Battle

"Yujiro. Does this surprise you?" Shiro's body stood a metre apart from Yujiro's towering body.

Shiro had silver eyes and only Yujiro's demonic aura was left dominating the surroundings.

Yujiro looked at Shiro, observing the changes. He had actually expected a different outcome. But it seemed that today. Would be a fun day...

Yujiro laughed.

"Boy. Come!" Yujiro's arms spread out in a provoking manner.

*FWISH*

Shiro flickered behind Yujiro and put his palm on his back.

'Pierce'

*Splurt*

A huge shockwave slammed Yujiro's body and his back pressed in.

Yujiro's eyes widened. He had been injured... And although it was a small injury. The weight of that move was huge.

The spectators gaped. The red haired man had actually taken damage...

Yujiro turned around at the calm Shiro, "I remember that technique... 'Pierce' was it?" Yujiro's hand dived into his pockets and he stared into Shiro's eyes.

"You have come a long way." A brief smile crept it's way onto his face. Yujiro reached out his finger placing the tip close to Shiro's shoulder.

"From the moment you were born, I noticed the unwavering amount of determination and the unnaturalness of your mind and body."

"I will give you what you always wanted..."

*SIFF*

An odd noise pierced the surroundings and a small shockwave in an oval shape shot through Shiro's shoulder.

Shiro looked at the injury, not making a single sound. The injury was healing at a visible rate and seemed like it would be fine in a few minutes.

"Is that all?" Shiro looked at Yujiro's outstretched finger and in a fast motion, used the tip of his finger to collide with Yujiro's.

*SIFF*

Another noise sounded. However this time Yujiro's nail had cracked slightly.

"Boy... It seems I underestimated you and your oddness." Yujiro smiled the hardest he had ever smiled, and his face scrunched up revealing the muscles that tensed.

"But that is a good thing!"

After saying this Yujiro raised his leg for an axe kick and slammed it downwards. Shiro, barely noticing the attack, raised his arms to block it...

*Crack*

His arms bent at an odd angle and the kick slammed into his head sending him towards the ground.

Yujiro then grabbed his legs and put him over his shoulder.

"I haven't tested the maximum distance I can throw in a long time..."

Yujiro's muscles tensed. The veins bulging through his skin.

Shiro who was being used as a measuring tool, was thinking about how to get out of this. Yujiro's grip on his leg was so strong that the bone was slowly being crushed. Shiro raised his head and for a split second saw Baki in the crowd waving at him with a smug smile.

'Baki... you piece o-'

*WHOOSH*

Shiro was thrown into the sky directly upwards. He was ascending higher and higher passing multiple large buildings.

As Shiro was in the sky, Yujiro prepped a stance for an attack.

His legs stood slightly bent and his body twisted readying for a punch.

Shiro regained his balance in the air and as he started to descend he readied himself for a clash.

As Shiro neared Yujiro at raging speeds he executed a technique.

'Void Punch'

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

A flash and sonic boom rushed into the air and knocked many spectators, rupturing the ears and some unlucky ones falling unconscious.

Chaos ensued and people ran away in fear revealing the fighters that were watching.

Baki.

Kaiou Retsu.

Mitsunari Tokugawa.

Pickle.

And even Jack Hanma.

Many fighters came to see the battle. While some hadn't been able to watch Baki's fight they could now watch Shiro Hanma's.

As the sight became clearer only one figure remained. Yujiro.

It seemed that Shiro had completely disappeared. People that were spectating far away were confused on what had happened.

'He's... Back in the air.' Baki thought.

Baki looked up waiting for the limp body of his brother to fall back down... And soon it came. Yujiro readied his fist again and punched at the face of the unconscious Shiro.

However, just as the punch was about to connect Shiro's eyes pulsed open.

*CRACK*

Shiro twisted his neck so hard that the skin splintered and his bone slightly cracked, to dodge Yujiro's attack by the tiniest amount. He then grabbed Yujiro's head ignoring the pain and swung his legs downwards, using the momentum to throw Yujiro away.

Yujiro flew slightly, before landing on his feet calmly.

*CRACK*

As Shiro's neck healed Yujiro opened his mouth.

"Shiro." Yujiro stood in a pose with his hands spread outwards. His divine looking physique intimidated anyone who lay their eyes upon it.

"You have done well. From a young meal, you have turned into into a worthy opponent." Yujiro's feral smile appeared and he raised his fist, clenching it.

"You. The purest bearer of the Hanma bloodline Shiro Hanma, prepare yourself."

*BOOM*

The ground around Yujiro propelled into the air, blocks of grass flying everywhere.

A piercing feeling slammed into Shiro.

'So this is it huh?', Shiro knew he would experience the true might of The Ogre in this attack. And the only chance of survival he had would be to make this attack only an injury and not death...

