KABUKICHO ICHIBANGAI
It was in a blind spot in a forest of neon signs,
the shadow of buildings that nobody would usually pay attention to.
But somehow, at that time, he glanced in the direction.
In a small open space behind the buildings,
a mortal combat was about to begin.
Are they going to have a fight?
Fighting against such a big man, he'll get himself killed.
You're insane.
Had you observed me more carefully,
you'd have realized I'm not a decent man and much stronger than you are.
But you picked a fight with me.
I'm sure you're not sane.
He is absolutely right.
Huh?
You're stronger than me?
Don't talk nonsense. Just show me how strong you are.
Big shit.
What? Seriously?!
Now he's a dead man.
I'm totally right.
You're insane.
The big man looked just like the guardian God Nio.
In fact,
the guardian God was sitting on his back.
What's that body?! He's like the Terminator.
There is no way he can beat that monster down.
He's used to fighting as I thought.
Too fast! How can a huge guy like him move so fast?
That's not it.
His advantage is...
He crushed the concrete wall with just one kick!
I knew it. Those are iron-plated boots.
I really don't want to get those kicks.
There's no way he can win.
A slender handsome guy easily beats a man of gigantic build?
That always happens in fiction. But...
Fantasy like that has no chance to exist in the real world.
Hey...
Stop running around.
This is the fight you picked.
-Now it's your turn-- -Okay. Here I come!
Son of a bitch!
He's injured.
Now you understand...
Which one of us is the challenger, huh?
Well, well...
I'll get the power of his punch...
fully turned back on him.
Wow.
Your arm is completely dislocated.
I can still--
Still what?
You're wrong.
You've been finished already.
He...
He won!
It's done.
Y-- Your name...
May I have your name?
The question just came out of his mouth.
Though the man was as young as his sons,
the highest respect for a stronger male clearly arose in his heart.
Ohma Tokita.
Mr. Ohma Tokita...
And...
your name is?
Oh, you're...
asking my name?
I'm...
I am Kazuo Yamashita, sir!
You're Kazuo Yamashita?
Okay.
Then...
you want to fight, too?
What?!
What pressure!
This can't be a joke.
He's serious.
I'll be killed.
I can't breathe...
No.
You don't?
That's disappointing.
Kazuo Yamashita, 56 years old.
He is a serious, married man with two sons.
The man who in the prime of his life never drunk, gambled or paid for sex,
slept with a woman that night for the first time in 15 years.
What urged him was...
the instinct of self-preservation.
Exposed to an extremely murderous atmosphere that he'd never experienced,
his instinct immediately sensed the great danger of life.
Feeling cornered, he chose instinctively to preserve the species
as soon as possible.
Therefore, he ended up being engaged in reproductive activity.
However, he never knew what caused him to do it.
KENGAN
NOGI PUBLICATIONS
Yamashita.
You're below quota this month, too.
I sincerely apologize for it.
I'll make it next month for sure.
KAZUO YAMASHITA NOGI PUBLICATIONS, NOGI GROUP
"Next month"? You say the same thing every month.
HIROSHI MATSUI NOGI PUBLICATIONS, NOGI GROUP
To be honest, your words are not very convincing.
Chief is picking on Mr. Yamashita again.
Dumping all the bothersome tasks on to Mr. Yamashita, Chief does nothing.
-Are you listening to me? -Yes, of course!
I have no excuse.
Darn it! He's just a kid who got his job through nepotism.
If I were as strong as that man,
I would treat this jerk like this!
Am I stupid?
I'm bowing because I can't do that.
Sorry to disturb you.
President!
If you needed me, you could have called me to your office.
FUTOSHI HOSOME NOGI PUBLICATIONS, NOGI GROUP
It's not you whom I want to see.
Yamashita.
Someone special wants to have a private word with you.
Visit him immediately to ask what he needs.
Huh?
Um...
Is it really him?
Oh, man...
What kind of mess did you make?
Sorry?
NOGI GROUP HEADQUARTERS
Thank you for taking your time.
HIDEKI NOGI, CHAIRMAN OF NOGI GROUP
Sorry to bother you while you're busy.
No problem at all, sir!
A mere cog of one of the subsidiaries is summoned
by the chairman of the group companies?
What on earth did I do?
Conflicts.
What do you think is the best way...
to solve a conflict?
To solve... a conflict?
Right.
The word "solve" is simple, but we have millions of ways to do it,
such as by mediating, negotiating, and persuading.
The most effective one is...
by using violence.
U-- Using violence?
You bear down on your enemy with violence which overwhelms them.
That doesn't solve a conflict itself.
You're right.
Of course, violence could be effective as a safety system,
but that's only when the violence is under control.
We can gain nothing from disorganized violence.
That would only result in unstoppable tyrannies.
In 1715, although the Edo period was such a peaceful age,
the bloody conflicts among merchants existed at all times.
What they desired was the highest and exclusive privilege as a merchant:
to be a vendor to the Imperial Court.
They used every possible way, such as threat, conspiracy or assassination...
to kick their competitors out of their business field.
The chain of violence had expanded so widely...
that even the merchants themselves had no way of controlling it.
The world was about to descend into pandemonium.
The times needed some rules...
to control the fighting.
Ietsugu Tokugawa, the 7th shogun,
summoned the merchants at the center of the troubles,
and he gave them an order.
If you want to settle a fight, you should have a clean showdown.
It was such a simple and straight suggestion from a child.
However, nobody among them
could come up with this simple answer.
As you wish.
Order was brought to violence.
The merchants organized an association through which they held a match
when there was a conflict of interests among them.
The rule was quite simple:
a one-on-one battle, unarmed.
The highly skilled fighters hired by both sides
fought each other on behalf of the merchants
until the winner was announced.
