Baki Hanma is a generally happy student with a rather odd hobby; he likes fighting. Specifically, he likes fighting in a secret martial arts tournament that gathers the greatest fighters of the world and pits them against each other in really nasty combat. Whether you're a sumo wrestler, a karate expert, or a guy who specializes in ripping out your opponent's nerves, you're welcome (as long as you can keep quiet about it, of course). Anyway, Baki may be the youngest fighter the tournament has ever seen, but he's also the best, and he really enjoys what he does. The story starts off with Baki entering a regular Karate tournament (as a warm up) and taking it by storm. He then moves on to the real challenge--that guy who likes to tear nerves (you knew he was going to come into this, didn't you?). Baki's pretty confident, but then again, he's never taken on somebody who can blind or paralyze an opponent using just one finger...