Giotto's Prediction Blogs: Tsunayoshi Sawada vs Itsuki Minami (Katekyo Hitman Reborn! vs Air Gear)

 

(Thumbnail by Giotto)


“You are the sky. Everything else—it’s just the weather.”

-Pema Chödrön


Tsunayoshi “No Good Tsuna” Sawada, Vongola Family 's Future 10 Generation Boss.


Itsuki “Ikki” Minami, Leader of Kogarasumaru and Air Trek 's next King of the Sky.


In 1903, humanity would be amazed by the Wright Brothers’ invention of the airplane, allowing humanity to fly for the first time. Throughout history, we have gazed up at the sky, envious of the birds that soared through it, we defied and fought against gravity for millions of years if our posture has to say something about it. However, for some people that sky is closer than they realize, but they’re brought down by the chains that bind them to the ground. 


These two leaders learned that if they wish to break the chains that restrict them, their wills must be indomitable, unbreakable and unwavering. Allowing them to become one with the one true sky, one where everyone will simply gather and have fun, grow and become our ideal selves with the chances lifes gives us, be reborn and know that in our coal, there’s a diamond. Their inherited positions were basically there since they were young, but more than a title, what they truly desired was to grow, change and experience maturity, instead of sticking in their naivety and lack of choice. This isn’t something they could achieve on their own though, drawing their true strength from their friends and other allies they’ve met along their journeys, who they will always swear to protect from the claws of a rotten criminal world.


Will the crow of Kogarasumaru’s wings be clipped by the timid mafioso? Or will the Vongola bloodline end at the 10th generation by the hands of the sky’s king? Let’s find it out on this prediction blog!


Before we start…


For Tsuna, we will be using all his feats and statements from Anime, Manga and Hitman Reborn’s Secret Bullet Light Novels, since despite the anime fillers and some differences, the stories all remain the same and are canon. For Ikki, we’ll be using Anime, Manga and Break The Sky OVAs. Toei’s anime may have not adapted all the material and made major changes in the beginning, but at least the key elements  of certain feats like visuals would be considered. That being said, let us begin!


Background

Tsunayoshi Sawada

Cues: (SPLAY ／Drawing Days)



Many would assume that a mafioso must be a gritty, stone cold killer. A dangerous person who you’d never want to cross out of fear of what they might do to you. And if you’re a part of the infamous Vongola Famiglia, anyone with knowledge of the underground knows not to mess with you. Led by Giotto, the Vongola were once a group of vigilantes tasked to protect the people of Italy, but that would soon change under the leadership of the second boss.

That 10th boss would soon become Tsunayoshi Sawada, better known as “No-Good Tsuna”. Tsuna was…unimpressive to say the least. He’s socially awkward, gets bullied all the time, gets bad grades, and is terrible at sports or anything remotely athletic. His life was seemingly going nowhere, until he got a tutor, almost like an angel without wings. This “tutor” was Reborn, who in reality was sent by Vongola Nono to train Tsuna for his new position as Vongola Decimo. Tsuna would quickly decline the position of mafia boss, not wanting anything to do with the Vongola, much to Reborn’s annoyance. Reborn would soon begin training Tsuna to make him more fitting of the position, by killing him. Upon dying however, Tsuna had many regrets, which activated his Dying Will Mode, allowing him to act much more fearless than usual. While reliant on it early on, Tsuna eventually learned to be more confident in his abilities, putting him a small step closer to being a proper mafia boss.


Sooner or later the mafia world would catch wind of the new Vongola boss, with many people wanting to either take the seat of the boss themselves or rid the world of the Vongola for good. Defeating these threats was no easy task however, forcing Tsuna to take his role as Vongola Decimo more seriously now that the lives of his friends are at stake. The first step needed was to find and appoint people to become the next Vongola Guardians, those who would represent the Famiglia and protect it no matter the cost. From infighting with family subgroups to fighting in the future, Tsuna and his guardians were pushed to their limits to maximize their potential and restore the Vongola name to what it once was.


Throughout their battles, Tsuna would become more and more fitting for the boss’ position. Learning that as a leader, he must become the sky that allows his Guardians to thrive and prosper. He may not have wanted to, but he understood that he must accept his Vongola heritage in order to protect the ones he cares about. 

Itsuki Minami



"A long time there... there was a balloon man, right? When I first heard that story, I was so stupid that I actually enjoyed it... but really, the story was horrible. Driven solely by his dreams he used his balloons to disappear into the sky. The people watching made a big fuss about it... but no one really tried to stop it. There's no telling where the wind will take you. And he knew that one day his fuel, his ''freedom'' would run out, and he'd fall into the black ocean. To fly... that feeling is the most important thing. But instead of the dark clouds that drive people from the sky... there must be a chain to keep them grounded. The time will come, for those with the ability to fly away, while everyone else can only watch. Using their own wings, their own power... soaring as far as they can without aid. Because... because that is what it means to fly."

2000s have arrived and the world has changed its course, the progress of technology in society shocks everyone everyday that goes on, the era of extreme sports at its peak had NO idea what awaited it. New, funky and radical motorized skates have appeared, the Air Trek is the new sensation. With their advanced technology, the impossible becomes possible, the unbelievable is believable, flying through the skies, feeling the sunshine and breeze directly in your skin is not a simple dream anymore. A mysterious scientist, Rinta Minami, was in charge of developing the potential of this technology for years, one that for a long time was protected in the depths of the government. The Tropaeum tower, unnoticed by everyone, hid the biggest secrets behind the creation of the Air Trek, which behind that facade of being simply something with which you could have fun and have a great time with your friends, a whole background of human experiments and their use as government tools was hidden. Much is unknown about young Ikki’s past; from an early age he was left by Rinta at the Noyamano sisters' house. Ikki was born as a wild, impertinent and poorly behaved child who enjoyed conflict, Ikki always had this incomprehensible and overwhelming aura, just like a devastating blizzard, because of this, his childhood’s best friend, Kazu felt like he was left in Ikki’s shadow every time they had any competition, even if his intentions were never such. The sky is perhaps Ikki's greatest fixation. Observing it every chance he could, sitting on a giant stone along with his step sister Ringo, always amazed by its vast size, the sensation of wanting to reach it, the sky was freedom to Ikki, freedom to open your wings and fly without a chain stopping you. Because of this same thing homever, Ikki put himself in danger once, climbing a huge tower on his own, and by accident falling hundreds of meters below, where death could have greeted him, a huge old crow saved his life. Everyone and himself knew it perfectly, sky loved Ikki.

Already in high school, being a temporary leader of his school's gang of thugs (East Side Gunz) among his friends, Kazu and Onigiri. Ikki had a confrontation with a rival gang known as "Skull Saders", but they weren’t some simple low tier street thugs, they were in fact Storm Riders, aka users of Air Trek, giving them a major advantage over Ikki, humiliating him so badly that made him pee his own pants. Bullying him under the nickname of "Pissing Crow". Returning home, this affected Ikki emotionally, his sisters seeing this, knew what to do. And made him aware of the world's new reality, introducing him to Air Treks as well. 


He was fascinated with this concept, but even more after meeting his new and deep crush who pushed him forward in the world that awaited him, the swallow Simca. Ikki faced multiple challenges with his new team made up of his closest friends and former enemies, Kogarasumaru was born and ready to impart their ability. Ikki’s growth in this world was quick, he loved to the heart the feeling ATs gave him. Simca admired this determination of his, she was confident that the man in front of her needed to be the next King of the Sky. So Genesis, led by Simca, would help Ikki strive to the top of the Tropaeum Tower of Air Trek matches. Ikki would blatantly refuse to fully join Genesis, following his own path with Kogarasumaru as team. But this didn’t stop Simca from helping him most of the time. Ikki would create different bonds with some other characters related to the AT world to understand the meaning of striving for the top of Tropaeum, but specifically, there was someone he admired the most, Sora Takeuchi.

