Ganryu Island
All passengers aboard the Kengan Liner stood on the dock in shock at the site of their fated land of battle
It was like a vacation beach resort with crystal clear water, long sandy shorelines, massive elegant buildings, nothing like what most of them would've expected from where they'd be putting fighters into a practical death match
Kazuo looked like he had whiplash from the shock, Akiyama looked mildly uncomfortable seeing the island staff greeting them were all attractive women in Bikini's
Kazuo:what the...hell?
Lihito looked like a kid in a candy store seeing so many women in revealing clothing, (y/n) had a slight hint of surprise in his eyes but other then that, he was unbothered
Metsudo Katahara stepped out in front of them all to make another announcement, however he was in a Hawaiian shirt and looked like he was on vacation
Katahara:congratulations on your arrival to the Kengan Association's Land of Battle, Ganryu Island. Please take your time to recuperate from our long voyage and we'll begin the later portion of our preparations later.
A few minutes later once most of the arrivals had scattered, Kazuo and his small group remained on the peer
Kazuo:so, is this place some exotic get away for big CEO's?
Akiyama:No, if I had to guess, this entire island is Metsudo Katahara's private property.
Kazuo:*HE OWNS THIS ENTIRE ISLAND?!?!*
Lihito:you're telling me that guy can come here and check out these hotties whenever he wants to?!?!
Akiyama:*that's what he's focused on?*
(Y/n) started walking away
Akiyama:(y-(y/n) where do you think you're going?
(Y/n):Food.
Akiyama looked mildly annoyed as he walked away with a one word answer
Akiyama:*He has no regard for his own safety, what if he's attacked again?*
Kazuo looked at the pleasant beaches which already had large groups of people arriving on its sandy shores
Kazuo:*I can't remember the last time I went to the beach, it was back when I was still married probably...*
He pointed towards the beach
Kazuo:I think I'll go onto the beach for a while actually.
A few minutes later the entire group found themselves on the beach in swimsuits, (y/n) looked like he didn't want to be there
(Y/n):why am I here?
He looked at Akiyama who was in a form fitting bikini with sunglasses sitting on her forehead and book in hand
Akiyama:so you aren't attacked when we're separated, if someone goes after President Yamashita then you won't be able to compete.
(Y/n) looked down at his swim shorts that looked way too small on him with his large legs clearly stretching the fabric
Akiyama:so don't be a baby, that's the largest size I could find on short notice.
Lihito:*How'd she even convince that guy to put that on?*
Male voice:Heeeeyyyyy!!! Kazuuuuuu!!!!
Kazuo looked over towards a volleyball net to see Ken waving him over with Cosmo standing on the opposite side
Ken:come on over! We're gonna have ourselves a game!
Kazuo started smiling as he began walking over to join his friend
Lihito leaned over to Akiyama
Lihito:hey Kaede, wanna play a game of hide the weasel?
Akiyama ignored him as she laid down on a tanning bed and opened her book
Naoya Okubo walked up alongside Lihito
Naoya:what's the president thinking?
Lihito:you're telling me.
They both started looking out across the sands at the countless attractive women, whether they were suntanning, playing beach games or swimming in the ocean, they had all the eye candy they'd ever need
Lihito:how can I put this...
Naoya:yeah...
Lihito:well you know...
They both started elbowing each other in the side with sly smirks
Lihito:I'm not complaining!
Naoya:are you thinking what I am, Lihito?
Lihito:of course I am! Let's forget about these hard questions...from now on we should...
Naoya and Lihito lunged forward and made a mad dash towards the most attractive women they could see
Lihito:*FOLLOW OUR INSTINCTS!*
Naoya:*FOLLOW OUR INSTINCTS!*
(Y/n) just kept waiting beside Akiyama as he looked at the two Kengan fighters in confusion as they ran off
(Y/n):what're they so excited for?
Akiyama:*honestly, I can hardly believe how lightly they're all taking this situation so lightly. At least (Y/n) is somewhat alert, I hope.*
(Y/n) noticed she was more interested in her book then him as he leaned down closer to her chest to see what she was reading
(Y/n):what's this?
Akiyama started looking at him out of the corner of her eye seeing his incredibly lean and large muscles in the sunlight that was coated with scars
Akiyama:it's a romance novel, now do you mind? Or are you interested?
