In the middle of the Shinjuku red-light district called Kabukicho, an intense battle between history's greatest swordsman and history's strongest street brawler, was being observed by both the japanese police, mafia and civilians.

On one side was the Musashi Miyamoto, cloned and brought back from the dead thanks to modern science. Musashi is a tall well-built man with scars on his body and extremely thick wrists for a man his size. Standing at about 180 cm (5'11") and is a master of the Niten Ichi-ryuu. He acquired a new scar on his mouth from his fight with the Master of the old Japanese jujutsu, Izou Motobe. He has wild black shoulder length hair, his eyes look nearly feline-like and he has facial hair. His face looks like a cross between a lion and human, especially when he's positioned sideways. He has a constant dead-eyed look and he wears a blue Gi with leather sandals.

On the other side stands the strongest yakuza Kaoru Hanayama. Kaoru is incredibly large for his age, being only 20 years old and standing around 203.2cm (6'8") in height and weighing well over 166 kg (366 lbs). He is very muscular for his age, he specializes in classical Street Fighting and knows no other type of martial art, prefering to just overwhelm his foes with brute strength. He has well-combed short black hair and many scars across his face and body. Kaoru has a full back tattoo named the "Standing Man" (侠客立ち, Otokodachi), that is given to each member of the Hanayama family in honor of the man who saved the life of their great ancestor, Kaoru looks like a jigsaw puzzle due to the many scars covering his back. Currently, he is fighting naked. Wearing nothing more than a fundoshi (ふんどし/褌) to hide his privates and sarashi (晒し, "bleached cloth") around his waist. There are three reasons to wear a sarashi, it can protect your stomach against unskilled swordsmen, it will stem bleeding, and it stops organs from falling out once you've been cut.

"GAHHH!!!" Kaoru moves towards his enemy with great force. Prepared to deliver the devastating swing that strikes with such force that it garantees a knock-out. The same punch that previously sent Musashi flying ten meters away from the yakuza.

But...

*Shwp*

Musashi easily dodges the devastating punch by swiftly moving to his left and cuts Kaoru horizontally across the face, right under both his eyes and across his nose bridge. Kaoru however ignores the pain, thanks to the adrenaline pumping through his veins and swings with his entire body after Musashi, attacking with his left arm this time instead.

But...
"Yes... Those are the devil's eyes." Musashi mumbles as he swings his right blade diagonally across the left side of Kaoru's face.

*CHAK*

Cleaving Kaoru's left eye in half.

The force from Kaoru's swings causes his attack to follow, missing Musashi and leaving Kaoru in a wobbly standing state. Loosing the sight in his left eye causes Kaoru to lose focus and exhaustion from the fight quickly follows. But despite the seriousness of the situation, Kaoru's thought are right now on the person that he made a promise to.

'Mr. Utsumi...... Are you having a stiff drink...?' were his thoughts as Musashi delivers one more swing with his sword.

*WUSHAAH!!!*

Musashi strikes with a straight downwards slash that goes down the center of Kaoru's back, cutting into his spine and spraying blood into the air.

Both the brawler and the swordsman remain in their respective positions for a short while, with Kaoru standing and Musashi crouching after his mighty swing. Silence covers the entire district, no one dares to utter a word.
Until...

'I knew it...' Musashi thought as he stood up and looked upon Kaoru battle scarred back.
'From the ten slashes that I landed on his body... With the exception of that one attack from when I was on the floor... None of them got through.'

Musashi sheaves his sword with an audible *shik* sound, and looks up in at the sky deep in thought. Kaoru on the other hand, falls onto his rump with his legs crossed, gasping for air. Blood runs down from all the attacks that Musashi landed on him. From his face, his left fist and all over his back, his entire body was saoking in the mix of blood and sweat.
Suddenly, someone sits down in seiza (正座 or 正坐, literally "proper sitting"), right in front of the yakuza leader.

