The Underwear vs. Zhongshan Suits — Part 2

Section 1: Nobody Believes Dinello

Dave remained where he was, still thinking about what Dinello had just said.

Joshua was his master?

After everything that had happened over the past ten or fifteen minutes, Dave honestly had no idea whether to believe him anymore. Dinello had fooled him, confused him, and dragged him through so much nonsense that his credibility was practically gone.

Before Dave could decide, a weak voice came from nearby.

The injured student without an upper lip spoke from the courtyard.

“Hey.”

Dinello turned his head.

“I don’t believe it. There’s no way Joshua is your master. Our master is Mario, the former South King—not Joshua, the West King.”

The student paused to catch his breath. Then, gathering every bit of strength left in his body, he shouted at the top of his lungs:

“PLEASE, CANELO! JUST BE SERIOUS FOR ONCE!”

Dinello stared at him for a few seconds, then walked over.

The injured student felt a spark of hope. Maybe his words had finally gotten through to him. Maybe this senior student was finally going to be serious for once and beat that underwear muscle freak for real.

Dinello stopped in front of him and crouched down. He slowly reached one hand toward the student’s head.

The student closed his eyes. Maybe Canelo was finally going to pat him on the head and reassure him. A small smile appeared on his face.

“Go get him,” he whispered. “I believe in you.”

Dinello’s hand moved past his hair.

Two fingers pinched his lower lip.

The student opened his eyes.

“Huh?”

Dinello ripped it off.

The lower lip flew several meters through the air and landed on the courtyard.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!”

The student grabbed his mouth and rolled across the ground.

“MY OTHER LIP! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO MY OTHER LIP?!”

Dinello stood up and shouted at him:

“FOR THE LAST TIME, MY NAME IS DINELLO, YOU IDIOT!”

Then he turned around, walked back across the courtyard, and stopped in front of Dave.

Section 2: The Proof

Dave had heard everything the half-lipped student said.

Oh, wait.

He wasn’t half-lipped anymore. He was completely lipless now.

My apologies for the inaccurate description.

Anyway, Dave didn’t believe Dinello either.

He pointed straight at him. “Cut the crap. You Canelo-or-Dinello guy. I don’t even know your name anymore. Just show me what you’ve got. Do whatever.”

Dinello’s face tightened with irritation.

“Jesus Christ, not you too! My name is—”

BOOOOOOM!

A deafening crash shook the entire courtyard.

Everyone turned toward the school entrance. A large delivery truck had just slammed straight into the school gate. The metal gate bent inward from the impact as the truck came to a sudden stop, the sound echoing across the courtyard.

By the way, the truck driver died at the scene.

Dinello stared at the wreck for several seconds, then looked back at Dave.

“Forget about it.”

He raised his right hand. “Let me show you how the Qi technique works.”

About thirty meters away, two female students in Zhongshan suits were passing through the courtyard.

Without taking his eyes off Dave, Dinello extended his right arm toward them and opened his palm, aiming it at one of the girls. Then he applied a small amount of force.

WHOOSH!

The girl’s Zhongshan jacket was suddenly ripped from her body and flew across the courtyard, landing directly in Dinello’s open palm.

“What the hell?! What’s going on?!”

Realizing she was suddenly topless, the girl immediately covered her chest with both arms and ran away screaming.

Her friend stopped and stared. Then she quickly pulled out her phone and started recording.

“I don’t know what happened to her, but somehow she went topless. I gotta upload this to YouTube.”

Dinello held up what he had pulled across the courtyard. Tangled inside the Zhongshan jacket was the girl’s pink bra.

He looked at it for a moment, casually played with the bra, then brought it closer and sniffed it.

“Hmm. Smells a little milky.”

He shrugged and tossed everything aside.

“See?”

Dave stared at him seriously for a moment, then slowly nodded.

“Oh, shit. This guy is for real this time.”

Section 3: Dave’s Version

Dave rubbed his chin.

“Wow. That’s something else,” he said. “But honestly, it’s not that impressive. Even I can do something like that.”

Dinello blinked. “What? You know the Qi technique too?”

Dave didn’t answer. He lowered his body and slowly pulled his right fist back, then planted one foot firmly against the courtyard.

CRACK!

The concrete beneath his foot split apart, cracks spreading outward like a spiderweb.

Dave tightened his fist. Every muscle in his right arm hardened as he gathered all his strength into a single point. Loose leaves began spinning around him. Dust lifted from the ground, and the air around his fist twisted and distorted as the pressure continued to build.

Dinello’s expression slowly changed.

Dave pulled his fist back as far as it could go. Then, in a single instant, he punched the empty air.

BOOOOOOM!

A massive wave of compressed air exploded from his fist and tore across the courtyard.

