In the waiting room, Retsu Kaiou was meditating, trying to warm his body, optimizing his condition to the maximum.
Doppo Orochi and Katsumi Orochi also stayed beside him, waiting in silence since they wanted to see this match, however...
"Retsu-san, why did you decide to do this match? I don't think that he's worthy of having a match with you!"
A young man around his 19 to 20 seemed to be unable to accept that Retsu had decided to have a match with a 15-year-old boy.
If Shishio saw this young man, without a doubt, he would realize that this young man was the son of the strongest creature on earth and the main character of "Baki," Hanma Baki.
Baki just couldn't understand why Retsu, the person that he respected, would choose to fight against a young man at 15 years old, just based on the rumor. Even Tokugawa-jii was also so excited to watch this young man, which made him feel quite unacceptable.
Baki still remembered his first time entering the Underground Arena, and he had to beg Tokugawa before he slowly rose to become the champion of this place.
However, Shishio Oga was different since everyone begged him to fight, and even Tokugawa made an exception giving him a reward just to have a fight on the Underground Arena, even though the rules of the Underground Arena had stated that there wouldn't be any rewards that would be given to any fighters who fought on the Underground Arena.
Baki just couldn't understand why everyone seemed to worship this 15-year-old man, and he felt that they were too exaggerated.
After all, Shishio Oga is only a 15-year-old boy!
How strong can a 15-year-old be?
Baki also didn't think that someone who was younger than him could be stronger than him, especially when he recalled the fierce training that he had endured in his childhood, and even so when he was in 15-year-old, he didn't think that he could defeat Retsu Kaiou, the master of Chinese Kenpo, the martial art with the history of 4000 years.
Baki knew how strong Retsu was, and he just didn't understand why Retsu would decide to fight against this 15-year-old boy.
"Just stop this fight! I don't think that this boy is worthy of fighting with you!"
Doppo and Katsumi also shared the same feeling as Baki, but they also knew how stubborn Retsu could be, so they didn't say anything. After all, as martial artists, they also had their own pride. They also thought that they were the strongest, which was why they felt that Retsu's fight against Shishio Oga was stupid!
After all, everything was based on rumors, and there was no video of the fight between Shishio Oga and Kanoh Agito. Everyone could only hear the story from the people who watched the match since it was forbidden to record what had happened on the Kengan Match. It might be that the people on the Kengan Match might have exaggerated their words so everyone would know that there was a genius that appeared on the Kengan Match.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtBaki, Doppo, and Katsumi felt that it was just hype, which wasn't worthy of Restu's attention!
Still, even though they thought it was hype, the owner of the Underground Arena, Tokugawa Mitsunari, was the one who set up this match and he even begged Shishio and even gave him a house as long as Shishio agreed to have a match on the Underground Arena, which made Baki, Doppo, and Katsumi feel inexplicable.
After all, they also knew Tokugawa Mitsunari's personality. They knew how much this old man loved to watch a fight and how much obsession that he had along with the pride that he maintained the glory of the Underground Arena, which was why this match between Retsu Kaiouh and Shishio Oga made them confused.
However, they felt that this fight wasn't worth it, and they felt that it was better for Retsu to cancel this match.
Retsu opened his eyes calmly, staring at Baki in silence before saying, "Baki, the world is unfair. Shishio Oga might be an existence that matches Yuujiro Hanma and someone who is born to be strongest so before Shishio Oga reaches that level, I want to defeat him."
Retsu's words were clear, and he told Baki that the existence of Shishio Oga was similar to the existence of Yuujiro Hanma.
Yuujiro Hanma is the strongest creature on earth!
Even Retsu didn't think that his 4000 years of Chinese martial art could defeat Yuujiro Hanma. Instead, Yuujiro had shown that he was capable of defeating the greatest and renowned Supreme Grandmaster of Chinese Kenpo, the Kaiou of Kaious and current champion of the Raitai Tournament over the last century Kaiou Kaku.
In Retsu's mind, Shishio Oga's existence was similar to Yuujiro Hanma. So before Shishio Oga reached the level of Yuujiro Hanma, he wanted to exchange a fist with Shishio Oga.
Retsu might have hidden his feelings before, but he also had similar feelings as Tokugawa Mitsunari since he also wanted to be part of the next strongest creature on earth. He had enough of everyone who talked about Yuujiro Hanma and all and wanted Shishio Oga to become the strongest creature on earth, especially when he had heard that Shishio Oga's proficiency over "Bajiquan" had reached an extremity level.
Retsu knew that learning "Bajiquan" was very, very difficult since the objection of this martial art was to become one with the universe.
Chinese martial arts had a history of 4000 years, and in those years, there were a lot of things that had gone missing. The only thing the people in the present could do to get all of that knowledge was through their teacher and ancient documents retrieved from various locations. Even so, it didn't mean that all of the knowledge of Chinese martial arts could be collected, and it was also impossible for someone to master the 4000 years of Chinese martial art, considering how limited their time was.
