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.
Characters in order of Appearance[]
- Dallas Genoard
- Szilard Quates
- Isaac & Miria
- Seina
- Lia Lin-Shan
- Ennis (memory)
- Maiza Avaro
- Ronny Schiatto
- Gretto Avaro (flashback)
- Elmer C. Albatross (flashback)
- Huey Laforet (flashback)
- James and third Dallas companion
- Berga Gandor
- Luck Gandor
- Keith Gandor
- Firo Prochainezo and the Martillo Family (last panel)
Synopsis[]
Evening. In the wake of Scott's apparent death, Dallas Genoard demands to know what he and his companions have been injected with. Szilard Quates says only that the three men's fate is not such a bad thing; regardless of how the current situation came to be, the men have been chosen.
In the Alveare honey shop, Isaac & Miria—in evening dress, with Isaac carrying a Japanese helmet under his arm—ask Seina to let them into the speakeasy. Seina observes the two's evening dress and the Japanese helmet under Isaac's arm, concludes the pair are too "funny-looking" to be federal agents, and grants them access. Lia Lin-Shan escorts them to a corner table, where they sing Ennis' praises and discuss their plan to steal the Martillo Family's black money. In one of the Martillo offices, the man responsible for said money, Maiza Avaro opines to Ronny Schiatto that the Martillos can probably stay out of the drug dealing happening on Gandor turf and safely focus on Firo Prochainezo's promotion ritual. Ronny asks if Maiza sees his younger brother in Firo. Troubled, Maiza admits that he does not know; perhaps he did at first, but Firo shares little of Gretto's timid personality.
- 1711
In the wake of a summoning ritual aboard the Advena Avis, Gretto asks Maiza in the privacy of their cabin if it was truly all right to drink an immortality elixir concocted by a demon. It dawns on Gretto that Maiza now knows how to make that elixir; Maiza asks if he would like to learn now, in advance of when Maiza shares the method with the other alchemists. Although Gretto is taken aback by the offer, he does not reject it. Maiza begins listing the liquor's components but stops halfway through the 'recipe', suddenly wary of what might happen should immortality spread unchecked. Unbeknownst to either of them, Szilard is listening outside their door.
The next day, when all of the alchemists gather in the mess hall, Maiza announces his decision to keep the knowledge permanently sealed. Where some of the alchemists break out into disquieted murmurs, Elmer C. Albatross fefrains from objecting since Maiza may someday change his mind. Huey Laforet defers the decision temporarily but makes it clear that 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. To possess knowledge of the elixir's manufacture is to therefore possess a target on one's back. Upon knocking on his cabin door to no avail, Maiza opens it and discovers that Gretto's bed is empty. He suspects the worst.
Word spreads throughout the ship via shouts and curses that a traitor has already devoured many of the alchemists' number. When Maiza finally finds the traitor—Szilard—Szilard is in the inexorable process of devouring another victim. He meets Maiza's fury with unrepentance.
- 1930
Maiza insists that he has not forgotten Szilard's misdeeds only to concede that he has been indulging overlong in the comfort of the Martillos, whom he supposes he will have to leave soon. Ronny remarks that—considering an immortal's long life—there is nothing wrong with having "times like this" once in a while, and lingers behind when Maiza exits to prepare for the promotion ritual. As he strikes a match, he asks his absent friend if he truly has not yet sensed Szilard's arrival in their city.
Elsewhere in one of Alveare's two neighborhoods, Dallas and his two friends enter Coraggioso's basement and tell the Gandor men playing cards therein that they have come to retrieve the crate they had left behind. The men refuse to relinquish the crate without proof that the crate is theirs, a policy that the upstairs guard Mike should have known about, and inquire into the trio's true aim—so the trio aims true via answer, gunning the Gandors down. All but one die; the survivor shoots Dallas dead mid-victory laugh, shoots dead his companions, and lurches to the telephone intending to call Luck Gandor. Dallas regenerates in time to intercept him at the telephone and plant a knife between his eyes.
One of Dallas' similarly regenerated friends hands Dallas the crate. Hefting the crate with one hand and a tommy gun in the other, Dallas celebrates the proof of his 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.
The stage is thus set with its actors in motion: 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.
- This chapter borrows certain elements of the anime's 1711 episode that do not directly derive from or otherwise differ to The Rolling Bootlegs and 2001 The Children of Bottle:
- Maiza and Ronny's office conversation about Gretto and Firo is an expansion of the anime-original scene where Maiza speaks to Ronny about the greater risk of turning the Runorata Family against the Martillos versus the lesser risk posed by the Runorata capo Gustavo Bagetta himself.
- The alchemists' discussion of Maiza's refusal to share the elixir's secret is told rather than depicted in the novels. The manga's rendition of it derives from Episode 7's rendition, as evidenced by such details as Elmer's and Huey's individual reactions.
- In the novels, Szilard enters the Avaros' cabin when the brothers are sleeping and devours Gretto on the mistaken belief that he is Maiza. Maiza wakes while his brother is being devoured. The manga version, in which Maiza discovers Gretto's empty bed, more closely resembles the anime—wherein Maiza and Elmer discover Gretto's clothes and ropes puddled around a chair in the Avaros' cabin.
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