A shadow hangs over Tokyo Dome—and Hanma Baki is falling into it.
After a deliberate loss drops him from Fighter to Apprentice in the underground arena known only as Shadow Line, seventeen-year-old Baki wanders the empty parking garage beneath the dome, haunted by the memory of his mother's death at his father's hands. The pendant against his chest is cold. The truth of that night is colder.
Then a woman in black steps out of the darkness.
She knows about his mother. She knows how she died—an
BAKI IF: Devour the Mother's Love - The Truth of the Killing Fist — The Master's Rebuke and the Woman Who Departs
The cold stone floor pressed against his back. Hanma Baki lay staring up at the dark ceiling, his hands still bound by chains. The wound in his gut throbbed with a dull, persistent ache. He could feel blood seeping through the bandages.
(If I kill that man, she'll tell me my father's weakness.)
Shuzawa Emi's cold voice echoed in the back of his skull.
(If I can't kill him, then Kozue—)
He ground his teeth. The chains clinked. There, on the spot where Emi had stood moments ago, lay a single knife. It glinted dully on the stone floor.
(I...)
His fingertips trembled.
(Am I really going to kill someone?)
His mother's face surfaced in his mind. Her gentle smile. And then—the smell of blood, that night.
(Mom... what am I supposed to do?)
No answer came. He tried to grab the knife, but his fingers wouldn't move. He tried to close his hand around it, but it shook.
Clatter. The knife fell to the floor. The hard sound rang out absurdly loud in the silent hall.
"...Damn it."
His own weakness disgusted him. And then—
*Gogogogo...*
A heavy grinding sound, and the stone door at the far end of the hall slowly swung open.
"—That's enough, Emi."
A hoarse voice, yet it carried clearly. Baki raised his head. A small old man emerged from beyond the stone door. Long white hair tied back, a staff in one hand. A face carved deep with wrinkles. His clear black eyes shone sharply even in the gloom. Kaku Kaioh. A master of Chinese martial arts over a hundred years old. The lord of this Fudragon Cave.
"...Master."
Baki forced the word out. Kaioh walked slowly toward him, his staff tapping against the stone—*tok, tok*. The sound was strangely calming.
"Are you all right, Baki?"
Kaioh crouched down right beside him.
"...Yes. Somehow."
"I see. You endured well."
Kaioh's hand reached for the chains.
"Wait, Master."
A cold voice rang out from the corner of the hall. Emi stood leaning against the wall, the hem of her black coat brushing the stone floor. Her glossy black hair gleamed eerily in the candlelight. Her narrow dark eyes watched them, revealing nothing.
"It's too early to unchain the boy. He hasn't yet faced his own weakness."
"Silence."
Kaioh's voice made the air tremble. Emi's eyebrow twitched.
"...Master, please don't be angry. I'm only thinking of what's best for him—"
"This child is not your toy."
Kaioh tapped his staff against the stone floor—*tok*.
"I knew from the start what you were plotting. Faulkner Group's dog—you've had quite the run of my Fudragon Cave, haven't you."
Emi's expression stiffened almost imperceptibly.
"...Master, what are you—"
"Don't play dumb with me."
Kaioh raised his staff high. Then brought it down lightly.
*Crack*—the air burst, and one of the men in the corner was blown off his feet.
"Guaah!"
The man slammed into the wall and went still. The others scrambled backward in unison.
"H-hiii..."
"You're Faulkner's men, aren't you. Trespassing in my Fudragon Cave without permission—bold of you."
Kaioh's voice was quiet. But that quiet was all the more terrifying for it.
"You mean to turn this boy into a convenient weapon for your purposes. Don't make me laugh. Hanma Baki belongs to no one. I will not allow it."
Kaioh swung his staff again.
*BOOM!*
The shockwave blasted the men off their feet all at once.
"Gyaaah!"
They tumbled screaming down the corridor.
"...Tch."
Emi clicked her tongue softly.