(Y/n) stood upright and paused for a moment as he looked down at her, the bright red colors of her bikini naturally catching his eye due to their bright shade of scarlet
(Y/n):Bù.
Akiyama didn't understand him speaking Chinese but mostly got the message that he wasn't interested
Akiyama:Go do something, just make sure you stay close enough so I can see you if there's trouble.
(Y/n):are you worried about me now, Kaede Akiyama?
She glanced back up at him and went pale
(Y/n):hmm?
Noticing her reaction (y/n) turned around to see Jiang standing behind him with a sweatshirt on covering what was presumably a bikini underneath
Jiang's legs were extremely muscular and lean, with sparse but large scars on her thighs, calves and feet
The Chinese God of War waves innocently like she hadn't brutally beaten her pupil and son the night before
Jiang:Ni Hao.
(Y/n) didn't tense up seeing her but remained as serious as ever
(Y/n):Jiang.
Jiang:aww still no "mom"?
She started pouting as Akiyama stood up but remained behind (y/n)
Akiyama:*its her again, does she really want to start a fight right in public?*
(Y/n):what do you want?
Jiang:can't a girl meet up with her favorite son for some fun in the sun?
(Y/n) just kept staring down at her as that ominous grin slowly creamy across Jiang's face
Jiang:you didn't do too bad last night, still remember everything I taught you.
(Y/n):you looking to come clean or what? If not then beat it.
Jiang:So cruel. You grew up more then I thought you would over the past five years.
(Y/n) scoffed
(Y/n):you gonna finally tell me what happened? Why the hell did you leave? I don't get it.
Jiang:well adults to plenty of things kids tend not to understand, sometimes it's for the better or it's just selfish. Who knows. And besides, could you imagine these hips on mom jeans?
She placed her hands on her hips and (Y/n) started looking annoyed at her ever cryptic nature
5 years ago, China
(Y/n) was lying bloody on the floor of Jiang's dojo, jiang was standing over him with a busted nose and bloody knuckles as she raised her leg and stomped his head into the floor knocking him out cold
She slowly pulled her foot out of his face and started leaving, he'd wake up alone with no idea where she'd gone
Present day, Ganryu Island
(Y/n):why...why did you leave me on that day?
Akiyama:*(y/n) sounds genuinely interested for once, does he have some kind of abandonment issues?*
Jiang just kept looking up at him with the same grin that provided no answers
A scowl crossed (y/n)'s face
(Y/n):tch, forget it.
He turned as he put his hands in his pockets and began walking away
Seeing his frustration, Jiang's expression slowly changed and became somber as she sighed
Jiang:you always met everyone one of my expectations. Tell you what...if you win this tournament, I'll tell you everything you want to know.
(Y/n) noticeably flinched as he turned around in shock since she was finally candid which left (y/n) in a daze for several seconds
Meanwhile on the other end of the beach, Naoya and Lihito saw (y/n) and Akiyama with Jiang
Naoya placed his hand over his eyes to get a slightly better look at Jiang
Naoya:whoa, talk about a muscle mommy.
Lihito, still remembering last night, didn't want to go anywhere near there
Ligito:you can go try that if you want but never stick it in crazy. It'll be your funeral.
Naoya:huh? Why's that?
Back over by the people in question, (y/n) regained his normal stoic composure
(Y/n):what the hell do you mean by "if"?
His grin slowly crept across his face
(Y/n):this tournaments all mine.
Jiang started grinning as well, the two sharing the visage of genuine demons
Jiang:that's the spirit, sport.
Ordinarily Akiyama would find herself frozen around that kind of murderous aura, but she'd become accustomed to being around (y/n) and the fact their battle lust wasn't being directed at her
Akiyama:*are they sorted out now...? If so then at least she won't attack him like a feral beast again.*
Female voice:(Y/N)!!!!!
Karura ran up from the beach houses behind them and leapt onto the foreign fighters arm as she started hugging it tightly against her chest but due to her light 99 pound frame she didn't make (y/n) budge an inch or even react
Karura:I'm so glad I saw you here! I had to go get a swimsuit so I was a bit late.
