In the year 199X...



...the Earth was engulfed by nuclear flames.


HOKUTO NO KEN

(Fist of the North Star)



God or Devil?!
The Mightiest Man Appears from Hell

The oceans have dried up, the land has been torn apart. It's now a world where no living thing seems to be left... but, mankind hasn't died...

From the top of a cliff, the Zeed gang observe a truck driving along below. The gang leader, Zeed, orders for everyone to attack. They start their bikes and charge down off the cliff.

The truck ends up crashing and flipping over. Everyone in the truck is quickly killed, as the gang start looting it.

They take water, food, clothes -anything useful. One thing they do find that they don't need is money -this stuff is now useless. Zeed lets the cash float away, saying it isn't even worth wiping their asses with it.

Nuclear war has destroyed all of human civilization. The world has been plunged into an age of chaos and terror, ruled by violence.

Elsewhere, a man stumbles through a desert. His name is Kenshiro, and as he walks on, the heat causes him to fall down. Suddenly a hand shoots out of the ground next to him!

A man appears, laughing at Kenshiro. Kenshiro wakes up, and realizes he'd just had a nightmare. He then sees a mirage of a woman he knows: Yuria.

Later on, Kenshiro enters a ruined town, and walks by some of Zeed's men. He ignores them, but they decide to have some fun, and chase after him. They catch him with a rope and start dragging him around.

Sometime later, Zeed's gang are hanging out, when someone arrives and tells Zeed they've got trouble -their scouts have been hit. The gang go to the scouts, and see they're all dead. Zeed wonders who could have done this, whilst the gang members examine the bodies. They see something strange -it appears as if these guys had been blown apart from the inside.

They then find one of the scouts is still alive. Zeed tells him to say what happened, but the scout only manages to mumble "fist of the North Star" before his head explodes! The gang wonder if the scout had had a time bomb placed inside him, but Zeed says a weapon that sophisticated shouldn't exist anymore. He wonders what this "North Star" is.

The next morning, at another village, a young girl called Lin goes to get some water for her dog, Pel. As she then starts watering some plants, she hears some commotion nearby, and goes off to check it out. Some of the villagers have caught a kid, Bat, trying to steal some potatoes again. They threaten to hang him, but he says he'll come back and haunt them if they do that. They instead decide to lock him up.

He decides he can make up for it with this, and starts playing his harmonica, whilst putting on a little show. One of the villagers then yells that they've got another thief, having found Kenshiro trying to take some water. Bat uses this as his chance to sneak away, but one of the villagers stops him.

Kenshiro begs for water, but he is instead thrown into a cell. Two villagers tell Lin to keep an eye on him, as they leave. Bat is also in the cell, and watches as Lin goes away and returns with a cup of water. She puts it in the cell, and Kenshiro thanks her for it.

But before he get get it, Bat runs over and grabs Lin, pinning her to the bars, and knocking the cup over. He tells Kenshiro to get the keys from Lin, and tells him to hurry up -he thinks the villagers are going to hang both of them for stealing. Kenshiro instead touches Bat's arm, and moments later, he is in a great deal of pain.

As Bat rolls around in agony, Kenshiro asks Lin if she could bring him another cup of water. As Lin heads away, Bat asks Kenshiro what the hell his problem is. Kenshiro asks him what would happen to that girl if they ran away. Bat thinks that's a really wimpy thing to say in this day and age -how did Kenshiro manage to live this long?

Bat says Kenshiro must have come here because he heard about this village. He then asks if he wants to team up with him, as there is plenty of food and water at this village. The two of them could rule this place! You need food and water to survive, and it's guys who have the strength to steal it who get to survive. Violence is what rules now, and whilst the villagers have formed their own little self-defense force, they're just amateurs -no match for the two of them. Kenshiro rolls over and ignores him. Just then, Lin comes back, and not only does she have some water, but she also has some food.

As Bat eats, Kenshiro drinks the water, and then thanks Lin -he says he feels much better now. Kenshiro introduces himself, and says she can call him Ken. He asks her what her name is, but Bat tells him to forget it -Lin doesn't talk, her heart's closed up. Kenshiro asks what he means, and Bat explains it's not surprising...

...she saw her parents and brother killed by bandits. He says that, ever since then, the shock from witnessing this has kept her from talking. She has no one now, which is why she has to stand guard in the jail, even though she's just a little kid.

Being a kid these days sucks, and he thinks she chose the wrong time to be born. After noticing he's just made her cry, he says he's sorry. Kenshiro thinks her young eyes must have seen so much hell... he reaches out towards her, and tells her it's alright. He asks her to remain still.