Sora and Ikki developed more than a pupil and teacher, Ikki mirrored Sora due to their connections and Ikki's sympathy due Sora's tragedy stopped him from following his dreams, but between moments of support and mentoring, Sora turned against Ikki, demonstrating his dark intentions in taking the position of King of the Sky with the purpose of ruling the world having access to all Regalia. Devastated and broken Itsuki believed that this would be the end of his career to reach the sky and love Air Trek in the same way, that of course until almost like a ray of hope, all those whom he faced, met and helped gave him a boost of confidence in himself again, his "wings" had been rebuilt, his courage grew even more, Itsuki was willing to face Sora face to face, no matter what, fighting in the Gram Scale Tournament, in which the strongest teams will fight for the fate of the world

Equipment

Tsuna Sawada

Dying Will Pills


These are pills that, when ingested, activate Dying Will Mode. Two are required for activating Hyper Dying Will Mode.

X-Gloves


The X-Gloves are Tsuna’s primary weapons throughout the series. They initially appear as a pair of white mittens with 27 inscribed on the back. However, when Tsuna channels his flames into them they transform into a pair of black, metal-clad gloves. When using these, Tsuna is able to propel himself with his flames for great maneuverability.


Tsuna’s X-Gloves have received a few upgrades throughout his many battles.

Version Vongola Ring


Though mostly the same as the original, the V. V. R. X-Gloves are capable of producing two different types of flames, hard and soft.


Soft flames are more dispersed and easier to control due to their linear strength increase. Tsuna uses these for holding a stance and hovering.


Hard flames are more powerful and destructive but they’re harder to control due to their exponential strength increase. Tsuna uses these for acceleration when flying and raw power. Their ability to be blasted outwards forms the basis of many of Tsuna’s later attacks.

Version Vongola Gear


The current X-Gloves that were created after the Vongola Rings were upgraded after being destroyed.


According to Tsuna, these new gloves have not only changed shape, but the way that the Flames are projected have been changed as well, being a lot more powerful. Tsuna mentions that this new power is a power unlike any he's felt before. When activated, some kind of writing covers the flames, similar to the one around Enma's released ring.


When in Cambio Forma, they obtain arm thruster attachments.

Leone di Cieli ver. Vongola


During his venture in the future, Tsuna and his guardians were exposed to a new kind of power system; Box Weapons. When imbued with the corresponding Dying Will Flame via ring, they can emit a vast array of different weaponry.


After he and his guardians cleared through the Millefiore’s Merone Base, they each obtained their own Vongola Box Weapon, tailored to their respective flame and fighting style. All of them contain an animal that can both aid their respective guardians in battle and transform into actual weapons via Cambio Forma.


Tsuna’s is Leone di Cieli, but it was given the nickname Natsu (lol). It’s a small lion cub that acts very similar to Tsuna, going from timid and easily frightened to a serious powerhouse. In battle, Natsu typically rests on Tsuna’s shoulder, giving him assistance when needed.


Natsu’s attacks are pretty standard for the most part, mainly consisting of basic scratches and bites. But it can use the Ruggito di Cieli ability to petrify enemies and objects with its roar. It doesn’t have the widest range however due to Natsu’s small size.


When told that their Boxes couldn’t be brought back to the past with them, the Arcobaleno Verde converted them into rings.


Natsu Version X


This is Natsu’s current form after its Animal Ring was used to create Tsuna’s Vongola Gear. Because the Animal Ring was destroyed, Natsu is now part of Tsuna’s Sky Ring.

Vongola Ring of the Sky


The Vongola Rings are specialized rings worn by the current Vongola Boss and their Guardians. These rings, along with the Arcobaleno Pacifiers and Mare Rings make up the Tri-ni-sette, a trio of extremely powerful artifacts that are said to have created the world.


During the battle with Byakuran, a manifestation of Vongola Primo appeared and unlocked the true hidden power of the rings.


When worn, the Ring allows their respective Guardian to channel their innate Wave Energy into Dying Will Flames, allowing them to be inserted into a Box Weapon in order to open and use them in battle.


Ring of the Sky Version X


After the Vongola Rings were destroyed at the hands of the Simmone Family, the Vongola’s metal craftsmen Talbot gave them an upgrade using the remains of the Rings, their Animal Rings and Penalty, the blood of first boss Giotto.


The combined form of all three parts resulted in stone ores of each Dying Will Flame of the Sky, and by channeling their most powerful flames through the ores they would become the Vongola Gear, personalized for each guardian.


Tsuna’s took the form of twin rings to best suit his fighting style.

X-Contacts


The X-Contacts are contact lenses created by Spanner to perfect Tsuna’s X-Burner attack. They are activated when Tsuna gives the command, “Operation X”, and create an optical interface that helps Tsuna aim at a target and find the proper balance of hard and soft flames to use.


They work in conjunction with the X-Headphones.

X-Headphones


The X-Headphones allow Tsuna to contact the Vongola headquarters or other guardians from afar, and also let Reborn create a projection of himself to assist Tsuna. They were upgraded by Spanner to connect with the X-Contacts and now voice the amount of Fiamma Voltage Tsuna has for the X-Burner.

Ikki Minami

Kuu

Kuu is a small crow that used to accompany Ikki most of the time, he really doesn't do that much, but Ikki once used him as a surprise attack in the form of a cannon. He can also talk and has register of Ikki’s growth, for some reason

Air Trecks

Air Treks in the story are essentially high-speed motorized skates which allow the user to pull stunts and tricks in the wind. They are composed of three major components: Wheel Motor, Hydraulic Cushion System, and Power Injection System. The components vary immensely, because every part is meant to be customizable for the specific needs of the rider, their style of fighting and in the case of Regalias, a rider’s body and soul.

The speed highly depends on the user’s very leg strength, the stronger the pressure from the kick the faster they work. Homever kicking all right up is not exactly the best way to accelerate, as most of the energy ends up dissipating, so “weight shifting” on a supporting leg helps to improve the ride. This speed can come as an advantage to them, as some riders have been able to generate flashes of light through a Braking System which has them stay still only to release the heat energy coming from their wheels. The biggest "thrill" of Air Trecks is the precisely calibrated air cushion system, which gives these self-propelled trick skates their juice, allowing the Riders to "fly".

A-T's are installed with a program called R.E.A.D (The Lead in the official translation), which is able to register all the data of each trick learnt. R.E.A.D connects them to the "Inorganic Net", a virtual world where riders can train, and can allow the rider to access performance data on another rider from the data stored on the memory card inserted inside the A-T. 

Storm Regalia

Regalia in Air Gear are custom pieces you can implement on A-T with help of a Tuner, who has to guarantee the user’s entire experience with it is safe and fits your entire structure/ way of riding (Aka Road), because otherwise if is tuned for someone else and you use it, is not going to be as strong. But in contrast to your average A-T piece, not every person can access to Regalia, since the ones who do have one are called “Keepers” or “Kings”, who have mastered their respective Roads. Every single Regalia as well, guarantees the Storm Rider can release an Infinity Atmosphere, a really specific wind ability with different effects. (See more on Hurricane Road)

The Storm Regalia is not something else besides the modification of Moonstruck Drop Bagram (Aka, core of Wind Regalia). Moonstruck Drop Bagram was actually of Sora’s belonging time ago before Sleeping Forest was dismantled, given in secret by Dr Minami with the writing “Welcome To Nightmare” but it got lost over time and ended up in old man Koroji’s collection. Ikki at one point visited him, and was given in his hands this super valuable piece. 

Eventually Kururu was the one in charge to tune it early on the series to Ikki, showcasing the abysmal power Regalia possessed through releasing its Infinity Atmosphere (Moonstruck Numberless Grappler) and fighting against Ringo. But through his inexperience and overwhelming power, the Regalia was reduced to pieces. And it was actually warned by Sora, that Regalia can make your air control either 10 or 100 times better.

After the Regalia was destroyed, Kururu spent a good while observing Ikki and creating bonds with him. Which made her learn Ikki’s real style was not fitting with Wind Regalia, but instead he was more like a “Storm”. Things got a lot heavier when Sora was granted access to the Sky Regalia, Regalia of all Regalia. So in ex-change, the team decided to create the perfect countermeasure for it in the form of Storm Regalia. 

