Beyond the Lightning God's Gaze is Round 1127 of Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo manga series.
Details[]
- Characters Introduced: Luisito Ico
- Title Page Character(s): Ana, Kawahara Coach, Ichirō Miyata, Miyata Senior
Summary[]
When Miyata's seventh OPBF featherweight title defence match against Luisito Ico begins, Miyata is on the offence, attacking Ico's guard with left and right combinations. Sendō yells out to Ico from the audience to quit balling up and let Miyata have it, making Ippo wonder whose side he is on. When Ico sends out a left jab, Miyata counters it with his left, knocking Ico down. The referee stops the match without a count, resulting in Miyata's victory. Sendō comments how Miyata made it look easy, while Ippo is amazed. As Miyata was about to leave the ring, his father makes him talk to the ring interviewer. Miyata gives her short negative answers when asked about what he thought about his opponent and if he has any plans for the future. Sendō thinks Miyata's attitude is going to make the audience angry, however, they happy about it, much to Sendō's disbelief. Miyata's father criticises him for his attitude, however, Miyata reflects that he really doesn't care. Since Sendō's bandages for his hurt fist from fighting Nargo came off while watching Miyata's match, Sendō decides to go see the venue's doctor to get it wrapped up and asks Ippo to wait outside with his middle school teacher. Outside the Kōrakuen Hall, Ippo looks for Sendō's middle school teacher, but she finds him first, recognising him as the one who defeated Sendō. As Ippo waits for Sendō with her, the teacher mentions to him how she was worried about how Sendō would turn out when she was his teacher, as the police were called on him more than once in the past. While Ippo wonders if Sendō was a bad kid back then, the teacher declines, as she believes that he was always trying to do the right thing, and that she is proud of how he has grown, as he ran into his fair share of hurdles. The teacher thanks Ippo, as she was at the venue when she saw Ippo defeat Sendō, who, despite his frustration and pain, looked like he was having fun. That day, she realised that Sendō finally met someone who understood him, something that he was missing for so long, thanking Ippo for being his friend.