BAKI-DOU: THE INVINCIBLE SAMURAI
Running upward is neither rare nor interesting.
I'll run down.
Straight to the bottom.
All in one!
Bring in my legs and arms!
Faster than falling!
The only way to avoid falling is to accelerate! Keep moving!
Not falling, but running toward the bottom!
Again.
And yet, even at a moment like this... it's impossible! It's coming! It's here!
A yawn.
Even though I expected it...
I didn't think it would be this boring.
I'm bored.
I'm bored with the belt.
I'm sick of being called "pound-for-pound."
Seven years of being the champion...
I've won too many times.
What's wrong?
I've had enough.
I've had enough of this sport.
I don't want to be the best.
I want to be the strongest.
I don't understand what you're saying. Why did you come to Japan?
Isn't it obvious?
This country is home to the one everyone agrees is the strongest.
Why do you want to fight?
Haven't you already earned enough recognition on the ground?
I saw that parent-child fight.
I see. What did you think when you saw that?
It was the first time I saw a human body move so beautifully.
And you want to fight?
Shogun Tokugawa, I hear you're promoting that boy, Baki Hanma.
TOUGH
Can you beat Baki Hanma?
I crossed the Pacific Ocean to find that out.
This won't be a match protected by rules.
I've always wanted to try it.
I hear you make 400 million yen per match.
I won't be paid for the match you're promoting.
However, I'll get the title of "The Strongest on Earth."
That kid is strong.
By the way...
How's your condition?
If you want, I can do it tonight.
All right. Tonight it is.
The match will be tonight.
Well, but...
Is there a problem?
No...
I'm not complaining or anything, but doing it on such short notice...
Besides, Baki Hanma doesn't even know about this.
It's fine. He has nothing to do tonight.
A match to kill time?
Mr. Atlas.
Baki won't refuse.
Anytime, anywhere, with anyone.
He's the strongest because he never refuses.
Tonight. With an American. Whatever that fighting thing is called...
Yes. A heavyweight.
That's right, yes. Sorry about that. Yes. Much appreciated.
It's fine by him.
He'll soon appear from beyond that door. The one known as the strongest.
He's here!
This...
This kid is Baki Hanma?
I recognize his face from the video, but he's so small.
Featherweight? At best, he's lightweight. He's about half my size.
I see. There are countless old scars carved into him.
He's a seasoned warrior at such a young age.
Each one of them is part of this boy's history.
What did I just see?
This boy who looks like a girl at first glance.
That monster I think I've seen before, but I'm not sure.
Mister? Mr. Atlas?
Are you ready, Mr. Atlas?
Then, let me repeat.
The use of weapons is prohibited. That's all.
Please fight fair and square like men.
So simple. So, as long as we don't use weapons, we can do anything.
This won't be a match protected by rules.
You wanted this.
Atlas!
They're calling my name?
Atlas!
So that's what it is.
Are they saying that I'm that unreliable? Me, a heavyweight?
They really put that much faith in him? In that kid's fighting power?
They should be able to tell at a glance. Baki Hanma weighs half as much as me!
Not even Manny Pacquiao, who's fought in ten different weight classes,
would challenge a heavyweight.
The weight gap is a barrier even legends can't overcome.
Baki Hanma, what kind of magic will you use?
What are you going to do to me?
This is so exciting!
He's flawless.
It was a perfect finish.
It was only a matter of seconds, but in that moment,
everything was settled.
I knew at first glance.
In contrast to my excitement, based on his expression and his walk,
Baki Hanma was clearly bored.
A stomp on the top of the foot, followed by a high kick from close range.
But this was all a feint.
I did a hidden, absolute right straight.
He dodged it.
Immediately after that, he caught me!
It wasn't human strength.
I, with a grip strength of 130 kilograms, was overpowered,
and then he apparently shook me.
My memories stop here
because my brain was slammed against the inner wall of my skull
over and over again.
A conclusion with no room for "what ifs."
What's important is what I saw at the end.
He's a nice guy.
He was concerned about how weak I was, so he stifled a yawn.
The Prime Minister is waiting for you.
Don't worry about it.
Understood.
Oh, my. It looks a little twisted.
Of course. It's DNA, after all.
DNA?
Welcome, Noble Elder. Prime Minister.
The staff and I have been awaiting you.
Well...
My apologies, Prime Minister. I am Hitoshi Nonomura, the team leader.
Team...
Prime Minister, the situation is already in motion.
What do you mean?
There's no turning back.
Noble Elder, with all due respect,
I haven't been told anything regarding today's matter.
Just, "Come in work clothes."
We won't be stopping anywhere.
We'll go straight to the site 366 meters underground.
What is this? Underground? 366 meters?
Under the Skytree? And that deep?
- How's Mr. John? - He's been waiting for you.
What on earth are they going to show me?
Welcome, Mr. Tokugawa.
Under the Skytree?
This is ridiculous. I didn't hear about this.
I didn't hear about this secret base!
Noble Elder!
Please explain!
Forgive me. It's for my creation.
Creation? What are you creating?
A human being, at 1,000 meters underground from the top of the tower.
A human being?
A clone?
Prime Minister, come with me.
Is this a mummy?
It's awfully big.
Who is it?
It's someone you're familiar with.
Allow me to introduce him.
He came all the way from distant Kumamoto.
His name is Musashi Miyamoto.
Keep your voice down. You'll wake him up.
That said, this project is to wake him up.
