Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 296 Ka Hunt!!

Count me in! Seeing how cool these things look in the previous chapters, and how many cool things they can do, I've been really keen on them. They're like guard/attack dogs that your heart makes, and they're not even limited to just snarling at nefarious jerks. Isis's can spy on stuff, thief!Bakura's can slither through walls, we've seen them do magic and eat the attack strength of their allies... There's gotta be one or two that can do dishes, right? How about laundry? Sweeping?

Well... I'd prefer a SWEEPING camel, but I guess if this is the best I can get...

There is no ACTUAL winking camel, of course, just a whole bunch of drunk guys inside the tavern. One of them at a table asks belligerently where his beer is, while another at the bar laments that he really DID see what he said he did. I'm sure that is not AT ALL relevant. The guy at a table pours drink down his gullet as his buddy next to him, hunched and shifty, talks about how they've stationed soldiers in the city. The drinker hiccups a question about if they're coming to scold the drunks, then laughs that it would take 100 of those idiot soldiers just to match his wife, drooling out the corners of his mouth. He seems fun. 

Back at the bar, the bartender comments that his sullen patron at the counter is drinking like a dried-up mummy (hoo boy, is this what passes for local figures of speech?), asking what his story is. The sullen patron questions if the bartender has been listening to ANYTHING he's said, then repeats that he saw something; a white dragon flying through the air. In his memory of the event, he was traipsing through the desert with a shackle latched to his ankle, while a familiar silhouette glints in the sky in the distance. Though he admits he'd never seen it before, he claims to KNOW it was a god, so he prayed to it to get him out of the desert with his life. In the present, he breaks into a grateful grin, indicating that he is indeed still kicking. He promises all the gods that he'll never do anything bad again in his elation, then all of a sudden hunches back over the bar, tears leaking out of his eyes as he asserts that the dragon itself won't make it across the desert. He asks the bartender if he can guess how he knows, and the bartender inquires without much interest, more concerned with the possibility that his patron doesn't have the gold to pay for all the drink he's consuming. The sullen patron pays no attention to the second question, just continuing to cry as he bemoans that all people are born with their legs chained to fate, and just as everyone has a ka, there's someone out their who gave life to the god-dragon in the desert who isn't free either. 

Shit, dude. That's deep. 

Come on, all he wants to do is philosophize about dragons now, guys, give him a break!

The soldiers lead him out the door with angry shouts while he begs for mercy and not getting the desert punishment again. The bartender watches as he cleans his drinkware, muttering the guy must be mad from heatstroke. Outside, the sullen patron is pushed toward Priest Seto, the soldiers proclaiming they've found an escaped convict. Priest Seto glares at him sideways a moment, then barks at Shada to search the man's ka. Shada agrees to this with no more arguments; the guy is a convict, after all, so I assume he doesn't have any "leave alone the brain of the innocent" objections here. 

He holds out the Millennium Key, the man's confused face framed with the top of the ankh crowning the key. The dark recesses of the man's soul open up and Shada zooms in on them. 

Well I'll be goddamned and go to hell! I recognize that one! I didn't know it was DEEP.

Shada says this is a demon, just as he expected, and that this man's ka is able to create evil with the fall of darkness. Not really sure what that last part is about, but it's hard to say if it's just me forgetting a comment made earlier on or a weird filler phrase that's supposed to sound significant. In either case, Shada warns that this monster could cause trouble again if they leave it alone, despite being a rather low-level creature. Priest Seto ponders a plan to keep the poor guy in the dark to experiment with how great the evil can grow, because he's the REAL monster here. Out loud, he commands the soldiers holding him to take the man to the oubliette beneath the palace, then turns to the rest and tells them not to limit themselves to convicts - anyone who opposes them is fair game in this exercise. The remaining soldiers agree without hesitation, but as Priest Seto yells for them to get to the next victim city dweller who looks at them funny, Shada glares disapprovingly. He glare shifts to his periphery nervously when the soldiers just start harassing anyone nearby, and then he makes a frustrated noise, closing his eyes to the abuse.

