What does the word 「こい」mean?


I'm not sure if it is an adjective meaning strong, a noun meaning intention or
neither.

Here is the sentence I came across.

> 僕なんとしても選手になりたかったので申しこむと沼田さんが腕ずくで **こい** というから...

Additional context:

The story started when people found Numata, who was unconscious, and the
speaker was there with him. The speaker then told them:

> けんかじゃありません
>
> 寮対抗の予選試合をやったんです
>
> 僕なんとしても選手になりたかったので申しこむと沼田さんが腕ずくでこいというから...
>
> グローブではめて段平先生に教えられたとおりにしたら..こうなっちゃったんです

It surprised the others because the speaker was a novice at boxing, and Numata
is the one who was supposed to represent the dormitory in a boxing competition
but lost to him.




Here, it means「（腕{うで}ずくで）来{こ}い」, or "come (by force)".

Given the context (an informal boxing match to determine the representative
boxer of the dormitory), it can literally mean "Come at me", in the sense of
"Show me what you've got.". A different translation with the same underlying
meaning would be "(If you want to participate in boxing competitions,) then
prove your strength." It could also mean something like

> 「腕{うで}ずくでリングに上{あ}がって来{こ}い」

which could literally mean "get inside the ring" or more figuratively
something along the lines of "rise to the same stage / same level", i.e.
something along the lines of

> 「試合{しあい}に出{だ}させてもらえるよう、腕前{うでまえ}を証明{しょうめい}しろ」
>
> "Prove your skill, if you want to participate in competitions."