"Master, you're too soft on him. If he's going to defeat that man—Hanma Yujiro—he needs to be forced to confront a harsher reality."
"You're wrong."
Kaioh shook his head.
"What you're trying to do isn't martial arts. It's domination. You're trying to break this boy's spirit, bind him with fear, make him move as you please. Do you think that leads to strength?"
"But the fact is, he isn't prepared to kill. He needs that to beat that man."
"Whether he needs it or not is for this boy to decide. Not you."
Kaioh's hand closed on Baki's chains.
*Clink.*
The chains fell away.
"Can you stand, Baki?"
"...Yes."
Baki slowly pushed himself up. The wound in his gut screamed. Red chain-marks ringed both his wrists.
"Let that man go."
Kaioh ordered Emi. She glanced toward the corner of the hall. There sat a man in a suit, hands bound behind his back, a gag in his mouth, trembling.
"...If it's the Master's order, I suppose I have no choice."
Emi strode over and roughly cut his ropes.
"Run. While you still can."
"Hii... th-thank you! Thank you!"
The man crawled away weeping into the darkness of the corridor.
"...Are you satisfied now, Master?"
Emi looked at Kaioh with cold eyes.
"Satisfied? No. There's still something you haven't told this boy."
"And what's that?"
"Your true objective."
Kaioh stood before Baki.
"Baki. Listen well. Half of what this woman tells you is a lie."
"...Half?"
"Your mother was indeed killed by Yujiro. That much is true. But this woman is merely using that. She means to forge you into a weapon to bring down Yujiro and sell you to the Faulkner Group."
Baki's breath caught.
"...What are you talking about, Master? Emi told me my father's weakness—"
"That was bait. To place you under her control."
Kaioh fixed Emi with a sharp glare.
"The Faulkner Group is an organization that commercially manages Yujiro. They mean to use you to destabilize his dominance. The stronger you become, the more extreme the matches Yujiro will be forced into. That's how they plan to drive up that man's value even further."
Baki looked at Emi.
"...Emi. Is that true?"
Emi shrugged.
"Half of it."
"...Half?"
"It's true your mother was killed by Yujiro. I was there. That's also true. But the reason I'm guiding you is because the Faulkner Group hired me. That's a fact too."
Emi smiled thinly.
"But if half of it is true, what's wrong with using you? You want to know the truth about your mother's death. I want to make you stronger. Our goals align. Isn't that enough?"
"...You've gotta be kidding me!"
Baki shouted.
"I'm not your tool! Don't use my mother's death for your business!"
"Business, huh. Well, you could call it that."
Emi pushed off from the wall.
"But you can't turn back now. You fought killers in the Shadow Ring. And here, you were forced to choose whether to kill. Your heart is no longer that of an ordinary high schooler. Isn't that right?"
Baki had no answer. She'd hit the mark. In that match, he'd touched real bloodlust. And now, the choice of whether to kill had been shoved in his face as cold reality.
"...Even so, I—"
"Even so, what?"
Emi stepped closer.
"You want to be stronger. You want to defeat that man. You'd do anything for that. That's what you're thinking. Isn't it?"
"..."
Baki bit his lip. He couldn't say *no*.
"That's enough, Emi."
Kaioh stepped between them.
"You've done what you came to do. Get out. Don't come near this boy again."
"...Master, you'll regret this."
Emi fixed Kaioh with a cold stare.
"He's already come too far to turn back. I made sure of that. With your teachings alone, he'll never reach that man. And you'd still coddle him?"
"I'm not coddling him. I'm guiding him properly."
"Properly? On the path of martial arts? Don't make me laugh. The martial path is nothing but a world of kill or be killed. I was only trying to teach him that. In a way far more practical—and far more certain—than yours."
"Your way will only break this boy. And then he'll never defeat Yujiro."
"...Whether he can win is up to him."
Emi whirled her black coat around.
"I'll leave it here for today. But Master, remember this. I won't give up on him. As long as he wants to defeat that man, I will appear before him. And I'll teach him what true strength is. Because that's my role."
