I certainly don't envy him.
The next panel acts as an introduction to these characters with which we are already familiar by this point: humans Kuwabara and Urameshi, and demons Kurama and Hiei. Then we're shown a ribbon of cliffs rising out of the ocean, shrouded in darkness, but a light flickers in a grove of trees nearby.
Whoob. XD
The gathering of demons express their elation at the looming event, a cyclops saying he's been looking forward to this. One with four curved horns framing his face says that they can run completely amuck, and his companion sporting two mouths on his long chin filled with razor teeth reiterates the rules of the game, the winner promised WHATEVER they want. A demon with a wide open mouth and a single eye perched in the back of his mouth vows to eat a thousand humans. Not sure how he's going to do that with his anatomy, but cool. The most grotesque of these by far is the one next to him, who has a crocodile mouth protruding from the mouth of what looks like an empty HUMAN SKIN wrinkled around the head of the beast, and he says that mouth is watering already. Which one? Who knows, but I shudder to think.
No doubt it occurred to YT that he wasn't going to top THAT monster design, so the next panel is all shadows and silhouettes. One of those warns the others not to get too excited because they have to beat his team first, which isn't going to happen. Another says he'll have to eat those words. Typical trash talk. More of them notice the smell of human nearby and suggest it's a pre-tournament snack. The tradition of tailgating is cross-spirit, I see.
The concern over how poorly this tournament is starting for them, however, is based on how late Yusuke is and how they never got themselves a fifth sucker to fight on their team. Hiei tells him not to worry about all that, asking if HE'S ready. Grinning, Kuwabara answers in a confident affirmative, crediting Kurama for shaping him up. Kurama sweatdrops, though, as if he's not NEARLY so confident in his impromptu student's training. Kuwabara doesn't notice this, too busy insisting to himself that he's going to win this, and make the dark world fear him so that no demon or human will ever mess with Yukina again.
A short, stocky stereotypical pirate right down to his bushy beard, eyepatch, smoking pipe, and peg leg tells everyone to get on a barge-like boat. It has a large circular section with a grid superimposed over the top bisecting the vessel, and looking SUSPICIOUSLY like a fighting ring. Kuwabara tells the pirate to hold it, because one of the guest fighters isn't here yet, who snaps back with the assertion that the rules dictate whoever is too late to catch the boat is a "refuser". He promises to send the assassins to take out the delinquent.
Before Kuwabara can protest, a voice from behind says that won't be necessary.
Kuwabara demands to know where Yusuke has been, and when the crowd of demons hears his name, they recognize it as belonging to the guy who got Rando and Suzaku. It's only a short step from there for them to conclude that they have it MADE if they take Yusuke down. Same shit, different day.
Yusuke either notices none of this talk, or ignores it altogether when he ambles forward and complains about feeling sore and stiff all over. Kuwabara says he looks pretty shaky indeed, and he would hate to know why. Hiei silently glares at Yusuke, then addresses him as he's passing. Before you know it, he's alert and leaping back from a blade Hiei draws on him, dropping his bag on the way. Hiei slashes away and Yusuke dodges, creating a blur of action that the demonic spectators and Kuwabara alike are bewildered by. Kuwabara at least says he ALMOST can't follow their rapid movements.
Hiei says he doesn't know how Yusuke did it, but his skills are ALMOST adequate now. Lots of "almosts" clogging up this chapter, huh? Kuwabara criticizes the use of the word, complaining that he couldn't move like that in a million years, but Kurama assures him that he shouldn't sweat it because the fact that he could just barely follow their movements shows he's progressed as well. No doubt that's a relief to his teacher as well, lol.
Hiei steers the conversation to the masked companion of Yusuke, referring to them as "Short Stuff" when asking if they are the fifth member of the team. Pot, meet Kettle. Kuwabara is alarmed at this person being shorter than Hiei, and crows that he can barely see them, claiming that he could blow them clear to Mars if he sneezed in their direction. The masked person remains silent, which must be AWFULLY difficult for them, considering who they OBVIOUSLY are. Yusuke grins as he drops a cryptic statement about how they could do a lot worse when it comes to a fifth, though Kuwabara expresses some skepticism. Hiei assures him that this person fills out the team, and he and Yusuke can pick up any slack if necessary.
Said participants aren't impressed with their lack of accommodations either. They yammer amongst themselves about how the boat is a pretty drab old tub, and how there are no refreshments or deck chairs. Bold of them to assume they would have time to enjoy those, despite the lengthy ETA. The pirate captain of the ship, or cruise director as the case may be, calls for the attention of the participants from a high platform, informing them that this isn't a pleasure cruise - he's announcing that the tournament preliminaries are being conducted RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW.
