Muay Thai

"So this guy converted all the muscles body. What do you think about it?" Ohma said resting; back on his phone, back on his bed, while being back in his room. "Don't you have a similar muscle structure?"

"My muscle structure is because of genes and my grandfather's training since the day I was born," AJ replied from the other side. "But a grown man converting all the muscles- that's crazy."

"Do you think that would be possible for me?" Ohma.

"I mean you already have excellent muscle control with adamantine kata-"

"Yeah, but can I take it to the next level?"

"It's not impossible in theory, changing all the already developed muscles," AJ said. "Enough knowledge about the Human body to be a doctor for being able to plan out this training. The resources and materials to be able to devote 20 years to something like this. And most importantly, the mental discipline to be able to adhere to this specific training regimen every day nonstop for that long a time without even knowing if it'll work."

"Well, I was wrong about one thing." Shirou leaned back in his chair. "This guy is way beyond an Iron Master."

"Yeah, and if it's true that all the other Masters are at a comparable level of ability, you can only imagine what kind of training they've gone through as well." AJ pointed out. "And whether or not it's as insane."

"Yeah, just imagine it…" Ohma whistly stared up at the ceiling. "You were right about this place. This place is really helping to accelerate my training speed. I think my joints, muscle and bones have reached the level I can finally achieve that technique I have been working on."

"Ashura Shot?"

"Yeah, Ashura Shot. I am going to try it out soon."

"Also, remember what I told you."

"Don't let their idealistic crap get to me."

***************

It was a quiet morning at Ryozanpaku Dojo as Apachai stood tall and prepared to strike. In front of him were a total of eight stone statues craved by Akisame that were being used as training dummies. Shigure stood at the side to watch the results.

"Begin!" Shigure raised her hand.

"APA!"

Upon that signal, Apachai rushed in and attacked the statues. Punch, kick, knee, elbow, a barrage. Apachai unleashed the full force of his Muay Thai on the statues.

"APA! APA! APA!"

After one last strike, Apachai stopped himself and dashed past the statues. He then looked back to see the results.

CRACK!

Apachai became nervous when he heard that sound.

BREAK!

It was at that moment that all the stone statues broke apart and shattered to pieces as they were all reduced to piles of pebbles.

"APAAAA!" Apachai yelped in horror and dismay after seeing what he had done.

Akisame was watching from the porch and sighed. "They should have asked if they could use my statues."

Miu walked by while holding and laundry basket and stopped by Akisame.

"What exactly are they doing other than making a big mess?" She asked curiously.

"Well, it was supposed to be an exercise in self-restraint," Akisame explained. "

"Hate to say it but I don't think it's working," Miu noted.

Apachai then got down on his knees and was loudly berating himself with regret.

"Stupid! Stupid! Apachai don't know how to not kill the opponent!" Apachai cried out, ashamed at himself. "My fists won't listen to my brain!"

Shigure went up to him and pointed to his left. "…Hey, look…"

"Apa!" Apachai looked and saw to his amazement that one of the statues remained unbroken and undamaged. "It lives! Apachai didn't kill it to death!" Apachai cheered as he started jumping for joy in celebration while Shigure stayed beside him and stoically clapped. "I did it! This is the first time I made broken pieces of everything in my way! I can now teach Kenichi Muay Thai without killing him!" He raised his fist in triumph as he shouted into the sky. "APAAAAA!"

CRACK!

Unbeknownst to Apachai though, Shigure noticed a crack appear around the statue's neck.

************

The next day at Koryuu High School, it was now lunch break and the students were enjoying their free time outside of their classes. As for Kenichi though, he and Miu were enjoying their lunch on top of the school building. They sat on the upper part of the roof which was the top of the roof's entrance beside the water tank.

"Man, this sucks." Kenichi let out a tired sigh. "How much longer am I gonna have to sneak around like this?"

"You just need a little more training. Once you're able to show those bullies who's boss you'll be able to relax." Miu reassured him.

"Hold on, so you're saying I can't relax until I've fought every bully in school?" Kenichi asked miserably.

"Well, either that or until someone else defeats everyone in Ragnarok." Miu summarized not seeing the problem. "Whichever comes first."

