Black Lagoon Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Rokurō Okajima (岡島おかじま 緑郎ろくろう Okajima Rokurō), more commonly known as Rock (ロック Rokku), is the main male protagonist of the Black Lagoon series. He is a Japanese businessman who turned into an unwitting pirate of the Lagoon Company.

Appearance[]

Rock-insane

Rock is a fair-skinned, Japanese ex-salaryman with a skinny build, pale skin, and a height of 173 centimeters (or 5'8").[1] His black hair has fringe on the right side, and he has brown eyes. Eda, who likes to tease Rock, defines him as "handsome," but little is known about how others perceive his physical appearance beyond noticing his grooming. In the manga, Rock's employee information shows that he was born in August 1974, making him 20 years old at the beginning of the manga series (early 1995).[2] In contrast, the anime shows that he was born on August 21, 1970, making him 24 at the anime's beginning in 1995 (though his employee certificate erroneously says 25 as his age).[3]

Despite being a pirate, Rock is able to retain his business persona by continuing to wear a teal neck tie, short-sleeved dress shirt, slacks, and dress shoes. From the outside, Rock appears as a normal person, which ironically makes him stand out from the rest of Roanapur's residents. On the other hand, Revy preferred Rock to wear the Hawaiian shirt that she bought for him when he first joined the company. Being who he is, Rock prefers his usual wear even when he is at Yellow Flag or on a job. Ultimately, Rock not abandoning his Japanese salaryman appearance represents his lingering attachment to his old way of life.

Personality[]

Rock is a humble and good-natured person despite being on the business end of guns from friends and foe alike. Initially, he is often surprised at the barbarity of the international criminal underworld. Although in the criminal world, he maintains his business persona by wearing his business outfit. He is not a fighter in any way, but rather a pacifist who prefers to use words over weapons when interacting with the hostile people encountered on the job. Rock, from joining the Lagoon Company, has often wondered if he is experiencing Stockholm syndrome, consequentially developing a friendship with his former captors and current co-workers.

Within the Lagoon Company, Rock is usually responsible for account management, diplomacy, negotiation, translation, interpretation, and running occasional errands. Having worked in the resource department of Asahi Industries, Rock is skilled in geology and chemistry. He is also a skilled linguist due to frequent traveling from his previous job, being able to speak various languages such as Japanese (his native language), English,[4] Spanish,[5] some Russian,[6] and has some familiarity with Romance languages,[7] including some French.[8] He also has a surprisingly high tolerance for alcohol, owing to the heavy drinking lifestyle of a ladder climbing salaryman.[3]

Rock's earnest personality has earned him the interest and respect of several characters in Roanapur, which caused those like Balalaika, Mr. Chang, Rowan, Sister Yolanda and Eda to develop an interest in him, and the young Garcia Lovelace, whom he trusts to the greatest degree. In many ways, Rock is the heart of the Lagoon Company, serving as a balance for his more jaded teammates and as a bright spot in the world of darkness that is Roanapur. He retains a strong sense of right and wrong, trying to hold on to and share his beliefs with others in Roanapur. He is often shocked and horrified by how people suffer from the injustices of the criminal underworld despite his best efforts, wearing him down as the series progresses. Although physically weak and unarmed, Rock has shown tremendous courage to stand up for himself, others, and for what he believes is right as seen when he clashes with other characters over their immoral actions, especially Revy. Despite not being adept at combat, he is significantly faster and stronger than he looks, as he was able to disarm Revy after she tried to execute him at point blank range, and take a punch from her in the face without so much as flinching.

Rock is one of the smartest and most resourceful people in Roanapur. Having perfected the job of a businessman, Rock is excellent at gathering information and knows how to fully utilize them to his favor. His attention to details and ability to piece information together has earned him praise from an intellectual individual like Sister Yolanda as well as Mister Chang himself. Because of his unconventional way of thinking, Rock is able to formulate solutions and think of scenarios that no one can ever think of. Even when driven to a corner, Rock is capable of thinking under pressure to calculate and come up with the best course of actions for most circumstances. While he has not personally killed any person, Rock has suggested and organized plans for other people to kill people, such as his torpedo plan in "Black Lagoon," his plan to trick and kill several fighters in "Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll," and his ambush plan in "L'homme sombre." Despite being an excellent critical thinker and problem solver, Rock's deadliest intellect lies with his gift to pick the most effective but riskiest solution in existence, prompting other characters to characterize his actions as that of a high stakes gambler.

He is one of the "luckiest" characters in the series as he managed to survive every single thing he experienced from being taken hostage to being shot at. Thus far, he has survived the wrath of Revy, Balalaika, Roberta and Frederica Sawyer, all without using a weapon other than his wit and running away. Though he is a pirate with morals, he is neither good nor evil as described by Yukio Washimine, but rather in the twilight, unable to chose between a life of crime or normality.[9]

Later in the series, Rock begins to enjoy his life as a pirate, becoming even more comfortable with corruption, and it is shown that a darker side of his personality had begun to emerge. In Roberta's Blood Trail, he is personally appointed by Mister Chang to help Garcia and Fabiola Iglesias track down Roberta before she finds the American Special Forces unit that killed Diego Lovelace (Garcia's father), before she and the unit kill each other and endanger Roanapur to destruction at the hands of the United States. Rock knows that Chang does not care if Garcia or Roberta is killed and only wants to keep Roanapur out of the eyes of the world for its drug trafficking. Rock manages to turn Chang's plan around by demonstrating exceptional deductive reasoning skills, figuring out every factions' motives and playing on them. He manages to give the Americans an escape route out of Roanapur, towards their mission area in Laos, as well as having Roberta follow them and have Garcia snap Roberta out of her psychotic rampage. However, doing all that requires him to use the same callous and manipulative thinking as Chang, and he even seems to find the same sense of power over others psychologically rewarding.

However, this apparent change in Rock alienates and disturbs the other characters, particularly Revy and Dutch, who do not understand Rock's motives and think he is simply doing it to extract a large reward from Garcia, causing them to fear that Rock is becoming sadistic, selfish, cunning, and ruthless due to being corrupted by Roanapur. However, he does it entirely because he wanted to save someone, and manages to achieve Chang's goal of keeping the U.S. out as well as saving Fabiola, Garcia and Roberta. Fabiola, enraged by Rock's high-risk strategy which involved manipulating Garcia into a game of "Cambodian Roulette" with Roberta and gambling with people's lives, shoots him with a blank and states that she hopes to never see him again. Months later, things had not changed in Roanapur and Rock begins to think he has not made a difference at all. Revy later tells him that it will hurt him if he continues to look at Roanapur with life in his eyes, to which Rock responds that he came close to the darkness but is not ready for it yet.[10]

For a time after this, Rock remained perturbed by the concluding events of the "El Baile de la muerte" arc and withdrew completely from his usual shtick of trying to help people.[11] However, the introduction of Feng Yifei saw him revert to his previous behavior. After telling Revy about his decision to not get involved in other peoples' misfortunes, she, not wanting Rock's altruistic nature fading further away, chose to involve herself in Feng's issues in order to involve Rock. Rock was able to bring Feng's difficulties to a successful conclusion, and despite engineering the deaths of several assassins, he was able to find a niche to settle into which enabled him to be ruthless but in the pursuit of an ultimately noble goal.

The primary difference between this and his previous endeavor appears simply to be his willingness to tell his associates about his plans rather than manipulating them. He also appeared, through conversations with Feng about the nature of freedom versus security, to come to a more thorough understanding of himself and what he wants out of life. In the recent arc "L'homme sombre," he further solidifies this "Robin Hood"-esque role for himself, as he engineers the deaths of several more assassins in the aim of both protecting Dutch and keeping Roanapur as chaos-free as he can manage. This role seems to have sucked Revy in as well, and she has become something of a partner in Rock's problem solving endeavors, functioning primarily as fire support.

Dutch has stated earlier that he believes Rock should never wield a gun because if his bullets were like his words, they would ricochet back to them.[12]

Background[]

Rock was born into a well-to-do but neglectful family in Tokyo. Due to him failing to enter college on his first try, his family lowered their expectations of him and begin to favor his academically capable older brother who landed a job with the Japanese government. Rock was able to enter college on his second try but by then, his family has already cast away all expectations of him, leaving him to do whatever he wants. After college, Rock was able to find a job in Asahi Heavy Industrial Co. in its materials procurement department as a salaryman. Since then, Rock had lived an unremarkable life as a white collar salaryman working for Asahi Industries under his boss Fujiwara until he had his near-death encounter with the Lagoon Company.

Black Lagoon history[]

Black Lagoon[]

Around the beginning of 1995, Rock first appeared in the story while on a business trip in the South China Sea, his real name being Rokurō Okajima. During his trip, Rokurō's ship was hijacked by the Lagoon Company run by the pirate individuals Dutch, Revy and Benny, who sought the disk that he carried. He was then taken hostage by Revy for ransom and kept aboard their PT boat, the Black Lagoon. Despite being captured, Rokurō did not feel endangered or hopeless around Dutch, which made him wonder if he was experiencing Stockholm Syndrome. Dutch carefully explained to Rokurō that what they were doing was nothing personal and was strictly business. Their job was to deliver the disk to their client, Hotel Moscow, and that was where their duty ended. Dutch proclaimed that they were just normal people who sometimes brushed against the law to put food on the table.

In between their trip to deliver the disk, they stopped in Roanapur at the Yellow Flag to await further orders from Balalaika. This was Rokurō's first encounter with Roanapur and his first-hand experience of the type of environment which Roanapur is built upon. Dutch then told him about the bar's history as a refuge for ARVN defectors, and he got up to make a call to Balalaika, referring to Rokurō as "Rock," confusing him. During the crew's drinking, Benny casually explained to "Rock" that after two years of working with Dutch, the only thing Benny knew about him is that he was strong, intelligent, and eccentric. When Rock asked Benny why he joined the Lagoon Company, Benny simply replied that he had a run-in with the mafia and the FBI in Florida and was saved by Revy. The latter quickly interrupted, saying that Benny was still too young to reminisce about the past. She then quickly insulted Rock for drinking beer, saying that he may as well drink piss. Then, Revy casually pushed a cup of Bacardi towards Rock and told him to drink it if he was a real man. Offended by Revy's provocation, Rock drank the glass in one go, which led to the both of them engaging in a drinking contest. However, little did they know that the bar had become surrounded on all sides by the Extra Order mercenaries lead by the Captain, ready to take their lives.

Upon realizing the danger, Revy and the rest of the crew quickly took cover. In the beginning of the chaos, the rounds of bullets fired into the bar nearly killed everyone who was in it. When the Captain and his team entered the bar to check for survivors, Revy jumped into the fold and killed the mercenary group with ease. Rock, who witnessed Revy's valor, could not help but find it strange that Revy was able to smile and laugh while mercilessly killing other people. Dutch, seeing the situation, asked Rock if he was willing to part ways with them right there. Shocked, Rock replied in contempt that they were the one who abducted him so they had to take him with them. Providing cover, Dutch sighed and agreed to take him with, escaping the bar and the onslaught. After escaping the ambush, Rock amusingly joked that they must have been in a Hollywood movie. Revy replied with a smile that what they were doing was better than Hollywood, seeing that it was not fake. Riding in Benny's car, Rock and the Lagoon crew were able to get back to the Black Lagoon and made their way to Balalaika on Palawan Island. While crossing the sea, Benny was able to successfully contact Rock's employers using an assault dial.

After making contact with another boss, department chief Kageyama, Rock was informed that the disk which he carried contained the secret plan for Asahi Industries to develop nuclear weapons for a certain country. The scandal would have caused the entire Asahi Heavy Industrial Company to go under if it was ever brought to light. In order to save Asahi Industries, Rock's boss told him to die at the hands of the mercenaries hired to take down the Lagoon Company along with the disk. With all hope lost, Rock fell into despair and began vomiting on deck. Soon, the E.O. Captain came after the Black Lagoon with an anti-tank aircraft.[3]

With no hope of winning, Dutch tried to steer Black Lagoon into the open sea where they could avoid a direct attack, but they were forced by the Captain to sail towards the river fork, which meant that they would eventually run out of places to hide. After chasing Black Lagoon to a place with a wrecked ship, the Captain stopped and hovered his aircraft to a standstill, letting Black Lagoon go. Dutch thought that the Captain had abandoned his chase only to find out that the river had led them to a dead end. With no place to go, Black Lagoon had no choice but to turn back and face the Captain. Dutch knew that against an anti-tank aircraft, their torpedo boat did not stand a chance. Thinking to himself after panicking earlier, Rock came up with a wild plan to use the wrecked ship as a ladder for Black Lagoon to reach the aircraft in the air and fire their torpedoes.

Rock has idea

Rock relays his plan

Dutch called Rock crazy for thinking up that plan because the boat would be in midair and it required the Captain's aircraft to be right in front of them in order for the torpedo to hit. Confident, Rock told Dutch that since the Captain, who could have easily ripped them to shreds, was toying with them, he would not back out on a Chicken Contest and the plan would go well. Revy then replied that at this point, the plan was the only thing they had, stating to Dutch that she would follow whatever action he took. Dutch once again called Rock a crazy bastard for thinking up such an impossible, but smiled saying that life was not fun without a little danger and gamble. With Dutch agreeing to the plan, they sailed at full speed towards the Captain.

Seeing that Black Lagoon had come back, the Captain readied his aircraft for battle. With Revy firing at the Captain to start the Chicken Contest, the Captain hovered right at Black Lagoon. On deck, Rock fired a flare when two missiles charged toward the PT boat, successfully diverting the missiles using their heat-tracking against them. As Rock quickly got back into the cabin, the Black Lagoon slid on the wrecked ship like a ladder and flew into the air. At that moment, Dutch fired the torpedo, which landed right into the Captain's face, crashing the helicopter into the sea and killing the helicopter crew. Black Lagoon landed back on the river with a bang, shaking everything in it while Rock shouted at the helicopter crew that they "got fucked." When Dutch and Revy came to consciousness, they found Rock unconscious but alive, lying happily on a barrel. Afterwards, they were able to deliver the disk to Balalaika on time and the negotiation with Asahi Heavy Industrial Co. went as planned.[13]

Having met his boss, Kageyama, alive and well, Rock was invited back to Asahi Industries. Not wanting to go back to the company that sold his life for a disk, Rock casually repeated Kageyama's words back to him, saying that he was already a dead man. With that, Kageyama left Rock and went back to Japan. Before leaving, Balalaika commended Rock for helping the Lagoon Company, telling him that she could help him anytime. Free and with no ties to chain him down, Rock decided to start his new life in the crime-infested Thai city of Roanapur, joining the crew of the Black Lagoon.[2]

Chase for ring-ding ships[]

On his first job, Rock boarded the Black Lagoon and stood on the boat's stern as Dutch swerved the PT boat in front of a large ship, the St. Jones. He tried to calmly warn them with a megaphone that they would need to surrender or face consequences, but the boat radioed to Benny that they would force their way through, so Revy fired an RPG at the front hull, grabbing Rock's megaphone and yelling at the crew. After pirating the ship of its goods, Rock went back into the boat and sailed back into Roanapur.[14]

After settling down in Roanapur, Rock found himself being tricked by the people around town. To his lament, he was yet again tricked when he bought some mangoes from an old person only for the fruit to turn out terribly bad. Revy, to her discontent, told Rock that he needed to learn how Roanapur runs things or he would end up getting cheated out of everything. Afterwards, Revy woke up Rock from his nap to tell him that they had a job and needed to board the Black Lagoon on Dutch's order for another mission given to him by Donnie Yen. While on their way to port, Revy pointed out that Rock was not wearing the Aloha shirt that she bought for him. In disdain, Rock replied back that the shirt looked terrible, prompting Revy to interpret Rock's words as saying that she had bad taste.

After setting sail, Rock was with Revy on deck. After Rock failed to tie a monkey knot, Revy complained about how Rock could not even do what a monkey can. Not offended, Rock replied that it could not be helped, seeing how what he did for a living had nothing to do with his new pirate life. Revy sarcastically asked Rock about the things he did before he came to Roanapur. In response, Rock casually explained his job to Revy which was basically him sucking up to his boss and getting his ass kicked by his superiors. Surprised, Revy asked Rock if he was a masochist for taking so much crap, but Rock replied that anyone would put up with bad things in order to survive. Curious, Rock then asked Revy what she did before she came to Roanapur, and Revy replied with a serious tone, saying that what she was doing now was no different from what she did as a kid. Rock, thinking that Revy was joking, sarcastically asked if Revy was waving around a gun shooting people as a kid. With a dead look, Revy looked at Rock and confirmed that it was exactly what she did. Realizing the depth of Revy's words, Rock was left speechless.

