02x08 - Praying Savage

[bunniefuu]

[dramatic theme music playing]

[Japanese rock music playing]

[woman singing in Japanese]

[music ends]

[ominous music playing]

- [man 1] He's up!
- [man 2] Look at him!

[man 3] I thought the fight was over!

Chairman! Get away!

[Baki grunts]

[Retsu] I knew it.

[groans]

[Katsumi] All right, Pickle.
I've had enough fun.

[dramatic music sting]

Take me, then. Go on and take my life.

Chairman, no!

[whooshing]

So, what do you think, Pickle?

- [growling softly]
- [Katsumi] Do I taste good?

No!

[Katsumi] I'll honor the bargain.

Having come this far,

I don't expect to get out of this alive.

You've won. Eat me.

Not just my arms.

Not just my legs.

Not just my head.

All of me.

[shocked gasping]

[Payne whimpering]

[Retsu] Hmm.

Oh!

[footsteps approach]

[Baki] He's just gonna lie there
and let himself be eaten!

[snarling sadly]

[thundering footsteps approach]

[groaning]

[Mitsunari] Forgive me, Pickle,

but this is not the age of the dinosaurs.

I cannot allow it!

- [tranquilizer g*n c*ck]
- [gasping]

- [tranquilizer g*n c*ck]
- [gasping]

You must be tranquilized. I'm sorry.

Huh?

- [dramatic music sting]
- Doppo!

- [gasping]
- Director?

It's really him!

Order them to put those g*ns down!

[whimpering] Huh?

Really, Noble Elder, you surprise me.

Were you actually about to do something
that would bring shame on my son?

Uh...

It may not have been spoken,

but there was a promise made
between Katsumi and Pickle.

You have no say in this.

And no right to interfere.

My son will keep his promise!

- [dramatic music sting]
- [gasping]

[Pickle growling softly]

[narrator] Throughout all of history,

and across all races,
cultures, and creeds,

there is one gesture
common to all of humankind.

[rumbling]

[narrator] The forces of nature
are often beyond human comprehension.

But when faced with forces
they cannot understand or control,

humans display an incredible humanity.

When encountering unfathomable evil
or inexplicable kindness,

humans, for some reason,
bring the palms of their hands together.

What lay on the ground before Pickle
was a trophy of w*r,

but it was given by a friend.

Though he may have been a savage,
he was a human.

Though he was a primitive human,
he was this man's friend.

[crowd gasping]

[narrator] To be challenged. To fight.

To win. To eat.

Be attacked. Fight back.

Battle.

Win.

Eat.

In that age of constant battles,

there was no scarcity of food.

There was no lack of opponents
from whom he could take.

He was fighting
the heaviest of heavyweights,

and he held nothing back.

He took from those who were far larger
and more powerful than he...

and it made him proud.

Here he had faced a new
and different kind of enemy.

An enemy smaller than he.

He kicked with small feet.

Landed blows with small hands.

He had no claws, fangs, or venom.

He should have been weak.

But his attacks
had been staggeringly powerful.

Neither that one's fangs,

that one's horns,

nor that one's stomping power
were any more formidable.

Some things can be understood,
even without the language to express them.

Pickle sensed that this small male
had done a great thing.

Pickle didn't know the word "sacrifice,"

but he understood
the essence of what it meant.

Through his own strength of will
and enormous effort,

this man had turned himself
into a powerful fighter,

despite his small hands,

despite his small feet.

[yelling]

[narrator] Even without knowing the words,
Pickle knew this about Katsumi.

He had transformed
those small, soft things

into fangs, horns, and claws.

Such an achievement must have been
a priceless treasure to the man,

but it was a treasure
he had willingly offered up.

Effort, sacrifice, weakness,

transformation, friendship, treasure...

Without knowing a single word,
he understood.

For the first time,

Pickle chose to withdraw
from the b*ttlefield

with an empty stomach,

his body filled instead
with a strange feeling of contentment.

[growling softly]

[men grunting softly]

Uh. Huh?

What's wrong?

Uh, where...

Where is everybody?

When did they leave?

[narrator] Of the 55,000 members
of Shinshinkai who had filled the stadium,

not one of them had left.

They were all still there,

but every one of them was on his knees.

Unable to bear the thought of looking down
on their fallen leader from above,

they had all, as one,

without any spoken command,
fallen to their knees.

By bowing their heads
and averting their gaze,

they showed their devotion and respect.

