El Baile de la muerte Part 9, also called Chapter 52, is the fifty-third chapter of the Black Lagoon manga. It was originally released in April 2007.
Plot[]
In a flashback to South Vietnam in 1969, Larkin, whose U.S. Army unit has just massacred an entire Vietnamese village except for one surviving girl, jokingly asks his commanding officer Caxton if he plans on "having fun" with the crying Vietnamese girl who grasps onto him. Remaining calm, Caxton insults Larkin as a piece of filth who uses war as an excuse to be a bandit, irritating the latter. When Caxton says that he will not let them rape and kill the Vietnamese girl, Larkin aims his rifle, causing Caxton to pull out his pistol in turn and jump in front of the girl. In present-day Roanapur, Caxton wakes up from his nightmare and gets up, and his fellow soldier Ray sees him and informs him that it will be hard to enter the Golden Triangle via Burma due to the shootout at the Laotian border in April.
Caxton asks about entering via an air jump, but Ray responds that the Thai government will likely not allow such an action. As Caxton facepalms in disappointment at their schedule, Ray comments that their superiors in the NSA are trying to encroach on the CIA's territory and it is just politics. Looking out their motel window, Caxton asks Ray what the city's name is, saying that Roanapur reminds him of the disturbing, rotten atmosphere that Saigon had during the Vietnam War. Elsewhere as they exit the Sankan Palace Hotel, Rock asks Fabiola why she is looking at him weird, and the young maid answers that she never expected to get help in a place like Roanapur. As Rock remarks that he thought it would be fun, Benny starts the car and recommends that they visit Bao since Roberta first visited the Yellow Flag.
Arriving outside the destroyed bar, the four see Bao sitting in a kiddie pool with several prostitutes. Annoyed to see them, the bartender asks Rock and Benny what they want. Bao clarifies that the brothel upstairs and the bar were destroyed thanks to Fabiola's destruction, making the confused Garcia look at Fabiola, who apologizes to her master about the mess. Suddenly, Madam Flora runs to Rock and hugs him, asking who the handsome man is. She introduces herself as the brothel's manager and happily bids them goodbye when Fabiola urges Rock to focus on business. Rock then tells Bao that they are looking for clues about the maid, but Bao initially refuses. Rock clarifies that Mister Chang of the Hong Kong Triad commissioned the job, so Bao hesitantly agrees to speak but does not want Rock claiming that he spoke to Bao.
Recalling the previous night while cleaning up the destroyed Bao, the bartender was surprised to see Roberta, who swallowed down a bottle of pills and implicitly threatened Bao into giving her a list of places for "waging war." As the prostitutes compliment the young boy Garcia, Bao recollects that he advised Roberta to see Praiyachat, Tou Chi the Blaster, and Doctor Hartland as well because of the pills that she gulped down. Finally noticing that Revy is not with him, Bao teasingly asks him where she is since she is always with Rock, and he clarifies that she is busy. Inside the Rip-Off Church chapel, Revy plays cards for money with Eda at the altar, and the nun once again teases Revy about her not tagging along with Rock. As she flips the playing cards, Eda asks who pissed off Roberta so much, and Revy answers that "Uncle Sam" was involved.
Freezing but hiding her surprise, Eda inquires if she means the U.S. Army, which Revy confirms. Looking at her cards, Eda advises Revy to help Rock since the U.S.A. is quite the enemy and Rock may accidentally cross their path. Revy grumpily hesitates and states that she will think about it since Rock will probably complain about help while trying to aid the children. Glaring at Revy through her sunglasses, Eda shows a straight flush and tells Revy to fork over her money. That evening at a market after having failed to find the specific businesses open, Fabiola berates Rock for making them travel around town in vain. Benny sips his drink and chimes that businesses would certainly be suspicious of a young maid going around town due to the Roberta link, and Rock remarks that Benny should have told him that in advance.
Rock then asks Fabiola about her fearless demeanor in a place like Roanapur, to which she proclaims that she is used to street trash back in her life in Venezuela's barrios. She then elaborates that she managed to get a job with the Lovelace family through a distant relative who is a farmer there. When Rock jokingly asks her where she learned her martial arts and shooting skills, she kicks him under the table, piquing Garcia's curiosity. Sighing, the young girl confesses that she learned capoeira by watching a relative practice it and wanted to avoid the use of firearms, impressing Garcia. Benny coldly advises them that they will have to kill people and shoot without hesitation in a place like Roanapur, to which Garcia disagrees since Roberta has that same mindset. Getting up, Benny then orders the children to stay at Chang's yacht house for the night, and he professes to Rock that he is done helping him any further.
Meanwhile at the Bougainvillea Trade Company office, Boris informs Balalaika that Chang has summoned her to attend a Council meeting that night, adding that the subject is likely information regarding the maid's presence in the city. Smoking a cigar, Balalaika wonders about the maid's fury, to which Boris replies that Roberta wants revenge on whoever killed her master in a bombing in Venezuela on September 12th in their year. Intrigued, Balalaika asks Boris his thoughts on the affair, and the sergeant answers that there is no reason for a political party to seek refuge in Roanapur and that the culprits were likely a well-trained third party. Commending his analysis, Balalaika comments that she is amused about how Chang will react.
Notes[]
- In this chapter, Boris claims that the bombing took place on September 12, contradicting the death month of Diego Lovelace in Chapter 44, which was shown as August.