She began walking toward the corridor.
"Wait!"
Baki shouted.
"The truth about my mother's death—what do you know?! Tell me!"
Emi didn't turn around.
"If you want to know, get stronger. And chase me. When you become the real thing, I'll tell you everything."
"Wait—!"
Baki tried to step forward. But Kaioh's staff barred his way.
"Don't chase her. As you are now, you can't change anything."
"...Master."
"That woman is still scheming something. But if you chase her now, you'll only be manipulated again."
Kaioh placed a hand on Baki's shoulder.
"Endure for now. And grow stronger. If you do, the truth you seek will one day reach your hands. I promise you."
Baki's fists trembled with frustration and rage.
"...Damn it."
Emi's retreating figure had already vanished into the darkness of the corridor.
---
"Sit, Baki."
Kaioh sat cross-legged in the center of the hall. Baki sat silently before him.
"Does the wound hurt?"
"...I'm fine."
"I see. Don't push yourself."
Kaioh took bandages and ointment from a cloth bag.
"I'll treat that wound. Hold still."
He slowly unwound the bandages from Baki's gut. The wound was still red and raw.
"...A deep cut. You endured well."
Kaioh applied ointment and wrapped fresh bandages.
"Does it hurt?"
"...A little."
"Don't hold back. When it hurts, say it hurts."
"...It hurts."
Baki said it honestly.
"Good. That's the way."
Kaioh finished the bandages with practiced hands and looked at Baki's face.
"Baki. There's something I want to tell you."
"...What is it?"
"About the time I fought Yujiro."
Baki straightened.
"...That legendary fight?"
"Whether it's legendary or not, I don't know. But it was certainly the most terrifying battle of my life."
Kaioh's eyes grew distant.
"About twenty years ago, I fought Yujiro in a private arena in Hong Kong. An old warehouse, hidden from prying eyes. Only a handful of spectators. But every one of them watched a fight fought for dear life."
"...I heard it was a draw."
"On the surface. But the reality was different."
Kaioh shook his head.
"That wasn't a contest. I simply couldn't withstand that man's killing intent. He swung his fists with genuine intent to kill me. I deflected, I endured. And when I came to, dawn had broken. Yujiro stopped trying to kill me and left. I didn't win. That man simply grew bored."
Baki swallowed hard.
"...Is he really that strong?"
"Strong isn't a big enough word. He's a natural disaster in human form. It's like fighting a typhoon, an earthquake, a tsunami. No matter how you hone your technique, no matter how you train your strength—do you think a human can beat a natural disaster?"
"...Even so, I—"
"I know. Even so, you'll challenge that man. That's why I'm going to teach you the truth of the Killing Intent Fist."
Kaioh looked Baki straight in the eye.
"Baki. The Killing Intent Fist is not a technique for killing your opponent. It's a technique for receiving your opponent's killing intent—and returning it."
"...Receiving it, and returning it?"
Baki tilted his head.
"Exactly. Say your opponent comes at you with genuine killing intent. That intent is like a massive wave. An ordinary person would be swallowed by it—their spirit would break, their body would freeze. But one who has mastered the Killing Intent Fist can turn that wave into their own power. The stronger the opponent's killing intent, the more your own power grows. That's the technique."
"...Is that even possible?"
"It is. The reason I could fight Yujiro at all was because I had this technique. I desperately received that man's killing intent and kept returning it. That's how I survived until dawn."
Kaioh poked Baki's chest lightly with a finger.
"Up until now, you've sought only techniques for killing. Defeating your opponent, killing your opponent. You thought that was the only kind of strength. Am I wrong?"
"..."
Baki fell silent. She'd hit the mark—no, *he'd* hit the mark.
"But that will never defeat Yujiro. That man is far above you in the art of killing. If you fight him on the same ground, you have no chance. To defeat that man, you have no choice but to turn his killing intent into your own power."
"...Turn killing intent into power."
Baki repeated the words over and over in his mind.
"To defe
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