If we had competent heroes, anyway.
Jonouchi and Anzu buzz with... brainwashed zombie-like stares, apparently, and because they're so slow, one of Marik's henchmen shoves Jonouchi and yells at him to keep moving. Jonouchi, of course, does not respond with his expected bravado, because, you know, brainwashed, but Marik warns the henchman not to be rough with his precious dolls. Marik, if you didn't want them to get all scuffed up, you shouldn't have removed them from their packaging! He sneers at the henchman over his shoulder and tells him that the Millennium Rod enables murder with a single thought if desired. He's starting to sound like a spoiled little girl with an extensive collection of rare Barbies or something.
But no, it's just that Jonouchi and Anzu (the girl, as Marik calls her) are just his pawns and they'll do whatever he wants them to do. Marik plans to just sit back and watch the show he's putting on between Jonouchi and Yami, but this implies he's NOT actively telling his new puppets what to do? I'm confused, is this revenge plot all pre-scripted or...?
Marik shoots the shit with Rishid about how he must have challenged everyone head-on and used his trap strategy, although it looks a bit like the first speech bubble is coming from Rishid himself. It didn't make much sense the way the comment was made, so I figured it was a mistake. Rishid himself doesn't really want to follow that course of conversation, and hesitantly prefaces his next suggestion with the statement that he didn't want to trouble Marik (that being the reason he doesn't need to be brainwashed, apparently), but he's willing to challenge Yami as soon as he appears too. Marik jokes that it seems like Rishid wants to take all Marik's fun away, reminding him that he hasn't forgotten his instincts as a duelist either. The implication, I assume, is that those instincts tell duelists to play cards with their enemies without letting underlings do it for them, or something.
Rishid offers Marik half of those twelve puzzle cards he gathered up in deference, and Marik takes them without hesitation, supposing he's going to the finals now. Without having to win a single game himself. So much for those dueling instincts that are so much fun to fulfill, I guess. Marik drops the aside that Rishid is of course coming with him using the rest of those puzzle cards, and Rishid bows his head deeply in obedience, still kneeling at the feet of his master. Yup, this is what NOT being brainwashed looks like.
Marik imagines the three god cards clashing in the final rounds of the tournament, but before that he's eager to see if Yami will kill the already dead-eyed Jonouchi next to him, or if Yami will be defeated and Jonouchi will win back Slifer. Chuckling, Marik observes Jonouchi's blank stare ahead from the corner of his eye. He then commands two of his unnamed henchmen to "improve" Jonouchi's deck with as many illegal, direct-damage cards as they can, stuffing it to the gills with unfair advantages. Marik thinks this player-killer deck will be so hot it'll singe Jonouchi with its flames. Dude, I think if you wanted to make a literal representation of that song by Alicia Keyes, you might want to use Anzu for this part instead.
He wonders with a sneer whether it will be Jonouchi or Yami who will kill the other and be the one to advance to the finals. I don't know where you get off being so cocky about this plan, bro, considering how well your LAST duel-by-proxy went.
Meanwhile, Kaiba's helicopter chugs along through the air. Do helicopters chug? I feel like if one did, it would be a bad sign. Oh well. The pilot up front informs Kaiba that they'll be arriving at Section F Area 5362 shortly. Kaiba doesn't respond, sitting back there with his legs and arms crossed, looking surprisingly less cramped with those long-ass limbs than I thought he would. Mokuba looks like he wants to say something, but just gapes instead, and Yami sits on the other side of Kaiba with his nose pressed against the window, not paying attention to either brother.
Mokuba finally finds his voice and uses it to call his brother by both their last name again. I will never let this go, in case you were wondering. He asks why they're not just going to the finals following his elder brother's acquisition of six puzzle cards, instead of going to look for Yami's loser friend Jonouchi. With a small smile, Kaiba says that this is where the "answer" is, which just confuses Mokuba. Yami continues to stare out the window and wonder if Jonouchi is alright.