During their travel to deliver their shipment to the Vietnamese military, the Black Lagoon was soon chased by what seemed to be the local police looking to capture pirates according to Benny. After examining closer, Revy quickly realized that they were not being chased by police, rather by other pirates. Rock then quickly asked Dutch whether the person who employed them had anything to do with it. To Dutch's dismay, he replied that he felt insulted by Rock's comment about not checking their client's backgrounds. When the pirates reach them, the captain revealed himself to be Luak, a mercenary pirate that worked for Chen, to whom Dutch earlier gave the cold shoulder. Realizing this, Dutch nonchalantly urged Luak to turn back, stating that there was no prey for him to hunt. Angered, Luak replied that the Black Lagoon is the prey, and the battle between pirates began.

Dutch, who was sailing the Black Lagoon, told Revy to show why everyone called her "Two-Hands." Rock, not knowing what Revy could do by herself, asked her on her plans to fight against Luak. Revy simply replied that Rock better stop talking about his world because she needed to focus on hers. Playing some music, Revy took up her Sword Cutlass and a grenade launcher as she lay waste to Luak's boats. Within a few minutes, Revy had completely demolished Luak's entire fleet, leaving him with only his mother boat to which Revy destroyed as well. Witnessing the prowess of Revy's destructive force, Rock could not help but be awed. Thinking to himself, he remarked that he did not know what had happened to Revy in order for her to be so skilled at killing, but the fact that he was praising Revy for her force of destruction meant that he too was broken inside.

With the battle between pirates having ended, they set sail back to Roanapur, having wasted their time on a false mission. At the Lagoon Company office, Rock picked up the phone to hear Balalaika, who requested to speak with Dutch. As Rock continued eating pizza, Dutch learned that Balalaika killed Chen for him in real-time and would have a job for him later. To appease the pirates' boredom, Dutch proposed a trip to Yellow Flag to drink away their problem on his treat. They all agreed to go, with Revy once again telling Rock to wear the aloha shirt since they were not on a job, but Rock again rejected her demand.[15]

Rasta Blasta[]

Receiving a delivery job from the Manisarera Cartel, the Black Lagoon stopped next to a ship, where Rock checked for all the packages, one of them being a child, Garcia Lovelace. Rock brought the boy on board the Black Lagoon and asked Dutch if he was their package, which the captain confirmed. In the hold, Revy tried to watch the boy but lost her temper when he threw food at her, so Rock grabbed Revy out of the room while he watched the boy instead. Like before, Garcia also threw food at Rock, with the Japanese businessman politely asked the young child to stop throwing food at him, adding that he did understand Garcia's anger since he aided in trafficking the boy. Garcia remarked that Rock seemed different from the Black Lagoon's other members, but Rock replied that he was really just a criminal-in-training.

Garcia told Rock that he was a member of the Lovelace family, making Rock think that he was lying. When Garcia demonstrated that he knew specific details about the family, including the family dog's name and breed as well as knowledge on rare earth metals, Rock started to believe him and became suspicious of the cartel since they lied about the boy's history. Rock relayed the information to Dutch, who decided to call Balalaika to ask her to obtain background on the Manisarera Cartel.[16] When the Lagoon Company arrived in Roanapur, Garcia told them that his maid Roberta was going to save him and that she was even stronger than Revy, making her laugh. As the four pirates talked to the boy, Roberta was in the Yellowflag Bar and began a gunfight with the cartel members who heard of her presence, shocking Garcia and the Lagoon Company alike.[17]

The Lagoon Company forced Garcia to hide under a table with them as Roberta and the cartel members shot at each other. In the midst of the chaos, Dutch decided that they would leave the boy behind since the job was too risky at that point. When they tried to leave, Bao yelled at Revy in particular, garnering Roberta's attention toward the Lagoon Company. Revy instinctively pointed her pistol at Garcia's head, threatening Roberta that she would kill the young boy, and this shocked Rock since Roberta would want them even more dead. Roberta carefully contemplated the situation and stated the Lovelace family creed, which Garcia recognized. Revy was forced to let the boy go and got a concussion from Roberta successfully landing a blow on her.

Garcia continued to cry and could not believe that Roberta was the type of person who would kill people, telling Rock to take him with them. Roberta was surprised by Garcia's comment as Rock took the boy out of the bar, momentarily freezing her thought process. Escaping into Benny's car, Rock remarked that Roberta was like a killer robot from the future (in reference to Terminator), irritating Dutch, who told Rock to wake Revy up since they needed her conscious to have a fighting chance against Roberta.[5] After Roberta chased their car down and eventually latched onto the back, Rock continued his attempts at waking Revy up. Dutch tried shooting at Roberta, but she climbed onto the car roof and started shooting downward, with Benny's car soon crashing at the harbor.

Revy thankfully woke up from her concussion and wanted to fight Roberta to Rock's dismay, but Revy threatened to kill Rock if he tried to stop her. Revy then started a firefight with Roberta, with the latter managing to wound Revy in her arm. While Rock and the other men stayed in the car, the two women began shooting at each other once more, both soon ending falling onto the ground with their pistols pointed at each other in a furious rage. At that point, several Vysotniki snipers surrounded the two women and forcibly disarmed them. Rock and the men soon caught up to see the confrontation between Hotel Moscow and Roberta, and Revy wanted a fistfight with Roberta. Dutch bet that Revy was going to win whereas Benny bet on Roberta, but Rock found their bets barbaric and tried to stop the fight to no avail. After the fight ended in a draw, Roberta left with Garcia to Venezuela and Balalaika and her men left the scene. Benny told Rock about Balalaika's ex-Soviet background and her troops' extraordinary discipline and strength, and Dutch poured a bucket of water on Revy to wake her up.[18]

Das Wieder Erstehen Des Adlers[]

As Black Lagoon sailed back to Roanapur from a mission, Rock discussed his scuba diving trip in Ishikagi to Dutch and exclaimed his wish to scuba dive under the hot summer sun that they were in. While walking around town, Rock encountered Mr. Lun, who was selling air tanks and scuba diving equipment. Rock wanted to buy them, but the price was too high for him, so he let it go. Rock then returned to Lagoon HQ only to find Dutch with the very same air tank that he wanted to buy, surprising him. Unfortunately for Dutch, the catch was that Rock was not going to scuba dive for leisure, but for a salvage job to plunder a U-boat that sank almost fifty years ago. While waiting for Dutch and Benny to prepare a discussion for the upcoming job, Rock complained that Dutch had tricked him when the former exclaimed his desire to go diving, but the annoyed Revy warned him to stop whining.

The job for Lagoon Company this time was to procure an old art piece known as "The Twelve Knights Led by Brunhilda," for a Spanish-nationality client who was madly interested in collecting Nazi-era art, an easy $50,000 dollars plus expenses job. In the boat's hold, Benny went on to explain that the U-boat, the U-234, was captained by a German Major named Wenztel H. Ahbe, whose mission was to deliver Japanese officers and Spielberger to Batavia. On their way to their mission, the Nazi U-boat was attacked by U.S. ships that had nothing to do and perished in the depths of the sea. Decades later, the U-boat was discovered by a French communications company while laying undersea cable last year. Dutch added that despite knowing where the U-boat was, no country could lay a hand on it due to the area being in dispute, thus it was the perfect job for the Lagoon Company pirates to swipe the painting from under everyone's noses.

With the mission underway, Rock and Revy donned their scuba diving gear, with Revy berating Rock for not double checking his equipment's safety. As Revy got an underwater rifle from Dutch, the two dived 50 meters toward the bottom of the sea and dived into the heart of the U-boat.[19] When they got inside after Revy detonated explosives, Rock and Revy sealed their entrance, with Rock telling Revy that she could have warned him about the bomb. Revy reminded him that she could not talk underwater, and they began exploring the U-boat. Both soon found themselves surrounded by skeletons, frightening Rock but not budging Revy a bit. Inside, they quickly searched for the painting, which Rock found beneath the corpse of Spielberger. Despite having the painting, to Rock's objection, Revy decided to stay and salvage more out of the corpses by taking their badges. Seeing a skeleton nearby, Rock asked the dead man not to stare at him since he also thought that the extra theft was wrong. Upon Revy's return, Rock told her that she should leave the badges behind because they were meant as a symbol of honor for those who died. Elaborating, he believed that the people who deserved to have them were not pirates like Revy, instead belonging to the soldiers and their families. Annoyed, Revy began to grow tired of Rock's never-ending lecture of goodness and justice and decided to put Rock in his place.

Sitting down, Revy coldly explained to Rock that the sentimental values Rock put on everything was an illusion and at the end of the day, the only thing that truly gives something value is money. She then explained to Rock how those sentimental values of love and friendship, along with faith in God, "didn't do shit for her" when she was being abused as a child. The only thing that was true to her, the only that could protect her, was money and guns. Hearing this, Rock was overcome with a sense of pity for Revy and her life, which Revy was quick to rebuff. She told Rock that she did not want Rock's sympathy because she was fine with who she was. Finishing her calm anger, she then told him that if he were to ever think that what she was doing was wrong again, Rock would no longer be one of them and Revy would kill Rock, causing Rock to hesitantly nod in agreement.[20]

Upon finishing their conversation, Rock and Revy were intruded on by Kruppen Feller and his crew. Preparing her rifle, Revy began a shootout with Feller's men in the U-boat, but Rock accidentally dropped the painting onto the other side, allowing Kruppen Feller to snatch it. With the boat rapidly flooding, Rock and Revy quickly re-donned their diving gear and followed Feller by swimming to the ocean surface, only to be under fire by Rachmann's neo-Nazis on the White Heather. Angered, Revy continued to fire back. Rock, who knew that they would be killed if they continued to fight back, grabbed Revy and forced her to descend down into the sea. Thinking that they were dead, Rachmann and his men stopped the attack and sailed towards their destination. When Rock and Revy resurfaced onto the Black Lagoon thanks to their tracking beacons, they learned from Dutch that the enemy were neo-Nazis. Revy herself was in a very bad mood, half from letting the painting get stolen, the other half from her conversation with Rock.[21]

At sunset, the Black Lagoon slowly followed Rachmann's ship at a distance, waiting for night to fall and for the moon to disappear. Dutch and Rock discussed the content of the painting, informing Rock that the resources which Rachmann used were too overboard for a mere painting. In sync, both men speculated that the painting might be worth something rather than it just being a collectible art piece. Dutch then told Rock to get Revy some food before the fight. On deck, upon giving Revy some food, Rock quickly sensed the tension between him and Revy and decided to bring up the conversation they had in the U-boat. Revy quickly shot him down, saying that there was nothing to talk about. Night finally came as Dutch and Revy readied themselves to set out towards Rachmann's ship, with Revy knocking Rock's arm away as she left. As they got off board onto a Zodiac motorboat, Dutch quickly notices Revy's overly angered attitude towards him, asking her if anything happened between her and Rock, but Revy simply replied "No."

As Rock and Benny waited patiently at a distance, Rock casually asked Benny what kind of face they should make knowing that Dutch and Revy were out there killing. Watching the enemy ship, Benny recalled to Rock that when Revy and Rock were down in the U-Boat, Dutch was completely calm, reminding Rock that he and Benny were different from Dutch and Revy. Unlike Revy and Dutch, the both of them could not pull the trigger on people, which is why they hold down the fort. Upon taking over the ship, Dutch and Revy fired a signal flare. Recognizing the signal, Rock and Benny sail towards Rachmann's ship to pick them up.[22]

Calm down, two men[]

Black Lagoon v02c09

With Benny needing to do repairs on the Black Lagoon's engine, Dutch told Rock to run errands with Revy since he needed to help Benny, but Rock was hesitant. Dutch told him that he would need to solve whatever tension with Revy he had on his own since Dutch was not involved. Taking Benny's car, Rock drove around Roanapur and tried to appeal to Revy with jokes, but she calmly guessed his punchlines and then yelled in anger for having to accompany Rock. They first went to Rowan's strip bar to inform him of his shipment of alcohol bottles arriving in a warehouse. Before they left, Rowan looked at the shocked Rock and told him that he could come to him should he be down in a bad mood.

Afterward, Rock and Revy went to the Bougainvillea Trade Company office to tell Balalaika on behalf of Dutch about a late shipment, with Rock awkwardly taking his eyes off Balalaika's small television screen that had pornography. Finally, the two went to the Rip-Off Church, where Rock noticed that the priestly men were putting clean items into a shed, making him suspicious. Eda then guided him and Revy to the drawing room to talk with Sister Yolanda about a weapons deal. With Yolanda saying that she could not give the Lagoon Company a weapon on their list since another client needed it, Revy refused to give her a discount. Nonchalantly reacting to Revy's threat, Yolanda told her she could bring Dutch if her anger was so important, causing a standoff between Eda and Revy. To ease the tensions, Rock negotiated with Yolanda first by relating to her with their shared interest in good tea flavors.

He then informed her that he knew about the Rip-Off Church's unauthorized drug shipments as well as the uneven amount of weapons leaving and entering Roanapur originating from the church. Responding nonchalantly to the accusation, Yolanda replied that Rock was relying on mere conjecture. In closing, Rock told the elderly nun that the Lagoon Company was on friendly terms with Hotel Moscow (the main drug trafficker in Roanapur), but that did not mean that the Lagoon Company told them everything they know, also adding that he knew the Rip-Off Church was dealing in weapons off agreed routes. Impressed by his research, Yolanda allowed the Lagoon Company to receive the extra weapon, commending Rock for his business skills and politeness and also complimenting Dutch for recruiting Rock. The old nun informed the two Lagoon Company pirates that they had to leave since mass was starting, with Yolanda happily telling Rock to come back soon. As Revy left, Yolanda told her that she should emulate Rock's behavior, making Revy insult the old woman and leave.[23]

Rock n Revy

At a market at sunset, Rock got Revy some soup, telling her that she needed to eat. Revy wanted to take the car keys and go home, but Rock reminded her that he would have to come with too but had to eat. As Revy insulted Rock, he told her that he would not put up with her bossy attitude anymore, shocking her. She gave him a chance to recant what he said, but Rock then stood up and slammed the table, iterating that he would not put up with her attitude. Revy then calmly pulled out her gun and pointed it at Rock's forehead, scaring nearby citizens to run away. Revy asked Rock what he wanted on his tombstone, and he answered "There is no cure for a fool with gun," and Revy fired a bullet, but Rock pushed the barrel out of the way in time, only grazing the top of his head.

Angered by Revy, Rock grabbed her by the collar and told her that he thought he was done kissing up to people until he accompanied her. He added that she kept acting like a badass but would not confront her problems, causing Revy to angrily step back and toss a cup of chopsticks to the ground, telling Rock that he had no idea what hell she had gone through in her life, insulting Rock as a white-collar guy. Agreeing and calming down, Rock replied that he did not know what she went through, telling her that she could not judge him since she did not know anything about him beyond being white-collar, stating that everyone in life had to suffer in some way regardless of background. Telling her that she did not understand that, Revy shouted at him that their life was not a happy one, adding that she was not Robin Hood. Rock asked her why she did not become Robin Hood, causing Revy to stutter and walk backwards, saying that she would kill him.

Rock told her she could try, but she would only be chasing her tail like a dog. Angered, saddened, and confused, Revy punched him in the face, but Rock endured the punch, shocking her. Grabbing her fist, Rock reminded her that the reason that he was in Roanapur was because of her, remarking that she saved him from his cyclic business life and from being killed after being tossed aside by his bosses. Finishing, he told her that he hated to see his rescuer act like the very same people who treated him like dirt back in Japan. Pushing herself away and calming down, Revy told Rock that she did not know what he was talking about, then telling Rock that he would get killed for his stupidity. Rock replied that they were both idiots, causing both of them to back-and-forth angrily calling each other an idiot until the Roanapur City Police showed up seconds later, pointing their guns at them.

