Chapter 336: An Obsession with Strength
Jack Hanma.
A foreigner?
Yanagi Ryuko repeated the name silently, his gaze shifting back and forth
between the giant and Ren Shiroki. To his shock, Ren looked just as bewildered
as he was, waving his hands and shaking his head as if he'd been struck by
lightning himself.
What the hell is going on here?!
Yanagi's eyes tracked upward, taking in the full measure of the man calling
himself Jack Hanma. The more he looked, the heavier his heart became.
The physique was monstrous. But it was the height that defied logic. He was at
least 210cm (6'11"), perhaps even a few centimeters taller. His weight had to be
north of 120kg. His muscles were built like overlapping plates of armor, so
dense that even the oversized storm-coat couldn't hide their jagged contours.
The pressure radiating from him was suffocating.
Yanagi also noticed that compared to the giant's massive torso, his limbs were
unnaturally long, giving him a reach that would be a nightmare for any
infighter.
The giant's face was just as striking. Short, golden-blonde hair and facial
features carved with razor-sharp lines. Beneath his calm expression lay a gaze
as piercing as a hunting hawk's.
Jack Hanma... Hanma?!
Is that his surname? What is his relationship to Baki Hanma?!
While Yanagi's mind raced with questions, Ren Shiroki's reaction wasn't an act.
He was genuinely floored. He had no idea his sister's social network had
expanded to include a "Titan" like Jack!
Memories of the underground world surged in Ren's mind.
Jack Hanma. A Canadian-born street fighter and the runner-up of the legendary
[TOKYO DOME MAXIMUM TOURNAMENT]. He had achieved an ultimate physique through
extreme pharmacological enhancement and high-intensity, non-traditional training
that would kill a normal human.
More importantly, he was the eldest son of Yujiro Hanma and Baki's half-brother.
In that tournament, Jack had systematically dismantled high-level masters,
including the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist Sergio Silva and the Kenpo master
Kengo Misaki. In the semi-finals, he had crushed the "undefeated" wrestling
hero, Alexander Gallen. Gallen had lost his fingers to Jack's teeth in that
match—a precursor to Gallen's subsequent defeat at the hands of the convict
Sikorsky.
The finals—Jack vs. Baki. The ultimate brawl between the sons of the Ogre. It
had ended with Baki's narrow victory, leaving Jack as the tournament's silver
medalist. Following the match, Jack had challenged his father, Yujiro Hanma,
only to have his carotid artery bitten open. He had barely survived.
Doppo Orochi had mentioned these details to Ren during their sparring sessions.
But what neither Doppo nor even Baki fully grasped was that Jack's obsession
with "becoming strong" transcended common sense.
After his defeat by Yujiro, the heavily injured Jack had commissioned the
world-renowned surgeon, Dr. Kureha Shinogi, to perform a terrifyingly dangerous
procedure: [BONE-LENGTHENING SURGERY].
Typically, this surgery is reserved for patients with dwarfism or those with
severe bone defects from accidents. It involves cutting the bone while
preserving the surrounding soft tissue and blood supply, then fixing the ends
with a specialized external traction device. Bolts are used to gradually apply
tension, pulling the bone segments apart so that new bone grows in the gap.
What Jack had demanded was the simultaneous lengthening of eight points across
his arms and legs!
Such a procedure was sheer madness. The pressure and agony of even a
single-point lengthening are enough to make most patients refuse a second
surgery. Jack, however, had endured the non-human pain through sheer, agonizing
willpower.
The result: his height and skeletal structure had extended in perfect
proportion. In less than a year, Jack had grown twenty centimeters, transforming
from a 193cm athlete into a 213cm (7-foot) behemoth.
Furthermore, his agility hadn't diminished; it had evolved.
While Ren was lost in thought, Arisa ran back from the storehouse with a large
medical box and a heavy crate of coconuts.
"Phew... phew...!" Arisa was panting from the effort, wiping sweat from her
brow. "This stuff is heavy!"
Jack raised an eyebrow and gave a faint, calm smile. "Thank you. This is a bit
too much for a young lady to be lugging around, isn't it?"
"I had no choice," Arisa teased. "My brother is 'busy' at the moment."
