Jiro broke the silence first, nudging the person beside him.
"Well, Gin, what do you think now about MPAs? Pretty solid, right?"
Gin was speechless eyes still locked on the replay footage.
"I… I don't even know what to say. That fight... I've never seen someone use sweat as a form of combat tactics before. Especially against someone with visual prowess like that. That was—" he exhaled slowly, eyes wide, "brilliant."
His hands trembled slightly from the adrenaline.
"I kept watching the replays over and over. I could actually see myself fighting like that. Imagine moving with that kind of precision…"
Jiro chuckled. "It was a close match though. Honestly, I thought Rocky was gonna win it."
Before he could finish, Kenta cut in with quiet certainty:
"It was never Rocky's match to win."
Jiro turned, blinking. Even Tabaki Iwaizumi looked confused.
"Wait, what?" Iwaizumi asked. Old man Jiro chimed in, "Did we all watch the same match?"
Tabaki nodded, backing old man Jiro up. "Yeah, old man Kenta. That fight was tight. Could've gone either way."
At the far end, Samira coughed slightly, a brief flicker of discomfort.
One of her guards reacted instantly, stepping forward with practiced precision as if trained to respond to even the smallest shift in her posture.
He offered her a bottle of water, elegant and clearly expensive.
She took it without a word, sipped calmly, and then, without hesitation, said:
"I actually agree with Grandpa Kenta."
Tabaki blinked, torn between curiosity and confusion.
There were so many things he wanted to ask about Samira like why her guards were so tense, so alert, constantly watching her like she was royalty or a loaded weapon.
But first, he focused on the most pressing question.
"Seriously? No way. That match was so close."
Samira gave a small nod, completely unfazed.
"Not if you break it down properly."
She set her bottle aside, her tone calm and precise.Rocky was outmatched from the start. Gabriel's abilities were a natural counter. Eyes that can read movements, and legs enhanced by tendon manipulation basically letting him move and strike faster than the muscles alone could manage." Like I said before, the fight was already lost before it began. It was only Rocky's ego that kept him standing."
"Kenta folded his arms.
"Exactly but I wouldn't necessarily call it ego. More like pride and grit. Years of experience in the senior division."
He glanced at the others, his tone shifting to something more measured.
"When you're in a fight, there are a few basic signs that tell you whether it's tipping in your favor. It's not always about brute strength. Sometimes, it's about how one style is built to dismantle the other."
He raised a finger.
"These are the signs I look for" 1 Control of distance If you're dictating the space, you're dictating the fight. 2 Reaction time gap When your opponent starts reacting a split-second late, they're falling behind mentally. 3 Forced predictability If you've cornered them into repeating patterns, they're fighting on your terms. 4 Recovery window The longer they take to recover between exchanges, the more you're wearing them down.and lastly 5 Shift in posture or eye movement Small hesitations, glances, even weight shifts they reveal fear or miscalculation."
He glanced at the rest of the group.
"Rocky fought hard, no doubt. But it wouldn't take an expert to know Gabriel? He was holding back for most of that match."
Gin leaned forward, eyes still locked on the screen as if trying to decode it frame by frame.
He spoke slowly, almost thinking out loud.
"to actually think about it..After watching the replays over and over… I did notice something strange."
He tapped his fingers lightly against his chin, brows furrowed.
"Gabriel kept avoiding vital spots. At first, I figured Rocky was just good at defense solid blocks, good reaction time but no…"
He shook his head slightly.
"Gabriel was doing it on purpose. Aiming for the thighs, the arms… always steering clear of critical zones."
Kenta nodded, finishing the thought.Kenta nodded, finishing the thought without missing a beat.
"Exactly. Sharp observation."
He leaned back slightly, arms crossed.
"What you saw is called a self-imposed handicap. Some fighters do that not out of mercy, but out of mindset."
"Self-imposed what now?" Tabaki raised a brow.
"What a weird phrase."
Kenta chuckled, adjusting the collar around his neck.
"It's actually more common than you'd think in a primal sort of way.
"Almost everyone does it in one way or another and fighters are no exception."
He turned toward the group, his voice calm and steady, like an old instructor passing down a lesson.
"It's simply when someone stronger deliberately avoids the obvious, attacks the weak points. They intentionally skips the easy way out. Instead of finishing things quickly, they choose to win on hard mode like you kids say it nowadays or, in simpler terms in an average person's case, make the task harder than it needs to be... just to prove something."
"But why?" Iwaizumi frowned. "Isn't that just... reckless?"
Kenta shook his head slowly.
"You're absolutely right most coaches and hunters warn against it."
He glanced at the screen again, eyes thoughtful.
"But in Gabriel's case? He enjoys it. Probably why he's taken so many matches back-to-back."
He leaned forward slightly, voice lowering like he was about to tell a parable.
"Think of it like this: if I hand you a stick and ask you to break it, you'd feel confident, right? Easy. One snap, done."
He held up a finger.
"But then I give you twenty sticks. Then thirty. You stop thinking. You just snap them. Again and again. At some point, it's not satisfying anymore."
He tapped his temple.
"Easy tasks don't teach you much. And they sure as hell don't push you forward."
Kenta glanced around the group, making sure their eyes were still on him.
"Now imagine I say, 'Break it using only one hand… without bending your elbow… or using just your pinky.'"