From the small crowd of cops, Chief Watsap told Revy that she could not discharge her firearm in public, telling her that he did not care what crimes she did so long as they were out of sight. Watsap then told both pirates that they had to come to the station to fill out some paperwork, so both Rock and Revy got into a police car. With Rock getting a light on his cigarette from the police officer in the passenger's seat, Revy asked Rock one more question about whose side he was on. Rock only replied that the side he was on was where he was sitting. In response, Revy told him to give her a light, but the confused Rock told her that the cops had the lighter. Correcting him, Revy told him that he had a light on his cigarette, so Rock and Revy leaned in toward each other as Rock lit her cigarette, making a cigarette kiss. Revy remarked that she just wanted to go home and sleep, with Rock agreeing.[24]

Bloodsport Fairy tale[]

At the Lagoon Company office, Rock got a call from Boris of Hotel Moscow to learn that their meeting with Balalaika was cancelled, with Dutch asking what Rock learned on the phone. Revy interrupted to say that the meeting was probably cancelled due to the recent murders of Hotel Moscow members, which had been 6 murders at that point. That night, Rock and Revy went to the Yellow Flag to talk with Bao about the rumors of the murders, learning from Bao that the bounty on the murderers was $50,000. As they continued to talk, Eda entered the bar, greeting the three and trying to flirt with Rock to Revy's annoyance. Seeing that people already knew about the bounty, Eda told Rock and the others that Balalaika was planning on going to war.[25]

Later after the murders of Private First Class Sakharov and Corporal Menshov, Rock and his fellow pirates were at the office once more and learned from Revy that Balalaika was likely going to deploy the Vysotniki, the highly-experienced ex-Soviet soldiers of Hotel Moscow. As Dutch talked about the killers in a derogatory manner, the phone then rang, which Benny picked up and gave to Rock since it was Balalaika specifically requesting him. While trying to ponder Balalaika's words that the killers used, Rock then told Balalaika that the killers were most likely Romanian.[26]

Much later after Hänsel got killed, Gretel commissioned the Black Lagoon as a getaway vehicle out of Roanapur, and Rock watched over Gretel in the boat's hold. Learning from Gretel that she had never seen the sea, Gretel opened up to Rock and revealed her and Hänsel's horrific backstory, as well as their twisted belief system about killing people and that Gretel was Hänsel wearing a wig. Rock, completely distraught by hearing her abuse and despair, desperately hugged Gretel/Hänsel, who was genuinely shocked at experiencing the honest affection of another human being. As Rock hugged her and tried to assure her that blood and darkness were only a small fraction of the world, Gretel momentarily looked affected by his earnestness, and became saddened that she upset him. Attempting to cheer him up, she showed him her genitals. Now completely horrified, Rock left the hold to the deck, and Revy, thinking that the girl was simply messing with Rock, punched her in the face.

Angry Rock grabs Benny

On deck, Benny saw Rock crying in anger due to the criminals that turned Gretel into a monster, but Benny nonchalantly told Rock that sometimes it was best to look the other way. Rock grabbed Benny's collar in anger, but Benny reminded him that they could not just adopt the child and that the horrible things done to her could not be simply reversed. In due time, the Black Lagoon arrived at Pangkalpinang, with Elroy greeting the crew at the docks. Gretel disembarked and thanked Rock while bidding him goodbye after she said that she wanted to meet Rock again in the future. Immediately, Elroy shot her in the back of the head, killing her and shocking Rock. Elroy explained that Hotel Moscow paid him well, remarking that it would be his last job. Afterward, Dutch told his crew to get a tarp to cover Gretel's body, but the disappointed Rock told him that it was not necessary since it would be better for Gretel to look at the sky.[27]

Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll[]

Receiving an urgent job from Mister Chang, Dutch told Rock to wake Revy up at her place so that she could attend the meeting for the details. At Revy's place, Rock woke up the still-tired Revy and also heard about the U.S. embassy bombing in Zaire on her television. Hurrying back to Lagoon Company office, Rock listened to Chang's story about finding intelligence documents and how his office was bombed by Hezbollah due to a failed negotiation with the group for the documents. Chang and his men then came to the Lagoon Company, saying that the job for the Lagoon Company was to deliver the documents to the Central Intelligence Agency. Upon hearing about his office's destruction, Rock was immediately reminded of the U.S. embassy bombing news. As Chang mentioned that the deadline to finish the delivery was two days, Hezbollah soldiers fired an RPG into the building, scaring Rock and the others.

Accordingly, Chang and Revy dealt with the attackers while Rock and Benny followed Dutch to the balcony and jumped down, where a Hong Kong Triad escort car would drive them to the docks. Having the real documents while other teams had fake documents, Rock and his crew-mates boarded the Black Lagoon. Sailing southward, Benny informed Revy in the cabin that several motorboat ships approached them from the rear. Standing above the starboard turret, Revy told Rock to get her a Remington rifle, so Rock found her one, which she used to shoot at a few ships. Unfortunately for them, the ships suddenly spread out, surrounding the Black Lagoon in a net formation at a far distance. While trying to figure out their plan, Benny informed Dutch that a cargo ship was nearby, which was likely hijacked to serve as a blockade for the Black Lagoon while the net forced them in that direction. Rock recommended that they use the torpedoes, but Revy told him that the torpedoes were not onboard, shocking him.

Agreeing with Revy's advice about the enemies' engines, Dutch elaborated to Rock that they would not have enough time to use a rocket launcher to destroy their engines since they would arrive at the enemy cargo ship in a few minutes. Upon Dutch telling Rock about the explosive Semtex, Rock thought of an idea which his fellow sailors agreed to execute.[28] Revy, lying down on the fore deck of the boat, had the Semtex bombs attached to a harpoon, and she fired the weapon toward the cargo ship's hull. Upon firing, Dutch turned the Black Lagoon at a 180-degree angle in line with the cargo ship's starboard side with Revy hanging onto a hatch while Rock detonated the explosives, causing the left and right enemy pincer boats to run right into the explosion point, killing the pincers and escaping the net. Right after escaping the net, Dutch told Revy that she and Rock would take the documents and disembark on a Zodiac raft when in view of the Zamboanga Coast while the Black Lagoon would act as a decoy for the remaining pursuers.[29]

Before leaving at night, Dutch informed Revy that Mister Chang changed the password for the delivery and told her to relay the change to Rock, and Rock and Revy left on the Zodiac motorboat while Dutch's boat acted as a decoy. In the morning, Rock arrived on Basilan Island and was surprised at the empty village which he was walking through. Revy told Rock that the island had been under martial law for two years due to militants waging war against the Army of the Philippines, making villagers flee to other cities. Continuing through the abandoned streets, a Jeep suddenly drove near them, causing Revy to push Rock out of the way while she pointed her pistol toward the passenger window. Masahiro Takenaka appeared, posing as a Triad affiliate who would get the documents. When Takenaka said the password, Rock was relieved, but Revy grabbed Takenaka's hand and told him that the second password she got was the true password, shocking Rock.

Black Lagoon e11

Realizing that she had been one step ahead, Takenaka began a quick gunfight with her as Rock ran away, but the car backed up and a soldier knocked out Rock and pushed him into the backseat. Revy shot the soldier but the car fled with Rock, angry that he let himself get abducted. At the Abu Sayyaf training camp, Rock's briefcase was taken and searched as multiple soldiers surrounded him with guns. Takenaka greeted Rock, asking him where the documents were, but Rock responded that Takenaka should know that he would not be able to tell him where the documents were.[30] To calm Rock, Takenaka brought Rock into a small house as Ibraha stood by. Takenaka, recognizing Rock as a fellow Japanese man, asked Rock about how Japan and its scenery were, trying to relate to Rock. When Takenaka asked Rock why he became a criminal like him, Rock rejected the comparison, saying that they were different and that he knew what the Japanese Red Army did in his former country.

Annoyed by the slowness of the interrogation, Ibraha angrily interrupted them and pointed a gun at Rock's head, telling him to reveal the documents' location or he would blow his head off. Takenaka then told Rock a story about a man who preached to people, who showed great interest and even promised to fight with him, but then those same people lost interest after their lives became comfortable. Elaborating, the man continued to preach and told a child that he continued to preach and fight since he gambled his life on his beliefs, stating that his whole life would be a lie if he abandoned his conviction. Finishing the story, Takenaka remarked that the difference between him and Rock is that the former had a purpose in life.

Ibraha asked Takenaka if they should torture Rock, but the latter told Ibraha that it would not be necessary since Rock was not a soldier, adding that they could give Rock a trial and execute him the next morning if he still refused to talk. For the rest of the evening, Rock sat in the same house, angered that he got captured. Shenhua and Revy then attacked the camp at night, with Revy barging into the house, and Rock was glad to see her. As he ran out the house, Rock saw Takenaka lie among some dead soldiers, exchanging one last look with him before Revy told him to hurry up. In the getaway car, Rock was surprised to see the high Leigharch, who then started the car after Revy furiously kicked his seat. As Revy and Shenhua fought the pursuing guerrillas, Rock sat in the backseat and smoked, despairingly remarking that Takenaka was right about his lack of purpose and how he was just engaging in escapism throughout his entire life.

Arriving at the military base, CIA agents Blend and Sugar arrived in a helicopter, but Rock realized that he forgot to bring the briefcase of documents. Brushing off his worry, Revy revealed that she had the documents the entire time beneath her shirt, surprising Rock and Shenhua. After the CIA agents left, Rock walked up to Revy and thanked her for saving him, making Revy nudge his arm and telling him to not be so formal with her, then bashing Rock's head since he let himself get abducted. Finishing their job, Revy told Rock that the rescue expenses would be deducted from his pay.[31]

Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise[]

Now having been with the Lagoon Company for one year, Rock traveled with Balalaika to Japan as a Japanese-to-English translator, and Revy accompanied him since she was concerned about his safety there. In Japan, Rock called Benny on a payphone as the latter wished him a happy new year, asking him how Japan was. Rock finished the call and then continued walking with Revy, who told Rock that she kept getting weird stares from men. Accompanying Balalaika, Rock went to a meeting between her and Tsugio Bando of the Washimine Group and translated for her. The Washimine Group wanted an alliance with Hotel Moscow to fight the Kosa Council, and Balalaika clarified that Hotel Moscow had a different way of doing things, demonstrating her power by setting off a bomb in one of the Kosa Council's clubs, scaring the Washimine affiliates. Nonetheless, Tsugio appreciated her gesture and approved her alliance. Later, Boris had Rock translate the Kosa Council's recent wireless communications.

Leaving the meeting, Revy accompanied Rock at a Japanese cultural festival, where Revy tried a shooting game but did not knock down the last target. Rock told the stand-keeper that Revy wanted a prize, but he told Rock that he saw Revy knock down the target with her gun instead of a pellet, angering Revy. As Rock tried to restrain her, Ginji Matsuzaki politely asked her to not make a scene. As Revy stared at Ginji, Yukio Washimine interrupted to say that they should calm down and drink some tea, with Rock agreeing to deescalation. Talking to Yukio, Rock learned about her being a student, and he told her about his "international translation work," saying that his job had some danger. Yukio was confused by his comment, but Rock meant that his job had some difficulty. As Yukio and Ginji left the festival, Yukio told Rock her name, and he left.

The next day near Rock's parents' house, Revy waited at the park while Rock went to the house. Rock went to the front door but hesitated to ring the doorbell, and he decided not to inform his parents after all. Returning to Revy, he saw playing with some kids pretending to be a Wild West sheriff, embarrassing Revy because Rock confessed that he saw the whole ordeal. Angrily grabbing Rock, Revy threatened to castrate him if he told Dutch or Benny what he saw, and he agreed. Walking away from Rock's former neighborhood, Rock told Revy that his parents were not home and had to return another time.[4]

At Balalaika's second meeting with Bando at a strip club, Rock translated on her behalf that she wanted to kidnap the Kosa Council's head, shocking Bando. Bando said that he wanted to reconsider and rejected her plan, so the nervous Rock relayed the disagreement to Balalaika. Laughing at Bando's hesitation, Balalaika declared that Hotel Moscow would be in charge of the operation since they were carrying out the violence in the first place. Once Rock translated this to the Washimine Group, the yakuza's desire to talk it over among themeselves was nonetheless granted. In the hallway, Rock exited from the meeting and told Revy that he was going to use the bathroom. After exiting, he saw Chaka trying to flirt with the unconcerned Revy, and Rock told her that they needed to leave. When Chaka glared at Rock and warned him not to interrupt him, Rock again told Revy that they needed to go, causing Chaka to punch Rock in the stomach. Chaka continued to kick Rock repeatedly to provoke Revy until the Washimine affiliates came out and restrained Rock. As Rock got up, Bando apologized to him and told Rock that Chaka would be severely reprimanded for his outburst. As each mafia left, Revy advised Rock to call Benny to ship her Cutlass pistols to Japan since Chaka would certainly try to confront them again in the future.

At a metro station, Rock called Benny about Revy's request, saying that trouble could possibly brew. After finishing the call, Rock saw Yukio, and both exchanged surprise.[32] The two went to a coffee shop and talked once again, with Yukio asking him if he planned on visiting his parents. In response, Rock awkwardly answered that he had no plans to do so To his surprise, Yukio told him that she was once like him wherein she used to dislike her family but then after her father's passing, she appreciated her family's help toward her livelihood. Rock deemed her words wise, to which Yukio remarked that her friends said that she sounded like an old woman, making Rock apologize if that was how his comment came off. Smiling, Yukio assured him that she was joking, and Rock commented that he still felt differently since he could not let go but would not do anything either. Placing down her drink, the schoolgirl asked Rock if he had heard Jean-Paul Sartre's quote about people being like dice insofar as they commit themselves to paths of their choosing.

Rock complimented her analysis as blunt when her cellphone suddenly rang, so she briefly excused herself. As Yukio assured Ginji that she was all right and was speaking with Rock from the other day, Rock overheard her mention Bando's name, shocking him. When Yukio relayed to Rock that she had to leave, Rock calmly asked her what her surname was, and she told him that it was Washimine. Hearing the name, Rock realized that she was related to the yakuza group. The next day at a local restaurant, Balalaika and Boris met up with Revy and Rock while Boris again informed Balalaika about the Kosa Council, who had surveillance increased by the police. Rock politely interrupted to ask Balalaika a hypothetical question, but she responded that he should not be concerned with her actions since he was not a Hotel Moscow member and only a translator. Revy defended Rock's curiosity since they all needed to trust each other, so Balalaika answered him by saying that she would crush the Washimine Group if they decided to change plans and backstab her.[33]

Later the same day in a parking garage, Rock walked with Balalaika when Tsugio Bando tried to assassinate her but got disarmed. Balalaika told Rock to translate her words to the injured Bando before killing him, frightening Rock. At night, Rock woke up from a nightmare wherein he recalled the assassination, and Rock remarked to Revy that he had a nightmare likely due to the alcohol that he consumed.[34] Sitting in the backseat of a car, Rock waited for Revy to pick up her Cutlasses at a shipping office, and she soon returned to the car. As Revy smiled and talked about her pistols, she asked the silent Rock what was wrong, and he saw the news of Yakuza murders on the car's backseat electronic news dashboard. He tried to plead with Revy to help him warn Yukio about continuing her allegiance to her family's crime syndicate, and Revy refused until she realized that she was in Japan to help Rock, not interfere with his actions, so she told Rock to lead the way.

At Yukio's house, Rock and Revy saw many footsteps outside, so Revy went inside and saw the dead Yoshida, seeing that Yukio was abducted. As they tried to assess the situation, Ginji entered the house, causing a quick standoff between him and Revy. As Ginji saw that Revy was not the murderer, Rock and Revy surmised that Chaka was the likely culprit, so Ginji decided to leave. Rock told Ginji that he knew that the latter arrived on foot and that there were multiple footsteps which indicated a large group following Chaka, advising him to take Revy with him to rescue Yukio. Ginji asked him why he was helping him despite his affiliation with the Russians who turned against the Washimine Group, and Rock stated that he did not want to see Yukio absorbed into a criminal life.[35]

Using a stolen car, Rock drove Revy and Ginji to a sports plaza where Chaka took the abducted Yukio. Accordingly, Rock went in a different entrance at the complex while Revy and Ginji took the front entrance of the bowling alley and slaughtered many of Chaka's men. As Chaka ran away with Yukio in the back, he slipped on some cleaning fluid and was momentarily confused, and Rock appeared and knocked him out with a bowling pin, taking Yukio away from the danger. In a locker room inside the complex, Rock gave Yukio his jacket to cover her chest, and Yukio asked him why he was there. Rock answered that he wanted her to have a normal life, but Yukio told Rock that she chose her path, saying that Rock was her enemy.

