WSR 9-23-13

Disclaimer: These aren’t official translations, merely scanlations. Buy localized or original manga to support the author if at all possible. Know the difference between piracy/theft and sharing without personal profit.

Magi 198

Last time we ended with the black spot being destroyed and Titus appearing before Ugo. Marga Is being carried, unconscious, by Sphintus and he’s saddened that she will wake up and her new friend, Titus, won’t be here anymore

Elsewhere, Sinbad and Kouen are eyeing each other, since they are sort of rivals, not to mention the strongest Metal Vessel users in the group so far. Aladdin reminds Kouen that he said he’d retreat after the black spot was defeated, though I thought he only said he’d do this if Aladdin explained about Alma Toran. Either way, Kouen said that his original goal was conquering Magnostadt and he didn’t want to use Kou Empire’s Metal Vessel users against Reim. It’s just that their enemy changed. Aladdin insists that he has to keep to his promise. Koumei observes that they still have Judal and Hakuryuu, meaning they know they’re in the area, but they wonder if the other side has a trump card.

Sinbad moves to manipulate Kougyoku, presumably from attacking with Zepar’s sound element a while ago, but Yunan stops him, saying they were trying to stop a fight between them and the Kou Empire. It’s revealed that Sinbad’s Seven Seas Alliance has formed a confederation with the Reim Empire, which is pretty big, since that’s one of the major powers in this world, along with the Kou Empire, the Parthevia Empire and a few others.

Kouen then decides he’ll be taking Aladdin with him, shocking everyone. He says that if Sinbad just wanted to gain more power and territory, he’d use the advantage he has to kill off Kou Empire’s fighters, weakened as they are. Other people move to stop Kouen from taking Aladdin, mostly from Magnostadt.

Marga is remembering her time spent with Titus, her hopes that she and Titus can be friends until she’s really old, even though we figured out a while ago about Titus’ shortened life span.

Meanwhile, Gyokuen says that even if their medium from Magnostadt was useless, Scheherazade is dead and Reim is in an unstable state. And though the medium was disabled, the aperture where Il Irah came through is still technically open for a year or so, so if they get another medium, they’ll have that much less time they need to bring him into the world. But the others are concerned that Solomon may reincarnate the new Magi in Reim so that Kou can’t act. Or even more interestingly, implant Scheherazade’s “ego” into a new vessel, meaning she herself will still be a Magi, just in a new body. He’s done this with Yunan, which explains why he’s so young, yet seemingly the most experienced Magi around. Not to mention Scheherazade may still have other bodies that are able to preserve her rukh and enable her to be reborn immediately into the new body without any difficulty

Back at the Sacred Palace, Ugo is told by Scheherazade that Titus should be returned and not her, meaning Titus has been dictated as a new Magi, which is a turn I didn’t expect at all. Mu’s subordinates explain that something was transported to them from Reim’s magic circle and it’s Titus in a new body, with Scheherazade’s hair and a body that’s smaller than his original was.

The chapter ends with Judal seen gathering all the black rukh and Hakuryuu apologizing to Aladdin and his friends, since he has now turned to Judal’s path of depravity, meaning he’ll likely be a pseudo villain in the next chapter if he comes up.

World Trigger 31

We begin with Jin defeating Kazama. He notes that Jin was hiding this ability and Tachikawa says that now that they know what Fujin’s capable of they’ll defeat him in the three weeks until official enlistment and take his Black Trigger, but Jin thinks otherwise.

We return to Miwa being told that the battle’s over, Tachikawa and Kazama bailing out and Narasaka and Shohei retreating. Izumi is amazed they lost, Ken bragging about his double Sniping he did last chapter. Izumi’s peeved that the #5 A squad in Border beat them, but Kitora retorts they aren’t just maintaining their popularity in terms of being the face of Border, they train hard.

Miwa says that they’ll regret sheltering a Neighbor. A person, according to him, doesn’t realize their true danger until they’ve lost someone close to them. Jin, he says, doesn’t take them seriously at all and that will cost him one day. Arashiyama responds that Jin does know: Neighbors killed his mother, not to mention his mentor Mogami died 5 years ago. He insists that since Jin knows about losing family and others close to him, he’s just concerned about Miwa and the others’ safety.

Back at Border headquarters, the other Kido squad members insist that Shinoda’s betraying them, which he retorts that they resorted to theft over debate. And he says that if they try this again, they’ll have to deal with him. One of Kido’s supporters notes that Shinoda’s the strongest member with a Normal Trigger, meaning that even these other members are relatively scared of him, even if they also use Triggers to fight. Not sure if all of them do, but Rindo and Kido may also be fighters along with their administrative duties.

Kido then decides he’ll send Amo, shocking the others. He’s supposedly the strongest member in Border, the only other S rank besides Jin and also the only other Black Trigger user. Some others oppose this because Amo’s inhuman in his methods, but Kido says that since Shinoda’s supporting Jin, they can’t be picky.

Jin enters and the others starting throwing insults at him, though a few say he’s in the perfect position to negotiate instead of what Kido thought he was doing: declaring war. Jin says they only want one thing: to enlist Yuma as an official Border Agent. The others say they can’t really expect Jin to think they’ll do that: using the Border rules to protect Yuma, since fighting between agents apart from mock battles is forbidden. He says he’ll give up his Fujin to them in exchange.

This is a big gain for Kido, since we know Jin’s Black Trigger can be used by many besides himself, while they don’t know if Yuma’s Black Trigger is compatible with anyone besides Yuma. Not to mention they already have an S rank and a Black Trigger on their side. It’s like Jin expects Yuma’s growth potential to be good enough that giving up Fujin (for now) is the best course of action to get him into Border ahead of schedule.

Kido says he could just take away his privilege to use the Black Trigger, but Jin retorts they’d have to do the same to the others, since they also fought in violation of the rules. Kido says maybe he could only confiscate Jin’s Trigger, but Jin says he knows that wouldn’t pass in Border HQ. The chapter ends as Jin leaves, presumably succeeding in his negotiations, but Tachikawa and Kazama are waiting for him.

