Lin is out watching the sun set whilst thinking about Kenshiro, but the village elder appears. He tells her that she can sit there night after night, but that man will not return. Lin doesn't agree with him though as she is so sure he will be back, but the elder tells her to head back into the village. It is dangerous for her to stay out in the open due to the gangs who come out when it gets dark.



Meanwhile, Kenshiro is under attack! Two men have grabbed him and a third, who does nothing but laugh, starts to use a technique that involves using his finger's to stab Kenshiro's chest. Yuria is also present but is held by two more men as she begs for them to stop harming Kenshiro. But the laughing man does not listen to her pleas.



Kenshiro then wakes up: it had just been a dream. He wants to find Yuria but he has no idea where she could be. He then hears something heading in his direction and sees that Bat has arrived in his very own car! Bat, seeing Kenshiro's suspicious look, says he did not steal it, but he actually built it from spare parts as he is a mechanical genius, and that if he needs a lift, he now has one.



Kenshiro decides to take Bat up on his offer and gets himself a ride. Bat wants to know where he is going, only to be told "nowhere special". Bat thinks that Ken must be a drifter, going from place to place without aim, but Ken suddenly leaps out of the car and walks to the side of a ledge. He does this because he heard some noise and sure enough, an old man is being chased by down by several gang members.



The gang have chased the old man as he has something very valuable they could eat: rice seeds. They want them right now but the man begs them to let him go so he can plant the seeds and let them grow, as in the long run they will have a lot more food that he promises to share. He has been through a lot just to get these seeds. The gang leader, Spade, does not care for what he has to say and is about so shoot him with the arrow launcher he has on his wrist when Ken leaps down. He kills a couple of punks, but Spade takes aim at him.



Spade fires, but Ken casually moves his head at the last moment and the arrow misses him. Ken tells Spade he'll give him one more chance to surrender, as his weapon is no match compared to the power of Hokuto Shinken. Spade just sees that as a challenge and fires again. This time, Ken uses a technique called Nishi Shinku Ha (Two Finger Air Snatch) which lets him catch the arrow with just two of his fingers.



He throws it right back at the gang leader, and it lands straight in his right eye. With him down for the moment, Kenshiro checks if the old man is OK, but he says that the gang have taken his seeds and they are already retreating.



Bat runs down and says that those were the men of "King" and that Kenshiro shouldn't get involved with them as they are the most powerful gang around. Kenshiro remembers that Bat told him that he was a great thief, so he tells him to go and steal the rice seeds back from King's men. At first he doesn't want to go so Kenshiro leaves the old man to rest whilst following the gang himself. But Bat changes his mind and heads after them. Meanwhile, Spade doesn't care if he is up against Hokuto Shinken and even though he is told to rest, he pushes his first aider aside, wanting revenge against Kenshiro.



There is a noise outside and the gang head out to see Bat arriving in his car. Bat claims that he wishes to join the gang and has bought a present in the form of his set of wheels, and it it the world's only handmade car. As the gang members start to mess around with it Bat runs off in the gang's HQ and soon finds where the bag of seeds are, with a single guard in the room. He takes out a small wind up mouse and lets it loose.



When the guard sees the mouse he thinks it would make a great meal and attempts to catch it, so whilst he is distracted Bat runs in and takes the seeds before heading back outside. The gang members there are not impressed with the car as it seems to be a pile of junk but Bat says he'll show them what it is really made of and gets it to work again. But it isn't perfect as the engine begins to splutter and cause a lot of smoke, which makes the gang members laugh as Bat drives away from them.



The guard then runs out to tell Spade and the others that the seeds are gone! Spade tells them to gear up as they will go on a rampage and kill anyone who gets in their way. Meanwhile Bat gets a good distance away from the gang's HQ and decides that now he has the seeds, he'll eat them as he hasn't had rice for ages. Before he can start cooking though Kenshiro appears and after punching his head he then uses the good old Hokuto slap.



