CHAPTER 9
As Johnny stared at Miguel's father for the first time, he felt jolts zap through him, like he was being shocked by electricity. He wasn't a man who was afraid of anyone, but this man made the hair on the nape of his neck stand on end. He could sense the aura of fear, ruthlessness and terror that that man projected, only cloaked by his thin smile and casual clothing. It was always men like these - dressed in a nice shirt, cleanly shaven, clearly showered, combed hair - who were much scarier. For even if Johnny would be able to take the guy in a hand to hand fight, this was a man who exuded power. Johnny was very much in his territory, in the lair of the beast, and they both knew it. Manuel didn't have to say anything, but they both knew that the second Johnny laid a hand on him, all Manuel would have to do was make a few calls and Johnny wouldn't leave Juarez alive.
"I'm going to ask you one more time, señor. Why are you harassing my son?"
Seeing Miguel in the hands of this terrifying man snapped Johnny out of his daze. It woke him up, the thought of Miguel being brainwashed into joining this man's ways was more petrifying than the man himself.
"Hey, you listen… if anyone is harassing Miguel, it's you! You trying to brainwash him into staying in with you and becoming a criminal?!"
"Look, my friend, I have no clue who you are, but for your information, I am not brainwashing anyone. I'm showing him everything, the good and the bad, parts of my life here in Juarez. We're getting to know each other, as a father and son, but he always has the choice to return home if he wishes. But now looking at the kind of absolute fools who he knows in America, I'm not surprised he wants to stay here longer. Now I'm going to ask you again, who are you and why are you harassing my son?"
"I'm his sensei." Johnny replied, proudly, the words meaning a lot more on his lips than they did in the ears of Manuel.
"Sensei? What's this? Like a homeless friend?" Manuel asked, confused. Johnny growled and curled his fist into a ball so tight his nails were digging into the flesh of his palm.
"No, you motherfucker! I was his karate teacher!" Johnny snapped. Manuel's mouth made an 'o' in realisation and turned to his son.
"Karate? You do karate?" Manuel asked him. Miguel merely nodded, letting this confrontation between his dad and Johnny continue as he knew that if anyone could get Johnny to fuck off and go home, it was his dad.
"Yeah, he's a champion too! Greatest student I've ever had, and so help me God I'm not going to let shitheads like you corrupt him and turn him into some kind of monster."
"My friend, you have 5 seconds to leave this bar…" Manuel told him, politely as if he was inviting Johnny to a tea party rather than threatening him. It was exactly the same thing Manuel had done to Miguel 24 hours ago before he found out who Miguel was, and Johnny knew from his icy tone that it was a threat that if provoked, would not be left empty. Johnny, however, refused to back down, edging even closer to Manuel and raising his fists, preparing to strike.
"Now, you listen here you bitch…"
"I wouldn't request you come any closer. For your own safety." Manuel warned him, raising his shirt slightly to reveal a handgun strapped to his belt.
"5 seconds. 5… 4…"
Johnny didn't move, and Manuel slowly moved a hand down to his side, curling around his handgun and gripping it, ready to whip it out at any moment.
"3…"
"Dad, don't!" Miguel murmured to his father, but his father wasn't listening to him. He was fully fixated on the man challenging him.
"2…"
"Johnny, go. Please." Miguel begged him. Johnny looked at his former student with a heavy, defeated look on his face, and after what seemed like an interminable second, Johnny finally turned around and walked towards the exit. However, before he left he turned around once more and addressed Miguel calmly, his anger dissipating and being replaced by pure, unbridled sadness. He knew that there was going to be no changing Miguel's mind. He'd known Miguel long enough to know that when the boy set his mind to something, no reasoning could convince him otherwise. It was a characteristic of Johnny that he wished Miguel hadn't picked up. It was only going to be up to him whether he came back or not.
"Miguel, I know that Mexico is clearly where you need to be right now. I respect that. Just know that if you should want to come back at any point, we'll be right there waiting to receive you."
With that, Johnny opened the door and left the bar…
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That night, Daniel brought his car to a halt in an extremely familiar strip mall parking lot, storming out and slamming his door shut behind him. As he walked over to the far side of the strip mall and stared at the ominous logo above him, a slight tremor went up and down his spine. He hadn't been to this place since he had had a massive fight here in January, and after that night, he had been hoping that he would never have to see it again. Unfortunately, in light of recent events, the place would be there forevermore, and he needed to confront its leader.
Daniel slowly shuffled over to the door, pulling it and letting it creak open, before stepping inside. Immediately, he felt a chill in the air. He was in the belly of the beast and he was terrified. He didn't know what was going to happen. If he and Silver fought, with their immense size difference, Daniel wasn't totally sure that it would be a fight he could win. He was going in with confrontation in mind, but a verbal one, not an all-out brawl.
