Chapter 1009 - 1009: [ Arc 10 ] When Perception Becomes Truth

Once a name becomes larger than the person behind it, truth begins to matter less than perception. Those who adore you will find reasons to forgive your worst sins, while those who despise you will find faults even in your greatest virtues.

Three days after that nightmare, Umemoto remains unconscious and in critical condition. The brutality of the fight has caused bleeding inside his brain, forcing doctors to perform an emergency craniotomy.

That development leads to accusations flooding social media, with many Osaka supporters blaming Ryoma for the unnecessary brutality.

@OsakaBoxingTruth: "He already had Umemoto beaten. Why did he keep hitting him?"

@KansaiFightWatch: "You can't tell me those final punches were necessary. Ryoma knew exactly what he was doing."

@BoxingDad_77: "I don't care how great his technique is. You don't keep attacking a man who can barely defend himself."

@OsakaFist: "Everyone praised him for being ruthless. Now look at what that ruthlessness has done."

@NaniwaBoxingFan: "They called him the Cruel King like it was some cool nickname. Maybe we should have taken it more seriously now."

Of course, not everyone agrees with them. Many argue that after months of Umemoto mocking Ryoma as a coward and a weakling who was too afraid to fight, Osaka supporters are simply being bitter about the outcome.

To the other party, the accusations are nothing more than an excuse to distract themselves from the reality that Umemoto, despite all his taunts, was the one who fell in his own hometown.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world is far more fascinated by the fight itself. Strip away the emotional baggage surrounding Ryoma and Umemoto, and what remains is one of the greatest fights in boxing history.

It had everything. World-class technique, psychological warfare in every round, layered strategy, absurd defense and offense, raw speed and power, relentless pressure, commitment, heart, guts, and enough brutality to make even seasoned boxing fans question what they were watching.

One YouTube clip focuses entirely on Ryoma's bizarrely effortless defense, especially the sequences where he barely uses his guard at all.

"This dude is dodging punches with his hands DOWN. What the hell am I watching?"

"That head movement is ridiculous. He's making elite punches miss by inches without even looking rushed."

"That Jiren vs. Ultra Instinct Goku comparison suddenly makes way too much sense."

"The craziest part is how relaxed he looks. He isn't surviving those punches. He's making them miss."

Another viral clip focuses on Umemoto's equally absurd defensive reactions, especially his ability to blunt Ryoma's counters and immediately fire back.

"That turn of the head after Ryoma lands is insane. He's reducing the impact before the punch even finishes."

"One time, you call it luck. Doing it over and over again? That's fucking insane."

"Ryoma is throwing some of the cleanest counters I've ever seen, and Umemoto is somehow turning them into fucking exchanges, over and over."

Focusing on the craziest moments of a fight is only natural. But some analysts go much further, dissecting every round instead of chasing the highlights.

One particular podcast, which seems to have followed Ronin's career almost obsessively, begins breaking down the fight from the opening bell.

And for the first time, someone appears to have discovered the deepest secret behind Ryoma's Phantom Jab.

"Look at that jab. It looks incredibly simple, doesn't it?"

The host nods. "Yeah. Straight, compact, nothing flashy about it."

"And that's exactly what a jab is supposed to be."

The host smiles slightly. "I've heard that before. The simpler you make a punch, the harder it becomes to anticipate. There are elite fighters who've spent years doing almost nothing but refining their jab to make it difficult to read."

The expert raises one finger. "That's true. But it doesn't fully explain what's happening here."

He gestures toward the screen.

"Slow it down."

The host rewinds the footage and reduces the playback speed.

"Keep going… Back up a little… more…"

Another few frames.

"Yeah. Right there. This isn't just about the jab. It's about geometry and timing."

He leans forward, then raises his index finger and traces an imaginary line through the space between the two fighters.

"Look at Ryoma's shoulder, his glove, and Umemoto's line of sight. Ryoma releases the jab at the exact moment those three points line up."

The host blinks. "Wait. Really?"

"Don't take my word for it. Test the theory. Go through every moment where Umemoto seems unable to do anything against those jabs."

The host rewinds to the first Phantom Jab in the footage. He pauses, checks the position, moves forward, checks it again.

He keeps jumping between different moments, testing the same geometric relationship each time.

"Wait... seriously?"

The expert gives a small nod. "I tested it myself. And the craziest thing is how fucking consistent it is. I honestly have a hard time believing someone can do this."

The host stares at the footage. "You're saying every single one of those jabs follows the same principle?"