*WHOOSHBAAOMMMM*

A shockwave boomed into the air and Yujiro's figure stood in Shiro's place.

"SHIROOO!" Baki's scream came from the crowd. He wouldn't let his brother die... Even if that meant-

*CRACK*

"Wow... That hurt old man." Shiro's figure reappeared on the ground. However he was not without injury... His arm...

"His arm is gone!?" Kaiou Retsu, stated the obvious disappearance of Shiro's arm. Sweat dripped down his face as he turned to Baki, "Baki... Your brother, is taking this fight to the death..."

Baki looked at his brother. He was smiling. Baki had never seen his brother smile this much before. Although the situation looked dire, his brother was enjoying the fight. And so was Yujiro. It was like wasn't at all like a battle anymore... It was more like... Father and son playing together...

Baki shook his head slowly at Kaiou and sighed, "I always knew this was what he wanted... His goal has always been to surpass our father, and look... His smile..."

"Are you sure?" Kaiou noticed the grin that was present through ought most of the fight. Kaiou also grew some slight respect for Shiro. Although he was absolutely crazy. To have such immense ability had to be respected.

"Shiro Hanma." Kaiou muttered.

Mitsunari watched in silence, many thoughts running through his mind.

"My son. To have survived this punch... Do you know what that means?" Yujiro said happy. For years he had been at the absolute peak of strength. He was so strong that he faced the problem that came with it... Boredom.

To help with this boredom he conducted many pp training with compatible mate's to create someone who could be on par with him.

In that punch he had used everything he had. And although Shiro only survived because of his immense healing and durability, it proved the fact that there was someone who could give him excitement.

"pfft-" Shiro laughed slightly seeing his old man getting this giddy. The emotions that were kept away by complete boredom raised up from deep inside Yujiro and people could see it.

Both fighters readied their stance and nodded at each other. From now on it would be different.

Both figures rushed each other and exchanged a flurry of punches. Each punch that landed on Shiro caused visible wounds that healed up quickly, and each punch thrown at Yujiro was unfortunately dodged. But Shiro's eyes and senses were becoming better...

A right hook dashed towards Shiro's cheek. Seeing this, Shiro moved his head slightly and twisted, preforming a spinning back hook with his one arm towards Yujiro's face.

The attack hit, and Yujiro was sent downwards head first. Taking advantage of the moment, Shiro continued his onslaught, preforming a swift roundhouse kick towards Yujiro's stomach.

Yujiro tanked the attack and was sent backwards, drifting across the grass.

The crowd at this point were very far back. The acts of violence, so different from the previous fight made them want to vomit... Only few spectators were visibly okay and some cameras were recording.

Baki smiled at the attack that just happened. "Kaiou, be honest. Do you think he has a chance?".

Kaiou watched the flying Yujiro and said, "Baki. At the start of this battle I thought that Yujiro would win 100%. But your brother's skill and that healing of his..."

Kaiou turned to face Baki, "I have no idea. The level those two have reached is... Immense. Your father may be the strongest. But Shiro could be called the strongest in defence."

Baki nodded, affirming Kaiou's words. A battle between the strongest attack and the strongest defence.

When Baki fought Yujiro. The fight ended with Baki giving the victory up.

The father gave a worthless title to his son in exchange for something so important, he was afraid to live without...

After all, what's the value of all the power of the world compared with the magic of watching a son of yours opening a new path for you?

The son gave a meaningless victory to his father in exchange of his happiness, after all what's more valuable for a son than your father's happiness?

A father gave a gift to the son, and the son did the same.

Now another son was giving his gift... The excitement and enjoyment of a fight Yujiro yearned for.

And in return the father returned the gift allowing both of them to enjoy.

A sick gift that would determine the fate of the other. The cruellest, but most loving gift they could give.

The strongest offense vs the strongest defence.

Father vs Son.

Shiro and Yujiro smirked, before rushing into each other exchanging violent kicks and punches.

The people left watching were astonished. This violent fight made them feel a range of emotions and the subtle vision of a father and son playing overlapped the two figures in their vision.

A fight between demons? No.

A fight between the strongest? No.

But rather a fight between father and son.

The two figures continued clashing and clashing. Shiro giving it his all with his one arm, and Yujiro continuing his attacks.

'Void Barrage'

Shiro's figure elusively disappeared behind Yujiro and afterimages of his punch filled his body.

Yujiro's eyes sprung open spurting some blood as he felt his organs rumble. And as Shiro came in for another attack, Yujiro explosively turned around grabbing the arm and kicking Shiro's chin.

Shiro's head raised, but Yujiro held onto the arm and threw Shiro into the ground.

