Chapter 87: The Final Weapon of Karate
Arms smuggling was a business where you could lose your life at any moment.
In other words, every single one of those dozen mercenaries wasn't a tired deserter, but a desperado backed into a corner!
Facing such a group... he intended to fight them barehanded?!
Itou Kaiji couldn't understand.
He looked blankly at the people beside him—that group of insanely strong monsters. Seeing them unmoved, Kaiji panicked.
"Hey! Why are you just watching? It's dangerous! Those guys might have guns!"
No one answered him. They just watched the scene quietly, unwilling to miss a single detail.
"No matter how many times I see it... that kind of pure strength, unadorned by any lies, is truly amazing."
Madarame Baku couldn't help but marvel, though he couldn't hide his surprise. "But is that karateka really going in barehanded?"
Beside him, Yako Hikoichi, as a representative of "Force," offered his perspective.
"Indeed, there is a consensus among fighters—a high wall exists between barehanded and armed combat."
Yako changed his tone, smiling playfully. "But there is a second half to that 'consensus'."
Baku paused slightly. "What is it?"
Kei added from the side, "If one's skills are exquisite, facing the 'high wall' to be crossed, one can jump over it, destroy it, walk around it, or dig a tunnel under it—"
Baku: "...?"
The famous [Usogui], after all, wasn't a combat expert. He had trouble reacting to such metaphors.
He paused for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed. "Kei-kun, Yako-san... you two are too cunning with your analogies."
Seeing Baku momentarily stumped, Kei and Yako exchanged a smile.
While they talked, the dozen mercenaries had adjusted their state and were gathering together.
Orochi Katsumi continued to stride forward, reaching the first three mercenaries.
"Fuck..."
One mercenary, his face dark, held a military dagger and tried to threaten Katsumi to back off.
But contrary to everyone's expectations, Katsumi just slowly extended his right hand.
The movement was too slow. It wasn't a punch; it looked like he was reaching out to pat an old friend on the shoulder. It didn't even look worth dodging.
Suddenly, Katsumi accelerated. He thrust his fingers into the mercenary's mouth, thumb and index finger pinching the mercenary's front teeth.
"...?!"
Before the mercenary could react, Katsumi yanked hard, ripping the two front teeth out, roots and all!
Instantly, the pain of torn nerves flooded his brain. The mercenary's face twisted in agony.
"Hey, why tell me to back off? Wouldn't it be better to take me hostage?"
Katsumi spread his arms, as if welcoming the mercenaries before him.
"I'm Kakerou's fighter. If you take me hostage, Kakerou will be quite troubled. Aren't you tempted?"
Before he finished speaking, mercenaries on his left and right reached out, and several more rushed from the front, trying to restrain him.
But Katsumi didn't stop. He kept walking forward.
Swish!
Five or six mercenaries exerted force simultaneously, but they couldn't stop Orochi Katsumi. Pushing or dragging, they were forced to move forward with him.
"You bastard—"
A mercenary behind him, enraged, stabbed at Katsumi with a dagger.
Katsumi suddenly turned and delivered a low kick to the man's thigh. It snapped the femur directly. The broken bone pierced the skin, the red and white fracture exposed.
"Aaargh!"
The mercenary's scream made Kaiji and Kaji's blood run cold.
At the same time, another mercenary closed in, slashing at Katsumi's neck with a dagger.
Katsumi raised his hand first, striking the opponent's wrist joint to knock the dagger away. Then, one hand grabbed his right shoulder, the other his crotch.
Both arms lifted simultaneously, flipping the large mercenary over and throwing him directly into the sea.
"Phew..."
Katsumi took a deep breath. Feeling unsatisfied, he shouted at the remaining mercenaries.
"Come on!!!"
Watching from the sidelines, Suedo Atsushi looked at the fighting figure and introduced him to Kei and the others.
"Height 185cm, weight 115kg, extremely low body fat."
"Leg strength: can run 100 meters in under 10 seconds."
