Rurouni Kenshin Manga Translation
Volume Four--Two Destinies
Part 28--The End of a Duel to the Death
(Kenshin twists the kodachi out of Aoshi’s hands and drives the handle into his throat.)
Aoshi (thinking): Can I have . . . lost . . .
Kenshin: It’s futile. Retreat! A second blow to the windpipe--
Aoshi (punching him): Not yet--!!
(They both fall.)
Yahiko: Kenshin!
Kenshin: I’m all right. (going spiral-eyed) Well, not really. But I’m fine.
Yahiko: Which is it?
Kenshin: Better than Aoshi--
(They turn to look at him, collapsed face forward.)
Yahiko: Is he dead?
Kenshin: No, just fallen. It wasn’t the pain of the second blow to the throat
but the breath he needed to for that last punch that caused him sharp pain, making it
difficult to breathe . . . But in the end, his fighting heart wouldn’t give up. He refused
to accept defeat. (he smiles, patting Yahiko on the head.) When the Kaiten Kenbu knocked me
down, your words showed a strong heart.
Yahiko (grinning): All right! Now to destroy Kanryuu and rescue Megumi!!
Kenshin: Now that you mention it, we still don’t know where they are. Maybe we should try to
wake Aoshi--
(they are startled to see Aoshi rising to his feet.)
Kenshin: You amaze me.
Aoshi: I was down. . .
Kenshin: Well . . . not for more than ten seconds.
Aoshi: Why didn’t you deliver the final blow?
Kenshin: I’m a vagabond now. Not the Hitokiri. But even without the final blow, a man like
you would understand which of us should get the victory. Answer me one thing, Aoshi. You were
a great man, entrusted with the position of Okashira for the Edo Castle Oniwabanshuu. Was there
no oppurtunity for you to become an officer in the new government? Why are
you now a mere bodyguard? There must have been a place for you to use your own abilities . . .
Aoshi: That place was as distant as the mountains. I don’t know where you heard about the
Oniwaban, but I could have been anything from an intelligence officer to a bodyguard for
important members of the government. But all the offers were only for me. Those like Hyottoko
and Beshimi were considered mere one-trick ponies. Those like Shikijou were traitors. If you’ve seen
Hanya’s face you’ll understand why he . . . And the others didn’t even have a chance. How
could the Okashira betray his followers for a government post? I refuse to be a traitor like
the last Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu. But I understand Yoshinobu. What he did demanded total
obedience. To not drag out the war and drain the country’s resources was an important
government decision. But I refuse this as well. When we were thrown out into the new Tokyo,
the Oniwabanshuu stayed with me for ten years. One by one, they found new lives and
left me. Finally there were only four left. The Oniwabanshuu, who could not fight when the
time came for it, were left over. The miserable few who didn’t know how to do anything but
fight. I wanted at least to give them the honor of being known as the strongest--Deliver the final blow.
Or I’ll pursue you until I have satisfaction.
Kenshin: It doesn't matter. Challenge me, if that's what you want.
Yahiko: Kenshin!
Kenshin: But I cannot permit you to involve others in our fight.
(Kanryuu appears in the double doors, beside a cloth-covered object.)
Kanryuu: Ha---ha ha! You talk big even while you fail--you’re pathetic, Shinomori Aoshi!!
(confident he has their attention.) Hello. It’s a shame to interrupt your talk, but I’m afraid
I’ll have to cut you short.
Aoshi: Kanryuu . . .
Kenshin: Good. I won’t have to waste time looking for him.
Kanryuu: You’re very self-confident. Will you be so brave when you see this?!
(He whips away the cloth.)
Yahiko: What the--
Aoshi: That’s . . .
Kenshin: No . . .
A Gatling gun--!!!
Gatling gun--the weapon developed by the American doctor Gatling in 1861, which was
the original form of the future machine gun. Not only was it used in the American Civil War,
but as a result various forms were produced all over the world.
