Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 073 The Thief

Are we sure we can trust this group to properly label someone a thief? Jonouchi actively confused winning with thievery a couple of chapters ago, and no one corrected his definition. They even participated in his attempted stealing! Regardless of reluctance on some members' parts, they still enabled him, so I'm questioning the natural assumption that this is someone new we're talking about and not just Jonouchi getting confused again.

Awwww! I'm gonna miss Ryota. Jonouchi admits that he thinks Ryota is swell, because there's just nothing he can hate about the guy. Were you LOOKING for something to hate? Weirdo. Yami has nothing to say to this, but he does have a small smile. I guess he finally had some fun with a duel. Anzu recognizes that everyone on the island has brought their own hopes and dreams. Yami and Jonouchi remind her that they have theirs too. Duh, guys, that's what EVERYONE means.

Jonouchi marches ahead of the group, suggesting happily that they head on over to the next place. Where, exactly? They don't know, because they're still wandering around five hours into the tournament. Nearby, someone calls out for help and demanding someone dragging him off by his collar to let him go. Yami and Jonouchi look over toward the cries with curiosity.

Vlad the Hair Impaler has returned! And he's trying to kidnap some poor child! Apparently he was going around checking kids' gloves to see if they had any chips left, and this kid's was empty, so Vlad has to drag him off the island by his neck. The kid protests that his chips were actually stolen by some other strange child, who also took his deck of cards. Vlad don't give a shit about the sob story, and says that no matter how you lose your chips, you have to get off the island when there's none left, no exceptions. Those are just the rules, and Vlad the Hair Impaler isn't taking any pleasure in enforcing them at all, nuh-uh.

Yami stands there watching, with a straight face. Panel, why do you exist? Honda says that Vlad the Hair Impaler must work for Pegasus, which is an astute observation after all of the times we've seen him actively working for Pegasus. Good job, Honda! Jonouchi seems to be in as sarcastic a mood as I am, because he snarks an "oh yeah?" at Honda before stepping up to Vlad and demanding that he let the kid go. He asks if Vlad the Hair Impaler can hear, and repeats what the kid said about his chips being stolen instead of losing them, so it's obviously not his fault.

Vlad threatens to disqualify Jonouchi too if he continues to interfere, because that's also against the rules, apparently. The kid reaches out a hand, gasping for help and sweating, and I'm not entirely sure Vlad the Hair Impaler isn't actually killing him. Jonouchi offers to go and catch the guy who stole the chips, and suddenly the kid looks like he can breathe just fine. Guess I was wrong. The kid says that a child with a bandana over his face challenged him to a duel, taking his chips and cards the moment he put them down.

Jonouchi asks which way the perp went, and the kid points to his left with his free hand. Jonouchi addresses Vlad the Hair Impaler as Man in Black, telling him not to kick the kid off the island until he catches the thief and gets the chips. Vlad says he'll THINK about it, but Jonouchi points and tells him not to forget, because Jonouchi makes his promise as a man.

Jonouchi, what even ARE you? Honda seems to think he's just a terrible altruist as Jonouchi points out the way to the thief, suggesting they get going. How does he always end up leading them around? From a bundle of leaves, a pair of eyes watch them. Creepily.

Back where they left him, Vlad the Hair Impaler presses a button on a radio and holds it up to his mouth while he continues to headlock the kid he was going to kick off the island. He says that they've found another kid, in Block "D", and to send all personnel that way. He says they'll capture said child and bring him back to the castle. He wonders where the thief ran off to before holding his captive up by his collar and stating that he's leaving the island for not having his star chips. The kid begs Vlad to wait, but I don't think Vlad is going heed that request.

At Pegasus's castle, Pegasus sits at a HUGE dining table in an opulent room, as a man enters the room and approaches him from behind. On the wall, the lower half of a frame on the right looks like it features a woman in a dress, and the one on the left of it features... SHADI. WHAT IS THAT FUCKING ASSHOLE DOING HERE??

