Kinnikuman 68

With the tragedy of Robin Mask's fresh on Suguru's mind, the chaos between the WSC, WSF and WSA for control of America may be reaching a breaking point until...he appears.

Volume 6: Ironclad Rules of Tag
Chapter 68: Don of the American Choujin World

7.
Suguru: Wait--!!
Suguru: You guys—open up--!!
Suguru: N?

8.
Harrison: You won’t have a monopoly on the belt.
Suguru: The…Choujin Council!!
Harrison: That plane crash was faked so you could steal the belt. Wasn’t that a really elaborate plan?
Rhodes: They won’t be able to do anything.
Sheik: Run Skull!!
Rhodes: Hey, you won’t get away!
Rhodes: I’ve got a grudge against you for ripping my face!!

9.
Bozu: Rhodes~~~
Choujin: Hey, Skull’s in danger!!
Harrison: O—K, end this everyone!!

10-11.
Meat: Prince, what are you lulled about!?
Suguru: Eh?
Suguru: Uoo, of course. Where’s Sheik? Where’s Skull--!!
Meat: Really, enough--!!
Choujin: He—he hehe.
Suguru: He—y, you’re depressing.
Voice: He~~y, that’s enough fighting!!

12.
Suguru: N~~
Harrison: Th...that man is…
Suguru: Wa…what, what?

13.
Phreas: Hey~~~that Choujin there is higher than you two!!
Suguru: What are you saying, idiot--? I was thinking of a person’s death and how not one of those idiots came forward to help!!
Phreas: Well, Kinnikuman. The person who’s appeared here is God Phon Eric, the Steel Claw, former Choujin World Champion!!
Meat: God Phon Eric?
Suguru: You idiot, I didn’t need to know that name if that was E.H. Eric.
(TN: E.H. Eric is the stage name of a famous Japanese comedian of the 1960s)
Phreas: He…..Hey!
Eric: Fuhahaha…Phreas. It’s great that your Choujin are so lively!
Phreas: Hahaha…Really, they have no etiquette.
Meat: Aah, I remember!!

14.
Meat: God Phon Eric is actually the originator of the American Choujin World, who controlled the peak of the American Choujin World for about 150 years!! Further, he is also famous as the master of Doro Phreas, Sheik Alien and Edith Harrison, and currently is retired from active service, assisting in development counseling. Long ago, there weren’t the three organizations, just only the one organization of the WSA!!
Sheik: For…for what reason is God here?
Eric: What reason?
Sheik: UWA…

15.
Eric: Blockhead students like all of you won’t let me have a quiet retirement!!
Sheik: UWA—
Meat: There it is! The Iron Claw Throw!!
Eric: Essentially what are you doing with the death matches of Choujin who must cooperate happily for the sake of the peace of humanity!!
Harrison: Bu…but, God, all of this is for the unification of the 3 groups.
Eric: Idiot--!! Don’t answer--!!
Eric: When I was young, we settled all raised quarrels in the ring.
Phreas: In………In the ring? What are you thinking?

16.
Eric: We’ll have a tag championship!!
Harrison: Eeh!? A tag championship?
Eric: Yes, a tag championship!
Eric: You’ll compete in a win-or-lose round-robin ring match where two Choujin will represent each organization. The winning organization will gain control of all territory in America and the losing organizations must become affiliated with them.
Eric: How’s that? With this, we’ll conclude this legally.
Phreas: Gu…Gumuu…A tag championship will be fun but…my Choujin Association doesn’t have any Choujin outside Kinnikuman…

17.
Suguru: This should be fun, Eric-san!
Phreas: He’s butting in again……!!
Suguru: Tag is different from singles and it’s important to have a double combination. In other words, the winning organization will prove themselves as the organization that has the harmony of their participating players!!
Meat: So to say!
Bozu: I too approve of Kinnikuman’s views. This is truly for the American Choujin World’s tomorrow!!
Rhodes: Same on the right!
Kinkotsu: Hold on!
Kinkotsu: We two aren’t a part of any group in this tag championship. We’ll participate from the free position.
Suguru: Idiots! You’re not Choujin. Aren’t you Kaijuu?
Iwao: Though we’re Kaijuu, we’re spoiled Choujin. We’ll win the tag championship and gain this America for the Kaijuu citizens!!
(TN: Iwao actually uses an expression here “hashikure”, which is translated as “fag-end”, which in itself is “a bottom or a spoiled member”.)

18.
Eric: Well, that’s fine. Our numbers increase one and the readers will be delighted.
Eric: Now, this tag championship will be witnessed by reporter Clark Kenta of the Daily Placard.
Narrator: 1980: With the unification of the American Choujin World on the line, the tag championship of the Choujin Association, Choujin Federation and Choujin Council finally opened—

TN: For starters, I have this weird feeling in my head that the "God" in "God Phon Eric"'s name may actually stand either for his godly status within Choujin history...or that he's the "don" or "godfather" of the American Choujin. Either work since he just is that brutal...and considering all the crap that the three sides have been pulling, I think he's just what they deserve! (see what he pulled on Sheik Alien and Edith Harrison) Meanwhile, we start getting at this point the beginning of a lot of the "international brothership of Choujin" bit that actually starts to resonate time and again for the later parts of the series...sometimes you sort of understand that whole bit of unity, but it usually just leads to a bunch of Choujin that do literally nothing cheering or taking part in everything a lot of the main or Idol Choujin do with the later villains. The concept of a tag tourney, even at this point, is just a good and cool means to actually show another aspect of wrestling that does become part of Kinnikuman lore: by working and trusting in another to fight together, you can sort of see the power of working together stronger than working alone. And the last really notable factor of the chapter: we can sort of see the "Kaijuu" concept of the series starting to fade away with how Kinkotsuman and Iwao tried to explain themselves to take part in the Choujin tag tournament. Essentially you sort of see Yudetamago explaining away the whole matter of Kaijuu by saying they're the dregs of Choujin...either that was just an excuse for the two of them to take part in the tag tourney or just a retro fit to show that all the monsters were just Choujin after all and that everything in this world is...well, you get the point.