Sky Regalia’s immense powers were a threat in the first place, because it is in reality a weapon with the power to control all technology in the world and the entire Inorganic Net (which connects all A-T’s registers with “Skylink”), is just part of the Sky Regalia, whatever happens inside the Inorganic Net, has effects in real life too. And pretty much can access the knowledge of 8 roads to its advantage.


Storm Regalia on the other hand is built with a similar idea in mind, there’s not much difference, except that in this case it has 6 physical cores of really strong Regalias. And combines it into one powerful weapon, obviously with a proper tuning by part of Kururu, issue being that the latter wasn’t enough, so Ringo had to take advantage and tune it for Ikki. The intention of the story was for Ikki to use it, but in a way to troll Sora in the final fight, Ikki gave it specifically to Ringo. (See, Before Verdict)


Having all the Cores, Storm Regalia allows the user to replicate how all of the other Roads work and their principles. 

Other abilities that Storm Regalia demonstrated, included:


Abilities

Tsuna Sawada

Wave Energy


Wave Energy is the wave (lol) of life force that courses through the human body. The size and balance of this wave is determined at one’s birth and it’s heavily implied that people of the same blood tend to have similar wave balances. Much like Rings and Box Weapons, these waves are classified according to the Seven Flames of the Sky.


Dying Will Flames


Dying Will Flames are described as a high-density form of energy refined through one’s own life force.


Flames are graded in accordance to how pure they are, which is directly related to an individual’s resolve. A flame’s purity tells you basically everything about the size and strength of a person’s determination. Flames of high purity are clearer and brighter, and more power can be drawn from them.


When being used through a ring, the ring must have a level equivalent to the purity of the flame. If the ring is of a lower level it will be unable to withstand the flame and break.


There are two kinds of Dying Will Flames, the Seven Flames of the Sky and the Seven Flames of the Earth. But there do exist multiple special flames that don’t belong in either category.


The Flames of the Sky are named after seven weather phenomena in the sky: the Sky itself, Storm, Cloud, Rain, Lightning, Sun, and Mist. And despite being called “Flames” most of them have properties similar to other natural phenomena such as electricity or water.


Sky Flames


Of the Seven Flames of the Sky, Tsuna possesses the Sky Flame, the most powerful and most rare type of Flame. They’re also the most comparable to actual flames, being able to burn/melt objects and release heat. Users of the Sky Flame are commonly known to possess great insight.


Each Flame has its own unique characteristic that reflects the person wielding them. The Sky Flame’s is Harmony, which represents the sky’s all encompassing embrace that harbors everything. This allows for Sky Flames to be combined with any other Flame. They can also purify dark auras.


They’re also capable of petrifying enemies or objects. And once they exceed a certain speed the flames are amplified. Sky Flames can also open any Box Weapon regardless of its attribute, but they won’t be as effective.


Dying Will Mode


When either shot by the Dying Will Bullet or ingesting a Dying Will Pill, Tsuna goes into his Dying Will Mode.


When in this mode, the pressure a person faces during a crisis is used to remove one’s external body limiters and increase their strength so that they may fulfill their “Dying Will”, whatever it may be.


While in this mode, the user feels as if their body was breaking, yet they were prepared to take on anything, as well as be unafraid of their body being destroyed. This is also the case for Hyper Dying Will Mode


The effects of Dying Will Mode only last 4-5 minutes, then the user returns to normal. A notable side-effect is their clothes rip off, down to their undergarments. A Dying Will Flame also appears on the user’s forehead, and Reborn demonstrates that firing the Dying Will Bullet into different body parts can give different effects such as propeller feet, huge fists, etc.

Hyper Dying Will Mode

 


This mode is activated when someone is shot with a Criticism Shot or ingests two Dying Will Pills. After mastering it, Tsuna primarily uses it over the standard Dying Will Mode when fighting.


When entering Hyper Dying Will Mode, instead of a person’s external limiters being removed, their internal limiters are removed, releasing their hidden awareness. The user is able to fight more calmly instead of burning through all their dying will at once.


Due to his Vongola lineage, Tsuna gains the Vongola Hyper Intuition in this mode. With it, Tsuna has an exceptionally high perceptive mind and very sharp instincts, allowing him to read the slightest movements of the muscles to predict attacks, and as well see through different illusions, like Rokudo Mukuro’s and Viper’s who are able to control all 5 senses.


While Tsuna is in this mode he’s able to channel his flames through his X-Gloves for a variety of different attacks.


Cambio Forma


Cambio Forma is an ability exclusive to the Vongola’s Animal Box Weapons. Upon shouting the phrase “Cambio Forma”, the animal will either merge with the user’s equipment or become a new set of equipment entirely.


Initially, this ability transformed the Vongola Box Weapons into equipment inspired by the first generation Vongola Guardians. The Cambio Forma of the Vongola Gear is based on the fighting styles of the 10th Generation Guardians.

Modo Difesa: Mantello di Vongola Primo


Natsu transforms into a cloak to protect Tsuna from incoming attacks. Thanks to the Sky Flame’s Harmony characteristic, the cloak can nullify incoming attacks and petrify enemies. It’s based off of the one used by Vongola Primo, Giotto.


Modo Atacco: Mitena di Vongola Primo


Natsu transforms into a gauntlet that Tsuna can pour massive amounts of flames into with little effort. They were based on Giotto’s I-Gloves. Tsuna gains access to two very powerful attacks with these.


  • Big Bang Axle: A technique in which Tsuna concentrates Sky Flames into his fist to deliver a powerful punch. Said punch is said to rival the X-Burner in power.

  • Burning Axle: A more powerful version of the Big Bang Axle Tsuna unlocks after the unsealing of the Original Vongola Ring.

Version X


Tsuna’s Cambio Forma Version X is formed when Natsu merges with both the X-Gloves and the Sky Ring. Tsuna’s gloves now have arm thrusters attached to them when in this mode.


Tsuna’s flames are far more powerful, as he can emit flames strong enough to escape the pull of a black hole and even destroy one. The thrusters continuously emit Soft Flames, allowing Tsuna to use Hard Flames with both hands while keeping the balance of both.

Spiritual Interaction


Unknown to many, Tsuna can interact and fight with spirits. Ever since the Daily Life arc actually lol. But on a more serious approach, Tsuna had a fight with Daemon Spade, who’s main gimmick involved body swapping and possession, quite similar to Rokudo Mukuro. After leaving the latter’s body, he tried to escape only to be stopped by Vindice and faded by Tsuna with his flames. 

Oath Flame


The Oath Flame is created from the combination of Tsuna’s Sky Ring and Enma’s Earth Ring, and is a fusion of both their flames. This flame possesses both the Harmony attribute of Sky Flames and the Gravity attribute of Earth Flames.


Tsuna can use the Earth Flame’s gravity to slow down or immobilize his opponents, and can also use it to hold his bones together and reinforce his skeleton. 


With the Oath Flame, the X-Burner is capable of being fired without any need to balance the flames.

Ultimate Dying Will Mode


This is the final stage of the Dying Will Mode that is achieved by being shot with the Dying Will Bullet while already in Hyper Dying Will Mode. While normally, being shot with it causes you to become hyper-focused on what your dying will is, this mode keeps the user’s mental state and engulfs them in flames. The Vongola Hyper Intuition is also enhanced when in this mode.


Tsuna’s X-Gloves shatter when in this mode because his will is so strong that he doesn’t need weapons.

Ikki Minami

Hurricane Road


Every user of Air Trek (Storm Rider) has their own unique style of riding. This defines their Type, it could be a lot more calm or aggressive depending on their own ideals and mentality, and there’s different skates built for such purposes.


After setting a determined amount of Tricks regarding it, is when each rider follows a Road. In Air Gear, there’s many of them, with their set bases and interactions with the wind and waves of the world that surrounds them.


Ikki used to follow the Wind Road, learning and developing it better due Sora’s help, but at one point in the manga, Ikki developed his personal one after Sora’s betrayal. The Hurricane Road, making Ikki the “Storm Keeper”. Following the principles of Wind Road and Over Road, making a really strong combination.


