Sakigake!! Otoko Juku 218

With two comrades gone, Hien is the only one who can stand up and save the Sanmenken's grace by defeating Raja Mahal! But with his options dwindling down and the Indian near victory, does the bird-man have any trump-cards left?

Chp. 218: The Left-Behind Bloody Characters!!

87.
Raja Mahal: So you say you’re Hien?
Raja Mahal: You’re the first to have blood flow from me since I mastered the secret path of Rama Yoga…!! So then, I’ll show you.

88.
Raja Mahal: The ultimate secret art of my Rama Yoga!!

89.
Toramaru: Wh…what is this: Ma…Mahal’s bizarre stance---!! He’s abandoned even his weapons he called Kipchak, so what exactly is he planning---!!
Togashi: He…he’s releasing the ultimate secret technique of Rama Yoga---!!
Raja Mahal: This will be taken by you!!
Hien: Th…this terrible bloodthirst………!! Bu…but I don’t understand…!! Is…is there still some weapon other than his head hair by him……………!

90.
Raja Mahal: DIE! RAMA YOGA CHOUOUGI: KYUURAN SHINSOUKAN!!
(TN: “Kyuuran Shinsoukan” = “Perplexing-Storm Stretching-Nail Pierce”; once again we have another kanji that really has no modern meaning, the “perplexing” is the meaning of a kanji with a radical for “grass” above it)
Hien: Guha!!

91.
Hien: ………!!
Raja Mahal: With that, it’s all over…………!!
Hien: Guku!!
Toramaru: Hi…Hien---!!
Togashi: Wh…what is this----!! Th…that Mahal guy can move freely with his will even his fingernails---!

92.
Raja Mahal: Already I don’t need this to finish you.
Hien: N…no: my…conscious and even the power in my body is leaving……at…at this rate, I…I’m at wits end and…I’ll lose and die………………!!
Raja Mahal: You should be pleased in your reunion with your colleagues in that world.
Hien: I’m…sorry, Gekkou……!!

93.
Hien: !?
Hien: !
Hien: Th…this is…………!!
Kanji: MUMYOU TOUSATSU
(TN: “Mumyou Tousatsu” = “Darkness-Penetrating Murder”)
Hien: Th…this is certainly Gekkou’s handwriting……………!!
Hien: Ri…right, Mumyou Tousatsu…………!!
Hien: Ge…Gekkou predicted it would be me that would fight next when he was resigned to his own death…and…and left these bloody characters………………!!
Raja Mahal: Stubborn man, are you still alive……!! I can only finish this after all……!!

94.
Raja Mahal: NUU!!
Hien: I…I don’t have reason to lose…………!! I…I alone must protect the name of Otokojuku’s Sanmenken……!!
Raja Mahal: I don’t believe this: Where exactly do you have a fighting spirit like that in that slender body………!!
Toramaru: Uoo, he’s standing up again---!!
Togashi: Hi…Hien isn’t abandoning the match yet wi…with that worn-out body---!!
Hien: I…I’ve been taught by Gekkou…………!! Th…this is the only thing that will defeat you……!!

95.
Hien: CHOUJINKEN KYOKUOUGI: KAKUSHI SENBON MUMYOU TOUSATSU!!
Hien: Do…do you see…………!! The senbon more slender than even hair that I’m holding in this hand……!!
Raja Mahal: What………!?

96.
Raja Mahal: Fu, what are you jesting about……!! Senbon thinner than head hair!? I can’t see those things!! Are you too touched with the terror of death!
Togashi: Senbon thinner than even head hair~~~!! I…I don’t see them!! My…my eyes don’t see anything either---! Wh…what exactly is Hien saying doing that---!!
Momotarou: ………!!
Hien: It’s…your way to think it isn’t there!!

97.
Raja Mahal: That’s funny.
Raja Mahal: Is it satisfactory if I avoid them like this?
Raja Mahal: !!
Raja Mahal: Huh!!
Hien: Ev…even if thinner than hair, the power is the same. If I go through your fatal point, then you will die.
Hien: HA---!!

98.
Raja Mahal: Ku!!
Raja Mahal: !!
Hien: You should tremble with fear!! At the terror you can’t see in your eyes!
Raja Mahal: Chii!!

99.
Raja Mahal: So…stupid…………!! I…don’t believe this…………! I can’t see his senbon with my eyes, which can completely see even a needle in rapids……!!
Togashi: A…amazing, Hien, wi…with those unseen senbon---!!
Toramaru: N…no matter how he’s a guy possessing a superhuman defensive power, he can’t avoid things he can’t see---!!
Momotarou: N…no, there’s still that…………….!! He can completely see the path of the senbon from the arm angle and interval that Hien throws and somehow is avoiding them.
Toramaru: ………!!
Raja Mahal: Nun!!
Raja Mahal: Ha!!