Kenichi's head drooped forward in dismay. Miu still smiled at him and went on.

"They haven't been able to find us up here so you can relax a little." Miu reminded him.

Suddenly a hand appeared on the edge of the upper part of the roof as a person was climbing up the ladder. Miu immediately sensed the approach of a person nearby and sprung into action as she started backflipping to the ladder.

"This training is really starting to wear me out," Kenichi complained before he noticed Miu rushing forth. "Miu?"

Once Miu arrived at the ladder she tried to stomp down on the hand of whoever was there, but they moved their hand to the side faster than she could step on it, when she tried to kick down on their head, they used their other hand to grab her kick and stop her.

"Stop Miu! Please!" Niijima who was at the bottom of the ladder shouted at her to snap her out of it.

"Huh, Niijima?" Miu finally became aware of herself and looked to see that the one who stopped her kick and was right beneath her was Ohma. "Ohma?"

"Hey, Miu." Ohma casually greeted her. "You really need longer skirts."

When she heard those words she suddenly realized that standing right above his head beneath a ladder gave him a clear view of what was beneath her skirt and she quickly pulled back her leg and pulled down the hem of her skirt with a blush of embarrassment.

As Ohma arrived on top of the roof with them, Niijima soon climbed up to join them as well.

"Well, your hair-trigger reflexes are on the mark as usual." Niijima noticed as he greeted Miu, he then looked to Kenichi. "You can run but you can't hide, Kenichi."

Kenichi cringed when he saw him. "Well, I wouldn't have to hide if people like you would just mind your own freaking business. Besides, how did Ohma get in here?"

"This school need better security, you of all people have no right to say that." Ohma reminded him.

Kenichi looked away. "Ah, never mind." He then had an annoyed expression as he thought of Niijima. "Every time I get Miu alone, he shows up."

Niijima then started to snicker. "There are severe implications to my discovering your hiding place. If I can find you so can Ragnarok." He informed him with a smug expression.

"Yeah, except you didn't find him, I brought you here." Ohma pointed out.

"Oh, details, details." Niijima waved it off.

"What?! Why would you bring that freak of nature here? Also, why are you here?!" Kenichi loudly complained.

"He wanted to know where he'll find you in exchange for a fifty percent discount for info exchange," Ohma answered as though it was obvious. "And you need to hear it too."

"Ha! I've got info everyone needs, even Ragnarok trusts my intelligence." Niijima bragged.

"What's that supposed to mean? Are you their spy or something?!" Kenichi accused him.

"I'm not a spy, I just work the angles." Niijima casually defended himself. "But I recommend you find a new hiding spot. Information is a valuable commodity and this hiding place of yours should fetch me plenty of worthwhile intel in return." He said with an evil smirk. "Don't worry though, you'll be long gone and safely hidden in some new spot by the time they come looking for you. This con should work a few more times before they catch on. Hahaha."

"Wow, I guess you really do know how to work the angles, don't you?" Miu noted, almost impressed.

Kenichi looked completely irked. "Forget about all that, just tell me about the new intel you got."

"Ah yes, the information on Ukita the Thrower and Takeda the Puncher." Niijima brought out his PDA. "I've got it all right here."

With that, they all sat down and looked at the screen on Niijima's PDA. First, he typed some stuff down and made Ukita's face and data appear onscreen.

"Alright then, this fellow here is Ukita Kozo. He was expelled due to his highly competitive and aggressive nature." Niijima explained. "His speciality is the shoulder throw which he used on a teacher who flunked him. Technically his fighting index is around 80. By compression Kenichi's is just around 62, hope that gives you a good idea of how strong this guy is." He elaborated.

"Come on, you can't rate a fighter's ability with statistics," Kenichi argued.

Miu looked at him with a pleased expression. 'I'm so proud of him, he's finally getting it.'

Ohma seemed to disagree though. "That's up for debate. If the statistics are based on their physical limits, the feats they've performed, and their win-loss ratio, then they can at least give you a general idea of their ability."