Jiang started eyeing karura up and down while she remained unnoticed, she didn't seem to recognize karura from her side profile or the fact she was wearing a blue and white striped bikini but Jiang did keep looking at her muscles in approval
(Y/n) didn't seem to care karura was clutching onto him and was more of less indifferent as he continued staring at Jiang which karura noticed
Karura:huh? Are you okay?
She started poking him in the upper lip, specifically the scab from the wound she'd given him during their fight but after her third poke she noticed he was looking at something
Karura looked at Jiang and the older woman recognized her dark Kure eyes and looked amazed
Jiang:oh goodness, Karura? You've gotten so big!
Karura's eyes lit up seeing Jiang with childish delight
Karura:M-Miss Yu?
Jiang pulled her off (y/n)'s arm and hugged her tightly which seemed to knock the wind out of Karura but Jiang quickly released her and kept her hands on the Kure girls shoulders
Jiang:oh come now, I heard you want to marry my son so that practically makes us family! And we've known each other since you were so young! You can call me "Mom"!
Karura's eyes lit up like fireworks, Jiang found her adorable with that innocent childish delight in her eyes
Karura:okay! Momma!
(Y/n) looked slightly weirded out seeing someone else call Jiang by that title, but Jiang loved being called that by Karura
Akiyama was more so weirded out by how well Jiang was getting along with Karura
Karura:if you gave us your blessing then...we can get married here on Ganryu Island!
Back by the beach houses, Erioh was watching Karura through a pair of binoculars with his jaw hanging wide open and Horio chuckling behind him
Erioh:*(Y/N) YU!!!!*
His murder lust began rising seeing his precious granddaughter being so close to Jiang and (Y/n)
Horio:grandfather, mind your blood pressure.
He started crushing the binoculars in his hand when he notice Jiang started to look their way and as their eyes met the lenses shattered to bits
Further down the beach, Cosmo spiked the volleyball on both Kazuo and Ken winning again
Cosmo:Haha! Scored again!
Both Ken and Kazuo were totally exhausted despite only competing against Cosmo
Ken:Kazu...when did...volleyball become so exhausting?
Kazuo:*you told me this would be a light workout! Did you really think we'd win against a representative fighter?!*
Spectator:jeez! That kid is really beating those old folks up!
Nearby, Rei was leaned against a palm tree as Hollis approached him, neither seemed to like each other from how they were staring each other down
Rei:so what've you called me out here for?
Hollis:....this doesn't make sense, among the assassins participating in this tournament, there is the Inaba style, Kaiwan style, The Kure Clan. All of which are styles who'd accept any job for money, but not so far for you.
Rei crossed his arms, remaining as stoic as ever
Hollis: "We will not accept any jobs concerned with political strife." I seem to recall that was the creed of the Raishin style. The Raishin style is an assassination art that's been passed down for generations for 1200 years. What is it that made you break your code?
Rei started glaring at Hollis out of the corner of his eye
Rei:...shut up Hollis, I'm the new master of the Raishin style so I set the policy. More importantly...
He removed himself from the wall and opened his arms
Rei:I think it's a good time to settle the score between the Raishin Style and the Kure clan once and for all.
Both started to tense up as they started staring each other down, in terms of speed Rei would almost definitely be the winner but in terms of strength it was more up in the air
The two continued staring each other down when Rino started walking up from behind Rei in an extremely small string bikini that made many women enviously stare at her
Rino:oh there you are, Rei!
Rei flinched hearing her soft voice
Rino:what are you doing here? I've been waiting for you by the water, is this your friend?
She walked up alongside Rei and noticed Hollis was totally shocked
Rino:I hope I'm not interrupting anything.
Rei looked down at her totally calm with no semblance of the malice he once had towards Hollis
Rei:No, we're done here. No problems at all.
Rino giggled as she took Rei's much larger hand in her own
Rino:okay good~ I'm going to the beach now so do you wanna come with?
She looked up at him with begging puppy dog eyes as a small smile crossed Rei's face
Rei:sure.
Rei started leaving with Rino as Hollis remained in shock
Hollis:Mikazuchi...you can't be telling me...you broke your creed for a woman...?
Rei tensed up once last time as he waved to Hollis politely despite not wanting to
Rei:goodbye Hollis, I hope to the get the chance to face off against you some day.