He does something to her, and Bat asks her what he did. Kenshiro says it was a little magic spell, that will let her talk. Bat thinks he must be joking, but Kenshiro says the rest is up to her heart. Her heart's cries will summon words. Just then, two guys appear, and tell Kenshiro that the village elder has returned.

Kenshiro is taken to meet the elder, who asks him where he is going. Kenshiro tells him nowhere special. One of the villagers asks the elder if he thinks Kenshiro may be one of Zeed's men. The elder says if he is, he'll carry the gang's mark somewhere on his body. Kenshiro has his cloak and jacket ripped off, but what the villagers find is seven scars on his chest.

Seven scars, in the shape of the Big Dipper. The elder thinks about these stars, and how they are meant to be the stars that foretell death. Wherever they appear, chaos follows. He believes this is a bad omen. Just then, an alarm goes out -Zeed's gang are attacking!

Kenshiro is taken back to his cell. A villager tells Lin to come on, as she has to fight, too. As he leaves, Lin looks at Kenshiro, and then throws the keys to the cell over to him. Bat thinks Lin really has it bad for Ken, and she left the keys because she knows she's going to get killed. Kenshiro questions why she would be killed.

Bat explains that the villagers are up against Zeed, who kill everyone -women, children, whoever. Kenshiro places his hands on the bars, and prizes them open with ease.

As he runs out, Bat runs after him, but asks him where he's going -they'll just get killed if they mess with Zeed! He thinks they should flee, But Kenshiro runs outside. He sees that Zeed has taken Lin hostage, threatening to kill her if the villagers don't stop trying to fight them. He wants them to bring out all of their food.

One of the villagers says they must fight, but Zeed sees they won't believe him unless he actually kills Lin. However, Kenshiro starts walking towards him.

Lin sees him, and suddenly cries out for Ken to stay back. None of the villagers can believe she just spoke, and Bat wonders who the hell this Kenshiro guy is. Kenshiro continues to walk towards Zeed.

Three gang members get in his way, but he cracks his knuckles and tells them to get lost. They think he's got some nerve -he can die for that! They charge towards him, but Kenshiro does a kick...

...that hits all three of them. He then leaps over them all and lands right in front of Zeed. The three gang members turn around and charge towards Kenshiro, but then something happens. Their heads start to bulge up...

...and a few seconds later, their heads explode!

The elder recognizes what this is: Hokuto shinken (North Star divine fist)! Kenshiro tells Zeed to let Lin go now. Zeed realizes this guy was the one who killed his men, and for that, he'll twist this kid apart!

Before he can do it, Kenshiro screams, as his jacket and shirt rip apart. He rapidly strikes Zeed a hundred times.

Zeed is knocked upwards, and drops Lin, but Kenshiro catches her. Meanwhile, Zeed crashes back down.

HOKUTO HYAKURETSU KEN

(North Star Hundred Crack Fist)

The elder thinks about how he'd heard that, long ago, a terrible killing technique came out of China: The North Star divine fist. A style where all of the practitioner's energy is concentrated into one strike. The strike shocks the hidden pressure points of the body. He knows Kenshiro has just performed a killing technique, which will rupture Zeed's body from within, instead of without! Zeed gets back up, and tells Kenshiro that his punches are about as strong as mosquito's. Kenshiro tells him something.

OMAE WA MO SHINDERU.

(You are already dead.)


NANI?!

(What?!)

Suddenly, Zeed's head bulges up, as does his gut. Seconds later, Zeed's head explodes, followed by most of his body. Bat falls over -who is this Kenshiro?!

Later on, Kenshiro leaves the village, followed by Bat. Bat asks him why he isn't staying, as a guy as powerful as him could have it easy. He could have all the food and water he wants! Kenshiro ignores him, and walks on. Bat thinks that if he sticks with Ken, he'll never go hungry again.

Bat continues following Kenshiro. Lin calls out to him, and wonders why he is leaving. The elder tells her that it is said that where the mark of the Big Dipper appears, chaos follows. That man left to save their village, to save the village that is her home. He asks her if he understands, but she just screams out Ken's name.

NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW

An old man trusts a single seed to lead to a better tomorrow. But his dream is shattered by evil, and Kenshiro explodes with rage! Next time, on Fist of the North Star: "The Deadly Fist of Lingering Regret!! The Future is Sighted in the Barren Wasteland!!"

Kenshiro: You are already dead.