Pegasus lifts a wine glass to his lips at the table, then puts it down behind a plate of a sliced wheel of cheese while he looks down at the page of a comic book he's holding. It's comic-ception once again, folks! Pegasus giggles at a page, and then bursts into full-on laughter, complimenting the Funny Rabbit on the page on how droll and witty he is. What, like this guy?

Copyright evasion aside, Pegasus thinks he's blessed because he has great wine, Gorgonzola cheese, and the best American comic in his hands. Doesn't even mention his castle and gigantic dining table. Guess it slipped his mind.

It HASN'T slipped his mind that someone is now standing behind him, and addresses this presumed servant what the status of his tournament is. Secret Service Servant informs him that it's been six hours since the beginning, and 12 participants have so far been eliminated out of forty. The ship taking them back to Japan is set to leave very soon. Pegasus isn't concerned about all that, primarily wanting to know if Yuugi is still in the running. Secret Service Servant says that not only is Yuugi still in the running, but he's collected half of the required star chips so far.

Pegasus is elated at this news, happily shouting how wonderful that boy of his is. Newsflash, Yuugi don't belong to you, dickwad. He continues to say that Yuugi has to collect all his star chips so that he can come to the Pegasus Palace, like he's urging Yuugi to eat all his meat so he can have his pudding, with all the nightmare-fuel-music-video implications that has. Having gotten the good news, Pegasus moves on to other topics, namely whether his Secret Service Servant has managed to apprehend another boy yet.

Secret Service Servant admits that they haven't done so yet, and Pegasus supposes that their hospitality must have been lacking for the boy to run away from being their private guest. Secret Service Servant apologizes for his fellow servants having taken their eyes off the mysterious boy for only a moment. Pegasus isn't concerned, since he thinks he has an idea of where the boy is headed and what he's wanting to do. He suggests that his Secret Service Servants follow Yuugi, because that's who their escaped "guest" will be drawn to eventually. Then, dropping all pretense that their guest is anything other than a prisoner, Pegasus tells Secret Service Servant to lock the boy up in the dungeon when they catch him again so he doesn't get away. Why were you talking in code to begin with? It's not like anyone could be watching you. Unless....

Oh my goodness, PLEASE tell me someone from the FBI or something is posing as one of his staff in order to gather evidence to convict him of international crimes. PLEASE.

Secret Service Servant accepts his orders as Pegasus flips the page on his comic to resume his childish way of biding his time until the finals of the tournament, chuckling.

Meanwhile, Yami and friends have been looking around for the thief, and haven't had any luck finding him. Anzu suggests that they give up, but Jonouchi isn't willing to do that, given that he wants to seal that "half your star chips" deal with the kid they were stolen from. They're both terrible people. Honda's exasperated look is accompanied by a thought that Jonouchi isn't very good at those "way of the duelist" ideals he was spouting earlier. Yami tells his companions to look over toward the ocean.

They're making the kids ROW BACK TO JAPAN?? IN A ROWBOAT? WHEN A SHIP TOOK A WHOLE NIGHT TO GET THERE?? That's so fucked, it defies words.

That aside, I guess Anzu actually has the right idea, because it looks like you guys have already failed. Inside the boat, Haga pushes the burgled kid away, stating that he's the champion of Japan, and he needs his space. If I had won the last tournament, but lost this one so thoroughly as to be one of the first going home, I wouldn't open my mouth at all. The burgled kid leans away from him, holding his backpack to his chest, mumbling about what life would be like if his chips hadn't been stolen. Dream on, child.

Jonouchi curses Vlad the Hair Impaler for breaking his promise, lamenting the loss of his chance at those star chips. Dude, you realize that if you find the thief now, you get ALL of those chips, right? Yami just marvels at the fate of those who lose their chips, which continues to be fucked beyond description. The boat is rowed off toward the horizon, and someone in the group expresses how sucky that method of being forced off the island must be. In the bushes, that pair of eyes from before continues to watch, thinking Yuugi's name.

In a flurry of leaves, the owner of those eyes leap out of the foliage to shout Yuugi's name now.

Yami's mouth seems to have disappeared, but that's not the most interesting thing about this panel. KT tends to draw shoes very distinctively, and I KNOW I've seen those before. And I know WHERE.