They walked off leaving Hollis alone
Hollis:*unbelievable, he broke his creed over that girl. I'm surrounded by fools, I guess it's youth.*
Meanwhile back with Jiang and her student, Karura was trying to drag (y/n) towards the sandy banks but her light body couldn't make him budge so much as an inch
Karura:come on! Let's go do some volleyball or something!
She let go of his hand and got behind him as she started trying to push him from behind
Jiang started giggling to herself seeing Karura try and get (y/n) to move, she looked at Akiyama out of the corner of her eye
Jiang:are you sure you can afford not to chase him yourself?
Akiyama:ex-excuse me?
Jiang:If you're not careful she'll steal him from you~ check out his lip there where she ripped it open, that's gonna turn into a nice big scar.
She pointed at the large scab from the injury Karura gave him the previous night
Jiang:she's already marked him, be careful girly.
Jiang started slyly smirking as she walked over towards (y/n) and Karura
Karura:let's play some beach games! It'll be fun and we can team up together!
Jiang:oh that's a good idea, I can go talk with some of my old friends. But first...
She unzipped her sweater exposing her black one piece swimsuit that tightly hugged her muscular but slim frame
Jiang:here you go.
She started putting her sweater over Karura who tilted her head to the side innocently
Karura:mom?
Jiang:a girl like yourself should be careful who she shows so much skin around.
She winked at Karura and as Jiang motioned toward (y/n) which made Karura understand
Karura:*Mom is right, my future husband should be the only one I let see me that way!*
A few minutes later (y/n) found himself standing on one side of the net with Cosmo and Karura with Jiang on the other side with Kazuo and Ken
Kazuo:*this is incredibly unfair!*
Jiang:it'll be a five on five match, we'll do a young team and an old team. Anyone over 30 has to join our team.
(Y/n) and Cosmo started giving each other the side eye, they were some of the youngest people in the tournament but their gaze wasn't blatantly hostile
Cosmo:Yo, let's win this fight here so we go into the tournament with another win under our belts.
(Y/n):Hao.
Cosmo:what do you mean "how"? Have you never played?
(Y/n) stared at Cosmo with a deadpan expression since Cosmo also didn't understand Chinese
Jiang started waving across the beach to Wakatsuki who was sitting alone at a bar, he was wearing cargo shorts and a Hawaiian shirt
Jiang:Takeshi! Takeshi!!!
Wakatsuki glanced at her before ignoring her
Jiang:h-hey!!
Both her and Cosmo ran over to the massive fighter who was trying to mind his own business
Jiang:we're starting a volleyball game, so get up and let's go.
Wakatsuki slowly turned his head towards the two
Wakatsuki:I see you never seem to grow up, no matter how much time passes, Yu.
He turned his massive muscular body towards them
Wakatsuki:but I'll pass.
Cosmo:Come onnn, don't be such a bum. It's all in good fun.
Wakatsuki changed his gaze momentarily to Cosmo but never let Jiang out of his peripheral vision
Wakatsuki:Cosmo, don't take your eyes off this woman unless you want a few broken bones. Especially leading up to your match.
Cosmo:huh? Why's that?
He tilted his head to the side as Jiang innocently smiled
Jiang:aww come on, let bygones be bygones. Although, I guess I can always ask Gozo Murobuchi.
Wakatsuki sighed
Wakatsuki:you won't goad me into this, Yu. I'm not interested.
Jiang smirked as she pointed over towards the volleyball net where Karura was repeatedly bouncing the volleyball on her head with (y/n) blankly watching her with his arms crossed
Wakatsuki:*I see, so the one who beat Sekibayashi is over there...this could serve as a good opportunity to see his abilities, even if it is just a game.*
He slowly stood up and towered over the both of them
Wakatsuki:very well.
Both Jiang and Cosmo shared a low five
Back over by the volleyball court, Rino approached the Kazuo and Ken with Rei following behind her
Rino:excuse me, is there room for two more?
Kazuo:o-oh um...yes. There's room on the other team.
Rino giggled as she waved to the older Kengan association members
Rino:Okaaaayyy, thanks Kazuo Yamashita.
