Path to Strength

Yuji watched this girl for a few seconds, his eyes observing her gestures and expressions, in order to find any abnormality. The girl was strong, and if she was plotting an ambush, Yuji was not sure he could emerge victorious, since he would have to face her while fighting with others.

"Go on." If she had any evil intent, Yuji was unable to identify it, so it was best to let her say what she had come to talk about.

Senju upon receiving Yuji's confirmation, put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a card. "Let me be clear, the territory that Yggdrasil now owns, I want it."

Yuji raised an eyebrow at that. It was true, the territory in Shinjuku, ever since he defeated Moebius and took the gang for himself, was Yggdrasil's territory. Yuji hadn't stopped to think about it, and so he didn't even bother to ask his gang members to keep an eye out for other gangs approaching the area.

'Gee, if another gang decided to attack us, I wouldn't notice until they were at my door.' Yuji laughed in his mind.

Putting the playful thoughts aside, Yuji turned his attention to the girl's words. She wanted her territory, and Yuji knew very well what that entailed. A gang couldn't be a gang without its proper territory, so there was only one way for the girl to get what she wanted, and that way was by defacing Yggdrasil.

This could happen in many ways, whether it was a war or defeating the leader of the gang. And if she was there to defeat him alone, then Yuji would have to apologize when she was unconscious on the floor. Yuji was an advocate of gender equality, especially in fighting, at his academy, one of his friends hated when he took it easy on her, so over time, he was eventually influenced by her words, "Don't take it easy on me just because I'm a girl! I can break you!".

And she wasn't lying, she could.

"Oh, I think I get it." Yuji shook his head with a gentle smile on his lips, his fingers squeezing her flesh tightly as he raised his arms and took a boxing stance. "If you came with that intention, then I'm sorry, I won't go easy on you."

A menacing aura exploded from the boy's body and advanced toward Senju. The girl was able to feel the pressure that the boy emanated, and she couldn't help but stiffen, the hostility was completely focused on her and it sent shivers down the hairs on the back of her neck, it was like being face to face with a predator. This startled and surprised her, not so long ago, the boy in front of her was weak, of course, compared to her, he was far from catching up. But now, Senju was no longer sure if she was still stronger than him, the boy from before and the one from now, were leagues away from each other.

"I'm not here to fight." She quickly spoke, this lessening the pressure on the scene, when Yuji stared at her with curiosity. Seeing that she could continue, she sighed. "I am here to challenge you in a fight in the underground arena, B1."

Yuji's eyes widened at that, completely surprised by the girl's words. The person in front of him was challenging him to fight in one of the largest underground arenas in Japan. A smile appeared on his lips as he seemed to relax, this clearly relieved Senju. It was no secret that he already intended to visit the B1 arena, even his captains already knew about it, since he arranged to reveal his plans to the gang a few hours after the captains had been appointed, so if he could visit the arena sooner than expected, that was an advantage.

Of course he would be going there as a fighter, but he had confidence in his strength. It would take someone like Mikey to make him back down.

"The winner, in addition to winning the Shinjuku territory, will win a large cash prize, and respect in the underground arena." Senju explained. "It will be a fight with three fighters from each gang, but of course, you can also go it alone."

Yuji pondered the explanation. Money would help him buy the equipment for the academy, so there was no reason to deny it, but the three fighters would be a problem. The only ones he had in mind to take were Osanai and Akira, the captains of the first and third division, and even they weren't that strong.

But obviously, if the two of them lost, there would still be him to fight.

Thinking for a while, Yuji decided. It would be good for the two of them to fight, besides gaining experience, Osanai could learn a lot, seeing that the world was vast and there were many people more powerful than him.

"Very well." He nodded and approached the girl.

Senju was a bit smaller than him, and that served to make Yuji angry. He was too short, and training was something that was not helping him correct that.

"The fight will take place in three days, the address is on this card." She handed it to Yuji, who took it and read its contents for a few seconds.

The girl seeing Yuji's attention on the card, quickly withdrew from the scene, her speed enough to create a blur in front of the boy. Yuji saw this, and was not surprised. In his world, something like this would be unthinkable, but in this world, it was something common for the strongest.

"But who is this girl anyway? I don't remember seeing her in the anime... But it may have been because I only saw the first season, since at the time the second season hadn't been released." Thoughtful, Yuji turned around and walked back to the center of the shed.

With his future fight in mind, Yuji felt more energetic than ever, so he wasted no time and started training right there. In three days he could evolve even further, so he couldn't afford to relax.

. . .

"Why are we here?"

In a clearing, in the middle of a forest, four people could be seen sitting on the grass. The atmosphere was pleasant, calm like an empty beach, but despite this tranquility, the taller blond couldn't help but ask impatiently. Yuji had explained to them that in three days, they would be fighting in the B1 underground arena, so in his view, they should be training. Osanai, as the former leader of Moebius, obviously knew what B1 was all about, since it was usually frequented by delinquents who wanted to make a buck, so he knew that there were strong people there, there was no sense in wasting time in that clearing, when they could be in an academy improving their bodies.

"We should be training!" Osanai spoke, but this seemed to reach deaf ears, as Yuji, who was sitting in a meditation position, didn't even move a muscle.

The other two on the scene, Akira and Shiki, watched their leader with curiosity. They hadn't known Yuji for long, but in the short time they had been together, neither of them had seen him meditate.

A few seconds passed, with nothing but the pleasant sound of the wind reverberating through the place. When everyone was silent, that's when Yuji decided it was time to speak.

"There is no way you can evolve your bodies in such a short time, no matter how hard you try. It will only tire you out and affect your performance in the fight." He said as he left the position he was in, standing up and turning his gaze to his captains. "But the mind, well, that's another story. We are here to train the senses of each of you, and in addition, we will practice with each other! In three days I will put into your heads every technique that comes out of my mouth."

