A Father's Insight

[12 hours later...]

[Doppo Orochi POV]

"Clink!"

"Sigh," I let out a short breath of frustration while putting down my beer glass, still wallowing in shame at what I had done, having lost such a talented disciple to the man sitting down on the bar stool right next to me.

"Lighten up will ya?" He seemed in an especially good mood, 'buying' all of the rounds as he continued drinking in celebration of what he had received.

"You seem to be really happy, Ogre." I spoke to the man with a tired voice, while giving him a side-eye at having had the boy stolen from right under my nose, my old drinking buddy.

"HAHAHA, what's there not to be happy about?" he asked his rhetorical question, "I finally have a son that I can be proud of HAHAHA."

"And you know what the best part is?" the man continued in his laughter, having to clutch his stomach as well as the countertop to not fall from the stool in his happiness.

"HE NEVER EVEN ASKED FOR IT!" this joke being the straw that broke the camel's back, or rather, the one that broke the marble countertop as he simply smacked through it while slapping the table in his laughter. "I NEVER EVEN KNEW HE EXISTED!"

The man could not hide his joy, as if a kid on Christmas Eve, unable to contain his sheer joy at his parents having bought him the perfect toy that he had always wished for. 

"haha" the man finally finished wiping the tears of joy from his eyes as

"If that's true," I asked him the first of the many questions I had prepared for him tonight, to discuss in depth about his new most favorite topic, "why didn't you chase him or prevent him from leaving the match?"

"I could tell that you weren't satisfied yet, so why?"

"Doppo," the man ceased his comedic attitude now only wearing a serious smile while explaining his reason, "I learned a lot that date."

"When I almost destroyed Baki before he had fully matured..."

"That there's no fun in that, you have to be patient, as the father, for him to grow."

The man explained his great parenting lesson, having to take on this heavy responsibility as a single father of two boys.

"Hmm..." I deliberated while nodding my head, 'would it be worth it to ask that question too then'.

"Spit it out," Yujiro clearly not finding the silence fun.

"How are you so sure that he's your son?" 

"ZEHAHAHAHAHA" he went into an even bigger fit of laughter after hearing my question, as if having heard the best joke in the world.

"Doppo, do you think I wouldn't be able to recognize the Hanma blood flowing through his veins?" He spoke with confidence, despite admitting just moments before that it had indeed taken him a while before he could see through the boy's tricks, while calling him a 'magician'.

"Hmmmm..."

"Fine, one last one." He gave me permission while letting out a large yawn while stretching his shoulders up, obviously planning to sleep comfortably tonight despite the plague that had made its way over to Tokyo, back for a visit.

"How can he be cured?" I asked the man, not expecting him to answer the question, despite having experienced and gone through it before.

"Doppo," he put down his beer glass on the table, after finishing another one in a single gulp, "you can't 'cure' something like that, you don't need to, it'll naturally pass."

Again, he continued while giving me a parenting lesson in return for my question, "the boy's throwing a tantrum, he'll blow off some steam and come back fine."

"It's just puberty."

"The most you can do is give him a band-aid to stop his wailing and crying."

"Sigh" I let out a final sigh, hoping that he would be able to find his band-aid sooner rather than later.

[Narrator POV]

Stores closed, windows boarded shut, not a person outside in sight. The entire city of Tokyo was currently under lockdown as advised by the government.

Just a few hours ago, as if all on command, a stampede of rats had savaged through Tokyo, like something out of the 7 plagues of Egypt. 

Thankfully, they had not hurt any civilians or caused any major property damage in the process, merely leaving the city as if they were deserting a sinking ship.

[Mitsunari Tokugawa]

I sat there, with the prime minister of Japan, calmly drinking a cup of tea while ignoring the sounds of the sirens and emergency alerts that played in the background.

"WARNING, WARNING, MEDICAL LOCKDOWN IS IN EFFECT, please seek shelter in your homes. DO NOT EXIT YOUR HOMES. WARNING, WARNING-" and so on and so forth, on a loop, all across the city.

"Thank you for taking this so seriously."

"Of course elder," the man rubbed his hand nervously, clearly a victim of the atmosphere that had overtaken the entire city, "thank you for informing us about this emergency."

I had told him, of course, about the real reason to put the whole city on a lockdown. One of them staying here was already enough, there was no need to have two.

"Cut out this alarm, it might anger him, who knows?"

My words were spoken, now causing the city to fall into still silence.