Wind Road is the closest to the sky and the meaning it has, since it involves “being one with the wind”. To manipulate air in Air Gear, you essentially have to understand the difference of pressure between your hands and the air, product of a suction effect similar to when you make the air in the space between hands and ground 0. In this case, Ikki has to help himself in manipulating the axis and stability of his body to greatly improve the control of his wind, it actually goes insanely well for him due being able to fade the damage due this. And while not as great as Sora’s, Ikki has essentially control as well of feeling the air difference in spaces to detect movements on-going. And has developed techniques to change the trajectory of others attacks due manipulating the direction of the wind.


Over Road on the other hand, builds its core through absorbing the wind similar to a Windmill’s movement, directing all the energy to the center. And as strong as the wind is, the stronger it will be redirected back at the opponent. Is also able to compress wind into a high density point to create “walls” of wind.

Wheel Spin Drop


Using one of the basic principles of the A-T, Ikki is able to use the pressure of the A-T while standing still to accelerate them and release it in a quick dropkick.

3D Localization


It’s unknown what Ikki is supposed to be, there’s theories suggesting that he could be a Brain Charger or another Gravity Children due his links with Dr Minami, manga never answered this question. But this 3D localization is quite similar to Kilik’s own, and is the closest we can compare this ability in-verse. 


With this strange power, Ikki is capable of generating high speed calculations in his brain of the environment he’s competing in. The first time Ikki used this power, he was able to perfectly understand every single aspect of the school’s building by just looking at a map. This same power allowed him to trace a path across Ringo’s thorn attacks to dodge them with accuracy, scan the complexity and depth of part of Tropaeum Tower’s construction and calculate the time it was gonna take him to fall all the way through the water.


Rika has stated that Kilik’s version of this ability, works through placing every object in the battlefield in a 3-Dimensional space. The range of his ability can go even to hundreds of meters around.

Upper Soul


Ikki is able to master a straight stick-like surface like a school pole through a "Soul Grind", in which he constantly rotates like a corkscrew. An incredibly difficult trick by Spitfire's words.

Ikki's 1800 Wallride


Mimicking Buccha's Wallride Overbank 1800 technique, Ikki is able to do his own version, which involves constantly spinning backwards without losing his balance to accelerate through a straight wall.

Moonrider


The Moonrider is an evolution from Sable Tiger’s leader trick, who advanced at great speed backwards, however Ikki used the principle of using force in his jump, stabilizing his center of gravity and using power in the axis of his legs. This trick was even improved by Ikki at the end of the series in the Tropaeum Tower race, dominating his gravity axis enough to avoid a bad descent.


AT Typhoon


Using the centrifugal force of his tornado-like move, Itsuki is able to hit his opponents harder, enough to literally match Bando's Hammer Road.


Air Line


Ikki is capable of generating an electric shock by grinding a power cord. This ability is capable of influencing the creation of Nue's electrical illusions via disrupting them.

Moonstruck Numberless Grapper



Gathering a bunch of debris due sheer force, Itsuki is able to manifest this deadly technique which acts like a wall of wind with hundreds of objects around it increasing their speed and potency. For a better look at it, in the animated version (OVA) it also creates a small hurricane.

Pile Tornado


Manipulating the airflow around, Itsuki is able to launch with his A-T a powerful arrow-shaped gust of wind called Pile Tornado, with this technique Ikki can also accelerate his speed through the Limited Express sub-technique, where he is able to travel through his own Pile Tornado.

Wind Barrier


A technique taught by Sora, with which Ikki is able to generate a super dense wind barrier, with it he can block attacks, and in the final fight at Tropaeum Tower, Ikki learnt how to redirect attacks, like one of Rika's abilities.

Moon Drop Missile


Copying Sora's technique in the Inorganic Net Battle, Ikki can use the Moon Drop Missile, which involves manipulating the air above the opponent and then generating enough pressure to hammer them. Ikki has been capable enough of spawning several at the same time.

Impact Wind


Ikki is able to free himself from situations that imprison him in some way through the use of a violent wind, as in the case that Nue wrapped him with his iron wires.

Super Extra Velocity

Super Extra Velocity is a technique in which Ikki boosts his speed by breaking the sound barrier after tapping the air once, with it he descends the Tropaeum Tower with ease.


Vacuum Ball


After his battle with Sleipnir, Ikki was able to learn Thor's technique of creating vacuums in space, based on the principle of using two forces of wind and compressing them together enough so that they end up repelling each other, thus creating a void.


This vacuum acts just like that of outer space, where there are no ways to transmit waves or wind, in addition to being trapped in one of these spheres, due to the effects that gravity normally applies to the internal fluids that maintain the body, when it comes into contact with the victim, boils the blood into gas, making its opponents explode like fireworks.


Ikki is able to use this technique even better than Thor, as he was able to generate dozens of them to use as transportation methods, preventing Sora from using his normally accurate future prediction method based on reading the movement of the wind. By constantly going through these voids, Ikki was able to speed him up to ridiculous amounts, becoming far more impressive considering that Ikki was able to hold himself after being brutally affected by the effect of these voids.

Wind Blast


Ikki is able to send out a lot of wind, using the principles of wind control. He used this specific technique in a certain range, since according to the theory of perception given in the manga, although sound in an atmosphere is normally slower than light, at a certain distance (15 meters for example), it is possible that sound is much faster than light. Sora managed to narrowly evade it while trying to capture that "Light"

Astral Magus


Astral Magus is just another form of Ikki’s Null Wind which he used against Sleiptnir, both techniques are essentially the same due working under the principle. 


Null Wind, being the Hurricane’s Road Infinity Atmosphere, works gathering waves/ vibrations from attacks and summing their forces into one.


When opposite forces (from explosions for example) act upon a “Standing Wave '', if there’s one wave to reflect it back it generates a huge shock on the standing wave. With this, Ikki pretty much being this “standing wave”, uses all these forces (Like Agito and Kazu’s Grand Fang FireBird) PLUS a reflective one (In this case, Buccha’s rumbling) to generate a hurricane using the shock it generates within him, with the center of the storm being completely calm, dropping the wind velocity to 0 and any chance of using wind attacks. 


He used this trick against Sora, who using all the potency of redirection attacked Ikki. But absorbing the energy from the strike, created a storm visible from space.


Backflip 4200 Raven Hide


In order to keep up with Simca at the end of the story and her impressive trick (A 3600), Ikki showed that he still had his potential in the bag despite being 6 months he hasn't really got to ride, being able to easily do a 4200.

Feats

Tsuna Sawada

Overall

Cues: (Time For The Last Will)


  • Rescued Yamamoto from falling off of a school roof

  • Won the Vongola Rings after the "Sky Ring Battle"

  • Created his own version of the Zero Point Breakthrough technique

  • Saved the future with help of the Vongola from Byakuran’s hands.

  • Defeated Mochidna, Lancia, Rokudo Mukuro, Xanxus, Strau Moska S, Dendro Chilum, Genkishi, Torikabuto, Byakuran, Enma Kozato, Daemon Spade and Bermuda.

  • Matched his dad, Iemitsu after Reborn’s lesson.

  • Reunited every associated family to take down Vindice and give end to the Arcobaleno curse.

Strength



Speed




Durability



Ikki Minami

Overall

Cues: (Skygrinder)

  • Far surpassed Sora's jump record in Devil's 33, in a difference of 35.09 m to Sora's 33.02 m.

  • Surpassed Sora’s betrayal depression.

  • Defeated Buccha, Loki, Nue, Sora.

  • Matched Ringo and Kazu fairly well.

  • Kogarasumaru as team has won against: Skull Saders, Rez Boa Dogs, Yaooo!!, Sabeltigers, Behemoth, Potemkin, former Sleeping Forest, Sleipnir, Genesis.

  • Became the King of the Sky after winning the Gram Scale Tournament.

Strength


Speed


Durability

Weaknesses

Tsuna Sawada

  • Though he can think on his own, usually relies on Reborn for strategy

  • The Hyper Intuition does not work on robots.

  • His Hyper Intuition has been fooled by powerful illusions before. This suggests that Hyper Intuition can see through some illusions, but not all

  • His Zero Point Breakthrough: Revised has a limit of how much it can absorb as it did not absorb one of Xanxus's stronger attacks in combat.

