Karate

-Next day

It was just another day at Ryozanpaku, Kenichi and Ohma were engaged in their daily training like always, switching between masters every other day, today was Kenichi's turn to train with Sakaki and Ohma's turn with Kensei.

"Hiya!"

Ohma was kicking intently while training with Kensei, it was as though he was fighting an imaginary opponent in front of him.

"Yeah, keep going," Kensei instructed him. "Don't force it, keep your body relax."

"Ya! Hiya!" Ohma kicked different kinds of kicks, speeding up every few seconds.

Kensei looked pleased with the rate of his training but then he noticed something. The longer they went on the less Ohma kicked in a variety of angles and seemed to focus on kicking in a straight path—Striking.

"Stop!" Kensei shouted.

The suddenness of it surprised Ohma and almost knocked him off balance but he kept himself up.

"What?!" Ohma questioned, irritated. "I'm doing it as you told me."

"You seem distracted." Kensei accused him, which got his attention. "What's going on?"

Ohma sighed. "It's just, I was trying to incorporate a more hard strikes in my fighting style earlier and I'm trying to make sure I don't forget the feel of it."

"Ah, I see." Kensei had a new understanding. "In that case, why don't you show it to me and we can try and base your training with that in mind."

"Alright." Ohma then got into a Karate stance. "It was basically—"

BAAAAAAMMMM!

"AAGGGHHH!"

They were interrupted by a loud noise in the distance that sounded like a large solid object being destroyed which was followed by the shriek of a familiar voice.

"What was that?" Kensei looked in the other direction.

"I think I have an idea," Ohma muttered.

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

Back with Kenichi and Sakaki, we see that Sakaki had just punched the stone wall beside him with a Karate punch and the result was a big chunk of the wall was blown off and reduced the rubble which shocked and frightened Kenichi.

Sakaki looked ack at Kenichi. "See."

"I CAN'T DO THAT!" Kenichi snapped at him. He started patting Sakaki's biceps. "Let's take a minute and compare arms why don't we? Your freaking muscles are the size of my upper torso! I mean come on! They're unbelievably huge!"

Suddenly Miu appeared beside the two of them and immediately became frustrated when she saw the damaged wall, she became so angry her hair rose up. "FOR THE LAST TIME SAKAKI! STOP SMASHING EVERYTHING!"

Neither Kenichi nor Sakaki seemed to notice her and Sakaki only responded to Kenichi. "So what? You don't need guns like mine to throw a proper punch." He then looks to Miu. "Hey, what's up?"

Miu mellowed and looked at him with half-lidded eyes. "You didn't hear a word I just said."

"Hey, what's going on!"

Now Kensei along with Ohma arrived as well and when Kensei saw the wall he quickly grasped the situation.

"Ah, now I get it."

Sakaki then thought of something. "Miu, you show Kenichi how to throw a punch."

At that point, Miu stood in front of a nearby tree and got into a fighting stance in order to demonstrate the proper way to throw a punch that Sakaki described. Her expression showed that she was completely fed up by now.

"Happy to help." She said sarcastically.

As they followed on her arms, Sakaki spoke to Kenichi. "You've actually got more muscle mass than Miu does, but watch."

Miu held her right arm in front and kept her left arm back.

WHOOSH!

Then quick as a flash, Miu's left arm strike forth and punched at the leaves on the tree with such great speed that her arm blurred out into three different striking paths. All this happened in the span of 1 second.

Ohma narrowed his eyes. "Fast."

"Now, how many punches did you just count?" Sakaki questioned.

"Wow, awesome, that was three!" Kenichi gasped in amazement. "Three punches in one second."

"Actually it was six." Ohma stoically corrected.

"He's right," Sakaki confirmed.

"Huh?" Kenichi became astonished.

"There are two primary elements in Karate. The first—Naha-te, relies on weight, strength, and muscle. But the second—Shurite, relies on arm rotation and speed." Sakaki explained clearly. "You've gotta learn both to master Karate. But we'll just stick with Shurite for now."

Kenichi looked down at his fist. "Are teaching the same thing to Ohma?" He asked.

