I started to pack up some things. Talim was a great help at advising whatever it is I should take with me, and whatever it is that I wanted to take with me but shouldn't. Either way, I got everything I needed, and started to load up my traveling backpack.
While I was still loading up, I asked: "So where do we start looking?"
"That's what I should ask you!" she answered flatly.
I didn't understand why, so I asked: "How so?"
"If Yumi and I were to split up..." she explained, "... we shared the fragments we've collected. This way if anyone steals it from us they won't have them all."
"Clever thinking..." I complimented her, "... but what does that..."
"You said that Yumi died..." she interrupted, "... so if you know where to find her..."
I began to understand where she wanted to go with this: "If she was murdered, it means she was part of a crime scene. Whatever's found at the crime scene, whether it's a weapon or something the victim had in his or her pocket, it would be kept at a evidence locker at the local police station."
"You know which one?" she asked.
"I think so." I said uncertain.
"Then we know where we go first."
"Hang on!" I stopped her, "You want to break into a police station?"
"I want to retrieve her fragments!"
"But breaking into a police station isn't..."
I tried to reason with her, but she interrupted: "I know! But I know someone who would do it for us!"
Somebody else who's crazy enough, or rather even crazier than me, who would wish to see Soul Edge destroyed? The very existence of the sword was already hard enough to believe. Curiously, I asked: "And who would that be?"
"The Manji Clan!" she answered, "They are a group of ninja's!"
"And they would help us because...?"
"They were helpful enough to smuggle me into Europe already. Plus Yumi is one... was one of them."
The sound of that name made me sound an alarm: "And now that she's dead, they would still be friends?"
"It's best that we don't tell them that!"
"Just great!" I began worriedly, "First I meet one powerfully pirate, and now a gang of ninja's!"
"If you keep it down, they will see you less of a threat!" she reassured me.
How reassuring is this!
Moments later, we left my studio. I began to wonder how my parents would react if they came here and noticed I'm gone. All I can tell them is that I went on a little trip of my own, along with some friends. Which was only partly true.
It's was quite some time past midnight when we arrived at some old building. I have seen this place before, but I could never imagine myself walking into this and expecting to meet a clan of Oriental warriors.
Hearing something I couldn't recognize, I asked: "What is that noise?"
"The Manji Clan are always on a tour around the world to fight in tournaments." she answered, "Sometimes, they hold a small tournament of their own to earn some extra money."
"And that noise is one of those?"
"Yes!" her answer was short, as if she wouldn't want to waste any more time.
Talim knocked on the door. Somebody opened it. I'm not sure what it is that the guy asked, but assuming this is really something illegal, I guess he asked 'Password!'.
Talim answered something in her own language. Or at least I think so. But then he started to get loud about something. Since he pointed at me, I think he was getting loud about me. Something like "No outsiders", and Talim just broke that rule. I'm pretty sure she was trying to convince him that I'm not much of a threat to them. But that guy grabbed my arm and pulled me inside. He said something to another guy, and together they took of my traveling pack. Talim tried to stop them, but to no avail. Both guys dragged me to some kind of a cage, which was surrounded but an entire crowd. Inside the cage there were two guys, fighting each other. Though, if I didn't know any better, I'd say they were really trying to kill each other. One of the guys that held me said something to the other. Not sure about what he said exactly, but I could swear I heard him mention "Yoshimitsu".
After a while, one of the two fighting guys was down. The winner raised his fists in victory, while the referee along with some other guy dragged the other guy out of the cage. When the winner was escorted out of the cage, a announcer with a megaphone showed up. I got dragged into the cage once that announcer started to talk.
"Laaaadiiiieeeees and geeentlemeeeen. Before we go on with the next fight, I have to inform you that we have an intruder in our mids!"
There was a second announcer who translated that into that other language. Only now I know it was Japanese, but at that moment it didn't matter much what language it was they spoke.
"He's being brought here as I speak, to... Oh! Here he is now! The intruder!"
They threw me inside the cage, after which people started to throw stuff at me. Popcorn, slices of bread,... that would probably be the only part of this that has happened to me before in my life, and at the same time the only part of which I will never understand the reason to do it.
"As tradition describes it, he will be faced by our very own leader! He's known in stories and in music! The hero of heroes! Yooo... shiii... mitsuuuu...!"
And there he was. A man with a mask, but without a real right arm. I remember to have read his name before. He was a Japanese Robin Hood, who made part of the Manjitou clan. That clan is now the Manji clan, and clearly like an empire choosing there new king, they choose their new Yoshimitsu. Or at least that what I think. Unfortunately, I don't think that telling him what I know about him would help me right now.
The referee called both me and Yoshimitsu together.
"All you need to know," he told both of us "is that in these circumstances there are no rules. So don't be too emotional if your opponent dies here."
How nice it was to hear that! If I get killed here, the killer might not have meant to do it.
The referee signaled us to take two steps back. While I was doing so, I looked into the crowd, trying to spot Talim. I couldn't find her. I looked back at Yoshimitsu, hoping I could somehow dodge his first attack. And maybe the ones that will follow.
The referee called: "Versus intruder! Fight!"
Immediately, he ran to me. I couldn't dodge his first attack, which was on my face. I really can't tell what was the worst part of that moment, getting punched in the face or falling down on a concrete floor afterwards. Either way, it wasn't enough to knock me out cold just yet. I tried to get up, only so he could finish me off. I can't recall exactly where he hit me, nor with which hand, the synthetic one or the real one. All I can say is that there came a moment that when he would punch me in, for example, in the shoulder, I'd feel pain somewhere else.
The crowd was screaming things, though I couldn't make out what. Either they were screaming in Japanese, or those who spoke English had already lost their voices of all the yelling. Or maybe it's me starting to lose my sense of hearing.
There was a moment when I couldn't rely on my own strength anymore to get up. I actually had to lean against the cage's bars in order to be able to stand up. Many times I thought he was killing me, and I'll just never know why he did it, nor did I ever imagine to be in a fight like this when I die.
When I was leaning on the cage, Yoshimitsu held me by my neck with his synthetic arm. He was about to give me the final blow. I could barely keep my eyes open. On one hand that would be a good thing, so I won't see him do anything. On the other hand, I managed to notice something others may have overlooked in the past. There was a cog wheel on his arm that appeared to have loosened up during this battle. With every bit of strength I still had, I took that cog wheel out. The arm let go of me, while Yoshimitsu seemed to be in battle with his own arm. I was about to pass out, but then I decided I should really finish this off. It didn't matter how much pain I was in, I felt I had to fight back. I used the cog wheel to hit him in the face. Assuming I actually could hit him there, seeing as he's wearing a mask to cover his face. I hit him again, and that got him to fall down to the floor. Suddenly, his synthetic arm wasn't attached to him anymore. I picked it up and started to use it as a baseball bat. Eventually, he gave in, and I dropped the arm. Big mistake, since he still got up, for one last chance to knock me down. He ran towards me, but instinctively I did a jump kick, kicked him in his guts, and thereby knocked him out cold.
It may seem cowardice that I do this to a crippled man, but then again it was pretty obvious to anyone I had no experience in fighting, and they felt I needed to fight their strongest man, so who's the real coward.
The whole area had fallen into silence. Either because I just knocked down their leader, or I just couldn't hear them anymore. Either way, the referee eventually decided to call me the winner of this match, and then I saw nothing but darkness.