  • Tsuna is too caring. He shows concern for the enemies he has beaten up and doesn't go straight for the kill, unless it is an extreme case like Future Byakuran.

Ikki Minami

Scaling

Tsuna Sawada

10th Vongola Guardians


Since he’s the boss and most powerful of his generation, Tsuna should scale to all of his Guardians.


Varia


Tsuna was able to defeat the Varia’s boss, Xanxus, so he should scale to him and the rest of the Varia.



Millefiore


Throughout the Future Arc the Millefiore were the main antagonists and the Vongola had multiple battles with them.


Simmone Family


Tsuna has fought Enma twice and the other Vongola guardians defeated their Simmone opponent in the Inheritance Ceremony Arc.



Arcobaleno


Tsuna fought and defeated Bermuda, the most powerful Arcobaleno at the time, so he should scale to the feats of the others.


Ikki Minami

Kogarasumaru


As the leader, Ikki should be comparable to all the members of his team.


Nue


Ikki fought and defeated Nue during the final arc.

Yoshitsune


Since Ikki is in the King class alongside Yoshitsune, he should be comparable to him.


Takeuchi Brothers


Ikki defeated Sora and the combined efforts of Aeon Clock, Onigiri, and Kazu defeated Nike, all of whom Ikki upscales from.



Ringo Noyamano


Ringo throughout the series is a better Storm Rider, but in the final battle against Sora and Rika, Ikki and Ringo are relative to each other.



Since Ringo is essentially the user of the Storm Regalia in the final fight, all of the feats she did with it, are applied to Ikki in this case.


Before the verdict

About Black Holes


Both series share in common to possess feats regarding some very suspicious black holes. Which can cause debate on whether they are actually real or not. But here’s at least, the explanations on why we have considered them.


Are Enma’s black holes real? This is easily one of the most debated topics in the Hitman Reborn Vs community, and after much consideration, we believe that Akira intended for these black holes to be the real thing. Not only where the spheres Enma used to create these black holes were stated to have gravity equal to a star, but the black holes were created from these “stars” collapsing on themselves, which is how black holes are formed in real life. It’s also stated that light cannot escape these black holes as well. Even if we were to assume these black holes were fake, the gravity spheres having gravity equal to stars would suggest that these spheres and black holes have an extremely high level of mass, which would require a stupid amount of energy to create/move around.


In Air Gear’s case, there’s a few things to consider. While we don’t know exactly what happened to it after Sora unleashed the power of Sky Regalia, we can at least be aware that Sky Regalia should possess all significant ways to control gravity and outdo/ suppress something of such magnitude, since Sky Regalia’s control over several of the other AT and technology, is represented by the different aspects of physics which are represented in Roads (Centrifugal Force, Vibrations, Propulsation, Free Fall, Electromagnetism, Dynamic Lift, Direction and Wind) and has been stated by Kilik to be able to create them as well.


Dr Minami goes rambling about the Biefeld Brown Effect and the photons collision through the LHC, but all of those things are not necessary to consider. Since all of Sleeping Forest’s efforts were directly through the conversion of their own Regalia powers, and as gravity children their power usage is through “e=mc^2”, formula repeated to be the conversion of soul/ heart waves to actual energy/ wind. Which is where most of the A-T technology goes into, so it’s only fair to assume is the case with this black hole. 

“Non Standard Equipment”


If you are any familiar with Hitman Reborn or Air Gear, you’d know how some of those power tools for both came to be. To a point where you can argue them being “Non Standard” and not usable for fights. 


For Tsuna’s case, Oath Flame form requires access to Enma Kozato’s Earth Simmone Ring, which as it implies, requires Enma to grant it to him. As well as Ultimate Dying Will Mode, which requires Reborn to straight up shoot him with a Dying Will bullet. 


But as a team, we have decided to give the benefit of the doubt to Tsuna. Enma’s Simmone Ring can pretty much fly any time required to Tsuna’s Vongola Gear without needing Enma to give him by hand, as shown in the fight against Daemon Spade and Jaeger, so this isn’t necessarily outside help and should be fine.


And in Ultimate Dying Will’s case, by using the argument that Reborn has to shoot him right off the bat, misses the point of the entirety of all Hitman Reborn, and is blatantly just dismissing the peak tiering of Tsuna. Since Reborn shooting him, it has always been the way he has gotten to fight at all, removing the Dying Will pills of course. Reborn never interferes in his fights and simply allows Tsuna to handle things through his own potential.


With Ikki is another whole story, since by the end of Air Gear, the one who actually used the Storm Regalia was Ringo. Ikki used Wind Regalia before, but it wasn’t properly tuned which ended in its destruction. But after Kururu and Ringo were the tuners in the creation of Storm Regalia, Ikki decided to give the core to Ringo to apply on her Thorn Road replica. 


Since it was intended to be used by Ikki, Ringo got some side consequences due this very own reason, since the tuning is pretty much built so the Regalia is specifically adjusted to the intended rider. So yes, Ikki can and would pretty much use it in a regular situation and the only reason he didn’t was to fool Sora’s plan and expectations.


Universal Reborn???


Hitman Reborn has uhhh, a couple of interesting arguments on the way regarding a hypothetical universal tiering, that we simply could not forget to mention. Not meant to be dismissed as a whole, but we will not be using them, as they seem to lack strength or consistency across the series.


First being the Reborn statement of needing to have an ability as powerful as the big bang, in order to get rid of Enma’s black hole. Surprising as it may seem, the translation is not inaccurate for some reason, it actually means it in Japanese, and not simply a mistranslation of “Big Bang Axle” as one may think. But how exactly does this hold up? Well, going by Chat GPT, it seems you can get Enma’s black holes even higher than the before linked calculations, either ranging into 1.537e+46 joules (153 FOE, Solar System) or (9.785e+73 joules, Universal).  Back holes in real life have infinite energy so a Big Bang level explosion wouldn’t be too insane to consider in case to get rid of one.


But since AI sucks, we cannot fully trust them on this job. And besides, not only is this a one-time said thing, but none of the showns of power from the entire Reborn universe even come close to showcase something similar or in that range. While Tsuna has destroyed black holes, the XX- Burner’s biggest power release has taken part of an island and that’s about it. And while the black holes may have consumed part of the attack, by the same logic it would have consumed most of the attack, or the implosion would have taken a much bigger range. Hell, even the Trinisette in its entirety purely allows for the balance of power in the world.


There’s also an argument with Daemon, who was able to create an illusionary world where he trapped some of the characters. The issue with this specific argument, and is that nothing suggests it is actually a universe or an entire replica of a world, even checking the original Japanese. While it definitely traps physically the characters, it’s worth mentioning that none of them have shown any resistance to illusions whatsoever.


To summarize, pretty much Universal tiering is not out of the realm of possibilities. But most of the time is not an easy-sell and goes against how the characters are normally portrayed in terms of strength.

Art Gallery

(Astral Reborn’s original cover, by Giotto)
(Listen to the amazing commision track by Brandon Yates)


Check out this magnificent AMV done by Mr.Man!!!

(Credits to Starry for the (awesome) banner)

(Waluigi’s Thumbnails)


(Sprite art by Waluigi)


Verdicts

Giotto

(Gokudera my beloved)


Hello everybody! Giotto here! This time on the prediction blog's grinding moment! Taking a second to say how thankful I am that this is releasing, not only do I consider this idea very very sick, but this year is also Hitman Reborn’s 20th anniversary!! . Both characters helped me across 2020 and 2021 (Difficult years) leaving a big impact in my life. Seeing them fight, no matter the result, will always result me fascinating due how close the idea is and how their powers interact. You would never expect such a simple and silly series to straight up teenagers fighting to stop the world’s destruction with black holes involved, which is more than you can say for the rest of Tsuna’s ideas, which I also love! (Oga Tatsumi, Deku, Taiyo, Natsu), despite their great traits, always end up in Tsuna being out of their league.


But enough about my fanboyism towards them, let’s get started on who’d win (in my opinion).Going through the principal and most important details.


Stats

Both characters have shown to be quite powerful in their own right in terms of strength and durability.

