Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 099 The Last Piece

What last piece? Everybody's already got their star chips and they're headed for the castle. What's left to get? Don't tell me Pegasus wants the finalists to go on a quest to find the ingredients for some obscure videogame-like recipe. DON'T tell me that they get to the door only for that Secret Service Servant to tell them they need to head to the Middle Eastern market to get grated filo dough and rose/orange water to make a ritual knafeh or something.

Although, knafeh sounds freaking amazing right now.

It's about freaking time, if you ask me. Which is probably only a FRACTION of what the actual characters feel by this point.

Honda leads them down the corridor that stretches left from the Kyu door, and Jonouchi pounds on the Mei door as they pass it, whining about how the Meikyu Brothers were such fucking liars to try and convince them that the doors didn't lead to the exact same place. Honda tells everyone not to relax just yet, considering they still can't be sure the passage leads above ground and not straight into the castle dungeon or something. I'm not surprised he's thinking along these lines with all the shit they just went through.

They proceed along the corridor wordlessly, until Yami reaches into his bag and pulls out the digital camera holding Sugoroku's soul. He asks if Sugoroku can hear him, telling him that he's on his way to Pegasus's castle to get Sugoroku back in his body. Sugoroku tells Yami not to worry about him, saying that being a true champion and gaining true strength means not being afraid to lose. Yami says he understands this, but I'm not certain he does at this point. Why else would Sugoroku bring it up?

Bakura wonders aloud if there are any other duelists who made it to the castle yet, and though Jonouchi shrugs, Anzu mentions Kaiba. She acknowledges that he's not in the tournament, but she does wonder if they let him in the castle. Yami's face is shadowed as he thinks about Kaiba. Dammit! THAT'S what I was forgetting a few chapters ago.

Honda shouts and points at a staircase leading up to a patch of light ahead. Jonouchi is skeptical at first, but that doesn't last two seconds as he declares that Honda must be right, and Anzu is relieved that they can finally get out of the caves. They cheer that they made it and Jonouchi urges Yami to grab that light with him. Yami is all for it.

That's not actually sunlight, is it? If it is, why would they leave the exit to the caves open like that? What if someone wandered in from this end instead of the cave that they were SUPPOSED to go into?

Without word about whether KT thought of that or not, the audience gets swept to Pegasus's castle ahead of the protagonists, to see that there's some kind of hullabaloo going on. Two Secret Service Servants (including Vlad the Hair Impaler) run to meet up in a hallway, asking if someone named Mr. Croquet is alright, not knowing his status at the moment. Another Secret Service Servant says Mr. Croquet is still being held hostage in the guest room. Vlad the Hair Impaler curses Seto Kaiba upon hearing this.

The Original Secret Service Servant, who must be Mr. Croquet, sits with his head between two halves of a briefcase and is missing a tooth from what we can see of his open mouth. He begs someone for help.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT! What the - I don't...

Guys... remember in Death-T when Kaiba was a spineless little piece of shit? I don't even recognize the badassery that he is now. I really don't. What is he even??

Vlad the Hair Impaler appears in the doorway to demand that Kaiba let Mr. Croquet go. Kaiba says Vlad is going to have to bring him Pegasus first, or he'll snap the advisor's neck. Vlad the Hair Impaler turns to the other SSS and asks if he informed Pegasus of this demand, but the SSS stutters that Pegasus said he wanted to wait until the time was right. Vlad is seriously confused by what Pegasus is supposed to be thinking here. None of THEM are supposed to die! Just the children that come to the island!

Kaiba tells Croquet that he KNOWS they've taken Mokuba hostage and he shouldn't deny it anymore, what with his life at stake and everything. Sweating profusely, Croquet says he really and truly knows nothing about it, so Kaiba lets him know with a smirk that since he's already taken all his valuable cards out of the briefcase, it'll be a simple task cleaning up just the case. Croquet doesn't admit it out loud, of course, but he does ruminate on the fact that their plan to get the key from Mokuba's poop will be ruined if Croquet reveals they have him now. Then he wonders how his situation even came about.

FLASHBACK TIME!

The previous night when Kaiba came to the castle, Croquet offered Kaiba a room in the annex since there were no star chips to get in the main gate.

Kaiba identifies Vlad the Hair Impaler and says it's only because of Kaiba Corp's special training that Vlad even knows how to HOLD a gun, and sarcastically wonders if he even finished the course. Smirking, Kaiba offers to show Vlad the Hair Impaler how to fire a gun right now, squeezing his own trigger at a whimpering Croquet's face. The way Kaiba's glaring down at him, Croquet can tell he's serious, so he begs Vlad to put down his gun.

Vlad the Hair Impaler grunts as he drops his weapon and that's when Kaiba throws out his order for Croquet to carry his briefcase to the guest room. He determines then and there that Croquet will be his hostage until he gets to see Pegasus. Ending his flashback, Croquet mentally begs Pegasus to save him as he sweats and grinds his teeth within the briefcase.

Pegasus is sitting comfortably in an office in front of a laptop, listening to the ring of a phone. After a pause, he pushes a button on the laptop and one of his Secret Service Servants appears on the screen to tell him that Yami and his friend collected ten star chips and are headed for the castle. Pegasus says this is great and that he was waiting for this moment, congratulating Yami on doing what he knew was possible all along remotely. But he also drops a cryptic statement about the path to the castle maybe being a bit rougher than Yami anticipates at this point, because Pegasus isn't quite ready to give up his little game.