At first, I thought he was going to be a chicken-shit and hold his tongue, because it would NOT have surprised me if this soul found a NEW way to piss me off like he's been doing the whole story. But I'm pleasantly surprised to see him turn to Priest Seto and yell at him that the pharaoh would NEVER let them do this. Priest Seto calmly responds that they live in an age when a few rebels can shake the kingdom to its foundations, and these are the people who could turn into the next thief!Bakura, so they have to stop that from happening at all costs. Spoken like the true precursor to a rationality-bro online who thinks if he doesn't lose his temper he's automatically being more reasonable. Never mind that this  argument (and many like it to come) rests entirely on paranoia and has no logical roots. 

Shit, this guy's defiance is super endearing, but it's also extremely sad to me that he's counting on a white dragon god to take this douchebag down. I wish I could have the faith that our own overpowered oligarchs will get theirs...

All this statement manages to do is intrigue Priest Seto in any case. The soldiers holding him threaten to never let the man see the sun again if he doesn't cut it out, but he tells them to do their worst, because he's sick of the desert anyway, mega-badass that he is. Shada considers this claim of a god, while Priest Seto whirls around and scoffs that they're moving on. 

Elsewhere in the city, in the bazaar where a few people appear to be sprinting through the street. Jonouchi wonders aloud what everyone's running from, what the hurry is. Honda appears to be more concerned with his jacket, fussing with his lapels as he asks if the others get the feeling they don't fit in here. He mutters that it doesn't really matter if they can't be seen, but he trails off and looks really sad about it. Clearly he wants one of those nice loose shifts he sees everyone wearing. Anyone drawn him in one yet? I'm sure he would appreciate the shit out of it.

His mood immediately lifts when Jonouchi leans over to him and says through a grin that they're invisible men, Honda immediately suggesting with his own creepy smile that they can sneak into the harems. Anzu yells at them that because these are Yami's memories, there's nothing perverted like that here, which seems like wishful thinking to me. Then again, she was knocked out for the time that Yami leered at her after he stopped a fake psychic from molesting her at the very beginning of the manga, so maybe she's blissfully unaware of how he's capable of impure thoughts. 

She rests her hands on her hips and says they're here to find Yami, and a blushing Yuugi urges them not to forget their mission to find Yami's true name. Seems he wasn't opposed to the idea of peeking in on a harem or two himself. Someone acts like they JUST remembered that Yami's name is indeed what they're there for, and Yuugi points in the direction of the palace with the suggestion they keep making their way toward it. They're bound to find SOMETHING relevant around its perimeter even if they can't get in there, right?

Or SOMEONE, maybe.

Yuugi and Jonouchi notice the commotion, the former making a noise of disbelief as the abuse continues. One man yells at the woman they pushed down to get out of the city, another shouting that she's going to bring them bad luck. He claims that it's her fault the pharaoh sent his troops in there to bother them, referring to her appearance as proof. What is it about this woman's looks they disagree with? The city-dwellers cite her pale skin, different from their own darker hue, and insisting that her blue eyes will bring disaster to the land. 

HEY! I'm pale and have blue eyes, and I feel... personally attacked. 

A child points to his own eye as he explains to another kid that legend has it if you look into her blue eyes directly, you'll be cursed. Wait, has she shown up here before? Are they just making up this shit about curses and junk on the spot??? The other kid, apparently his younger brother, cries that he's scared. Child, your big brother is making stuff up to upset you, stop being so gullible. 

The woman on the ground groans, and through a different font that seems faded and weak, she asks for water and promises to return to the desert once she gets some. A man dumps a bucket of water over her head and asks sardonically if that's good enough for her, barking at her to get out now. 

Whoops, forgot again about that whole "ghost"-like condition he's in. He propells himself straight through the jerkbag and plants his face right into a nearby wall, which is the only thing that's solid for him apparently. Rubbing his head and growling through grinding teeth, Jonouchi curses about how he forgot he's not able to touch anything here, raising a shaking fist.

