Kinnikuman 317

Just when you think you know everything about Kinnikuman Zebra, Parthenon has covered him in a shadow of hate, releasing his true brutality! How much worse has the Fated Prince become for Suguru and Robin to handle?

Chapter 317: Scramble for the Kinniku Throne (44): I Saw the Light at the Edge of Death!

161.
Parthenon: Sun of the distant Acropolis, present my power of malice and hatred to Kinnikuman Zebra-sama.
Announcer: A shadow that is stretching from Parthenon’s feet is covering the white part of Zebra’s body---!!

162.
Announcer: Zebra, who should have the pattern of white and black stripes, has been covered in Parthenon’s shadow, making his entire body become completely black as he rises up!!

163.
Zebra: Kukuku…
Suguru: Wh…what’s going on…
Suguru: That Zebra, who took mine and Robin Mask’s Cross Bomber and should have taken damage to the verge of his death, has…
Robin: …By being covered in Parthenon’s shadow, he instead became lively without breaking a sweat, as if he’s a being who has just now entered the ring.
Parthenon: It should be as I said: when Zebra-sama is angered, the ring changes into a depiction of hell…
Suguru: Kowa---!!

164.
Suguru: Owa!!
Suguru: Uge—
Brocken: Ooh! That Zebra has such superhuman strength; he changed a steel-wire rope easily into a lasso with one hand…
Buffalo: Gu—gumu—
Announcer: Zebra is utilizing the elastic power of the rope and hooked it onto Kinnikuman’s neck, returning him towards himself----!!

165.
Announcer: Kinnikuman is again caught in Zebra’s Savannah Punches!!
Zebra: Thoroughbred Hook!!
Zebra: Thoroughbred Upper!!
Robin: Again, it’s that stupid punch that is the only thing we well remember about him; that won’t work. Kinnikuman, gorge Zebra’s face again with a superkick---!!
(TN: First of all, Robin uses a Japanese expression here of “hitotsuoboe”, which literally stands for “the one thing that is well-remembered”, which is obvious considering how Zebra used so many at the start of the match. Second, “superkick”, also known as the “torasu kick” or the “thrust kick”, is a particular high-kick move akin to the one Suguru used at the start of the match, originally notable in it’s usage at the time by it’s creator, “Gentleman” Chris Adams, but popularized by wrestler Shawn Michaels…who wouldn’t really be known at this point since he burst onto the major wrestling scene in 1988…by which Kinnikuman is no longer running)

166.
Suguru: Th…that was Zebra’s Punch…
Announcer: Kinnikuman’s appearance is strange!!
Suguru: It’s…different from before……
Robin: Ho…how—though Zebra’s punch is unchanged and was easily taken by Kinnikuman earlier, how could Kinnikuman take damage from it!?
Zebra: Kukuku…here’s how: his taking a good punch and going down is a sensation that rises up even to heaven.

167.
Audience: Hey, aren’t those iron balls!!
Robin: Right: that Zebra was smiting Kinnikuman as he was grabbing onto those iron balls!!
Suguru: That’s…the reason those punches now sh…should have been effective………
Announcer: What—he attacked with a dangerous weapon!! The Zebra who seemed to have this much of an orthodox technique until earlier has suddenly by some reason transformed into a brutal fighter!!
Parthenon: Therefore this is what I said since earlier: Zebra-sama, is a brutal fighter colored the evil color of black over his entire body by nature. (out loud) GYOGYO—

168.
Parthenon: However, the reason he wasn’t that brutal is that he constantly adds in the justice color of white to his evil color of black, counteracting it; he can’t overtake what’s suppressed of his brutality due to having those stripes…
Phoenix: At the start, I thought I had enough to defeat Zebra too in a traditional fight if he was like Kinnikuman, but it seems it wasn’t so; by covering the white half of his own body with the shadow that contains Parthenon’s power of malice and hatred, he’s returned to being the originally brutal fighter Kinnikuman Zebra.
Mammoth: A Choujin with two personalities…his body certainly settle into being an angel and a devil.
Announcer: Well Zebra is aiming for the down Kinnikuman from the top of the corner in the ring with

169.
Announcer: A Flying Headbutt---!!
Suguru: Uh!!
Announcer: This is cruel: blood like a water fountain is spouting from Kinnikuman’s face---!!
Suguru: Ze…Zebra, what have you done…that one headbutt…shouldn’t have caused this much bloodshed…

170.
Audience: Ge—it’s a dangerous iron weapon from under his mask!!
Robin: This is surely as Mammothman said: he’s an angel when an orthodox fighter…a devil when a brutal fighter…Zebra’s body seems to be manipulating him…
Audience: Aah, look!!
Robin: ………

171.
Robin: N…no!!
Announcer: Ge—Zebra is in the stance for a second Dangerous Weapon Headbutt---!!
Zebra: Take this!!
Announcer: Well, will the first to reach the finals of the Survival Match be Team Zebra--!!
Robin: He’ll easily take Kinnikuman.
Robin: Are you going to take the viciousness of a brutal fighter!!
Announcer: However, in the nick of time, partner Robin Mask has rescued Kinnikuman---!!