"My thoughts exactly, but the worst of your worries is another Senior." Niijima changed it so now Takeda was onscreen. "Takeda Ikki. Not only is he ruthless but I hear he's a former Lightweight Boxer."

"He's a Boxer?" Kenichi gasped in shock.

"So, he's a Pro?" Ohma asked, more interested than worried.

"Yep, he's a professional fighter," Niijima confirmed. "Word is he was the premier rookie until he dropped out of the league."

"That's why his punches looked so sharp." Ohma thought back. "But, there was still something weird about how he thought."

Kenichi lost his composer and started shaking Niijima by his shoulders. "What's a guy like that doing fighting for Ragnarok?!"

"How should I know that?" Niijima replied after Kenichi stopped shaking him. "What makes any man give into dysfunctional life? It happens all the time, no matter the cause you know the effect and that's all you should be concerned with."

"What do we do?!" Kenichi cried out in dismay.

"We need to do what we always do," Ohma told him. "You need to calm down for once and think of how you are going to handle this. But for now, let's head to the Dojo." He decided as he went for the door.

"But Ohma, we have our afternoon classes?" Miu reminded him.

"Who cares?" Ohma responded as he left.

*****************

As the three of them arrived at Ryozanpaku, while they were walking on the porch to head for the training hall, Ohma noticed something strange on one of the nearby trees.

"Wait a minute, what the hell is that?" Ohma questioned as he pointed.

The thing he was pointing at was a straw voodoo doll that was nailed to the tree.

"Oh yeah, Apachai keeps doing that," Kenichi explained. "He takes a weird voodoo which he says is me and nailing it to that tree s supposed to be a good luck charm."

"Isn't that basically a curse?" Ohma argued.

Kenichi groaned. "I know, personally the whole idea of voodoo creeps me out. But he did say it would protect me." He then smiled. "He's actually a pretty nice guy, you know?"

"Yeah, I've gotta agree with you." Miu smiled with him. "He's one of the nicest guys that I've ever met. He just doesn't know how to control his own strength." She joked.

They then opened the sliding doors to the training hall. To their surprise though, Akisame, Kensei, Sakaki, ad Apachai were in the centre of the room, standing in a circle and all of them were giving off an intense aura as though they were preparing to attack.

"They look so intense, what are they doing?" Kenichi thought as he felt a chill.

"Now, Rock!" Akisame shouted.

"Paper!" Kensei shouted.

"Scissors!" Apachai shouted.

[GO!] They all shouted together.

"Oh wow! This is the most extreme game of rock-paper-scissors that I've ever seen." Kenichi said taken aback.

With that, the four of them stuck their hands out a revealed which choice they made in their rock-paper-scissors match. The result was; All of them chose rock while Apachai chose scissors and thus Apachai was the winner.

"Ha, there's goes my theory of strategy," Akisame commented with a laugh.

"Tch, yeah." Sakaki clicked his tongue with annoyance.

"Apachai just stuck his hand out without thinking." Kensei figured.

"Apachai never won a paper hand game before!" Apachai cheered happily.

"If you guys hadn't kept changing your hands this wouldn't have happened!" Sakaki accused Kensei and Akisame.

Kenichi clenched his fists and became frustrated with them. "I'm glad you're having a good time, but we're in some serious trouble over here."

"Well, that's up for debate." Ohma didn't seem to mind them playing around.

"We weren't just playing some stupid game! Moron!" Sakaki snapped at him angrily. "WE WERE TRYING TO DECIDE WHICH ONE OF US IS STUCK WITH TRAINING YOUR SCRAWNY ASS NEXT!" He roared.

"Your playing rok-paper-scissors to decide who's going to train me?!" Kenichi yelled angrily while banging his hand again on a support beam.

"Oops." Sakaki immediately realized his mistake.

"Sakaki, I thought we had agreed to keep that one our secret?" Akisame reminded him.

"I'm confused, I thought the training order was decided by a rotational schedule?" Ohma pointed out.

"Well, some of us got bored of waiting for our turns so we decided to try it like this for today," Kensei explained.

"Kenichi! Ohma! Apachai the lucky one to train you next!" Apachai celebrated, still excited.

