01x08 - The Mad Dog and the Red Wolf

[bunniefuu]

It's making my chest tighten.

What he does is not boxing!

It’s not!

It appears you’ve made up your mind.

Yes.

Very well.

We’ll give them our reply.

Your next title defense match will be against Sawamura Ryuuhei!

If it isn’t Ryuuhei!

Kawabe-sensei.

I’m going to box in a Japanese title match.

Th-The Japanese title?

Really? So you’re finally...

Thanks to you and the boxing gym you dragged me to, I’ll soon have a shot at the national title.

That's my boy! You're doing great!

I’ve been watching your matches.

I believe they call you "The Flash."

"The Flash"?

Oh, you mean my counters?

I could easily win without them.

But with counters, you use your
opponent’s strength against him.

You know what that means, right?

You double the force of your hit.

It also hurts them twice as much.

That’s exactly how a math teacher would think.

You get a different texture.

They don’t feel like normal punches.

I get to chew on their flesh two times over.

I really get the sensation that I’m bashing another man.

Boxers are incredibly stupid.

They actually come over...

and allow me to savor their sinews to my heart’s content.

This sport was practically made for me.

I love it when I get praised for laying someone flat on the ground.

Th-That can’t be right.

You’re praised for your hard work and victories.

You win at boxing by making
your opponent lie at your feet.

By drowning them in their own blood.

I wonder how chewy the national champion’s flesh will be.

Will it be tough? Will it be tender?

I thought having you work diligently among strong men

would reform your spirit that was warped by the
isolation that began after your mother abandoned you.

I really thought

that my friend’s boxing gym would help.

But that boy’s rare gift has caused him to become even more isolated.

What if I put him in exactly the wrong kind of environment

for a hungry mad dog?

You’re really gonna fight him?

I've made my decision!

But what’s your actual plan?

You must have realized by now that your Dempsey Roll has a weakness.

What?

Weakness?

It ain’t good against counters.

Your clockwork horizontal weaving may get you your heavy blows.

But that weaving is about as regular as a metronome.

Anyone who gets that rhythm down and punches

will crush you like a melon.

He’ll feel the Dempsey Roll’s destructive force!

Since today’s boxers rely on rhythm, speed, and
counters, that move no longer amounts to much.

That being said, you still need to be a high-level technician who’s not afraid of the Dempsey.

To my knowledge, the only guy in the nation who fits that description is Miyata.

Sawamura-san said that my Dempsey was pathetic.

I think he’s capable of pulling that counter.

But that move is all I have.

I want to take him down and
beat him with my Dempsey Roll!

The kid finally found his swagger!

The odds are against you, you know.

If I want the odds to be in my favor, I’ll have to think of and refine...

an evolved Dempsey Roll!

Evolved?

Wow!

So how will it be evolved?

I haven’t thought that far.

You haven’t thought of it yet?!

You were just blowing smoke up our asses?!

I-It’ll be fine, as long as I practice diligently.

We have two outfighters who throw counters.

Y-You mean us?

We’re in!

We’ll crush your Dempsey before Sawamura gets the chance!

All right, sparring time!

Okay, I won’t pull any punches.

Sure, no kid gloves here either.

I’m gunning for your Dempsey, so don’t feel bad when I crush it!

Begin!

He’s already doing his Dempsey!

I see, it’s exactly like a metronome.

Tick, tock, tick, tock...

Tick...

There!

Gotcha!

What'd you step back for? Your timing was perfect!

Get outta there, you coward!

You’re up, Itagaki!

I... I can’t!

I got Senpai’s timing down from way over here,

but my spine ran cold when
Kimura-san was about to connect.

Really? You’re gonna puss out too?

That's easy for you to say.

Then why don’t you go up against him?

It’s like sticking your hand inside a box of dynamite.

What?

Now do you get me, Ippo?

It may sound easy to match up your clockwork rhythm and punch you,

but you need technical skills and guts.

If you don’t have both of them, you just can’t do it.

You still need to create a new
Dempsey Roll for Sawamura.

But here’s the fatal rub:

you have no way to train.