The pair head back to the old man and the seeds are returned to their rightful owner. The man says that it has taken him half a year to collect these seeds. Bat asks why he doesn't just eat them now, but the old man tells him that tomorrow is more important than today and if the seeds are planted, they will be able to harvest a lot more rice in the following months, so they can make a lot more food for everyone. This also means that the fighting over food will hopefully stop. Kenshiro makes Bat go to the old man's village, and Bat does so, but he complains that he'd rather be back in that cell. At least Lin would bring him food there!



Back at Lin's village, a lot of trading is going on as people try to trade valuable items for goods and water. One guy tries to trade pearls, but they get kicked out of his hands as he is told stuff like that is worthless now. As this is going on Lin herself decides that she can use one of the trader trucks to hide on and she knows that it will go to many different places -and it might be able to take her to where Ken is.



Meanwhile Kenshiro and Bat arrive at the old man's village, where his name is finally revealed: Smith. The other villagers are glad to see him and even happier that he has managed to bring rice seeds with him. The villagers tell Smith to go and take a long rest as he has finally completed his task, and has saved the villagers from starving thanks to getting the seeds. Bat wants to hang around thinking that they'll get a big reward for helping Smith, but Kenshiro tells them to start the car so they can leave. Bat is reluctant but decides not to argue with Ken, and they head out.



They do not get that far away from the village when they see a cloud of dust heading towards it: Spade and his men! Spade leads his gang straight towards the village, having seen Bat and Kenshiro head there earlier. Kenshiro leaps out of the car and starts to run back.



He cannot reach it before the gang attack and start to kill everyone. Spade just wants the seeds and finds Smith, who is trying to run with the seeds to hide them, but he does not make it as Spade throws a spear through his chest.



Spade sees that Kenshiro has come back, so he pulls out a knife and plunges it into one of Smith's hands. Smith keeps saying that he just wants the seeds to grow, but Spade wants him to shut up and stomps on him a couple of times, killing him. Smith's death enrages Kenshiro, who rips his shirt as he begins to charge up his power.



But two of Spade's buddies use chains to restrain his arms. Kenshiro tells them all that they do not deserve to live as Spade simply throws an axe at him. Ken deflects this by hitting the axe with a kick at the precise moment.



The axe gets sent at an angle that hits one of the chain wielders right in the neck, decapitating him. He then turns his attention to the other man trying to restrain him and says that most people only use just 30% of their strength in a fight, and Hokuto Shinken is about using the other 70%. He then demonstrates how much stronger he is by grabbing the chain and pulling on it to send the man in his direction.


GANZAN RYOUZAN HA

(Mountain Split Fissure Wave)



This moves seems like a standard chop, but due to the power of Hokuto Shinken it dents the guy's face and then makes his entire head swell up before exploding. Even though Spade has no idea what he is dealing with he attacks anyway, trying to slice Kenshiro up with his two axes. Kenshiro punches him in the face.



Spade moves back and sees his nose bleeding as Ken asks him if that was his best. Spade charges at him again, but this time Ken grabs his arms and gets them in a lock, and as he applies pressure, he snaps them both. He then follows it up with:


HOKUTO ZANKAI KEN

(North Star Remorse Fist)



This attack has Kenshiro place his thumbs in Spade's "Toui" -one of his body's 708 hidden pressure points. When Ken removes his thumbs, Spade will have exactly seven seconds left to live. Ken suggests that he thinks about what he has done and repent his sins before he dies. Ken removes his thumbs and Spade drops to the ground. He manages to get back up and stagger off...



"I don't want to die!"



"I don't want..."






Later on, Kenshiro has made a grave for Smith and is planting the seeds in it. Bat warns him that Spade was not the overall leader of King's men and that now they have killed him, more will come to take revenge. Kenshiro is not concerned by this however and continues to plant the seeds, so Smith's dream of providing food for his village can come true.


NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW

Kenshiro and Bat come across a town where King's men make the villagers slaves, and Kenshiro must fight to save Lin. Tune in next time for "In the City Without Light, a Lone Fist Burns! The Furious Death by the Five Exploding Fingers".

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