Daniel LaRusso visits an old rival, Mike Barnes because he’s worried that Terry Silver will reach out to him to help with his plan to expand Cobra Kai.
Mike Barnes and Daniel LaRusso faced each other when they were much younger and Mike was one of the guys who terrorized Daniel as part of Terry’s twisted plan.
The furniture king
After Terry finds out who Chozen actually is, he visits Daniel and warns him to back off or else he will be forced to reach out to old friends of his own. Daniel tries to beat him to it and visits Mike Barnes.
Mike is now the owner of a furniture store that belonged to his father-in-law and an overall much nicer guy than he was back then. Daniel asks him if he has any information against Terry that could help him but Mike only knows of a shady lawyer who worked with Terry back then.
Terry eventually finds out that Daniel got that lead and in retaliation, he has Mike’s furniture store burnt down.
Man with nothing to lose
Mike hijacks the limo that Daniel, Johnny and Chozen are travelling in and he stops in the middle of nowhere to give Daniel a piece of his mind. He tells him that since the furniture store burnt down, he’s saddled with debt and his wife left him too.
Daniel tells him that Terry Silver is the man responsible for his problems so Mike suggests going to his house and beating him up. Johnny and Chozen drunkenly agree with that plan but Daniel pleads with them not to go, unsuccessfully.
They go to Terry’s house where Mike confronts Terry but then has to fight one of his men. Mike is knocked out early on by a blunt object but he wakes up eventually to help Johnny finish the fight.
His past as a ‘bad boy’
Mike Barnes was recruited by Terry Silver in 1985 (Karate Kid III) to defeat Daniel LaRusso in the All-Valley tournament in exchange for a 50% stake in Terry’s future chain of Cobra Kai dojos.
Mike terrorizes Daniel to get him to join the All-Valley tournament after initially choosing not to defend his title. Mike is trained in the way of the fist and reaches the final of the All-Valley tournament where he takes Daniel to the sudden death round.
Daniel manages to beat Mike and ruins Terry’s plan of expansion and Mike’s financial future.
Also Read: Sekai Taikai karate tournament in Cobra Kai season 5 explained