"The punk's actually got a good grasp on both Naha-te and Shurite right now, he's just got to work on both until he masters them," Sakaki explained. "But he's got more strength and control than you so, naturally, you'd start off differently."

"That said, Miu's punches were fast, but I'm aiming to punch faster," Ohma admitted. "Truth is, when it comes to my punching speed, I've had a goal in mind for a few years and how fast I can make them."

"Really?" Miu became curious. "What goal is that."

"Well, you being able to throw six punches in a second was impressive, but those were only direct strikes." Ohma started. "It's much harder to maintain that speed when throwing a barrage of punches that go in different directions."

"So you want to throw fast barrages?" Miu asked, now more curious. "How fast do you want them to be?"

Ohma smiled before he answered. "There is a time gap between when a fighter observes something and his brain process it before reacting to it, the time taken in this process is less than half a second, during that time the opponent is filtering the input received through the senses. To punch between that defenceless time is the goal of my current speed goal. But that's long term, currently, it's just to break the sound barrier."

"Are you insane!" Kenichi shouted at him like he was stupid. "That's a ridiculously high bar! It's not possible!"

"If it could be done then it's not impossible." Ohma pointed out before he clenched his fists. "I say if you're gonna set a goal for yourself that make it a huge one. The ones who reach for the stars are the ones that become great." He then smirked at him. "Besides, if I can't do that much, I can't go around saying I'll be the World's Strongest."

Kenichi dismayed. "I forget, he always takes things to the extreme without listening to reason."

"Hahaha!" Sakaki laughed good-naturedly. "Gotta admit punk, Kenichi's right, a punch at the speed of thought, that is a crazy high-bar. But you're right if you wanna be the best you gotta reach for the stars." He stretched a bit. "Just be careful not to mess up or it'll be a long fall back to the ground."

Kensei then stepped forward. "You know, if you want those fists to fly faster, then I've got the perfect Chinese training method in-store called Ming Jing." He offered. "I must admit, I'm impressed by how far you're intending to test your limits, and I know you enough to know you fully intend on committing to it, so I'll help you," Kensei assured him. "Our long-term goal will be making you and Kenichi capable of reaching that level of punching speed."

Ohma nodded with a willingness to begin right away. "Perfect."

Kenichi cringed. "What?! How did I get roped into this!?" He inwardly whined.

Kensei then walked over to Miu. "Miu, I need you for a demonstration." He waived.

"No way!" Miu angrily responded. "You're hands aren't getting anywhere near me!" She then walked away in a hump. "Creep!"

"Agghhh!?" Kensei was dumbfounded by her response and became depressed as he kicked away a pebble. "Sorry, I've lost my motivation."

Ohma glared at him. "Then find your motivation, pronto."

Kensei sighed before he composed himself and raised both his arms above his head. "Now, hold your arms up like mine." Ohma do so. "Drop your shoulders and swing your arms from one side to the other." He instructed him before demonstrating. "Relax them completely as they make their rotation." Ohma moved; following Kensei to the walkway by the Dojo and he watched him while he read a porno magazine. "Now alternate while you walk."

"Like this right?" Ohma swung his arms back and forth while talking small steps.

"Uh-huh," Kensei confirmed he was doing it right. "You should be able to feel your joints stretching, almost like your arms are about to fly off." Kensei then focused more on his erotic magazine.

Ohma looked at him with half-lidded eyes. "You know there's actual porn on the internet, right?"

"Ha!" Kensei laughed. "You honestly think a delicate machinery would be able to remain in working condition here ?" He reminded him. "It's a treat to even be able to get my hands on these."

"Why do you sound so proud about it?" Ohma pointed out.

"Gugh!" Kensei coughed at that comment and looked back at him. "Anyways, keep that up and your hand speed while increasing, it'll so effect after you complete a full circuit."

"A circuit around where?"

"The whole neighbourhood."

Ohma stopped and stared at him. "What, why not just do multiple laps around the Dojo?"

"Because… I prefer to read in solitude." He answered.

Kensei's response to his logic was utterly illogical. It was one of these times where Ohma had to resist the urge to just walk away.

Now Ohma was standing outside the front door with Kensei behind him. Kenichi was there too after changing from his training clothes to his casual and held his arms up as well.

