Yujiro vs. Pickle & Musashi

[The Arbiter]

Baki fight! Arena.

Pickle starts in his transformed enraged state. No weapons for Musashi.

[master of read]

taking a weapon from musashi kinda takes him out of this fight since he doesn't have many unarmed feats as i recall.

[Nik Hasta]

Genuinely consider this a form of trolling.

No one should have to seriously think about the combat viability of Musashi in a Rumbles context.

[Guy1]

taking a weapon from musashi kinda takes him out of this fight since he doesn't have many unarmed feats as i recall.

Honestly even if he had it, I still don't see them winning this.

[Kuro]

Wait, so how powerful is this musashi? I honestly haven’t read that much Baki but I did skim through some scans other people posted. Doesn’t he hold his own against pickle, a man who took down dinosaurs? And in that one standoff he and pickle had similar gripping strength?

[Nik Hasta]

Wait, so how powerful is this musashi? I honestly haven’t read that much Baki but I did skim through some scans other people posted. Doesn’t he hold his own against pickle, a man who took down dinosaurs? And in that one standoff he and pickle had similar gripping strength?

Musashi jobs out just about everyone he comes up against with the weird exception of Motobe who beats him in a match when he really shouldn't.

This also isn't helped by the cast constantly monologuing about how scary swords are now despite them never having been worried in previous encounters with bladed weaponry.

Me crabbing about jobber auras aside, in terms of things he's actually done, he's mostly ignored taking full power hits from Hanayama, has higher grip strength than Pickle, killed Retsu Kaioh straight up and so on.

He's meant to be like a top choice guy in the Baki-verse.

[The Arbiter]

taking a weapon from musashi kinda takes him out of this fight since he doesn't have many unarmed feats as i recall.

Genuinely consider this a form of trolling.

No one should have to seriously think about the combat viability of Musashi in a Rumbles context.

Wait, I thought he had plenty of unarmed stuff? Can't he like... use swords even when he doesn't have any? He cut Yujiro (slightly) using that sword hand technique.

[Nik Hasta]

Wait, I thought he had plenty of unarmed stuff? Can't he like... use swords even when he doesn't have any? He cut Yujiro (slightly) using that sword hand technique.

My point is more that Musashi aggressively relies on people being made to hold the idiot ball and suddenly act like they've never fought armed people before.

Without weapons, he ragdolled Baki pretty hard and knocked him out and he held his own against an armed Retsu as I recall.

As far as his mind swords thing. That's more a psychological technique that can distract someone rather than a killing technique.

If Yujiro is not holding the idiot ball, he's much stronger and has better speed feats as well than either of them. Hanayama overpowered Pickle and Yujiro is stronger than him, Baki broke Pickle's tooth and got him to sit down and be good mid fight with Yujiro so he's not really a factor.

Without a weapon, I really don't see Musashi winning this even with Pickles' support.

[The Arbiter]

My point is more that Musashi aggressively relies on people being made to hold the idiot ball and suddenly act like they've never fought armed people before.

Without weapons, he ragdolled Baki pretty hard and knocked him out and he held his own against an armed Retsu as I recall.

As far as his mind swords thing. That's more a psychological technique that can distract someone rather than a killing technique.

If Yujiro is not holding the idiot ball, he's much stronger and has better speed feats as well than either of them. Hanayama overpowered Pickle and Yujiro is stronger than him, Baki broke Pickle's tooth and got him to sit down and be good mid fight with Yujiro so he's not really a factor.

Without a weapon, I really don't see Musashi winning this even with Pickles' support.

I wouldn't say he Hanayama overpowered Pickle. If we are thinking of the same instance, he mostly just braced himself with a really good stance and didn't get flattened by the dudes sumo charge. It's true, he then managed to shove Pickle back a ways, but Pickle was literally smiling and then ground him to a halt as well. Onlookers were saying "it's even!" but seeing as how Pickle wasn't even transformed and was smiling like a lunatic...

Moments before that, he was squeezing Pickle's hand shut "with all his strength" which has straight up crushed other Baki fighters limbs and pickle seemed to ignore it, despite having the blade of a knife stuck between his fingers.

[The Arbiter]

Also, why are you thinking his Two Swords Under Heaven technique was all psychological? He straight up cut some of Yujiros hair off with it as well as... I wanna say, made his leg bleed? Looked like real damage to me.