You may think up a bunch of strategies,

but without proper training to fine-tune them, I don’t think they’ll work.

They’ll fail just as hard as Takamura-san’s Look-Away—

So you need to think of a workaround,

or else you’ll lose.

Guts, huh?

But what if guts were taken out of the equation?

If there was a way to do that...

Kimura-san didn’t hit him despite knowing the Dempsey’s weakness.

He felt overwhelmed right after they started fighting.

If I can pin down what exactly made him pull back,

we can overcome that fear and use our counters.

You aren’t putting your back into it!

Your thoughts are somewhere else.

S-Sorry.

I get what’s bothering you.

But it’ll take a lot of time to “evolve” anything.

But I’m not going to stand here
and tell you not to think about it.

Hell, you can fret all you want!

But, only when you’re pulling that thing behind you.

Adding new twists and turns to your Dempsey Roll is going to require a whole lot out of your legs.

You will need strong legs

if you want to pull off your new Dempsey once that chance arrives.

Now run, run, and run some more!

Our precious notes!

Th-Those are highly classified! Retrieve them now!

Wait!

Darn it!

What are these?

Oh, it’s just some reports we did on our own accord.

Out of my way!

I-If you need our help...

...y-you can at least ask to borrow them.

Oh, quit your whining!

Right now I need all the help I can get!

They made a detailed report on Aoki-san’s moves!

I’m actually impressed.

Any report on the Dempsey Roll?

I-In the back.

There it is!

“The Dempsey Roll is...”

Where’s the rest?

Why's it left blank?!

I-It was boring.

What do you mean "it’s boring"?! Hurry up and write the rest!

I-If you’re going to complain, then give us back our notebooks.

D-Don’t put your hand beside my head like that!

Team Aoki actually scared me for a second.

That’s right!

Give them back!

You guys come in handy once in a while!

You discovered the secret behind the Dempsey?

Yeah, namely why it’s so overwhelming,

and how to overcome our fear of it.

Say that again?

The keyword is “blind angle.”

That would mean outside the angle?

Precisely.

The Dempsey Roll uses the recoil,

so from our point of view, it looks like he’s running left and right.

After speeding from one blind spot to another, he lands a punch.

He also arches his body as he punches, making it even harder to see where it’s coming from.

That means Senpai’s incomparably destructive punches literally come out of nowhere.

The fear created by that makes us less decisive.

Even if we got the timing down, we’re less likely to throw a counter.

So all we have to do is beat our fear of the blind spots!

B-But how?

It’s simple.

All you have to do is take a half step back.

Once you increase your field of vision, the blind angle punches will disappear.

So treat it like just another hook?

So Sawamura probably...

...figured it out as well.

And I think that’s why he called
the Dempsey Roll pathetic.

Just another hook...

So that’s why it’s so damn easy to throw a counter.

Let’s go now and help Senpai.

We might fail at first, but we’ll eventually land a counter.

You stay put!

You still have your rookie tournament!

You have too much to lose if you make a mistake.

So it’s up to me? I’m not sure I can!

Please, Kimura-san!

Lay down your life, Kimura!

I don’t wanna!

I’m really getting impatient!

I know physical conditioning is important,

but I’m still worried to no end!

I want to do some mock battles!

No way.

It can’t be.

Vo...

Here.

I won’t need them once I return to my home country.

Makunouchi...

Farewell.

I finally found you.

Volg-san!

What are you doing here?!

I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s been a while!

What brings you to Japan?

Is it really you, Volg-san?

S-Slow down! I’m not that fluent in Japanese!

Anyways, I’ve missed you!

You’re not here as a tourist, are you?

So that means...

Yeah.

I’m making a comeback.

Is he the same guy I knew?

At least the sharp glint in his eyes hasn’t changed.

I’m thinking of going to America,

so I’m here to retrieve what's mine.

You mean your gloves?

I still have them! I’ve been taking good care of them!

Thanks.

Why are you so dirty?

I landed here two days ago, but
I have no idea where you live.

Your country is warm enough for me to sleep anywhere, so...

