El Baile de la muerte Part 1, also called Chapter 44, is the forty-fifth chapter of the Black Lagoon manga. It was originally released in June 2006.
Summary[]
At a political rally for the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) in Venezuela, Roberta asks her master Diego Lovelace if he is certain that he does not need protection, and he assures her that he is fine. Once Diego goes on stage with his friend, who is a leader in the MVR, a disguised man radios to Shane Caxton that the stage is set to eliminate the leader of the party. Approving of the circumstances, Caxton radios in code to another U.S. soldier to detonate the bomb, which goes off, killing the leader as well as accidentally killing Diego. Roberta watches the whole scene in shock knowing that Diego was on stage. As the police immediately begin to secure the area, Caxton shakes the hand of his partner Raymond McDougal, saying that they should get their families together after their next operation in Thailand, and the two leave the area.
Some days later at Diego's funeral, Diego's son Garcia cries into Roberta's chest and tearfully asks what his father has done wrong to deserve death, and Roberta says that Diego had nothing to fear in God's presence. After having flashbacks to her desertion from FARC and to her first day of refuge at the Lovelace estate under Diego's approval, in the present Roberta finishes taking a shower and furiously breaks the bathroom mirror. At night, preparing a musket that has been passed down through generations of Lovelaces, Roberta skillfully swings the gun around, angrily remarking that she must bear sin on behalf of Garcia to get vengeance and justice against Diego's murderers. Although the boy is not around, Roberta apologizes for having to take up killing after her previous promise to Garcia to never kill again. Meanwhile at the Lagoon Company office, Benny and Rock relax as Dutch answers a phone call concerning a question about the Lagoon Company having any strange clients recently.
Notes[]
- This is the first Black Lagoon chapter where Revy does not make an appearance.
- In the original Japanese version, Diego's date of death on his tombstone reads August 1991. In the North American (English) version, the date of death is changed to August 1996.