Debut

Ippo woke up the next morning. Sparring with Miyata-kun had been as exciting as he'd hoped. Even though he knew what was going to have happened, Miyata-kun had still managed to counter him. Kamogawa-sensei had given him a long speech about how he needed to work on his basics, so they had done some more mitt-hitting before he left. At home he had given his mother the play-by-play account of the spar. It was so exciting that he hadn't been able to fall asleep for 2 hours.

Today was a Sunday, so he didn't have to worry about school. Instead he needed to get up earlier than his mom and start the preparations for today's first customers. Setting out the bait and ice chests that they needed usually took some time, but Ippo finished quickly. He still had his morning road work to do on his way to the gym. It was at the half-way mark that Ippo began to feel more tired than usual. He'd forgotten to take off the wrist and ankle weights he'd put on as part of his fishing routine. The weights were now at 5kg, the most that they could hold. He'd take them off at the gym. After three months, the extra weight was hardly noticeable when working on the boat.

When he reached the gym, Ippo made a beeline towards Miyata's locker. Just as he thought, Miyata-kun's equipment was gone. Good, he'd impressed the older boy enough that he wanted to fight in the pro ring. Or rather, that was the most likely case. Still, going to Miyata-kun's house to ask and to make the promise to meet in the pro ring was the next thing to do. Without the initial panic of the older boy's departure driving him, the thought of being so forward as to go to his house made Ippo a nervous wreck.

"Ichirou, are you sure you want to do this? The Kamogawa Gym is a pretty good location."

"If we stay there, I'd never get to fight Makunochi in the professional ring. Beating... no, surpassing someone with as much natural talent as him with my boxing style - that is my goal."

It'd be best if he went and told Makunochi in person. It was a challenge of sorts and it wouldn't do to have it go un-noticed. Miyata finished dressing in his sweats. He might as well do his road work on the way to the gym. Until they got settled down in another location, he'd have to mainly rely on running and shadow boxing for his exercise. He now had a perfect shadow to use too. One that could take a counter - one that he'd have to dart out of range of even if his punch was clean.

A few blocks from his house he saw Makunochi walking his way.

"Ah! Miyata-kun! I was looking for you!" Ippo waved to catch his attention.

"Oh? Why is that?"

"I..I..I was wondering why Miyata-kun left the gym." It was hard to believe that the timid boy in front of him, and the boxer who'd beaten him yesterday were one and the same.

"Members of the same gym can't fight in the pro-ring. Right now we stand at one-win, one-loss."

"Miyata-kun..."

"Make sure you enter the Western Japan Rookie Champion Tournament! I'll see you in the final!" That was all that was needed to be said. Hopefully his rival wouldn't disappoint him. The thrill of their fight was the most alive he'd felt in a long time.

"I'm going to have the brat follow you for a week."

"Eh? I have a match in a week, I can't babysit him now. Besides, wasn't it you who said I was a boxer and you were a trainer."

*DON!* Coach Kamogawa's cane came down on Takamura's head.

"That's right I'm the trainer! So don't talk back! Don't change your schedule, I just want to see if Ippo can keep up with your pre-fight menu."

"So this is another test or something?"

"You could say that."

Takamura shrugged. The old man usually knew what he was doing. There wasn't time to think about it anyways. He was still 2 lbs overweight with only a week to go before the weigh-in. Sweating out that much water when you were already dehydrated wasn't easy for most people, but he'd be able to do it in 2 days if he wanted. Spreading it out over a week was much better though. First up was a long run in heavy clothes, that was always the easiest way to continually sweat for an hour or two. With as little water as he had left, he'd have to keep at it for a longer time to get any results.

"TAKAMURA-SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" That sounded like Ippo behind him. Takamura stopped and did some shadow-boxing while his kohai caught up to him.

"Right, the boss told me... We're together for a week eh. You think you can keep up?"

"W..W..Well, I'll give it my best! Besides, it's fun with Takamura-san. If I can't keep up please go ahead without me!"

