Interlude 2: Honor

It's a vague word. It can mean completely different things depending on who you ask.

To some, honor means to stick to a code of conduct. To align to a solid set of morals and principles so that you can live a righteous life.

To others, it's basically the same as pride, or social acceptance. China in particular worked with this concept for thousands of years (things are a bit different now).

But to a very particular group of people, it means something very specific. Something that is to be respected, and to fail to do so can be punishable even by death.

You see, when two people decide to fight, there is a certain agreement they make. An agreement that is unspoken, yet extremely important: that they will fight with everything they have and will accept the result no matter what it may be.

The winner will be the winner, the loser will have lost, and no one has the right to complain. That simple.

To have honor to a fighter is to respect this agreement.

And to refuse to accept the result can be the greatest insult to an honorable warrior you can make. When you incur in a transgression like that, it can end up being the last you ever make.

To dishonor a fighter that gave their all in battle is quite simply unforgivable.

Sadly, this happened today, twice even.

The first time was near the alleyway where Sclep Faust met Jack Hanma.

…

"Fight over! The winner is Jack Hanma for the humans!"

It had been a simple fist fight, where each side slammed with full force at the other until one of them fell down. And while they were quite evenly matched in speed, raw power and fierceness, when it came down to sheer endurance Jack quite simply had no match alive. Both of them had pushed their bodies to the absolute unimaginable limits, but Jack had even gone further than that.

He had trained like a madman, far beyond the point that it made any sense. He had endlessly fought monster after monster, and kept coming back even while catastrophically injured. His resolve was so powerful and unshakeable that even the monstrous Pickle became scared at one point.

Jack should have died many, many, many, many times in his life. But it seemed like he simply refused to do so, and just kept going.

Truly, Jack Hanma was just crazy. There is just no other way to put it.

But he was an honorable fighter. Perhaps more honorable than any other alive. And he deeply respected the efforts of others in gaining strength and evolving themselves. In a sense, they reminded him of himself and his dear little brother.

He had a couple of ribs broken, he was bleeding from the mouth, not really sure from what since his metallic teeth were still intact somehow, and he was sure there was some sort of internal damage from the explosive blows of his opponent.

But the respect he harbored for her was great. And so he picked up her unconscious body and carried her back to the hospital. He figured he could get himself treated as well.

On his way there, though, he was intercepted by a very small creature followed by a dozen …. Mud robots? Jack didn't know what they were, but they looked frail to him, so he wasn't concerned.

"… May I help you? I'm not sure you noticed, but I am headed somewhere right now, and I would like to be on my way."

Kikimoora was scared, but Titan damn it she would not be intimidated by a mere human.

"I see, well I wouldn't want to hold you up, human, I just came here to take that person you are carrying, so hand her over if you don't mind."

"….. What for?"

"Why do you care, human? Just hand her over, and you won't be hurt anymore."

She snapped her fingers and the abomintons started to close in on them. Jack remained as stoic as ever, but behind that unchanging façade, his rage was boiling like never before. He didn't need this small thing to tell him with words that she disapproved of Sclep losing a fight to a "mere human". It was obvious that the honor of the battle was irrelevant to her, that she did not respect it in the slightest. That she would have to be punished for "disgracing her people" or whatever. He had experience with this bullshit from China, he knew the drill.

And he was more than eager to show this little shit some proper manners.

"Yo."

Jack turned around to his little brother Baki standing right behind him.

"Sup? You need help with her?"

Baki pointed to Sclep in Jack's arms.

"…. I was taking her to the hospital… please be careful."

"Sure… We can… talk about it later if you want?... No, that's weird, forget I said anything."

They were not that kind of family.

But…

"That sounds nice, maybe we should… you know more about this than I do?"

"?... about… this?..."

"You have Kozue."

"OH… ok, sure!"

Baki walked off with a smile. Man, this is one weird-ass family. But every once in a while, it can start to act a bit normal. It was so weird to think that his brother wanted advice on….

WAIT, FUCKING WHAT.

He turned around, wanting to ask heaps of questions, but Jack had already started demolishing the mud robots, so right now was not the best time.

Baki hurried to get this mysterious woman to Kureha, and he got back on track after making sure that Jack had destroyed the little pest's face with a killer uppercut. She was not getting back up after that, and Jack being the perfectionist that he was, he was going to make sure she wouldn't for a long time, if she even survives this at all.

Man, this place is just too weird.

The second instance was inside the BI general hospital.

…

"Multiple fractures and broken bones, fractured ribs, punctured right lung, several concussions, several skull fractures, internal bleeding in the abdominal cavity that required surgical drainage…"

Kureha kept listing all of Miyuki's injuries that she had gotten from her fight.

As proud as he was of his student, Miyamoto Musashi could not help but to be worried for her. But the medics of the modern age were genuine miracle workers. If this was back in his time, they would be in her funeral, not her hospital room. He trusted that she would be fine in their care.

As he was leaving her room he encountered an old lady that seemed to be headed inside.

"Hello there, I'm sorry, is this Miyuki Hanamura's room?"

Musashi stood his ground, this woman had the aura of someone who was about to take revenge. He knew this sensation to his core, as he had been the target of it countless times.

"…. May I ask who you are?"

"My name is Flora Park. Willow Park is my beloved granddaughter. I just want to talk to the girl."

Musashi started to get angry. Did she think he was stupid? Anyone with a brain could tell that she had murder in her mind. But he did not understand why, it was a fair and proper duel after all. What was there to seek revenge for?

"… I am no fool, young lady. You clearly seek blood for blood with my disciple. May I ask what for?"

Flora dropped the act.

"What for? WHAT FOR?! DID YOU NOT HEAR ME?! HAVE YOU SEEN WHAT SHE DID TO MY GRANDAUGHTER?! HOW SHE LEFT HER ALL CUT AND NEARLY DYING?! I WON'T LET THIS STAND! SHE MUST PAY FOR WHAT SHE DID!"

Musashi was used to simply cut down people like these and move on. But for once, he felt like he understood her position, and tried to de-escalate the situation instead. Because he knew he felt the same way for Miyuki.

"Young lady, I understand your anger and your pain, I truly do. My student was also left standing in front of the gates of hell. I am also angry at the person who did this to her. But I steel myself, because I understand something you need to understand as well: this was a proper duel. They took a challenge and this was the result, with no regrets they put her heart and soul into the battlefield. You should be proud of your granddaughter! She is such a paragon of might and ho-"

"PROUD?! YOU WANT ME TO BE PROUD?! HAVE YOU SEEN HOW SHE-"

Flora did not get to finish that sentence.

Because Miyamoto Musashi cut her down perfectly in the middle. He made sure it wasn't a fatal cut, but she fell bleeding on the ground regardless.

He was not in the mood to deal with disrespectful idiots like her right now. He was angry and needed to walk outside to cool off, all while thinking to himself:

"How sad that ignorant and arrogant fools like these exist in here as they did in my time. I suppose it's true that even if the times may change, the people shall not."