Second Coming of Death Arc

Second Coming of Death Arc
Information
Volumes	89, (1 Volume)
Manga Rounds	850-855, (6 Chapters)
Chronology
Previous	Red Lightning Arc
Next	In the Jungle Arc

The Second Coming of Death Arc is the thirty-seventh story arc in the series and the sixth in the Survival Match of Asian Champions Saga.

Mashiba returns to the ring after being disqualified previously, moving up a weight class to lightweight. His return match is an OPBF lightweight title match against the champion Aaron Domingo. As the semi-final, Itagaki fights against Kaonar Pachon. Itagaki notices that Saeki and Karasawa are watching him, causing him to get distracted.

Summary

Slipping and Falling

Kumi and Ippo falling on a sled.

At the Kamogawa gym, due to Aoki and Kimura losing their match the day before, Takamura starts mocking them by singing a song to make them realise how bad they messed up, as they could mess up in the upcoming Class A Tournament. Shinoda agrees, wanting them to be reminded for self-reflection. Takamura heads out for his usual trips after a match. Itagaki decides to head out as well to get ready for the Class A Tournament, while Ippo leaves to work on his stamina, as running out of stamina can affect one's spirit, feeling inspired by Miyata when he saw him fight Randy. While doing roadwork, he comes across Kumi. Kumi reminds him that Mashiba's match is coming up as his suspension is almost over and is scared to go watch alone. Ippo claims that he would go since Itagaki has a match before his, suggesting for both of them to cheer the two on. While Kumi is thinking of something else to talk about, she notices cherry blossom petals falling, and thinks that it is beautiful and romantic, wondering what Ippo thinks of them. When she asks what he is thinking about, she becomes flustered as he was thinking about boxing. As she begins to leave, she ends up slipping on a sled near the hillside. Ippo tries to catch her, however, both fall onto the sled, causing the two to be face-to-face. As Ippo was about to kiss her, his head hit the ground as Kumi slid down the hill. Aoki, Kimura, and Itagaki approaches them, thinking they are sliding for fun down the hill.

At the Kamogawa gym, after Itagaki sparred against a boxer from another gym to prepare for his match, he spars with Ippo, who, feeling like he had accomplished something with Kumi, goes with full confidence. After the spar where Ippo got hit a lot, he can only think about how satisfied he is to feel Kumi's breath on him. Meanwhile, Kumi has been reacting erratically to to the words "slip" and "fall" since she believes that she one of those women who slips up at the most crucial moments and that she will not get another chance like that with Ippo.

The Second Coming of Death - Semi-Final - Manabu Itagaki (JBC Rank 7) vs. Kaonar Pachon (Thailand Rank 9)

Itagaki defeating Kaonar with the Jolt Counter.

On the night of the matches, Ippo meets up with Kumi at the Kōrakuen Hall. He also encounters Karasawa and Saeki, who have come to see Itagaki's match. Before Itagaki's match against Kaonar Pachon begins, Itagaki is too relaxed and isn't concentrating on the match, worrying his seconds and Ippo. In the ring as the match is about to begin, Itagaki notices Karasawa and Saeki in the audience. When the match begins, with thirty seconds left in the first round, Itagaki is distracted, almost getting hit when he looks away from Kaonar to look at Karasawa and Saeki. After the first round and in his corner, Itagaki ignores Shinoda's scolding, as he has finally become focused. In the second round, Itagaki dodges Kaonar's attacks with his increased speed and downs him with an uppercut. When Kaonar gets up and comes to Itagaki with a right, Itagaki strikes him with a Jolt Counter, after only seeing the technique from when Miyata used it against Randy. Kaonar goes down from the counter and is unable to continue, resulting in Itagaki's victory. Ippo is surprised to see that Itagaki copied the Jolt Counter, acknowledging his sense for boxing as unbelievable. Itagaki thinks that he won't use the Jolt Counter again, as the risks are too high. Karasawa now sees him as a legitimate threat, and Saeki wonders how effective Itagaki will be against higher ranked boxers. Itagaki does his "Ace of A's" pose on a corner post before leaving the ring. Nanako, sitting next to Ippo and Kumi, is proud of her brother winning and tells Kumi that she should warn Mashiba to not slip up if he goes to the world stage. Since Nanako learned that Kumi hates the word "slip" from Itagaki, she teases her by saying "slip" multiple times.

The Second Coming of Death - Main Event - OPBF Lightweight Title Match - Champion Aaron Domingo vs. Challenger Ryō Mashiba

Mashiba defeating Aaron.

As the OPBF lightweight title match is about to begin, the champion Aaron Domingo and the challenger Mashiba enter the ring. Mashiba gets cheering from a cheer squad. As Ippo wonders who the people with the "Hell Society" headbands are, Kumi explains that Mashiba's boss, Tanaka, started a Mashiba fan club while Mashiba was on suspension. When the match begins, Mashiba lands punches with his Flicker Jabs, keeping Aaron at a distance. In the middle of the fifth round, when Aaron gets past the Flicker Jabs, Mashiba connects with a Chopping Right. Mashiba lets his guard down since he thought he had got him, however, Aaron stays standing and Mashiba is hit by multiple body blows. During the eighth round, Mashiba tries to get away from a barrage of body blows when he gets hit on chin by an intentional headbutt. With his face uncovered, Mashiba gets hit by a left hook, causing him to slip when he tried to throw a punch. When he gets up, he becomes angry due to the illegal blow, however, he responds to the crowd's cheers with legal boxing despite the repeated fouls done by Aaron. While escaping the ropes, Mashiba trips over Aaron's foot due to Aaron putting his foot out on purpose, causing Mashiba to lose balance and go down from a punch he couldn't block from the loss of balance. After he gets up, the eighth round ends. After the ninth round, which consisted of more of the same, Mashiba gets angry when he sees Ippo comforting Kumi in the audience as the tenth round begins. As Aaron gets close to Mashiba after going through his Flicker Jabs, Mashiba feints a Chopping Right to make Aaron guard above before changing it into a right uppercut, hitting Aaron and causing him to go down. The referee ends the match immediately, making Mashiba the new OPBF lightweight champion. After receiving his OPBF lightweight belt, Mashiba throws a boxing glove attempting to hit Ippo with it, however, it misses, causing the crowd to think he threw it to give it to them. When his coach claims that the crowd wants his other glove too, Mashiba throws it to the crowd before walking away from the ring. Thinking that both Mashiba and Itagaki's matches were incredible, Ippo is ready to fight now.