The female student who had been recording everything was still holding up her phone when the shockwave slammed into her.

RIIIP!

Her Zhongshan jacket was torn apart instantly, along with the pink bra underneath it. The shredded pieces of clothing scattered through the air behind her.

The two innocent female students ran naked across the courtyard, one after the other.

An old man happened to ride past on a bicycle. He watched them run by and shook his head.

“What happened to students these days? Absolutely shameless. Every generation is worse than the last.”

He sighed and continued riding. A few seconds later, the two girls disappeared around a corner.

Dave straightened up and looked at Dinello.

“See? Even I can do that. Show me something I don’t know.”

Dinello stared at him for a moment, then slowly raised one hand and pointed his open palm directly at Dave.

“Okay. Then brace yourself.”

Section 4: The Hidden Art

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then Dave felt an invisible force pulling against his entire body.

“What the—”

He immediately dropped into a deep horse stance, planting both feet firmly against the courtyard.

SCRAAAAAPE!

Dave’s shoes dragged across the concrete, leaving two trails beneath his feet. He clenched his teeth and forced more strength into his legs, trying to hold his ground.

Dinello frowned.

“Oh, shit… This underwear muscle freak is heavy. What does this guy weigh, a few hundred pounds? He feels like a small car.”

Dave slid nearly half a meter before finally stopping.

“What the hell is this?” he muttered.

Dinello increased the force. His arm began to tremble, his shoulders tightened, and his breathing became noticeably heavier. Even his face twitched slightly from the effort.

“Come on…”

Dave moved another few centimeters, but his feet remained firmly planted.

Dinello gritted his teeth and pushed harder. Veins began rising across his forehead and neck as his face slowly turned red.

Still, Dave refused to leave the ground.

“If Master Joshua were doing this, he’d probably pull this guy over like it was nothing.”

Dinello forced even more Qi through his palm.

“AAAAARRRGHHH!”

Now his whole body was shaking. His face turned deep red, almost purple, and even his lips began to darken.

If he pushed himself any harder, he might actually burst a blood vessel.

So naturally, he pushed harder.

“AAAAAAAAARRRGHHHH!”

Dave’s feet finally ripped away from the ground.

“OH! OH! OH!”

His body flew toward Dinello, pulled forward from the waist as his arms and legs flailed helplessly in the air.

“JESUS CHRIST!”

Dave looked down at the ground rushing beneath him.

“I THINK I’M ACTUALLY FLYING!”

With Dave finally off the ground, Dinello was able to breathe again. His face was still nearly purple and his lips were dark, but he took one deep breath and quickly straightened himself.

“See? Easy.”

As Dave flew closer, Dinello quietly sucked in air through his nose, desperately trying to hide his exhaustion.

Section 5: The Qi Punch

Dave flew straight toward Dinello, his arms and legs still flailing behind him.

Dinello waited.

Ten meters.

Five meters.

Two meters.

The moment Dave came within reach, Dinello closed his open palm into a fist.

Dave’s eyes widened.

“Oh, shit.”

His abdomen was being pulled forward while his arms and legs trailed behind him. In that position, there was no way to bring his arms in front of his body or make any kind of defensive move. He could only watch Dinello’s fist coming.

BOOOOOOM!

Dinello drove his fist straight into Dave’s abdomen.

At the last possible moment, Dave tightened every muscle across his stomach.

CLANG!

The punch landed with a sound almost like a fist striking solid metal. For a split second, Dave’s body stopped dead in midair. His hardened abdominal muscles absorbed almost all of the physical force behind the punch.

But they couldn’t stop the Qi.

The invisible force passed straight through the wall of muscle and slammed into his internal organs.

“GUAAAH!”

Dave’s eyes bulged as blood sprayed from his mouth. His entire body folded around Dinello’s fist before the force exploded outward and launched him backward across the courtyard.

WHOOSH!

Dave flew more than ten meters before slamming into the concrete, bouncing once and rolling several more meters before finally coming to a stop.

He lay there motionless for several seconds before his fingers moved. Slowly, he planted one hand against the ground and tried to push himself up.

“What… the fuck…”

Another cough hit him, splattering blood onto the concrete beneath his face.

Dave had taken countless punches before. He had been kicked, slammed, and beaten by some of the strongest fighters he had ever faced. But he had never felt a punch hurt this badly. His abdominal muscles had stopped almost all of the physical impact, yet his insides felt as if they had been struck directly by a truck.

For the first time, Dave understood just how dangerous Qi really was.

He wiped the blood from his mouth and slowly forced himself back onto his feet. Across the courtyard, Dinello lowered his fist. For several seconds, neither man moved.

Then, without warning, Dinello rushed forward again.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Dave met him head-on, and the two exchanged blows at close range, moving back and forth across the courtyard. Dave blocked one punch, slipped past another, and fired back with a heavy right hook. Dinello leaned away just in time and answered with another strike of his own.