Musashi Miyamoto?
Our team is led by Dr. John here.
They extracted the fossilizing spinal cord along with the blood vessels.
Furthermore, they extracted the remaining red blood cells.
In other words, the soft tissue and proteins.
That's insane! Stop it right now!
The international community has agreed to avoid human cloning!
Those words...
Can you say them in front of the living Musashi?
We are at the tombstone in Tatsutacho, Kumamoto Prefecture,
known as "Musashi's Burial Mound."
The remains have vanished from this precious cultural site.
Astonishingly, it was the body of Musashi Miyamoto,
buried in the second year of the Shoho Era.
I'll never forget the excitement of that day.
The day I got the Tyrannosaurus spine, my long-cherished dream.
I can do it. At last.
Up until this point, every lab and museum had flat-out rejected the experiment.
Splitting the spine!
I couldn't understand it at all.
Why do so many paleontologists display their specimens?
Why do they look at them from the outside? Why don't they split them?
The spinal cord. The skull. The eggs.
Why don't they split it open? What's the most important part of the egg?
Of course, it's the inside. The shell is just a container.
My reasoning wasn't wrong.
No, to be honest, it even exceeded my reasoning.
Back then, it was blindly believed
that only hard parts like bones, teeth, and even eggs could fossilize.
That common belief was finally overturned.
Soft tissue was discovered.
Blood vessels were found inside the fossil of a spine.
And the traces of them were from 70 million years ago.
They were so flexible that they could be stretched.
Furthermore, we analyzed proteins from fibers attached to the bones.
We found amino acids.
And their sequence...
I was the one who discovered how similar it was to that of a bird.
At this point, it's only a matter of time before we can extract genes and DNA.
Yes. Creating dinosaur clones is no longer a pipe dream.
I presented those theses. The response was tremendous.
Four days after I presented my theses, a visitor came from Tokyo.
He had a trunk full of cash. He explained that it was a deposit.
You think you can buy me with money? Are you trying to insult me?
It was too much money to yell at him.
What was waiting for me in Tokyo
was a short, sharp-eyed old man, straight out of a samurai movie.
His code name was "Noble Elder."
I want you to help me.
His English was hard to understand, but those were his first words.
And the words he said were...
I want to create a human.
Since he was asking me, a paleontologist,
he clearly didn't mean to create a new personality.
In short, he was proposing to clone a human,
a forbidden domain that the international community clearly agrees is taboo.
While I was lecturing about common sense, a single sharp remark struck my ears.
I'll get you Musashi Miyamoto's body.
It was a big name that came out of nowhere.
Of course, I knew the name Musashi Miyamoto.
The most renowned swordsman in history. Musashi Miyamoto.
Undoubtedly the ultimate symbol of strength.
Want to see it?
I do.
Compared to dinosaur fossils, it's practically a living body.
But that shock was only the beginning.
A huge experimental facility was built 366 meters underground.
It was unlike any other experimental facility I had ever seen.
The scale and level of everything was off the charts.
Deep beyond, closed off by many layers of doors,
he lay immersed in a long sleep.
Let me explain.
By this point, the old man's words no longer reached my ears.
The tower built above the ground was just a camouflage.
634 meters.
The height derives from Musashi Miyamoto's name.
A gentle spiral can be seen when looking up from the ground.
This alludes to the twisted structure of DNA.
Those important secrets didn't matter to me at all.
Noble Elder.
I don't need any reward.
I want to bring Musashi Miyamoto back to this world.
Even if it means defying God?
A dazzling immorality.
Without a moment of hesitation, I turned my back on God.
Oh, Noble Elder.
DIE, BAKI
It was after he finished his usual training.
He was exhausted and couldn't move.
He enjoyed listening to his heartbeat.
Suddenly, a sound echoed in his ears, distinct from his own heartbeat.
It had a massive rhythm.
It's not mine.
Then whose is it?
Whose heartbeat is it?
Whose heartbeat am I hearing?
It's different from anyone's.
It's different from anyone I know.
With the utmost care,
the spinal cord of the master swordsman, Musashi Miyamoto, was removed.
It was rather feline than human.
It also had a shape reminiscent of something large.
This is...
It's in excellent condition.
That's true. But Professor, isn't it too thick?
And the shape is not human.
The skeleton tells us many things.
The owner's daily life is reflected in its shape.
If that's the case, then this would be the skeleton of a samurai.
It's not just skin or muscle.
Training that could even change his skeleton.
That must have been his everyday life.
I wonder what kind of face he had.
The self-portrait left behind is too deformed.
I wish da Vinci or Vermeer had painted him.
Have you forgotten, Mr. Nonomura?
We don't need da Vinci or Vermeer.
We're aiming to bring forth the real, living Mr. Musashi!
Professor...
Look, Mr. Nonomura.
There's no need to use a microscope.
You can see the arteries with the naked eye.
Whoa, I can see it.
I see at a glance how elastic it is!
Mr. Tokugawa was right. This isn't a mummy. It's flesh!
Look at how abnormally thick these blood vessels are!
We can become Mr. Musashi's parents!
Careful, please.
How many days has it been?
Today, I once again easily ran over 40 kilometers.
I can't say I'm overworking myself.
I move my body. That's the only way I can heal myself.
What, again?
Right near the end of a full marathon.
The mysterious heartbeat sound. The yawning that won't stop.
What am I anticipating?
Subtitle translation by: Wataru Uno