Yuji cracked a wide smile, which could only be described as evil. This caused the three captains to swallow dry, fearing for the health of their minds, which from the looks of it, were at stake in that training scenario.

Seeing this, Yuji couldn't help but laugh in his mind. He would not make it easy for the three of them, not even Shiki, who would not be fighting. He would make them mentally exhausted, to the point where they would feel the exhaustion in their bodies. Did that make any sense? No, but who cares? He was in a world where a short, blond, long-haired teenager destroys cars with his own feet. Something like that wasn't so far off, was it?

"Time to start!"

And so it was, the training began. Yuji first blindfolded everyone and set them to listen to him as he moved around, the goal was to identify his location with hearing. This was a training he had practiced in his former life, and it served to stimulate his hearing, as well as improve his balance.

Shiki seemed to have an incredible talent, as after a single day, he was able to accurately identify Yuji's location. Akira and Osanai took their time, but eventually succeeded, although they were less accurate than Shiki.

With that, the second phase of the training began. Yuji blindfolded them again, but this time, he not only moved, but also attacked. Obviously he didn't attack them hard, he just hit them with jabs strong enough to hurt.

Shiki after a while was able to dodge a few attacks, but not for long, getting hit after a few dodges. What he said was that whenever Yuji was about to attack him, his hair would shiver, as if his body was warning him of danger. That was intuition, and for ordinary people, it was basically a sixth sense.

The body, more precisely the subconscious, is able to warn a person of dangers before he realizes or can see them. It wasn't anything too fancy, like a spider sense, but more like a strange sensation, like chills or sweating for no apparent reason.

But since this was no ordinary world, Shiki seemed to have a much more precise body in his alerts, giving him chills moments before he was hit. This proved to be a skill of the boy himself, as Akira and Osanai simply felt chills and dodged few blows.

Yuji was impressed by this, and made a mental note to pay special attention to Shiki. The boy wanted to be strong and seemed to have monstrous potential, it was as if his body was made for fighting, but was neglected in his growth. Yuji realizing this, couldn't help but wonder how strong Shiki would be if he trained for a few years.

This training continued until the last day before the fight in the arena, much to the chagrin of Osanai, who thought he would have a chance to fight Yuji again. Obviously he knew he couldn't win, it hadn't even been two weeks since his one-sided defeat, but in this short time, he felt as if he had grown times stronger.

This was true in a way. His body had not improved much, but his skills had undergone a considerable increase. Yuji believed that Osanai could only be defeated by Draken or Mickey, and by that girl, Senju Kawaragi.

But after all, what about Yuji? In these three days, did he just train his three captains and leave his own training aside? Obviously not. Yuji's body, as said many times before, was almost supernatural. In these days, he just did heavy exercises and practiced Shadowboxing to exhaustion, and with that, he felt a gigantic improvement. His strikes were faster, his movement was more polished, and his vigor enough to handle a group of delinquents without breaking a sweat.

With this improvement, Yuji felt he was ready. He wasn't sure if he could beat Senju easily, but he definitely had no intention of losing. Although he hated delinquents and their ways, he could in no way cede Shinjuku. That was his territory, and he would defend it with his fists.

'To reach the top of this world, this will be my first step!'

. . .

Downtown Tokyo.

07:00 AM.

In downtown Tokyo, three teenagers and a young adult could be seen walking together among the thousands of people walking on the sidewalks. These were none other than Yuji, Shiki, Akira and Osanai. They had ordinary clothes, but the people around knew that they were delinquents, this mainly due to Osanai and his badboy appearance. This caused the group to be constantly approached by guards, who wanted no trouble in that place.

"That's the third guard that stops us, I'm getting annoyed!" Osanai spoke with a frustrated face.

"No one told you to dress like that." Akira spoke up. "Come on, who cuts their hair like that these days? It's like walking around with a sign on your face written: I'm a bad guy, be afraid."

Shiki was unable to hold back his laughter as he heard Akira's words about Osanai, this making the blond angry as he turned his gaze to Akira.

"This was always the intention! I am a delinquent, my appearance needs to live up to my title! Besides, how many girls have you picked up? None, right? Then don't talk about my looks!" Osanai growled, and Yuji laughed out loud as he saw his captains' interaction.

"Come on! Do you have to dress like that to pick up girls? That's sad, I feel sorry for the girls who had the courage." Spoke Yuji while having a mocking smile on his lips.

"What did you say?!" Osanai roared at the boy.

"Oh, what? Are you jealous of the handsome one here?" Yuji pointed at himself with a mocking expression.

"Who would be jealous of you?!"

Shiki, who was holding back from laughing, suddenly stopped when his gaze turned to a sign of what looked like a bar.

"Guys, isn't this the address?" Shiki asked as he pointed to the bar.

The three, who were previously arguing about Osanai's appearance, stopped and turned toward the direction Shiki was pointing. Yuji upon seeing the bar, pulled the paper with the address from his pocket and read the information.

"Looks like it." Yuji confirmed.

"A bar? How convenient, I hope they have quality drinks." Osanai spoke with a smile.

"The last thing we want is for you to get drunk and take a beating from your opponent.... Well, I guess the beating is inevitable." Akira spoke and looked away from the blonde.

"What did you say?! I'll finish you off, fall in!"

As the two argued, Yuji stared at the bar with intensity. His body was full of energy, and his fists mad for a good fight. The feeling he was feeling at the moment was incredible. The same feeling he felt before stepping into the ring, for a big fight.

"Guys, come on." Yuji spoke with authority, and that served to make the two captains stop their discussion and turn to their leader with serious expressions.

"Let's get this challenge over with."