I would NEVER be able to maintain the grueling training regimen over two months straight for a tournament that Yusuke has with how many breaks I have to take, so I suppose I should consider myself lucky.
Once again, we see the pirate captain of the boat announce that Urameshi's team is taking the 16th spot in the tournament, and Kuwabara runs to greet the masked member as they step off the platform. He gushes that the attack was ACE and welcomes them to the team, but is eager to ask just exactly who they are. Before he can FINISH the question, however, the masked member points up over Kuwabara's head and he turns to see a whole horde of demons leaping for him from overhead, to his horror. These demons declare that they don't give a shit about the rules, and are motivated to kill the winning team for the fame alone.
Kuwabara dives out of the way as the masked member leaps upward without a single word or cry. Several demons also raise their weapons in preparation to bring them down on Kurama and Hiei's heads, announcing their plans to slice and dice. The two do not appear at all intimidated by this, Hiei observing that it seems they're up for a match themselves, but saying it's better than just sitting around for the rest of the trip. Kurama agrees, holding up a rose.
Kuwabara resorts to something he considers overkill in this moment, manifesting an Aura Sword in both hands, calling this "Double Sword Fencing". He wildly swings these at the attackers, yelling at them to clear off or they're hamburger, but one of Yusuke's assailants is unperturbed, declaring that he's taking Yusuke's head and the fortune he assumes comes with it. Aiming a blow from overhead at the sleeping teen, the demon yells at Yusuke to die, and for a split second, Kuwabara thinks he's too late.
But the demon's isn't the hit that lands.
Kurama is amazed by how Yusuke appears to train even in his SLEEP now, so the regimen has become instinctive. Damn, and here I was thinking that Yusuke had been woken up and was just slow to realize who his attacker was. Kuwabara notices that Yusuke was referring to an "old biddy" in his tirade, and realizes, perhaps a bit late, he had been training with the shrimp boat sensei Master Genkai this whole time. He looks over at the masked member as he does so, who is fighting off their own attackers, delivering spinning kicks with hands clasped behind their back to every demon that comes near.
Kuwabara dismisses his notion that the masked member could be HER, assuming that she wouldn't risk her neck. The question isn't whether she WOULD but what incentives could induce her to do so. But Kuwabara is already moved on to wondering who it could be OTHER than her though.
Alright, if you don't want to take the evidence head-on, suit yourself.
The pirate captain is standing on his platform surveying the giant brawl from above and humming in thought. He mutters that Mr. Sakyo was right, and random thugs just seem to annoy the Urameshi Team. It had been the captain's intention to see their potential, but the members of the team are barely giving 10% effort.
Zoom in on that claw of rock that is such a distinct feature of the island, in the crook of which sits a big boxy building. The team of protagonists are dropped off in front of a rotating door, Kuwabara holding upright a still zonked Yusuke, and their car zooms off. Somewhere. As if there could POSSIBLY be anywhere else to go on this rock. Kuwabara looks downright in awe of the ritzy place they've been dumped off at, and is no doubt even more so when a man in a suit stiffly greets them as honored guests and offers to take them to their room.
They are led through either a lobby or reception area with a milling crowd, all looking on the fancier, dressed-up side. Kuwabara regards all of it very weird, and asks through clenched teeth if this is the Dark Tournament, disbelief and even some disgust framing the question.
As Kuwabara stomps by, dragging the unconscious Yusuke along, he fails to notice a couple of familiar people in the crowd. Keiko and Botan ALSO overlook Yusuke and Kuwabara, though the former is clearly looking for Yusuke when she demands to know WHERE the boy is from her companion. Sweatdropping, Botan urges Keiko to calm down, but Keiko rounds on her, asking how she can possibly calm down when they almost DIED because of Yusuke. She insists they have to keep track of Yusuke's location, his actions, and the surrounding circumstances so that they can be ready, and it wouldn't be easy to argue otherwise, even if I wanted to. Botan doesn't appear to want to either, as all she's doing is assuring Keiko that she knows, and trying to get her to keep it down. The surly Keiko just expresses her intent to whup Yusuke when she finds him.
Botan acknowledges that Keiko probably had to be plucky and fearless, growing up with Yusuke. The girl reportedly didn't even BLINK when Botan told her about the tournament, and just demanded to be taken there. Shizuka must have made a similar demand, because she's there too, a chandelier being excitedly pointed out to her by... Keiko? I'm unsure who else it's supposed to be, but the hair looks much longer, the blazer either differently colored or gone altogether, and a chandelier seems an ODD thing to focus her attention on at a time like this. Botan looks on this strange behavior from what looks to be an entirely different person with worry.
Anyway, we jump to a door labeled 404, and the stunning view from the panel of windows looking out at the island behind it, along with a host of beds and other furniture. Though we don't see him, Kuwabara's character voice is clear when he enthuses about how posh this room is and what a great vacation spot the island would make. If, you know, it wasn't exclusive to a bunch of rich thugs and their sick gladiator games.