Her and Rei walked over towards the other side with (y/n) and Karura
Kazuo:*why does everyone here seem to know my name...*
Once Rei stepped onto the other side of the field, (y/n) took his eyes of Karura as the two started looking at each other
Meanwhile, standing in the shade of a palm tree, Gensai Kuroki was staying in the shade with his hands in his pockets
He looked to his right as something made of metal flew towards his head, the older fighter with no wasted movement removed his right pocket as he straightened his fingers
Gensai thrusted his right arm forward while remaining perfectly still as his fingers pierced right through the metal object and a liquid began running down his hand
He looked closely and saw it was a metal flask with a brown liquid flowing out of it, Gensai looked ahead and saw Jiang walking over
Jiang:you jerk, that was 40 year old scotch I got over in the states.
She stopped a few meters away from him with a casual smirk
Jiang:remind me not to get you anything nice in the future.
She waved her arm and motioned for him to come over
Meanwhile, Rino noticed Rei and (y/n) looking at each other
Rino:oh, do you two know each other?
Karura kept glancing at Rino, specifically her chest and she felt threatened because Karura herself was quite petite in comparison to Rino
Rei looked at her with his normal flat expression
Rei:it's nothing.
Female voice:Heeeeyyy!!
Jiang came running over with Gensai walking a few meters behind, Cosmo walked to the younger side of the field as Jiang and Gensai joined Wakatsuki, Kazuo and Ken
Kazuo and Ken both clearly felt intimidated by the size of their male teammates and how serious the two of them were
Jiang looked to the other side of the field at Rei
Jiang:oh, you both found Rei, we've got five members each now.
Rei started glaring at Jiang who waved back innocently
(Y/n) started thinking to himself as he placed his right index and middle finger against his temple as he continued thinking
(Y/n):...who's that?
A few minutes later, near the tanning area, both Shion and Tomoko were eyeing the volleyball players, specifically (Y/n) and Rei who who they thought had the nicest bodies to look at
Shion:well, I suppose this isn't a bad view.
Tomoko had a set of tissues up her nose to stop a nose bleed
Tomoko:*there's so many hot guys! It's like a dream come true!*
The volleyball game was about to start as most of the players started stretching with Rei arching himself backwards stretching his abdomen while (y/n) leaned his torso to the side stretching his obliques
Tomoko's nose started gushing blood again as she turned bright red seeing them stretching without shirts on, it was hard to tell if the men or women had more to look at on this beach
Tomoko:*th-this is way too stimulating!!*
Shion:Matsuda, what's wrong? Have you never seen something like this before?
Feminine voice::my my~ is something wrong Tomoko?
Tomoko looked up to see a shirtless Setsuna Kiryu fresh out of the ocean leaning over her
Tomoko passed out seeing Setsuna's muscles reflecting in the sunlight
Shion:so immature.
While they were playing, Akiyama looked over to see Cosmo showing (y/n) how to play the game
Akiyama:*I guess he's never been to the beach before. I guess even he has a cute side.*
Rei served the ball over the net and it flew to Kazuo who bumped it up into the air and set it while Jiang spiked it over the net
Cosmo dove and bumped the ball back up into the air as Karura served it over the net towards Wakatsuki
Wakatsuki pulled his fist back and threw a right straight, his fist collided with the ball with a large shockwave that sent the volleyball flying out of bounds with his incredible strength
Jiang:out of bounds, way outta bounds.
Karura:I got it!
Karura started running after the ball as Jiang gave wakatsuki a deadpan stare
Jiang:jeez old man, not cool.
Kazuo:*how old even is she? She's acting like a teenager...*
While Karura ran after the ball that was still airborne, it ended up landing in front of a man in priest robes, he stood at 6'2 and was clearly muscular underneath his clothes with blonde flowing chin length hair and a Bible in hand, it was Mokichi Robinson, another competitor in the Kengan Matches
Mokichi looked down at the ball and saw the young Karura running towards him and looked toward a young girl with matching blond shirt that went down to her upper back who was wearing a modest blue dress, Mokichi's younger sister Elena
Mokichi picked up the ball and handed it to his sister
Mokichi:she looks your age, Elena. Why don't you go try and talk to her.
As Karura ran up to them Elena looked incredibly nervous
Elena:u-um hello...is this yours?
Karura nodded as she took the ball and noticed Elena was really nervous and the same age as herself
Karura:do you wanna come with us?
Elena:r-really?
Karura:Yup!