They continued for more than a dozen exchanges before Dave noticed something strange.

Dinello had never kicked him. Not once.

And as Dave watched more carefully, he realized Dinello wasn’t using his left hand either.

Every attack came from his right.

Dave suddenly jumped back, opening about two meters of distance between them.

“You bastard!” he shouted. “Are you mocking me or something? You’ve been fighting me with nothing but your right hand! You haven’t used your left hand once, and you haven’t thrown a single kick!”

His fists tightened.

“What, you think I’m not worth fighting seriously? You looking down on me or something?”

Section 6: The Floating Retreat

Dinello looked genuinely surprised.

The underwear muscle freak had actually figured it out.

He had been holding back the entire time. Dinello knew that if he fought at full strength, he could probably demolish this guy within minutes.

But somehow, he could sense that Dave was already a broken man inside. And despite the ridiculous outfit, he was still a legitimate, honest fighter.

For some reason, Dinello didn’t want to destroy what little pride he had left. That was why he had handicapped himself by using only his right hand.

Now Dave looked genuinely upset, as if being looked down on had hurt him even more than the beating itself.

Dinello casually pulled out his phone, tapped the screen a few times, and checked the time.

4:02 PM.

An idea immediately came to him.

Perfect. He finally had an excuse to end the fight.

Then he realized something far more important.

The Pokémon episode had already started.

“Oh, fuck!”

Dinello grabbed his head, dropped to his knees, and yelled at Dave with all his might.

“I totally missed the Pokémon opening theme song! Damn you! You underwear muscle freak!”

Dave stared at him. Just like that, his miserable mood was completely interrupted by Dinello’s ridiculous breakdown.

Dinello suddenly jumped back onto his feet. He dusted off his pants, then raised one hand toward Dave.

“All right. Let’s call it here for today. I’m going home to watch TV. Next week, we’ll finish what we didn’t finish today.”

Dave opened his mouth to answer.

Before he could say a word, Dinello began moving backward.

His raised hand remained perfectly still. His upper body didn’t sway, his shoulders didn’t move, and his posture remained completely straight as he smoothly floated backward across the courtyard.

Dave’s eyes widened.

“Holy crap…”

He watched Dinello’s figure drift farther and farther away.

“So Qi can make you float too? That’s impressive.”

For several seconds, Dave simply stared at him. Then his eyes naturally lowered.

Dinello’s legs were going absolutely insane.

His feet were sprinting backward at ridiculous speed, taking countless tiny steps beneath his perfectly motionless upper body.

Dave’s face immediately darkened. He clenched his fist.

“Damn this prankster,” he muttered. “Still trolling me even as he’s leaving.”

Dinello continued racing backward across the courtyard, one hand still raised in his dramatic farewell, until he disappeared around the corner beyond the school entrance.

Dave stood there watching the empty gate.

Ridiculous as that exit had been, it wasn’t something just anyone could pull off. Moving backward at that speed while keeping his upper body almost perfectly still required incredible balance, control, and footwork.

Dave hated to admit it, but Dinello was the real deal.

And after everything that had happened today, there was one thing he could no longer deny.

Dinello was stronger than him.

The moment Dinello disappeared around the corner, his dramatic floating posture vanished.

He spun around, faced forward, and broke into a normal sprint.

Then he pushed himself to full speed.

WHOOSH!

Dinello shot down the street like a gust of wind.

He blasted past an old woman pushing a four-wheeled walker with a small basket full of groceries. The violent gust behind him sent several apples flying out of the basket. They bounced across the sidewalk and rolled straight into the gutter.

The old woman stopped and stared at her empty basket.

“What the hell?”

Dinello was already gone.

A few seconds later, he shot past a group of high school girls walking down the sidewalk.

WHOOSH!

The violent gust swept through them. Their long hair flew wildly around their faces, and their skirts immediately began lifting in the wind.

“Ah!”

The girls quickly slapped both hands down over their skirts, pressing them firmly against their legs before the wind could lift them any higher.

By the time they looked up, Dinello was already halfway down the block.

Less than a minute later, he passed the same two Zhongshan-suit girls from the courtyard. Their jackets were still gone, and they were running frantically down the street, trying to get home as fast as possible while keeping their arms tightly crossed over their chests.

WHOOSH!

Dinello flew right past them without even slowing down.

Nobody on the street even saw him.

To everyone around them, there was no Dinello—only a powerful gust of wind that suddenly swept down the entire street, whipping through their clothes and hair before disappearing as quickly as it had come.

By the time anyone looked around to see what had happened, Dinello was already long gone.

He had already missed the Pokémon opening theme song.

He was not going to miss the rest of the episode.