Kurama and the masked member perch themselves on opposite ends of an L-shaped modular couch, Hiei restlessly stands off to the side, and Kuwabara sits on the edge of a bed where he's dumped the still conked Yusuke. A man with a room service cart enters and leaves a cup of tea for each of them, even sleeping Yusuke, but Kuwabara views the cups with suspicion, suggesting they might be poisoned. Kurama and Hiei have taken up cups themselves, the former explaining that it's unlikely because of how the tournament organizers want them all to be at their peak potential for a show of maximum combat. Hiei adds that the hosts are particularly interested in seeing them in action before they're torn limb from limb. Kuwabara pops open a sealed canned drink, saying it never hurts to be careful, so he's sticking to his OWN beverages. He's WELL prepared, I see.
A slurp sounds from the other side of the room and the CONSCIOUS team members all jump out of their seats and face the direction, alert for a possible emergency. It seems there's still some suspicion in the more relaxed Kurama and Hiei after all.
Unsurprisingly, I'm not the only one with that question, Kuwabara also demanding to know who he is. He suggests that the kid must have hidden somewhere, and Kurama adds that he came out and took the cup without them noticing. An awkward hypothesis that seems to be born out of paranoia alone. As he squats on one foot while balancing the stolen teacup on the tip of the other, the unknown child assures them that he just came through the door like they did, but he "forgot" to knock. I don't believe THAT for a second.
The kid removes his hat out of cursory respect while he introduces himself as Rinku, from Team Special Ops. Who NAMED your team? General "I Almost Joined, But" Blood Agent? Then he calls his group something even CUTER than that, the "Jolly Devil Six", when he tells them that they'll be the opponents of Team Urameshi in the first round of the tournament tomorrow. Oh give me a BREAK.
Kuwabara gets stuck on the number in that adorable little moniker, asking if there isn't supposed to be FIVE to a team. Rinku asks if they didn't know they could bring a BACKUP if one of the main team dies in battle, then brags that all six of HIS team are so super tough that they played rock-paper-scissors to decide who was to be on the main team and who was going to be backup.
Kuwabara grinds his teeth in barely contained anger, internally promising to demonstrate actual funny to this kid who's playing at it in a minute if he doesn't shut his trap. But because he's a child, he can't stop running that motor on his mouth; he says it's just a fact that they'll be eliminated quickly, telling them that the captain of the previous winning team nominated Team Urameshi as guests, but after seeing them himself, Rinku reckons he could take their whole group himself in an elimination match. There's a parenthetical bit here explaining what an elimination match is, one person fighting a team one member at a time until he loses and his next team member takes over or beats the whole group, but I'm not sure if this is Rinku talking or just an aside note. I'll interpret it as a part of his dialog because it's in the speech bubble and seems like the kind of over-explaining a precocious little shit would do.
Either way, someone else nearer the door tells Rinku that this is QUITE enough of his babbling. Kuwabara and Hiei turn their heads in the opposite direction to find a new intruder into the room, this one a fair-haired man in a black T-shirt with large muscles, feet and arms crossed in a closed off, but relaxed pose. Kuwabara complains about yet ANOTHER lurker, someone he's SURE wasn't there before. Hiei has to admit to himself at least that this new guy slipped by HIM too. Rinku runs to the man, calling him Zeru, and apologizing for getting carried away due to his excitement about all this tournament stuff.
Zeru turns to leave with his tag-along kiddo and wishes the occupants of the room a good evening, because by this time tomorrow, they'll be like those tea cups. What does he mean by that? Kuwabara and Hiei look back at the coffee table with alarm, on which the remaining cup has been cleaved in two. The question of when that happened hangs in the air, but Yusuke snoozes on, oblivious to all.
As they continue on their way, presumably back to THEIR room, Zeru ponders aloud whether the sleeping one sensed that they didn't intend to attack or if it was something else. Rinku chirps that it was probably just that he's a loser, but Zeru doesn't seem so sure.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Yusuke fighting in his sleep is pretty funny, but I can't help worrying about how effective his rest is going to be if he keeps having to waste all the energy he's regaining from sleep defending himself every five seconds. Doesn't seem sustainable, especially if they can expect to be attacked by random eliminated teams when they hear who the snoozing team lead is. Just add them to the obstacles stacked on the tall tottering Jenga tower that this team is working with. Learning from what looks like a TODDLER that they could have a backup along is like adding insult to injury too, though to be fair, the fifth member seems to have been hard ENOUGH to come by. These boys are COOKED, as the young folk say.
With such a rocky start to the whole tournament, it's no wonder paranoia is high, and not just the obtrusive kind that Kuwabara expresses. Hiei and Kurama also look quite on edge in this chapter, despite both being willing to drink the tea they were given. Each was surprised by the actions taken by the intruders into their room at different points, completely overlooking them because of the sheer speed with which they were committed. Given how fast these two have been known to attack, especially Hiei, the intruders must be orders of magnitude faster to pull that off right under their noses. OR Kurama and Hiei are just orders of magnitude more distracted/nervous, take your pick.
And as the cherry on top of the whole situation, Keiko has managed to bully Botan into bringing her and Shizuka to the tournament. Adding them in complicates matters a bit, because we've seen that the demons on the ship were able to sniff out humans, so Keiko might just be putting herself in MORE danger by being there to keep an eye on the situation with Yusuke.
I hope she at LEAST saves the whupping she owes him until AFTER the tournament. He doesn't need another person beating up on him right now, lol.
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