Until Kaiba addresses him. Kaiba claims that Marik (whose name he has to confirm, because he's pretending he's forgotten it) is just another enemy like Yami, as far as he's concerned. But then he begins probing Yami for more information about the guy, asking if Marik really has the Sun Dragon Ra card. Yami exclaims with frustration that he's never even seen this dude, and the only thing he knows is that Marik has a Millennium Item. Kaiba sneers at what he calls Yami's "occult nonsense", but Yami doesn't pay much attention to this, instead opting to tell Kaiba that unlike his puzzle, the Millennium Rod has terrible power. Yeah, UNLIKE the puzzle that turned a kid into a dark dispenser of strangely violent justice.
Kaiba smirks some more over the supposed power of the rod to brainwash and control people, admitting it's a bit hard for him to believe. But, he's willing to entertain the hypothetical in order to mess with Yami, asking him what he thinks the chances are that Jonouchi has already been brainwashed to fight him. Kaiba himself is betting on it, and asks what would happen in this definitely still hypothetical situation, chuckling. Yami is not happy with the implication here, and insists that no matter what, he'll do whatever it takes to save Jonouchi.
Yet Kaiba expresses nothing but doubt when he brings into question what Yami SAYS weighed against the dilemma in his heart. This dilemma seems to be news to Yami, so Kaiba elaborates with a reminder that Yami preached hardcore to him all throughout their last duel about the power of unity, but wonders how that philosophy is supposed to work when the person you're fighting is someone you care about.
TLDR; Shut up, Kaiba, the time to disprove the "power of unity" has passed and you're making an ass of yourself.
Not that I think he cares. He begins getting pretty preachy himself when he rhetorically questions Yami on why he thinks humans fight or want to win so much. Because they have disagreements and it's nice to know that the facts of the matter back one up in the end? Nope, apparently it's because of the passion of winning, allowing people to love themselves in that moment. Okay, I can see where there's some truth to that, but I think if there's proof that someone can experience a bit too much of that self-love, it's Kaiba. And yes, that masturbation joke was intentional, because he is jerking himself OFF.
Kaiba giggles about looking forward to seeing what Yami's "answer" is to how he solves the contradictory nature of his philosophy, and how he manages to still "play friends" at the brink of hell. This is just before Mokuba alerts him to the fact that they're approaching the section/area they were aiming for, Domino Pier. Yami recognizes this with some alarm as the same place he and Jonouchi boarded the boat to Duelist Kingdom along with the rest of their friends. His memory of the event features Honda, and that makes me wonder; wasn't that guy doing something? Where the fuck is he?
Never mind, because memories of Jonouchi are specifically where his mind is going now, since this is the guy who is in the immediate danger.
Next to Jonouchi, a series of beeps sound from Anzu's shoulder bag. Wordlessly, she takes her phone out and presses the answer button, holding it to her ear. The person on the other end says hello, but when she doesn't respond, they question if she's there. Speaking of Honda, he affirms that it's him, but Anzu still doesn't respond to him. As the helicopter gets closer, Honda wonders what that sound is in the background, and this is when Anzu takes the phone away from her ear, hits the end call button, and cuts off Honda's questions.
Marik grins at Yami's arrival while the helicopter touches down in front of Jonouchi and Anzu, who stand there like that ain't no big deal. Yami steps down off the vehicle, and the whole time, Jonouchi has on a Marik-like, or dare I say, YAMI-like murder-grin. One message keeps playing over and over in his head: to kill Yami.
Amongst the clatter of a train on the tracks, Honda walks into a car with his arms piled in food, grumbling about how Anzu's cell phone must be broken. As Shizuka sits and thinks of her brother Katsuya (luckily not aware of his new horror-face) Honda rejoins her and Ryuji asks him if he has yet MORE food, considering he already ate. Honda don't give a shit, and snaps his disposable chopsticks, assuring Shizuka that they'll be arriving in Domino very soon.
Ryuji asks him if he got ahold of Anzu, and he mumbles that he couldn't get through, doubting whether she could really hear him, considering how noisy his attempt was in the middle. Ryuji's inquiry as to if they don't know where their friends are is accusatory, and Honda sweats a bit. He admits they aren't aware of the location of Anzu and Jonouchi, but he did think he recognized a sound in the background.
