One month, exactly one month from now, the Sekai Taikai would begin, the tournament that would decide the fate of both dojos, and according to the extremely one-sided bet Johnny made with Kreese, the Karate Kids would need to win all three divisions, in order to finish Cobra Kai once and for all, on the one hand they knew the students were stronger than ever, they had Miguel, Robby, Hawk, and even Demetri had drastically improved, the same can be said for the girls, Samantha, Tory, and Devon believed that they could defeat any opponent that Cobra Kai threw at them, but on the other hand, they still had an issue to resolve about the senseis division.
Chozen: Daniel-San, please let me take care of this myself.
Daniel: Chozen, I'm sure you can take care of this, but I think it would be good to have a second member fighting in case something goes wrong.
Mike: I would gladly go, but I was kind of banned from competing.
Johnny: If this was at any time before then I would, but now that I'm gonna be a dad I'd rather not risk it.
Daniel: Alright, so I guess it's up to me now, I'll also represent our dojo.
Johnny: Look man, I don't think it's a good idea, if I know Kreese he wants revenge on you more than anyone else, so if you compete you'd only put yourself in danger, I agree with Chozen, he can take care of this alone.
Chozen: Thank you Johnny-San.
Johnny: We all know by now that he can beat Kreese, and how dangerous can that little Chinese girl be?
Chozen: No Johnny-San, that little Korean girl is very dangerous.
Mike: Wait, have you seen her fight?
Chozen: No, but I do know her fighting style, Daniel-San, this is very important to me, please let me compete alone.
Daniel was still reluctant, he didn't think it was a good idea to send just one sensei to compete when they could send two, but he realized that this was very important to Chozen for some reason, so he decided to hear his side of the story.
Daniel: Chozen, explain to me, why does this mean so much to you? I thought you weren't the type of guy who fought in tournaments.
Chozen: I'm not, but the chance to fight her is very important to me, because after so many years, I can finally... Fulfill my promise.
Johnny: A promise, to who?
Chozen: To myself...
Chozen's Flashback
As you know, I was born and raised in Okinawa, I never knew my parents, I was raised by my uncle Sato from a young age, he was the one who taught me to fight, he taught me about honor, but in my first years of training, I was not yet ready to learn.
Again, we see that scene of Sato training the army, at the exact moment he ordered them to stop and went to Chozen, Sato was disappointed at his nephew when he saw that he put a pillow in the bucket to soften the blow.
Sato (in Japanese): You put this to soften the blow! Only a coward would do such thing, a man with no honor is no man... YOU WANT TO BE A MAN, CHOZEN? Or you want to be a coward?
Well, as you guys noticed my uncle wasn't exactly the easiest person to deal with, his insults hurt me a lot, but I still preferred that to being in pain during training, I believed taking the easy way out would be better.
Despite that, my uncle was still the only family I had, and although I was angry with him, after a while we were fine again.
Sato: Chozen, you may not understand this now, but if I go hard on you it's because I believe you can be the best version of yourself, you want this, don't you?
Chozen: Hai.
My uncle believed that someday I would understand his lessons, but no matter how many times he tried to teach me, I always did the same thing, and the cycle repeated itself, and this continued until I turned 7.
One day, Sato was again trying to teach me, when suddenly, one of his older students appeared, and he looked injured, he was confused to see what happened to his student.
Sato: What happened?
Sato's Student: Master Sato, I was minding my own business, when two guys attacked me, I fought them but they were very strong, they had a very strange fighting style, and they attacked me when I wasn't looking.
Sato: Attack when your opponent's back is turned? Only a coward does that, take me to them, come with me Chozen.
And so the three of us went to where those guys were, they were still there, when Sato walked up to them and said.
Sato: I heard that you attacked some of my students.
?: So what? Who do you think you are, old man?
It was then that one of them tried to attack Sato, but Sato blocked the attack with ease, Then the other guy also went towards him, trying to hit him with some punches, but Sato hit him with a sweep and knocked him down, Sato then grabbed the other guy who was down and used him as a human shield to block the other's attacks, Sato then threw one of his opponents at the other, and when one of them got up, Sato knocked him down with a roundhouse kick.