Human time is limited.
There are only 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 30 days a month, and 365 days a year.
On average, humans can also live for at least 70 to 80 years before they pass away, which means, on average, humans can only lie for 25.550 days to 29.200 days.
But even so, the time they could spend training is limited since they also need to spend their time sleeping, eating, and doing other things in life.
With that limited amount of time, it was impossible to master Chinese martial arts that had a history of 4000 years.
If someone wants to master it, then there is only one answer, and that is talent!
Without talent, it was possible for someone to do something by working hard, but it might take a very, very long time. However, if someone with talent worked as hard as those without talent, then without a doubt, the result that they achieved would reach the level that someone couldn't imagine.
Restu knew that he had talent, and that was also the reason why he was able to inherit the name "Kaiouh" from his master. However, he also knew that his talent was small, compared to the vastness of this world, especially when he had seen the strongest creature on earth, Yuujiro Hanma. He felt the brutality of that man's talent was something he couldn't even imagine in his life. If he had to give a metaphor, then it was like explaining a mathematic in front of a baby and an adult. He was a baby, and Yuujiro Hanma was an adult. There was no need to compare them to each other. Yuujiro Hanma simply crushed him.
However, when Retsu heard Shishio's name, he felt that he saw a ray of hope to show that the Chinese martial art was the strongest martial art on earth!
If Yuujiro Hanma decided to learn Chinese martial art, then it was all good, but Retsu knew that man was too arrogant to learn it and believed in his body that no one in this world could defeat him.
However, Shishio was different since Retsu had heard that Shishio could defeat the strongest champion of the Kengan Match, Kanoh Agito, by using "Bajiquan."
Shishio was only 15 years old, and he was capable of learning "Bajiquan" to the level where it was enough to defeat Kanoh Agito.
Retsu was sure that Shishio would become stronger and stronger in the future, especially when Shishio learned Chinese martial art. His talent was limited, but Shishio's talent was limitless. Even though it might be a rumor or an exaggeration, or even if there was only a 0,00001% or less chance that Shishio was as strong as the people said, he wanted to fight Shishio! He wanted to see Shishio become the strongest creature on earth!
Even though Baki might be a champion of the Underground Arena, his brain was relatively slow to process other things that weren't related in a fight, so he didn't understand Retsu's words, but he just didn't really like Retsu's words. "What do you want to say?"
"I mean, Shishio Oga has a chance to defeat Yuujiro Hanma," Retsu said straight without hesitation, staring at Baki.
"......"
Baki stared at Retsu with a dumbfounded expression.
"......."
Baki cleaned his ear, tilting his head as if he had misheard something.
"......."
Baki knew that Retsu was serious, and he didn't mishear anything.
"......."
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmBaki laughed so hard and said, "Are you serious?" He felt that he had heard the biggest joke from the beginning of the Big Bang.
Retsu didn't say anything and kept staring at Baki.
Baki raised the corner of his mouth and asked, "You're not serious, right, Retsu-san? Do you think that 15-year-old boy could defeat that monster?" Even though he wanted to revenge his mother and also harbored a deep hatred toward Yuujiro Hanma, he also respected Yuujiro Hanma's power, and he was also proud that he was Yuujiro Hanma's son.
Yuujiro was Baki's target.
Yuujiro was the only person in this life that Baki wanted to defeat.
Baki worked hard his entire life, bleeding and even almost dying so he could defeat Yuujiro.
However, Retsu easily told Baki that Shishio Oga's existence might even match Yuujiro Hanma?
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Baki shouted loudly, asking that question once again. His face was covered in anger when Retsu told him that Shishio could match Yuujiro.
"I'm not kidding," Retsu said calmly.
However, Baki didn't have any patience to talk with Retsu anymore and angrily walked out of the waiting room.
Retsu didn't shake his head and didn't say much since he had naturally expected this result.
"Retsu-san, I think that your metaphor is a bit too much, right? I know that you like Shishio Oga because he has practiced Chinese martial art, but you don't think that this Shishio Oga can defeat Yuujiro Hanma, right?" Katsumi asked in a joking tone.
Doppo didn't say anything since he was also the person who had tasted the terror of the Yuujiro Hanma, so he felt that Retsu's words didn't have a basis, and Retsu was simply joking.
Retsu didn't say anything about Katsumi or Doppo's remark. Instead, he continued to meditate and closed his eyes again since his match was about to start soon.
'Shishio Oga...'
Retsu really wanted to have a match against Shishio as soon as possible.
Still, if Shishio watched their confrontation in the changing room, then he only had one comment.
Unexpectedly Baki had a big daddy complex.