Chronos Arc

Chronos Arc
Information
Volumes	93-94, (2 Volumes)
Manga Rounds	898-912, (15 Chapters)
Chronology
Previous	In the Jungle Arc (Survival Match of Asian Champions Saga)
Next	Blind Step Arc

The Chronos Arc is the thirty-ninth story arc in the series and the first in the World Contender Saga.

Aoki, Kimura, and Itagaki's Class A Tournament begins. Aoki and Kimura are facing the same opponent that made them lose last time in the tournament. Aoki's opponent is Itō Jackal, and Kimura's opponent is Takeshi Ryūzaki. Itagaki's opponent is Karasawa, who previously fought Ippo. Itagaki aims to defeat Karasawa faster than Ippo did. Itagaki shows incredible concentration throughout the fight, unleashing his untapped potential to the fullest since first unlocking it last time against Hoshi. After the Kamogawa gym's matches, the gym members witness a new rising boxer Shinobu Iga in the tournament who is being trained under Baron Kurita.

Summary

Itagaki's Goal

Mari interviewing Itagaki about the Class A Tournament.

At the Makunouchi Fishing Boat, Itagaki and Nanako finished helping at the boat when Mari arrives. Itagaki thinks she came to talk to Ippo, but is surprised to hear that she came to talk to him. Mari decides to watch Itagaki train and then interview him after his break. When it is time for the interview, Mari reveals to Itagaki that reporters have been calling him the fastest in Japan, since while Saeki has the fastest footwork, Karasawa has the fastest hand speed, and Miyata is fast with both, but can't maintain it for a while due to his weight management, Itagaki beats the three in the three categories, making him the fastest. When Itagaki doubts himself on getting the JBC title, Mari is surprised that he lacks self-confidence, but since she is talking about the Class A Tournament, she figures that he is confident about that. As Nanako leaves to go to Ippo's location while he is with Kumi, Itagaki knows that she will get in their way. Mari suggests for him to go with her, claiming that she knows that Ippo has everything his heart desires. Knowing that he can not reach Ippo, Itagaki explains how he wishes to chase after Ippo and mentions how Nanako has no chance with Ippo because of Ippo's obvious feelings towards Kumi, feeling that he relates to Nanako. After implying that Mari is in the same predicament as him and Nanako, she gets embarrassed and Itagaki asks if she wants to go on a date with him as fellow runner ups, which Mari replies that he is slick.

Itagaki deciding on his goal of beating Ippo's time against Karasawa..

At the Kamogawa gym, Itagaki learns that Aoki and Kimura got interviewed by Fujii about their Class A Tournament as well. Itagaki wants to know what Aoki and Kimura's comment about the Class A Tournament was. Aoki and Kimura reveals that they want to steadily stack the odds in their favour and not worry about a goal in the far future, rather working on the objectives in front of them first. Aoki wants to go back to the basics by working on his jab instead of his Frog Punch, while Kimura wants to train to be always on the move by using his footwork. At the Makunouchi Fishing Boat, Itagaki tells Ippo about Aoki and Kimura's goal. Wanting to know more about Karasawa, Itagaki goes to Ippo's room and looks into the boxing magazine about his match with Karasawa. He looks at the round and time of which Ippo defeated Karasawa, and makes it his goal to beat Ippo's record of two rounds, two minutes and fifteen seconds.

Itagaki determined to beat Ippo's time as a way to challenge him.

While Takamura is eating at the Chūka Soba, he expresses his admiration that Aoki can be on a diet while surrounded by food, believing he has untapped potential when it comes to things outside boxing. Aoki mentions to Takamura how everyone is in good shape but Itagaki. At the Kamogawa gym, Itagaki has a hard time sparring against Kimura. After the spar, Yagi wonders why Itagaki is doing poorly. Shinoda explains that Itagaki can't bring out his full potential unless in a match and fully focused, not knowing his condition until he fights. Itagaki goes to the rooftop of the gym and discusses with Ippo about his upcoming match against Karasawa. Itagaki asks Ippo what round he thinks that he will beat Karasawa in, which Ippo answers that he thinks it will go to a decision. At his house, Itagaki questions himself if he set his goal too high, but knows that he needs to win the Class A Tournament to stay high in the ranking to get the vacant JBC featherweight title when Ippo relinquishes it.

Class A Tournament - First Round - Manabu Itagaki vs. Takuzō Karasawa

Itagaki and Karasawa in the ring as their match is about to begin.

When the day of the matches arrive, Ippo and Takamura goes to the Kamogawa gym's room at the Kōrakuen Hall. After Ippo encourages Aoki, Kimura, and Itagaki, Ippo talks to Takamura while walking to the audience area about if he should worry about Itagaki. Takamura tells him that he should probably stop talking since the enemy spy might hear him. As Takamura walks away, Ippo is surprised to see Sanada. Sanada tells him how he saw his match against Wally, and tries to get information about Itagaki's condition from him. After Saeki approaches the two, Ippo, Sanada, and Saeki sits at the audience area with each other as Karasawa and Itagaki's match is about to begin. Ippo remembers the Class A Tournament as the place he met Volg, believing the tournament to be a incredibly hard one to win, but it is what makes it worthwhile to enter. Takamura, sitting next to Fujii and Mari, wonders how high Itagaki will fly, as he has even more potential, but it depends on if he can keep himself motivated. As Itagaki and Karasawa makes their entrance, Sanada tells Ippo and Saeki the information he learned about Itagaki from watching tapes with Karasawa, and that while Itagaki is faster than Karasawa, Karasawa once mentioned to him that it felt like Itagaki was slower. As both boxers have entered the ring, Itagaki reminds himself of Ippo's knockout time against Karasawa and plans to beat it.