Bleach 550

We start with Askin looking through his fingers shaped in a box, sort of an artistic view of things, and he concludes he can’t beat Mayuri, or that it will take too long. Mayuri is curious, Askin saying that it would take multiple attack combinations to kill him. He then explains that he doesn’t like to focus on details, preferring things to go easily, saying Mayuri should fight someone else. Starting to leave, he asks Mayuri if he’ll attack him from behind, Mayuri saying he’s free to go, that he doesn’t care. Mayuri wants to analyze his reiatsu, but he’s also suspicious that Askin’s just trying to provoke him to move into his attack range, Askin smirking and saying that he’s glad he didn’t show off his true skills, complimenting Mayuri on his observation skills.

The group then feels Soifon’s reiatsu, thinking she must’ve defeated her opponent without her Bankai. Askin then says it’s just as Juhabach predicted. Mayuri is curious, Askin explaining that Juhabach speculated that the captains who had their Bankai stolen would be able to adapt and develop new fighting styles. But Mayuri then says that there’s still a problem in his implication, Askin agreeing since it still means that the overall prophecy of Juhabach is that they’ll still lose in spite of this.

Back where Toushirou and Ranigku are, the wall of ice starts to melt away as Bazz B returns, seemingly unscathed. The only thing damaged was his cloak, ripping it off as he prepares to fight.

Soifon senses an attack from BG9, grabbing a spike he shoots out at her, grabbing it and then throwing him to the side and crashing into a wall. She’s amazed he’s still breathing, but he responds he’s never taken a breath. Soifon wonders if he’s a robot or something like that, commenting that Mayuri would enjoy toying with him. I wonder if this means he’s something like the Quincy equivalent of a modsoul, or whatever exactly Nemu is.

He takes off his cloak as well, his body seemingly mechanical in nature as he reveals a score of cannon like openings that come from his limbs and chest. The recording of Eternal Shunkou is noted by him as an impressive piece of data, but he also notes that if that is as far as Soifon can go, he doesn’t even need to use the Bankai he stole from her. The cannons all fire, a huge blast engulfing Soifon, which she manages to escape from. She thinks she’s managed to escape, but BG9 stabs her arm and catches up to her, reemphasizing that her Eternal Shunkou was a useful piece of info, which makes me think he adapted it for himself and is now using it against her in a way. He fires off the cannons again, now at close range, a huge explosion resulting.

Meanwhile, returning to Toushirou and Rangiku’s fight, Bazz B notes that his flames were called weak by Toushirou. But he also notes that he, Nanana and As Nodt were all hit by Yamamoto’s flames and still survived. It wasn’t that they missed, however; it was that Bazz B’s flames were able to cancel out Yamamoto’s Ryuujin Jakka. He blasts away the ice wall further, slightly disappointed that Toushirou doesn’t have his Bankai, since he’d love to be able to show that even Hyourinmaru’s full power could be stopped by the flame in one of his fingers. Toushirou attacks again, Bazz B stopping the attack. Rangiku is told to retreat while Toushirou uses a special ice wall technique. But Bazz B decides to show off the power in just one of his fingers, using Burner Finger 1, blasting a small hole through Toushirou as the chapter ends.

There are predictions that Toushirou has used his Ice Clone that allowed him to fight against Halibel before, even though that required his Bankai previously. Not sure how Soifon will fight against BG9 further and Mayuri hasn’t even really figured out Askin’s powers and their precise nature.

Naruto 648

Naruto and Sasuke were confronting Obito before, Naruto starting to take chakra from the other half of Kurama. He apologizes, but the other half insists it’s fine, since they’re helping each other anyway. Naruto explains to Sasuke about the senjutsu tactic, but Sasuke’s already ahead of the game. Juugo then uses his natural energy ability to infect Susanoo with what appears to be the curse seal power.

Suigetsu notes this and Orochimaru explains that Juugo’s power was the origin of the curse seal mark he used, though we knew that a while ago. Juugo’s power being senjutsu and the fact that Juugo’s chakra had already been injected into Sasuke means he adapted to it and thus he’s able to incorporate it into techniques. So now Susanoo functions as if Sasuke is a sage.  Tobirama comments that Sasuke’s becoming as amazing as Madara was. Even Orochimaru comments that Sasuke’s potential is still not at its peak and that soon he will surpass Madara, which is an interesting prediction. I doubt Sasuke will become a sage, though Obito was seemingly able to do it with raw will, so I wouldn’t be  surprised if Sasuke is able to shape the curse seal chakra that Juugo gives him into something even stronger.

Tobirama also comments that Naruto resembles Hashirama a great deal, especially in his headstrong ways, but also his ability to draw people to him. Naruto and Sasuke move to attack Obito, Obito also starting his attack.

The other ninja are amazed, just waiting for the other 5 Kage to get there. Hashirama flashbacks to Madara telling him that he sees a future for the village that Hashirama hasn’t perceived yet. The other ninja in the alliance see this because of the nature of Hashirama’s chakra, being a sage, similar to Naruto’s memories appearing previously.

We continue into a flashback where Hashirama and Tobirama are in a meeting with the other 4 Kage and their successors. Hashirama is so overwhelmed that he already shows a bit of perceived weakness, bowing fully to them, which the others have a problem with, even though they think Hashirama’s plan to unite the countries and villages has merit. The Tsuchikage thinks there might be an ulterior motive, but the Kazekage says they should just focus on business and divide the Bijuu that Hashirama captured accordingly.

Tobirama says they will expect a small donation for the Bijuu exchange, though Hashirama says giving it freely would be fine, Tobirama silencing him. We return to the present for a moment, Naruto and Sasuke’s fight against Obito and Hashirama’s fight against Madara hinted at, though not focused on as we return to the negotiations. The Kazekage notes that their village already has a Bijuu so instead, they want a plot of the Fire Country’s land and 30% of all the money the other Kages are paying for their Bijuu. The others are understandably shocked at this, the Kazekage saying he’s justified, since their country isn’t exactly prosperous or able to advance itself economically as well as the others. They respond that they could just form their own alliance and eliminate the Kazekage’s village and country.

Hashirama says that this treaty is only a temporary solution and he willingly admits that it may come to war again in the future. He says his greatest wish and dream is for all shinobi to unite together regardless of their differences. He pleads with everyone, both in the flashback and in the present to ally with him in this hope. The 5 present Kage appear as the chapter ends.

