Chapter 483: Who is the true God of Wealth for the Kyokugenryu Dojo?
The match between the Ryuuko and the Two Cats ended quickly, with the Meow Meow Team suffering a defeat.
Yes, that's right, those two comical characters lost the match, but the winning Ryuuko no Ken team, on the other hand, was quite dejected. Even Ryo Sakazaki, the captain, openly stated that he couldn't accept his victory.
The reason was that the two cats of the Meow Meow Team were almost toying with the Ryuuko no Ken team, and they almost completely lacked any so-called martial artist spirit, maintaining an "interest-driven" attitude throughout.
To say they were "playing" was no exaggeration, and this made the most pure martial arts team in the entire King of Fighters series very uncomfortable.
However, as non-human and comical characters, they were naturally outside the rules; you simply couldn't predict what they would do.
Initially, the Meow Meow Team sent out Cat ARC, also known as Princess Cat-Arc, a cat that incorporated Arcueid's template. She truly gave the opposing vanguard, Yuri Sakazaki, a hard time.
Specifically, she got her clothes torn.
About three minutes into the fight, Cat-Arc's super move, True Ancestor Ray, and Yuri Sakazaki's Haoh Shokoken had a classic beam clash. But a Haoh Shokoken without a power-up was essentially just a larger Hadoken, a skill susceptible to even Psycho Reflection and Ryuji Yamazaki's Double Return. In the clash, it directly lost to the True Ancestor Ray.
The True Ancestor Ray, having broken through the Haoh Shokoken, whistled past. Yuri Sakazaki only managed a very extreme backbend dodge, then felt a sudden heat on her chest that quickly turned cold—
The chest area of Yuri Sakazaki's upper garment was burned through. Whether it was precise control or ki protection, the ray burned through the front of her short dojo top, yet the binding cloth underneath showed not even a scratch.
As someone who was once kidnapped, leading to the plot of the first Art of Fighting, Yuri Sakazaki was a vibrant presence, capable of scorching vampires. She was only stunned for a moment by her clothes being torn before resuming her fighting stance, wanting to continue against Cat-Arc with her 82-sized chest binding.
But in the end, her not-yet-boyfriend Robert, full of jealousy, and her biological older brother Ryo Sakazaki, full of embarrassment, pulled her off the stage. She sat kneeling beside her father, Takuma Sakazaki, wrapped in a large towel provided by the staff.
"...Now your gi is even more tattered than mine."
After a long pause, her old father uttered this sentence.
Clearly, this old Tengu was still a bit bothered by Cheng Tian's rant about Geese, which incidentally included his gi.
Robert was the middle-man for the Ryuuko no Ken team, the only one in the team who didn't wear a gi. He was a flamboyant Italian in a casual suit and trousers, fond of exposing his chest and abs, and sporting a small braid.
"As everyone knows, the Kyokugenryu Dojo family are all aliens. They simply don't know how to teach students or collect tuition fees to make a living. New students who just join dare to train at the same intensity as Ryo Sakazaki's daily practice. How is that an entry-level course? It's practically a burial!"
"One can only say that if it weren't for Robert, that big sucker, you would have gone bankrupt long ago!!!"
Cheng Tian, who had only given a standard commentary when Yuri Sakazaki was on stage, finally couldn't resist the urge to complain.
For Cheng Tian, these martial artists in front of him represented various unresolved grievances that had lasted for over twenty, almost thirty years. Now that he had the chance to intervene, he naturally had to take direct action.
Upon hearing Cheng Tian's assessment, the members of the Kyokugenryu Dojo were momentarily enraged.
Their lips trembled wildly, but they ultimately couldn't refute Cheng's complaints, because Cheng Tian had merely stated the facts in front of everyone, just as he always did.
From the perspective of school reputation alone, Kyokugenryu is actually quite famous in the industry. After all, the Strongest Dragon and the Strongest Tiger both came from this school, and they indeed left a deep impression in various international competitions... But Kyokugenryu is also among the last in the martial arts training circle in terms of willingness to join!
The bottom line is, the Sakazaki family simply doesn't know how to teach disciples!
Over so many years, besides their own bloodline inheritors, they only cultivated one outsider, Robert. And in a sense, that was the result of Robert's extraordinary talent combined with his infatuation!
"Old Man Sakazaki, you too. You know that a son of an Italian noble family like Robert is already the ultimate son-in-law. What's even rarer is that he's incredibly handsome and doesn't mess around. If your daughter goes berserk, he also has the strength to stop her."
"And if I remember correctly, all the operating funds for your dilapidated dojo come from this kid. Yet, you old man still act so ambiguous. Your skin is really thick. I suggest you put your Tengu mask back on."
"Is it Kansai dialect? Is that why you dislike Kansai dialect so much? Or how about you, Robert, learn standard Japanese properly? This old man might have something against people from Osaka."
Cheng Tian directly brought up the tried-and-true regional discrimination, though the reason was, of course, complete nonsense.
"What!? Really?"
Robert's face showed surprise at this, and he believed it to be true.
Robert, who had originally thought he would be scolded and exposed like the previous teams, suddenly realized that Cheng Tian seemed to have a hobby of matchmaking?
That's right, wasn't it the same with Mai Shiranui and Andy!?
Thinking of this, Robert's eyes lit up, and he actually began to consider whether he should give up his characteristic Kansai dialect.
Robert, from an Italian noble family, almost impeccable in physique, appearance, wealth, and even devotion, spoke with a heavy Osaka Kansai dialect.
Compared to domestically, it would be like a handsome blonde foreigner who speaks with a heavy Northeastern accent, making you think he's from the Liu Laogen Grand Stage if you only heard him speak without seeing his face... As the true investor keeping Kyokugenryu Karate running, without him, that family of three fools who didn't know how to teach new recruits or make a living would have long ago driven the Kyokugenryu Dojo into bankruptcy and liquidation.
And the one who should be most thanked in all this is Yuri Sakazaki. If Takuma Sakazaki, that rough old man, hadn't had such a striking daughter as Yuri, Robert probably wouldn't have easily fallen into the negative asset debt trap of the Kyokugenryu Dojo.
Being swayed by Cheng Tian and having the "son-in-law" route explicitly stated, Robert, despite trying hard to adjust his mindset, couldn't help but occasionally grin foolishly on the stage, wondering if images of Yuri Sakazaki in a wedding dress were popping into his mind.
In stark contrast to him, Takuma Sakazaki below the stage was frantically shaking his leg.
Then, Robert was seized by Cat-Arc, who used a giant Cat Spirit summoned by her Cat Spirit version of Reality Marble to headbutt him out of the main arena.
"Boring, you come ~"
But as the victor, when the opponent's general, Ryo Sakazaki, stepped onto the stage, it looked utterly uninterested, directly choosing to switch to Chaos Cat Nero.
Nero Cat, who was originally holding a cigarette, had already started to have black mud flowing from its body. But just as the host was about to announce the start of the match, it threw the cigarette on the ground, crushed it with its foot, and then forfeited on the spot!
"Why!? Fight me!!!"
Ryo Sakazaki's astonishment turned into anger.
"Got a sudden job."
Nero Cat offered no explanation, simply turning and leaving.
The unspoken reason, however, lay with Cheng Tian—
It had received a blood collection request from Cheng Tian and decisively threw the match out of its mind.