*BOOM*

The ground caved, and Yujiro came in for a stomp on the downed Shiro.

But the fight wasn't over. Shiro slapped the ground so hard his body flew into the air. As he raised he twisted his body dodging the stomp and kicked at Yujiro's head.

The kick was planted onto Yujiro's nose and Yujiro flew upwards.

*CRACK*

Blood flowed from Yujiro's nose like a waterfall and fell, staining the ground.

"He... Broke his nose..." Jack Hanma who was watching silently, finally spoke. The fact that his father's nose had been broken was something akin to a legendary feat in his mind.

The crowd inched closer wanting to observe the fight, ignoring some of the knocked out individuals that were downed from earlier.

***

"What the fu** just happened!?" Barack Ozma was watching from a live feed and he just witnessed 'The Ogre' being injured to a high extent.

One had to know that the man who was just injured, was someone who the president had to sign a peace treaty for the sake of America. This man could decimate the military forces of any country with relative ease.

The president sighed and turned to his secretary "Get another peace treaty ready..."

This was going to be a long week...

***

Yujiro regained his balance in the air and landed promptly on his feet. He raised his hand and touched his nose.

*crack*

The nose was snapped back into place. Yujiro looked at the one-armed Shiro, "This... You have done well. Come!"

Yujiro put forth his fist, insinuating a fist bump.

Shiro's eyes widened before returning to normal and Shiro limped towards Yujiro. At this point his body couldn't continue. Even with the rapid healing, he had taken too much damage.

Shiro inched closer to Yujiro and put forth his one arm to complete the fist bump.

Both figures smiled.

"Listen everyone! I declare Shiro Hanma equal to the strongest person in the world!" The crowd gasped and Shiro smiled further before his body fell to the ground.

At this point Baki rushed up holding Shiro.

"You did well..." A solemn smile appeared on Baki's face. It seemed that another one of his loved ones would depart from this world today.

Kaiou, Jack and the silent Pickle stayed silent on the sides, respecting this valiant fighter. While Mitsunari announced the results of the battle.

Yujiro looked at the downed Shiro and in a rare moment showed a brief hint of sadness.

"Hahahahah" An abrupt laughter that spat blood sounded from Shiro. "The great Yujiro Hanma is sad?"

Shiro had never seen 'The Ogre' visibly sad like that before, and it was actually a pretty funny sight. Baki also shared a slight chuckle.

"Stupid..." Yujiro smiled and started walking away slowly. He peeked back at the bloodily smiling Shiro and silently thanked him.

"So this is the end..." Shiro looked at Baki, "This is probably the best outcome for me Baki... Yujiro Hanma is a sad being. Always standing at the top. The apex."

Baki stayed silent...

"Become stronger Baki. Overtake the old man. Become the apex. I may have failed this goal... But you can do it." Shiro looked into the night sky observing the stars.

"Fine, idiot... I will become the strongest. Stronger than any that has lived before." Baki announced with a solemn smile.

"Now... Let's get some food." Baki looked confused at what Shiro just said. Wasn't he dying?

"I'm not going to die straight away idiot! I got at least an hour left in me." Baki sweat dropped and picked up Shiro putting his body on his back.

"What do you wanna eat then?" Shiro thought for a moment and replied, "Chicken... Lots of it."

***

Three figures were sitting in a fairly small restaurant with a mass amount of food on the table. The atmosphere was tense and it looked like a battle would occur any second.

Shiro, Yujiro and Baki.

It seemed that Yujiro decided to join in the meal too.

"We go on 3..." Baki said. The other two nodded their heads in anticipation.

"One..."

"Two..."

"Three!"

All three of the Hanma's dug into the meal and ate the fastest they could. Food was thrown onto the surrounding individuals as the three ate like it was a battle.

After a few seconds of carnage, the three sat back down in their seats silently.

"****" x2

Both Shiro and Baki screamed as they lost the eating contest. It seemed that this simple meal was actually... A battle!

"Rahahahahahha" Yujiro laughed as he was crowned 'The Strongest Eater' An odd but comfortable atmosphere enveloped them.

"This is the first time. The first time we have actually sat down together and talked." Baki guessed that the reason was because Yujiro had acknowledged both of them through battle.

"Right Shi-" Baki looked at Shiro...

His eyes were shut and he was smiling.

A small tear dropped from Baki's eye as he lay back in his seat, flashbacks of times with his brother filling his memory.

Yujiro looked at Shiro, and after a few minutes picked him up and motioned Baki to follow him.

Time passed and soon two figures stood in front of a grave.

Here lies Shiro Hanma.

The strongest in the world.

The two figures looked at each other and nodded, before separating.

'Become the strongest huh?' Baki smirked, 'I'll do it Shiro.'