Yuugi kneels next to the woman and asks if he's alright, Anzu hovering behind confirming that she's all cut up. Honda asks in frustration if there's nothing they can do. The woman herself, though her exhausted expression doesn't change, emits an exclamation mark through her silence. Yuugi and Anzu pick up on this somehow and follow her eye-line to where she's looking, at the horde of soldiers arriving on the scene lead by a finely-dressed priest.

I'm not the only one surprised to see somebody familiar in this chapter, it seems. 

In as "Peanuts" a fashion as possible, Yuugi, Anzu and Jonouchi declare in alarm that this is Kaiba. The city-inhabitants all get down on their knees, mumbling their deference to Priest Seto. His glare is fixed on the woman lying soaked on the ground in front of him for a moment, then turns to ask the people what they did to this girl. They stutter and mumble, but don't really provide an answer. Meanwhile, Priest Seto orders his soldiers to give her some water. She makes a delirious noise in response, and it seems that it's at this point Priest Seto realizes the extent to which she was abused. 

He looks back at the crowd of city-dwellers, asking them if they think they can throw stones at people who look different than them, then threatens to carve the TRUE meaning of different status into their skins. Yeah, don't torture a person based on the color of their skin! Torture them as an overreaction to their technical crimes and an experiment to see if you can turn their soul-monsters into a super-weapon!

Priest Seto's NOT!racism isn't really impressing me here, obviously, but Yuugi and company haven't seen his more dubious acts before this moment. The most they've seen of him so far is his verbal reprimand of peasants abusing another peasant. So they cheer him in this regard, as the poor young woman sits up and thanks the soldier offering her water. Another soldier tells Priest Seto how weak she is and he barks at them to tend her wounds. 

Appropriate that the sound effect associated with this woman's power is "RUM"; rum's magic is also extremely powerful, and I don't doubt she would be unstoppable if paired with it. 

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Well, well, well, it's looking like now that we're done getting the lore of Dark Magician's origins, we've moved onto the lore of the Blue Eyes White Dragon's origins. There are strong affirmations toward the white dragon's massive power through the whole chapter, from our fugitive's description of it as a GOD-like presence in the desert to Shada expressing his amazement at the magnitude of the girl's heka at the end. And yet, the pale, blue-eyed girl herself is very meek, thirsty, and disempowered. She is an outcast, and unable to defend herself from the horrible treatment she endures from the others she meets. This is a VERY interesting juxtaposition, though I'm not sure what to draw from it yet. Perhaps it's going to give Priest Seto the impression that her abuse is what developed her power so acutely? Will he throw her in the dungeon with the fugitive they've already taken from the streets due to this, or continue to treat her with kindness? Since they're one priest short at the moment, I'm sure if he wanted to go the kind route he could make the argument to Yami that they install her as a stand-in. Shada could attest to how strong her magic is. 

But something tells me that the former is a far more likely. His character has been entirely based on his political manipulations and cruelty in service to his ambitions so far; much like his soul-descendant Kaiba, Priest Seto clearly wants to be considered the best, most important person in the kingdom, and his urge to preserve his privilege as a powerful force in an unfair system is strong. His motivations seem to be to keep the status quo, because it's his current position in the existing framework that gives him an edge in his ambitions in the future.

Which is why that kindness he displayed, rough around the edges as it was, is so BIZARRE. There is literally NO indication that he might have a soft-spot toward someone of this woman's complexion/eyes before this point. There was no setup to indicate that he would treat anyone beneath him with any kind of respect whatsoever, when he treats his literal equals in the priesthood with utter disdain every chance he gets. This speck of humanity comes completely out of left-field, and it has me really confused. Even Kaiba's relationship with Mokuba as a conduit for his development into a halfway-tolerable human had a logical progression and a stable foundation. There's NOTHING like that here.  

I mean, KT could have at LEAST just had Priest Seto think about how pretty she is and thirst over her or something. It's shallow as fuck, but I'll take it over literally NOTHING, dude!