Anyhow, the thief glares at Yami with sweat dripping down his face. Jonouchi sees the bandana and recognizes the description the burgled kid gave them. Mouth returned and smiling, Yami tells Jonouchi to back off, because this one wants to fight him. He still asks if the thief wants to duel with him, and he receives a nod in answer. Yami heads for a duel booth sitting on a hill and tells the thief to follow him so they can duel there. They sit and set down their cards in silence, and it's suspicious to me that this child isn't speaking very much. I think Yami will probably be able to recognize his voice as much as I've been able to recognize his shoes.

Outside the box, Jonouchi is amazed that Yami decided to duel the thief so fast. Back inside, Yami asks how many chips his opponent is going to bet and the thief holds up a hand with all five fingers up. Yami smirks, alright with betting all the chips he has. He takes them out of his glove and puts them on the table, and for a moment the thief stares. Then he reaches into his pocket, drawing out five chips himself to put them on the table as well. Yami notes that he's not wearing a glove and concludes from this that he's the thief. Number one, you're super late in noticing a lack of a duel glove, Yami, because I noticed that when he first jumped out of the bushes. Number two, the bandana was the clue, but his not having a glove was what clinched the mystery for you?

Whatever. Yami deduces that the thief was not one of the chosen duelists brought to the island, and wonders if he stole the chips just to challenge him. Asking himself why he would do such a thing, Yami speculates on who the thief could be. The thief stares across the table. Jonouchi thinks it's weird that Yami is dueling when he has to know the kid he's dueling with is the thief. Honda wonders aloud why Yami accepted the duel in the first place, and Anzu thinks that maybe it's that Yami knows who the kid is.

Yami calls out the start of their duel, because the thief isn't willing to speak just yet. He mentally urges Yami to prepare himself as they draw their hands while glaring at each other. The thief slaps a Man-Eating Plant card down on the table.

You don't seem to be doing any better at this game than you were the last game you played with Yami, kiddo. Yami himself shouts that the thief won't be able to beat him with cards like those, and plays Celtic Guardian in order to destroy Crocodilus. At 1100 points, the thief begins to sweat a bit harder now, thinking this isn't good. Jonouchi only now realizes that the thief sucks ass and can't beat Yami. Thanks for that insight, Jonouchi. You are an intellectual treasure.

Yami asks his opponent to give up, because winning a game with stolen cards isn't easy.

I don't know how that burgled kid managed to get burgled in the first place if the thief was THAT slow this whole time. The thief shouts for Yami to let go of him, and Yami says that he knew it all along as he rips the hat and bandana from the thief's head.

It's that fucking Murder Child!!

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I liked having a silent character for a fraction of the chapter. He cut down on the dialogue a lot, and Mokuba's thoughts throughout the short, incomplete duel were succinct and to the point. The chapter didn't seem quite so long and drawn out because of this, and I appreciated that. I think this exercise helped KT work with a bit more brevity in his work, and forced him to cut down the amount of useless dialogue he threw in it. Not that there weren't useless lines. His other characters still managed to chatter without anything substantial to add to the story, but at least this was better than the last few chapters.

I think it's really interesting that Mokuba was brought to the island as well, but under a more secretive veil. As opposed to Yuugi being driven to participate in the tournament to get his grandfather back in the correct body, it looks like Mokuba was outright kidnapped. No one knew he was here, Pegasus speaks about him as though he was kept under watch and unable to roam free (before his escape), and he has neither cards, chips, or duel monsters skill. Pegasus has collected him for a different purpose than he's collected Yuugi, or even imprisoned Sugoroku. It's not like Pegasus is trying to get Seto Kaiba to come to his tournament like the main character - it's been established that Kaiba is still in a coma.

I look forward to finding out more about why he's here, and why he was trying to steal Yami's star chips. I can understand why Mokuba would still want to defeat Yami, given that Kaiba is still out cold, and Mokuba has every reason to blame Yami for Kaiba's state as such. However, what's his point in stealing star chips? He was already in the castle as Pegasus's "guest", so if he needed to be in the castle to accomplish something, he wouldn't have escaped. What's his deal?