How anyone with an eye or two or three could not have seen the giant fighting ring and not drawn that conclusion is beyond me.
The ship rumbles and the passengers shout in alarm as the circular deck rises up, and exclamations finally indicate there's some acknowledgement that this was an arena all along. Not sure why it needed to be elevated any more, but whatevz. The pirate captain says that 16 teams will compete in the Dark Tournament, and since 15 teams are already on the island, that means that only one from this boat will be able to fill that slot. As everyone looks at one another warily, Kuwabara complains some more about how no one told them about this. Better get used to that, kiddo.
The pirate captain instructs the teams to pick their strongest member, who will vie for participation of the group in the tournament against the others. A massive ogre says a little warm-up match suits HIM just fine, because he's convinced his team is going to win anyway. Several demons, sporting many numbers of horns, scales, fangs, claws, and muscles galore, step forward to represent their team in the announced travel round.
Kuwabara is in disbelief about the Battle Royale styled match coming up, saying that it isn't always the strongest that comes out on top in those. He looks around over his shoulder, yelling at Yusuke that this is his chance to strut his new stuff.
Kurama says this can happen after intense training, claiming Yusuke has fallen into a deep sleep to restore his strength and aura. Kuwabara is incensed and asks who the hell is going to go up there, then. The masked fifth member walks toward the platform silently, so Hiei says that's settled at least. He also suggests this will give them an opportunity to see what they can do. Kuwabara demands to know what happens if their "mystery" member loses, because he doubts that the team members of losers in this match can just GO HOME. Hiei says Kuwabara is probably right about that, and with a creepy little smile, adds that they'll just have to kill everyone aboard the boat so no one can complain about it. Like it's so fucking easy. Kuwabara seems annoyed by this answer, grumbling at the prospect of having to face such an issue.
Once the fifth member takes their place on the rumbling stage, the pirate captain, whose eyes have turned black in the first indication that he might also be demonic in some way, yells at the participants to begin. The crowd of demons are all facing the diminutive representative of Yusuke's team, and they seem to agree that this puny opponent is the first target. The general strategy is stated to be killing all in their turn, starting with the runt, and a call to pile on this one shrimp is shrieked, the group leaping toward them as one. Kuwabara freaks out that his fear the demons would gang up on their team member is coming true, and observes that there's no room to run, so this person will be smashed flat. Kurama gapes in horror next to him.
All the challenging demons splash into the ocean, lost to the sea, the only one left on the platform the fifth team member of Yusuke's group. The pirate captain declares the match for Team Urameshi, and their claim on the 16th spot in the Dark Torunament.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? The story isn't wasting our time here, breezing through the boat battle nice and easy, and it's such a relief to me. I mentioned in the last chapter's review that I actually liked not having to sit through a montage of training and such, but mostly that was because I was looking forward to being surprised by how much their team's skills had grown in that two-month period. I realize now that this isn't really the only reason why I like not messing around with a bunch of drawn-out material; there are an AWFUL LOT of shounen titles that will stretch every battle to the max in order to squeeze more content out of their story. It's a MEME that Dragonball Z's fights take like fifty episodes to sort of finish, and that One Piece's massive chapter count is practically inaccessible to new readers at this point.
But YT isn't wasting our time here. He clearly understands that while there NEEDS to be lead-up and an ease into the tournament, this preliminary battle isn't something that the audience is looking forward to. In order to narrow down the no doubt MASSIVE amount of teams trying to participate in this thing without absolutely BORING everyone to death, YT just knocked this one out with a competent blow-out by the member we're least familiar with so audience and characters alike can get a better idea of what their capabilities are, and we can all move on to the REAL tournament. VERY well-handled, and the brevity is a breath of fresh air.
I say "least" familiar with when it comes to our "mystery" member because I don't know a single person who was not aware pretty much immediately that this was Genkai when we all read it back in the day. Not only is this person the same height and build, with the same style of dress, but Genkai was INTRODUCED through her search for a successor. If she had already trained up a person other than Yusuke that he could later take along with him to the tournament, she wouldn't have needed to recruit a protege in the first place.
Still, in the future chapters I will probably keep referring to the fifth teammate as such until her identity is revealed in the story organically, though. Even if it's obvious who she is, I want to play along with YT's game to see if I can tease out what precisely the point of it is, because I'm not sure I ever truly grasped that in watching the show. I'm looking forward to having a closer look at this, because in my previous projects, reading the content more carefully has revealed a good bit of missed context to me.
Anyone else notice that YuYu Hakusho has been a somewhat hot topic lately? Regular Eyepatch Wolf made a short video on it, TeamFourStar has begun a brand new abridged series on it... Is something in the water?
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