Hokuto no Ken Ultimate Desire

Ultimate Desire (北斗の拳イチゴ味 ユダ外道伝 UD Ultimate Desire) is a one-shot published in 2016. Written by Kawata Yushi and illustrated by Yukito, this story dedicated to Yuda is part of the series of gaiden featured at the end of each volume of Ichigo Aji. It appears in the fifth volume of Ichigo Aji dated March 10, 2016.

Synopsis

Before two wolves fighting in the snow, the master asks his young pupil which one will prevail. When Yuda answers that victory only smiles upon beautiful beings...

Beauty as doctrine

The one-shot opens with a lesson. In the snow, a master shows his pupil two wolves fighting, a magnificent white-furred animal and a wounded beast, and asks him how he sees the outcome. Yuda answers without hesitation that victory smiles only upon beautiful beings. The master corrects him: in a fight, only strength reigns, and only the victor is beautiful. The wounded wolf prevails. The child takes in the lesson, then turns it around: beauty is also a strength, since it moves the hearts of men, and the one who possesses both can become the god of this world.

Having become the greatest practitioner in the history of Nanto Kōkakuken, Yuda faces Rei during a kumite among candidates for the Rokusei. The two men exchange sincere compliments and the fight begins in an almost courteous atmosphere, until Yuda suddenly breaks the rules by striking to kill. Rei retaliates and hits him in the eye. Disfigured, Yuda screams that no one is stronger or more beautiful than him and that Rei is nothing but a foil. Shin intervenes and reminds him that killing in a kumite calls for a sanction.

A time skip leads to Yuda's death, in Rei's arms. He confesses that he always carried his adversary in his heart and spent his life chasing an illusion, that of Rei and the dance of Nanto Suichōken, without ever managing to surpass it. This illusion, he could not reject it, because deep down he found it beautiful. Before the beauty he acknowledged, he became powerless, and that is why he could not bring himself to do anything to Mamiya. That was his weakness.

Prisoner of his own illusion

Ultimate Desire is the gaiden that the duo Kawata Yushi and Yukito dedicate to Yuda, following the model of those that close out the volumes of Ichigo Aji. It reprises the usual format, with a childhood scene that retrospectively provides the key to understanding a character from the original manga.

The entire story stems from the lesson of the wolves. The master teaches that only strength matters, but the child draws his own conclusion: beauty, too, is a form of strength. The duel against Rei puts this belief to the test. As long as the fight remains courteous, Yuda can believe himself to be both the strongest and the most beautiful. The wound to his eye strips him of both at once.

The final confession reveals the true meaning of the story. What Yuda had pursued his entire life was not victory, but the beauty he recognized in Rei. Yet his doctrine left him with only one alternative: destroy what he admired, or die.