Daily Life arc Tsuna with Dying Will Mode was able to survive things like cars running him over or I-Pin’s huge explosions. With Kokuyo land and Varia arc being the first serious parts of the story, Tsuna started doing things like being able to stop an enormous iron sphere from Lancia, and match Xanxus with his Wrath Flame with calculations of 1 Kiloton.

Future arc due it’s shonen-esque- plot, brought crazier feats. Like Tsuna’s weak X-Burner having a casual Multi City-Block feat, to his strongest blasting across skyscrapers like paper resulting in 8 Gigatons. Which only gets higher, the moment you consider Zakuro, and his 54 Gigatons feat . Despite being good tiers, you can argue for the arc getting a higher feat thanks to Byakuran, as he brought Ghost to the main timeline, causing his home world to be destroyed, something which taken literal can reach 646 Petatons (Life Wiping) to  59.44 Zettatons (Average Planet Destruction) there isn’t a lot of context, but knowing what is about to come next, is it really that insane to believe Byakuran could do such thing?

Latest arcs do a big favor to the verse (Inheritance Ceremony Arc and Curse of the Rainbow Arc). XX-Burner is an incredibly powerful technique, used by Tsuna to wipe out the surface of Simmone Island resulting in 22 Gigatons, but also used to destroy some real epic black holes done by Enma Kozato. Enma’s black hole feats range between 8.16 Zettatons through being able to move them alone, 5.8 Ronnatons by the overall mass of his gravity spheres equal to a star’s to 0.122 FOE through their collapse, placing Tsuna at Large Star.

Eventually stronger opponents like Vindice and Bermuda showed up, the latter who is able to fill and replenish energy from all the 7 Vindice, which at least I consider as a 7x multiplier, meaning Tsuna can be 0.854 FOE, still Large Star.


In comparison, Ikki has shown to be a heavy hitter since the beginning of his story. Tearing apart tiles, breaking arcade machines and stone pillars with his mighty fists. The moment Roads and Regalia started being on game, you could see plenty of good feats from other Kings.


Ikki using the minimum power of Wind Regalia was able to lift big amounts of water getting to 34 Tons, and Yoshitsune, who Ikki more or less became a successor of, has a feat where he kicked away a Gundam’s bullet, getting to 2 Kilotons. More or less on the town territory, oddly similar to the time Agito and Orca’s fights almost blew up one in an island, or when someone of his own team, Buccha, did his best efforts against a whirlwind of billions of water pressure, getting to 5.9 Megatons.But Regalias aren’t everything.


Taking notes from his wind control and force he can handle, Null Wind’s power against Sleipnir is calculated to be at least over 1 Kiloton. Going by the same line, Astral Magus (the better version of Null Wind), was so immensely huge in the final fight, that you could see it from space, resulting in 693 Gigatons. Very consistent with the rest of the Storm Regalia’s feats done by Ringo, which range from 15.55 Gigatons through destroying the Tropaeum Tower all the way to molecular level to 152 Gigatons from causing a world-wide energy shut, and it being stated to blow up the world in a fight against Sky Regalia, which indicates life wiping (646 Petatons like said before.)


What holds Ikki against Tsuna, is scaling to Sora Takeuchi who managed to survive this strange looking black hole done by Sleeping Forest IN base form Which can either range from 9 Exatons to 1.72 FOE, the latter being consistent with the series usage of power through E=MC^2.


1.72 FOE is a base value without needing multipliers, comparing it to Enma’s 0.122 (the highest calced) the difference is over 14 times, despite not looking like such. Using Bermuda’s multiplier homever, 0.854 FOE, the gap is now from 2x…


If you ignore the fact that Regalia, when used, has been stated by Sora to multiply the user’s wind power at least 10 or 100 times. This of course, can mean a lot of things and is an inconsistent value, but taking either ends should be enough already to notice the enormous gap generated in terms of Tsuna and Ikki’s power. Since 10 x should place Ikki at 17.2 FOE (Still Large Star), and 100x would place him at an insane tiering of 172 FOE (Solar System).


This sounds ridiculous, but since Sora survived with his base powers, and Ikki fought him on similar conditions with his very basic AT, an hypothetical Storm Regalia Ikki is going to make him busted as hell. So yeah, if you notice, the pattern of the strength disparity has been there since the beginning. Whatever Tsuna has done, there’s a character in Air Gear which has upped the league. Not to mention, even if we still held on to the 2x difference, Ikki’s durability would allow him to stand more, his body has survived an insane amount of external and internal pain, as shown in the vacuums feat, where even bleeding and getting his organs crushed he was able to stand up, or when early on his supposed damaged knee, the damage was dispelled through his body.


In terms of speed homever, things change.


Tsuna is comparable to characters like Yamamoto very early on, who’s feats get around Mach 1.4, he has been able to defuse several bombs before they explode, Hibari was able to block bullets without even bothering, Future arc Tsuna has evaded missiles from Moska, Yamamoto has dodged Phantom Knight’s illusionary ones and so on. Speaking with consistent numbers, Levi on Varia arc (fodder character) has dodged natural lightning, which is Mach 460. On Inheritance Ceremony Arc, Mukuro Rokudo’s soul was able to travel from Vindice Prison to Simmone Island in just a few seconds, making the feat Mach 1116


There’s a very very controversial thingie regarding Reborn’s speed, and is that for some reason Akira Amano herself decided that the final boss of the manga will have as top speed Lightspeed. Which is actually quite odd, considering that you can name at least 3 times where characters have reacted/ dealt with things faster than light.

  1. Tsuna reacting to Gola Moska’s accelerated particles beam (which is confirmed to be one by the very own guidebook, and not simply Gokudera’s statement), which gets 60% SoL
  2. Yamamoto dodging a laser from a security system on Future Arc, which wouldn’t make any sense to be fake since the activation method and technology in there, used infra-red lasers which required to be deactivated with light refractors.
  3. Tsuna, blatantly outrunning Enma’s black hole, which doesn’t let light escape.
Out of a personal thingie, I wouldn’t discard the feats like most do, but I suppose it is “fair” to do so. Regardless, Tsuna’s own personal feat reacting to Bermuda gets 5.4c, (5 times faster than light), many people get this feat as well in the Sub-Rela range, but this is purely out of the supposed distance Tsuna reacted, but he clearly moves his fist moments after Bermuda traveled more distance. This feat is while using Ultimate Dying Will Mode.

Ikki pales in comparison to most of Reborn’s speed feats. Not necessary to undersell characters like Ringo and Kururu, who both have Subsonic+ feats, Aeon who has a Mach 2.3 feat, the A-T’s ability to ride on air at Mach 142 or Kururu’s tuning speed which is Mach 762. But none really compares to Hitman Reborn’s ends. You can be lenient with laser standards and say Kazu’s feat with the Ikki satan suit is fine, and it’d get Ikki at 20% SoL, even compare Ikki to Sora moving inside the Black Hole and say baseline FTL is also fine.

But there’s nothing Tsuna wouldn’t just compare and surpass eventually in terms of reactions and travel speed. Even more with Hyper Intuition, which has been boosted over time. Making Tsuna undeniably faster.


So… If Ikki is a lot stronger, and Tsuna is faster. Does that make it a clear cut? The answer is no, and we’ll see why.

Arsenal and abilities

Tsuna has a lot of different equipment and interesting abilities. Same with Ikki, even more taking in consideration Storm Regalia.

Hyper Intuition and Ikki’s 3D scanning can come off as similar even when not the same, Ikki has faced opponents who also have precognition in the past because he’s quite unpredictable. But in this case Hyper Intuition is a more useful tool than simply making Tsuna’s speed arguments stronger, since it has seen in the past through Rokudo Mukuro’s illusions of the 6 paths, and Torikabuto’s Mist Flames constructions. Both deal with human senses on a far more impressive level than Nue’s lightning or Flame Road’s heat illusions, which are more physics-based and sort of a trick regular people can make.