In Japan, it was purchased in the domain of Echigo Nagaoka, during the third battle of
the Boshin war by the minister Kawai Tsugunosuke, and it became a grave threat to the
government army.
Kanryuu: Yes, a Gatling gun! But this is the very latest model from the black market, not yet
known by the armies of the world. There’s no comparison to the ones from the time of the
Bakumatsu. Very high-powered. Shall we try it out!!
(The gun chatters, spewing bullts. In the observatory, Megumi hears the noise.)
Megumi: Was that . . . gunshots? It can’t be . . . (thinking) Ken-san . . .
(At the foot of the stairs, Sanosuke rolls over.)
Sanosuke: God, that’s loud. Well, it woke me up, but--
Hanya (behind him): It sounds like something’s going on upstairs.
Sanosuke: Hanya!
Hanya: Relax. I and Shikijou lost our battles. We have no intention of doing something so
cowardly as cutting a victor’s throat in his sleep. Now I’m more worried about Lord Aoshi.
I’m going with Shikijou. You?
Sanosuke: You . . . you’re not half bad, are you?
Hanya: I hear sarcasm.
Sanosuke: Nah.
Hanya: Wake up, Shikijou.
Shikijou: What, Hanya. Your face is exactly what I want to see when I wake up.
Hanya: Sheesh. If it’s not one of you it’s the other.
(In another part of the mansion, Hyottoko and Beshimi are convalescing side by side.)
Hyottoko: Hey, small stuff.
Beshimi: What, big guy?
Hyottoko: Did you hear that?
Beshimi: You hear it too? I thought my ears were playing tricks on me . . . Guess this
is no place for a nice nap.
(Kanryuu sprays the room with gunfire.)
Kanryuu: What do you think? Amazing, isn’t it! Two hundred bullets per minute!!
Yahiko: That bastard--he’s missing deliberately, just to mock us!!
Kenshin: We've got one chance . . . but now there’s nothing to do but run.
Kanryuu: Look, look, look! I’ll get you the instant you stop moving!!
Aoshi: Kanryuu!! What the hell are you doing with that thing--
Kanryuu: How dare you address me without a title!!
(He raises his line of fire to hit Aoshi’s legs.)
Kenshin: Aoshi!
Kanryuu: Well, that’s good enough. Why don’t we take a little break and I'll answer a few questions.
(lighting a cigar) I plan to rise above this petty opium smuggling. My ultimate wish is to make more money
than any merchant on earth.
Aoshi (realizing what he means): No!
Kanryuu: As a real "merchant of death" arms dealer. With this new type of
opium I can gather the capital to fund my line of Gatling guns. This is what the great merchant
Takeda Kanryuu was born for!
Kenshin: You’d go so far--to prey upon the lives of others for money . . .
Kanryuu: I might as well be chanting sutras to a horse, but . . . Hitokiri Battousai,
until you attained your herculean strength you paid in time and effort. It was no
easy task, am I right? However! With money, it’s easy to gain power! In an instant!
Without paying any kind of price at all!! Money! The true proof of power! The true "strongest"
is me! Now die!!
(Sanosuke, Hanya and Shikijou dash through the opposite set of double doors.)
Sanosuke: What the hell’s that!!
Hanya: The Gatling gun!
(Shikijou, catching sight of the wounded Aoshi, runs towards him.)
Sanosuke: Shikijou!!
Hanya: Now! Run, Battousai!!
(Kenshin grabs Yahiko and runs for the doors.)
Kanryuu (thinking): Which one! Which one to aim for--
Shikijou (to Kenshin, as they rush past each other): That rooster head. He spoke well
of you. I didn't like him much, but he's got potential. Look after him.
Kenshin: You . . .
Kanryuu: Aoshi’s first--he can’t move!
Shikijou: No!
(He dives into front of the bullets.)
Sanosuke: Shikijou!!
Aoshi: Shiki . . .
Shikijou: Don’t look like that. I am content. Ever since I used that medicine, my muscles
have been my pride. That they could be a bullet-proof shield is proof . . .