"Gah—" Kenichi was about to scream and bash his head again.

Fortunately for him though Ohma stopped him by grabbing him by the back of his neck. "Would you stop throwing a hissy fit already?"

"This could be a good thing though, Muay Thai is very effective in competitive fighting," Miu informed them. "And it'll definitely help Kenichi prefer for that Boxer."

"A Boxer?" Akisame zoned in on that information. "That's quite a dilemma."

"Uh, yeah, that's why I'm freaking out right now," Kenichi admitted.

"What? Why are you freaking out; you still have some time to prepare?" Ohma asked confused.

"Well, what if he decides to fight me tomorrow?" Kenichi pointed out nervously. "It could happen."

"Well, assuming you only have a short time to prepare, Muay Thai is your most reliable option," Akisame stated, agreeing with Miu.

Kenichi looked up at Apachai with a serious expression. "Is that true, Apachai? If we start learning Muay Thai do you think we'll be able to beat him?"

Apachai excitedly locked his fists together. "Of course, you can! Muay Thai is the best way to kill a Boxer!"

"I should trust him." Kenichi thought with a smile. "Throughout all my failures, he's continued to believe in me. He trusts me so I'm gonna trust him." He then walked up to the tanned giant and held out his hand. "Just try and take it easy on me, okay?"

"Of course, I will!" Apachai exclaimed happily as he clasped Kenichi's hands. "I'll take it easy on you as the mountains are high and the oceans are deep! The statue didn't die so you won't either!"

"What statue?" Kenichi asked concerned. "Okay Apachai, you're kinda hurting my hands, you can let go now."

While they were talking, the same statue that Apachai was training with that was the only one that didn't break cracked even more until the head fell off. Fortunately or maybe, unfortunately, Miu was the only one who noticed.

Later, everyone gathered outside as Kenichi changed into a Muay Thai outfit. Just as he finished wrapping bandages around his arms and legs, he put on a pair of boxing gloves to complete the outfit.

"Ohma, I thought you were going to go first?" Miu noticed him standing by the porch.

"Nah, Kenichi needs this more than me," Ohma told her. "Besides I'm not interested in learning the basics of Muay Thai considering I already know them."

"Kenichi! Are you ready?!" Apachai shouted.

"Yeah, ready as I'll ever be…" Kenichi answered, sounding unsure.

"Muay Thai is the art of barehand man-killing!" Apachai told him loudly. "It'll help you kill your way out of any fight!"

"But, I don't want to kill anyone…" Kenichi quietly argued. "I just want to protect my body against a Delinquent… So that everyone is all safe and sound if possible…"

"Hahahahaha!" Ohma just laughed at that.

"You don't have to laugh you know!" Kenichi snapped at him.

"Yeah, I think I do," Ohma argued, still amused. "Even if you ignore the fact that you're learning Muay Thai—One of the most brutal mainstream Martial Art there is, can you name even one time you have dealt with Delinquents that didn't end someone being horribly beaten to a pulp?"

"It could happen… Probably… I hope…" Kenichi sounded less sure with each word, he then looked back at Apachai. "So Apachai, can you just teach me how to defend against him?"

Apachai then got in his face as he sneered as held back his eyebrows to create a sharp glare. "You think about complicated stuff like that after your opponent is dead! Use your thinking for killing or it will get you killed" He said in a fake voice. "That was my impersonation of my Master!" He finished with a smile. "So, were you scared?"

"I'm starting to have second thoughts about this," Kenichi muttered.

"Apachai, before getting into technique training, why don't you explain the history of Muay Thai first?" Akisame suggested.

"Well…It was invented for killing people." Apachai summarized.

"Knock it off with the killing talk will ya!" Kenichi snapped at him.

"Well, he's not wrong, Muay Thai is also called the Art of Death," Ohma informed him.

"Don't tell me that!" Kenichi complained.

Akisame coughed before explaining things himself. "Muay Thai is a Martial Art that was originally developed to train soldiers in the protection of the Siamese Kingdom—Before they became known as Thailand… I believe that is what Apachai meant to say."

"Yes! That is what Apachai meant!" Apachai shouted with enthusiasm.