Itagaki hitting Karasawa with the Cross Counter.

When the match begins, Itagaki and Karasawa commence an high level exchange match where neither land a hit for a long period of time due to their speed until Itagaki lands a hit. Knowing that he is faster than Karasawa, Itagaki plans to throw a counter and then combinations until the referee stops the match. Itagaki throws fast lefts at Karasawa, however they get blocked. Karasawa fires back with his own attacks, of which Itagaki dodges. When Karasawa throws a right, Itagaki has the punch hit his face and spun his neck to negate the damage while using the momentum to throw a counter, hitting Karasawa. Itagaki sees another counter chance after Karasawa threw a right and hits Karasawa with a Cross Counter. Itagaki goes on the attack again, throwing punches at Karasawa's block. Itagaki steps back after noticing that Karasawa is going to attack. The two enters an exchange where Itagaki outclasses him in speed, and after successfully hitting him a couple times Itagaki goes to use Miyata's Jolt Counter, however, he gets knocked down after Karasawa hit him, much to his surprise. After having trouble getting up, Itagaki dodges his punches, and attempts another Jolt Counter, but he gets hit again, this time staying up as he didn't fully step in to counter. Thinking that Karasawa may be faster, Itagaki steps back. Itagaki goes on the attack and is hit at every attempt. Itagaki tries to use the Dragonfish Blow, however, his fist hits Karasawa's forehead when he went for the overhand. The first round ends, and at Itagaki's corner, Shinoda's advice for Itagaki is to pay attention.

Itagaki defeating Karasawa.

In the second round, Itagaki can not get close to Karasawa due to getting hit by lefts when he goes near him. Itagaki decides to go faster than Karasawa's eyes can track him while bobbing and weaving, attacking his block with lefts and dodging his attacks. Having trouble landing a hit through his tight guard, Itagaki begins to focus to try and find a hole in Karasawa's guard. After hitting through Karasawa's high guard at the sides, Karasawa tightens his guard. Itagaki is able to make him drop his guard after hitting it with rapid lefts, planning to hit him with a right the next time he succeeds. Karasawa dashes toward Itagaki to try and attack him, however, Itagaki steps back and hung onto the ropes before moving behind Karasawa. After pausing his offence, Itagaki continues again, relentlessly using fast lefts on Karasawa's guard until he hits him, causing Karasawa's head to bounce up. With Karasawa's face open for punching, Itagaki hits him with multiple left jabs, and when he goes to throw a strong right, it missed as Karasawa falls down from the lefts. The referee quickly ends the match, resulting in Itagaki's victory, letting him move to the finals. Sanada believes that Karasawa made the right decisions in the match, however, he ran out of strength as Itagaki was simply stronger. As Saeki leaves, he claims that he is glad that Itagaki's right did not hit Karasawa, which leads Ippo to think that he was worried about Karasawa, however Sanada knows that he meant that he was worried that Itagaki's hurt right fist would have broken if it landed, as Saeki wants to face Itagaki in his best condition. Sanada is interested to see who is the fastest in Japan between Itagaki and Saeki. Sanada goes off to Karasawa's room to console him

Class A Tournament - First Round - Tatsuya Kimura vs. Takeshi Ryūzaki / Masaru Aoki vs. Itō Jackal / Shinobu Iga vs. Katsutaka Imae

Itagaki reaching for Ippo.

After celebrating in the ring, Itagaki goes to his venue's room and asks his seconds what the knockout time was. Learning from Yagi that it was two minutes, thirteen seconds, Itagaki is overjoyed that he beat Ippo's time by two seconds. Itagaki is met by Ippo, who gives him a wet towel and suggests for him to rest. Ippo watches the match between Kyōsuke Fukui and Makoto Maezono on the television screen and is shocked to see Fukui lose. While Ippo is discussing about how Saeki's Class A Tournament match could turn out, Itagaki is more concerned about how close he has gotten to Ippo and that he beat Karasawa faster than he did, reaching out for Ippo unconsciously before stopping himself, worried about what he was about to do.

Iga effortlessly defeating Imae.

As Aoki and Kimura's matches are about to begin, Takamura tells Fujii and Mari that they are about to see how much they have improved. Kimura wins against Takeshi in a decision, and Aoki wins against Itō in a decision as well. As Fujii congratulates Takamura for his gym winning all three matches, he is shocked to see that Takamura was sleeping the whole time. Aoki and Kimura goes to the Kamogawa gym's room in the venue and celebrates their wins. Shinoda turns Aoki's attention to the television screen as the match that will decide who he will fight in the tournament's finals is about to begin. Aoki recognises the former JBC lightweight champion Katsutaka Imae, who lost his title in his defence match that happen after he fought him. Aoki notes how Imae has been in the high ranks in order to get his title back. Shinoda asks who Imae is fighting, which Yagi reveals it is someone with seven matches with all wins but only three knockouts, which Shinoda wasn't impressed by, deciding to watch to just see how much Imae has evolved. Aoki is fired up and hopes Imae wins so they can settle their grudge match. When they see the match on the television screen, everyone in the room gets shocked when Imae is defeated effortlessly by Shinobu Iga in one round. Everyone in the room and Takamura in the audience becomes more shocked when they see that Baron Kurita is his trainer. Takamura rushes to the Kamogawa gym's room in the venue to warn Aoki about "Igakuri" teaming up, making a pun on part of Iga and Baron's name to mean a "chestnut with its burrs", making Aoki mad that he came just to make a pun.