Jack looked over at Ren. "I heard from Kureha that Baki's poison has been
neutralized. Please pass my thanks to Retsu Kaioh—and to you as well."
"You look..." Jack stared into Ren's eyes. "A lot less like a 'dojo manager'
than I imagined."
"You have a good gaze. Clear and focused. I can tell you're an exceptional
warrior. It seems you've heard of me? From Baki, perhaps?"
Ren shrugged, silently confirming the suspicion.
Jack crouched down, opening the medical box to inspect the contents. It was
filled with high-purity anabolic steroids—pills, capsules, and vials of various
colors. Dr. Shinogi couldn't hand these over directly, so he'd used the Hub as a
temporary "dead drop."
He turned to Arisa. "Some of these are hazardous. Nothing was left behind,
right?"
Arisa nodded confidently. "Everything was handled with care!"
During the exchange, Yanagi's eyes darted toward the box. He recognized the
nature of the contents. These were performance-enhancing drugs—enough for a
dozen men, and all of them high-grade.
Does this man intend to use all of these himself?! He'll die!
Yanagi wasn't the first to think so. Dr. Shinogi had warned Jack before the
Maximum Tournament that his heart would eventually explode if he continued. But
to Jack, if he could be strong "today," it didn't matter if he died "tomorrow."
It was this manic obsession that allowed him to survive the lethal dosage.
Combined with his training—which compressed 30 hours of work into a 24-hour
cycle—Jack had transcended the human realm.
Click!
Jack finished his inspection and closed the box. He reminded Arisa to wash her
hands, given the chemical residue. While she was in the kitchen, Jack ripped
open the other crate and pulled out a raw, unpeeled coconut.
"A friend of Kureha's is in the fruit business. The quality is top-notch."
Jack held the coconut, finally turning his head toward Yanagi Ryuko. He didn't
say a single word to the convict, but he radiated a distorted, crushing
pressure. He continued talking to Ren.
"As for how to enjoy a coconut... I have my own recommendation."
Jack suddenly opened his mouth, revealing rows of gleaming white teeth. With a
terrifyingly swift motion, he bit directly into the hard, fibrous shell of the
coconut.
CRACK!
CRUNCH! CRACK! SNAP!
In a few brutal bites, Jack tore through the shell as if it were soft bread,
creating several jagged holes. Clear coconut water began to spray and leak out.
Yanagi's eyes widened to dinner plates.
He bit through the hard shell of a coconut with his bare teeth?! What kind of
monstrous bite force is that?!
Jack lifted the coconut and drained it in a few massive gulps. He wiped his chin
and tossed the mangled shell onto the floor. He was about to speak when Arisa's
voice echoed from the kitchen.
"Oh, by the way, Jack-aniki! Dr. Hajo told me to tell you—don't just throw your
used vials and needles anywhere. It's dangerous!"
Jack: "..."
He silently picked up the mangled coconut shell and placed it back on the table.
Only then did he look Yanagi in the eye. He still didn't address him, speaking
only to Ren.
"I have no personal interest in protecting siblings. But you are friends with
Kureha."
"If you ask... I will help you."
It was clear Jack was interested in Yanagi—as a specimen to be crushed. But he
also knew he had no right to interfere in a duel that had already begun.
Ren reached out, spinning the ruined coconut shell on the table. He gave Jack a
small, grateful smile but shook his head. "No thanks. I've got this."
Jack looked slightly disappointed but didn't linger. "Fine. I'm leaving. I'll
drop by for a workout soon."
He stood up and vanished into the night.
A heavy silence fell over the living room. Neither Ren nor Yanagi spoke. The
only sound was the running water from the kitchen. Then, even that stopped.
The rain had finally ceased.
Ren looked toward the glass door, staring into the humid, quiet night. He turned
to Yanagi Ryuko, his voice dropping an octave, becoming the voice of a fighter.
"Yanagi. A 1-on-2 is too hard for you. Let's make it a 1-on-1."
"Let's take this to the arena."
Yanagi's face paled. A cold sweat broke out across his skin.
He realized in that moment that his mental state had completely shattered. In
the invisible war of psychology, he had been utterly annihilated.
This wasn't like the pressure he felt from Baki. This was a different kind of
horror—the realization that he was trapped in a den of monsters, and he was the
only one who didn't belong.
☆☆☆
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