That's what I was planning on. We'll see if you think it's enjoyable after we're done. "Allright! Let's go have fun!" Time to dash.

"Your match is in one week? I'm looking forward to watching Takamura-san fight!"

"I'll give you a good show!"

"Who's your opponent?"

"Someone weaker than me, but that applies to everyone else in the world too!"

"..."

"..."

That was a long enough sprint. Ippo was following closely at first, but his speed gave out after a minute. Takamura busied himself with shadow-boxing while waiting for his kohai to catch up. Then it was time to sprint again.

"I have a perfect K.O. record you know. No one can survive even one round against my punch. Gah ha ha ha. Right?"

Ippo didn't have enough breath to speak now it looked like. It wouldn't be so bad to go back a little early. Takamura sprinted and shadow-boxed for about an hour longer before heading back to the gym. Next was the heavy bag, it'd let him continue to sweat and give Ippo a break. Not that holding the bag while he punched it didn't qualify as a work out. Gah ha ha ha.

Jump roping. Running. Shadow-boxing. Ippo did a good job of keeping up with him, but he wasn't very talkative.

"What happened? You still out of breath? Why'd you stop talking?"

"It's nothing, I was just thinking about how I forgot how awesome Takamura-san was. Your practice schedule is amazing."

"Is it too much for you?"

"No! I need to train harder if I'm going to fight Miyata-kun in the Rookie Champion Tournament's final match!"

"Don't under-estimate the pro's ring. The odd's of you two both making it to the finals is small!"

"Y-Yes."

The wind seemed to be taken out of Ippo's sails with that last comment. Did he not think he could make it all the way? Oh well, it wasn't his problem after all. There was still 2 hours of daylight left and he was going to make the most of them. To his credit, the kid managed to keep up.

"Great job today! Let's go then." Ippo still looked like something was on his mind. "What's with that face? Oh, what I said about the finals? Sorry for being so harsh. Running on an empty stomach is hard you know? So, you wanna come over to my house?"

"What? Oh, that'd be great Takamura-san!"

The two of them walked to his apartment, which thankfully was close by. When they got to the entrance, Ippo just stood looking inside.

"Don't be timid. Come on in. I'm going to the bathroom, so make yourself at home."

At the toilet, nothing came out. Thinking about waterfalls, or rivers, or gushing geysers didn't do anything. Despite having the feeling like he needed to go, there just wasn't any liquid inside of him. In a few minutes he'd try again. Might as well call Ippo's mom so she won't worry in the meantime. After a short phone call, and more staring at the toilet Takamura gave up.

"Tch. I guess there's just no more water left in my body. Huh?"

While he had been busy, Ippo had cleaned up his bedroom. His kohai was now sitting with his arms crossed and his back to the stack of adult magazines he had made.

"So you're not interested in that sort of stuff huh? I know, you only have eyes for 'Miyata-kun'. Gah ha ha ha ha!"

"W-What? N-No! If I had looked you would've called Aoki or something and embarassed me!" A beet red Ippo was protesting loudly. It was so easy to press his kohai's buttons, and it was so hilarious to watch the results. He really should call Aoki up, that sounded like a good joke.

"Hello? Hey Aoki, you'll never guess what Ippo did." Ippo's frantic struggle resulted in him hanging up on the other boxer before going into detail.

"Hey Takamura-san, you have your own reasons for boxing right? I've worked hard up till now, but I'm nowhere near your level of commitment I think." Ippo remembered Takamura telling him about his first proffesional fight, and the applause and acknowledgment that came after. Was that what drove his senpai?

"Eh? Well, your right about that. Boxing is the first thing in my life that was worth anything. I'm going to rise to the top of the world with just these two fists. You don't train for what rank you are, you train for what rank you want. Since I'm going to conquer the world I have to train at that level. Get it?"

"Y-Yeah! So that's why Takamura-san's training is so tough! So if I want to beat the champ, I have to train at the level that's the highest in Japan!"