Black Lagoon The Second Barrage e10

Rock responded that she did not have to be bound by an archaic Yakuza code about succession by blood, but Yukio contested his claim, saying that the pact was forced onto her group and that she could not just abandon the hundreds of men who fought for her father for so long. Upon learning from Rock's expression that he was present with Balalaika when the latter killed Tsugio Bando, she told Rock that he had no decision in his life whereas she had a choice and needed to follow her honor. In tears, Yukio yelled at Rock that he was in the twilight between the normal and criminal worlds and had no right to judge her since she was in one world now. She then continued crying and asked Rock how he could save someone if he had no choice. Rock tried to console her, but she sternly warned him to back away, remarking that she envied Rock's freedom. Leaving the bowling alley with Ginji after he killed Chaka, Yukio thanked Rock but stated that she would kill him if they ever crossed paths again.[9]

The next day at a restaurant, Revy was telling Rock about her excitement in seeing Ginji slicing a moving bullet in half, but Rock gloomily snapped back about her calm attitude regarding death in the criminal world, angering Revy since he was acting like a jerk. Rock apologized about his attitude and added that his binge drinking was the cause, and Revy accepted his apology. Meanwhile, Rock found Balalaika and Boris in a parking garage, and he demanded that Balalaika wage war with the Kosa Council instead of the Washimine Group, surprising Revy. When Rock tried to reason that the Washimine Group was already weak enough, Balalaika grabbed him and pointed her pistol at his head, telling Rock that his usage of the word "justice" was a mockery. In response, Revy drew a gun on her and on Boris, who drew a gun on Revy in turn. In the standoff, Rock stated that it was his hobby to save people, making Balalaika laugh and withdraw her gun, making Boris withdraw his gun too.

In response, Revy furiously grabbed Rock and asked him why he tried to provoke Balalaika, saying that she could not protect him from Balalaika and berated him for almost throwing his life away. Nonchalantly pushing away her arm, Rock asked her if she could come with him to his hometown one more time. Sitting on a bench with Revy, Rock confirmed his desire to gain closure with his old life and did not come to Japan to see his family again but to solidify his grounding in Roanapur. Finishing their conversation, the children who played with Revy previously saw her again and asked her to demonstrate her marksmanship again, so she used a real gun instead of a toy to shoot a can, shocking the children as Rock left the neighborhood with Revy.[12]

On one last translation job for Balalaika, Rock went to the Kosa Council headquarters and waited in the hallway, where Balalaika saw Rock's curious expression on his face. She calmly told Rock to say anything else on his mind carefully, and Rock requested her to crush the Washimine Group to push Yukio out of the criminal world, shocking Balalaika. Amused, she pushed her arm against the wall and told Rock that he was a good villain, and Boris interrupted to say that the meeting was ready to commence. Inside the room, Rock translated Balalaika's agreement to ally with the Kosa Council, but Balalaika asked Masami's bodyguard to show her his weapons. Thinking that his guns were pathetic, Balalaika told Rock to translate her distaste for the Kosa Council and their firearms, then shooting Masami, Morozumi, and the other Kosa members afterward.

Upon the shootout ending, Balalaika gave Morozumi's gun to Rock, who gave it back to her and said that he did not like guns but admitted that he did pull the figurative trigger. Balalaika then took the gun and tossed it into the nearby pond, telling Boris and Rock that they would leave.[36] Just outside the Kosa Council headquarters, Balalaika told Rock to relay her message to Yukio that Hotel Moscow would cease all attacks on the Washimine Group, adding that her life would be safe if she left the city by sunset. In the anime only, Rock was also surprised to learn that Balalaika's associate Monk Burgashvili reported that Yukio wanted to run away to Roanapur and rebuild their yakuza there. As Balalaika made her way through the police barricade, Revy quickly stopped on her motorcycle and yelled at Rock to hop on, with Rock instinctively running through the barricade and escaping the police. While hanging onto Revy, Rock pleaded with her that they needed to quickly visit Yukio and relay the message.

In the anime, Yukio and Ginji intentionally crashed Revy's motorcycle and briefly abducted Rock so that they could escape to Roanapur and use Rock as a hostage, but Rock told them that it would be no use. Revy then chased them and stopped their car, then confronting Ginji in a fight at the seaport.[37] In the manga, Rock and Revy instead waited for Yukio and Ginji at a shrine per the latter group's request. At the shrine, Rock relayed Balalaika's ultimatum to the Japanese girl, but Yukio calmly retorted that a promise from Balalaika was empty, and Ginji and Revy began a fight respectively between sword and gun.[38] Rock stood by with Yukio as they watched the fight, and Rock continued to tell Yukio that she did not have to confront Hotel Moscow. When Yukio remarked to him that she was fighting to survive, Ginji was surprised at remembering Yukio's lament of entering the criminal world, giving Revy the opportunity to kill him.

Although alive, Revy had Ginji's katana in her leg, which Rock pulled out in an attempt to stop the bleeding with a rag. Yukio grabbed the katana and apologized to Rock and Revy for the whole situation which she proclaimed to have caused, prompting Revy to yell at Rock to look at her instead since he would be traumatized. Watching in frozen discomfort, Rock witnessed Yukio stabbing herself in the neck, seeing her lifeless body fall on the ground next to Ginji's body. Later, Revy and Rock traveled to the airport to return to Roanapur, and Rock called Dutch to inform him of his return, telling Dutch about the Jean Paul-Sartre quote of humans as dice. As Revy asked Rock what was wrong, Rock saw the "Welcome to Japan" sign and told Revy that they needed to return home in Roanapur.[39] In the anime when Rock returned to Roanapur, Benny handed a letter from Balalaika to Rock containing a photograph of Yukio Washimine with a red X across her face. Benny remarked that Roanapur was not too bad of a place, and Rock stood up, agreeing and proclaiming that he planned to watch everything that occurred in the city from the twilight.[37]

Greenback Jane[]

In Roanapur, after hearing from Revy that Eda had a job for them, Rock got Benny's car and drove the two women near the Ramsap Inn. There, Eda tried to flirt with Rock and breathe into his ear, shocking him. Revy threatened to injure Eda, so the nun ceased her teasing and told the two about her plan involving the rescue of Jane, a hacker who fled from the Nuevo Laredo Cartel. When Rock heard about Eda's plan to guide Jane out of the inn using signs explicitly marked with the word "escape," Rock found the plan to be too simple, and Revy ordered Rock to start the car so that they could leave. At that moment, Jane ran past them, so Rock drove the car backwards as Eda bargained with Jane to hire her for an escape. With the bounty hunters nearby, Jane angrily and begrudgingly agreed, going into the backseat.[40]

Revy and Eda shot the bounty hunters as Rock drove the car into the alleyways, escaping the attack. As the car went to the harbor, Eda informed Jane that she would board the Black Lagoon, but Rock told Eda that he tried to tell her earlier that the boat was not at the docks since Dutch and Benny took it out for a shipping job. At the Lagoon Company dry dock, Rock showed Jane a closet room that she wanted to be in to continue her work, and Rock offered Eda some Jim Beam as they waited while Revy radioed to Dutch to return so that they could escort Jane out of Roanapur. Knowing that they were still being pursued, Eda and Revy prepared and subsequently shot a couple bounty hunters who tried to barge into their place. As Revy and Eda got into a long shootout with the bounty hunters, Revy told Rock to guide Jane out a different door.

When Rock tried to use that door, Sawyer's chainsaw burst through, pushing Rock back. Sawyer then charged at Rock, but he defended himself and Jane with a metal rack to push against the chainsaw, and Revy soon covered Rock and forced Sawyer out of the building with gunfire. To make matters worse, Claude "Torch" Weaver started a fire in the dock area, so Revy told Rock to bring Jane to the roof. On the roof, Jane demanded Rock to conjure a plan, but he told her that he needed to think.[41]

On the roof, Sawyer soon confronted Rock and Jane, and the assassin remarked that she would have fun cutting both of them up. At that point, the roof shook slightly, making Sawyer drop her electrolarynx. Without her electrolarynx, Sawyer had an anxiety attack and threw the chainsaw at Rock and Jane, but they dodged it and then saw Sawyer curl into a ball. Eda and Revy then got onto the roof, and Revy remarked that the Black Lagoon was in view, but the roof began to totally collapse due to the arson. As Rock slid off the roof, he kicked Jane out of the way of a stray brace, and he and Jane ran to the docks as the Black Lagoon slowed down. Jumping on deck, Rock guided Jane into the galley hatch as Russell and his bounty hunters fought Revy and Eda.

In the hold, Rock introduced Jane to Benny, with the young girl blushing upon meeting Benny. In the communications room, Jane requested Rock to get her laptop, but he said that he thought that she brought it with, resulting in a brief heated argument between them. Both then realized that Jane could use Benny's computer, but Benny refused since he did not want anyone touching his electronic equipment. Jane was in despair at first, but Benny offered to help her on the condition that he did the work as he guided her, and he managed to break past the cipher and hack back into her plate data, downloading it. Jane was delighted, causing her to kiss Benny, surprising Rock as he awkwardly watched.[42]

El Baile de la muerte / Roberta's Blood Trail[]

When rumor spread that Roberta had returned to Roanapur, Rock and Revy were at the Yellow Flag Bar when Bao explained that some guys told him that they saw Roberta, making the two think that he was joking. Afterward, they went back to Benny and Dutch at the Lagoon Company office to relay what Bao had told them, and the two sailors likewise remarked that the police and others had called them to ask if they saw any "strange guests." Rock also told Revy that Isaac had called, making her suspicious since she doubted Isaac's reliability as an information broker. At that point, Bao called the Lagoon Company office soon after they got back. Dutch answered the phone, hearing an angry Bao demanding to know what Dutch knew since Roberta visited his bar thirty minutes ago. After finishing the call, Dutch told the others about the Roberta situation and that he and Benny would gather information and meet Rock and Revy later at the Yellow Flag.[43]

At the Yellow Flag, Rock and Revy talked to Bao, who commented about establishing his bar in 1978 and how the building had been destroyed on fifteen occasions. As Bao told them about the look that he saw on Roberta's face, Gustavo and his men from the Colombian Cartel entered the bar, and Gustavo asked them what they knew about Roberta. As Revy explained Roberta's physical description to him, Fabiola Iglesias entered the bar, confusing Rock and terrifying Bao since she had the same maid outfit as Roberta.[44] Rock asked her if she was affiliated with the Lovelace Family, which Fabiola confirmed. After Fabiola explained that she sought out Rock and wanted him to come with her to Sankan Palace Hotel, she was grabbed up by José. Using her knife-tipped shoe, she stabbed the man behind her in the testicles, angering the Colombians. Bao angrily yelled at everyone to take their fight outside, but Gustavo pointed a gun at Bao's head and commanded Hidalgo to frisk Fabiola. Just then, Rock and Bao noticed that Revy took a bottle of Bacardi, and she purposefully dropped it onto the ground to startle the men and let Fabiola pull out her weapons.

As a gunfight between the young maid and the Colombians ensued, Rock hid behind the counter and asked Revy why she helped out Fabiola, with Revy happily replying that they would never find out what Fabiola wanted if she got killed.[45] Once Fabiola dispatched the remaining henchmen and after others ran away, Fabiola asked Rock if he was all right, and Gustavo briefly pointed his gun at Fabiola until Revy threatened to kill him. As Gustavo ran from the bar, Rock remarked that Gustavo's bluff was quite empty. Reconvening with Dutch and Benny, Rock sat in the back with Fabiola and learned that Roberta hid her Bloodhound persona from Fabiola. Upon arriving at Sankan Palace, Dutch told Rock to get Fabiola's luggage, and he retrieved it and then entered the hotel to Garcia Lovelace's room, where he saw Mister Chang inside.[46]

Fabiola tried to attack Chang until Garcia assured her that the Triad boss was only there to talk. Rock with the others then listened to Garcia's reason for traveling to Roanapur, being that the young boy found out that Roberta left the Lovelace estate to hunt down the people responsible for killing Garcia's father Diego in a controlled explosion at a political rally. After Garcia relayed the story, Dutch said that the Lagoon Company would not take on the job, but Fabiola clarified that she specifically wanted Rock to help her master.[44] Chang remarked that the Lagoon Company would be perfect for the job since they were a neutral party, and Dutch then said that if Rock wanted to take the job, he needed to quit if things got violent, adding that it was an order and not a recommendation.[47]

Black Lagoon Roberta's Blood Trail e2

Rock then attempted to map out the various groups in Roanapur and their possible courses of action in order to see how his plan to help Garcia would play out without him or Roberta getting killed. Eventually, Rock planned out his idea and had Benny drive him to Sankan Palace Hotel the next morning, where Rock went to Garcia's room to confirm that he would take their job. First, Rock and co. visited Bao to learn about his encounter with Roberta, and they learned that Bao directed her to other businesses to buy stuff for "starting a war." After not being able to find the people who could give them clues to the elder maid's whereabouts, at sunset Rock sat at a table with Benny, Garcia Lovelace, and Fabiola Iglesias within the food market.

At the market, Fabiola chastised Rock since the businesses they needed to visit were conveniently closed. When Rock asked her about her martial art skills, she kicked his leg beneath the table, injuring him. Fabiola then confessed her capoeira skills to Garcia. After finishing their meals, Rock left the market with Benny while the two children would stay at Chang's yacht house.[48] At evening, Rock misinterpreted Fabiola standing near the pool as her being unable to know how to swim. Consequently, he tried to pick her up to help but Fabiola instead tossed him into the pool, calling him a pervert. Leaving the yacht house at night and dripping from water, the grumpy Rock was driven around by Benny. Noticing several cars traveling in the same direction, the curious Rock found out from Benny that Roanapur's crime lords were hosting a Council meeting.[49] The next day, Rock went to Revy's place and talked to her about how she was a gun and how he was a bullet. After Revy finished showering, she asked him to get some water for her downstairs using baht instead of nickles. Filling up the water, Rock was surprised but pleased to see Revy gesturing that she would help him and the two children in finding Roberta.

Picking up the children at Chang's yacht house, Rock drove everyone to Praiyachat's place to learn that he repaired her musket, then going to Tou Chi's place to learn that Roberta visited Doctor Hartland for medication as well as buying gunpowder from Tou Chi. Upon finding out that Roberta paid Richie Leroy for shelter, Rock drove them to Leroy's place.[48] After Revy interrogated Leroy about his business with Roberta, Rock quickly drove the group to Tokaīna Hotel where Roberta was hiding, and Revy told Rock to stop the car so that she could call Shenhua, Sawyer, and Lotton for extra help. After picking up Shenhua's group, Rock saw that the fighting between Roberta and the Grey Fox unit was underway, so he decided to stay behind in Benny's car while Revy and Shenhua's groups traveled together to find Fabiola.[50]

At night while Rock waited in the car for the fighting to end, his cellphone rang and he picked it up and heard Mister Chang's voice. Subsequently, Chang told Rock that he could see the violence from his place and remarked that the Triad would take care of the situation from there. When Rock told him that he could not quit yet since Garcia and the maid were still involved, Chang asked how they were his concern since they were only chess pieces in his game. Angered at Chang's characterization, Rock called Chang a cold-hearted man, making the Chinese boss laugh and telling Rock that he had guts, adding that he knew more about justice during his life than Rock ever would. Rock was angrily curious, so Chang told him that he was a former police officer in Hong Kong, surprising Rock. Chang then elaborated that Roanapur was his first priority and not the Lovelace family. After telling Rock that he could try and save them if he wanted, he ended the call.[51]

As the fighting continued and Garcia got saved from death by Grey Fox soldiers, Eda rode her motorcycle and visited Rock, agreeing with him that Grey Fox's fight had turned southward. Realizing that Grey Fox needed an escort out of the city, Rock asked Eda if she could contact the NSA to hire the Black Lagoon for escorting the U.S. troops to the Golden Triangle, and she agreed. When Rock suspected that she might not be who she said she was and questioned her about what she gained from the chaos, Eda warned him to not investigate further for his own safety.[52]

Rock then called Benny at the dry dock, and the latter picked up. Realizing that it was Rock, Dutch asked for the phone. Before giving the phone to his boss, Benny told Rock that he liked him as a colleague and did not want to lose him. Rock relayed his plan to Dutch, who rejected it and was irritated with Rock disobeying him until finding out that Mister Chang also wanted the job to go through and offered pay to Dutch. Subsequently, he agreed seeing that Mister Chang had it all planned for them. That night, Rock boarded the Black Lagoon with Garcia, Fabiola and the Grey Fox unit.[53] On the boat, Rock told Garcia about his idea to save Roberta using a fake bullet on Shane Caxton to confuse her, then informing Caxton that Garcia wanted to talk with him.[54] Afterward, Rock told part of his plan to Fabiola,[55] and later the next night when they arrived in the Golden Triangle, Rock remained on the boat with the rest of his crew while the others disembarked.