In due course, violence was developed into a martial art.
One of the association members was my ancestor.
Nogi Group owes him its current prosperity.
So what?
What's the point of this story?
Do you understand why I'm telling this story to you?
The story is not just an old tale.
It's a traditional fighting method still practiced by merchants today.
Oh, no... Are you joking?
It's too hard for me to believe it.
He seems so serious.
Was he telling the truth?
Even after Japan has been modernized, the merchants have handed down
this duel system for generations to solve their conflicts.
Setting your hopes on the fighter's fists is the meaning of...
"kengan match."
What's a kengan match?!
In fact, we're going to have a match in a few days
with some other companies over a specific right.
But we have a little problem.
The man we originally hired is unable to join the match for some reasons.
We need to look for another fighter, quickly.
Oh, no...
Are you telling me to fight?
That's not a bad idea.
Unfortunately, that won't be necessary.
As soon as we started recruiting a new fighter,
a man came to us and offered himself.
We decided to leave this match up to him.
Here he comes.
Unbelievable! Is he going to be the substitute fighter?
Let me introduce our fighter to you.
He is Ohma Tokita.
OHMA TOKITA AFFILIATED FIGHTER OF NOGI GROUP
Good to see you again, Kazuo Yamashita.
It's my pleasure to see you again, too.
What a miraculous coincidence!
Oh, you two know each other?
That would be even more convenient.
Kazuo Yamashita.
I'll assign you to take care of him.
Tokita.
If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask him.
All right.
Why don't you have a meeting to discuss the future plan?
Details will be announced later.
Was it really a good idea...
to trust that man?
The one who beat Komada is probably...
I believe that's him.
That's why I hired him.
How many people in the world do you think can take Komada down?
Ohma Tokita.
We were very lucky to find him.
What about the other one?
Kazuo Yamashita.
KAEDE AKIYAMA, SECRETARY TO THE OFFICE OF CHAIRMAN OF NOGI GROUP
He's just an employee of one of our subsidiaries.
Why did you tell him what a kengan match is, sir?
We have plenty of other people better at taking care of the fighter.
Well...
No special reason.
Excuse me?
Don't get so annoyed.
I assigned him not only for support, but also to keep an eye on him for safety.
That's all.
It doesn't explain why you chose him, sir.
Is it because you don't want to tell me about it?
Ohma Tokita.
I'll find out...
what kind of man you are.
Please... please wait!
What's wrong, Kazuo Yamashita?
Why does he call me by my full name?
Mr. Tokita. You should decline his offer.
Fighting a duel is a crime.
How could Chairman Nogi think such--
Hey, first of all...
let's go eat.
Yes.
"Let's go eat."
Spoken by him, such a simple phrase like this
sounds so violent that it's impossible for you to resist.
In Ohma Tokita's dictionary,
the word "reconsidering" doesn't even exist in the first place.
SEVEN DAYS LEFT UNTIL THE KENGAN MATCH!
Good morning, everyone.
I am Kazuo Yamashita.
I've been working for Nogi Publications for 34 years.
At age 56, I'm still in my most productive years.
"Having a fulfilling private life,
I'm satisfied every day."
That's not my case.
Your breakfast...
is here.
That's my older son, Kenzo.
If I'm right, he'll turn 25 years old this year.
Since junior high school, he's been shutting himself away from society
up until now.
The last time I saw his face was two years-- No, three years ago, maybe.
My younger son has got rebellious since he dropped out of high school last year.
He's hanging out with bad friends.
He only comes back home to steal money from my wallet.
My wife ran away from us ten years ago.
I still don't know why she dumped me.
I only have this house on a small patch of land left
with the mortgage to be paid for 15 years more.
This is just where I'm going to die.
Is this here?
I think I followed the map correctly.
So this is really... Ohma's house?
It's an abandoned building, isn't it?
Of course, it's broken.
Excuse me.
Ohma?
Have I come to the wrong place?
Ohma.
Are you home?
The floor has completely rotted away.
What was that?
What's going on?
I'm coming in.
Ohma.
Blood!
Stay away, murderer!
What are you doing?
Oh?
Ohma.
What are you doing? You are badly injured.
I'll call the ambulance right now.
Ah, this?
It's not mine.
I was removing blood.
What? Removing blood?
Yeah, from that.
"That"?
You're such a noisy guy.
Sure you don't want any?
Oh, I'm sorry.
I'm not hungry.
That's a shame.
Just look at that extraordinary body!
Aesthetically speaking, it's top-ranking anatomy.
It's like an ancient Greek statue.
Hey, what am I thinking?
I don't have that kind of preference at all.
By the way, Ohma.
How on earth did you get that boar?
I killed it.
Killed? Why did you do a thing like that?
"Why"?
What else do you normally eat?
You kill something to live.
That's correct.
No matter how much civilization advances,
our nature will not change.
Now we enjoy the end product only.
Paying no attention to the procedure which surely exists.
We kill and eat to live, just like he does.
What a straight and simple answer!
But simple words can directly convey the true story.
I see the reality in it.
Ohma's words are definitely true.
Hey.
Kazuo Yamashita.
You brought your buddies today?
Pardon?
What?!
What a mess.
How can you live in such a dump?
Who are those people?
What do you want?
Soliciting? No thanks.
I'll take care of this.
Don't interfere.
All right.
I see it... a fighterâ€™s spirit.
Wait. Hold on a second.
Is it possible that he is Ivan Karaev?
You know him?
He's a Russian kickboxer who's been standing out recently.
What is he doing here?
Nothing personal.
This is just business.
You're going to have to stay in bed for a while.
PREVIEW
Extraordinary techniques and gifts of heaven.
A strong enemy beyond human rules
stands like a wall before Ashura.
The crisis level is immeasurable.