BAKI-DOU: THE INVINCIBLE SAMURAI
What?
What was that?
A slash from virtually zero distance.
But even so, he actually cut from that distance?
The boy could feel it.
I've been cut!
Physically, he wasn't cut.
He wasn't actually cut by a sword.
Yet look at this.
That…
That's effective.
The sensation of having been cut is more than he can resist, even if he tries.
Even if he tries to deny it, his body acknowledges it.
I like close combat too.
He's learned it.
A tackle?
It's a brawl.
I see.
It's a new move I haven't seen before.
Musashi Miyamoto, transported to the present from the battlefield.
It can't end with just crossing blades.
Cut. Thrust. Stab. Choke. Throw.
"Musashi isn't strong barehanded."
We can't expect such a miracle.
The brain sends a signal half a second before conscious awareness.
He catches it half a second before Musashi realizes it.
The battle of masters catching the initiation at its source.
He scattered it.
One of my classmates pulled his chair as a joke.
He did it with full force.
What?
Yes, I understood it right away.
He had definitely been training.
CLASSMATE KUBOI
No, I didn't say it out loud, but I was sure of it.
I had noticed before
that Baki was stronger than the athletes in the sports clubs.
He was definitely strong.
He's insanely strong.
This is impossible.
He's on another level.
No wonder he would take the bait.
The brain's signal emitted before consciousness.
He sensed that impulse before Musashi himself did.
By the time Musashi decided to act, he was already ahead.
A next-level sen-no-sen that controls the very beginning.
I can somehow keep up with it up to that point,
but what Musashi showed was beyond that.
A counter that used the brain's signals as bait.
Contact meant an instant conclusion.
Defeat meant death itself in that era.
A face-off between masters.
That level of reading each other was probably nothing special.
He can't win against that.
Do you think so?
Pardon?
Facing the real Musashi Miyamoto,
a war god revered by contemporary martial arts…
Will the greatest masterpiece of modern hand-to-hand combat be defeated?
On the day Izo Motobe faced Musashi, early that morning, at Motobe's residence,
when the topic turned to the amount of daily training,
that bastard Motobe dropped an incredible line.
My heart strays from martial arts several times a day.
Walking, standing, sitting, or lying down.
Thinking about martial arts all day.
Does this Goki Shibukawa have that much love for martial arts?
What about my master, Mikoshiba?
What about the founder of Aiki, Sokaku Takeda?
Motobe.
That thing. Who did you learn it from?
May the way you walk embody martial virtue.
I thought I had lived my life with that in mind, but…
But?
Someone overturned my view of training.
It's someone you know very well.
Baki Hanma.
Truly whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down,
be it hard work or endurance, everything in his daily life is play.
He spends all day playing in the martial arts.
That's just too much to deal with.
There's no way a hard worker can defeat an opponent who enjoys it.
Boy.
What are you trying to pull, handing a sword to Musashi himself?
I'm copying you.
Why copying me?
Because that's your domain.
You've been cut many times without a sword.
To slaughter you before you even draw your true blade would be too cruel.
Slaughter?
Slaughter? Are you out of your mind, boy?
Who is slaughtering who?
I came here planning to say goodbye to you for good.
That will happen, but you won't be the one left standing.
I'll survive and cut my way up this country.
I'll slash my way up
and look down on this country from the top.
That's a lie.
You can't slash your way to the top here.
You noticed that a long time ago.
Musashi. You shouldn't be here.
That grip…
That's Musashi's grip.
He's throwing it?
-So close! -It's too close!
He caught it with his hand!
No way!
Musashi, I believed in you.
I knew you could stop it.
As a result,
that'll tie up both your hands.
Welcome back.
Now, then…
The boy was comparing.
Modern hand-to-hand combat matches can be repeated any number of times.
By contrast, matches in the age of the samurai
were life or death.
There is no room for doubt.
The severity of the fight doesn't even compare.
Nothing can rival a true fight to the death.
However…
So what?
A ten-second knockout from a strike.
A tap-out from a joint lock.
A pass-out from a choke.
Do you understand?
In either outcome, the victor holds the power of life and death.
Do you understand?
It's not a struggle over life.
However,
modern hand-to-hand combat can kill if one wishes it to.
Now, then…
All right, stab.
Musashi.
Let's end this.
Did the sword slip
from both my hands?
Whatever you hold in your hand can leave your grasp, right?
Had you kept holding it, I'd be cut to pieces.
You're even being modest about it.
More importantly, Musashi,
I have to bury you.
Now.
Bury? Me? With that sword?
You'd better stop.
Do you think I can't use a sword?
You're an amateur, but you grasp the logic of a blade fairly well.
Even an amateur can cut
with a sword that sharp.
It can slaughter.
Is he going to cut him?
Is he serious?
You've seen it many times.
A sword can leave the hand.
"An ogre with a club."
It's a reassuring idea.
To begin with, an ogre and a club are separate things.
They cannot go together.