This brings me to a point where Storm Regalia’s abilities are, for most of the time, pretty useless. No Regalia core has a key ability where it’d let you say can damage Tsuna, and more with the latter’s speed advantage. Gem Road is a possibility, since is a petrification based of shockwaves, which can stun Tsuna and grant Ikki an advantage to use other power, but if you paid attention to Nike’s fight with Kazu, you can notice that is either through the ground that this effect happens (like against Kazu) or through direct contact (like against Simca). When Tsuna’s fighting style is both aerial, and Ikki has no way to catch him, it is yet again, not useful.

What Storm Regalia can help Ikki with is definitely Oath Flame’s gravity powers. Tsuna will have no way to make himself stronger with the gravity armor, or control the surroundings. Since Storm Regalia has an anti gravity effect and has a far better control of it.


And speaking of having better control.


Ikki’s wind powers are actually very useful against most of Tsuna’s techniques, since they are based on controlling the flow and direction of things, so assuming Tsuna uses several X Burners or even a XX-Burner, Ikki can generate walls with Over Road and pull them back at Tsuna. Whichhhhhh is not actually all that useful either, since Tsuna can just absorb it back with Zero Point Breakthrough: Revised


Ikki has his own abilities that can actually one shot Tsuna, and can guarantee him a win under the right conditions. This being Storm Regalia’s power to destroy the opponents at a molecular level, and the Vacuum Spheres, which can boil the opponent’s blood and insides to make them pop like a balloon.


And after reflecting and thinking about it for some days. Tsuna is the one which holds the W.


Ikki has released himself from situations that trap him badly, like Nue’s spider-net through the use of Impact Wind. But considering Tsuna’s ZPB: First Edition literally freezes the opponent in contact, it is gonna be a lot more difficult than simply using Impact Wind. ZPB: First Edition has a couple of weaknesses, like shown against some of Spanner’s Moskas which were able to melt it while stuck inside with Dying Will Flames, and there’s the statement that “any strong DWF can melt the ZPB ice”.


Ikki has nothing similar to DWFs. You can equalize the verse and say Gravity Children’s powers are similar to them, but not only Ikki doesn’t have them in official sources, but his wind as a whole lacks heat under normal conditions (unless he uses flame powers or the braking system). But by that point, the internal motors of the AT are gonna be frozen, stuck and unable to generate movement. Moska’s were built with a lot more layers, which caused their internal functions to not damage while frozen, so it’s a lot more understandable that they survived and used their ability.


So basically, Ikki has no way to counter getting frozen and stuck right there for several years, like Xanxus’ case. And if he did, it’s  not going to be easy, the wind could also be frozen in power equalization, and works as a mere distraction for Tsuna to just plain up use Natsu’s roar to petrify him.


Natsu’s roar is not a W con I consider super useful in some cases, since it’s a beam. It almost tagged Byakuran which is worth considering, but still not particularly fast. And Ikki’s wind control wouldn't let him make direct contact with Mantello Di Vongola Primo. Just that in this case, the combo of both abilities just makes him render Ikki useless and is helped by Tsuna’s insane speed advantage.


What about the molecular destruction tho?


Molecular Destruction could help Ikki in getting rid of the ice, that’s true. And it has an insane range (taking the Tropaeum Tower for example), but the effect doesn’t last forever (same with anti gravity). In the meantime, Hyper Intuition could help Tsuna take notice of this devastating effect and simply fly away from the zone with no issue, since it’s not like Ikki has any miserable part of Tsuna’s speed, he would never be able to catch him and hit him directly (like Ringo did to Rika’s controlling device). So afaik, Tsuna can just and will just freeze him whenever he can, and Ikki can’t do anything about it.


The same applies to Vacuum Spheres, which will never hit Tsuna even if Ikki wanted.

Tertiary Factors

I wouldn’t consider any of them specifically above the other in terms of skill. Ikki is a lot more strategic and cunning if his trollness and confidence has to say something, but not where I’d say Tsuna would be outdone, especially considering Hyper Intuition and his insane training by part of Reborn. And besides, Tsuna has faced opponents with several years of experience on their back, like Xanxus, Byakuran, Daemon and Bermuda, Daemon who is a lot older and experienced than say, Sora in Ikki’s case.

Ikki’s confidence homever, can bite him a bit in the back in certain situations, and Tsuna is not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, but his whole thing is about controlling the situation more than crushing it all together like Ikki.

Tsuna is super kind, and most have argued that this could cause him to spare his opponents on-character, something recognized by Gokudera. But taking in consideration this is a hypothetical match to death, Tsuna has not hesitated in killing his opponents before (namely, future Byakuran). I like to believe both would be great friends in the end, and it’s not like Ikki relies on killing either right at the spot or wants his victory to be with the help of Regalias.

But today, and as much as it pains me to kill my favorite character in fiction (Ikki), despite enjoying both, and coming back and forth on who I think wins. I can gladly announce that Tsuna is winning this fight, and have no problem with such.

Waluigi
Woah, my second time on a blog. How exciting. I wanna thank Giotto for letting me be a part of this blog since I absolutely love this matchup and hope more people start to like it after reading all this. I do think this is the best matchup for both characters, as it has what I want in a matchup for both of them. It thoroughly covers the metaphorical aspects of both characters and their series very well, such as what the sky represents in both verses and how Tsuna and Ikki both learn what the sky really is through being a leader and the hardships that come with it. The dynamic is also insanely cool since both of their power sets play off each other rather well, allowing for some great exchanges

Now, with that out of the way, who do I think wins?


Stats are the easiest aspect to discuss for this fight. So I’ll go over them first.

Stats

AP and Durability

At the end of Air Gear and Reborn, both Tsuna and Ikki get to large star level via their black hole scaling. Unfortunately for Tsuna, the black hole that Sora survived gets to 1.72 FOE, whereas Enma’s black holes come in at 0.122 FOE, more than 10 times weaker. There are multipliers that can be applied for both but Ikki would still be stronger with them so they don’t change much.


As far as durability goes, both have pretty impressive showings. Though in base he’s seen as weak and cowardly, Tsuna’s managed to survive some pretty big explosions like I-Pin’s throughout the Daily Life Arc, and he’s been able to continue fighting through severe injuries like getting his neck snapped and having every bone in his body shattered, but these incidents happened while he was in Hyper Dying Will Mode. Ikki’s generally the more durable of the two though, as he’s always been able to survive some pretty rough beatings since the beginning of the series and since he doesn’t have any forms he’s been forced to take the full brunt of every attack he’s been hit with, and he’s also powered through internal destruction but wasn’t capable of repairing the damage like Tsuna. So while their durability is on the same level, Ikki’s is more impressive to me.

Speed

So Ikki has the edge in strength, and durability is equal, but when it comes to speed Tsuna takes this easily. Ikki should be at least FTL, due to Sora being able to move within a black hole. He does have a feat where he dodges what seem to be lasers, but there’s not enough evidence to prove that they are, plus it’s hard to tell what’s going on in the panels, so this is a little iffy in my opinion. Tsuna intercepting Bermuda, who was moving at light speed gets 5.4c at least with the high end getting to 54c. His reaction time is also amped thanks to Hyper Intuition, and he has a sort of precognition because of it as well.

Results

So when it comes to stats, Ikki is stronger and has more impressive durability, but Tsuna is much faster which will cause Ikki to struggle landing any serious damage, not to mention Hyper Intuition allowing Tsuna to predict Ikki’s movements. It is worth noting that Ikki has bested people with precognition before, so this isn’t the biggest one-up, but it’s helpful nonetheless. The difference in stats doesn’t give either a solid victory anyway, since they do have a lot more at their disposal that could tip the scale.

Arsenal and abilities

Both of them have pretty interesting abilities and equipment that can turn the battle in their favor. But on the other hand both of them do have several counters to each other.

Ikki’s ability to manipulate the air is pretty useful here considering it’s all around them, and he can create walls of wind thanks to the Over Road which can reflect Tsuna’s flames…buuuut this wouldn’t really matter since Tsuna can absorb them back with Zero Point Breakthrough: Revised. Even something as great as Null Wind wouldn’t really do anything since Tsuna would still be able to create flames within its zone, and because it drops the wind level to 0 Ikki would just be nerfing himself.