"Bench press capability reaches 300kg. His physical attributes surpass modern Olympic athletes!"
"The man who perfectly fits these conditions is him—Orochi Katsumi!"
"And—"
Suedo said in a low, deep voice, "His karate skills are the pinnacle of perfection!"
As expected of battle-hardened mercenaries.
After a brief shock, they realized how dangerous Orochi Katsumi was. They abandoned the mindless charge, creating distance and pulling out their weapons.
But since they had fled here, they didn't have special equipment, only common military tools.
Daggers, entrenching tools, bayonets, and one pistol...
The last one had nothing, so he grabbed a glass wine bottle from the ground.
However, when the mercenaries looked again, Katsumi was gone.
"Where did he go?!"
The mercenaries looked at each other. Suddenly, one exclaimed, pointing at his comrade. "Hey! Behind you!"
The comrade turned around, his vision going black as he crashed into Katsumi's chest.
While the mercenaries were regrouping, Katsumi had moved first, using the cover of night to rush into their ranks.
The mercenary with the gun tried to aim, but Katsumi grabbed his collar and threw him into another man. Katsumi then kicked the pistol out of his hand, sending it flying into the sea.
Another attacked with a knife. Katsumi turned and kicked.
"Hmph!"
The kick connected with the man's chin. The sound of the jawbone shattering, carried by the sea breeze, was clearly audible.
Seeing this, the mercenary with the wine bottle, intending to sneak attack, froze in place, legs trembling uncontrollably.
"Haha. You don't look like a smart guy..."
Katsumi didn't care. He took the bottle from the man's hand and gently placed it on top of the man's head.
"Don't move!"
Before the words faded, Katsumi suddenly executed a knife-hand strike (Shuto). He sliced horizontally through the glass bottle on the man's head. The cut was incredibly smooth, as if sliced by a water jet, separating the bottle into two perfect halves.
Cold alcohol poured down the man's head, freezing him in fear.
Katsumi followed up with a front kick, sending him flying into the sea.
"It's bottle cutting!"
Suedo shouted, "A supreme technique that can only be used when karate is trained to the limit, turning limbs into blades!"
"Former Director Orochi Doppo only mastered bottle cutting in his thirties, but Orochi Katsumi achieved it at twenty!"
Akimiya stared at the scene, dumbfounded. It looked like something out of a movie.
Breaking a glass bottle was something an ordinary person could do with enough courage, but "slicing" it open with a bare hand? That was a fantasy-level feat!
In Akimiya's memory, looking at active top-tier fighters, almost no one could do such an inconceivable thing!
Imagine... if that sharp knife-hand struck a human neck... how terrifying would that be!
...
Clearly, a mercenary holding an entrenching tool thought the same.
He fled purposefully, heading straight for Akimiya, intending to take the only woman in the group hostage.
But just a few steps away—
SWOOSH!
[Drive Rush • Tetsuzanko] (Iron Mountain Lean)!
Kei charged, combining a sprint with a shoulder check, slamming his back into the mercenary and sending him flying.
BANG!
The mercenary flew backward, crashing into Orochi Katsumi's arms.
"Oh, thanks!"
Katsumi greeted him, pressing the mercenary to the ground while slowly raising his right fist.
Seeing the danger, the mercenary hurriedly covered his head with the entrenching tool. Katsumi couldn't help but laugh.
"Listen, buddy."
Katsumi smiled faintly. "My downward punch (Gedan-zuki) can shatter three concrete blocks. Do you think a mere shovel can block anything?"
Before the mercenary could say anything, Katsumi's fist fell.
BOOM!
After a dull thud, Katsumi slowly lifted his fist. The entrenching tool was flattened against the mercenary's face, blood squeezed out along the edges, a clear fist print stamped into the metal!
Suedo took a deep breath, reminding Kei again.
"Shiraki, watch closely—"
"That is the Final Weapon of Modern Karate—Orochi Katsumi!"