It was an old man wearing an official business suit, with greying brown hair on his head and a pair of glasses on his face. This was the Police Superintendent Inspector General, Shunzou Utsumi.

"H-Hey..." a police officer stutters.

"Inspector General!!?" another shouts.

"Why is he here!!?" Kizaki, Kaoru's right-hand man and bodyguard, asked out loud.

Kaoru slowly raises his head to look at the one in front of him. With half his vision gone, it takes him some time to adjust and realise who is in front of him. But when he knows who it is, his thoughts are filled with guilt and disappointment in himself.

"Mr. Utsumi..." he begins weakly, meeting the eyes of the old man.
"I promised you I'd do it, but... I did everything I could..." he sighs.

Kaoru Hanayama reason for fighting against Musashi Miyamoto, was because he had agreed on taking down the samurai for the police, so that they could apprehend him. He held no grudge against Musashi, it was only to keep his trade's sense of honor. Or that was what he was trying to convince himself and those around him. Kaoru did have another reason for fighting the samurai. It was because just a couple of hours prior, Kaoru had found out that Musashi had cut down one of the greatest fighters he knew, someone that he considered to be a close friend. This did not make him feel better.

"I watched the battle from start to finish." Utsumi says sternly.
"Compare to me, getting comfortable with a strong drink at home... You went above and beyond the call of duty trying to fulfill your promise."

Utsumi stares into Kaoru's eyes, who huffs and puffs from exhaustion, looking into his soul as if trying to reawaken the burning fighting spirit within. But Kaoru breaks eye contact with a smirk and chuckles.

"Heh, that's not true." he says while chuckling weakly.

"Mr. Hanayama." Utsumi says as he shifts in his position, placing both of his hands on the ground in front of him.
"Thank you very mu-"

Kaoru stops what the old man is about to do by gently placing his hands on his shoulder and says:

"Uh, no, no, no... Stand tall mr. Utsumi." he says in between his breaths.
"People are looking at us. These actions aren't suited for men like us."

Kaoru looks behind him, with Utsumi following his gaze, both of them now looking towards Musashi.

"The invincible warrior under the heavens." Kaoru speaks with a smile.
"I knew about him... Ever since I was little. He was strong then. He is strong still."

Kaoru moves his gaze back to Utsumi, before looking down to the ground.

"I am not the person suited to defeat him..." he sighs in defeat.
"Mr. Utsumi. My part of the deal ends here."

Silence, Utsumi is silent as he takes in Kaoru's words. The battle scarred yakuza continues to breath heavily, while the Inpector General remains silent. Until suddenly.

"Ah!" Utsumi quickly lets out as he points behind Kaoru.

The yakuza foolishly turns around, falling for the oldest trick in the book, turns back around and sees the Inspector General in a dogeza (土下座) pose, right in front of the eyes of everyone.

"I thank you from the bottom of my heart." Inspector General of the Police force speaks loudly.
"Mr. Hanayama."

"*Sigh* After I told you not to do it..." Kaoru breaths out.

At the same time, while the yakuza and the inspector general were having a moment together. Musashi Miyamoto's mind went far back. Thinking of all the achievements he's done through history with a sword.

'I thoroughly slashed "eight bodies" at once...'

'I perfectly split a hardened stone pot.'

'I slashed a heavy tomb stone.'

'And those modern guns too...'

...

'There is nothing I can't cut from this world... I claimed that once...'

...

'But now, I'm not so sure... This is a big world with a long history... Beyond the borders of my imagination... There is actually a man like him...'

Musashi's gaze goes towards Kaoru, looking straight at him and taking in every detail about his body.

'Moreover... Even though it seems that he has admitted he can't beat me. He courageously shows me his back.'

Musashi's hand twitches with excitement, slowly moving towards his swords.

'There's an unearthly iron castle that, even though I can't see it, is always protecting something beneath the injured skin.'