Elena looked yo her brother as if asking for permission, Mokichi nodded with an innocent smile as Karura pulled Elena back towards the volleyball courts with her
Mokichi:*I'm glad she'll be able to be around people her age for a while.*
Much later into the day, the beach's had been vacated and everyone found themselves eating in the central dinning hall
Karura had left the group to eat with her family but brought her friend Elena and her brother with her
Kazuo's group was back down to just members of his corporation along with Lihito
(Y/n) was back to wearing his black compression shirt with baggy white pants, he was just eating steak
Akiyama was wearing a white t-shirt over her swimsuit but it was extremely thin fabric making it easy to see the swimsuit she still had on underneath
Kazuo still had on his swim shorts but had a t shirt on while Lihito only had on his swim shorts
Kazuo just kept looking around the room at the droves of people while the two fighters ate, they didn't have the best table manners but they weren't loud about it
Kazuo:there's so many people here, did this many people really get off the boat?
Akiyama took a reserved sip of her drink
Akiyama:No, most of these people were likely on the ship that the preliminaries was held on. There were quite a few association members still on the S.S annihilation when we separated. They'd all have a duty to watch the matches so they arrived here about half a day before we did by taking a quicker route.
Kazuo:*oh that's right, we're here for Kengan Matches, it's been so peaceful lately I've forgotten.*
He looked at his fighter out of the corner of his eye, the deep cut to his lip was already healing and starting to scar, (y/n) looked like his usual bored self but his eyes remained as serious as ever
Kazuo:*that a battle that will baffle the imagination is about to begin.
He let out a small sigh but smiled
Kazuo:well, at least for tonight it looks like everyone is relaxing.
(Y/n) barely overheard his manager but looked at the fighters around the room, Lihito, Sekibayashi, Wakatsuki, Cosmo, Kaneda, Inaba, Gensai, Raian, Sawada, Setsuna and all the other fighters in the room all had the same aura around them, it was like they were waiting for the dam to break
(Y/n) felt the same way as everyone else, just waiting till that bell rang in the arena
(Y/n):*Glad to see everyone here's on the same page.*
Meanwhile at the Kure's table, Karura and Elena were sitting at the far end of the table alone while Erioh and Mokichi watched over them from afar
Erioh:ohoho, it seems they've really hit it off.
Mokichi:yes, children are always so quick to open up.
Erioh:I'm glad there's someone karura's age here for her to be around while on the island.
Mokichi:yes, Elena's been incredibly nervous the entire voyage because of that.
Erioh:they should be allowed to keep to people their age, if any...unsavory men get near them...
He looked at (y/n) out of the corner of his eye
Erioh:Then I'll squash them like bugs.
Mokichi smiled and while on the surface it was innocent, it was very unsettling
Mokichi:no no, you don't need to go through the trouble, I can strangle them to death myself.
Erioh:no no, allow me.
Mokichi:I insist, allow me.
Reiichi leaned over to whisper to Hollis
Reiichi:looks like grandfather's found someone as protective as he is.
Hollis:Yeah.
Across the room, Cosmo was sitting with Wakatsuki when he stood up leaving an empty plate covered in chicken bones
Cosmo:I gotta go poop.
Wakatsuki didn't flinch at the information as Cosmo vanished into the crowd
Wakatsuki looked up as Jiang sat down in Cosmo's place
Jiang:you've noticed it by now, right? The purpose of this unnatural schedule for before tournament?
Wakatsuki stayed quiet for a moment before grunting in acknowledgement
Wakatsuki:it was to allow fighters to analyze each other before the matches. Their build, the way they move, personalities, we've all got plenty of info to work with now. All the fighters missing are the ones that want to avoid showing their hands.
He crossed his arms
Wakatsuki:and that was your goal with the game earlier, you wanted to throw everyone off about the players personalities and movements.
Jiang smirked and admittedly put her arms out to the side
Jiang:Guilty~ Serves those tight asses right, thinking they can just watch from the sidelines. Either way they can analyze anything they want about us because everyone in this room is thinking the same thing, right?
Wakatsuki almost smirked and Jiang snapped her fingers while pointing at him
Jiang:"I'm going to win". that's what everyone's thinking. But who's gonna win in the end? You? (Y/n)? Raian? Gensai? Agito? Cosmo Imai? Maybe even that rookie Lihito over there.
Her devilish smile slowly crept across her face as her pupils vanished
Jiang:it's exactly what I wanna find out.
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To be continued