After the fight was over, Sato grabbed one of the guys, looked at him angrily and asked:
Sato: Who taught you to fight?
? (terrified): Our... our master is Kim Sun Yang from South Korea.
Less than a month later, Sato and I took a trip to South Korea, he was determined to find this Kim Sun Yang, and explain to him that his students were fighting the wrong way, and the right thing was to fight with honor.
As soon as we got off the plane, he took me to a place that seemed to be in the middle of the forest, I soon discovered that it was Kim Sun Yang's dojang.
South Korea, 1974
Sato: According to my contact, this is the right place, now where is Kim Sun Yang?
That place was creepy, I didn't admit it to my uncle, but I was scared, I was even more scared when I saw a figure in the shadows, and a few seconds later, I saw before me a tall, strong man wearing a black gi, with long white hair and beard, I soon discovered that this was the originator of the way of the fist, Kim Sun Yang.
Kim Sun Yang: Who are you, and what do you do in my dojang?
Sato: I'm Sensei Sato Toguchi from Okinawa, and I heard that some of your students attacked one of mine, so I'm here.
Kim Sun Yang: Okinawa you say, you're far from your pathetic little island, aren't you? And about what happened to your student... He probably deserved it.
Sato: That's not the point, the fact is that my student was attacked by two of yours, and when he thought he had won the fight, they cowardly attacked him from behind.
Kim Sun Yang: Well, so far I don't see any problem, they just did what I taught them.
When he said that, Sato was very angry, for a minute it looked like a fight would start right there.
Sato: So, you teach your students to fight with no honor, only a coward does that kind of thing, a man with no honor is no man.
Kim Sun Yang: Listen, the way I train my students is none of your business, and you can stand there talking about honor all you want, because my students do whatever it takes to win, right, wrong, good, bad, there's no such thing, there are only winners and losers, and I only train winners... Oh I get it, you're angry, because you know your style would never stand a chance against the way of the fist.
Sato: You're suggesting you could defeat me in a fight?
Kim Sun Yang: I'm sorry, I was too subtle?
Sato: Only a man in this world might have a chance, and believe me, you're not him, (obviously he was referring to Mr. Miyagi) but since you insist, how about a challenge?
Kim Sun Yang: I have more important things to do than play with you, but since you want to fight (he says something in Korean, and the other senseis appear) I bet you won't defeat anyone from my senseis team.
And there was Sato, surrounded by seven senseis who trained under Kim Sun Yang, but he was not afraid, one of the senseis tried to attack him, but he grabbed his arm, and threw him at another sensei, after that, other two senseis attacked, but Sato dodged the attacks of one of them, causing him to hit the other, Sato then went towards another sensei, and hit him with a sequence of punches, it was then that another sensei tried to attack him from behind, but Sato hit him with a kick, finally, the last three senseis still standing attacked again, but Sato easily dodged their blows, he then hits one of the senseis with a kick to the chest, grabs one of them and throws him to the ground, finishing him with a punch, and finally, when the last sensei tried to hit him with a punch, Sato dodged it and knocked him down with a kick to the face.
I was watching that fight, and I was impressed with my uncle's skills, and from what I saw it looks like I wasn't the only one, when I looked at master Kim he also seemed impressed, but as soon as Sato looked at him, the expression on his face changed immediately.
Kim Sun Yang: Whatever, I'm not impressed, but I reconsidered your challenge, we'll fight tomorrow at noon what do you think?
Sato: I think it's great, and when I win, I'll prove you're wrong, and men with no honor never win.
After that, we went back to the hotel where we were staying, and my uncle started training immediately, I could see that that fight was very important to him, until that day, no one had seen him train that much.
Sato: Watch carefully Chozen, tomorrow you will see what your uncle is capable of.
The next day, we arrived at the fight site, Sato told me to watch from a distance, and I stayed there, hiding behind a tree, and after a few minutes, Kim Sun Yang appeared as well.
Sato: So you came?! Glad to see you didn't hide like the coward that you are.
Kim Sun Yang: You better wait to say those words after our fight, because you're getting out of here defeated.
Sato: We'll see about that, let's start then...