Shizuka wonders aloud if her brother is winning, and Honda is sure that he is. She reminisces about how he didn't used to be so great at cards, but she supposes he must have gotten better. Honda starts praising Jonouchi like he wouldn't dare if the guy were around, telling Shizuka that Jonouchi is much better than BETTER at this point, and she won't believe how strong he is when she next sees him. She's pleased with this answer and he's pleased that she's pleased, until he has a sudden epiphany. The sound he recognized was a boat horn from the phone earlier, the sound of a boat at Domino Pier.
He's got sharp ears, I'll give him that.
We jump back to Domino Pier with Honda's realization, where Yami asks Jonouchi frantically what's wrong. What? Are the dark lines around his eyes strange? I didn't notice. Jonouchi doesn't answer, instead opting to cast a steady, unsettling blank gaze on Yami. This brings Yami to the right conclusion; brainwashing has occurred, no question. He tries to wake up his friend by reminding him that the boat honking its horn is the same noise they heard upon leaving for their first day of Duelist Kingdom. Jonouchi just smiles, slowly stating that this memory doesn't mean a thing to him.
Yami looks taken aback and terrified at the same time. Mokuba jumps out of the helicopter to ask what's going on, but Kaiba is still too focused on getting that "answer" he wants to really notice. He's watching the situation pretty carefully.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Getting a new character is pretty exciting, especially since he's a subordinate that isn't so disposable like the others. The ones we've had before were either nameless or were on a short leash, but Rishid says himself that he doesn't need a the brainwashing to keep him in line - he's just trying to do right by Marik. Marik also just seems to value him more, and I'm not just talking about how readily he used Rishid's name. It appears that Rishid was in charge of getting not only getting enough puzzle cards for Marik to get into the finals, but for himself as well, meaning that Marik wants him there in the finals with him. Why isn't clear yet, but Rishid is definitely a lot more skilled than the other stooges that have been asked to duel Yami in Marik's stead.
Which must be the very reason why Marik didn't want Rishid to challenge Yami now. His joke to Rishid about taking away his fun confirms what I've been thinking for a while now: Marik is just dicking around. He's not serious about defeating Yami right now so much as playing with him, making him go through various "trials" to get to him, the final boss. It would be an awful shame to Marik if Rishid were to carry out his revenge for him at this juncture, without him having much of a chance to face a broken and traumatized Yami later on down the road.
But enough about that, can we talk about this brilliantly constructed transition toward the end? I've been somewhat confused about what it means for Marik to be controlling people versus brainwashing them, and for a time, I wasn't certain if there was a difference. The way Anzu answered the phone, however, makes this a bit clearer. She's in a trance, running on autopilot, so to speak, until Marik gives her explicit orders. Reaching for a beeping phone would be something she undoubtedly would do without thinking, but speaking to someone on the other end requires a bit more autonomy than she is afforded at the moment. It's a nice, subtle way of saying that she's in control of basic motor function, while Marik makes any decisions more complicated than that for her.
It also makes the page on which the phone call is carried out simple and elegant, where KT isn't relying on a shit-ton of dialogue to carry nice, clean images. Then, going to Honda and company on the train, frustrated that they're unable to reach their friends, was a natural transition. It's organic, and again, CLEAN. It makes sense that this would lead to consternation with the caller on the other end of the line. When Honda has his epiphany, it's not just clean, but PRECISE. The suspense built in just those two pages of Honda, Ryuji and Shizuka talking is intense, because we know that shit is going DOWN elsewhere that concerns them. The great thing about it is that it doesn't DRAG, though. It continues long enough for Honda to get a clue (a rather clever clue for someone who has been so dense before, but I'm willing to give this one to him for free), and then we're back to the action again, now with a brand new worry; are Honda and guests going to make it there in time, and what is Shizuka going to think about this if they do?
Shit, guys, KT has been holding out on me! Where was this level of construction and pacing before??
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