"What? Beat the champ? I like the attitude, but somehow looking at your face while you say stuff like that pisses me off. You haven't even become a pro yet! I'll tell you again: Don't underestimate the professional ring!" Takamura had grabbed him in a headlock and was grinding his knuckles into his head.

"Ow! Ow! I didn't mean to not be respectful! I just though that if Takamura-san was so strong because of his goals, then I should have goals that will make me strong too!"

"Hmph." Takamura released Ippo from his punishment. "You're taking the wrong thing away from what I said. I guess I need to explain things better. Training comes from having a goal right? But what does having a goal come from? You're core reason has to be strong or the goal is just so much smoke in the wind!"

"U-uhm... What's Takamura-san's reason for his goal? To prove to everyone that you're the best?"

*nod* "That's part of it, but not all. I also have to prove something to that old man, and I have to show something to the world."

"Oh, I see. So I'd need a reason that's as big as my goal." Ippo sat in silence and thought for a while. Not letting Tree-sama's gift go to waste was a pretty good reason, but it didn't seem like enough. After all, Tree-sama probably didn't send him to the past for his gratitude. He loved boxing, but he knew that wasn't enough to challenge Date with. Ippo's contemplation was cut short when Takamura handed him some instant ramen.

"Here, eat this. I called your mom already, so you can spend the night here."

"Okaaaaaaay!"

Ippo walked down the street. His pro test was only a week away. He tried to feel confident, but even with all his training - the idea of taking the test again was making him a nervous wreak. It had all started after Takamura-san's match. The fight was amazing, watching his senpai box was indescribable - just so long as he was serious. After the fight Mashiba-san and Miyata-kun had encountered each other for the first time. Mashiba-san was so frightening. Even knowing what he did now about Kumi-san's brother didn't help. In fact it only made things worse. Mashiba-san was beyond determined. He had boxed with a broken elbow - a feat that Ippo felt overshadowed his boxing with a broken hand by a wide margin.

Mashiba-san would be at the pro test. There was a chance that they'd spar. Ippo felt that he was making good progress, but it didn't seem to him that he was in as good of shape as he had been when the two of them had initially fought. At least not yet. If he did wind up squaring off against Mashiba-san what would the result be? He might not even pass. He hadn't done any training to avoid the flicker. Even if he knew in his mind what he should do to over-come Mashiba-san's reach, if his body wasn't used to the movement it wouldn't matter.

Ippo let out a long sigh. There was one thing he could think of that might calm him down. It was time to meet Kumi-san. It had taken him a long time to work up the courage, but he had to do it before he potentially crossed paths with her older brother. With that goal in mind, he made his way to the bread shop that she worked at.

*Sakura Electronics has moved to the 3rd floor. Coming soon Yamanaka Bakery!*

Ippo stared at the sign in front of the store, not comprehending what it meant for a long time. The memory that the bakery opened soon after his match with Jason Ozuma struck him like lightening. How could he have forgotten that part! After finally working up the courage to come here, nothing had happened! Short of risking death by trying to run into her around her house, there was no way to meet her now. A dejected Ippo trudged back down the street.

All the weaklings had come out of the woodwork. There wasn't a half decent fighter among the lot of them. Mashiba Ryou stood nearly a head taller than most of the wannabes around him. The paper test hadn't been very hard, but the spars were shaping up to be even easier.

"Next! Eleventh and Twelfth!" The referee called out his number after the last pathetic excuse for a spar had ended.

His opponent looked like another wimp who had never had to struggle in his entire life. How could someone like him hope to win against someone who had been fighting the entire world for 14 years? Ridiculous. Ryou assumed his hit-man stance, and as expected the rookie across the ring from him just looked surprised. It would've been better if his opponent had a little experience - enough to recognize the style and assume he didn't know what he was doing. Wiping the smug look off of trash like that was one of the most enjoyable aspects of boxing.

