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Prologue: A Man of Stone
"A pillar does not crumble. A wall does not bend. A foundation does not falter."
Kenji Sakamoto lived by these words.
He wasn't a man who sought glory.
He wasn't a man who needed praise.
He was simply a pillar—one that carried the weight others could not.
He didn't believe in fate.
He only believed in strength.
Not strength for power.
But strength for protection.
For those who could not protect themselves.
For those who relied on him.
Even if it meant breaking himself apart—
He would never let them down.
Even if he had to carry the weight of the world.
---
A Childhood Without Rest
Kenji Sakamoto was born into a world of struggle.
He never had the chance to be a child.
There were no carefree days, no dreams of adventure.
From the moment he was old enough to walk, he understood one thing—
Life was a fight.
His mother, Emiko Sakamoto, was a woman of quiet strength.
She worked herself to the bone, taking on two, sometimes three jobs, just to keep the family afloat.
His father? Gone.
Vanished when Kenji was only four years old.
No explanations. No farewells.
Just an empty space at the dinner table and a crushing silence that never truly faded.
That left Kenji, the eldest of four siblings, with a role he never asked for:
The protector.
He had no choice.
Because if he didn't step up—
Who would?
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The Weight of Responsibility
At the age of sixteen, Kenji dropped out of school.
Not because he wasn't capable.
He was smart.
His teachers had told him he had potential.
That he could go far.
But potential didn't pay the rent.
Potential didn't put food on the table.
So Kenji walked away from the classroom and into the world of hard labor.
He took whatever work he could find:
Construction sites.
Warehouses.
Demolition jobs.
Anywhere he could use his strength.
He worked day and night.
And no matter how exhausted he was, no matter how his body screamed for rest—
He never stopped.
Because his siblings needed a future.
And he would give it to them.
Even if it meant sacrificing his own.
---
The Collapse
Then came the day when everything changed.
A construction project in the heart of Osaka.
A high-rise building, barely stable.
The supervisors? Greedy.
They pushed for faster work, ignoring the warning signs.
Kenji knew it was dangerous.
He told them the supports weren't stable.
That the foundation wasn't set.
That something was wrong.
But they didn't listen.
And then—
Everything collapsed.
Steel beams snapped like twigs.
Concrete shattered like glass.
Screams filled the air as the scaffolding came crashing down.
And in the middle of the chaos—
Kenji saw his best friend, Tatsuya, trapped beneath the rubble.
Tatsuya, the only person who had ever told Kenji:
"You don't have to carry everything alone."
Kenji didn't think.
He acted.
He ran into the wreckage, ignoring the weight of the collapsing structure above him.
But no matter how strong he was—
A steel beam weighing tons was beyond human strength.
His muscles burned.
His vision blurred.
His body begged him to give up.
But Kenji refused.
And then—
Something awakened.
A power buried deep within him.
A force that had always been waiting.
And in that moment—
His Stand manifested.
Titan Soul.
A monstrous, colossal aura of pure, unyielding force.
The weight that should have crushed him?
He lifted it like it was nothing.
He tore through the wreckage, carving a path through the destruction.
He saved Tatsuya's life.
And as he stood there, hands bloodied, body shaking, surrounded by the ruins—
He understood something terrifying.
His strength had never belonged to him alone.
It was something far greater.
Something that came with a price.
---
The Fear of Power
Kenji never told anyone about his Stand.
Not his family.
Not his coworkers.
Because deep down, he feared it.
Feared what it meant.
Feared what it could do.
He had always relied on his strength.
But this?
This was beyond human.
And for the first time in his life—
Kenji was afraid.
So he buried it.
Pretended it never happened.
Went back to his life, back to his work, back to being the pillar that held his family together.
But deep down, he knew.
Something had changed.
Something had awakened.
And it would never go away.
---
Falling into the Underground
Then came the day when Kenji faced a choice.
His youngest brother, Kenta, fell deathly ill.
The hospital bills were impossible.
Even working day and night, Kenji couldn't keep up.
And so—
Desperation led him to a world he had sworn to avoid.
The Underground Fight Clubs.
A place where men didn't fight for sport.
They fought for survival.
They fought for money.
They fought for power.
Kenji entered the ring not because he wanted to.
But because he had to.
And in that brutal, blood-soaked arena—
He fought.
And he won.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Because he was strong.
Because he had no choice.
Because losing meant letting his family suffer.
But the deeper he fell into that world—
The more he realized the truth.
Strength alone could not fix everything.
Because strength—
Was just another burden.
And then, one day—
A man entered the fight club.
A man with sharp eyes and a quiet presence.
A man who saw through him.
Akira Takahashi.
And with one sentence, he changed Kenji's life forever:
"Fighting won't save them, Kenji."
"But fighting for something greater might."
Kenji didn't know what Akira meant.
Didn't understand what he was offering.
But something about the way Akira spoke—
Something about the way he believed—
Made Kenji pause.
Made him listen.
And for the first time in years—
He considered the possibility that maybe—
Just maybe—
His strength wasn't just a burden.
Maybe it could be something more.
---
A Titan's Purpose
Now, standing alongside Akira and the others—
Fighting in a battle far greater than himself—
Kenji understood.
He was not just a pillar.
He was not just a protector.
He was a warrior.
And for the first time—
His strength wasn't just for survival.
It was for something far greater.
Because this time—
He wasn't just carrying his family's burden.
He was carrying the weight of the world.
And no matter how hard the fight got—
No matter how heavy the burden became—
He would never fall.