You slept outside?

Come to my house!

Heck, you can stay as long as you want!

Dinner’s ready!

Oh, thank you very much.

This is great! I love it!

You're serving natto?

Natto?

I’m sorry! Here’s some tea!

I-I’m fine.

What were you thinking, Mom?

I thought he never had it in Russia.

Gosh!

I guess I shouldn’t have made it.

Don't start him off with that!

I’m sorry!

Mother.

I’ve had a hole in my heart since the day you left me.

I am now leaving to fill that hole.

I’m returning to the ring.

There aren’t many rings that will take you.

Even your World Amateur Champion title won’t mean much.

You have a tough fight ahead of you.

I’m well aware of that.

I’ll wager everything on my fists in the new land.

The land of freedom.

America?

First, I’m getting something I’ve entrusted to a friend.

I know my passion will rekindle
once I meet him again.

I have no misgivings; I only look forward.

I have nothing to dispose
of or look back onto.

Volg-san?

What’s wrong? Are you okay?

Uh, sorry.

That reminds me, Makunouchi, I have a favor to ask.

Sure thing!

The thing is I don’t know anybody in America.

I don’t know where to go, either.

Y-You were going without a clear destination?

Could you tell me who to look up?

I’ll go ask my coach.

I’m sure he’ll have an answer.

Until then, you can stay here.

I am most grateful!

Amazing!

You took down Sendou Takeshi with that infighting?

Yeah, but here’s my last title defense.

I guess you can call this match a test of endurance...

Oh, sorry.

I lost myself for a minute.

I’m really impressed with that Dempsey Roll.

I’ve been wondering what I would do against it.

So what would you do, Volg-san?

Huh?

That’s amazing!

You do this every night before going to bed?

Yes.

Someone once taught me how to split logs.

Now I’m using this instead.

It builds up my arm strength
and stabilizes my lower body.

I do 100 with each arm, then 100 using both arms.

That makes 300 each night.

Three hundred? No wonder you’re strong.

Actually, I also have a favor to ask you.

Can you be my sparring partner?

You must have figured out the Dempsey Roll’s weakness.

The Dempsey Roll is weak against counters.

I’m going to fight an expert counterpuncher.

But I’m unable to find a sparring partner—

I’m sorry, Makunouchi.

I’m no longer the White Fang you once knew.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been in the ring.

I won’t be of any use to you.

N-Now wait!

You won’t be rusty at all!

You’ve become stronger.

Really, really strong.

Right now, I’m just a fangless wolf.

It will take time to rebuild my body and get back the feel I had for the ring.

Your match will be over by then.

I’m sorry.

N-No, wait.

I’m sorry I brought it up. Forget what I said.

But Volg-san, don’t you dare say you’re fangless.

You’re just hiding them.

Your fangs are just as sharp as ever!

Thanks.

You’re the head coach of Karil, is this a joke?!

I lent you a player whose punches can help you prepare for Makunouchi, and this is how we’re treated?

The bell rang. Hurry up and punch me.

But you’re turned to the side.

He said go! Just lay him out!

Mess around, will you?

You won’t even see my g*dd*mn punch!

That won’t do.

You’re slow.

Makunouchi’s headlong speed is three times faster than that!

He kicked him!

What are you doing?

Damn you! We’re never coming here again!

Good.

He was a worthless sparring partner.

I’m this close to expelling him for good, but wow!

Not only did he not flinch at a blind-angle
shot that was similar to the Dempsey Roll,

he landed a perfectly-timed counterpunch to boot!

The guy’s the worst scum imaginable, but he’s got the stuff of a top boxer.

Coach.

Uh, what?

I didn’t get enough.

I need more meat.

Be sure to bring me more premium-
grade meat starting tomorrow.

Make sure they’re speedy.

Get me pounds of flesh that’ll come at me fast and hard.

You got it. I’ll get some for you.

He probably won’t get his fill.

No matter how many he cuts down before the fight, they'll never satisfy his hunger.

He hones all his other senses with his writhing, insatiable hunger.

The mad dog will bare his fangs
the day of the title match!