On deck, Rock asked Benny if Caxton in particular gave "the gun" to Garcia. Although confused, Benny confirmed that Garcia got the weapon, pleasing Rock. Benny asked why Rock had wondered, and Rock merely grinned and smacked his fist against his own left hand, proclaiming that Chang would lose the "bet." In the anime only, part of Rock's gamble was that his plan would result in the U.S.A. intervening in Roanapur to destroy the criminal world there after Grey Fox's experience with both Roanapur and the Golden Triangle. Sitting on the PT boat's turret, he then listened to the fierce battle between the U.S. troops and Roberta via the Grey Fox's radio frequency. Once Garcia carried out Rock's plan and snapped Roberta out of her decline of sanity, Rock was glad to see them return alive, but Fabiola shot him with one of his own fake bullets for exploiting Garcia, sternly telling Rock that she did not want to see him again.[10]

After the Japanese businessman returned to Roanapur, Chang met up with him at the Roanapur harbor and tossed him a duffel bag full of money for helping him with the killer maid. Rock then said that he did not do it for the money, and Chang replied that the whole situation really took a toll on his strength. Contemplating the aftermath and what Fabiola told him, Rock asked if he was a villain to Chang, but the Triad boss only responded that Rock got his wish of Garcia saving Roberta but remarked that Garcia may not be truly happy since he would walk a difficult path after the destruction.[56]

The Wired Red Wild Card[]

Black Lagoon v10c77

Rock playing darts with Benny

At the Lagoon Company office, Rock and Benny played a game of darts. During the game, Rock remarked that he would never stick his nose into people's business again after the ordeal with Garcia and Roberta. He also told Benny that his rib was cracked after Fabiola vengefully shot a fake bullet at him, and Benny tried to comfort him by reminding that the people left the ordeal alive and that he did protect Mister Chang's interests. After Rock struck a dart right in the middle of the dartboard, Benny got a call, agreeing with Rock that it was likely Jane.

When Jane returned to Roanapur, she met up with her now-boyfriend Benny at the Yellow Flag, with Bao feeling uncomfortable about Jane's sexual display of affection toward Benny. As Bao, Jane and Benny talked, Rock interrupted them to remind them that they needed to find Jane's assistant Feng Yifei, who would be arriving in the city soon. Jane remarked that Feng should be fine, but Bao responded that she was naïve for thinking that newcomers to Roanapur would not be spotted easily. When Benny asked for a photo of Feng to learn what she looks like, Jane showed a photo of Feng in a PLA uniform to Rock, Bao and Benny, surprising them. Rock interrupted them to inform them that Feng was outside, and they saw that her stuff got stolen as she was kicked off a motorcycle. At a motel in a room that Benny rented, Feng introduced herself to him, Rock and Jane.[11]

As they started talking, Sawyer the Cleaner entered the room, terrifying Jane due to her almost-deadly previous encounter with the cleaner. Benny assured his girlfriend that Sawyer was only there to clean the rest of the room due to the remaining mess. With Feng asking about the smell in the room, Sawyer did not have her voicebox, so she communicated the story (about four bloody murders in the room) by tracing letters onto Rock's back. Benny told Jane that the motels were booked up at that time of year due to Roanapur's sex trade, and he managed to get a room that opened up, which was the bloodied, smelly room. As Rock communicated the story to everyone else, Rock then felt a sticky material on the mattress, asking Sawyer what it was. She implied that the stickiness was the aftermath of the melted corpses after several days being left to fester in the hot room, making an analogy about the bodies as if they were melted butter on bread. With this analogy, Rock and the others vomited in disgust. Afterward, Rock accompanied the three to an outdoor dining place and listened to Jane explain the details of Feng's job to initiate her into the Counterfeit Club.[57]

Back at the Lagoon Company office, Rock and Benny relayed the smelly room story to Revy, who was surprised to learn that it was a certain room. As Rock and the others were eating, Revy recalled the incident where Ronnie the Jaws had four Australians murdered and left their corpses in that room where Feng was staying, laughing about the melted corpses to Rock's disgust. Thinking about earlier, Rock asked where Jane was, and Benny informed him that she was at an internet café in Nankwai. After her story, Dutch ordered Revy and Rock to visit Ronnie about a recent shipment from some Tamil people, so they went to his place at Visconti Food Service. Despite Emilio's warning of Ronnie being busy, he followed Revy and emerged into Ronnie's office on the second floor unannounced, angering him.

Remaining silent, Rock heard Ronnie explain to Emilio that he was on a phone call with his boss in Palermo. While doing so, two Albanian Mafia members, Mustafa and Çubronik, exited from the back room arguing with Luciano about recovering "Ali Dragua." Rock stood awkwardly until Çubronik pulled out his gun upon being informed that Revy was Chinese, causing a minute standoff between Revy and Çubronik. As Rock stood by shocked while Luciano assured Çubronik that Revy was Chinese-American and not a Chinese mafia member, Ronnie threatened to torture both of them if they did not calm down. Once Revy sheathed her pistol and left, Ronnie told Rock to go to the downstairs manager to receive their payment, also threatening him with torture if he discussed what had just happened in his presence. As Rock drove Revy through town, he wondered what the "Ali Dragua" was that the Albanians mentioned, but Revy only replied that he had that face again where it seemed like he wanted to gamble on people again.[58]

After Revy talked to Benny and Jane before they left Roanapur on the Black Lagoon, she accompanied Rock again as he drove through town, and they talked about how they needed to tell Dutch that they would cancel the Lagoon Company's most recent job since the client, a bank robber, got killed elsewhere. When Rock stopped the car near the Yellow Flag, Feng (who was exposed as the spy Li Xinlin by Jane) pointed a gun at his head, scaring him.[59] Immediately, Revy pulled out her pistol and began a shootout with Feng, and the hot casings from Revy's pistol gave minor burns to the terrified Rock. Nearby, Montero, Rob and Park Seung, who were hired to kill Feng, spotted her beside Rock's car door and began shooting at them. Confused and terrified, Rock drove the car away with Feng hanging onto the car side as Park Seung riddled the car with bullets.

Thankfully, Rock managed to swerve the car into a narrow alleyway, escaping Montero's wide Humvee. On the outskirts of Roanapur, Rock then stopped the car and lifted the car's hood, seeing smoke emerge from it. He remarked that he was glad that he did not turn off the engine since the car would not start again if he did, but Revy was angry since she had driven the Pontiac GTO for a while ever since Roberta trashed the Plymouth Roadrunner. As she angrily wondered how she would explain the car's destruction to Benny, Rock concluded to Revy that there was nothing they could do except get Benny a new car later.

In the car's backseat, Feng was sitting there, and Revy berated her for wielding her gun around so brazenly, adding that Feng would die if she acted like an outsider in the city. As Revy and Feng exchanged words about Jane setting up the latter as a patsy, Rock confirmed to Feng that Jane had a picture of her in a PLA uniform, surprising and angering Feng. Feng was irritated to learn that Revy and Rock would not help her since she had a whole system after her head, and Rock added that it would be too much heat for the Lagoon Company to help a mere outsider. With Feng in a desperate mood, Rock told her that her only choice was to run away as far as possible from her pursuers.[60]

Rock then asked Feng if she was going to confront her pursuers in Roanapur, but Revy advised Rock to let Feng deal with her own predicament. Upon hearing Feng state that her ex-boss informed her that she had to die willingly and he would compensate her family, Rock was immediately reminded of his ex-boss Kageyama telling him the same thing when the gunship pursued him back in the first arc. When Revy urged Rock that they needed to leave, Rock gave Feng information about a hideout she could use, a weapons store for further self-defense, and gave her a card if she needed information from Richie Leroy. Affected by Rock's gesture, Feng kissed Rock as a gesture of thanks, surprising both Revy and Rock. Backing away, the shocked Rock replied to Feng that he did not want that as a reward and had his own reasons for helping her, and he and Revy drove back into town.[61]

After Revy found Feng and had a conversation with her at the Yellow Flag about Rock's previous escapade with Garcia and Roberta, Feng brought Revy back to Rock's place, where the drunk Revy was sickened by the high amount of alcohol which she consumed. Once Feng helped Rock get Revy into the apartment, Feng began a conversation with Rock and recalled what Revy told her back at the bar. Rock replied that his previous history had nothing to do with her, but Feng replied that she needed to talk about her own history to Rock to make him see how his situation is tied to hers, so Rock agreed as Feng got herself and Rock alcoholic drinks.[62]

Opening her beer, Feng noted that Rock was also an anomaly in Roanapur like her, asking Rock about how he ended up in the city. Rock then recollected his boss casting him aside and how he decided that he did not want to go back to his old life anymore despite having the opportunity to do so. In turn, Feng explained her family history in China's outskirts and her decision to join the People's Liberation Army's electronic engineering institute. After joking with each other, Rock asked Feng if she would have chosen a different path had she known she would end up disgraced in Roanapur, and Feng nonchalantly confirmed she would. When Feng stated that she would choose how she lived and died despite having pursuers, both she and Rock smiled, with Rock agreeing that such a choice was exciting. Interrupting their thoughts, Feng asked about Revy, and the two of them found her passed out in the bathroom, with Rock telling Feng to quickly grab a towel for her.[63]

Once Revy woke up, she and Rock sat in a taxi, where Rock confirmed to her that he would help out Feng. Seeing Revy's face look away, he apologized to her for having to worry about him, thanking her and making her blush. Revy hid her blushing and told him that she had his back and would let him do what he needed to do, asking him where he wanted to start. Rock remarked that Jane's trap for Feng was thought-out well, and Revy asked if they should force Jane to talk. He merely answered that he did not want to interfere with a colleague for the time being, and Revy reminded him about the hitmen that tried to kill Feng earlier. He asked if Revy's hideout for Feng would buy them time, and she said she trusted the hideout the most because both parties owed each other a favor.[64]

Going to the place, Rock saw that the hideout was the strip bar Jackpot Pigeons, where in the back dressing room stayed Feng. As Rock and Revy met with Feng, the performer Joanna calmly told Feng that she would have to get used to the business's noise, with Feng replying that she had no problem. Getting onto their topic, Rock told Feng that more people would be sent after her even if her pursuers were killed. Given Jane's trap for Feng and seeing Rock being stumped, Revy suggested that they review the story without any assumptions, saying that a female criminal named Bitok gave her similar advice once. He asked Feng to provide him and Revy any details that would help them find a solution to get the ex-PLA agent out of Jane's trap. Feng then explained her situation in which her attempt to hack a German company's avionics data was actually a way for Jane and the Highwaymen to expose Annenheim Distributions as a PLA front and expose Feng as the culprit hacker.

Rock then got the idea that Feng should hack back into Annenheim Distributions' server, and Feng agreed but did not know how they could find an internet-accessible computer in the city. Likewise, Revy wondered where they would access a computer since Benny was out at sea, but Rock suggested that they could go to the internet café in Nankwai, which he had heard about from Benny earlier. After Revy had the strippers disguise Feng, Rock took them to the café, where Feng confirmed that she was able to hack back into Annenheim, so Rock asked her to go through all the server's logs to find a clue. When Feng mentioned tracks left behind, Rock asked her if she could decrypt it, and she confirmed that she could and would burn the downloaded data onto a CD.[65]

As Feng was downloading the data, a PLA spy spotted Feng and called someone to inform Montero's group. As Rock told her that they could buy a laptop at the Maplao market to view the CD data, Rob entered the café and Revy began a shootout with him, with Rock and Feng taking cover under a table. During the shooting, Rock advised Feng to take the CD and flee to Rowan's place, reminding her to take various transportation in between to shake off any spies. As Rock gave Feng a fist bump and Feng grabbed the CD, Rob shot the CD, breaking it into pieces. Shocked but still thinking, Rock told Feng that their only chance left was to take the whole hard drive with them, so he helped unplug it and ran out of the café with the hard drive.[66]

Sweating heavily, Rock soon arrived at Jackpot Pigeons with the hard drive and met up with Feng again in the dressing room. He was worried that Revy would be hunted by the assassins after she got arrested by the Roanapur City Police, but Feng reminded him that the assassins were after her, not Revy, and they would get no money for killing the latter woman. As Rock sat on the ground, Feng told him that he should take a shower and get a drink, saying that she would finish the decryption and that Revy was in a safe place at the police station.[67]

Black Lagoon v11c91

Once Rock cleaned himself up, he returned to Jackpot Pigeons and sat in the dressing room as Feng asked him to continue his talk about his previous mission with Garcia and Roberta. Rock talked about his status between the two worlds while Feng asked him about his predilection for watching other people's lives play out, telling him that freedom also meant the consequences and terrible things arising from that freedom.[68] As Feng continued talking about the definitions of freedom contrasting Roanapur and Japan, Rock noted that the decryption was finished, so Feng started looking at the emails, with Rock seeing that the Annenheim emails were in English instead of Chinese.

As he and Feng read the harsh emails between the PLA and a former Sigurimi official, Rock saw a mention of gold ingots which the Albanians took, being surprised since he saw the term "Ali Dragua" which he heard back at Ronnie the Jaws' place. With that information, Rock told Feng he was going to leave to connect the dots, adding to her that he would enjoy playing with her life.[69] At the Yellow Flag, Rock asked Bao for a glass of Edradour. As Bao poured the drink, he asked Rock if he should even be at the bar since Revy was detained by the Roanapur City Police. Rock sipped his drink and asked Bao if he recently heard anything about the Italians, with Bao noting that his question was quite forward. Rock asked if it was the money, but Bao said it was the risk since the Italians were on edge.

Rock asked if their trouble was with the Albanians, to which Bao wondered why Rock came to him if he already knew the information. He explained to Bao that he did not know why the feud was ongoing, adding that Bao knew him enough that he would pay him well for the information. Bao explained that the Italians offered to launder the newcomer Albanian Mafia's gold as a gesture of goodwill, but the "washing machine" to launder the gold bullion somehow crashed and got lost, freaking out the Italians. As Rock asked another question about the machine, Eda arrived and wrapped her arm around Rock, flirtatiously saying that it had been a while, with Rico accompanying Eda (both dressed in casual clothing).

Eda asked Rock if he gave up on Revy after she got jailed, but Rock shot her down by saying that he could not taste his alcohol. Eda got a drink from Bao and asked Rock how he would break Revy out, calmly telling Rock that she knew about the Chinese girl that he was sheltering. Rock commended her for her knowledge, telling her that he needed a favor, with Eda asking what he would give in return. Rock explained that he would give her the Lagoon Company's list of recent clients and shipments in the past 4 months in exchange for breaking Revy free from jail within 24 hours and receiving info about any dealings between Cosa Nostra and the Albanian Mafia in the past 6 months.

Eda agreed to his terms, telling Rico to come with her to report to Sister Yolanda first. Rock quickly asked her how he would contact her, but she interrupted to say that she would swing by Jackpot Pigeons, knowing that he was staying there with Feng. The next morning at Jackpot Pigeons, the stripper Lilya told Rock about Rico and Eda's arrival, remarking that there was something off about Eda. Although he agreed, Rock politely warned her not to repeat her sentiment, and Lilya let the two clerics inside.[70] On a table, Rico laid down his documents as Eda explained the Albanian Mafia's history and the Tirana cartel's recent alliance with Ronnie the Jaws. Rico then told Rock and Feng about the identities and history of the four men known as The Quartet, a brother-assassin group of Bren the Black Death's murder business, who were hired to kill Feng.