"I'm telling you... I can't remember anyone has ever done something like this before." The expert then shakes his head in disbelief. "Think about what he's doing. This is a world title fight. He's fighting a top-level boxer like Umemoto. Don't get him wrong, this guy has only had three world-level fights so far, but I'll say it: he's the toughest opponent Ryoma has ever faced."

He taps the screen again. "And against someone like him, Ryoma kept pulling off this ridiculous little trick."

The expert spreads his hands. "A simple jab. That's all it is. But the timing is insane. The angle is insane. And what's even more insane is that he keeps finding the same window again and again."

The host watches another Phantom Jab land, another, and another.

"Dozens of times."

"Exactly. Dozens of times, in the middle of a fucking intense world title fight."

The expert stands from his chair, steps away from the desk, then assumes a stance, positioning his feet and shoulders like Ryoma did.

"Imagine you are in the middle of a fight."

He raises one hand and points between himself and the empty space in front of him.

"The distance changes. The angle changes. Umemoto moves his head, his guard shifts, his shoulder turns. Meanwhile, Ryoma keeps moving into new angles, forcing Umemoto to adjust his feet as well. Everything is constantly shifting."

He adjusts his stance by a fraction. "That means… Ryoma has to keep recalculating this line in real time. You miss the timing by half a second, or your angle is off by even one degree, then it's just another technically great jab."

After the expert finishes explaining the trick, the viewer reactions suddenly explode. Comments begin flooding in so quickly. The feed scrolls continuously, with dozens of new messages appearing every second.

And just like that, another wave of admiration for Ryoma begins to grow, while Umemoto's situation is pushed further into the background.

***

Meanwhile, at one psychiatric clinic in Tokyo, Dr. Miyahara is paying attention to something else entirely.

Dr. Mizuno has prepared a separate compilation for her, carefully selecting and organizing the moments he considers most important for further analysis.

Miyahara watches both recordings, switching between them as she studies Ryoma's behavior throughout the fight.

"Rapid eye movements…" she says quietly into the recorder. "And those unusual head tiks. They appear involuntary, or at least largely outside his conscious control."

Her gaze sharpens when Ryoma takes a hard punch from Umemoto directly to the head, sending him crashing to the canvas. She immediately notices something strange.

"For someone who has demonstrated exceptional reaction throughout this fight, the absence of any observable response is highly abnormal," she says, continuing her analysis for the recorder. "There is no attempt to brace, no visible flinch, no immediate defensive adjustment. And then he gets back up. There's no obvious sign that would suggest a normal reaction to being dropped by a punch of that magnitude. But there is one change. From this exact moment onward, Ryoma Takeda's behavior changes dramatically."

For several moments, Dr. Miyahara says nothing anymore, simply keeping her attention fixed on the strange figure Ryoma seems to become inside the ring.

Even the special compilation prepared by Dr. Mizuno contains several sections that deliberately focus on Ryoma's strange words and remarks during the fight.

"It's like he's talking to someone, but…"

"No… this doesn't sound like it's addressed to the person in front of him."

Her expression slowly changes as the implication begins to take shape in her mind.

"Don't tell me…"

For the first time, Dr. Miyahara finds herself considering the person she is watching no longer seems like Ryoma simply behaving differently. It feels as though entirely different entity controlling his body while speaking directly to Ryoma himself.

And what makes the possibility even more disturbing is the personality behind those words. Its arrogance. Its cruelty. The cold amusement in the way it speaks about the violence unfolding inside the ring. It is disturbingly consistent with the character of the voices Ryoma had described to her in their previous sessions.

And her suspicions only grow stronger when the footage reaches the moment Ryoma suddenly breaks down in tears after what he has done to Umemoto. Even this Ryoma feels nothing like the man she has come to know through their many conversations.

Everything about it is too strange, leaving Dr. Miyahara with little more than a tentative analysis for the time being.

"Dissociative identity disorder… likely functioning as a trauma-based coping mechanism. When the subject experiences what he perceives as failure, the more aggressive personality takes over, while the other remains conscious enough to watch without being able to intervene."

She continues speaking into the recorder, her tone becoming more clinical.

"Significant adrenaline surge during the takeover. Fight-or-flight response. Once the threat is gone and control returns, there's a sharp physiological drop. An adrenaline crash could explain the sudden mental vulnerability afterward."

"The trembling, panic, and hysterical crying. Extreme fear, followed by the realization that he was completely powerless while his own body was doing something he desperately wanted to stop.

She pauses only long enough to consider her final thought.

"Almost as though it is another defensive response, intended to prevent a complete psychological breakdown."