I wonder how much of a contribution the 5 Kage will have when Madara kicked their butts a while ago with clones. They may offer support to Hashirama, but that’s about it for the moment, unless they can also use senjutsu, in which case, they could help Naruto and Sasuke against Obito. Tsunade could be a sage like Jiraiya was, but we’re not sure about that.

One Piece 722

We continue from last chapter with Rebecca having insults hurled at her, Luffy furious at this, saying it’s not her fault. Some of the other gladiators are taunting her, but Cavendish comes in, silencing everyone. He’s on a white horse and has a portable loudspeaker so he can project his voice to the entire arena. Ladies are swooning over him as usual and even saying that Cavendish should kill Rebecca. He responds that they should go down here and fight themselves if they want to hurt her. While ignorant of exactly why they hate her, he respects her for putting her life on the life in the arena. He personally doesn’t like the idea of putting a warrior’s life up for sport, but he has his own reasons for participating as well.

Luffy is impressed and Cavendish is suddenly the focus of everyone’s praise. One of the gladiators even says he’s sorry that Cavendish has to manipulate them, since they’re so fickle, but Cavendish is fine with it, since he hasn’t really had as much popularity as he did 3 years ago.

Rebecca thanks Cavendish, though he says he only did it because they irked him with their attitude. The final block starts as we focus on the few named fighters, hopefully promising to be as interesting as the last 2 we’ve seen

Back at the Flower Fields, the gnomes are gathering together and are preparing for the battle. The Pink Bee and Yellow Beetle squads that came with Robin and Usopp arrive. The toy soldier starts to encourage everyone with a rousing speech, though I wonder how long it’ll be until we actually see them fight.

Meanwhile, Zoro and Wicca are going towards the Thousand Sunny, Wicca explaining about Jora and also that ten years ago, the entire Dressrosa Royal Army was taken down by just 3 of Doflamingo’s highest officers: Diamante, Trebol and Pica, two of which we’ve seen before. Apparently Wicca is well informed about all of these generals, since she fought against them a decade ago, or otherwise experienced their power in some way. Zoro and Wicca meet up with Kinemon and Sanji, who wants to help, though Kinemon reminds Sanji that they have to stay behind to warn Luffy. Violet appears and tells them that Jora has hijacked the ship and is moving it towards Green Bit, where Caesar, Law, Doflamingo and Fujitora are.

Back at the Thousand Sunny, it seems Brook is supporting Jora, or at least is enjoying her music, the others worried he might have betrayed them. Jora even puts them in a state that will kill them in 10 minutes. Brook engages Jora, saying he should play a great piece with his violin, Jora restoring it. But unaware that it’s also his sword, he uses his quick draw skills to defeat her under the guise of playing his instrument.

Back at Green Bit, Doflamingo explains the history that started after the Void Century, 20 kings of 20 countries allying together to form what is now known as the Celestial dragons. Only Alabasta abstained, making it 19 technically.  But this was what formed the World Government originally. After the kings left, new families were instated, like the Riku family in Dressrosa. And it’s revealed that Doflamingo’s family was the original rulers of Dressrosa, meaning Doflamingo is descended from and part of the Celestial Dragons. This revelation concludes the chapter and makes things much more interesting, since this explains Doflamingo’s influence and how he was able to fake his retirement from the Shichibukai, among other things.

Toriko 251

Last time we entered a flashback with Midora and Frohze. We return with Midora awakening to Frohze cooking soup. She’s concerned that he’s still healing and feeds him some soup. This generosity starts to change his perspective, since he had normally just been regarded with hatred by people. Frohze’s charity was a shock to him and he savored the feeling

He has a nightmare later of his food being stolen by people and wakes up in tears. Frohze has prepared a feast that he leaps on, burning his tongue. She tells him that he can eat it all, that it won’t be taken away. He’s amazed at the warmth, since he had never had cooked food before. And for the first time he ate until he was satisfied.

Later he is outside and looks back at Frohze who says he can stay as long as he wants, which makes him feel like he belongs, like he has a family. This could be said to have made him human and after that, he never had the dream again of his food being taken from him.

Midora has caught a Flavor Rhino and Frohze is impressed. Midora seems to have become infatuated with Frohze and it shows when Ichiryuu, Midora and Jirou all show up, Midora attacking Jirou, who uses Knocking to freeze him in place. Jirou compares him to a wild beast, which Ichiryuu then says makes him a lot like Jirou anyway.

Acacia notes Midora has Gourmet Cells, which he was apparently born with. His feeling that his special place is being threatened by someone is changed when he sees Acacia, who gives him a similar look to Frohze and Midora realizes they aren’t enemies. The group then eats and they decide on a name for him, since he’s the third and the youngest. Acacia suggests the tiger portion of the name.

Acacia and Frohze discuss the state of the Gourmet War, which still seems to have no end in sight. Pair tells Acacia something, meaning Acacia can speak to the ingredients, since I’m pretty sure Pair is one of his full course items; unless this is some other entity called Pair. It says that the Gourmet Eclipse is coming soon as well as the Four Beast. The Nitro are involved as well, trying to capture a large number of humans. Acacia thinks Ichiryuu should handle this, which we know he does, since he is said to have defeated the Four Beast by himself in the past before we see Toriko and the others defeat it later.

Acacia then says that when the Eclipse happens, God will appear, definitely the final ingredient of his full course and the one that changed things for the Gourmet War. The chapter ends as he says he has to go to the Farthest Land, which has something to do with finding God, though it’s most likely a part of the Gourmet World, which has been said to be much larger than the human world.

Fairy Tail 353

Last time, it was revealed that Atlas Flame was the Eternal Flame in Flare’s village, though it turns out that he’s not actually there. He’s being projected as an image by Wendy’s Milky Way spell. He’s been dead for a while, and his memories are a bit mixed up. Happy wonders why, since Zirconis was much more lucid by comparison. Wendy explains that the magic can be affected by other spells, like the ice magic that froze the Eternal Flame. That has damaged some of his memories, sort of like if part of your brain was damaged, parts of your personality or the like could be altered.

Atlas Flame then begins to explain, saying that it was a single person that changed the village to its present icy form, whom he mistook for someone else. The man mistook Atlas Flame for a demon and froze the entire village. He was an exorcist mage, a demon slayer. It’s like the God Slayer or Dragon Slayer, though the exact target is unknown. Gray remembers that it worked on the beast man, so it’s possible that they are the intended mark for the magic.

