Baccano! Manga Chapter 013

The title of Chapter 013 is "Tipping Point."

Official Blurb
Isaac and Miria have a new score in mind, Maiza reflects on the past, and the Gandors get some unexpected visitors.

Synopsis
Evening. With his hands tied behind his back, Dallas Genoard demands to know what he and his companions have been injected with. Szilard Quates replies that their fate is not such a bad thing – regardless of how the current situation came to be, the three men have been 'chosen'.

Over in the Alveare honey shop, Isaac & Miria – both in fancy dress, with Isaac carrying a Japanese helmet under his arm – ask Seina to let them into the speakeasy.S Considering them too funny-looking to be federal agents, she does. They are greeted by waitress Lia Lin-Shan, who leads them to a corner table; once seated, they sing Ennis' praises and discuss their plan to steal the Martillo Family's black money.

Meanwhile, in a Martillo office, Maiza Avaro opines to Ronny Schiatto that the Martillos likely will not have to do anything in response to the drug-dealing happening on Gandor turf. He adds that "all that's left" is Firo Prochainezo's promotion ritual, to which Ronny asks if Maiza sees his little brother in him. Clenching his fist, Maiza responds that he does not know; he might have, in the beginning, but Firo shares little of Gretto's timid personality.

The chapter flashes back to the Advena Avis in 1711, where Maiza and Gretto have retired to their cabin following the summoning ritual. Gretto asks Maiza if it was really all right to drink an immortality elixir that a demon gave them; when he muses that Maiza must now know how to make it, Maiza asks if he would like to know how as well – after all, he is planning to share it with everyone. Gretto is surprised by the offer but does not reject it, and Maiza starts by listing the materials used for the liquor. Unbeknownst to either of them, Szilard is listening outside their door.

Maiza stops halfway through the recipe, suddenly wary of what might happen should immortality spread unchecked. The next day, when all of the alchemists gather in the mess hall, he announces his decision to keep the knowledge permanently sealed. While some of the alchemists break out into disquieted murmurs, Elmer C. Albatross does not object on the grounds that Maiza may someday change his mind. Huey Laforet agrees to defer the decision for the time being, though he makes it clear he has no intention of waiting one hundred years.

On his way back to his cabin, Maiza mulls over the demon's rules and the reality of devouring: if an immortal devours another immortal, they inherit the devoured immortal's knowledge. His knowledge of the elixir's recipe, then, makes him a prime devouring target. When he knocks on the cabin door, there is no answer; when he opens it, he finds Gretto's bed empty and suspects the worse.

The alarm is raised across the ship – one of their numbers has already betrayed them, having killed several alchemists already. When Maiza finally finds Szilard, he is in the middle of devouring another victim, and decidedly unrepentant in the face of Maiza's anger.

1930. Maiza insists to Ronny that he has not forgotten Szilard's misdeeds, but admits that he has been indulging in the comfort of the Martillos as of late. He supposes that he will have to leave the Martillos soon, but Ronny remarks that – considering an immortal's long life – there is nothing wrong with having "times like this" once in a while.

With the time to Firo's promotion ritual drawing near, Maiza takes his leave while Ronny lingers behind. As he strikes a match, he asks his absent friend if has yet to notice what Ronny himself has felt all this time: that Szilard is in this very city.

Not too far away from the Alveare, Dallas and his two friends enter Coraggioso's basement and greet several Gandor men playing cards. Dallas explains that they are here to retrieve the crate they forgot earlier that day, but the men refuse on the grounds that they have no way of verifying if the crate is actually theirs. What's more, their guard Mike upstairs should have known about the crate too.

When the Gandor man asks what the trio are really after, Dallas' two friends whip out their machine guns and gun the men down. Dallas mocks the corpses for their pitiful showing, but is promptly shot dead mid-laugh by the sole surviving mafioso. The survivor immediately shoots dead the other two goons and stumbles his way over to the telephone with the intention of calling Luck Gandor; in the time it takes for him to reach it, Dallas has regenerated to the point of recovering his mobility and consciousness. He stabs the survivor between the eyes, and the call goes unplaced.

One of Dallas' recovered friends hands him the crates. Hefting the crate with one hand and a machine gun in the other, Dallas celebrates the proof of his group's immortality.

While the Coraggioso invasion is underway, Luck and his brothers enjoy a few drinks in anticipation for the feast following Firo's ceremony. When Berga Gandor asks if they will be heading back to the office afterwards, Luck says that they may as well go home – he does not foresee any trouble. Berga is eager at the chance to cut loose for once, given that it is Firo's big night; as far as he is concerned, the night will be filled with nothing but merriment.

With that, the stage is set: there is Isaac and Miria, scheming to steal the Martillos' black money; the Gandors, ignorant to the murder of their men; Dallas and his friends, emboldened by their immortal bodies; and Firo and the Martillos, about to carry out the induction ritual. With that, the crazy ruckus finally begins.

Trivia

 * While Yen Press' electronic version of this chapter has the first two pages and title in color, the print edition does not.
 * Whereas Gretto is open to learning the elixir's secrets in the manga, his 2007 anime counterpart is highly reluctant.