"Swing your arms inline with your hips and no cheating!" Kensei warned them.

"Hold on, why am I doing this too?" Kenichi questioned.

"Since you're done training with Sakaki, I figured I'd call two birds with one stone and have you train together," Kensei explained before he went back inside. "Best of luck to you."

After that, they both began walking through the neighbourhood while swinging their arms around, while it wasn't very difficult when you get right down to it the training seemed pretty uneventful as all they were really doing was walking around.

"Hey, you really think this'll help us punch faster?" Kenichi asked him.

"Well, the only way to know for sure is to try it." Ohma reasoned.

Suddenly the two of them heard another set of footsteps behind them and turned around to see someone had followed them. Miu who was also in her casual clothes—Which was simply her purple jumpsuit and a red jacket that made her breasts jiggle when she took steps—Was walking while swinging her arms as well and had joined them on their circuit.

"Hey, Miu?" Kenichi addressed her.

"What brings you here?" Ohma asked, though not sounding that interested.

"I know you guys aren't too familiar with the area, so I figured I'd come with you, just to make sure you don't get lost," Miu explained.

"Who the Hell gets lost walking in a circle?" Ohma pointed out a hole in her logic. "On another note, why are you swinging your arms too?"

"I just thought it wouldn't hurt to try this training as well," Miu answered, still smiling.

"By the way, do you even know what this is for?" Kenichi asked her.

Miu laughed pleasantly. "Haha! Sure, it's to help you loosen up your muscles."

Kenichi raised a brow. "Really? But how?"

"When you swing your arm in one direction as ard as you can, like when you punch, you can't help but tense up the other arm as well." Miu began to explain. "And that slows down the movement of your next swing, it's a basic reaction that protects your joints and muscle fibres from straining, you could say it's the body's own natural limit, but it's more psychological than physical."

"So this is going to help me loosen my arms so they'll move faster?" Kenichi asked, starting to feel the strain on his shoulders.

"Yeah, so it's important you visualize your arms swinging further and further away each time," Miu advised him. "The idea is that if you make these large swings smaller, they become compact striking moves, makes sense?"

"Whatever you say." Kenichi started to sweat.

"Miu, anyone ever told you that your way of thinking is too encyclopedic?" Ohma told her, still fresh.

"Huh?" Miu was surprised by his sudden comment. "What are talking about."

"This whole thing about loose muscles and relaxation, it might work for some who want speed of style but it's meaningless without having the power to match." Ohma then smirked as he said. "You need to use your hip rotation for power then only your fist will break your opponent's body."

Kenichi gulped a bit from hearing his friends. "Ohma usually gets like this when he's in a fight, what's getting him so psyched up?" He wondered before he asked. "Hey um, Ohma—"

"Wait," Ohma said. His phone started vibrating in his pocket. He took it out, took a look at it for a moment.

"Anyway, you guys go ahead." Ohma said putting the phone back in his pocket, "I am going in a different direction."

Ohma turned away from the path.

"Hey, what's going on?" Miu asked.

"Don't worry, I'll meet you both back in the Dojo," Ohma said, "I am just a for a little walk."

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

No further words were said, Ohma left leaving the other two in an air of, awkwardness. He walked side on the crowded streets and then slipped into an alleyway where someone was waiting for him.

"So you are the information broker?" Ohma asked.

The figure which lay on the alleyway wall, with pointy ears and alien-like features looked at him. "That would be me, Haruo Nijima."

"I'll believe you got what I want," Ohma said pulling a bundle of cash from his pocket.

Nijima looked at the cash, then smiled and said, "How about we other deals, you get to keep the cash in exchange for a favour?"

Ohma paused for a moment. "I am not in a mood for making new deals."

"Fine." Nijima scoffed before pulling out a black file from under his shirt. "Here is what you wanted, a list of fighters at the same or above level compared to ex-professional mixed martial artist Mistu Tsubaka."

Ohma smiled and took the file with one hand and gave the cash with the other. The exchange was made so was his new goal. The words he said to Mistu that day echoed in his mind.

'Thank you for reminding me that I need better opponents more than training.'