Before Sato could finish his sentence, Kim Sun Yang hit him with a punch, knocking him down immediately, Sato didn't stand still, he got up, and blocked several attacks from his opponent, he then hits Kim Sun Yang with a kick to the chest, Kim Sun Yang doesn't back down, and goes back to attacking Sato, but Sato grabs him the same way Chozen did that blond sensei.
Kim Sun Yang: Your defense is good, I'll give you that, but that alone will not be enough to defeat me.
As he says that, he kicks Sato in the face and knocks him down again.
Sato: Don't make the mistake of thinking my style is for defense only.
Sato gets up again, and this time starts to fight aggressively, hitting Kim Sun Yang several times, without having many options, Kim Sun Yang retaliated by hitting Sato with a kick to the groin, and then a punch in the eye, but Sato had not been defeated yet, so he got up, and started blocking all of his opponent's attacks.
Sato: You're quite strong.
Kim Sun Yang: And you are nothing but a worm.
It was then that Kim Sun Yang hit him with the Silver Bullet, which left him breathless.
While Sato was recovering, Kim Sun Yang went towards him, and hit him with a sequence of punches, but then Sato managed to grab his arm, throwing him to the ground, and hitting him with a punch, Kim Sun Yang got up, but then, Sato hit him with the pressure points, paralyzing his arms and legs, immobilizing his opponent, Sato then hit him with a kick to the face and ended the fight.
Sato: There it is, the truth, men with no honor NEVER win, well, I guess my work here is done, time to go Cho...
After winning the fight against Kim Sun Yang, my uncle realized that I was not around, which was strange, since he had told me to watch from a distance, while he was looking for me, another voice distracted him.
Sensei: Hey, sensei Toguchi, looking for this? (he shows he had captured Chozen)
Sato: Let him go!
Sensei: You want him? So come get him.
Sato then went towards the sensei, but then the sensei let go of me and went towards Sato, however, he knew he wouldn't have a chance, so he just ran away from his opponent's attacks, he ran away for some time, until Sato defeated him with a punch to the chin, however, at this moment, he felt a hand touching his shoulder.
Kim Sun Yang: As I said, we do whatever it takes to win.
As he said that, Kim Sun Yang hit my uncle in the back with a sword (as we can see, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree) and he fell to the ground.
Kim Sun Yang: Men with no honor ALWAYS win.
He and the other sensei left, and I stayed there, not knowing what to do, even though Sato had some flaws, he was the only family I had, I was terrified of losing him, luckily, I managed to find two men who helped us, taking him to the hospital.
That same day, Chozen and Sato were talking.
Chozen: Uncle... now, I understand why we should fight with honor, and not be cowards like that guy...
Sato: Chozen... this means a lot to me, I'm glad you understand...
After saying that, Sato smiled, it was the first time Chozen saw his uncle smile.
End of flashback
Chozen: Since that day, I took an oath, I swore that one day, I would face someone from Kim Sun Yang's family, and prove them wrong, and now I finally have that opportunity.
Daniel: Wow... Chozen, I... I didn't know that about you...
Chozen: No one did, this was something I kept to myself for a long time, until now, but make no mistake, I don't plan on killing anyone, although I will not hesitate to do so if necessary, I just want the opportunity to defeat her in a fight, to honor my uncle's memory.
Johnny: I think we should let him compete alone, what do you think, bad boy?
Mike: Is fine with me, Daniel?
Daniel thought for a while, although he thought it would be better to have a plan B in case things went wrong, it was clear that this was very important to Chozen, he would certainly give everything he has to win this fight, besides, if Chozen doesn't defeat her, who would? So Daniel agreed.
Daniel: It's ok Chozen, you can compete alone.
Chozen: Thank you Daniel-San, I guarantee I will not let you down.
Johnny: Great, let's train then.
That's right folks, end of another chapter, as we can see, this chapter was just to tell a little more about the history of Chozen and Sato, and explain why Chozen wants to compete in the senseis division of the Sekai Taikai, as you probably already realized, Chozen is one of my favorite characters, so I decided to dedicate an entire chapter just to tell his story, anyway, in the next chapter, we will know more about the two champions of Cobra Kai, and we will also learn about what (or rather, who) might be sensei Kim's only weakness, what do you think will happen? Find out IN THE NEXT CHAPTER.