Rico and Eda apologized to Rock since they could not get any concrete data on the fourth brother, and Eda explained the Sicilians' washing machine run by Zamid Dhiyab for the Albanians. Rock asked where the washing machine was, with Eda telling him that it was not her job and any extra information would cost extra, but told Rock as a friend that the mafia likely used the BTCE, a bank that was globally popular with crime syndicates. Rock then proposed that they use the washing machine money to secure Feng's safety under Cosa Nostra. When Feng explained that she could find the washing machine but could not access it on the offline laptop, Eda and Rico burst into laughter. Rock thought they could just go to another internet café, but Eda and Rico reminded him that their enemies would surveil such places since Feng was spotted at one.

Knowing that the mafias would likely not let him use their electronics, Eda recommended that they go to the Roanapur City Police Station to first get Revy out. Realizing that the place was ideal for accessing the internet, Feng commented that she could securely access the washing machine there as well. Seeing that they could visit the station to access the internet and free Revy, Rock agreed to the new plan to visit the police station.[71] There, Saensak, who was filling in as leader while Chief Watsap was away, told Rock to go away. Rock offered some money as a bribe, but Saensak turned it down at first since an inspector from the police commission was in the city, and he did not want any trouble or he would have to answer to Watsap.

Albeit annoyed by Rock's request and Feng's attitude, Saensak allowed the two to access the data room but warned Rock that he would end up in an unfortunate accident if he tried anything funny. Rock also wanted to visit Revy, but Saensak said that they could only do one thing at a time. Feng began to access Zamid's company, but she saw that Zamid used a different bank, which Rock claimed was a special purpose entity. Rock then ordered Feng to transfer the funds to another account and then retrieve the books, remittance records, and bearer shares.[72] At that moment, Park Seung began attacking the police station, with Rock and Feng hearing the gunfire.

Hearing from Park Seung that he wanted Feng, Saensak angrily ran to the data room and demanded that Rock give her up, but Rock replied that the attacker was not their friend. Saensak pulled out his revolver and pointed it at Rock, but the latter dissuaded him by saying that the police commission would find out that the former let them in the data room without proper authorization, which would ruin Saensak's life. Rock also reminded him that he had an expert gunslinger (Revy) in lockup. Feng stayed in the data room to continue her work while Rock accompanied Saensak to lockup, where the latter man freed Revy from her cell, and Revy immediately killed Rob in angered relief to Rock's surprise.[73]

As Revy began fighting Park Seung, Rock returned to the data room, where Feng finished burning the data and money records onto a CD. Although completing her end of the deal, Feng asked if Revy would be okay, and Rock confidently responded that Revy would be fine.[74] After Revy and the police killed Park Seung in a hail of bullets, Rock and Feng walked out of the hallway, where they saw pieces of Park Seung's body all over the area. Rock asked Revy if she was all right, which she confirmed, and Feng asked Rock what to do next. Rock told them they needed to go to Ronnie's bistro to secure Feng's safety. As they exited the police station, Revy reminded Rock that Montero was still around, but he assured her that he already made arrangements.

As Montero prepared his sniper rifle on a nearby rooftop, Rock looked right into his rifle's crosshairs and calmly made a finger gun gesture, shocking Montero, who was killed seconds later by Eda hitting him off the roof with a baseball bat. Subsequently, after taking a car, Rock, Feng and Revy entered Ronnie's joint, where the annoyed Ronnie wondered why they had his money. Rock explained that he wanted to talk business, but Ronnie replied that he made the decisions. Feng then interrupted to defend Rock and mentioned that Cosa Nostra would lose face without their help.

Ronnie threatened to torture them all, but Rock said that Feng could take care of the launderer, getting Ronnie's attention.[75] Rock informed Ronnie that Feng took over Zamid's system and was able to continue his washing machine for Cosa Nostra. Ronnie replied what Rock wanted in return since it was quite a big favor, and Rock told him that Cosa Nostra needed to protect Xinlin from the Chinese PLA, shocking the Cosa Nostra henchmen. Ronnie was unconcerned of their shock and agreed to Rock's deal but said he needed something else to scare off the Chinese. Rock then told him he had a document exposing covert operations between the Albanians and Chinese attacking European businesses.

Black Lagoon v11c100

Ronnie accepted their terms and told Feng that she was now under his protection, and Revy told Rock that she needed to hurry to Rowan's place as a favor for the business hiding Feng previously. In the dressing room at Jackpot Pigeons, Rock was surprised to see Revy in a dominatrix outfit, and Revy told Rock to find her some clothes before her performance ended since her clothes went missing for some reason. As Revy tied restraints on her submissive performer Emushira, Revy asked Rock where they would get the money to buy a new car for Benny since money did not grow on trees. Rock said he would get a new car at Meotehap Kai Auto, with Revy remarking that he should have asked Ronnie for car money.[76]

After Revy left to practice and begin her performance, Feng told Rock that she took the heat off her and put it onto Jane, surprising Rock since she might still be implicated. Feng assured him that she only tipped off Reinbach A.G. and not Scotland Yard, and she kissed Rock before leaving the dressing room.[77] Rock remained in the dressing room, where Revy came in to ask him where Feng was, confusing him. Revy then figured that she was sitting in the audience, so she left, with Rock still confused. He figured out seconds later that Revy's clothes disappeared because the fourth brother took them, running out to the stage area upon realizing that the Revy who he talked to was the assassin.

As he ran out, Revy already had her pistol prepared onstage and shot the Revy-disguised assassin dead, scaring the customers out of the building. Rock and Feng saw the brother's dead body on the ground as Revy angrily remarked that the assassin ruined her clothes. When Benny returned to Roanapur after an argument with Jane, he went to Rock's place and played another game of darts with him. Benny told Rock about the fight as well as learning that Feng had a role in his Pontiac GTO's destruction. Remarking that it was the worst week for him, Benny nonchalantly told Rock that Feng was a curse on him and asked Rock why he helped her given his previous comment about no longer wanting to help people. Rock replied that Feng told him he should enjoy himself, and Benny and Rock joked back and forth until deciding to go together to the market so that Rock could get something for Revy.[78]

L'homme sombre[]

As Rock ate some food with his comrades, Revy told him, Dutch and Benny that Mister Chang told her to inform them of the recent murders of Black men in Roanapur, specifically Black men of big and tall stature. Rock asked her what she knew about the murderers, and she replied that she did not know much except the murderers mentioned a date, with Rock asking her what the date was. When Revy mentioned the specific date of September 18, 1989, Dutch's eyebrows raised but kept his surprise hidden, and he left the building after telling Revy that he would be on guard.[79] After doing some research, Rock talked to Benny and told him to look at the former's computer, showing that several warehouse deals for their company were recently canceled. Benny wondered if Dutch was responsible and stated that it was weird. Rock agreed and remarked that it did not make sense because the contracts were not up for renewal, and Revy popped in to ask what they were discussing.

Rock then asked Revy if she knew about Dutch's recent cancellations, which she denied. Realizing that Dutch had not told anyone, Rock then showed both pirates the inventory of their warehouses, pointing out items that he did not recognize as Dutch's personal items, which were firearms purchased from the Rip-Off Church, another company and from overseas.[80] Unconcerned with the purchases, Revy responded that they should not peek into Dutch's business unless they were in danger. Rock agreed and added that he wanted to be absolutely certain first that he and the others were not in harm's way. Taking Benny's car, Rock drove to Mister Chang's office with Revy accompanying him. In the car, the slightly annoyed Revy asked Rock why he was acting like a detective and savior, but Rock rejected her comparison and said that his motivations were different. Revy iterated that Dutch's problems were his alone, making Rock ask if she was okay with losing what she had in Roanapur.

Adamant, Revy answered that their job meant that they went where the tide took them, with Rock responding that the tide brought him to Roanapur. Continuing to smoke her cigarette, Revy stated that getting attached to a place created weakness, which made one vulnerable and clouded their judgment, elaborating that at any time they could have to go into hiding for various reasons. In agreement, Rock confirmed that he would not get attached to Roanapur but added that he felt discomforted in doing nothing and watching it all fall apart. Very soon, the two arrived at the Hot River Film Company building and spoke with Mister Chang.

Inside his office, Chang confirmed that Balalaika recently lost another man and the Hong Kong Triad lost all its Black men in Roanapur. He then wondered why Rock came to see him, and Rock stated that Dutch had to be one of the next targets of the assassins. Although reluctant, Chang directed them to the hospital where Jinx, a Black man under Hotel Moscow who survived an attack, was staying. Before Rock and Revy left, Chang used his phone and told them that he would call up some protection for them due to the lack of knowledge on the attackers.[81] At the hospital, the bedridden Jinx asked the two pirates if they were there to make fun of him, but Rock assured him that Mister Chang sent them to learn of the details of the night that the attack occurred.

Accordingly, Jinx recalled that the night he was attacked, he was playing a card game with others when five women in black suits busted into their office and pointed guns at everyone and asked him if he was La Mouche and also asked if he knew anything regarding the date September 18, 1989 in Burkina Faso. The women shot Jinx in the knee when he did not immediately answer their question and then asked more questions about African names. When Jinx could not answer that question either, the women shot everyone in the room dead except for Jinx, causing him to plea repeatedly to be spared from death. After the women discussed the topic among themselves, one of the women pointed her gun at him but did not shoot since Hotel Moscow showed up and drove off the assassins.

Curious, Revy wondered what the term "La Mouche" meant, with Rock informing her that it was French for "the fly." He thanked Jinx for the recollection and hoped that he would get better, but Jinx said that he wanted payback, not hope. At a restaurant, Revy and Rock met up with Shenhua, whom Chang sent as their protection. The Taiwanese assassin asked Rock if he would also pay for her meals as well as paying 1.3 times the pay that Chang ordered, and Rock happily confirmed that he would. Revy informed Shenhua about the eight killings of Black men in Roanapur, to which Shenhua replied that she only needed them lured out and she could finish them off. She asked Rock about the assassins' appearance and plans, and Rock stated that they needed to capture at least one of the five assassins to find out their orders. Revy remarked that his request was a difficult one, whereas Shenhua had no problem.

Rock said to both women that he was confident that they could complete the task, and Shenhua asked who the assassins would target next. Rock thought that either François Modibo or Duke Moses were the next targets, and he deduced that Modibo would be next since Duke's place was already hit and had security tightened. Subsequently, Rock and Revy headed to the antiques shop where Modibo worked at, and Rock and Shenhua stood by as Revy greeted and informed Isaac about the situation. Modibo came from the back and confirmed that he was not sure why the assassins were killing Black men, so Revy asked Rock where they should head next.[8]

As they prepared to leave, four of the five female killers walked into the store, surprising Rock. When L'annulaire directed Le Majeur to Modibo, Majeur told the three to mind their business, but Revy smiled and encouraged Majeur to try and attack. As the enemies pulled out their guns, Modibo, Revy and Shenhua pulled out their respective weapons and began the gunfight, so Rock and Isaac jumped behind the counter to avoid the bullets. As the fighting continued and the enemy began to flee, L'auriculaire shot Majeur in the left eye, incapacitating her. After the assassins fled in a car, Rock exited his cover while Shenhua noted that Majeur was still alive and carried the unconscious woman.[82]

Bringing Majeur to the Lagoon Company dry dock, the three had her tied up to a chair on the second floor. Revy asked Rock if they needed to bring her to Doctor Hartland first to treat her eye, but he responded that she still had several questions to answer. Upon waking up, Majeur's expression turned resentful, and Rock sat down and asked her what was the significance concerning the date and names that she mentioned to others. As she refused to cooperate, Rock lighted a cigarette for himself and reminded Majeur that she was a hostage and that they could be friends in order to clean up her mess. Angered, Majeur replied that the Réseau would not stop chasing down La Mouche and would not forget about Antsirabe. Upon hearing those terms, Rock told Revy that he had to go out for a bit, advising her to be gentle with Majeur.

At an outdoor dining place, Rock met up with Feng Yifei to request her search on the terms and date he relayed to her. Happy to see Rock, Feng showed him some newspapers associated with the date September 18, 1989 and with the names that Rock mentioned. She then told Rock that an attempted coup d'état by Henri Zongo and Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani took place against the Burkinabè government, and she discovered that remnants of Thomas Sankara's anti-French group who planned it survived and fled. Rock thanked her and told her that he hoped that she had been faring well, to which she responded that Ronnie was actually an organized and understanding boss. Feng gently kissed Rock on the forehead before he left, adding that she also hoped he was doing well.[83]

Returning to the dry dock, Rock saw that Revy was able to persuade Majeur to crack. Biting into a hamburger, the Frenchwoman introduced herself and admitted that she worked for France's Service d'Action Civique. She explained to Rock and Revy that the group was a French militia meant to expand the French-Africa ideology, and the militia had a unit called Les Cinq Doigts (French for "the five fingers") to which she belonged. Rock asked her why her group hunted down Black men, and Majeur replied that they were after "La Mouche," a tall man who was a former lieutenant colonel in the Burkinabè Army responsible for procuring and managing funds for the Antisrabe connection. Trying to piece the intel together, Rock in turn informed Revy and Shenhua that La Mouche was connected to a failed coup in Burkina Faso whose survivors were trying to reestablish themselves. Because of this possibility, SAC wanted to eliminate the remaining survivors.

Rock thanked Majeur for her information and promised to take her to Doctor Hartland to treat her eye. On the way there, Rock drove them and told Majeur her 3 choices that she would have assuming that La Mouche was Dutch: Majeur could return to her comrades and tell them La Mouche's location in order to trap the women and then run away; she could return to them and tell them about the danger they were in but be hunted by Roanapur's crime syndicates; or she could disappear from town but needed to tell Rock where her group's safehouse was. Majeur decided to go with Rock's first choice, so Rock dropped her off at the doctor and drove to the docks with Revy and Shenhua accompanying him.

Benny was near the Black Lagoon and asked Rock how his search was going. Rock in turn asked him where Dutch was, with the captain appearing to tell Rock to mind his own business. Rock responded that he was investigating the murderers on behalf of the Council and then asked Dutch if he knew the name "La Mouche," but Dutch hesitated and then sarcastically said that it was his mother's name. Seeing that Dutch was annoyed, Rock replied that he merely wanted to stop the violence for their sake as well as Roanapur's sake, adding that Dutch did not need to confess anything about his past. When Rock said that he had a plan, Dutch smiled and asked Rock what his plan was to stop the murderers.

After relaying his plan to Dutch, Rock drove Revy and Shenhua again, with the former woman asking Rock what he found out about Dutch. Smiling, he asked Revy if she was curious, but Revy calmly stated that the info could come in handy some time. With Rock remarking that his job was to end the violence, the ticked off Revy told Rock that her job was to prevent him from doing something reckless. At the Bougainvillea Trade Company office, Rock visited Balalaika to tell her about his plan to use Dutch as bait to lure the Frenchwomen into the open so that the Vysotniki could kill them. Balalaika was skeptical at first, but Rock assured her that Le Majeur would fulfill her end of the plan to convince the women to spring the trap. Boris stood by, and Balalaika agreed to mobilize the Vysotniki and would let the Council know that she authorized his plan.[84]

Three nights later outside a nightclub, Rock sat in Benny's car with Revy and Shenhua, and Revy was skeptical of the plan since they could have just went to the hideout and killed the Frenchwomen there. Rock told her that they needed a secured hunting ground to ensure the women's deaths, prompting Revy to say that she liked his thinking. Once they saw that the Frenchwomen arrived, the three continued to wait in the car. Once the ambush began and the customers fled the nightclub, Rock reminded Revy and Shenhua to help Le Majeur escape alive, and he waited in the car as the two women left.[85]

In the end, Rock's plan succeeded and Balalaika's Vysotniki, Shenhua and Revy managed to kill all four Frenchwomen without endangering Dutch or Majeur. The following night, Mister Chang hosted a Council meeting between himself, Balalaika, and Ronnie the Jaws to decide Le Majeur's fate for her role in the murders with Rock and Revy in attendance. Chang told the attendees about the information that Rock relayed to him regarding Majeur's betrayal. Rock himself said to Ronnie during the meeting that Majeur could be a valuable asset, with Chang agreeing but reminding them that Balalaika would be given the final say on her fate since most of the Black men killed were contracted under Hotel Moscow. Balalaika angrily informed Majeur that her French friends killed two Vysotniki and wounded six others. As she discussed the crime lords' points, Rock tried to defend Majeur but Balalalaika immediately shut him down.