"It sounds like it was created as a very practical means of defence." Miu joined the conversation.

"Not exactly. Muay Thai's main purpose is complete offence. The original Masters used it not only on people but used it to defeat savage animals in the wild." Ohma explained, correcting her. "A Muay Thai Master is capable of using any part of his limbs for killing blows"

"Yes, that's right! My Master would tell me a story from long ago!" Apachai went on with excitement. "When King named Naresuwan was captured by soldiers of his enemy! But they told him if he could defeat their Strongest soldier they would let him go free! But not only did he defeat the best fighter! He also defeats all their fighters and returns to his country! And of course, he beat them all using Muay Thai."

"Ah! That's awesome!" Kenichi couldn't hide his excitement. "Okay, I'm sold, please teach me!"

"Great!" Apachai and Kenichi cheered together. "I first teach you Tan Garde Muei! APA! APA! APA!"

Ohma smirked, also impressed by that story. "Guess Naresuwan wasn't a King in name only. Though, it only makes sense that the King of the birthplace of Muay Thai would know it himself." He then looked over at Apachai. "But, I'm guessing Apachai left out the part where he not only beat his opponent but also killed him."

"True, I doubt Kenichi would be so gung-ho if he learned that little detail." Akisame agreed.

After the two of them calmed down, Kenichi and Apachai stood side-by-side as they prepared to begin.

"So, what is this Muay guard ten thingy?" Kenichi asked.

"Tan Garde Muei!" Apachai corrected him. "It is the basic stance of Muay Thai!" He demonstrated.

Kenichi fixed his stance so his arms were up and his legs were shoulder-wight apart. "Like this right?"

"That's it! Now Soku!" Apachai shouted as he threw an elbow strike. Kenichi did the same as Apachai continued his lesson. "The use of knees and elbows are very important in Muay Thai!"

"Which in fact is rather rare as most contemporary Martial Arts have banned the use of knees and elbows in tournament fighting," Akisame informed him.

"Really?" Kenichi was unaware of this. "How come?"

"If you use them wrong you could KILL your opponent!" Apachai answered.

"Transportation; knees and elbows are the most solid parts of the limbs and have the most crushing power," Ohma explained. "Even kids can do a lot of damage attacking like that and an adult can cause a fatality."

"That's right, however in Muay Thai they specifically focused on these moves." Akisame continued.

"Yeah, and why's that?" Kenichi asked more nervously this time.

"Because if you use them right you can KILL your opponent!" Apachai answered.

"He's not wrong. Among all the sanctioned competitive Martial Arts, the one with the highest amount of death in the ring is easily Muay Thai." Ohma added.

"Uwaaa!" Kenichi cried out as he fearfully cowered behind Sakaki's back. "There's too much killing in this Martial Art!" He whined.

Sakaki's eye twitched with annoyance. "You're never gonna be a man acting like this."

"That's true, you really need to get your act together." Ohma removed him from Sakaki, also annoyed.

At that point, Hayato come out to the porch and joined the conversation as well.

"All Martial Arts are built around the premise of conquering your opponent," Hayato told him peacefully. "Misused and any of them can become simply a means for violence. Their lethal nature is basically a question of conscience."

"Question of conscience?" Kenichi repeated confused.

"If one chooses to use it for his selfish desires then it becomes nothing more than brutish violence," Hayato explained it clearly to him. "However, if you genuinely intend to use it to protect yourself and others and only when it's necessary, then even the most lethal Martial Art can be honourable." Those words sparked a reaction from both Kenichi and Ohma. "You must look deep into your heart and ask yourself—Do you want your skills to bring misfortune and pain to others?"

Kenichi immediately shook his head. "No, of course not!" He insisted.

Hayato smiled. "Then you have nothing to fear from Muay Thai, it's not the technique that harms others it's the desire in one's heart to do so." He assured him. "Now carry on with your training!"

"Right!" Kenichi's vigour was restored.

"APA!" Apachai prepared himself to go again.

Ohma seemly lost interest and started to walk away. Only Miu seemed to notice though.

"Ohma?" She muttered.

Hayato noticed as well as he stroked his beard.