Kanryuu: That lump of meat--two hundred bullets should have pulverized him!!
Hyottoko (bursting in through another set of doors): Hold it! Your opponent is the great
Hyottoko! Don’t shoot! If you hit me the oil sack will catch fire and we’ll all go up in smoke!
Kanryuu: Then try this!!
(He shoots him in the head.)
Aoshi: Hyottoko!
Hyottoko: He got me . . . Beshimi!
(Beshimi breaks out of the barrel on Hyottoko’s back.)
Beshimi: Poisoned Rasen--
(Kanryuu fills him with bullets before he can throw the pellet.)
Beshimi: O . . . Okashira, I didn’t think this would work . . . They called us the useless
bastards with only one trick to perform . . . but we didn’t abandon the Oniwabanshuu, we gave
our lives for our Okashira . . . I’m sorry . . . I guess we weren’t much help . . .
Aoshi: Beshimi!!
Kanryuu: Phew. That was close. That street performer’s trick could have done for me.
Sanosuke: That bastard . . .
Hanya: Battousai. How long would it take you to pick up the reverse blade and stop Kanryuu?
Kenshin: Fifteen . . . no, ten seconds.
Hanya: Ten seconds. That’s cutting it close.
Kenshin: What?
Hanya: Look. If you go up that second flight of stairs, there’s a small observatory. Takani
Megumi is imprisoned there.
Kenshin: Hanya . . .?
Hanya: I have no special reason to think of the girl. Lord Aoshi is more important. After
this it’s up to you. Himura Battousai.
Kenshin: Wait, Hanya!
(Hanya rushes out. Kenshin reaches his sword just as Hanya is cut down.)
Kanryuu: That’s far enough, Battousai! To use that monster as a decoy is a cold trick worthy
of the Hitokiri! But in the end you’ll all die in vain! Die!
(He turns the handle. The gun is silent.)
Kenshin: Take a good look. It can fire two hundred bullets per minute. You’ve been firing
blindly for some time now.
Kanryuu (thinking): I’m out of bullets?!
Kenshin: They have not died for nothing. The lives of the Oniwabanshuu have defeated your
Gatling gun. Now try begging the Lord God Money for your life!!
(He strikes. Kanryuu collapses, twisted and broken.)
Yahiko: You’re just lucky Kenshin doesn’t kill.
(Aoshi stands in the center of the ballroom, surrounded by the bodies of the Oniwabanshuu.
Kenshin puts a hand on Sanosuke’s shoulder.)
Kenshin: Now, he might rather be alone.
Sanosuke: You’re right.
Kenshin: Let’s go. Miss Megumi’s waiting.
the Makings of the Characters--Takeda Kanryuu--
Like Sanosuke, you’ll be able to tell right away I’m a fan of the Shinsengumi. Kanryuu’s model was the captain of
the fifth unit of the Shinsengumi, Takeda Kanryuusai. Takeda Kanryuusai was a student of the Koushuu school of military
science, and within the unit was an unusual kind of civil servant. But his character was bad; he flattered those above him
and was spiteful and tricky to those below. In brief he was a fox borrowing the authority of a tiger, but whether he was
bad or not, he opened a route to Satsuma. He finished and was purged. In books and novels about the Shinsengumi, the
villains are always Serizawa Kamo, Yamanami Keisuke, Itoukashi Tarou, and finally Takeda Kanryuusai. I decided to use the
last as my model. But, he was overshadowed by Megumi and the Oniwabanshuu. I think he was a failure as a villain, which
is too bad.
By the way, Takeda Kanryuusai was famous as being homosexual, and my first plan was to make Takeda Kanryuu gay as
well. But it had nothing to do with the story and in the end I rejected that idea.
Other than the model there’s not much to say about the design. To make him different from Nishiwaki from the
short story, and since Aoshi and Kenshin were wearing black, I made his suit white. That’s really about it.
translations by maigo-chan
last updated 1 jan 2001