Sokaku Takeda, fifty-two years of age, settled back into the steaming, hot water. Sighing…he considered his position. He had been called into this wilderness town two weeks previous, but so far nothing had happened.

Where were the brutal gangsters who ran the smuggling and the gambling? He had seen evidences of their slave labor operations, but so far he had seen nothing but a pair of skulkers who had trailed him from a respectful distance. Where were these gangsters that razed police stations and frightened the constabulary so much that they had called for him?

Where were these–CRASH! The door to the bath house banged open and six thugs barged into the room. They held their swords in the ready position and advanced around the edge of the large bath.

At the sight of these thugs Sokaku scrambled from the water. The only thing near him was a towel, and he snatched it up and looked at it. A towel, well, in his hands it would be more than a towel, it would be deadly weapon!

“We’re going to teach you some manners now,” snarled the leader of the gangsters, and he lifted his sword high. The gangsters began to edge forward then, and the air was filled with their snarled insults and they made dire predictions of what they were about to do to him. It was obvious that they were trying to surround him so they could rush him en masse and kill him.

Interestingly, the old man didn’t even have his sword, but his reputation was so fierce that none of them were willing to take a chance. After all, he had killed dozens of able opponents, high skilled samurai, and they were well aware that they were not samurai. It would be far better to surround and rush him.

“So I’m going to get a lesson in manners, eh?” Sokaku made the towel more effective by twisting it. The tip of the towel he dipped into the steaming water.

Giving a fierce scream, one of the thugs, rushing forward. Sokaku sidestepped, keeping a sure footing on the slippery surface, and snapped the towel. Crack–and the thug fell to the floor and grabbed his ribs in agony.

Two more thugs dashed towards the naked samurai. Whack! Crack!

Like a wraith Sokaku sidestepped, and he flicked his towel like lightening. Whack! Crack!

Five of the gangsters lay on the floor now, moaning and holding their cracked ribs, or entirely unconscious. The sixth gangster, seeing the way of the wind, dropped his sword and dashed out of the bath house. Behind him, Sokaku Takeda tossed the towel to the side and began dressing.

Tags: Self Defence