A sword that cannot leave the hand.
I want a sword that cannot leave the hand.
I can endure loneliness, but parting with a sword is sad.
This is swordless.
A barehanded fighter.
It's something you all already had.
A barehanded fighter who turns his body into a weapon.
The body cannot leave the hand.
The way of the sword is ultimately the way to no-sword.
Before long,
one wouldn't even understand what that tool is.
I will walk this path.
Right.
Oh, man.
You're only halfway there.
I'm really sorry, but could you do that over there?
Over there?
I mean, where you were before, or rather where you were drifting.
Not here, but over there.
So, then.
Here I go.
That makes it easier. You always catch it, after all.
Gone, gone, gone beyond…
Who is it?
Who is she?
Bowing before the great presence With the deepest reverence
I humbly make my request
What?
The soul of Miyamoto Musashi
An old lady?
Hear and heed this humble plea That he be returned to heaven
Grant fulfillment To the great wish I hold in my heart
With deepest reverence, I humbly say
What?
What is it?
He's dead?!
METROPOLITAN POLICE TOYOKAZU HINO
Rather than being defeated, he died?
It's a report from an infiltrated operative.
It appears that a lot happened, and that Musashi's soul left his body.
His soul, you say.
You…
What are we supposed to do about this? A thousand people.
Yeah, right.
Sabuko.
I'm sorry for the trouble.
Though it is too late to say it, I lacked prudence.
I summoned the spirit of Musashi Miyamoto.
Once that became reality,
what was bound to happen,
what was never going to happen…
We should have been able to imagine both.
And yet we did not refrain.
What would happen if we let a ferocious monster loose in the city?
Though we half knew, we could not cast aside our curiosity.
This goes for me, and for this failure too.
It is an act that deserves a thousand deaths.
The truth is, everyone was afraid, but everyone had expectations for him.
Everyone felt provoked.
And after all, we couldn't help but confirm.
That sword's power.
The sharpness.
To go further…
Even the brutality.
We are equally guilty.
This nation acted in its own way,
and Musashi had no choice but to act in his own way.
Everyone.
This is not a funeral procession.
It is the departure of the strongest swordsman, a legendary forebear.
Not with your palms together,
but with chests held high, a soldier's send-off.
I ask that you face this with an unwavering stance.
Pulse, breathing, blood pressure, and body temperature.
All values are normal.
And as you can see, there is no brain-wave activity.
He's back.
That's right.
Back then…
He's back to that time.
Will he be all right, Nonomura?
Please leave it to me.
I will stop time here.
What is this liquid?
It's liquid nitrogen.
The one that's like minus one-hundred-something degrees?
No. At this point, it's still kept at around zero degrees.
Lowering the temperature gradually by 0.5 degrees every six hours,
it will take six weeks to reach the final temperature of minus 196 degrees.
We're using an ultra-slow cooling method.
When he is frozen, won't his cells be destroyed?
That problem was already overcome two years ago by our team.
The tube inserted through his mouth.
We haven't announced it yet,
but it's a new medicine that our team has developed.
At a rate of 0.9 milligrams per minute,
very, very slowly,
it gets swallowed.
Over 15 days, through the normal digestive process,
20 liters, or 20,000 milliliters, will be digested.
That's why it permeates, at nano level, to every corner of the cells.
The non-freezing preservative liquid will permeate every corner.
In other words, a liquid that doesn't destroy cells.
Our team's science will never be complete.
How will you deal with the freezing of blood?
The tube inserted through the thigh is connected to the aorta and vena cava.
The circulation is progressing smoothly.
After 77 hours,
by the beginning of next week, the solution will fill all blood vessels.
Thank you, Nonomura.
Thank you, everyone.
Could the present era bring charges against Musashi Miyamoto?
Before even asking that…
I mean, of course you keep something this valuable!
Musashi will remain!
We used preservation via liquid nitrogen.
Preservation began five days ago.
The temperature is being lowered at a rate of two degrees per 24 hours.
As of day five, the temperature of the liquid is minus ten degrees.
It will reach the final temperature of minus 196 degrees in about five weeks.
As you can see,
Musashi will remain.
This preservation…
Is this intended for a possible revival one day?
Or…
Or what?
So this is the permanently-preserved Musashi Miyamoto?
Is there a problem with that?
I'm not talking about my own convenience.
Gramps, surely not.
From here on,
you're not planning to pull this man out and put him back in at your convenience?
Everyone.
Is Musashi Miyamoto here alive?
Of course he is not alive.
Then is he dead? That is not right either.
We have stopped time.
The perfect form of Musashi Miyamoto is here.
Would cremating him and laying him to rest with care be true solace?
I will not accept that.
Musashi, who departs on a journey, can always come back.
We will continue to maintain the body as his home.
That is what sincerity toward the departed means.
Even if he never crosses the threshold again,
his home will continue to exist.
Would that not be a true memorial rite?
THE END
Subtitle translation by: Wataru Uno