172.
Announcer: Zebra’s Dangerous Weapon Headbutt has self-destructed on the canvas---!!
Zebra: Fufufu…do they think it’s merely self-destruction?
Announcer: Ge—the ring is starting to split with a boundary being parted by the stuck inside Zebra---!!
Suguru: The dangerous iron weapon on Zebra’s face is producing a fissure in the ring with the shock of him stuck in the canvas!!
Announcer: The fissure in the ring is rapidly getting bigger---!!
Terry: Perhaps Zebra’s suicide-attack was for splitting apart Kinnikuman and Robin Mask…

173.
Announcer: The ring is completely split in two---!!
Zebra: Hahaha, that’s right, this was the aim for my suicide attack…
Soldier: Those Zebra and Parthenon have gotten out of the ring for something, but why exactly…!?
Announcer: Zebra and Parthenon outside the ring are turning upwards the ring which was split in two with Kinnikuman and Robin Mask in it---!!

174.
Zebra & Parthenon: BRUTAL ART: CANVAS PRESSER!!

175.
Announger: Ge—and somehow Zebra and Parthenon have struck a drop kick simultaneously to the reverse of the turned-up ring, crashing it into the warriors on the canvas---!!
Announcer: I…I haven’t seen this cruel brutal fighting until now!!
Buffalo: Ooh, the ring that broke in two has started to return to normal.
Zebra: Kukuku…within that ring broke in two will be the atrocious squashed corpses of Kinnikuman and Robin Mask…
Zebra: Ooh, this is awful again.
Zebra: Wh…what is this!?

176.
Suguru: I’m sorry we’re not atrocious corpses.
Announcer: So…somehow, Kinnikuman isn’t de—ad!!
Zebra: That’s…stupid: if he’s taken an intense, splitting-in-two ring press, then how could he be standing so calmly---!?

177.
Caption: HIMEJI CHOUJIN HOSPITAL—
Meat: It’s that…again: light has emitted from the real face under Prince’s mask…
Meat: That light made a rotten, dirty river into a clear river that fish can swim in the first time, and saved Terryman who was suffering from King the 100 Ton’s see-saw attack the second time…
Meat: And this time, at the chance of taking Team Zebra’s Canvas Presser, Prince took off his mask and shot off that certain light from his face, wishing for a little of it.
Meat: He reflected that light on the armor of the knocked-down Robin Mask, exposing it to Prince’s body
Meat: Temporarily, Prince’s body became tough and endured that Canvas Presser…

178.
Meat: This is a technique that came from just the Friendship Power of Prince and Robin, which can awaken a miracle no matter what crisis they fall into!!
Zebra: Guoo!! Miracles are things that can be defeated by my brutal fighting!!
Announcer: Zebra has now thrown a Human Bullet Attack with Parthenon’s huge body as his dangerous weapon---!!

179.
Announcer: Kinnikuman has hurled up Parthenon’s body with just the power of his abdominal muscles---!! What exactly is this stance---!?
Suguru: I saw it at the edge of death: a piece of my new special technique: the Muscle Spark!!
(End of Vol. 28…sort of)

TN: I know I mentioned last chapter that I actually do like the concept of Zebra being a split-nature Choujin going between "fair play" and "foul play" in his fighting styles...but at the same time, I did mention that I really don't get why the key to Zebra's transformation has to be tied to his costume. What I like is just the concept of someone going between two styles and physically showing it...well OK, dual natures have been seen before, primarily as I remember with Robin's "brutal style" and even "Devil Terry", but to use a physical cue in the changing of styles would be neat...if it weren't so tied to a stupid costume that, as I've said before, I doubt he ever wore when he was just Powerfulman and was just done probably because...well, the God of Techniques was having fun in randomness. I mean, why the heck does Zebra have to split himself via his costume, in particular a costume he never wore before? Can't there be some other visual medium for him to show his change from "orthodox" to "brutal"? And can't there be a way he can change himself without needing...ew...Parthenon?

And speaking of Big Gay Par (which I really should just call him for the rest of his appearances), he seemed to somehow make this whole chapter suddenly have much worse and more disturbed meanings than it really should have. Think about it like this: the big technique of the chapter (well prior to the ending...I'll get into that next chapter though but let's say things are getting more ludicrous by the chapter) was the Canvas Presser, which involves Suguru and Robin being alone...on the canvas...together...as Zebra and Parthenon squash them together, smushing them as seen in one panel...supposedly killing them but...ewww...see, Big Gay Par has just ruined my impressions of that move. And let's not get into how Suguru stopped it: it's bad enough he has to use his mysterious "face flash" once again, but not only is that bad enough...but he has to use it on Robin...so he can reflect it back to himself...to make himself...stiffer...and harder...to endure...while pushed up...against Robin...oh I just want this fight to finish already!

BTW: why is it that when Robin uses the Anoala Staff, it's considered just and fair...but when Zebra sticks a tack as a blunt object (not even having the point stick up or anything), its brutal and unfair? These rules of Choujin wrestling never make any sense at all...