*pop*pop*pop*pop*pop*pop* Over and over he jabbed his "opponent". There was no way he'd be able to avoid his flicker jab. It was a difficult punch to learn, and so hardly anyone had any experience with it. Mashiba easily slipped past his sparing partner's attempts at blocking. A left uppercut. A right straight. The referee was shouting something, probably trying to end the match before he was done. Fine. He'd end the match with his Sunday-punch.

*GURASH!* The chopping right landed perfectly. His opponent lay unconscious and bleeding on the floor. Now the fight was over. What a quick and crappy ending.

Mashiba came back to the ring-area after taking a quick shower and changing back into his street clothes. Nothing to do now but watch the rest of losers try and box with each other. Waiting around for them to finish was going to be boring.

*spat* A white and red blur came flying out of the ring at him. He dodged to the right and easily avoided what looked like a mouth-guard. In the ring a small boxer had literally sent his taller opponent flying head over heals. That must have taken a lot of raw power. Interesting.

"You were with Miyata that time before right?" It looked like that little wall-flower he'd seen after the Takamura fight, when he'd encountered that arrogant pretty boy.

"Ah! Mashiba-san!"

"And you're also a feather-weight, just like him. That punch is bad luck for me, but if I'm here you'll never be champ. Why don't you change to a higher class and save yourself some pain? Kukukukukuku." There was no-way a spoiled brat could ever beat him, but someone with that much raw power could be a problem later on.

"Huh? B-but you're the one who's going to go to another weight class! If I changed I'd just have to..urk!" The kid abruptly covered his mouth with his hands. Since he was still wearing his mitts, he inadvertantly punched himself in the face.

"What?!" Mashiba glared down at the little punk who had insinuated that he'd be the one to run away! Unacceptable! Before the situation could devolve into something worse for the brat, Ippo quickly did a deep bow and scurried away to the locker room.

Ippo was in a good mood. It was Wednesday - the slowest day for their fishing business. No regular customers, and no one else had scheduled a trip for today either. For Ippo that meant one thing, he could go to the gym immediately after class. Sunday was his favorite day - since he didn't have class he'd get to train all day long - in one way or another. Wednesday was his second favorite because of days like this where he'd get to train for several hours on end. With a smile on his face he jogged through the gates of his school. Suddenly a hand grabbed the back of his uniform, jerking him to a stop.

"It's been a while Ippo." Umezawa with his two fellow delinquents looked down on Ippo. "We missed hanging out with you. Lately you've been disappearing right after class lets out." Umezawa had let go of Ippo's collar, but was now twisting his knuckles on top of Ippo's head.

"Play with us sometimes." Ippo was kicked in the side by another of the boys, but it wasn't very hard.

"We know you've been going to a boxing gym." Umezawa had stopped his noogie, and rested his hand on Ippo's left shoulder. The three delinquents smiled for a few seconds. Ippo got a very strong feeling of deja-vu...that the bullies really weren't in a good mood. "You bastard! You're trying to get revenge on us aren't you!" "You think you can take us?!" The calm atmosphere was shattered as Umezawa and his cohorts glared menacingly at Ippo.

"W-what? No, that's not..." Ippo began to try and explain things to the taller boys before they did something to him, but it was too late.

"Shut the hell up!" Ippo's book bag was knocked from his hands. His school supplies spilled out onto the ground.

"Eh? What's this?" Umezawa looked down at the mess on the ground. Ippo's class-C boxing license was in plain sight, and the older boy bent over and picked it up. "A driver's license...What?! A pro-boxer license?! You have to be kidding, as if someone like you could be a professional boxer. What a joke. They'll give these out to anyone I guess."

"Please give it back!" Ippo tried to grab the license from Umezawa's hand, but he quickly back-peddled and the other two boys moved between them.

"Wait a second." They said simultaneously.

"How 'bout we test to see just what kind of boxer he is?" "Yeah." The two boys in front smirked at each other, nodded, and then turn and threw punches at Ippo.