Flare begs Atlas Flame to help the village, as the Eternal Flame. Atlas starts to remember, that he created the village. He then begins to burn brighter, saying he will release the village. His spirit is burning away, but as he is disappearing, he explains that Igneel tried to stop Zeref’s most awful magic, E.N.D., but failed.

Apparently, even as a mere spirit, Atlas Flame is able to negate the demon slayer’s ice magic, the giants freed. One of them looks closer at Erza and Minerva, who have ceased fighting in the realization that the village is no longer covered in ice. Minerva retreats, saying she’ll fight Erza another time, Erza saying she has to stay strong against the darkness. But Minerva says she’ll be stronger than the darkness, making her own corruption. The others marvel that the village is free, Natsu noting that it’s the first time he’s heard about Igneel trying to stop Zeref.

Elsewhere, a man called Silver at a grave is being called by a lizard man, who says that all the other members of the Nine Ghost Gate have been summoned. The chapter ends as we see the Ice Demon Slayer fully. Apparently the Nine Ghost Gate is part of the last Dark Guild we haven’t heard about, Tartarus, so this is a big development, even if this is just one of the members.

WSR 9-16-13

Disclaimer: These aren’t official translations, merely scanlations. Buy localized or original manga to support the author if at all possible. Know the difference between piracy/theft and sharing without personal profit.

Magi 197

Hakuryuu and Judal speak a bit at the beginning of the chapter, Judal teasing Hakuryuu about his sister fighting, while Hakuryuu being more serious and saying they came for another reason, which I’m not sure about what exactly it is.

Meanwhile, inside the rukh of Mogamett, he regrets what he has done, realizing he was the one building this wall and his stubborn prejudice against the goi was only making things worse. He wanted to help, but being so focused on helping them through the superior power of the magicians only created more friction between them.

 Aladdin apologizes as well, saying that even if he was obstinate about the difference between magicians and non magicians, he inspired people to fight on. He asks Mogamett to come with him, but Mogamett refuses. Since he sent so many people into depravity and used them as fuel, he thinks that he cannot leave, even if Titus enables him to do so. Even if he might be able to return to the white rukh, all the people he turned to the black rukh may not be able to return at all.

He asks Aladdin to help, since he’s figured out that Aladdin isn’t from this world. He feels sorry that those people who died in depravity cannot return to the white rukh’s flow where their loved ones wait for them in vain.Aladdin thinks it’s possible, though he admits that the way is still presently unknown.

Mogamett thanks Aladdin for helping him see Yamraiha again, even if he also feels guilty. It’s explained that he stole Yamraiha from the royal family her ancestors had served for generations. He kept the truth from her because he didn’t want her to leave, but also because since the rulers had changed, magicians and those sympathetic to the royal family would’ve been killed. Yamraiha was initially suspicious, but she grew to regard Mogamett as a father.

Aladdin continues with this line of thought, saying that Mogamett made a lot of people feel loved and protected. Mogamett thanks Aladdin as he disappears into the black rukh, saying Aladdin truly saved the country, stopping the war from continuing and enabling the metal vessel users to ally even if they also bore hatred towards each other. He leaves Aladdin with a final message for Magnostadt: no one is greater than another, even if they are more powerful or otherwise different in ability.

Sinbad sees the medium breaking apart and it dissipates. Yamraiha tries to apologize to Mogamett before he fully disappears and he smiles, the medium disappearing into the sky outside. Al Thamen curses his uselessness, saying they need to make a better core themselves instead of indirectly. But they do find a silver lining in Scheherazade’s death and her rukh going to the flow.

The chapter ends as Titus meets Ugo in the enclosed area where he met Aladdin a while back. Wonder what this means for Titus, not to mention Ugo’s involvement in the story.

The arc will end next chapter, so I wonder what we’ll be moving towards after that.

World Trigger 30

Kitora and Arashiyama retreat to a side street to try to avoid Izumi and Miwa. Izumi concludes they’re cornered, but Miwa says they’ll just bottleneck them and then teleport out to get them in that enclosed space that much easier. It’s noted that since Kitora’s leg (just one, unlike what I thought last week) is disabled, they have to keep them at a distance. Forcing them to get into an enclosed space would be to Arashiyama and Kitora’s advantage. Izumi and Miwa think they have to whittle them down from afar.

Arashiyama and Kitora contact Satori and they have him transmit information to them through his Radar Option Trigger. They can’t find Touma, since he’s wearing a Bagworm Option Trigger, hiding him from Radar Option. They reason out that they’re trying to lure them out by making it seem like they’re heading for Jin. They ask their Operator, Ayatsuji, to help them find the best sniping positions and they move out.

Arashiyama is heading for Izumi, Kitora apparently using a Bagworm Option as well. The idea seems to be to initiate a surprise attack with Arashiyama as bait. Arashiyama pops out and Izumi uses Meteor, Arashiyama using Shield Option as best he can. Miwa and Izumi are trying to find Kitora, but Arashiyama doesn’t answer when they ask where she is.

Miwa uses the Heavy Option on his Gunner Trigger, further disabling Arashiyama, but he teleports behind them. Touma seems like he’s about to shoot Arashiyama, knowing where he was going to teleport, but then Kitora appears behind him, defeating him. She had attached the Scorpion Trigger to her disabled leg and attacked him from behind, using the Bagworm Option to hide herself.

Miwa and Izumi are ready to finish off Arashiyama after he taunts them, saying it was a surprise attack with him as bait, but with a different target, Satori snipes off Miwa and Izumi’s firing arms. Miwa’s still ready to fight, but he’s contacted by a superior and told that the fight’s over as the chapter ends.

If the fight’s over, what does this mean for the superiors at Border who ordered them to get Yuma’s Black Trigger?

Bleach 549

The unseated officers are inspired by Toushirou’s strong attack against Bazz B last time and they think they might have a chance even without their captain having Bankai

Meanwhile, Marechiyo is slammed into the wall by BG 9. He says that he’s been looking for Soifon and asks the vice captain where she is, since he can’t find her even with all the technical data he has. But Marechiyo says if he knew, he’d cover for her, but he honestly doesn’t know. He also says he’s the kind of person who’d throw their superior under the bus to save his own hide, so it’s a bit contradictory. But we’re probably supposed to get the idea that he cares for his captain, even if he doesn’t show it.

