章節 4: 5 Punches and a Beer

4 MONTHS AGO (before all this crap started)

It was a fine sunday night and people were enjoying their time in the Cresent Moon Night Bar. People vibing to music, drinking beer, picking up girls, kissing, screaming, arguing, etc. An Audi stopped outside the bar and a man wearing a white coat and golden sunglass got down from the car with a cigar in his mouth. As he entered the bar, all the staffs slightly bent their back and nooded their heads as an act of greeting him. He went straight into the kitchen and everyone in the kitchen stopped working, he made a wicked smile seeing them and continued walking into the basement inside the kitchen. As he climbed down the stairs, he reached the place where the bar was conducting underground boxing matches. These boxing matches were brutal, unfair and had huge amounts of money placed as bets. Anbu was working there as the guy who manages the bet money, he registers, gets the money and distributes it and he worked for the bar. The white coat guy came to the counter where Anbu was sitting, "who's next?", he asked Anbu. "Black Muscle vs Flash, it will start after the ongoing match", said Anbu. "A newbie against a champion?, does this Flash think he can take down the black hulk of the underground?". "I feel Flash could defeat him" Anbu said it with full confidence. The white coat guy gave him a stare. "Black muscle is strong but Flash is fast, and many people have placed their bet on Black Muscle, if Flash wins, you get a lot of money for placing bet on him". The white coat guy gave him a wicked smile, "let's see then, 100 k on Flash".

The match started and everyone were watching the match keenly. The news about the white coat guy placing bet on a newbie spread to everyone there, including Black Muscle, the hulk of the underground. Black muscle was huge, powerfull and feroucious than Flash, all Flash had was speed and stamina. White coat guy was the most successfull gambler there and he always trusted on Black muscle. Him going for another fighter made Black muscle mad, he was playing in a haste, but Flash was calm and composed. He kept moving around and when Black muscle tried to hit him with full power he dodged it and punched him with a jab, this made Black muscle tired easily. Anbu was watching it too, he turned to look at the white coat guy who was sitting at a distance but he was already looking at Anbu. Anbu smiled at him with confidence but he shaked his head in disagreement, raised one of his finger and said, "one". Anbu didn't understand, suddenly there was a heavy punching sound and the crowd started shouting, Anbu looked at the ring. Black Muscle has knocked out Flash, knocked him out with the only punch that he has landed on him. The white coat guy went to the ring, "I know that this guy is undefeatable, but I wanted to see if money can give someone the rage and energy to win, turns out my assumption was false. Now I place a open challenge to the fighters here, if u could stand and take 5 punches from Black muscle, I'll give you 500k as your prize". There was a silence in the arena but a lean guy slowly raised his hands in the air. It was Anbu.

Anbu has accepted the challenge and the game started. White coat guy was having a beer but his eyes were completely on the ring. Anbu never imagined Black muscle to be this huge. "This is why they call him the hulk?!", he told himself. "I'll go with the easiest one first", shouted Black muscle. He raised his left arm and went for a powerful left hook but rather than looking away in fear, Anbu was looking straight into Black muscle's eyes. DHOOOM. Anbu fell down, his eyes got blurred and all he could hear was a lound beep sound. But the crowd went crazy after the punch, they could never notice the art of the punch in a fast paced battle but now they could look at it and admire it completely. Anbu crawled and moved to the ropes with the bit of consciousness he had and with all his strength, climbed the ropes and stood again. Everyone got stunned. They started wooing him but he didn't care about them because..... he could not hear anything.

He inhaled completely, stood straight, raised his hands and waved at Black muscle to go for the second one. Black muscle wanted to finish this and decided to go for the jab to the nose, but Anbu didn't look into his eyes this time, they were completely dizzy. DHOOOM. The punch went straight to his nose, Anbu moved his head backwards along with the direction of the punch to reduce the impact but still, it was powerfull enough to bring him down and Black muscle roared at the crowd. Anbu's nose broke and started to bleed heavily, he wasn't able to breath properly and his eyes didn't open. The refree started counting. Anbu was so tired, he couldn't even feel the pain, he felt like sleeping on a cloud. The count reached 5. The white coat guy went near the ring and threw beer on his face and shouted, "you have 500k to win bulls#!t". The count reached 7 and Anbu woke up suddenly like waking up due to a nightmare. The white coat guy gave him a wicked laugh and shouted, "FINISH THE GAME". Anbu stood up. But as soon as he stood up, his brain went to sleep again. He was standing there sleeping.

No one there could beleive it, Black muscle was really furious and he went to punch Anbu immediately after he stood. This time Anbu's eyes were closed as he was literally standing there sleeping. Black muscle aimed for the jab to the forehead but he missed the punch in his hurry, he it Anbu but his punch slipped Anbu's forehead. For Anbu, it was like a large pebble hitting his head, the shock woke him up and Anbu was back to his consciosness. Though the punch went wrong, it was counted as a punch too and Anbu has managed to survive 3 punches so far.

Anbu realized that one more punch can finish him, he moved closer to the corner so that he wouldn't fall down easily and could have a support. Anbu's feet were ready to move back a few steps the next moment he got punched. Black muscle planned for the forehead again, he raised his right arm and went for the jab again, this time he attacked from the top with an angle and he hit the right side of his forehead. The punch was really powerfull that it teared the muscle. As planned, Anbu took a few steps and landed on the post. The muscle tear caused heavy bleeding and his eyes were covered in blood, he was gasping for air and water, he felt almost dead. This isn't the first time Black muscle has killed someone on the ring. "One more round, just one more round, don't give up now buddy", Anbu told himself. The brain isn't fixed in a single position, it is a floating mass inside the skull. When someone gets punched, the brain moves and hits the walls of the skull, causing a knockout. Anbu has already had 4, his face was bleeding, he couldn't breath properly and he was losing his hope. The refree was about to declare his defeat but Anbu stood up again. He was standing like a puppet, it looked like someone was pulling a string attatched to his shoulders to make him stand. He was ready for the last punch.

Black muscle couldn't beleive that a weak and lean guy, one who is not a proffesional managed to survive 4 of his punches. "Let him take the win", said Black muscle. "PUNCH ME", Anbu shouted, "FINISH THE GAME, I want the money so badly". But Black muscle was not interested, he knew he has lost already, but since he felt that he should finish the game, he went for a light punch to the right side of the chest. Unfortunately, that was enough, Anbu went blank and fell down.

Anbu woke up after 2 hours. He was sitting in the bar along with white coat guy. "We treated you and brought you back here, cause we had a deal to finish", said the white coat guy. He gave Anbu a breifcase, "Here is your money, 500k". "But I only survived 4 punches", said Anbu. "I know, but this is for making my assumption right". Anbu was out of words. The white coat guy gave him a wicked smile and winked, "I don't know why you need the money so badly, but you are like me, money gives the will and motivation, here have my card". He gave his card to Anbu. There was a name on the card, "Joe". "You can call me anytime if you need something", said Joe, the white coat guy. "I have another work now, I'll see you around", Joe stood up and started to leave. "Mr.Joe.....". Joe turned and looked at Anbu. "Can you buy me the costliest beer they sell here?". Joe gave him a wicked smile.