[men grunting softly]

[narrator] Baki was filled with regret.

[scoffs]

I never thought
you'd get to fight him before I did.

[narrator] It was a petty remark,
made out of jealousy.

Who would have thought
that this spoiled, frivolous man

could blossom into
such a noble and inspiring leader?

Doppo was proud of him.

For even though
they were not tied by blood,

they walked the path of father and son.

Doppo suspected that it was he himself
who had set Katsumi on this path,

when he told him
of Sea King Retsu's defeat.

[Katsumi] Sir, I think maybe
you're the one who doesn't get it.

The way you think about it,

not underestimating us is
the same as underestimating us!

[narrator] At that moment,

he had sensed something in his son
that he'd never sensed before.

[Doppo] He's trying to change.

I was right about that.

That was one hell of a change.

- Where is Pickle?
- Hmm.

- [distant growling]
- That's him right now. Don't you hear it?

Like a howl of pain coming
from the bowels of the Earth.

[guttural howling]

[Mitsunari] Pickle may appear
to have been uninjured

but clearly this battle left a deep wound.

[guttural howling continues]

[Retsu] This is Chinese tea.

It's my own blend.

All right. Smells good at least.

[slurping]

Ah, very nice.

[Retsu] In Chinese tea,
the leaves are fermented.

That's what makes the flavor more robust.

It's robust, all right.

Your Gyokuro tea
just doesn't do it for me somehow.

I'll make you a cup.
You'll change your mind then.

And then there's bancha and sencha,

to say nothing of hojicha.

All delicious.

I...

I realize this may sound rather strange,

considering that you've suffered
the loss of your arm...

It's very annoying, but...

I envy you, Katsumi.

I won't pretend to be humble.

It's true,

I can understand a martial artist's envy
of the way I fought.

I admit I am.

[Katsumi] Of course,
it goes without saying

I didn't accomplish it without some help.

There was the two of you, for example,

Sea King Retsu and Sea Emperor Kaku.

And all our many predecessors in China,

Okinawa, and Japan

who, for thousands
upon thousands of years,

never once stopped evolving and improving.

I know now that the breath and spirit

of thousands, millions
of our forerunners live on within me.

And they will keep on living
for all of eternity.

It was they
who really fought that match with Pickle.

I was merely there to represent them.

But you still didn't win,

did ya?

- Hey there.
- How dare you?

No, no.

Baki only said what needed to be said.

Baki.

You can say that I didn't have
what it takes to score a victory,

but you can't say I didn't give it my all.

I'll never fight a greater match.

So, tell me,
you think you've got what it takes?

[breathing shakily]

Oh, definitely.

It was a strange sight.

The man was merely
walking down the street,

and yet all around him,
people were stopping in their tracks,

staring at the man
in fear and uncertainty.

But why, when all he was doing
was walking along?

[tense music playing]

[narrator] Imagine a young impala.

He's alone,
walking through the African savanna,

when suddenly

and unfortunately for him,
he comes across a young cheetah.

The cheetah can accelerate from zero
to over 68 miles per hour in four seconds.

It is a pro among pros.

The impala instantly
senses his misfortune.

His situation is so desperate

that his entire body freezes, trembling,

and he can't take a single step.

It was a similar thing
that was happening here.

These people didn't know the man's name.

They'd never seen him passing by before.

They didn't know a thing about this man.

but sixty trillion cells
in their bodies reacted

before their minds could even
tell them why.

[people whimpering fearfully]

I'll go out on a limb and assume
you haven't come here to fight me.

No, I was just hoping
we could have a little talk.

[Yujiro] Because of what I said?

[Doppo] Yeah. Looking back,
I can see that's what started it.

If you hadn't ever said what you said...

See that's why no one
wants you around Katsumi.

Not me, not Baki,
not even your own damn father.

That was when my son decided

that'd he'd try to change his ways.

Just tip it back and sip it slow.

[barman gasps]

Hmm?

[whimpering]

[gasping]

[Yujiro] Even a cat can become a lion.

For a pampered,
good-for-nothing little punk,

you gotta admit he did pretty well.

But now that you've brought it up...

[grunts angrily]

...Doppo Orochi,
you made a crucial mistake with him.

[barman gasping]

Yes, I did. You're right.

So, you know it too, then.

I was far too lenient with him.

Yes, that's perfectly obvious to me now.