He presses another button on his laptop, because he's ready to talk to his other waiting guest now.

Kaiba isn't as cordial when he turns to the frame on the wall showing Pegasus now and growls his name. Croquet recognizes Pegasus's voice from his position on the floor and calls out his name desperately. Pegasus patronizingly says that Kaiba's violent and rude behavior is disappointing, asking if his manners are always this bad when visiting other peoples' homes. No, it's probably only when that person who owns the home kidnapped his only family member.

Kaiba doesn't respond to the question, saying instead that he knows Pegasus tried to take over his company and took his little brother while he was in his coma, demanding that Pegasus give Mokuba back. Pegasus chuckles and agrees, but he wants to propose a condition. Kaiba asks what it is, and Pegasus taunts him by claiming Kaiba should already know. Pegasus, don't be THAT girlfriend. Kaiba stares in disbelief at Pegasus, who unties the ribbon around his neck, comparing Kaiba and someone else to either end of it. I think it's Mokuba he's referring to, until he starts giving the analogy more specifics; when the ends of the ribbon are tied, they pull tightly against one another, sharing the same fate of being bound tightly and straining against each other. Pegasus ties the ribbon to illustrate this, claiming that it's time for two duelists to intersect. Kaiba mumbles that he can't mean it, but Pegasus insists that the only way Kaiba will be able to get Mokuba back is to defeat Yami.

As Kaiba stares at him, mouth agape, Pegasus offers to show him some footage from his surveillance cameras in order to drive home the fact that Kaiba has no choice. An image of stone walls, cobbled floors and an iron-bar door pop up in the frame.

Pegasus broke his murder spirit! He's just a little boy!

Inside the cell, Mokuba opens his eyes and thinks about his older brother. He wishes that Seto could come, but he's betting that Seto's still confined to his wheelchair comatose. Regardless, Mokuba plans to protect Seto's precious company and never let his kidnappers have the key, so that when Seto DOES wake up, Mokuba will be waiting.

He reaches beneath his collar and pulls out a string, which has a small pendant hanging from it resembling the back of a Duel Monsters card. Mokuba recalls that Yami said Seto would come back when he was finished putting together the puzzle of his heart before pushing a button on the side of the card pendant to reveal it's a locket containing Seto's picture.

Wow, Mokuba's creative. That looks GREAT for a homemade pendant.

Mokuba put the other pendent with Mokuba's half of the picture in it around Seto's neck while he was in his coma, knowing that as long at Seto had it, he'd come back. Or, at least, that's what he's wishing for. He thinks that his locket must be the final piece of Seto's heart as he cradles it in the dungeon.

I know I've used this gif recently, but...

Kaiba yells Mokuba's name from his spot in the guest room.

He looks like he needs sedation far more than I do right now, but he's also had PLENTY of sedation already, though.

Kaiba's watch on Croquet slackens enough for Croquet to get his head out of the briefcase and sit up. He must be cramping like WOAH. Meanwhile, as Kaiba's head remains hung, Pegasus tells Vlad the Hair Impaler to give Kaiba those things they were talking about. It turns out to be the star chips that Mokuba stole and had hidden in his pocket, which Vlad tells Kaiba as he tosses them on the floor in front of him and urges him to take. Vlad sarcastically says that Mokuba really looks up to Kaiba with a chuckle.

Pegasus instructs Kaiba to take the star chips and wager them in a duel against Yami, and if he wins, Pegasus will let him into the castle where Mokuba is. Kaiba growls Pegasus's name again and warns him not to forget that the "tie of fate" he was metaphorically speaking of before is wrapped around his neck. Pegasus is chuckling, but I don't think he should be. Seriously, this new Seto Kaiba will FUCK YOUR SHIT UP. Just ask Croquet.

Elsewhere and sure enough, Yami and friends climb out of the underground caves from the most obvious not-even-hidden-in-foliage grand stone staircase of all time. Jonouchi is glad they're finally out of there, and Bakura asks where they're emerging on the island. Anzu points above them and encourages everyone to look. Turns out they came up for air RIGHT next to the stairs up to Pegasus's castle, Jonouchi's declaration that they finally made it rather mild.

Yami agrees, but notes that someone is standing at the top of the stairs.

Why are you surprised? Seriously, there was no way you weren't going to meet back up with him.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Really, Mokuba has at this point fully won me over. I can't even temper how lovable he is right now with how murderous he was way back when because trying to prove his worth and love to his brother was the basis of all the bad things he did back then too. But it's also the fact that Mokuba made these lockets with the intent of helping along this process Yami told him was going on in Kaiba's head during the coma. Mokuba was hoping and wishing that the memories of how they used to be before being adopted by an abusive tyrant would provide that final piece of the puzzle that would wake Seto up and go back to the way he was.

Of course, that can't happen. Not really, anyway. Seto Kaiba will continue to be affected deeply by the abuse he suffered at Gozaburo's hands, and that's reflected in how violently he's trying to solve his current problem. Every smirk and grin Kaiba wears when he threatens and brutalizes people shows he still takes ENJOYMENT out of that, and I'm pretty certain in some ways he always will. It's the result of being raised to be brutal and do everything it takes to get what you want and need. That won't just go away because Yami crushed his heart and forced him to put it back together. In fact, that kind of thing has probably become an INTEGRAL part of his heart.

But, at least he has remembered his bond with his younger brother, and we know now that's what's really driving his current level violence. At least it's SOMEWHAT understandable in the situation's context, unlike his previous murder spree.

Liam Neeson would be proud.