John Wick - Chapter 54: The True Meaning of Jeet Kune Do (Patreon)

What do I do? What do I do? How the hell am I supposed to beat him?

Watching John slowly close in without even bothering to guard himself, Nate felt the pressure mounting. He was practically breaking out in a cold sweat.

Think. Think.

How would the Grandmaster handle this?

Using no way as way, having no limitation as limitation.

Be water, my friend!

Famous quotes collided and tangled together inside Nate’s head.

“What are you doing?” John asked, puzzled.

And while Nate was still standing there lost in thought, John grabbed him, lifted him off the ground, and...

Bang!

Slammed him right back down.

Bro, this is brutal...

Elena watched from the sidelines with a troubled expression. Even she was starting to feel sorry for him.

Henry raised a hand, about to stop the increasingly one-sided spar, but Winston stopped him.

“Henry, give him a little longer. John knows how far he can go.”

Lying on the mat, Nate cursed inwardly.

Breaking through in the middle of a fight was bullshit.

Stats were what really made a king.

The immense pressure forced Nate’s brain into overdrive.

Think. What advantage do I still have?

John was stronger than him. He was heavier too.

But speed...

Even with the boost from his Trait, John was still just a fraction slower than Nate.

That was the natural disadvantage that came with being so tall.

Jeet Kune Do...

That’s it!

Nate suddenly shot to his feet, startling John, who had just reached out to help him up.

“We’re not done. Keep going!”

Nate copied the Grandmaster’s posture. His footwork looked more like he was dancing the cha-cha, while both fists hung loosely near his waist with almost no guard at all.

John nodded.

Then he stayed exactly where he was.

Nate bounced twice, spread his feet, and stopped moving too.

The sparring area fell into an awkward silence.

After a while, Elena finally asked, “What are they doing?”

Winston clearly had no idea.

Henry, however, seemed to understand.

“They’re both waiting for the other one to attack first.”

Back in the sparring area, Nate had finally figured it out.

Jeet Kune Do was about interception.

Intercept the opponent’s attack. Read what he was about to do, then counter at the same time.

Nate was slightly faster than John. If all he wanted to do was intercept or evade John’s attacks, it actually wasn’t that difficult.

So what had he been doing before?

He had kept attacking first.

After his opening attack worked, he had become obsessed with taking the initiative. All John had to do was spot an opening, grab him, and throw him.

But now Nate was waiting for John to attack first.

The problem was that John also preferred to defend and counter.

And so the two of them ended up frozen in a stalemate.

“...Aren’t you going to attack?” John finally asked, sounding helpless.

“Uh... you first,” Nate replied.

Henry burst out laughing.

Winston couldn’t hold back a smile either.

Elena kept cracking sunflower seeds, watching the two of them without saying a word.

John fell silent for a moment, then nodded.

And in Nate’s eyes, John came barreling toward him like an oncoming truck, throwing a heavy kick straight at him.

It looked intimidating, but it wasn’t actually that fast.

More importantly, John had a huge wind-up whenever he attacked proactively.

Nate slipped sideways.

John’s kick swept past him, and Nate immediately turned and kicked him from behind before quickly retreating again.

And just like that, John started getting led around.

John stepped forward, Nate stepped back.

John tried to attack, Nate caught the opening before or after the movement and tagged him once before slipping away again.

The mood of the spar suddenly became much livelier.

Nate was as slippery as an eel.

John couldn’t catch him.

Couldn’t hit him.

And every now and then, Nate would sneak in another kick.

None of them did any real damage, though.

John was sweating now too. The hair he had tucked behind his ears was soaked and hanging over his forehead, leaving him looking slightly disheveled.

At this point, neither of them could really do anything to the other.

After being led around for so long, John was starting to get irritated. His movements grew rougher, and when he lunged past Nate, he left a massive opening.

Nate was just about to step in and punish him with a side kick when instinct suddenly screamed that something was wrong.

He immediately stopped his forward step.

John had already turned around.

Nate saw the position of his hands and instantly understood.

John was baiting him.

He was prepared to take the kick just so he could grab Nate the instant Nate’s foot touched him.

Nate immediately backed away.

John pursued.

“All right, all right! That’s enough!”

Henry raised his hand and called an end to the spar.

Elena hurried over with water and towels for both Nate and John.

Naturally, John got his first.

“Our Nate is pretty clever when he fights, isn’t he?” Henry asked Winston.

“He is,” Winston replied. “But John’s skills have definitely declined quite a bit. He’s much slower than he used to be.”

“It’s been five years. Moving like this after that long is already pretty impressive.”

Henry picked up his thermos and took a sip.

John and Nate sat cross-legged on the floor facing each other, both gulping down water.

That had been a serious workout.

Elena sat beside them.

Nate drank half his bottle, then poured the rest over his head to cool himself off.

Elena rolled her eyes at him.

“I didn’t expect you to be that good. You actually managed to fight Mr. Wick to a draw.”

Nate looked a little embarrassed.

“Not really. John’s still better than me. I only fought like that because I’d run out of options.”

Nate understood the situation perfectly.

If John had been even slightly faster than him, the fight would have been a complete stomp.

Nate wouldn’t even have had a chance to run.

It reminded him of one particular scene.

Hulk smashing Loki.

Maybe that comparison was a little exaggerated, but in practice, it hadn’t been all that different.

He had been thrown around without being able to do a damn thing about it.

And this was John while he was still under a debuff.

Nate didn’t even want to imagine what John would be like at his peak.

Now he truly understood just how ridiculous the effects of John’s Traits were.

Being the protagonist really did come with some outrageous advantages.

Still...

I’m not bad either!

Nate dropped onto his back, eyes closed and chest heaving as he sucked in deep breaths.

All that running around had exhausted him too.

Henry sat down again, picked up a handful of sunflower seeds, then put them back.

He looked at Nate sprawled on the floor, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

It was the satisfied smile of someone watching a kid pass a test.

Elena bit her lip.

She looked at Nate lying there gasping for breath, then at John crouched beside him, looking somewhat disheveled himself.

She couldn’t decide whether she should be happy or worried.

The conflicted expression on her face was almost comical.

“See?” Winston said to Henry. “I won.”

“Yeah, yeah, you won.”

Henry crumpled up the sunflower seed bag.

“Nate can’t move anymore, but John still isn’t tired. Send the girl in for some practice too!”

Elena’s head snapped toward Henry.

The conflicted look on her face instantly turned to shock.

She pointed at herself.

“Huh? Me?”

John had already stood up and walked to one corner of the sparring area, waiting for her.

Still lying on the floor, Nate gave Elena a gleefully malicious grin.

Then he glanced at her, tilted his head back toward the ceiling, and shouted with a laugh:

“Go get her!! Mr. Wick!!”