Suddenly, while no one else could see it, from Musashi's perspective it was like Kaoru's body began to glow in a brilliant light. Revealing the thick fortress hidden underneath his skin.

'The bones and organs of this outstanding man!!!'

One step. Two steps. Three steps. Musashi began to slowly move towards the unsuspecting yakuza. With his arm slowly but swiftly moving to grab the hilt, or Koshirae (拵え), of his sword.

"Wha...!" Utsumi stares wide eyed from what he sees behind the young yakuza that he thanked not even a minute ago. Musashi is standing ready to draw his blade, with clear killing intent in his eyes.

"I will deal one last slash on the crown to you and your spirit protector." Musashi says with a smile.
"Survive it if you can."

"No, this is enough!!!" Utsumi screams with all his might.

What should have happened after Inspector General Utsumi shouted "No, this is enough!!!" is that Baki Hanma, the Son of the Ogre, would have jumped in and stopped the ancient samurai from drawing his blade.

But what happened instead was, for the first time in his life, Baki Hanma was too slow. Following after the imaginary blade that Kaoru could sense cut him, the real blade soon followed and sliced his head and upper torso cleanly in half diagonally. Covering Mr. Utsumi in the blood of the now dead yakuza. The civilians screamed and vomited in horror, the police men alongside the members of the Hanayama family drew their weapons, and Baki's face went from wide eyed shock too a mix between roaring rage and wailing sorrow for losing another one of his closest friends.

All while the now split apart body of the one that held the title as history's strongest yakuza now lay dead on the concrete of Kabukicho.

Location: ???

Kaoru POV

'What happened? Everything is dark, I can't see or hear anything.'

I tried to move my body, since I am clearly conscious in some weird way, I thought that would be possible. But I can't feel anything. It's different from that time when I fell into a coma after getting shot in the head. When I was in a coma, I could still hear what was happening around me, but now... there's nothing.

'Did... Did I die?... Damn...'

Suddenly, a small green flame that seemed to spark with purple lighting appeared. It was an odd sight, and a bit blinding since I was surrounded by nothing but darkness until now.

"Well that wasn't suppose to happen. Weird how messing around with the strings of fate can alter a timeline so drastically."

A voice is suddenly emitted from the flame. As it speaks, the sparks and the flame grows stronger each time the pitch grow. Judging by the sound of it, whoever is talking through the flame is somehow responsible for why I'm here right now.

"You'd be right in assuming that Kaoru-kun~"

'... Great it's one of these guys.'

"HEY! What's that suppose to mean?! You should be thankful that I even bother talking to you at this moment." the voice grumbled the last part.

'Who are you? More over, how am I talking? I can't feel my mouth.'

"Well for now, you can call me God and the reason you can't feel your mouth or the rest of your body is because you are indeed dead. We are currently in limbo and are talking telepathically."

'Damn, Kizaki must be so mad at me.'

"It's been a couple of hours since your death, the Hanayama Group are all currently planning out your funeral and your friend Baki is invited of course. As for Kizaki, he feels like he lost a son more than he lost a Boss."

'...'

"Honestly, you lived a pretty short and careless life. You became the leader of the Hanayama group at 14, in which you, immediatelly after getting your tattoo, took out a rival group just to get your body covered in scars."

'Shut up'

"Four years later and after the Maximum Tournament, which was a martial arts tournament were everything was allowed, you decide to fight a deathrow inmate and nearly lost your jaw."

'Shut up!'

"I mean, you only just reached 20 and you thought it was a good idéa to have a 'fist vs sword' fight against the most famous samurai in your country's history without knowing any martial art. Which ultimately led to your death."

'SHUT UP!!'

"Yeesh, no wonder you listen more than you talk when you were alive. So you lost a fight, big deal!"

'It's not the fight.'

"Oh, then what's the matter?"

