Chapter 63: Tokyo's Strongest
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 63: Tokyo's Strongest
Sakagami Maou couldn't believe his eyes.
"What the hell! What the hell! What the hell is this!"
He had been certain that today, with 99% probability, he would crush Goto Kazuya for good.
But just like always, the bastard had pulled off a miracle at the last second.
He had broken through that 1% chance.
And the one who had brought about that miracle was the man Goto called Hyung-nim.
A man a head or two taller than the average person, with an intimidating physique that was clearly a mass of muscle even through his clothes.
He possessed the monstrous strength to toss people around with ease, the incredible durability to not even blink at most attacks, and the courage and solid guts to face dozens of opponents without running.
He was like a creature born to fight.
It was enough to make one wonder, is that man really human, like me?
"Aaargh!"
Another mohawked goon, struck by the man's wooden sword, went flying with a scream.
He was strong even with his bare hands, but with a wooden sword, he was even stronger.
Whenever he swung the sword gripped in both hands, Maou's underlings would scatter left and right in terror.
The wooden sword whistled through the air with a menacing sound that was audible even from a distance.
The sight of one person flying away with every swing was truly surreal.
"Tch! You damn fools!"
Maou, who had been watching the situation from the back, finally decided to step in himself.
"Hey! Get out of the way!"
VROOOOOM!
Stomping on the accelerator of his signature red motorcycle, he charged toward the man at an incredible speed.
He looked like an enraged bull.
"Dieeeee!"
He screamed, his eyes filled with madness, and was about to lower his body to brace for the impending impact.
Thud!
To his astonishment, the man wasn't sent flying like a cannonball.
Instead, he tossed aside the wooden sword in his hands and held firm, pressing down on the front bumper of the 500cc bike with both hands.
It was an utterly unbelievable sight.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
Stunned, Maou stomped on the accelerator even harder.
Instantly, the RPM on the dashboard began to skyrocket.
The man's pillar-like body began to be pushed back little by little, but he nullified Maou's last-ditch effort in a completely different way.
He lifted the entire bike—which, including Maou, weighed well over 200kg—clean off the ground.
Then, he slammed the motorcycle down onto the pavement.
The impact sent Maou flying from his seat like a ball.
If he hadn't been wearing full protective gear, the shock would have been severe.
The man slowly approached Sakagami Maou, who was sprawled on the ground next to his prized bike.
The shadow of his hood obscured his features, which only amplified the terror.
"M-Monster!"
But the man just muttered in annoyance.
"Who are you calling a monster."
The last thing Maou saw before he lost consciousness was—
The sole of the man's shoe, caked in mud from the construction site.
SLAM!!
*
I slung the unconscious guy named Maou over my shoulder and forcibly removed his red helmet, which was half-crushed from the impact.
I wondered why he was so reluctant to take it off. Turns out, he had a large burn scar on his face.
Was this some kind of complex for him?
In any case, once they realized their leader had fallen, the mohawked guys who had been fighting so desperately seemed to lose their will to fight, and one by one, they began to drop their weapons.
I picked up the wooden sword I had been using to control my strength and walked over to Goto, where the fight seemed to have entered a lull.
"Thanks for the sword."
"Ah, yes."
I set the guy named Maou down on the ground and asked.
"What now?"
"...I have to set things right. If I'm going to retire for good."
"Do what you have to do."
With that, I patted the bloodied Goto on the shoulder.
"The promise we made is already broken, but the gym is always open, so come work out. The director really likes you."
Goto stared at me with a blank expression, which soon melted into one of relief.
"Yes! Hyung-nim!"
*
This is the story Goto told me later, after he had sorted everything out and returned to the gym.
To get straight to the point, both biker gangs, Byakkiyakou and the Devil Riders, had mutually annihilated each other.
Byakkiyakou fell apart due to internal conflict caused by the betrayal of members they had trusted. As for the Devil Riders, their leader, Maou, had gone into hiding from the shock of his overwhelming defeat, and without a suitable successor, they naturally disbanded.
