- SEZ to wash your hands before and after eating; EVEN if you've got high tech, LASER arms made of solid light like he does.

A number of things over the past few months since we hit the 2020's have gotten me really into the hot pink and neon aesthetic; and then you get stuff like Magnum Bullets blowing through the net and I realized I had to scratch the itch somehow!

So without further ado, I give you Rustin; Rusty only if you're a friend, and 'Hagane' when strictly on the job.

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Once upon a time - as so often these stories began - his was a tale of rags on the fast track to riches as a career fighter fresh into manhood. Of course, drawing too much attention to his own successes in the ring earned him the ire of Men With Resources that didn't take particularly kindly to the imbalance he brought to their gambling rings, especially when you've got an ego like his that would die before admitting defeat under any circumstance. Suffice to say, there was no 'stern warning' before both of his arms were swiftly katana'd from his shoulders in a hit and run, literally crippling his career before it ever began.

Crippling despair aside; the years of vagrancy and obscurity that followed at Rust's heels taught him a few things beyond the fact that excellent cardio and flexibility can supplement much of the trouble of life without arms by substituting them with his feet. His constantly adapting mindset and can-do attitude lead him to treat his new life on the lower end as a form of ascetic training; communing among the other downtrodden, finding purpose and structure in his life as a sensei to those willing to learn. Learning to work with his impairment and developing a whole new approach; he reentered the ring as a final testament to his journey and effectively stole back the gold that'd been robbed of him all those years back. Yet, as he seemed poised to resume his course; he vanished from the spotlight with what small riches he'd accumulated from the experience, this time of his own volition.

Maybe out of cautiously respecting his own history, or enamored by a simpler way of living; they made a good enough story for the public to chew up, but they who walk in the shadows he retreated to know a rather different kind of tale. These days, he's better known as 'Hagane'; selling his fighting prowess as a bodyguard to anybody who can meet his more specific price marks, sometimes without money ever playing a factor.

Like the steel of his namesake - a willful irony given the same type of weapon having been used to set him on his previous path - Rust embodies flexibility and unfailing toughness in the face of challenge, forging himself anew as he challenges all the misfortune tied to his past identity in pursuit of being not only a better fighter, but a better man as well.

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This long term piece was wonderfully done by https://twitter.com/RevealSecretPis over on twitter. Please go give him your likes, retweets, and watches if you can, dude's a spectacular artist. Thanks again man!