'... It's not just that I lost the fight. It's that I failed to take revenge for the death of both Utsumi's friend and Retsu. And I just died in front of the ones that I considered my closest friends. Kizaki was like a second father to me, he practically raised me after my father died and my mother went to the hospital.'

"..."

'I just wished I could have told him just how much I appreciated him.'

"..."

'...'

"... He knows."

'What?'

"He knows, you don't need to tell him. When I said that he felt like he lost a son more than a boss, I was being serious."

'...'

"..."

'... Thanks.'

"Your welcome. Now enough sappy stuff, let's get down to business."

'What do you mean?'

"To tell you the truth, you were not supposed to die in that fight and because fate made a mistake, I must now give you a new life."

'I can go back?!'

"No, the one known as Kaoru Hanayama is dead. What I mean is that your going to be reincarnated in a different world."

'Does that mean... I will forget... everything?'

"Yes, you will forget everyone you've known through your life, including this entire conversation. However, you will not forget the impact those people had in your life. As a foal, you will be smarter than average, your personality will mostly stay the same and you will keep some of the traits from your previous life. Like your insane strength, near invincible body and kindness that you show to those that deserve it."

'So... It's like a New Game+, basically.'

"Didn't take you for a gamer."

'Blame Doppo Orochi for that one.'

"Well, let's get this show on the road."

The green flame that made up God's body started to move in a circle before it began spinning faster and faster, glowing brighter and brighter. A new world huh? This might be fun. Kinda reminds of those isekai mangas, only I didn't get killed by a truck, that would have been embarrasing. Wonder if there will be magic in that world?
Suddenly, a thought came to mind as I remembered what he said.

'Wait a second, did you say foal?'

The light flashed into a bright, blinding light before darkness once more covered everything.

Location: Equestria, unnamed village

3rd Person POV

Late at night within a small village near the countryside of Equestra, inside the hospital house and laying on a bed, a mare was giving birth. Her stallion, together with her herd sisters, were all nervous over the situation. The mares were doing everything they could to keep their stallion calm so that he wouldn't pass out. For the fourth time since they arrived in the hospital. That's not to say that the others weren't nervous as well, this was the birth of the first foal in their family after all, and all five of them were about to become parents.

"Ohhh, I can't take it anymore!" a lemon yellow unicorn mare, with a lime green mane, orange eyes and a cutiemark of three citrus fruits, shrieked.
"I feel like I'm going to have a panic attack!"

"Calm down and help us over here." a forest green earth pony mare, with a brown mane, brown eyes and cutiemark of a dirty shovel, hissed.
"The foal will be here any minute now and we can't have him unconscious when she arrives."

"If you're this nervous for Kaika's foal, I don't want to imagine how you'll be when it's your turn." a white pegasus mare said with an annoyed tone. She had an dark orange mane with black and red streaks and a cutie mark of three balls, one baseball, one hoof ball and one basket ball.

Both she and the previous mare were doing their best to calm down the light gray stallion with blond mane and blue eyes, who was breathing into a paper bag and sweating bullet. His cutie mark, ironically, had a paper bag on it.

Suddenly, the sign over the door blinked in green light and the doctor walked out. The doctor was a light purple mare with green eyes and a red mane, wearing a white hospital coat with a stethoscope around her neck. Her gaze turned to the group with a neutral expression that shifted to a wide smile.
The yellow mare wasted no time to turn into a blur and reappear in front of the doctor, who was slightly startled by the mares speed.

"Is the filly okay!? Is Kaika okay!? AM I OKAY!?!?!?"

The doctor laughed heartly and said with a smile: "The colt and miss Mountainflower are both just fine."

Everpony gave an audible sigh before flinching and stared wide eyed over what the doctor just said.

"Wait a minute," the white mare said, "did you say colt?"

After the doctor gave a nod, they all shared a wide smile and walked in with excitement. In front of them, on a hospital bed, layed a beach pink mare covered in sweat and looked tired out of her mind. Her long mane was rose magenta with pink streaks and her cutie mark was a camera taking a picture of a purple mountain flower.

