfectly linked and coordinated whip-like punch. Because each joint is adding extra torque and acceleration to the strike maximizing its virtual weight, the resulting strike is almost as heavy as if it was thrown by a giant.
It felt strange to throw his technique from the opposed stance but while the timing was slightly off it still hit the shorter fighter with a weight that was nearly comparable to a strike thrown by a fully grown giant, sending him across the arena again. Leaving a deep imprint of Gabriel´s fist in Suzuki´s chest.
“Well, that was quite the low blow!”
Python announced as Miyazawa fell to the ground unconscious.
“But it didn´t break any rules so the winner is…Gabriel “The Professor” Moon!”
Some laughed at Python´s joke, but most people just cheered for the victor. Remembering Hariyama´s words, the Professor raised his arm, but the truth was he had no reason for celebration. He won, but not thanks to his own skills, but because of his opponent´s hubris. Gabriel found what he was looking for. The limit of his current abilities, but suddenly didn´t know how to feel about it. Especially with two more rounds in front of him and at least one opponent whom he ranked above Miyazawa.
“What do you think you were doing out there?!”
As he entered the changing room, Niko moved in front of him to block his path.
“Wasn´t I clear enough? You won´t lose till I beat the secret of Mura out of you in the finals understood?!”
He growled, forcing the exhausted Professor to focus on the outer world and not on what was going on in his head.
“Yeah…”
He muttered as Hariyama was making his way towards them.
“Hey, no fighting outside the arena remember? For you to make it to the finals it means you would have to beat me and that´s hardly happening!”
He pushed the bronze-skinned warrior away from Gabriel, earning that man´s angry glare.
“We´ll see tomorrow!”
Niko growled, walking to the arena.
They wouldn´t, because despite all his boasting and clearly superior physique the tribal warrior was no match for Sakon and his precise strikes. While at the beginning it looked like Niko was the one with the advantage thanks to his defensive technique, it didn´t take long for the assassin to outmaneuver the large fighter as he waited for Niko´s attack only to duck under it and counter with a single knock out body blow that sent the giant of man across the whole arena, with a deep imprint of Sakon´s fist in his chest.
Niko
That was the last fight of the third day and so the remaining fighters, Gabriel included, only waited for the announcements of tomorrow’s matches before leaving the dressing room. Some to meet with their fans and sponsors, others to their team. And as for Gabriel, the Professor decided to use the fact that Beast was in the capable hands of his manager and headed to the infirmary. Taking a small detour around his room to pick up a scroll he wanted to show to the patient.
“Oh great, you came all the way here to mock me? Go ahead, I deserve it.”
Already conscious, Niko growled as he noticed Professor Moon approaching his bed.
Gabriel said nothing, looking around until he found a free chair, taking it to the patient´s bed, so he could sit next to him.
“It was a great match.”
He smiled, earning nothing but an ironic snort from the bronze-skinned warrior.
“Sure, it was, that´s why I ended up here with six broken ribs without hitting that a*shole at least once. What do you want Moon?”
Answering Niko´s question with one of his own Gabriel said
“Your surname, that Python was using when introducing you, Kauri, it´s not your surname, right? It´s the name of your tribe.”
This time the tribal warrior flinched.
“So, you finally remembered where you stole your techniques?”
There was a lot of bitterness in his voice, but the Professor didn´t seem to take it personally.
“I didn´t steal anything, but I have a book from a martial artist and adventurer that describe your tribe and techniques used by their guardians.”
Kauri´s eyes widened.
“You have what?”
He snapped, trying to raise his elbows, only to curse and fall back on his bed.
“A book.”
Gabriel repeated.
“Well, technically it´s not a book per see, but rather a collection of scrolls each describing one of his adventures, wait…I have it with me…”
Muttering, the Professor reached into his bag, pulling up a large scroll. A few moments of rolling later he put it on Niko´s bed, showing him these paragraphs that were detailing his family´s techniques.
But if he expected gratitude or even happiness, he was quite mistaken.
“You have to be kidding me!”
The bronze giant snapped again, alarming his nurse that rushed to his bed, only to be dismissed by Niko´s gesture.