Makes me ashamed of myself to think of it.

- You there.
- Oh, uh, yes? Yes, sir?

What would you like?

Port Ellen single malt ten-year-old.

Uh, yes, sir. Right away, sir!

[breathing shakily]

Uh, how would you like that, sir?

Straight up or with ice?

Just hand me the bottle.

[gasping]

[whimpering]

He's going to drink s 140 proof,
thousand-dollar bottle of scotch

like it was a two-dollar lite beer?

[gulping]

[barman gasping]

[Yujiro grunts]

So, you agree you were too soft on him?

That's right.

I was so busy
being dazzled by his progress,

that I forgot myself.

Watching my son grow
and develop in leaps and bounds,

seeing how easy it was for him
to make such phenomenal progress,

I forgot my duty to him as a father.

and I forgot my duty as a martial artist.

We must never be lenient,
not even to our own flesh and blood.

I've preached that lesson myself.

It's a fundamental principle #
of the martial arts.

But that didn't stop me from getting soft
and sentimental as I watched him grow.

The iron discipline of karate?

Don't make me laugh.

- [exhales slowly]
- [barman whimpers]

[choked breathing]

Doppo Orochi...

[barman coughing]

...what's important is
now you've admitted it.

[dramatic music sting]

Buried deep beneath the ground
under Colorado, in an old salt mine,

a discovery was recently made.

A warrior from the past,

frozen there for 190 million years.

And now this ancient warrior has
been revived in the modern era.

Well, Doppo?

Don't you think that signifies something?

You there. Pen and paper.

Right! Coming right up, sir.

Pickle was asleep
for 190 million years, right?

If we divide that by 50,

which is the number of years
any of us can fight effectively,

give or take a few years,

then we're talking about

one in three million
eight hundred thousand.

Aha. I see.

Saying that something has only

a one in 1.38 million chance
of succeeding,

well, it's almost like saying
it has a 0% chance, right?

So essentially, we're talking about
something that will never happen.

Which means I see this number

as a provocation.

A challenge.

We should be glad to be alive.

It feels like
powerful forces must be at work

to have made such a thing happen.

Yeah, it's someone or something up above.

And it's telling us
that this is our chance

to finally determine
who is the strongest of all time.

[Baki] This is unbelievable.

It's never happened before.

I can't picture him at all,

not even the vaguest shadow of him.

Whoa...

Man, you're gonna be one bad-a*s opponent.

Where the hell are you?

Why can't I get a clear picture?

After all, I've seen him with my own eyes.

How could I forget?

Those strong, savage hands.

Legs like steel springs
that make him move like lightning.

Those eyes,
lit by the flames of primeval times.

That jaw, that mouth,
overdeveloped canines.

The way he moves when he fights.

But still,

I can't get a clear picture
of him coming in for the attack.

Why can't I see it?

[eerie music sting]

Huh?

Oh, hey, Retsu.

A-ha.

Your monster factory.

Just as I imagined, it's pretty basic.

Training, eh?

More like getting taught
a very tough lesson.

That I'm not even close to
being the equal of that savage.

Just how strong is Pickle?

Don't know And Katsumi doesn't either.

Oh wow, that's great.
Even the guys who fought him don't know.

Sad to say,

but neither one of us

gave him enough of a fight
to draw out his full potential.

- [Baki giggles]
- Huh?

[chuckling]

[Retsu] Hmm.

I'm not sure
how much more of this I can take!

[gasps]

I mean, can you believe this?

I'm gonna get
to go in the ring and slug it out

with an unfathomably powerful opponent!

Like you said,
we haven't even seen his full potential!

We don't know how strong he is
or what he's capable of doing!

Well, now we'll find out

'cause I'm gonna get to fight him!

[shocked gasping]

[sighs angrily]

[Retsu] Well, I see you're mentally ready.

I'll speak with Tokugawa tomorrow
and make the arrangements.

- [Baki chuckles]
- Hmm?

What needs arranging?

I don't want to wait that long.

So tomorrow morning,

me and Pickle are gonna
settle this once and for all.

[gasping]

[Retsu] Baki,

this may not be
something you want to hear,

but looking at you just now...

...I saw in you your father, Yujiro Hanma.

It felt as if I were talking
to the Ogre himself.

[Baki grunts]

[cracks knuckles]

Ready to go a few rounds, caveman?

[snarling playfully]

[dramatic theme music playing]

[music fades out]