"Hey everpony," Kaika Mountainflower said while breathing heavily, "come meet Kaoru."

All gathered around to see the small colt wrapped in a blanket, held in Kaika's front hooves and sleeping peacefully. His coat was light silver grey and his mane was a dark violet that looked almost black in the shade.

"Awww, wook at the wittle cutie wootie~." the yellow mare trying not to squeel.

"He's so tiny." the green mare commented mystified.

"Why did you decide on Kaoru?" the white mare asked curious.

"I'm not sure," Kaika began, "the name just came to me when I realised it was a colt and I just thought it would be fitting. Since my name is neighponese, a neighponese name for my foal just made sense."

The stallion, who had been quiet until now, nervously approached the bed as Kaika opened the blanket slightly to reveal the small little colt. The stallion began to tear up as it was now official that he was a father, and he would make sure to be the best father figure he could be for his little Kaoru.
He reached forward with his hoof and gently let the foal know that his father was here. The foal slowly opened it's eyes and revealed the beautiful magenta eyes that were previously hidden from sight. He reach out and grabbed the hoof with both of his.
The doctor couldn't help but smile from the doorway, while she had witnessed moments like this before, it always caused her to tear up no matter how many times she saw a family's first foal. She shared a quick glance with Kaika, a nodded as if signaling 'a job well done'. She was about leave the room until the stallion began to speak with his soft and gentle voice.

"Hey there little one, my names-"

*CRUSH*

The heartwarming moment was broken by the very loud sound of a hoof being crushed under unimaginable pressure. Yellow was no longer close to squeeling, green became pale, white's jaw hit the floor, the doctor dropped her glasses and Kaika was frozen in place. Everypony stared with eyes the size of dinner plates and pupils the size of pinpricks. Completely horrified as blood and hoof fragments now covered the foal who stared at the stallion with what could only be described as annoyance for having been woken up. The stallion lost all colour from the pain and promptly passed out on the floor, everypony else were still so deep in shock that they didn't even bother to try and catch him.

Little Kaoru grabbed the edge of his blanket, pulled it closer and went back to sleep.

Author's Note

Fourth story!
And it's a Baki crossover!

Kaoru is, without a doubt, my favorite character from Baki. Despite his appearance as this stoic giant of a man, he is actually really kind, well-mannered and gentle. He even got his own spin-off mangas based on his life outside the Baki storyline. Two spin-offs actually, Baki Gaiden: Kizuzura, based on Kaoru's adventures in High school. And Baki Gaiden: Kizumen – Scarface, depicting Kaoru's adventures as a yakuza.
I highly recommend both.

At first I wanted this story to be anthro, but I wanted to try and make a normal pony story as well. How this story would have played out also changed as I wrote. At first, Kaoru would have just appeared as a human outside of Ponyville, but that format has been done so many times that I just said no to it before it could start.

I mean look at him.

Here's him in highschool.


According to the mangaka of Baki, Kaoru is meant to be 6'3" or 190 cm early in the series and later grows to be 6'8" or 203 cm. The average height for a man in Japan is 5 ft 7 inches or 171 cm. So Kaoru's height isn't as wierd as one first thinks with this fact in mind.

If this wasn't enough of a hint, Kaoru is going to be one BIG pony when he's an adult.

You might be wondering why I decided to keep his name as Kaoru. Well, the name Kaoru (male) and Kaori (female) translates as 薫/郁/芳 — "fragrance".
While the family name Hanayama is written as 花山, with 花 meaning flower and 山 meaning mountain.
Since japanese is read backwards from english, Kaoru's Equestrian name would have been Fragrance Mountainflower.
But fragrance sounded wierd to me as a first name, so I just kept it as Kaoru.
And the name of Kaoru's new mother Kaika (開花) means Flowering or Blooming.