In the end, the team Goto had tried to protect was completely wiped from history, but he spoke with a look of relief.
"It's better this way, sir. The reason I was determined to leave Byakkiyakou was because the group's purpose was gradually changing."
"The group's purpose?"
"Originally, Byakkiyakou was a small club centered around people who just wanted to ride. The first leader, Mishima-senpai, was so cool and amazing that everyone looked up to him. The second leader inherited Mishima-senpai's will and vowed to make Byakkiyakou the strongest rider team in Tokyo, and I, the next leader, ran breathlessly toward that same goal. But it shouldn't have been that way. As our numbers grew explosively, guys started showing up, trying to use that power for their own ends."
It was a common story.
Explosive growth always comes with side effects.
"Honestly, I never thought Mito would betray me. He joined Byakkiyakou at the same time I did. He wasn't like that in the old days, I don't know how he ended up that way..."
"Well, you can't be expected to look after every single one of those guys' circumstances. And if you get stabbed in the back by someone you've known for a long time, the one who did the betraying is the one in the wrong."
Even if it wasn't now, he was the type who would have betrayed him eventually.
"You think so?"
Seeing Goto's face still clouded with worry, I shrugged and said, "You've completely retired now, right? Then you need to completely cut ties with that world. You don't want to get dragged back into it every time something happens, do you?"
"...You're right."
"You've been reborn, Goto. From now on, it's not a bike that will be with you for the rest of your life."
As I spoke, I handed him a 10kg dumbbell.
"It's this dumbbell."
"Hyung-nim..."
"So instead of worrying, do one more dumbbell curl."
I stood up from my seat.
My five-minute rest was over, and it was time to get back to my workout.
Goto stood up with me, holding the dumbbell in his right hand, and shouted in a voice thick with emotion.
"Hyung-nim! I'll follow you for the rest of my life!"
"Be quiet inside the gym."
"Ah, yes, sir."
And just like that, Director Nakayama's fitness club gained a new member.
*
Trending Video: 415,239 views!
【Is This Seriously the Level High Schoolers Fight At These Days? LMAO】
The video, uploaded to an internet video-sharing site by an anonymous user under this title, quickly spread among Tokyo's high school students.
The low-quality cell phone footage, of unknown origin, begins in darkness.
Bright lights flash on from all sides, revealing dozens of motorcycles facing off in what appears to be a construction site—a scene that immediately brought biker gangs to mind.
Although the biker gang trend had mostly died out after the 90s, there were still those in Tokyo who, chasing the romance of that era, called themselves bikers. They banded together, calling themselves Riders.
And the ones fighting in this video were two of the largest of these groups: Setagaya's Byakkiyakou and Meguro's Devil Riders.
At the beginning of the video, a man with an anachronistic pompadour and a black special uniform appears on a bike. The opposing leader, a man in a helmet emblazoned with a red bull, who appeared to be the leader of the Devil Riders, says something provocative.
The audio quality was terrible, so the conversation was unintelligible, but from the atmosphere and their agitated gestures, it was clear the two were about to fight.
What followed was a brawl between the two biker gangs.
Despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered, the man with the pompadour fought like a demon, swinging a wooden sword wildly.
But that didn't last long. As his allies began to fall one by one, the members of Byakkiyakou were pushed into a corner. Just as a one-sided beatdown was about to begin—
'That man' appeared.
His face was hidden by the deep khaki hood of his sweatshirt, but his overwhelming muscles, massive frame, and towering height were unmistakable.
The man, who radiated an incredible aura of intimidation even through the screen, appeared late and single-handedly decimated the Devil Riders.
His phenomenal fighting ability was palpable even through the crappy video quality. The 15-minute video ended with the leader of the enemy organization getting stomped into unconsciousness by the sole of a shoe.
A great deal of debate erupted online regarding the video's authenticity, but ultimately, nothing was ever proven.
However, if there was one thing that was definitively decided amidst the fierce arguments—
It was the fact that the man in the video was unanimously given the nickname 'Tokyo's Strongest'.