Kenshiro finds what is meant to be his own grave, and Zorba and Zarji soon appear, believing him to be another fool looking for the successor to the North Star divine fist. They do not realize they are talking to Kenshiro until a few seconds before they are killed by him. Kenshiro starts to go to various areas owned by the celestial emperor, and killing the forces who try to defend them. Elsewhere, Bat and Lin have entered a village owned by the emperor, and plan to take it back. But that plan is put on hold when Bask, one of the Emperor's commanders, puts together a plan: he is going to have a woman killed, pretending she is Lin. Bat and Lin are going to reveal themselves to Bask, but Rihaku tells them to stop, as there is someone here who will help them.

That someone is Kenshiro, who rides out on the Black King. Bask has no idea who he is dealing with and uses his special technique, Kazan gokuaku so (Huashan prison clenching claw), but this fails to hurt Kenshiro in anyway. Bask is killed soon afterwards, with his body being split in two.

Kenshiro turns around and sees Bat, Lin and Rihaku for the first time in years. Lin shows Kenshiro some of the scars Bat has got from protecting her, and Ken tells him that he has now become a real man. Bat and Lin start to cry as they are finally reunited with their old friend. As Rihaku watches, he states that there is now hope for the future.

Manga Differences

-The opening scene where Kenshiro kills Zorba and Zarji was not in the manga, as Zorba and Zarji never appeared in the manga in the first place.

-The scene where Kenshiro is attacking guards at a base is only mentioned in the manga, whilst it is actually shown in the anime.

-The scene with Jako in this episode was not in the manga.

-The man Barona mistakes for Bat is killed in the manga, as one of the spiked spheres goes into his face. This doesn't happen in the anime.

-Kenshiro dismounts from the Black King before fighting Barona in the manga, in the anime, it is the other way around.

-In the original printing of the manga, Bask refers to Barona as a "black pig", in the anime this was changed to "that Barona idiot". Later printings of the manga also changed the line to something else.

Notes

-The first two episodes of Fist of the North Star 2, at least for the DVDs I have, lack an eyecatcher -but from this episode and onward they start appearing, featuring Kenshiro ripping his jacket apart.

-The Black King is now blind in one eye. An explanation for how this happened is never given in the series, but many years later, it would be shown in a newly created manga chapter.

-During this shot, G.I. Joe characters the Baroness and Cobra Commander can be seen. They have different colors than usual, but they appear to use the same character models that were used in G.I. Joe -Toei Animation animated both shows.

-The music used during the next episode preview has been changed, and now uses a kabuki-style piece -to match the way the narrator talks about the next episode.