Ippo knew what was coming, but even if he didn't - their punches were 10 times slower than Miyata-kun's. "Please give it back!" Drawing himself into his peak-a-boo stance, Ippo effortlessly weaved between the two bullies before stopping in front of Umezawa. The look on his friend's face was one of surprise, but Ippo didn't give him time to react. His jab was crisp and precise. Just like when he practiced catching leaves, Ippo relaxed his fist. Grabbing his boxing license from Umezawa's hand, and his bag from the ground - Ippo sprinted away from school.

"I'm not boxing for something stupid like revenge. I became a professional boxer because I have a goal I can't fail at, and because I love it!" Ippo shouted behind him. He continued to sprint down the street until he was sure he wasn't being chased. Grinning he looked down at the two things in his hands: his pro-boxing license that signified the first step in his goal of defeating Date, and the button of one of his classmates. Ippo immediately dropped the button. He hadn't meant to grab it, but the image of Takamura weaving through the bullies had just entered his mind. Ippo just had to test to see if he was closer to his senpai. One button was all he managed, but it felt good.

"The third day of the next month is your pro debut! The opponent's name is..." Coach was about to tell him who his first opponent was. Ippo held his breath. Would it be the same as before, or would he be fighting someone else. So far things had happened as he remembered them, but he couldn't shake the idea that perhaps things would go differently this time around. "...Nishigawa Gym's Oda Yuusuke."

"Who's that?" Takamura asked.

"He's an infighter with a strong right, good stamina, and a real aggressive attitude. Uhm...right now he'd have...3 K.O.s, 3 wins and 2 losses." Ippo admired all of his past opponents, so remembering the statistics of his first one wasn't hard. Compared to boxers like Sendou or Volg, Oda wasn't that strong, but Ippo didn't think he was very strong yet either.

"Wow, that's exactly right Ippo." Yagi looked up from the statistics he had gotten on Oda Yuusuke from the boxing commission.

*DON*

Takamura pressed down on the top Ippo's head with the fist he'd just punched Ippo with. "How do you know so much about a no-name like him? You stalking other people aside from Miyata nowadays?"

Kimura spoke up. "I remember Oda from around the time of my debut. He was a junior lightweight, but I guess he's gone down a class. It's true that he was known for his hard punch, but are you sure about the stamina part Ippo. I remember him not being strong in that category."

"Well, I don't know for certain. But that's the impression I got with my fi...watching of his fights." Ippo clearly remembered that he had gone into the fight expecting an opponent who wouldn't throw many punches. It was a surprise with how much stamina his opponent had actually had. No way was Ippo going to under-estimate Oda again. He'd been attacked constantly for nearly 4 rounds.

"In any case if you respect your opponent's stamina so much, we're just going to make yours better than his. Right kid?"

"Yes!"

"Good, lets practice your ability to take hits then."

"OK!"

Ippo resumed his training with Kamogawa-sensei. His coach was using a medicine ball attached to a long stick. Over and over he would swing with all his strength at Ippo's stomach. When they had first done this exercise, it took a lot of pain on Ippo's part before he realized how to clench his muscles, breath at the right time, and what kind of stance to use. Knowing all of that beforehand helped, but learning to endure the hits was something his body would have to be trained at again. Ippo also spared a lot with his senpais: Aoki and Kimura. The two of them were always good for a sparring session, but they always bowed out before Ippo ran out of energy.

Reiko had been convinced by her two friends to try out a ramen place to the south. She was preoccupied with thoughts of her boyfriend Yuusuke. Her father was becoming increasingly more vocal about his lack of training. Did Yuusuke really slack off? She thought he was incredibly strong, but he had lost two fights. What if she was distracting him from his training? She didn't want to stop spending time with him, but perhaps it would be for the best.

"Before your first match, and you're practicing that much. You're going to burn out man." Three young boys had entered the cafe and were talking loudly. Or at least Reiko assumed they were young, the small one in the middle still had to be in high school.

"Ahhhh...My body's getting stronger. I think I can handle it."