Okay, so Ikki’s wind powers may be countered, but what about the other stuff he gains with the Storm Regalia? Well, aside from the amp it gives to his wind power, it lets him use the abilities of multiple other Roads like the aforementioned Over Road’s capability to absorb wind or the Flame and Thunder Road’s ability to create illusions. Absorbing Tsuna’s flames wouldn’t really do anything since he can always generate them and Tsuna’s Hyper Intuition can see through Mukuro’s illusions, which are far more impressive than any in Air Gear. So unfortunately most of what Ikki can do doesn’t really help. Emphasis on most.

Ikki does have some options that Tsuna outright cannot counter. The Storm Regalia does possess molecular destruction, which would for sure work on Tsuna and its anti-gravity properties negate the gravity powers of the Oath Flame. And the vacuum spheres Ikki can create would cause Tsuna’s head to pop like a balloon if he were trapped in one. So Ikki does have at least one way to win the fight. But what can Tsuna do to win?


Tsuna has two ways to end that fight that Ikki can do nothing about. Both of which require him to get in close.


These are the Zero Point Breakthrough: First Edition, and petrification through Natsu. ZPB: FE is the more useful option of the two, and if it lands Tsuna’s victory is guaranteed. Ikki can’t break the ice, no matter how hard he tries, and if Tsuna freezes his ATs, he’s a sitting duck for Natsu’s Ruggito di Cieli. This combined with his speed advantage means Tsuna’s gonna be able to pull off his freezing without much issue.

Conclusion

Ikki is stronger no matter what and Tsuna is faster no matter what. Hax is where it gets complicated since both have several counters to each other, but overall Tsuna’s abilities and far greater speed grant him the win. Ikki isn’t totally outclassed when it comes to hax since he does have an option to win, but again since Tsuna’s faster those vacuum spheres aren’t touching him. And because Ikki can’t do anything about being frozen and petrified, he can’t capitalize on his strength advantage to any helpful degree, leaving him open for Tsuna to finish the fight.

It’s a shame Ikki’s more like a crow than a phoenix, because after this loss to Tsuna, he won’t be reborn.

Strunton

I’ll start off by saying that I would like to thank Giotto for inviting me to the blog to contribute. While it’s not preferred MU for Tsuna, it’s pretty neat and vibes really well. Anyway, with that said, who do I think would win this fight? To keep it brief, I think that Tsuna would probably win the fight in more scenarios. When it comes to speed, Tsuna likely holds the edge. At best, Ikki was able to move inside of a black hole, which could be used to argue FTL movement. While this is impressive, Tsuna was capable of outflying black holes in the Inheritance Ceremony Arc, and he’s only gotten faster since then. He also blitzed Bermuda at speeds up to 54c. Factor that in with the Hyper Intuition and the chances of Ikki tagging Tsuna are likely slim. Ikki’s black holes might be stronger than Enma’s, but not to such a notable degree that Tsuna can’t hang in there.

Not only does Tsuna hold the advantage in speed though, but he seems to have the better abilities as well. He can absorb any of the flames Ikki redirects back at him, see through his illusions with the Hyper Intuition, and turn him into stone with his Box Weapon. Tsuna technically has no direct counter to Ikki’s molecular destruction, but thanks to his superior speed and Hyper Intuition, Tsuna can avoid the attack. Not to mention, Ikki also doesn’t have an answer to Tsuna’s Zero Point Breakthrough: First Edition’s freezing, and he would be more likely to land this move first due to his superior speed. Once frozen, Ikki would have no way of defending himself.

Ultimately, Ikki is a tough opponent, but Tsuna’s superior speed and abilities would likely land him a win more often than not. I guess you can say that Ikki will be rocked like a hurricane. Get it? Because Ikki’s power is called the-Ok nvm. The winner is Tsunayoshi Sawada.

Summary

Tsuna Sawada

Cues: (Tsuna Awakens)

“Ohh! About that. My pride is… You. To be honest, I didn’t know what it was, even after I came here. I’ve never thought about something such as pride until now… I wasn’t confident that I had something so admirable… But Hibari-san taught me that the thing you can’t surrender is your pride… If that’s the case, then I can answer without hesitation. My pride is… My comrades, my friends!!”

Advantages

  • Faster, both in terms of travel speed and reactions.

  • Hyper Intuition gives him a major advantage against Flame and Rising Road’s illusions. As well, it helps his speed advantage by a lot.

  • Zero Point Breakthrough: First Edition should be able to freeze and seal Ikki at contact, making him unable to move.

  • Can petrify Ikki or his ATs with Natsu.

  • Through his will alone and just like Sora, Tsuna should still be able to generate Sky Flames in Null Wind’s zone with no issue.

Equal

  • Hitman Reborn’s OPs and OST (So good)

  • Series insane drip. For real.

Disadvantages

  • Weaker in terms of AP.

  • Oath Flame’s gravity powers are canceled by Storm Regalia.

  • Tsuna has basically nothing to counter Storm Regalia’s Molecular Destruction.

  • Daily Life Arc.

Ikki Minami

Cues: (Chain [magnificentral mix])


"Ever since I was a little, I’ve always been chasing rainbows. I remember running down the wet streets, staring up at the evening sky and watching my dreams fade with the setting sun. Up until now I didn’t know it’d slip through my fingers, I always thought I’d grab it with my hand, I thought I could make it my own, I think that’s why I always was swinging my fist around, I didn’t want anyone else to have it. I wanted to pull it down to earth and keep it for myself, but it would always fade away, and on those rainy days, I’d chase it, I would run and run until it disappeared into the purple clouds. But I will never lose sight of it again.”


Advantages

  • Generally stronger.

  • A lot more durable in terms of stamina and body resistance.

  • Storm Regalia’s Anti Gravity effect cancels out Tsuna’s Oath Flame gravity powers.

  • Molecular destruction should one-shot Tsuna on contact.

  • Bigger range and environment control with his wind powers.

Equal

  • Hideki Naganuma’s peak OST and Chain.

  • Series insane drip. For real.

Disadvantages

  • Slower, no matter how you spin it.

  • Most road powers and Null Wind are utterly useless against Tsuna.

  • Even with Impact Wind or Thorn Road, there is no way to actually counter Zero Point Breakthrough: First Edition’s negative energy ice. 

  • If Ikki was to get hit by Natsu or Mantello di Vongola Primo’s petrification, he's done for.

  • Didn’t choose (best girl) Kururu.

Final Tally

Team Tsuna (3) - Giotto, Waluigi, Strunton

Team Ikki (0) - 😔

Final words+ Next Time

To finally conclude this hell of a blog, I am incredibly grateful to Waluigi for helping me across all this research and writing work, it wasn’t easy to be like 3 people working in a fight involving long-running shonen and without him, don’t think my health and patience would have given much this rough and difficult work.


But as well, this is a huge call-out to Rina Antiqua, Mikhail, Strunton and Z1 who were supporting me every time in the ride with calculations and statements. Without them, my own abilities would never allow me to come with a concrete result, more considering a series like Air Gear has not been researched by anybody on the internet.


This was a passion project of mine for a couple years, and I decided that this summer vacation was the right time to lock in and show my love towards both series in the form of this prediction blog. While for the present time 2024 both series are considered niche and obscure, I must confess the thought of giving them a safe space to shine with my keyboard and mind, is something I will keep doing no matter the attention or popularity. 


The blog may not have the best quality and I agree there’s things could be wrong. But the idea is to have it open if you genuinely want to debate it or form your own opinion on the match-up results (with the given respect), nothing would make me much happier considering they’re not commonly read series. 


My sincere faith for Hitman Reborn to jump back on trend again with a new anime. It really deserves it with the lovable characters Akira Amano did and if something Twitter has shown me is that it is still alive with an active fandom. This 20th anniversary of the franchise was perfect to make this and release it to the Death Battle community. 


For its part, I don’t expect Air Gear to come back or get more attention from Oh! Great. But I wish it did, such a magnificent soundtrack, themes and aesthetic is a gold mine in terms of artistic inspiration.


So all I have left to say is, read them. They’re an interesting experience on their own.


For the reveal of the next time, all I can say is that it's gonna be huge. And I am totally ready for it. A match with just as much meaning to me as the current one.

Next Time, on Giotto’s Prediction Blogs.

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