Chapter 111: Fists Can't Tell

(Sanosuke and Anji trade blow after bloody blow.)

Yumi: What is this... They're both using the Futae no Kiwami, but neither one can finish the other.

Kenshin: No... I wouldn't be surprised if one had already defeated the other. They're both only going on by believing they cannot lose. Their spirits have long overcome their bodies. Since the Futae no Kiwami isn't the deciding factor anymore, the fight is completely even.

Saitou: You really think so? Didn't you notice? He's one of the Ten Swords, but he's not a swordsman. So why is he carrying that sword--

(Anji pulls the short sword from his belt and drives it into the ground. The force throws Sanosuke back with considerable force.)

Kenshin: A long-range attack--

Saitou: I see... so the sword transmits the effects of the Futae no Kiwami through the floor. (Sanosuke pulls himself to his feet.)

Yumi: Then it's over. The rooster-head can't attack now.

(Anji raises the sword again.)

Kenshin: Jump, Sano!

(Sanosuke leaps up, fist back to deliver a blow. Anji looks up, drawing back his own fist.)

Kenshin: Oh no, he saw it coming--

(The fists come together in slow motion, once--)

Sanosuke (thinking): That's enough, Anji. You've lived with your pain long enough. You have to accept that your life as one of the walking wounded is over.

Anji (thinking): I'm wounded, but I no longer feel pain. I continue to fight as the Bright King to bring about the salvation of the world that the children who perished the in the flames want of me!

Sanosuke (someone sensing this thoughts and thinking): You goddamn idiot!

(The fists collide a second time--and Sanosuke strikes a third time with his open palm.)

Sanosuke (thinking): You don't understand anything!

(Anji's fist comes away broken and bloody. He hits the floor hard.)

Kenshin: That was... (thinking) After the Futae no Kiwami, he added one more attack by snapping all five fingers out... a Sanjuu no Kiwami.

(Anji gets to his feet and raises a fist.)

Sanosuke: Those kids don't want you to save the world. They want their priest, who survived, to be happy... Look. (pointing at the tablet) It's soaked with your blood. Can't you hear them crying that it hurts?

(Anji freezes.)

Sanosuke: You thought so much of them, it twisted you... You have to understand how they'd feel.

(Anji is defeated.)