"To celebrate Ippo's debut, let's have some service!" The three of them sat down at the counter, across from the both that Reiko was sitting at with her friends.

"Like I said, don't worry about it. Oda Yuusuke is famous for his attitude." What? They were talking about her Yuusuke?

"You're wrong! He's really determined. I know you say he lacks stamina, but I'm telling you that's not the case!" The short one was arguing with his two companions about Yuusuke? And he was defending him? Did Yuusuke really have that many fans?

"You'd better watch what you say about Yuusuke-chan around Ippo, Kimura. You wouldn't want him to get all hot and bothered by talking bad about his faaaaavorite boxer! Gah ha ha ha!" The tall one with the pompadour had chimed in. Was Yuusuke the small one's favorite boxer? The kids had started talking about other things, and she couldn't just go up to them and ask. It probably was just her worrying too much, just like Yuusuke said. To think that she was going to have given Yuusuke-kun the cold shoulder to motivate him! What good luck that she happened to encounter some of his fans. Smiling, Reiko turned her attention back to her friends and finished her food. It really was a good restaurant.

Ippo's match was about to begin. He was shadow-boxing to warm up. At the weigh in that morning Oda Yuusuke had behaved differently. Ippo had expected him to be intense and angry. Instead, his opponent had been arrogant and friendly. The change from what he expected bothered Ippo. What could've happened that would 've resulted in such a change.

"Don't be so nervous, you should be grateful you got such a weak opponent." Aoki and Kimura were trying to cheer him up, but they didn't know that Oda-san was going to come out constantly swinging. Ippo would have trouble getting his rhythm under such an onslaught. If he wanted to win he'd have to take the pace immediately. Last time the ref was going to stop the fight because of a cut he'd received. Only a last minute K.O. had saved him. Ippo had to avoid the cut at all costs he'd decided.

"Let's go kid." Coach Kamogawa motioned to the door. It was time for his debut.

Ippo walked down the aisle. He felt every bit as nervous as he did the first time he'd done this. His heart was racing, his palms were sweating underneath his wraps. Kamogawa-sensei had trained him though. His coach knew exactly what to do. Ippo was sure that if he followed his sensei's instructions he'd be fine. In the ring Ippo immediately began bowing to the crowd from the center. It wasn't until Kamogawa-sensei yelled at him that he stopped and returned to his corner. Soon the bell would ring, and Oda-san would rush him. Ippo had to get the first punch. It all rode on that, to get the momentum before his oppon...

*DING*

The bell! Ippo turned, crouching low. He expected to see Oda-san rushing towards him, but the other boxer was still in his corner. Ippo rushed forward, and got to the other boxer before he'd moved. Oda looked surprised and threw a left jab followed by a right, but Ippo weaved around the punches and got into his range. A short, quick, compact right body blow followed by a left. His punches connected cleanly, and surprisingly Oda-san dropped his guard. Ippo hadn't expected to get in so early in the match, but he didn't hesitate to capitalize on his situation. A one-two, followed by another. All his punches connected with his opponent's face. Oda tried to come back with a right hook, but Ippo ducked underneath it. Then he raised his left hand from his waist, pushed up with his left leg, and punched upwards. The long upper connected cleanly with Oda's chin, and he was lifted off his feet. Somehow Oda hadn't fallen down. Ippo wound up for a right straight before Oda could recover, but suddenly the referee was between them.

Ippo stepped back. What was happening? Oda-san was still standing in he corner. Then Ippo noticed that he wasn't standing, rather his arms were entangled in the top rope. The ref went over to check on Oda, but quickly motioned towards the ring-side announcer.

"Winner! Macunochi!"

Oda Yuusuke was unconscious. Ippo had won. The applause from the audience fell on him like rain. Ippo couldn't believe it. Everything had gone so fast, and now he was experiencing the adoration of the entire crowd. He quickly began to bow to them.

K.O. Time 47 seconds

Kourakuen Hall

Macunochi Ippo Victory

1-0-0 1 K.O.