Donkey Kong's strength

"Robin, I have to say, it's somewhat difficult to remain enthused with you looking so dour," Chrom told his strategist, feeling a bit of the gravity rub off on him. "What's so dangerous about this great ape?"

"His incredible strength is not to be underestimated, nor his finesse to use it," Robin responded, keeping his eyes on Lucina's approach. "There's no meaner punch: a straight from hell. When he draws his arm back, he gives his tell."

"He has no weapon?" Chrom scoffed, pointing to the monkey incredulously. "Gods, he wears no shirts!"

"If he hits you, it's gonna hurt," Robin declared, putting the matter to bed. "Weapons are more his tyke Diddy's game. Now that I think about it, you have a match with Diddy later today, correct? But Donkey Kong is bigger, meaner, and stronger too. In my opinion, he's the worst member of the DK crew."

"Pah!" Chrom dismissed him again. Lucina had almost closed in, and he had total faith in his daughter.

With no thought for the peanut gallery, Lucina had finally made it to her quarry. To her surprise, however, Donkey Kong rose to his feet immediately, giving her a glare over his shoulder. It wasn't clear how much malice was there, but with his heavy brow and questionable intelligence, it was menacing regardless.

"This is bad," Robin muttered, putting a hand to his chin. "I don't know how much he knows about Smash matches, but DK is fiercely protective of his banana hoard. He's taken out hundreds of armed Kremlings to reclaim them. It's not hard to imagine he's thinking that's what Lucina's up to."

"I pity the poor beast, but that's all," Chrom told him, waving his hand. "I hardly think there's need for all the doom-saying."

Lucina was of the same mind. Sure, Donkey Kong was intimidating, but there was no way a trained and noble swordswoman would lose to a trained circus ape.

DK seemed to sense this, and decided to give a show of power right away. He beat his chest as he turned to Lucina, letting out a wail that reverberated through the jungle, then immediately pulled his arm back and started spinning it in a windmill.

"Hmph. Well met, King of the Jungle!" Lucina brought her sword to bear, readying to parry the obvious strike incoming. "But if you think you can hit me with that-"

The brash ape didn't waste time engaging in courtly formality, swinging his punch forward.

Lucina couldn't believe she was parrying a monkey's punch with her Parallel Falchion, but there she was. She brought the blade up to catch the fist, only to find the speed and range at which the knuckles approached were much greater than she'd anticipated. There was some strange trick of perspective in how that fast flew forward. She got the sword up in time, but the monkey roughly bashed it. She felt her teeth ringing from the impact.