[Kuzan POV]

'Finally got rid of that stupid alarm huh old geezer? Well, it saved me a trip at least to turn them off myself.'

'I mean, come on, there was no reason to be THAT scared of me.' I continued walking while trying to downplay the situation to myself, instead choosing to look at the bright side while arriving at my destination.

"Finally here huh? What took you so long?" The man asked, having disregarded his title of being one of my previous masters.

'Do you know how hard it had been trying to find a pilot that would fly me here?' I was pissed, at it having taken me so long to find a pilot that was just suicidal enough to fly me here while also not to such a degree that he would try to take me with him. Still, I hid my thoughts, choosing to not let them surface onto my face

Or rather, I couldn't.

I had no choice in the matter. Neither my supposed bloodlust that I was constantly emanating, nor my supposedly almost robotic movements and way of speech being able to be turned off remotely.

'Still, don't think of it like that Kuzan, think of it like having the next transformation after [Ultra Instinct] on at all times, despite not having fully mastered it just yet.' I continued placating myself, reminding myself of this 'state's' benefits that far outweigh its risks.

I had healed fully, no longer maintaining any injuries or effects from that battle except this one, after I had finally passed out from the pain of integrating that demon's blood into my body. 

I had expected to pass out eventually, no doubt, choosing the safest place to do so to finish my metamorphosis from a caterpillar finally into a butterfly. 

Still, even it had not been enough to 'reset' my brain back to normal, as it was more of a psychological 'injury' rather than a physical one.

It was as if my brain had been fried in that moment, by feeling extreme joy after experiencing extreme fury, my brain had simply reached its capacity.

It was like a computer that had received too many contradictory instructions all at once, confused about what to do next, thus resetting to its factory settings.

I was able to think just fine, my body however reacting to every situation as if I was still in that life-threatening fight with that demon, not letting up for even a second.

That man, that little piece of shit, had been the key to achieving this new state. I recognized him at first glance, the Strongest Assassin in History, Natto L. Nerinho.

All this time I had been making this crucial mistake, of thinking that I already knew everything about the future that concerned me, thus planning accordingly.

Still, my senses had warned me, even before I had checked into the Raitai Tournament, that there was something wrong.

Thankfully, I had not ignored them, hiring both Orochi and Shibukawa as my family and friend's bodyguard's at the cost of owning them a favor each, fleshing out the final arrangements of our deal on a phone call before I signed up for the tournament at the front desk.

Ultimately, they had chosen not to intervene, wanting the girls to 'grow' from that experience, thus negating both the favor as well as any relationship I built with them, treating them as strangers.

Thus, currently, I only had two people that I would still happily call my true master's of martial arts who had stuck by me, not betraying me till the end.

Master Ryuu and Master Kaku, the latter of which had just finished his 'explanations' to the Chinese government alongside the strong support from the Chinese Ministry of Martial Arts, thus having convinced them beyond a doubt, judging by the document that I been handed by Master Kaku before I finally left for Japan.

A treaty of friendship.

I had initially deliberated signing one with England in the case that I ended up marrying Diana in the near future.

It would have been so convenient, having the Princess managing my homely affairs while I went out to explore. Of course, I would not have minded at all if she had followed me as well, into my plothra of adventures that I would have in my exploration of this world. I would book us a tour for our honeymoon-

'Chee, it's affecting even my thoughts now?' It wasn't considered an affliction, but rather was an intrinsic quality of the Hanma blood now flowing through my veins. I could feel that I had been growing more and more aggressive every day since having utilized that man's blood. 

'I should have noticed it, when I was first studying my body after Pickle's transformation, I should have paid more attention to the behavioral changes.'

I had become much more savage as a result, however I had been able to control myself eventually through my training in the new martial arts techniques and skills I had made just for my fight with that demon, chalking it up to inexperience with the strength and potential of my then new body.

I had been so hasty, so driven at my goal of attaining this 'strength' before, facing nothing but more and more challenges as a result of this new body. 

Especially that demon's brain, now imprinting its face on my own, causing my eyebrows to sharpen in scythes for one, not to mention its results on my current state.

'It's truly accursed.'

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So is everyone on the same page now?

The assassin is from Baki Gaiden - Scarface, it's not from anywhere else. Xiao Li mentioned his name in chapter 61 (his name is Natto L. Nerinho), which a lot of you skipped cause you hate them, and I do too, that's why they are not even showing up for this arc of the novel.

Also, NO he did NOT eat the little guy. He might have integrated Pickle's Genes but he's not the caveman himself, he has standards.