[Nik Hasta]

I wouldn't say he Hanayama overpowered Pickle. If we are thinking of the same instance, he mostly just braced himself with a really good stance and didn't get flattened by the dudes sumo charge. It's true, he then managed to shove Pickle back a ways, but Pickle was literally smiling and then ground him to a halt as well. Onlookers were saying "it's even!" but seeing as how Pickle wasn't even transformed and was smiling like a lunatic...

Moments before that, he was squeezing Pickle's hand shut "with all his strength" which has straight up crushed other Baki fighters limbs and pickle seemed to ignore it, despite having the blade of a knife stuck between his fingers.

Might be faulty memory. I recall Pickle being unable to stop him and being like "Oh snap, he a triceretops," then Hanayama was like "Welp, I would fight you but Baki has called dibs,"

Also, why are you thinking his Two Swords Under Heaven technique was all psychological? He straight up cut some of Yujiros hair off with it as well as... I wanna say, made his leg bleed? Looked like real damage to me.

Didn't he like "behead" some TV host and it didn't kill him? I'll freely admit that it's an effort to stay engaged with this arc of Baki so I might well be wrong.

[The Arbiter]

The triceratops thing happened as you say, but Pickle seemed to be in the process of ramping up. He was surprised but not worried.

Musashi was weird. He did that beheading thing several times iirc but that was more about cutting them down with his spirit/bloodlust. His Two Swords thing seemed like an evolution of such.

His Two Swords was still inferior to an actual blade though. He was unable to damage Pickle with it despite trying. He wanted to rematch with the real thing.

[Nik Hasta]

The triceratops thing happened as you say, but Pickle seemed to be in the process of ramping up. He was surprised but not worried.

It's still small potatoes for Yujiro though who, in the few times they have encountered each other, treats Hanayama like a punk.

Musashi was weird. He did that beheading thing several times iirc but that was more about cutting them down with his spirit/bloodlust. His Two Swords thing seemed like an evolution of such.

His Two Swords was still inferior to an actual blade though. He was unable to damage Pickle with it despite trying. He wanted to rematch with the real thing.

Okay, I've now gone back and read the chapters in question. Damn you for making me go back to Baki-dou! :P

So a few things:

Two Swords Under Heaven never actually hits Yujiro, Motobe with some body armour takes the hit and lives and isn't cut it which makes... honestly... zero sense if its cutting power is meant to be even close to Musashi with a real blade.

Musashi also couldn't cut Pickle's bones with real swords or Two Swords Under Heaven either. For my money, Yujiro is probably in the durability area of Pickle, given his unique biology, so I think he'd present the same problem to Musashi.

The other issue is that Pickle fights like an idiot, albeit a ridiculously powerful one. Yujiro showed he was more than capable of countering Musashi with real swords and he was honestly dicking about a bit. He palm-struck him once, which knocked him out for a second, and kicked him in the nuts which likewise knocked him out for a second. I think Yujiro could take him, especially if he's not got a weapon.

Also, also, Yujiro often fights with no technique just because he can. I'm not sure if this would be covered by PIS or CIS to be honest. We know that he knows Xiao Li and that might have strange interactions with Musashi's attacks.

[The Arbiter]

It's still small potatoes for Yujiro though who, in the few times they have encountered each other, treats Hanayama like a punk.



Okay, I've now gone back and read the chapters in question. Damn you for making me go back to Baki-dou! :P

So a few things:

Two Swords Under Heaven never actually hits Yujiro, Motobe with some body armour takes the hit and lives and isn't cut it which makes... honestly... zero sense if its cutting power is meant to be even close to Musashi with a real blade.

Musashi also couldn't cut Pickle's bones with real swords or Two Swords Under Heaven either. For my money, Yujiro is probably in the durability area of Pickle, given his unique biology, so I think he'd present the same problem to Musashi.

The other issue is that Pickle fights like an idiot, albeit a ridiculously powerful one. Yujiro showed he was more than capable of countering Musashi with real swords and he was honestly dicking about a bit. He palm-struck him once, which knocked him out for a second, and kicked him in the nuts which likewise knocked him out for a second. I think Yujiro could take him, especially if he's not got a weapon.

Also, also, Yujiro often fights with no technique just because he can. I'm not sure if this would be covered by PIS or CIS to be honest. We know that he knows Xiao Li and that might have strange interactions with Musashi's attacks.

He cuts the skin on Yujiros leg and draws blood. Top left panel.

[Nik Hasta]

He cuts the skin on Yujiros leg and draws blood. Top left panel.

Welp, I was skimming for time.

Either way, that's hardly indicative of anything significant. Gashes like that are cheap in Baki terms.