BG9 says that after asking 3 times, he needs to use a different method. He then stabs with his blade, seemingly not even using an arm, attacking Mareyo, Marechiyo’s younger sister, who was nearby. BG9 then says that there are other related individuals nearby and they will die if Marechiyo doesn’t answer his question. The vice captain attacks, furious that the Quincy would attack his family members. BG9 is virtually unscathed, stabbing Marechiyo into the wall and blocking his attacks with weird tendril things under the cloak. He then proceeds to try to finish Marechiyo off with what appears to be a gatling gun that he pulled from his cloak, though his body seems to be very mysterious as to what it actually is.

The gun is suddenly slashed in half and Soifon appears nearby, having caught the bullets. She compliments him for using such an advanced weapon, instead of a bow and arrow. BG9 is confused at Soifon’s appearance and she laughs in response, surprised they didn’t know about this from their intel. She explains it’s Shunkou and BG9 responds that he’s aware of the technique but that her form should be incomplete, but Soifon counters that it’s been a while, so she’s gotten better. She thanks him for stealing her Bankai, since now she’s perfected her Shunkou to this extent in the absence of the Bankai. She slams into him with her Eternal Shunkou and an explosion results that can be seen across Seireitei by Toushirou and Rangiku

They move to help the others, but it looks like Bazz B isn’t done yet. These fights are definitely showing off the adaptability of the captains after losing their Bankai, but I imagine that these fights will push them to their limits, since these are Captain class and above opponents in terms of their strength, relatively speaking.

Naruto 647

The chapter begins with the 5 Kages floating towards the battle on Gaara’s sand. Sakura is tired and Shikamaru seems to have fainted or is near death. They try to use the long distance healing, but Katsuyu explains that the tiny clones used in the technique were all used up, presumably to heal Tsunade. It’s like those people who’ve had their chakra drained by the God Tree. Shikamaru’s getting his chakra drained steadily as well, the others trying to help him.

Obito says he won’t kill the shinobi if they stop resisting. The idea is that if they want to end their suffering, they should just accept the God Tree draining all their chakra and die or just accept the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Hashirama tells the shinobi not to give in, since accepting the genjutsu would be the same as dying.

Suddenly Orochimaru and his group come in. They explain that the Kages are on their way, Orochimaru commenting that Sasuke doesn’t seem happy

Hashirama notes something Madara told him before: that for the tree to fully bloom, it only needs trace amounts of the Kyuubi and Hachibi’s chakra. It’ll be about 15 minutes. Madara will use the Sage powers he acquired from being a clone of Hashirama and take Obito’s place in utilizing the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Hashirama asks Ino to transmit this information to everyone. He says they can either take down the tree or the user of the jutsu in the time they have, but they can’t give up.

Obito continues to drone on in his nihilistic viewpoint and Naruto has had enough. Ssasuke then inspires Naruto by cutting through one of the tree limbs with Susanoo and he and Juugo move forward. Naruto then charges up his chakra and through Ino’s jutsu, they see his heart, his regrets of not being able to help Sasuke, the deaths of people precious to him, like Jiraiya, Chiyo and Neji. But he won’t let all that go to waste and he and Sasuke confront Obito as the chapter ends.

A lot of emotional setup, but this is looking like the arc could end sometime next year at this rate, though time dilation in manga could stretch the time frame of 15 minutes quite a bit. And Obito may have a backup plan.

Toriko 250

The chapter begins with an explanation about a phenomenon in Gourmet World when especially powerful beasts confront each other. The vortex of their sheer power swirls around them, forming what is called an Emperor Ring, which many beasts in Gourmet World won’t go near. This time, however, the Emperor Ring comes from Ichiryuu and Midora and it’s the biggest Gourmet World has ever seen. Any beasts that wandered into it are either affected by Minority World or Hungry Space

Ichiryuu compliments Midora on twisting Minority World to his advantage. But he also says that it extends to everything, so he can’t stop those things that are unconscious. He then rescinds Minority World, putting Midora back into a state of near death. Ichiryuu says since the damage to his heart is now the majority, Midora will be dying soon anyway. But then more bites are taken out of Ichiryuu’s body as Midora responds saying that he’s still in a good spot, apparently recovering slowly from the damage done by eating Ichiryuu.

He then explains about Hungry Space, that his tongue not only consumes objects, but the air itself, leaving a vacuum that, if something gets into its area of effect, is consumed, much like the Dinner of Kings we saw when the Four Emperors fought the Four Beast, eaten by an unseen force. The taste is memorized and then Midora can attack at his leisure, it seems. And Ichiryuu’s Minority World isn’t able to affect it, since it eliminates everything in that spot, leaving only the Appetite to consume more.

Ichiryuu comments that it seems like Midora has become a glutton, never able to be satisfied, never feeling full. Midora agrees, saying his appetite is infinite, that he has never been full.

We then flashback to when Midora was younger. The Gourmet Cells Acacia discovered created much more food potential, but it also created more war potential, people fighting over every ingredient, every sort of food in the economy that had been built.

Midora is revealed to have been born to feed livestock, a horrific turn of events in the age of Gourmet War. He also apparently was born with those scars that we see on him as an adult, oddly enough. He managed to survive by nursing on a sow member of the giant red haired pigs and people viewed him as a monster. This continued into adulthood, chased by people, always hungry, always needing to eat. And he gained a mentality that food is not to be given, it is to be taken any way you can.

The Gourmet War got worse, the food shortage more and more prominent, even someone like Midora on the verge of death. The chapter ends as Midora is found, fallen over from starvation, by Frohze.

This flashback seems like it will give explanations about a lot of things we weren’t aware of. Especially something like how Ichiryuu and Midora, probably Jirou as well as Setsuno and others, have lived to be hundreds of years old, 500 or more in the case of Acacia’s three disciples. Acacia himself was said to be over 600 when he died, so this world seems to take the Gourmet Cells as being the source of great longevity among other things.

Fairy Tail 352

Everyone is still in shock that the Eternal Flame seems to have disappeared even after Gray melted the ice. Charle thinks it might have already gone out a while ago, Gray thinking he can’t unfreeze the giants like this, since they might just disappear too. Flare is saddened to think the flame is gone, but Wendy exclaims that it isn’t gone. She still feels residual thought, suggesting it’s alive, which is a bit unusual when you think about it.

The group notices something at the fire altar and we see a tiny flame still surviving. Wendy says Natsu can restore the flame. He’s still fighting the monster and the others try to call him down. He hears them and goes down, leaving the monster behind. It tries to attack him, but he grabs its tail and throws it away. But the monster fires a laser beam from its eye and engulfs Natsu, pushing him down. It nearly hits the giants, but Natsu unleashes a burst of flame from his mouth, pushing the laser away.

He then uses a giant’s head as leverage, pushing himself towards the monster to slam into it with greater force than before. He slams it into the altar itself and then shoots a line of flame to finish off the monster. But he’s not done yet, bombarding the target with countless attacks. Lucy even says he’s going a bit overboard and Natsu finishes with the secret art of the Fire Dragon Slayer.

Flare sees that the flame is fine and Natsu and Wendy’s combined experience; Natsu hearing the flame’s voice and Wendy hearing its thoughts; makes the group realize that the flame is a living entity. More specifically, it’s Atlas Flame, the dragon that Natsu managed to convert to his side and help fight the dragons when Future Rogue was trying to control them after they came through Eclipse in the last arc. This revelation is interesting and it means that the dragons are still around, they’re just mostly in hiding.

I wonder if this means that the dragons will have something to tell the others about Acnologia or otherwise contribute something to the plot. Atlas Flame may very well end this arc fairly soon if he’s able to defrost everything from the magical ice.

WSR 9-9-12

Disclaimer: These aren’t official translations, merely scanlations. Buy localized or original manga to support the author if at all possible. Know the difference between piracy/theft and sharing without personal profit.

Magi 196

Last time, it looked like our heroes had finally overcome the medium of Il Irah and prevented him from being unleashed into this world. They even say nothing could’ve survived something of that caliber of attack. But Yunan seems to think otherwise and Gyokuen says that they needed 72 to defeat it in Alma Toran and they’re only 13. The medium seems to draw rukh from the air itself this time.

Mu is incensed that Scheherazade sacrificed the last of her magoi to help them and it still didn’t work. Aladdin is confused and Mu explains that because of her Extreme Magic, Scheherazade and Titus are now both dead, though Titus was dead a while ago. Sphintus, one of Titus and Aladdin’s classmates at the academy, is grief stricken at his friend’s death.

Meanwhile, the medium is observed by Morgiana to be acting strangely. Yunan explains that the core of the medium, the rukh of the person who is at its center, is hesitating. The rukh and will of a person who has fallen into depravity and cursed fate is needed to control the medium. Aladdin concludes it has to be the chancellor of Magnostadt, Matal Mogamett and everyone else notices. The hesitation is due to a single grain of light, white rukh, which is a person who hasn’t yet fallen into depravity, which is able to hold back the medium after it was attacked.

Aladdin decides he will go into the medium using Solomon’s Wisdom. He even agrees to bring Yamraiha, since she was like Mogamett’s daughter.

We see Mogamett attacked by the rukh of those people he used as fodder for the magic furnace, cursing him. But something stops them from completely destroying Mogamett’s will. And it’s revealed that Titus was staving off the complete change of the medium to the black spot and holding it back.

Outside, Judal has appeared with Hakuryuu as they observe, the chapter ending on them.

Titus’s survival in the inner Rukh world is not surprising. And it’s a good use of this moment for another Solomon’s Wisdom scene, Aladdin helping someone more directly this time, since Alibaba helped Kassim previously when this sort of thing happened.

World Trigger 29

From last time, Utagawa bailed out, while Tachikawa is injured. Kazama should be considered as such as well, but either way, Jin’s advantage is fairly secure.

The battle between Arashiyama’s squad, minus Kitora, and Miwa’s squad, plus Izumi from Tachikawa’s squad begins. Shiori then begins to explain the type of Gunner Triggers, which number 4. The Meteor, the Asteroid, the Viper and the Hound all have their own specific qualities of attack. Some have guided bullets, some have bullets you can guide, some are explosive and some are basic with no special qualities but greater power.

It looks like Arashiyama might be attacked by a Hound’s bullets, but he’s shielded by Mitsuru with a Shield Trigger. Miwa then attacks with his special option in his Trigger, slowing down Arashiyama. Izumi then attacks with his Viper, but Arashiyama utilizes a Teleporter Trigger, avoiding the attack. He and Mitsuru attack Izumi, who manages to block the crossfire. Miwa compliments them on their teamwork.

Kitora and Yosuke are fighting elsewhere, Yosuke revealing he can shorten his Spear Trigger to fight n closed quarters. Kitora moves to another room and Yosuke is caught by a Wire Trigger she set, allowing her to attack and destroy his Trion supply, disabling him. But it seems he can still manage to counterattack. He knocks Kitora outside the window and taunts Izumi, who shoots at them with his Asteroid.

Mitsuru blocks the shots, but takes a hit to the head from Isami, the Sniper who was taking a break since he couldn’t hit Jin, and is out of the battle. One of Kitora’s legs is damaged as well, meaning this fight isn’t quite in their favor anymore. But their other sniper, Satori, is still around and the chapter ends on this. I imagine he’ll provide support in the next chapter. We may even learn more about Sniper Triggers in the process

Bleach 548

Last time the chaos continued and we established some of the fights between Stern Ritter and Soul Reaper (just realized the parallel letters there) and this time we continue with Marechiyo, Vice Captain of 2nd Squad, panicking at the sudden change in scenery. His little sister, who we only saw in omake before, asks him not to go, but he says he has to in order to protect everyone, since he’s a member of the Gotei 13. Then BG9, who stole Captain Soifon’s Bankai appears, Marechiyo determined to fight him in return.

Meanwhile, where Toushirou and Rangiku are fighting Bazz B, he remembers who they are. Cang Du, Stern Ritter I (as in Intimidate or such, we don’t know) stole his Bankai. We find out Bazz B’s Schrift name, the Heat, and he shows it off with more fire blasts. Rangiku tells the unseated officers to back off and leave the fight to her and Toushirou. They notice that the ice that protected them was very thin and are amazed it was able to block the fire.

Bazz B shoots off more flames, taunting Toushirou and saying that the ice is just delaying things. Rangiku tells Toushirou they’ve evacuated everyone and Toushirou apologizes for having to rely on her, which she smirks at, saying she’s happy Toushirou is relying on her now. Rangiku releases her Shikai, saying it’s time to start the Flaky Pastry strategy, which Toushirou says wasn’t the name of the plan.

Bazz B says it’s the same ice, firing off a blast at it, but only managing to melt the surface. Toushirou explains it’s a multi layered vacuum wall. When Rangiku returned Haineko to her Zanpakutou, the ice that covered the multiple layers of walls created by Haineko became a series of vacuums between the walls. He explains that Hyourinmaru is one of the few Zanpakutou that doesn’t suffer a huge difference of power between Shikai and Bankai, indicating that all the other captains who had Bankai stolen (Soifon, Byakuya and Komamura) can most likely still use their Shikai powers. In his case, he can only use a smaller amount of ice.

Bazz B is frustrated attacking even harder. But Toushirou responds that they won’t pierce it. The chapter ends as he says he’ll use a Vacuum Ice Blade on Bazz B, dealing a hard blow to the Quincy.

It’s interesting how the strategy works and how he can still fight relatively well against an opponent who could probably defeat him fairly easy if he wasn’t using the vacuum strategy to enhance his ice’s stamina. Of course a lot of this is Bleach’s typical element of surprise instead of raw power, which is a nice change of pace when you think about it. Of course, many shounen strive for this, but there’re always those battles where it’s a curb stomp by pure luck, but Bleach isn’t free of that either.

Naruto 646

The Juubi was summoned out last time and this time it starts to transform, Obito taking down the barrier he summoned, the Juubi sprouting tentacles and growing outwards like a tree. The tentacles start grabbing people, sucking out all their chakra and killing them. We see Killerbee is targeted by more of them. Gyuuki explains that this is the Juubi’s final form, the Tree of God and it can sense that he has more chakra than the others.

Madara and Hashirama are targeted as well, Madara explaining to Hashirama that chakra originally was only in the God Tree, man forcefully taking it. Now the tree is taking back what is rightfully its own.

Madara then gives a more detailed explanation. Before humans even had the concept of chakra, they were still waging war, the God Tree worshipped by them. One day, a fruit bloomed from it and a woman ate of it, even though they were told not to. The woman was a princess called Ootsutuki Kaguya and she wanted to end the war by gaining this power. She did so and her son was born with the same power. But the tree morphed into the Juubi to take back the power. But the son, Hagoromo, dominated the Juubi and came to be known as the Sage of the Six Paths.

Hashirama asks how he knows all this and Madara explains that it was written on the stone tablets of the Uchiha. He then explains his motivation for this plan. Since people gained this power, things only got worse than before, wars more common than ever. He despaired at the state of things and how they would never get better in his eyes. This calls back to Madara’s betrayal of Hashirama when Konoha was recently formed and the dreams of the future that he saw. This all comes back to his plan to use the Infinite Tsukuyomi.

So the fruition of the plan is when the God Tree blooms, its eye will reflect in the moon and the genjutsu will be complete. Madara says his plan is to initiate this himself, though I wonder if that means Obito is just providing the medium, while Madara is going to start the genjutsu itself through the God Tree, or if that was his plan and now Obito has changed things.

Naruto is grabbed by a tentacle/root and Tobirama and Minato move to help him. Hiruzen then appears, having regenerated, freeing Naruto and the group escaping. Obito tells them to just stay there, that their suffering will soon end. The chapter ends as we see the God Tree continuing to grow.

I’m wondering why the Uchiha got all this information. The Senju clan would seem to be a better candidate for this knowledge, but I guess there are so few of them, they didn’t get it, or it wasn’t passed down properly. Or it was thought that the Uchiha were more trustworthy, since they could understand things in a particular way and were more in line with the Sage of the Six Path’s intentions, whatever they might have actually been or not. A lot of this might boil down to a misunderstanding, though Obito does seem to resemble the Sage of the Six Paths at least superficially, from the ancient writings. But whether he’s actually doing what the original sage wanted or not is yet to be determined.

One Piece 721

Rebecca continues to explain to Luffy about the soldier she was trying to help, whom Luffy met at the entrance. Luffy’s more curious about how a toy is alive, but Rebecca then informs him about the situation a bit more, that toys function a great deal like humans, befriending humans and forming relationships of family, etc. Since Rebecca’s mother passed away, the toy soldier took her in and raised her as his own, so she regards him like her own father, who she never knew.

The Block D match is starting, Rebecca setting out, Luffy still eating some boxed lunches that fell on the floor and commenting that Rebecca doesn’t look like the other gladiator prisoners in the area.

Rebecca then starts a flashback to when she and her mother lived together. The scene then shifts to the kingdom burning after the royal army set fire to the villages. Scarlett, Rebecca’s mother, runs away with Rebecca in tow. They’re saved by what appears to be the toy soldier we know at present. Then Scarlett goes to get food and is found by the soldier, shot dead.  He gives the food Scarlett bought to Rebecca and before she starts to cry, he covers her mouth, some men looking for her. He explains that Rebecca’s mother used to be an important person and the new king, Doflamingo, is trying to eliminate all those people. Since Rebecca shares her mother’s blood, the soldier says he will protect her even if it costs him his life. I assume Rebecca and her mother have something to do with the royal family.

Rebecca runs away, saying she hates the soldier for not protecting her mother, but he tells her she can’t return to her home. We then see Doflamingo giving a speech to the people, promising them wealth after their previous rulers exploited them.

The solider protects Rebecca from some wild dogs and tries to cheer her up. They start to bond, Rebecca holding his hand even though his body is so cold, warming it with her touch. The two find a house and the toy soldier tells Rebecca he’ll have to go to the toy house at night, but he’ll return every day. We then see a series of events, as the soldier and Rebecca live together, Rebecca growing up. She’s almost kidnapped by slave traders, but he rescues her and they’re forced to run away again to find a new home.

The soldier then teaches Rebecca how to fight, in case something happens to him. The scene returns to the present as Rebecca thinks to herself that it’s thanks to the toy soldier that she learned to defend herself, protected by him all this time. She hopes he’s alright. As she goes into the stadium, she’s booed by everyone, and it’s explained that since her grandfather was the former king, she’s now the point of everyone’s hatred that lived under his tyranny. One Piece is on break next week.