Strike First. Strike Hard. No Mercy. As the Miyagi-Do sensei read the credo, listened to it echo through his mind several times, and glanced beside it at the weapons on the wall of the dojo, he couldn't help but shudder at the path that Silver had these kids on.
Suddenly, the door to the office at the back of the dojo, and Daniel heard footsteps as the person inside emerged. Daniel's blood ran cold as once again, he found himself face to face with the man who had tried to psychologically and physically tear him to shreds when he was a teenager.
"Ah… Danny Boy. Fancy seeing you here." Silver smiled sadistically at him. "Shame I can't call you Sensei Larusso anymore. I've gotta say, it was fun watching you drag that bastard Miyagi's dojo and his name through the mud."
Daniel snarled at him at the mention of his late mentor, and it took all of his Miyagi-Do self-restraint and inner peace to keep him from charging at the man.
"What can I do for you?" Silver asked. "You here to make a new deal?"
Daniel shook his head.
"Not here to make a deal. Here to tell you what's going to happen next." Daniel stated. "I'm not closing down Miyagi-Do, and Johnny's not closing down his dojo either."
Silver raised an eyebrow and laughed, chuckling amused at Daniel's demanding tone, practically hearing it wavering in fear.
"Is that right? Might I ask why? Because last time I checked, Cobra Kai won the tournament. We stay, you go. That was the deal."
Daniel scoffed.
"Yeah, that was the deal? Now, remind me again… where in the deal did it talk about being able to bribe referees to steal the All-Valley?"
Silver looked at Daniel, confused.
"Whatever do you mean, Daniel? Could what I'm hearing be the talk of a sore loser?" Silver remarked. Daniel scowled daggers at him.
"Save it. One of your own students said they saw you handing money to a ref, thanking him for rigging the tournament in your side's favor!" Daniel spat. Silver nodded.
"It was Nichols who told you, wasn't it? I thought I saw her sneaking around after the tournament was over. Shame, I thought she was loyal enough not to say anything about it."
"It doesn't matter who told me." Daniel snapped. "What matters is Eagle-Fang and Miyagi-Do are both staying open and we're going to whatever it takes to protect our students, and rid you from the Valley forever."
Silver listened to Daniel and was silent for a while, before taking a couple of steps closer to Daniel, until the two were nearly face to face. Daniel's limbs instantly tensed up, expecting a fight and preparing to raise a block to whatever Silver threw at him. However, rather than attacking him, Silver did something so much more unexpected… he laughed. The walls echoed with his cackling, raucous laughter, and Daniel could practically feel the ground shaking and rumbling from it. When his chuckling finally faded, a large grin still plastered on his face, he nodded at Daniel.
"You know, what? You should keep Miyagi-Do open." Silver told him. Confusion took over as Daniel furrowed his eyebrows, perplexed.
"Excuse me?" Daniel murmured.
"Have you ever been to an African savannah?" Silver asked. Daniel shook his head.
"Um… no. Why?"
"Well, I have. I was lucky enough to go on a safari in Kenya many, many years ago. You know, I barely remember any of the animals I saw it was so long ago. But I do remember one thing. Our Jeep was driving through the savannah and we see this gazelle. And I kid you not, this gazelle was one of the most retarded things I've ever seen. Stumbling over every couple of feet. Unable to drink without falling head-first into a pond. And I remember all of us laughing so much at it and one of us commented, God had the license to create anything He wanted in the world when he invented the universe. Why the hell did He waste His time on something so useless?!"
"What's your point?" Daniel snapped.
"Have a little patience, Danny boy. I'm getting to it." Silver smirked. "So as we're laughing at this stupid animal, our safari guide turns to us and I remember he says this… this animal is just as important as the king of the jungle. You want to know why?"
"Not particularly, but I'm sure you're going to tell me anyways." Daniel grumbled, and Silver chuckled.
"How right you are! I'm going to tell you. He said that this animal is as important as a lion, because without being able to eat it, the lion would die. Even apex predators need their prey. We need your pitiful dojo in the Valley for us to feed on."
Daniel scowled at him, resentful of the insults to Miyagi-Do Silver was dropping, but he didn't want to start a whole fight because technically, he had gotten what he was here to do. He was cleared to reopen Miyagi-Do.
"Yeah, well, we'll see soon enough which side really is the prey." Daniel snapped. "Have a good night, Silver. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again soon."
With that, Daniel turned on his heel and stormed towards the exit of the door. Just before he did though, as his hand grasped the door handle, he heard a voice behind him.
"Hey, Daniel!" The voice called after him. Daniel didn't even turn around but Silver took it as an invitation to speak. "One more thing. If you do want to reopen your dojo, I do feel the urge to warn you."
Daniel sighed and turned back around to face the Cobra Kai sensei.
"Warn me about what?" He asked.
"Well the tournament is over. We no longer have a 'no fighting until the tournament' rule. The grace period is over. The gloves are off. So prepare your students well, because they're going to need all of the help they can get if they want…"