Top three Ginga one on one battles

[VenFenrir]

Interested on what are your favorite duels in Ginga, so I thought I'd make a thread where you can pick three you really like and explain what you find so good about them. The only catch is it needs to be mostly a one on one fight, with that I'll begin:

1 Masamune vs Gennai- Now most of you probably know that Masamune is a character I go fan-girl over, but there are many good reasons why, this fight being one of them (Gennai isn't a character I care about, but he works well for this fight). The first great thing about it is before the fight even starts when Masamune is just watching him with an expression that reads (well this is more entertain then watching grass grow, but not by much) and he is evaluating his enemy the whole time. He then demands to fight solo, and begins with diplomacy, saying he actually doesn't even want to hurt him because he could be useful. He even compliments Gennai, to which Gennai responds by insulting him and declining his offer, to which Masamune says, "You will be mind some day." He literally just told his opponent that regardless of anything he did, he would eventually be one of his pawns like it or not. Then Masamune fakes using his scarf to blind him, so that when Gennai pins it, he can throw the dog off balance showing vast power and intelligence in a single move. Then uses the ningato (while holding back) to show Gennai that he could kill him any moment if he wanted to. Finally he uses his scarf to choke hold Gennai, drag him to a tree, so that he can hang him till he went unconscious. This fight was brilliant, it gave Masamune three new uses for his scarf, showed how powerful and intelligent he was, and build his character so something far more complex than any other villain in Ginga at that point.

2 Akame vs Shuga- the wolf arc can be less than cannon... but there are some okay plot points in it. One of my favorite battles was Akame vs Shuga, for a number of reasons. First off the setting was unique and entertaining, the bamboo forest was something you don't see much else where, and it was neat seeing it used to limit some fighting options while creating new ones. The importance it had to Shuga's collection was also explained in very interesting (and disturbing) detail. Also I like how Akame is battling Shuga in both actual combat, and struggling internal because he seems a lot of similarities between them. Also had one of my favorite wins, as Shuga was set on making Akame the best piece of his collection, but was out smarted by Akame using his collection to his advantage, and instead of letting himself be killed, he becomes a part of his collection via suicide.

3 John vs Hougen- I don't think I need to say that much about this one. It really brings out John's character and greatly impacts Hogen for the rest of the Arc. John isn't really a character I was ready to let go of, but I think he has one of the strongest self sacrifices in the series. Hougen literally could not kill him, each attack hurt him, and John just cheated death again and again. He literally had Hougen about to have a panic attack, and he could barely stand himself. It was like seeing every ounce of John's character flood out of the story, and it was amazing to see a so beloved character go out with bang like that. He threw out some really good lines too.

Well those are my three favorites off the top of my head, hope this was enjoyable. Feel free to comment or share your own top three.

[Dragon]

I made a pretty similar thread somewhere, but it's less specific xD (Wars, duels, anything)

I also loved Gennai VS Masamune. Masamune was such a badass in that fight, but my other favorite part of the fight is how this is like.. the first time we've seen Masamune show he isn't fully heartless. Not only did he spare Gennai after the fight, but he also spared his friends. It was definitely one of the best fights in GDWO.

Since this is exclusive to 1v1s, two other memorable ones I enjoyed were:

-Sniper VS Stone. The quickest but most BRUTAL duel ever. Like...seriously O__O

-Akame vs Gaia. That mouth to mouth tumble might be strange to some, but was weirdly intense to me. The threat of possibly losing your tongue in such an uncomfortable fighting pose, and the fact Akame was going to risk it all just to put an end to Gaia made it pretty...whoa.
My favorite scene of it: