22 Years Later, One-Punch Man Officially Brings Back Rock Lee’s Notoriously Broken Taijutsu

Rock Lee’s drunken brawling just turned up in a completely different manga. In One-Punch Man Chapter 237, titled “Traces“, Suiryu squares off with Garou during a spar and finally busts out his Drunken Fist, the same style Lee debuted against Kimimaro in Naruto back in 2004.

That’s a 22-year gap, and it still feels oddly familiar. Garou had been reading Suiryu like a picture book right up until that moment, then everything flipped. Honestly, it’s a great little moment. Naruto fans will recognize the vibe right away. Here’s how both fights played out, step by step.

One-Punch Man‘s Suiryu Pulls Out Drunken Fist Against Garou

Suiryu from One-Punch Man Chapter 237 | Credits: Shueisha

Let’s start with the new chapter: In the manga, Suiryu, one of the Neo Heroes’ leaders, isn’t trying to capture Garou here. He simply wants to test his skill, and Bang is secretly watching from the sidelines. It doesn’t go well at first. Garou, back to being fully human, holds back his deadliest moves and still picks Suiryu apart. He reads every pattern and counters with the same motion he uses to block, so Suiryu can’t land a single hit. Suiryu even notes that Garou blends offense and defense into one move.

So Suiryu stops holding back. He drinks from his alcohol flask, drops into his stance, and the whole fight changes. Garou, the potential protagonist candidate, can’t predict anything anymore. Every strike, as he puts it, is a surprise attack. Suiryu lands several blows, then launches Garou with a high back kick straight into a utility pole. That’s when Garou finally puts a name to it: Drunken Fist.

Here’s the catch. Suiryu can only use the style after he’s had something to drink, and he says his true ability only comes out through it. From there, the two trade blows evenly. At one point, their punches slip past each other’s shoulders and kick up a shockwave. Bang notices something – their styles couldn’t be more different, yet he can see both of them chasing the same ideal form.

Mid-fight, Suiryu suddenly asks Garou if he knows Saitama. Suiryu did meet Saitama at the Super Fight Tournament, so the curiosity makes sense. One last detail. In the webcomic, Suiryu wears a Neo Heroes battle suit for this fight and doesn’t use Drunken Fist at all. So this exact moment is a manga addition.

Rock Lee’s Accidental Sake Mix-Up Started It All Back in 2004 in Naruto

Now rewind to 2004. Rock Lee had just come out of a surgery Tsunade called a complete success, but he left the hospital anyway. He forgot his medicine and grabbed Tsunade’s sake instead. Guy was absolutely horrified when he heard. Lee only needs a tiny bit of alcohol to go fully wild, and his cheeks turn red first. Sound familiar? Lee stepped in so Naruto could keep chasing Sasuke, and Kimimaro had no trouble predicting and blocking his strikes, just like Garou did to Suiryu.

So Lee took a quick break to have his “medicine.” Kimimaro let him do it. Lee got drunk and wobbled into the Drunken Fist stance: that’s Chapter 210. Naruto Chapter 211, titled “Unorthodox,” is where things really got wild. Kimimaro could no longer predict or block anything, since Lee had no clue what he was doing either. Lee landed several blows and dodged every one of Kimimaro’s attacks. Kimimaro answered by sprouting bones from all over his body, so Lee got hurt whenever he attacked. A scratch on Lee’s face sobered him up soon after. Gaara stepped in to take over the fight, and Lee apparently remembers none of it afterward.

The anime followed in early 2005 with episodes 123 and 124. There’s a fun side note for anime watchers, too. The English TV dub called it the Loopy Fist, and the sake became an elixir. Meanwhile, both series actually use the same Japanese name, Suiken, and the real thing is a Chinese martial art where fighters imitate a drunk person’s movements. So that’s 2004 to 2026: two different series, one with a very shaky stance. Lee got drunk by accident; Suiryu did it on purpose.

What are your thoughts on the Drunken Fist? We’d love to know your opinions in the comments below.