Kyoto.
A man with a towering, cannon-shaped hairstyle walked down the street. Though he made no deliberate effort to cause destruction, he made no effort to restrain himself either.
His name was Ryu Ishigori, a powerful fighter who had lived during the Edo period three or four hundred years ago. His tremendous jujutsu output had earned him the nickname Cannon.
He had a beautiful woman tucked under each arm. Back in his day, beauties had thrown themselves into his embrace, but things were different now: both women in his arms wore expressions of sheer terror.
"Don't be afraid, beauties. Killing women isn't a hobby of mine-as long as you behave, of course," Ryu Ishigori said with a smile.
He strode brazenly down the street. One bold man noticed the terrified expressions of the women at his sides and decided to show off his manliness by rescuing the damsels in distress.
But Ryu Ishigori merely glanced at him, and in his mind, the man had already been sentenced to death.
A terrifying amount of cursed energy gathered at the tip of his cannon-shaped hair, like a loaded cannon ready to fire.
With a bang!!!, the terrifying blast of cursed energy fired like a cannon toward the man. Just before it struck, a boy dashed out and stood in front of him.
It was Yuta Okkotsu, who had finally arrived.
He thrust both hands forward, using his cursed-energy-coated hands as a shield to block Ryu Ishigori's cannon blast head-on.
White smoke drifted upward from Yuta Okkotsu's hands as he let out a soft breath. Blocking that shot had not been difficult, but it had not exactly been easy either.
Though the ordinary pedestrians nearby could not see jujutsu, they could still hear the deafening boom, feel the shock wave, and see the