Nature of the Magic is Round 761 of Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo manga series.
Details[]
- Characters Introduced: Malcolm Gedo
- Title Page Character(s): Ippo Makunouchi, Malcolm Gedo
Summary[]
In Kamogawa's office, Ippo, Yagi, and Kamogawa are watching the video of the Fukui vs. Gedo match. They note that it looked like Fukui was on the attack and maintained his momentum but in reality Gedo was in complete control of him. They were praising Gedo's defensive skills at being able to manoeuvre inside the ring. Kamogawa thought it might be Ippo' s worst match up. Kamogawa noted that there was a degree of risk with Sisphar, but Ippo was able to handle him because he was a direct fighter like him. But the type of risk was different here, where Gedo was a fighter that is constantly moving one way or the other. He will want to drag this match into the last round. Ippo could tell from watching that video that Gedo was incredibly well balanced, but in terms of individual skills, Ippo's fought lot of people with in the country that is better than him. People with extreme amounts of power (like Sendō, Shimabukuro, or Ozuma), incredibly fast (like Volg, Sawamura, or Saeki.) If Ippo remembers what he went threw with them, it should be that hard even if he ends up getting hit. Yagi thought Ippo's experience can compensate for the difficulty in the match. No matter how skilled Gedo was, it was impossible for him to stay on the run the whole match. At some point, they will be able to connect, and that one hit with Ippo's power can be the critical breakthrough they need to win. Kamogawa counters that if Yagi honestly thought Ippo can win, when he doesn't know if Gedo failed to dodge a punch, or if he was just acting, or both. He mentioned based on Fukui's reactions that he was disturbed when he landed a punch. Kamogawa believed that was why they couldn't say for sure Ippo will win. Every time Fukui threw a punch, he got more worried. Ippo told them that it was Gedo's magic, where Fukui mentioned that wasn't able to grasp how far away he was since it seemed his depth perception was distorted, but they didn't know how. Ippo believed that he will have to deal with it as it comes then, where that will be enough. Ippo wants to fight against him. Kamogawa asked if he is ready, and Ippo told him was. Yagi tried to get them to slow down, since he had been handling the negotiation, he wanted to know if they really plan to fight an opponent without a plan. He thought their world rankings will be taken away by this type of fighter who'd throw his matches. Ippo believed that Gedo could be beaten. Yagi started backtracking, telling them that it's a risky match where it was better to think things through than to get emotional. If there was anyone they should avoid fighting, it was Gedo. He believed that Ippo didn't have a reason to fight him, unless it is just because he was asked to. Kamogawa and Ippo disagreed with him. Yagi understood what Ippo and Kamogawa are thinking to a certain degree, where they wanted to have a serious fight and they could't forgive a man who would threw his fights, and they both wanted to teach him a lesson. They agreed, but Yagi told them that no matter what their ideals were, if they lose their plan for a world challenge was ruined. So Yagi was okay to pass on this match, but unfortunately he was a bit of an idealist like them. Kamogawa thought that someone thinking about a World challenge can't let a mere national champion get way, and he doesn't consider on passing the match. Yagi understood, and he will let Gedo's side know that they accept. The next day, Ippo and Itagaki were doing road work while discussing Ippo's upcoming match since no date was set since Gedo recently had his match with Fukui. Itagaki expected to spar with Ippo since Gedo is fast, but Ippo told him that Kamogawa told him that they were not allowed to spar with each other. They discussed Gedo's secret to his match, where Itagaki commented on a few ideas, but Ippo thought Fukui would have noticed them. He thought Gedo does something no one thought of before. Ippo remembered his toughest battle with range was against Mashiba, where he had a hard time since Mashiba's reach was great and he had a long way to in order to push into his chest. Thanks to that match, Ippo believed he might be able to pull something off this time against Gedo. Itagaki agreed since Mashiba reach was probably longer than Gedo, unless Gedo's arm extended, but Ippo didn't think it was possible to do that since there was no way to tell from the video. Ippo remembered Fukui's shocked expression, where maybe he should prepare for something as strange as that.