Sakigake!! Otoko Juku 126

They are the Sanpousei: three of the deadliest warriors of Gandhara sent to make sure the new High Priest wins in the Daibukai! And with the first already on the battleground, will he use his rubbery powers to squash Rasetsu flat!?

Chp. 126: Secret Drug: Boukantan

47.
Rasetsu: Kuu!!
Toramaru: Ra…Rasetsu---!!
Togashi: Wh…what is th…this~~~!! That Gyuuhou guy is attacking by bouncing around like a rubber ball---!!

48.
(Title page…you think it may take more than a few fingers to take out Gyuuhou, Rasetsu?)

49.
Gyuuhou: Fuohhohho: this is Roukyuu Chouhou Ranshakaku!! Wherever it pleases me, you won’t be able to read which direction I attack from!!
(TN: “Ranshakaku” = a fusion of two words: “ransha” = “random shot”; “shakaku” = “angle of fire”, therefore “ranshakaku” = “randomly fired at an angle”)
Gyuuhou: With that on top of your Toushi Kiha not getting through my body, you can’t win!! Both your muscle and bone will be crushed to bits like a jellyfish!!
Rasetsu: !!

50.
Rasetsu: ………………!!
Gyuuhou: Hou, that’s what you’re thinking. You’ve bent yourself to the ground lowering yourself so you can prevent my attack?
Gyuuhou: In truth, that may have you avoid attacks that come from the side, but…that’s not how it is!!
Rasetsu: !?

51.
Gyuuhou: Don’t forget that I can also do a vertical attack from up in the sky!!
Rasetsu: Gaha!!
Toramaru: Ra…Rasetsu---!!

52.
Gyuuhou: Fuohhohho, that blow now I’m certain should have broken three of your ribs. At any rate, this definitely makes it match.
Gyuuhou: Hou, you’re still getting up? To show respect for this fighting spirit, I shall show you an interesting thing.

53.
Gyuuhou: This is Boukantan: a secret drug handed down to me by the household of Gandhara!!
(TN: “Boukantan” = “Chinese Swelling Pill”)
Rasetsu: ……………….!!
Toramaru: Wh…what, that guy swallowed something.
Gyuuhou: NUOO!!

54.
Rasetsu: WH…WHAT---!!
Togashi: L…look---!! Wh…what’s going on with him---!? His belly is rapidly swelling up---!
Toramaru: He’s become over twice as big as he was before---!!
Rasetsu: ………………………!!
Gyuuhou: Fuohhohho: do you see, the power of the secret drug Boukantan? It’s not just for swelling up: with this, the elasticity of my body has become many times more as well.

55.
Commentary:
Boukantan…a Protein-group Ascorbic Mycin, as it’s call in modern pharmaceutics. At the end of the 18th century, the verification that symbolized wealth and authority among British aristocrats was to be fat. For this purpose, the aristocrats in those days competed in the largeness of their abdomen. Having these sorts of period circumstances, it was said to be a natural result that the scientists of official business to every aristocrat were daredevils in developing a secret drug for the expansion of the abdomen.

And thus, the one who invented the drug first was E. Velt, who was an employee of the Duke of Edinburgh. This drug today, naturally, became unnecessarily useless, giving the etymology to “Velt’s Invention”, which is for a thing that is of no use.
-From “Manners and Customs of the British Aristocracy”, Taikoubou Books
(TN: Though I made mention here of it as “British”, the Japanese used “eikoku”, which usually is “English” but it is only because of the whole matter regarding the Duke of Edinburgh, who is Scottish, that I made the whole matter “British”. BTW: there is no term of “Velt’s Invention” in English, it’s just another Otokojuku-ism)

Gyuuhou: Fuohhohho, so then, shall I finish you?

56.
Togashi: A…amazing: he’s…gotten that high with that huge form.
Toramaru: If he takes that attack directly from that height, he’ll have no difficulty with Rasetsu~~~~~!!

57.
Gyuuhou: Fuohhohho: are you still planning your wicked mischief with your Toushi Kiha!! You can’t be satisfied in even moving with your ribs broken!!

58.
Gyuuhou: Fuohhohho: Somehow you’ve avoided my first attack!! However, what are you doing attacking with the Toushi Kiha aiming for the Boukantan on my waist!?
Gyuuhou: Right, you intend to swallow those Boukantan. But that’s ridiculous!! Even if you swallow them, you can’t use them at all without the physical build that you end up with when finishing training like mine!
Gyuuhou: Fuohho: How’s that, you’ve resigned to it. You can’t even get an easy victory.

59.
Gyuuhou: DIE----!!
Toramaru: He’s…getting killed---!! With…that, Rasetsu is truly killed---!!

60.
Gyuuhou: Fuohho, that fool, he was lucky to have faced Gyuuhou, one of the Gandhara Sanpousei. He was no match for my unequaled self!!
Gyuuhou: He was squashed flat like a cuttlefish, so I can confirm his dead corpse That was ruthless fun.
(TN: A cuttlefish is a type of cephalopod, usually served dried and flat in Japanese cuisine)
Gyuuhou: Yet even so, there’s quite the dust cloud.
Gyuuhou: N~~~!?

61.
Gyuuhou: What is this hole? Where is that squid……!?
Gyuuhou: GUWA!!
Gyuuhou: Aga!!
Gyuuhou: Guhu!!

62.
Gyuuhou: Nuuu, y….you………!!
Rasetsu: If you’re one of the Gandhara Sanpousei, then I’m Rasetsu, one of the Otokojuku Shitennou!! I must win this for the deceased Eikei!!
Toramaru: Ra…Rasetsu---!!
Togashi: Rasetsu is a…alive, he…wasn’t killed~~~!!
Gyuuhou: Fuohhohho, a guy like you that possesses that is a stubborn man.
Gyuuhou: Fu--mu, now I get it…………!! You dug a hole in the ground with Toushi Kiha and hid yourself there so you could avoid my attack.

63.
Gyuuhou: But you can’t use the same technique again. This time you’ll truly become a cuttlefish---!!
Rasetsu: Big guy, it really seems those words are being said without turning that advice to your body……………!!
Gyuuhou: N~~~!? What do you mean by that……!!
Rasetsu: You don’t know it yet? Think about what you swallowed earlier………………
Gyuuhou: Huh!!

64.
Gyuuhou: Uo!!
Gyuuhouy: Th…this is………!!
Gyuuhou: Hi…Hiii--M…my body is rapidly expanding; it’ll burst apart---!!

65.
Rasetsu: Your muscles are swelling due to the large quantity of Boukantan, becoming weaker to the limit of elasticity; now, your body is the same as a balloon on the verge of exploding……now die.
Gyuuhou: ST…STOP---!!
Gyuuhou: GUWAHA---!!

TN: It's sort of strange but sad: once again, hubris has taken down a promising warrior who seemed way too powerful than he was depicted. In a way, even with Rasetsu still not being as affected as claimed, Gyuuhou probably could have won the match by simply wearing him down until he was crushed by the Roukyuu Chouhou without having the resort to the drug to speed things up. Sure it would have taken longer, but Rasetsu definitely showed he figured the weakness the moment he saw the drug being used the first time, allowing for him to formulate the plan that defeated the big guy. I guess in a way while I did like Gyuuhou to the end for his weird style, somehow Rasetsu's fights always seem to turn out like this, where it ends due to a "certain situation" as opposed to skill (also see how Date won his fight). I sort of wished he got a real formidable fight he could fully use his Toushi Kiha in...but I guess that would make too much sense. Anyway, at least with this fight over, I finally can get to the fight I've been waiting for next time...(well after I get through a massive project that forced me to translate this early!)