“This is just some superficial description. There are no training routines nothing! And you really think I´ll believe you managed to learn it from this?”
Gabriel shook his head in response.
“No, not from this. But you see, similar concepts are appearing in many martial arts across the world, so I cross-referenced it with other sources and managed to recreate what you call Mura. Well technically not only it but Wei and Hau as well. Although the latter two are only a theory. Well, were only theories. Originally, I thought these techniques would be useless in a real battle, but then I saw you using Wei and was quite impressed by the results so…”
Niko looked at him speechless.
“You…you recreated three of the sacred huānga from books?”
The Professor nodded as if it was something obvious.
“Well…yes. I mean, I can teach you if you want.”
The bronze skinned giant looked at Gabriel almost as if he couldn´t believe his own ears.
“You can teach me?”
He asked carefully, almost as if he couldn´t believe what he just heard.
“I…ehm…”
Niko cleared his throat.
“I really acted like an a*shole and…in our world techniques like that are close guarded secrets, so…”
He stopped as the Professor waved his hands accompanying this gesture with a wide smile.
“Well in that case it´s a good thing I am a history professor and not really part of that world of yours.”
Gabriel said in half joking manner before continuing.
“No, but seriously you have nothing to apologize for. That frustration when you are desperately trying to complete a technique you know should work but the exact execution is eluding you would rob anyone of their manners. Beside the history teacher in me thinks it´s only appropriate to return your cultural heirloom to you.”
For a moment Niko watched him with his jaw dropped before he started laughing regretting it almost immediately as the sharp pain from his broken ribs quickly reminded him that he was far from being healthy.
“Unbelievable, you are simply unbelievable.”
He growled through the pain chasing away the conserved nurse with a wave of his large hand.
“I heard from some guys that you are quirky but this…this is simply too much.”
Confused Gabriel tilted his head to the side unsure whatever it is supposed to be positive or negative comment, but Niko already continued.
“Alright Professor, you won this one. No matter how these upcoming fights will go you gained yourself a new student. But don´t think I´ll take any gifts from you. The spirits of my ancestors would curse me and my descendants for such ungratefulness. You have my thanks and a promise that whenever you´ll need me, I´ll be there.”
The tattooed warrior offered Gabriel a firm handshake and the Professor accepted waiting for a few moments before finally getting up on his feet.
“Very well, you can keep this scroll for a while, but I should probably return to my room before Myra starts looking for me.”
Nikko´s grin.
“Aaah, that Raven girl, I have to say you found yourself a pretty capable girlfriend.”
The Professor paused for a moment, before shaking his head in disagreement. The way people were speculating about the nature of the relationship between him, and Myra was getting really tiresome. As if it was really so hard to believe that they were simply friends that got into all of this by an incredible string of accidents.
“Nothing like that. We are just a friends.”
Niko made a surprised face.
“Oh really? I would swear I heard her brother…never mind.”
Gabriel turned pale. He still had in living memory that unfortunate conversation he had with Isaac and which he suspected will haunt him for a long time. Unfortunately, that was something that had to wait as he had more pressing matters to deal with, and the number one was his match with Namkhai which was scheduled for tomorrow.
Truth be told, he didn´t feel very motivated to take part in it. After all, he fulfilled his main goal in this tournament and found the limit of his abilities. Not to mention that the Titan was scary as hell. He would lie if he said that he didn´t think about giving up and retiring more than once, but this short exchange with Niko reminded him why he couldn´t do it. Even though he was tired and battered from his previous fights. Myra was relying on him. The young lady Raven bet her reputation on him and he simply couldn´t betray her trust like that. Not after what happened with Mustang. And so tomorrow he would get there and do his best to win. Even when his chances were nearly non existent.
Raising his hand to bid Niko a firewall, the Professor turned around and walked outside the door.
“Yeah, getting your bones broken because of damsel in distress that´s so much like you…”
Gabriel muttered to himself with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. This whole thing reminded him of the way he met with Sarah although frankly speaking, he would trade four wannabe gangsters for Namkhai any day of the week.