100.
Raja Mahal: ………!!
Raja Mahal: Fu, I understand, it’s such child’s play………!!

101.
Raja Mahal: Uwahhaha, you don’t have unseeable senbon after all!! You merely are just showing you are throwing!! You give the thought of it by throwing up pebbles with your foot and release the falling sound effect!!
Raja Mahal: But then I was keeping an eye with just your hand and my unrecognizing self was careless to it.
Toramaru: Hi…Hien………!!
Raja Mahal: : Now, you should be prepared!! With your joke exposed, I already don’t need to fear and avoid those unseeable senbon!!

102.
Hien: Is…is that how it is!!
Raja Mahal: Uwahhaha: you are an idiot---!!
Raja Mahal: Still with those unseeable senbon---!!
Raja Mahal: !?
Raja Mahal: Huh!!

103.
Raja Mahal: Uoo!! Th…this is!
Hien: Th…this is Kakushi Senbon Mumyou Tousatsu…………!! I’ve exactly gone through the fatal point of your brain.
Hien: A…a man of your extent, for example, would fall for the facade of senbon unseeable to the eye and avoid where it was thrown. Th…therefore, I had you think those things didn’t exist…………!! And then you charged in defenseless……!
Raja Mahal: We…were the pebbles you threw with your leg also for the production…………!!

104.
Raja Mahal: Y…you’re a dreadful man………!!
Toramaru: He…he did it---!! Hien won---!
Togashi: I…I don’t believe this; it’s…a big turn-around----!!
Raja Mahal: Are…are you cleared with this…………attacking the enemy of your comrade Gekkou……………!!
Hien: ………No. You too lost your beloved elephant Punjab……!!

105.
Hien: There isn’t hatred by us……!! It was a good match……………!! That’s just merely it……………!
Raja Mahal: Fu, y…you are a good man…………!!
Hien: THANK YOU, GEKKOU………RAIDEN………! I ABSOLUTELY WILL PROTECT THE NAME OF THE SANMENKEN……………!!

TN: This was a weird chapter but in a way it was something that makes a bit of sense if you remember some stuff looking back. I'm not saying it was bad considering this was a good chapter ultimately: it's hard to say if the "super-thin senbon" actually exist, but the way it was used as part of a ruse by Hien in order to open up Mahal's defense and attack the only point that would even kill a super-flexible man like him (yeah, even if he bends that, it's still his brain) was a fun means of deception, allowing for him to win without doing too much in anything more powerful than, say, the stuff he used on Neskhons or even way back on Senkuu. The weird part to me was pretty much all about Gekkou...which is strange because it actually seemed to hearken in some ways back to former chapters. The weird part was the "bloody characters" he used to instruct Hien, which made sense but was also somewhat strange. Firstly, we knew that Gekkou has the ability to write out bloody characters when he knows he can't win a battle; we saw it with how he told Momo how to defeat Eikei back in the Paaren Seiha. Somehow it was really hard for me to really figure when he had the time to do it, considering he was prone up and had a short time before he was thrown into the abyss by Mahal, but...at least it was done. Secondly, while Hien was an option as to who would come out, how would Gekkou really know it would be him and not, say, Date or someone else? (heck, Toramaru even wanted a piece of Mahal after that) The only real explanation I can give is simple: the fact that we know Gekkou has a massive amount of tactical knowledge and can predict how a battle can go due to his blindness. It's hard to say if that works considering that predicting Hien would go is trying to predict a teammate instead of predicting the opponent's moves, I guess it works logically in how Gekkou saw it: he gave Hien the pendants (grumble, grumble) and sort of figured he'd go up with the honor of the Sanmenken on the line if he died. I guess that's what I can give...but it was still weird even though it was successful. And in the end, I guess Mahal was still somewhat of a jerk, but somehow Hien's approach with him gave a bit of sympathy so that he wasn't complete trash. (considering that they both lost partners in this battle) But heck, the long Raja Mahal fight is over and I can't wait for the next fight...

BTW: one more stupid thing about this weird fight: I already mentioned Raja Mahal as a potential Dhalsim inspiration. But on the other hand...we have Hien, a long-haired bishonen who once used a claw talon on his hand and at one point was very vain when introduced...hmmm...nah, I doubt he'd inspire Vega...