The revelation that Rebecca is descended from the royal family was interesting, though I wonder if she got special treatment of sorts for becoming a gladiator or if she’s just that good after all the training.

Toriko 548-549

Midora and Ichiryuu square off and he reiterates that Ichiryuu will become food, further stating everything is food to him as he is now. He then uses Hungry Tongue, extending out his tongue, which has gotten muscular, destroying the Octoleopard in one strike and then wrapping it around Ichiryuu’s Chopsticks. Ichiryuu dodges Midora’s attacks and he retracts his tongue. Ichiryuu then says that he dodged them because Midora was uneasy.

Midora then wonders if it’s based on the square root law, which notes that there’s a ratio based on the square of how many particles/atoms are in an organism that behave differently. Thus, humans, having billions of atoms, have millions of atoms that would behave this way, logically. Ichiryuu says that even though Midora thinks he’s odd for using his minority of atoms to fly and the like, that the minority of Midora’s atoms are influencing him as well. But Midora disagrees, attacking with a similar tongue attack, but with thorns and multiples tongues as well. Ichiryuu uses a technique with his chopsticks to dissipate the tongues and then moves to attack directly with a pointed attack of the chopsticks, Midora blocking it with a Tongue Shield

Midora has paused to eat the “chopsticks”, but Ichiryuu appears behind him and as he attacks, he strikes only air. Ichiryuu says that it’s gotten too easy and he doesn’t even have to dodge now, Midora’s concentration slipping. Ichiryuu then attacks with a barrage of stabs with the chopsticks. He then taunts Midora, saying the minority of atoms has created an error in his movements, since he can’t keep up with them.

The chapter ends with Ichiryuu saying it’s his world now, his movements having become so precise and he and Midora now in what is called a Minority World. What this means will have to be determined next time, but I’d guess it has to do in some way with this somewhat vague notion about a minority of atoms in your body behaving in a different way than normal. I would guess this all comes back to Gourmet Cells, though in Ichiryuu’s case, he’s probably concentrating the power of the 10% of cells in his body with the Gourmet Cell power he has involving gravity and such. 

Ichiryuu’s power at the moment seems very impressive, but I’d like to emphasize that he doesn’t have most of his Gourmet Cells activated, so this is probably his only major skill besides raw power or some other skills like Food Honor and such. Midora still has more to reveal in this fight and the conclusion is supposed to inevitably fall in his favor, unlike what it appears at the moment.

Continuing where we left off, Ichiryuu restates his position, that it’s his time now, implying he’s at an advantage now. Midora theorizes this is a world where the minority makes their full power known, but Ichiryuu retorts that they’re no longer a minority. He then attacks, by flinging a giant chopstick by using the other one as leverage. Midora says it’s too slow, but it suddenly speeds up and he narrowly dodges it. Ichiryuu is apparently using all of his strength, so the delicacy of the technique is gone. But he also notes that at this point he doesn’t need the control he had before and throws a barrage of chopstick attacks at him. Midora moves to dodge, but the ground is unstable and he’s struck by the attacks. He counterattacks with the Hungry Tongue as before, smashing through the chopsticks, but he attacks the wrong spot, Ichiryuu saying he hasn’t moved one step. Apparently Midora’s body isn’t even listening to what he tells it anymore.

Ichiryuu then explains that Midora’s theory was accurate technically, since the majority is now the minority of cells, the ground’s behavior due to the anomalous cells acting as they would, against gravity. Midora uses a machine gun tongue attack, a storm of hungry tongues. Even Midora’s own body isn’t listening to him, because the body is being dominated by its minority cells’ behavior.

But the true danger of the Minority World is shown, Midora not able to take in oxygen as well, the effect extending not only to the body’s conscious movements, but to the unconscious actions of the organ systems. Every system starts working in reverse, slowly killing anyone not able to escape. Ichiryuu says the moment he activated the technique, he had won, though he didn’t really explain exactly how he activated it. I would guess it has something to do with the Gourmet Cell that rules his gravity based powers, concentrating it into an isolated area like the Stray Islands. Ichiryuu regrets not having killed Midora and he says it’s been 500 years, which seems a bit excessive, especially since that would mean they’re older than Setsuno, who’s just over 200 or so.

He moves to use his ultimate technique, a single giant chopstick to crush Midora, but it gets pieces bitten out of it, which then transfer to the medium of the attack, Ichiryuu’s arm. 

Midora took advantage of the fact that the minority ruled by stabbing himself fatally, since the minority of his body would be trying to live compared to everything else moving towards death. The chapter ends as Midora has turned the tables, changing the Minority World into Hungry Space which I would guess has something to do with Appetite Energy. We’ll see next time.

Fairy Tail 351

Natsu is found by Lucy and her group, Lucy explaining that Flare isn’t their enemy, deciding to help them since she was raised in this village. He then says that since Fairy Tail is doing a mission, they have to make sure they don’t disappoint her, since she was part of this village.

The others tell Natsu that the Eternal Flame could help melt the ice, which Flare was guiding them to. Natsu then insists he heard a voice from the mountain. But Flare says it’s not a mountain, it’s the village’s guardian, which in perspective means the entire mountain is the flame, not just the part Erza found. Since the flame itself is frozen, things don’t seem much easier.

Gray, Happy and Charle appear, running from something. That something is the giant eyeball bird thing that ate Doriarte before.  Natsu tells him to attack it, but he says he could only manage it if he melts the special ice. The others are surprised and ask whether he can actually do it, Gray uncertain, but willing to try.

Natsu explains that the mountain before them is the flame, the two separating as Natsu confronts the eyeball bird. He sends the monster flying with a fire kick, but it recovers quickly and attacks Natsu, throwing him up in the air. Lucy is worried, but Natsu says he’s okay, since he’s trying to provide support for Gray. He then powers up a fire punch and slams into the monster, seemingly defeating it for now

Meanwhile, Gray explains that he can channel the special ice’s power and use Ice Make. He begins and the ice starts to melt, eventually thawing out entirely, but the Eternal Flame not showing up, shocking everyone.  The chapter ends as Wendy senses a great magical power in the area after Gray released the ice magic. I’m guessing the Eternal Flame may still be around, but it’s dissipated around the area or the ice’s power may still be unknown to an extent.