The Russian leader then told Majeur that she would allow the latter to live on the condition that Majeur would become property of Hotel Moscow, to which she agreed. Ronnie was skeptical of Le Majeur's loyalty when the latter accepted the offer, but to his dismay, Revy vouched for Majeur and volunteered to take her in, surprising both Rock and Balalaika. With the meeting adjourned, Chang reiterated to everyone that Le Majeur would be under Balalaika's control. As everyone left, Majeur thanked Revy as the latter brushed off her gratitude and told the girl to come with her and Rock.

The next day on the Lagoon Company dry dock's second floor, Dutch was listening to some Marvin Gaye music when Rock entered and joked about the music. Dutch asked Rock what he wanted, and the Japanese man told him that the plan went smoothly, and Dutch remarked that the identity of "La Mouche" would be kept hidden. Rock then smilingly asked if the man in front of him was "La Mouche," but Dutch got up and said he had to leave. While exiting the door, Dutch turned around and told Rock that "La Mouche" would surely thank him if he was there, and he left. At the Roanapur harbor, Majeur was listening to some music when Revy and Rock paid her a visit. As Majeur let Revy listen to her music, Rock remarked that he recognized the song from the 1984 TV series School Wars.

Seeing that Rock recognized the Japanese-language song, Majeur asked him if he was Japanese and stated that she was Japanese too. Rock was surprised since he thought that she was French with Asian ancestry, and Majeur elaborated that she was born in Japan but moved to France later in life for certain reasons. Before she could say her real name, Rock interrupted her and told her that she could keep her real name a secret. Accordingly, the two Japanese people exchanged a smile and reintroduced themselves to each other in Japanese, much to the annoyance of Revy since she only spoke English.[86]

New Girl in the Hood[]

Now under Lagoon Company's watch and forcibly allied to Hotel Moscow, Le Majeur visited Rock in the early morning to ask if Revy was awake. Rock let her inside and the two women talked to each other about how Revy would show the ropes of Roanapur to Majeur. Using Benny's car, Rock first drove them to see Mel, a forger who agreed to forge a fake passport and counterfeit firearm permit for Majeur. After they finished, Revy told Majeur to put her documents in her "escape bag," a term that confused Rock. When he admitted that he never thought about making an escape bag to leave Roanapur, Revy berated him for his lack of foresight, saying that being prepared to flee when things turned sour was a basic survival skill.

Driving to Doctor Hartland's business, Rock promised Revy that he would make an escape bag when he returned to his place, with Revy replying that he had better done so. After accompanying the two women as Majeur checked up with Hartland, he drove them to Praiyachat's place, where Revy and Praiyachat thought about the best weapon to fit Majeur. Once Majeur agreed on a Mitchell Arms .45 ACP pistol, Rock waited outside while the two women used Praiyachat's gun range to test out Majeur's new weapon. After finishing their practice and conversation, Revy and Majeur returned to the car and Rock drove them to the Roanapur Wharf to the Lagoon Company dock house, wondering how Dutch would react to meeting Majeur.[87]

After Majeur briefly met Dutch, Rock boarded the Black Lagoon with her and the rest of the crew. Off the coast of Roanapur, he stood on deck with his usual business outfit while Majeur disrobed to prepare for her swimming test. Rock complimented Majeur's large back tattoo and recognized it as being inspired by the kabuki play Aoto Zōshi Hana no Nishikie. Once Majeur dived into the sea to swim to the Buddha statue and back, Rock sat in the Zodiac raft tied to the PT boat with Revy, and Rock wondered what was Revy's reasoning for taking Majeur under her wing. She reasoned that it was smart to not make enemies in Roanapur and one should take care of their friends to a certain degree, interesting Rock. He replied that he relied on her and hoped that she relied on him to an extent, to which she calmly agreed that she trusted him. After Majeur swam back and completed the test, Rock drove the two women as Revy in the passenger seat told Majeur that she passed Dutch's test, relieving her.

Claiming that there was a pickup job the next week, Revy also remarked that business was sporadic and they might have to offer jobs instead of accepting them. On the way to their next location, Revy asked Majeur about the boombox that she was carrying with her, and the former assassin stated that she made a mixtape since she figured that they would get tired of the car's radio. Upon Majeur happily playing the tape, Rock recognized the song as a theme song for a drama series by Omega Tribe, and he and Majeur happily sang along to Revy's annoyance. Majeur asked Revy about her distaste for the song, and she answered with a grimace that the words were in Japanese and she could not understand a word. Wanting to cheer her up, Majeur asked Revy to listen to the next song and played it. Revy recognized the song as "Easy" by the Commodores, and she began to happily sing along with Rock and Majeur, creating a joyful atmosphere.

Soon thereafter, the three arrived at the Yellow Flag and greeted Bao, with Rock ordering a Macallan 12. Rock himself drank his glass while Bao confirmed to Majeur that he could use a bouncer in the bar. As they continued talking with one another, Eda entered the bar and tried to provoke a fight with Majeur until Revy interfered to say that the two women should settle their anger over drinks. Once Revy and Bao arranged the alcohol and began the drinking contest, Bao turned to the nervous Rock and informed him that he would have to look after the women if they fainted, and he awkwardly agreed.[88]

Where the Chips Fall[]

The next morning at the Lagoon Company office after Le Majeur and Eda's drinking contest, Rock waited around as Majeur was recovering from a hangover. He smiled as Revy prodded Majeur to get ready for the opening night ceremony of Balalaika's new casino on Yatchalaya Street. Per Balalaika's dress code, Rock donned a dark suit and vest, though he still wore his business shirt and necktie underneath. Attending the luxurious event at night with Revy accompanying him, she and Rock soon found Majeur fulfilling her new job as a bouncer and server for the casino. Thre three walked together and stumbled across Balalaika and Mister Chang, who greeted Rock and asked him how he was doing. Relaxed, Rock answered that he had merely done his usual routine of shipping jobs, making Chang sternly ask if he was still playing gambling games. Balalaika interrupted them to encourage them to play whatever games they wanted, so Rock and Chang went to a roulette table.

There, both men started off with small bets, with the pill landing in Chang's favor. Rock replied that the beginning was not where the true action was, adding that the casino would certainly be profitable for Hotel Moscow. He reminded the Triad leader that the business could attract international attention that Roanapur did not need, but Chang responded that the mafias needed to move away from shady dealings. Sharing his seriousness, Rock declared that people enjoyed the daylight. As the croupier asked them to place their next bets, Chang stated that it might be a good or bad thing that Rock was continuing to take an interest in Roanapur. Additionally, he rhetorically asked Rock if he had resolve since he was confident in his own convictions. As the pill spinned on the roulette wheel, Rock clasped his wrists and recalled how he once had a client (Feng) who deduced that he was in his new life to see people's fates play out. Moreover, he disagreed with Chang about being the city's judge, specifying that with his own help, he could possibly go somewhere beyond people's fates. Advising him not to get arrogant, Chang proclaimed that such a place is God's domain, though Rock in turn claimed that the domain in question was the good outcome itself. Trying to change the framing, Chang warned that changing someone's fate could result in the person being swallowed up by the same fate and become part of their lives.

Lighting his own cigarette, Rock explained that his own bets were more cautious than that, summing up that one could only change people's fates in a good way by getting up close and personal. Chang joked that Rock seemed to fancy himself the troubleshooter of Roanapur, but the latter nonchalantly declared that he truly liked Roanapur. Elaborating, he reminded the Triad leader that their city had exiles, scumbags, the abandoned, and other misfits, proclaiming that his own guidance could save people who shared his own history of being cast aside and could even save Roanapur itself. Still in disagreement, Chang coldly replied that Rock's analysis was a sentimental lie, sternly saying that the bloodshed that both of them had seen would absolutely result in a path to hell. As the room filled with their mutual cigarette smoke, Rock rebuffed his answer and stated that they still had a chance of receiving a different ending. Chang explicated that his answer was based on the laws of nature rather than virtue.

The ex-salaryman calmly retorted that they would only truly know at the end of their lives, betting more chips and telling Chang that he would continue extending his hand to others. Agreeing with Chang's next analysis, Rock answered that he would have a good view from the hilltop of the far side of good and evil. Chang then asserted that he believed in predestination and once more warned Rock that his desire for changing fates was in vain. Putting up all his chips on one gamble, Rock confirmed his bet, genuinely surprising the Triad leader enough to make him grin. Blowing out cigarette smoke, Rock claimed that his straightforward bet was his way of seeing the beyond. Chang commented that he also had Rock's going-for-broke mindset in his own youth, but the sangfroid Rock announced that going for broke would allow them to see beyond their world and truly allow himself to get satisfaction. Rolling into four black, the pill favored Rock, giving him a 35-to-1 payout, impressing Chang enough to call it devil's luck. Thinking that Rock's analysis might have some ground after all, Chang told Rock that he would remove the latter's obstacles as an offer if he could accomplish showing the "beyond" to him.[89]

Light novel history[]

Shaitane Badi[]

Untitled

Rock and Stan

In the first official light novel Shaitane Badi, the Lagoon Company had to ditch a job since their client got caught in a sting operation, but in Indonesia they got a job from a redheaded woman named Jane. Although suspicious about the details surrounding the job, Dutch agreed to the job and the high pay offered. On the Black Lagoon, Jane had an assault team go on the ship (without her) to use as stealth transportation to attack an oil tanker called the Zaltzman. As the mercenaries embarked the PT boat, Rock felt that the job was one of the worst that he had taken. On deck, Rock politely informed Stan that Dutch wanted to speak with him to review their plan. Confirming he would come, Stan was escorted by Rock into the bridge, where Rock silently signaled to Dutch and Benny that Stan had finished injecting some heroin into his arm. Subsequently, Rock awkwardly stood by as Dutch recapped the plan, and immediately afterward Dutch ordered Rock to go into the hold to fetch their guests.

When Revy became irritated with Caroline Morgan and Jake and then got into a standoff with the latter, Rock shyly interrupted to inform them that they were almost at their destination. As the mercenaries left, Rock picked up Jake's business card that he nervously showed to Revy. When Rock offered Revy a cigarette and commented that he thought that she was going to escalate the situation, Revy replied that she did not want to kill Jake in a place where she would have to clean up the mess, predicting that she would certainly kill him later. Just before carrying out the plan after the mercenaries had left on the Zodiac boats, Dutch remembered seeing a ninja among them and asked Rock if there were many ninja back in Japan. Joking, Rock answered that ninja would better be found in the U.S., particularly the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Just then, Benny noticed a blip on his radar detector, so Rock grabbed his binoculars and ran onto deck, seeing that a helicopter had arrived and landed on the ship. Walking to the bow to help Revy, Rock Rock used a megaphone to nervously threaten the tanker crew to stop or they would face Revy's fury with her RPG. Hearing the ship's loudspeaker turn on, Rock and her fellow sailors were shocked to hear Mister Chang's voice. The Triad leader told them that they probably had no idea about the owner of the ship, giving Rock and the others a chance to stop aiding the mercenaries. As Rock went out to deck to arm the torpedoes while Revy boarded the tanker to help Chang, Shadow Falcon tried to attack Dutch, and Rock heard the commotion, prompting him to try and enter the bridge. As he asked about the situation, he was pushed over by the ninja. Falcon then hid somewhere on deck after he had sabotaged the boat's steering controls.

Rock was baffled if the attacker was actually a ninja, and his inquiry halted when Falcon jumped into the ocean while Dutch tossed grenades at the enemy, creating a large explosion. The ex-salaryman shined his flashlight onto the area where the ninja jumped into the water, only seeing a tattered black rag and a crimson blood color. In the distance, Rock and the others noticed another boat sailing near the tanker, seeing that Rock's guess about the enemy having a backup getaway plan was correct. He asked Dutch if the anti-material rifle would work, but Dutch answered that only Revy could make the shot at such a distance and in the pitch-black night. On the tanker, Revy managed to team up with Chang and four of the surviving assassins fled.[90]

Afterward, Chang embarked the Black Lagoon and told Rock and the Lagoon pirates that they could make up for their abetment and his four dead subordinates by finding and killing the mercenaries since he knew that they would still try to assassinate him in Roanapur. Rock spoke about how the assassins were likely not from Roanapur, but Chang replied that they would have to wait and see. As Revy expressed her glee to find and kill the assassins, Benny interrupted to report that he had a clue, which was a faint picture of the getaway boat. Seeing the boat's Cyrillic name, Rock tried to read it and stated that it was "Нефрит," the Russian word for jade. Unknown to Rock and the others, Chang had recognized the name as a boat belonging to Balalaika's Bougainvillea Trade Company. The next day upon returning to Roanapur, Rock contributed his part to the search by going around town to ask for information with Revy accompanying him.[6]

Later at the Lagoon Company office after his unsuccessful search, Rock had pizza for dinner with his fellow pirates. Suddenly remembering that he had a clue, Rock pulled out Jake's business card from his clothes, seeing the URL and recommending that Benny should go to the website. Curiously leaning over Benny's shoulder as he used his computer, the sailors saw that it was a blog where Jake also advertised firearms. Seeing a shot person in one of the pictures, Rock wondered how Jake took the photograph, and Revy recognized the perspective and told Rock that it was the perspective of Jake's gun barrel. Also recognizing a photoshopped picture of herself and an accompanying blog post taunting her, Revy became enraged and shot the computer monitor with one bullet, terrifying Rock. As Revy partially calmed down and grinningly thought of an idea, Chang called the office to order the Lagoon Company, Revy in particular, to attack Jake's hideout in the city.[91]

The next day after Revy only killed two of the five assassins, Rock returned to the Lagoon Company office and saw Revy working with Benny, who had hacked into Jake's website. Benny told the curious Rock that Revy agreed to pay for his new computer monitor, and she was making a duplicate plastic replica of Jake's pistol. At that point, Rowan called the office, so Rock picked up the phone. He happily greeted the ex-salaryman and requested to speak with Revy about her upcoming S&M show at Jackpot Pigeons, so Rock used the phone's speaker setting. After conversing with Rowan about her particular needs, Rock was confused that she wanted to do a show since she had refused Rowan's previous begging. Revy deviously smiled that she had a plan and change of heart, recommending that Rock come to her show, surprising him.

Later that night, Rock went to a warehouse to move some stuff there. As he exited the warehouse and tried to ignore his intrusive thoughts of fantasizing about Revy's S&M performance, he realized that he lost his keys when he wanted to lock up the warehouse. At that moment, he then realized that the warehouse was already open when he arrived, making him realize something was wrong. Immediately, Rock looked behind and saw the tall ninja from before dressed in all-black clothing. He screamed but was interrupted by Shadow Falcon reciting a ninja chant to hypnotize Rock, knocking him unconscious. Waking up later in a motel room, saw Falcon repeating a chant next to a candle, the only source of light in the room. As he stared at Falcon and gathered his thoughts, he saw the ninja finishing stirring a bowl to make tea, respectfully presenting the tea to Rock, who hesitated but drank the cup. Becoming more awake from the tea's delicious taste, Rock asked the ninja who he was, and he replied that he was merely a shadow but people called him Shadow Falcon.

