Baki-Dou - Vol. 22 Ch. 198 - Nomi-No-Sukune

[4cans]

thanks for the chapter

 

[banjogrundy]

So many people shitting on the ending.
Personally I liked the entire arc quite a lot. Some of my favourite fights are here not to mention just some of Itagaki's best illustrations.

Thanks translation team for the awesome work, you guys rule.

 

[Bullza]

Wow all these chapters in one go was a real nice surprise.

 

[kyrex]

What a wild ride. Thanks for translating the whole thing and letting us see for ourselves. The negative hype was overblown. I couldn't see Baki butchering an opponent like that, so what other choice did Itagaki have? From wacky supernatural bullshit he came and thus he went.

 

[drfreeman12]

Thanks for the ending, im glad nothing happened to pickles at the end, i was worried since on the next manga pickles haven't appeared at all yet.
Pickles is my fav character uwu

 

[Garnt69]

The Royalty of fights, begin!!

 

[torrenz]

I understand using the old hag to kill him but the sucker punch method they delivered it with is completely unbelievable
isnt musashi supposed to be the guy who invented sucker punches and won duels by any means? he knew that a "win is a win", he did not fall for motobe's tricks and legitimized them as true combat, he had zero trouble fighting as many enemies as he can be surrounded by and he was still in good shape since he and baki literally didnt fight, all they did is kick eachother in the nuts and wax about not using swords, and then he just goes oopsie and gets backstabbed like that?
heres a list of endings I would have preferred, in no particular order.

-baki actually kills musashi in a sword duel
-disillusioned musashi kills himself after winning/losing
-both are injured, musashi moves in for the kill but is restrained by baki long enough for the hag to do her thing
-yujiro crashes the wedding and kills musashi himself so baki's character integrity is preserved
-musashi has an epiphany after getting hit in the nuts by baki. flashback to ogre kicking his nuts, he realizes that swords are stronger than strikes but strikes to the groin are stronger than swords therefore sword to the groin is the ultimate technique. he severs baki's balls and returns to his planet

I'm used to weird outcomes to fights in baki, with both or neither sides winning or the informal outcome being different from the official one, so I didnt have my mind set on a particular victory at all. I only required a proper fight. It's a shame we didnt even get that.

 

[kokeko]

Retsu....

 

[sleepy-goose]

Thank you for completing this! Kinda hoped a Yujiro v Baki fight wouldve been the end fight but next time!

 

[ZoeYggdraseed]

@Midoriha yeah I totally understand that.

What I don't understand is why Musashi admitted defeat after getting KO'd the second time in this fight, but not the first time. Or why he admitted defeat to Motobe, who also made him drop his sword, but then just walked away instead of going "ah gg you got me, go ahead and kill me now".

It's three years late and you probably won't read this, but the point isn't who dies. The point is who has the power to choose who lives and who dies. The ten-count, the submission hold - they're a way of saying, "I now have the power to kill you, but I choose not to use it." That's what Musashi meant. If Baki had wanted to kill him, he'd be dead. So in terms of who gets to decide who lives and who dies, Musashi lost that power the second his swords fell out of his hands.

His swords grant him an incredible power to take life and to choose who dies. But they can be taken away. Someone who can fight and kill with their body is never without a weapon. Musashi's bond with his swords is strong, and no one is stronger than him when using a sword... but without a sword, Musashi isn't truly Musashi. Baki is Baki even if he's holding nothing. Musashi's aim was to become someone who could decide who lives and who dies like he was wielding a sword even if he empty handed. That way he wouldn't need to deal with the longing of having part of his power be missing if he didn't have a sword.

But to go back to the killing and fighting thing... Baki was trying to demonstrate to him that modern martial arts aren't weaker just because the loser doesn't usually die. The victor who has the power to kill, but chooses not to use it doesn't just have strength of body, but strength of mind and spirit. He always remembers to obey the rules he agreed to. He always controls his impulses to not go too far. He has the power to kill, but he also has the power to choose not kill even though he can.

 

[pdonk]

It's three years late and you probably won't read this, but the point isn't who dies. The point is who has the power to choose who lives and who dies. The ten-count, the submission hold - they're a way of saying, "I now have the power to kill you, but I choose not to use it." That's what Musashi meant. If Baki had wanted to kill him, he'd be dead. So in terms of who gets to decide who lives and who dies, Musashi lost that power the second his swords fell out of his hands.

His swords grant him an incredible power to take life and to choose who dies. But they can be taken away. Someone who can fight and kill with their body is never without a weapon. Musashi's bond with his swords is strong, and no one is stronger than him when using a sword... but without a sword, Musashi isn't truly Musashi. Baki is Baki even if he's holding nothing. Musashi's aim was to become someone who could decide who lives and who dies like he was wielding a sword even if he empty handed. That way he wouldn't need to deal with the longing of having part of his power be missing if he didn't have a sword.

But to go back to the killing and fighting thing... Baki was trying to demonstrate to him that modern martial arts aren't weaker just because the loser doesn't usually die. The victor who has the power to kill, but chooses not to use it doesn't just have strength of body, but strength of mind and spirit. He always remembers to obey the rules he agreed to. He always controls his impulses to not go too far. He has the power to kill, but he also has the power to choose not kill even though he can.

well it has been 3 years so maybe I don't remember the context fully, but my question is less about "Why did Baki win just cuz he KO'd Musashi" and more about "Why did Musashi keep fighting the FIRST time Baki KO'd him, but admitted defeat the SECOND time Baki KO'd him?"

I understand the thematic meaning behind Baki's victory. I just don't understand why Musashi would give up at that specific point in time, rather than the previous times he lost.

 

[ngkn92]

well it has been 3 years so maybe I don't remember the context fully, but my question is less about "Why did Baki win just cuz he KO'd Musashi" and more about "Why did Musashi keep fighting the FIRST time Baki KO'd him, but admitted defeat the SECOND time Baki KO'd him?"

I understand the thematic meaning behind Baki's victory. I just don't understand why Musashi would give up at that specific point in time, rather than the previous times he lost.

As Bak said, if Baki moved in for a kill, Baki would get ambushed.
It's an old trick that Musashi used in Retsu's fight.

The 2nd KO is different, there was no play dead trick. Mushashi was completely out cold, even got poked by Baki's sword

 

[deleteTF]

The ending was underwhelming but at least the rest of this arc was enjoyable, better than the second arc of Baki.

 

[nokosama]

Alright, onto the next one!

 

[sucml]

I warned all of you this arc would suck. You can't say I didn't warn you...

But I can say that you were wrong