Remaining friendly but impatient since he wanted to return home, Rock tried asking Falcon about his ninja life, and Falcon showed him a ninja booklet that he used to become a full-fledged ninja. Rock then asked about the OMC logo on the book, and Falcon replied that he discovered the Oriental Mystic Collections' products through a kung fu magazine, making Rock realize that Falcon got scammed. Nonetheless, Rock noticed Falcon's well-toned body but was off-put by the ridiculousness of the pages in the booklet, which showed cheesy ninja moves and techniques. Rock then asked Falcon why he became a ninja, and Falcon replied that he wanted to stop being bullied at school and realized during his initial training that the heart was the primary force in fight before the sword, not vice versa. Upon seeing Falcon's dull duralumin sword, Rock asked him if he was going to cut down Mister Chang, to which Falcon remarked that he had to use the ninja skill of genwaku no jutsu (disguise) to sneak inside Chang's hideout. Falcon in turn asked Rock what his name was, and Rock replied with his full name. Raising his hand, Falcon told the Japanese man that he would disguise himself as Rock, promising that he would not tarnish Rock's reputation. An hour later after donning makeup and changing clothes, Falcon finished his disguise and looked into the mirror, admiring his look while Rock was shocked at the horribly obvious nature of the disguise.[92]

A day after the enemies' plan to assassinate Chang was crushed, the Lagoon Company did one last job for Chang to raid another ship, knowing that they could not refuse Chang's job. On the way to the ship, Rock recalled the strange appearances of the mercenaries, but Revy angrily teased him in turn since he always wore his necktie and business shirt. Once Benny informed them that the ship was near, Rock and Revy went on deck, with Rock doing his usual, calm threat routine with the megaphone. As Dutch sped up the boat to get closer to the enemy hull, Benny warned about another ship approaching them from starboard. Looking at the large torpedo boat with a cannon onboard, Rock and Revy shared surprise at seeing Catherine Morgan, who was dressed in stereotypical pirate clothing and accused the Lagoon Company of killing her sister Caroline. Annoyed, Revy denied the allegation since Jake had killed the woman. Rock was in bafflement, but Revy prepared to fight and giddily assured Rock that he would not have to pay for her usage of an RPG, and she aimed the firearm at the ship's bridge.[93]

Ballad of the Sinful Wizard[]

In the second official light novel Ballad of the Sinful Wizard, Rock was drinking with Revy at the Yellow Flag and saw the American Tricia O'Sullivan. Thinking that he recognized her as the daughter of the O'Sullivan Corporation's CEO, Rock tried to ask her if she was all right. When he clarified that he meant no harm and that he thought he recognized her, Tricia gave him a glare despite his offer of help. Seeing two Budaibang gangsters walking toward him, Rock walked away and continued drinking with Revy. At that point, the two gangsters hassled Tricia and were interrupted by Lotton, who escalated the encounter by threatening to fight them. The two men began to shoot recklessly as a result of the feathers flying from Lotton's pillow, prompting Revy to shoot and kill them both with one bullet each. Immediately after, Tricia had thought that Lotton killed the men and followed him for safety.[94]

Soon, Sawyer the Cleaner arrived to clean up the corpses per Bao's request. Revy relayed to her that she was the one who shot the two men, not Lotton, and the feathers all over the place were from the pillow that Lotton had carried. When Rock asked Sawyer if she knew where Lotton went, she shook her head and pretended to be occupied in filling up her body bag. Worried, Rock informed Revy about Tricia's disappearance, and the two left the bar.[95] At the Lagoon Company office, Mister Chang paid the Lagoon Company a visit. Whereas Benny and Revy minded their business, Rock intently listened to Chang explain to him and Dutch the background of Budaibang's founding and their desire to get the American Tricia to marry the leader's grandson. The Triad then elaborated that he had a spy inside Budaibang who found out that Budaibang discovered Tricia's recent presence in Roanapur via a tip from a U.S. government agency, most likely the NSA. Recapping Tricia's journey to Roanapur and the threatening letter sent to the O'Sullivan family, Chang also reminded everyone of the NSA's recent clash in Roanapur with Roberta of the Lovelace Family, adding that he talked to a CIA agent who used the Rip-Off Church as a mediator and told him to aid the NSA.

Lagoon company novel illustration

When Rock tried to clarify that the Rip-Off Church only acted as mediator between Lagoon Company and the NSA to help Grey Fox, Chang interrupted him by advising him not to underestimate Sister Yolanda. Deducing that the NSA would not simply let go of their grudge against the CIA with the assumption that they led them into Roberta killing several Grey Fox soldiers, Chang surmised that the U.S. would not want two agencies under the same bald eagle fighting with each other. Curious, he then asked Rock and Dutch what they thought of the CIA using Roanapur for their plans. As Rock became more curious, Dutch interrupted him since he saw his expression that he got every time that he had a wild idea. As soon as Chang left, Revy stopped Rock from saying another word, grumpily commenting that they should not stick their heads where they did not belong. Pointing his finger at Dutch, Rock claimed that the predicament should have concerned Dutch too since the CIA could eventually gain control over Roanapur, but Dutch replied that Rock's job was not worrying about Roanapur's future, which is decided by the Council's concern.

Still adamant, Rock responded that Chang told them all the info in the first place because he knew that the Lagoon Company could act as a neutral party like they were during the Lovelace affair. Despite knowing about Rock's sadness after that arc, Dutch agreed to go with whatever plan that Rock concocted also due to Rock knowing Tricia's face. Subsequently, Rock and Revy left together when Dutch recommended that Lotton should have been their first clue.[96] Later that evening, he and Revy came across Shenhua and Sawyer, both of whom were also looking for Lotton. The two women agreed to team up with Revy once she clarified that their search was on Chang's behalf, so Rock hesitantly followed them to Sankan Palace Hotel. At the front desk, Rock was able to make the clerk tell them in which room Lotton was once he mentioned Chang's name. On the 6th floor, Rock waited as Shenhua and Revy suddenly clashed with several Budaibang gangsters, and Rock followed Revy when she escaped to let Shenhua deal with those men.[97]

On the hotel's 7th floor, Rock again stood on the sidelines as Revy quickly saved the cornered Lotton's life. Although Revy stepped in the pools of blood, Rock was careful to avoid stepping in them. Recognizing Rock from the bar, Tricia called for him, making the relieved Lotton comment that he did not need to introduce them to each other. As Lotton narrated poetically once more, Rock told him that Shenhua was on the sixth floor and was not far behind them, asking Lotton what he would do next while the former made an escape plan. Thinking, Lotton had no thoughts and merely answered to Rock that his escape plan was good advice, and the four of them took the emergency stairs and fled Sankan Palace Hotel.[98] That night at the dry dock, Lotton was still contemplating on the roof, so Rock came up there and greeted the Wizard in a friendly manner. Rock told the Wizard that Tricia had fallen in love with him, to which Lotton replied that he could not blame Tricia for liking him.

Breaking Lotton's continued silence, Rock asked if he planned on killing Tricia, making Lotton sarcastically ask if the Japanese man thought he was a cruel man. Confused, Rock asked why Lotton had gone through all the trouble to help Tricia. Thinking hard, Lotton responded that his past life was full of sin and he thought that he could have a clean slate in Roanapur, adding that fate still chased him and now he wanted to seek atonement and thought Tricia was the key. With Rock asking him again if he still wanted to protect the woman, Lotton asked how he should answer, but Rock responded that he did not make the final decision, but the Lagoon Company could help him if he still intended on protecting Tricia. Pondering, Lotton asked Rock if he did not mind hearing a long story, which Rock had no problem with. Accordingly, Lotton confided all that he had gone through, particularly his phone call at the Rip-Off church confessional, to the ex-salaryman.[99]

Coming down from the ladder, Rock spoke to his fellow pirates about Lotton's full story as well as his conditions for helping them. Stating that Lotton had no idea whom he spoke with on the phone, Rock smiled since he had an idea given that the mysterious caller was possibly a CIA agent. Accordingly, he said to Dutch that they could begin the hunting by luring out the enemy using the prepaid phone. Elaborating that they needed to send someone to Pangkalpinang for a small purchase, Rock then requested Dutch to contact Balalaika for Hotel Moscow's help. Although Dutch mumbled a few words in hesitation, he stopped mid-sentence upon seeing Rock's face, telling Rock that he would do his best to talk to Balalaika soldier-to-soldier.[100] The subsequent morning, Rock used Lotton's newly-acquired phone to call the CIA agent, who unknown to both of them was Eda of the Hooligan Church. Rock threatened to kill Tricia if he did not receive a $50,000 ransom, confusing Eda since she expected a higher price. The nun offered to double his price, making Rock snort. As he upped the price to $300,000 and reminded Eda that she could resell Tricia for a higher price, she guessed that Rock would not be blackmailing her if he knew that the phone originally belonged to a CIA agent. Annoyed, Eda agreed to Rock's terms to get another call at 2 p.m.[101]

Thank's to Dutch's help, Rock managed to get a meeting with Balalaika in her office. After Rock explained that the CIA's presence in Roanapur would be a threat to Hotel Moscow, he added that he wanted Roanapur's denizens to decide their own fates instead of being influenced by foreign control. Although she did not sense any lies, Balalaika questioned if he was just doing his "hobby." While Rock squirmed uncomfortably, the Russian woman intimidated Rock by asking him if he enjoyed making people dance to his own script like a ringmaster. She then recalled a short story about how she had dealt with 5 years in her life as a buffoon who once danced to the comedy of the Cold War and clapped for the directors at Red Square, sternly asking Rock if he wanted her to dance to his script like a puppet for his own enjoyment. Despite Rock's tension, he maintained his gaze at her despite his fear. Feigning a smile, Balalaika agreed to accompany Rock whenever he played but would not immediately cooperate, i.e., she might participate in the CIA hunt or she might wait and see. As Rock's expression hardened, she stated that her ambiguity was merely punishment for trying to make her dance for him, telling him that she could turn a gambler like him into a pair of dice.[102]

Leaving Balalaika's office, Rock then called the voice-disguised Eda in the afternoon to confirm that his money was ready, ordering her to deliver the cash to the Marnie Juni Motel two hours later. Unknown to him, Eda planned for a local drug user, Gibert, to kill him at the meeting place, but Balalaika decided that she would use the Vysotniki to protect Rock from any threats on his life. Going to the Yellow Flag due to the stress from his meeting and plan, Rock drank heavily at the counter until the casually-dressed Eda arrived and happily greeted him. Seeing that he was gloomy and heavily drinking, Eda teasingly asked him if he had a hard job, claiming that she finished doing an errand for Praiyachat. As Rock commented that his job's stakes were too much, he noticed the time on his wristwatch and left, arriving on Rachada Street 15 minutes before the deal. A little bit after the scheduled time, Gibert appeared and drew his pistol on Rock and fired. At the same time, one of Balalaika's snipers shot at Gibert just in time, killing the man and only leaving Rock with a graze on his head. Immediately, Rock rushed through Gibert's belongings and found a phone, shocking the frozen Eda nearby.[103]

The next day at the Yellow Flag, Rock drank heavily while Revy sat next to him, surprised that he still had a chill down his spine. Revy offered him a glass of water to calm him. Both in a tired mood, the two then discussed the dead man unlikely being CIA and how Rock's gamble with Balalaika and future gambles would not work so well without Revy's help, harking back to Rock's comment about how he was Revy's bullet. Eda then entered the bar and greeted them, once again attempting to flirt with Rock to Revy's frustration. The off-duty nun offered her own bottle of Trois Riviere to the two, and Rock did not hesitate to drink the free alcohol after his tired mission.[104] At Shenhua's place sometime later, Rock arrived and quietly dropped off the pillow that Lotton had requested, silently surprised that he was gaming with Shadow Falcon of all people.[105]

Gore Gore Girl history[]

Rock is a recurring character in the spinoff manga Dismemberment Galore! The Gore Gore Girl.

Volume 1[]

Sawyer chapter 5

Traveling to a karaoke business, Rock was surprised to see one in Roanapur of all places. Revy asked what the word meant in Japanese (thinking it was "carry okay") and smiled, telling Rock to follow her inside to his hesitancy and saying that they had time to kill until their next job. Inside Rock told Revy that the place was probably not entertainment, but Revy was not dissuaded, remarking that the long hallway felt like a boarding house. Continuing into the halls, Revy explained to Rock that two years ago, the guys who ran the joint disappeared, and afterward the place became popular with Roanapur denizens for its completely soundproof rooms.

Entering room 23, Rock examined the machine and stated that it was an older LD player. Lighting a cigarette and smiling, Revy looked at Rock and reminded him that it was a private room with soundproofing, adding that they could enjoy their time together while they waited, surprising Rock. After Rock turned on the karaoke machine, Revy angrily asked Rock why he was acting scared after traveling all the way to the building, insulting his manhood. Loosening his necktie, the nervous Rock then began to sing to Ann Lewis's song "Roppongi Suicide," with Revy laughing and saying that it was cool. Soon, both Rock and Revy began to sing together to the song "Dancing Queen," but they were interrupted by several men looking for Sawyer the Cleaner and threatening her with death, angering Revy enough to pull out her Cutlasses and kill the men.[106]

Volume 2[]

One night close to dawn as Shenhua and Sawyer ate some food at a table next to several food stalls, they overheard Rock ordering a warm cup of green tea with a bowl of rice and pickled mustard greens. Walking with his tray of food, Rock saw the two women and moved to another table, awkwardly saying hello from afar. Shenhua waved to him, telling him to come to their table and not sit so far away. Subsequently, Rock stood up and brought his food, and Shenhua said he was welcome unless the "slut" was also with him, but he assured her that Revy was asleep. As he poured his tea and gobbled down his bowl of rice, the tattered-shirt Rock talked about how there was a commotion over some cargo that resulted in a shootout. While Shenhua and Sawyer were put off by his stress, the former told Rock that she was astonished at the way Japanese people eat.

In response, Rock replied that Japan was an unusual place, adding that he had a temptation for ochazuke but Revy herself disliked it. As Rock and Shenhua agreed about the noisy night they both had, Lotton came by with his food and was surprised to see everyone, pushing his glasses up and sitting down at a table adjacent to them. Shenhua then listened to Lotton talk about his night as Rock continued to swallow down his meal. As the four ate, they heard gunshots to their surprise, but seconds later as the gunshots continued, they nonchalantly resumed eating. Shenhua herself commented that gunshots are not surprising anyway since it was Roanapur and the noises were merely a neighborhood annoyance. Rico then arrived with his food and noticed everyone, asking them if they were having a party. As Rico told them that there were a lot of people who rushed to the Rip-Off Church that previous night, he saw their confused faces and asked them what was wrong.

Seeing that Rock did not recognize him, Rico told him that he was with the Rip-Off Church, making the embarrassed Rock pretend to finally recognize him. Rico began to sweat nervously as he felt insulted, but Rock assured him that he meant no offense toward the apprentice priest and invited him to sit down with them. In contrast, Shenhua calmly stated that she had never heard of him, surprising Rico. While the priest sat down at a table adjacent to theirs, Rock asked him if he was involved in the shooting that they heard minutes ago, with Rico stating that it was simply a "missionary activity," adding that it was also noisy the night that he worked a lot. While Rock and Shenhua agreed that they were not fond of working overtime and way late at night, Rico replied that he just did his work to get by. As they continued to eat, several armed men arrived at the restaurant, yelling at everyone to give up their money. Rock and the others were unfazed and tiredly paid no concern to them, and so Shenhua convinced Sawyer to deal with the robbers.[107]

The Lagoon Company got a job to deliver cargo of four containers of frozen corpses, so Dutch waited in the dry dock building with Sawyer. When Rock drove the car and arrived outside the dry dock with the scattered containers, Revy angrily called for Dutch, and she yelled at Rock not to throw up. Revy then yelled to Dutch that other groups wanted to steal the corpses' organs, and Dutch himself awkwardly faced away from the window. As Revy continued yelling in anger about the whole ordeal, Rock awkwardly stood by while Dutch muttered that Revy needed to calm down lest she added a corpse to the collection. In the end, Sawyer got the bigger cut of the pay since her role was to do the cleaning.[108]

Volume 3[]

Relaxing at the beach, Revy and Rock salivated as they watched meat cook while Dutch and Benny relaxed on beach chairs. Mentioning that he sold the product to the correct people, Dutch remarked that they had various leftover meat, including the Kobe beef which Revy was excited about. As Rock salivated at the meat, Revy asked him if it was good and not too greasy, but he quickly snapped at her to her surprise. Checking the cooler, Revy finished drinking the beer, telling Rock to buy some more for her. As Rock awkwardly asked if there was truly no more alcohol left, Revy flashed a drunken smile and teased him that he could just leave the meat behind. Hesitating, he ordered Revy to stay put and not eat the Kobe beef or he would be angry with her. As he left, Revy teased him to slave away.

Walking in town, Rock muttered to himself about how he had not relaxed in a long time and now he could not eat the meat yet due to Revy's request. Moving past a car, he heard a splatter noise behind him as he thought about meat. Turning around, he was shocked at the blood splatter on the windshield when Sawyer the Cleaner suddenly grabbed his right arm. As a large, aproned man behind Rock wielded a butcher knife, Sawyer thrusted her chainsaw into his chest, making Rock scream. After the incident, Rock helped Sawyer drag a body through a building and asked her where they were taking it. As Sawyer guided Rock to a backdoor, Rock did not recognize the place, and he was surprised to see a market with varieties of frozen meat behind the door. Going to one stand, two men greeted Sawyer and asked her if she finished "cleaning." The men then noticed Rock dragging the body, and they asked what they should do with the corpse. Consequently, they began to put pieces of the dead man into a meat mincer, greatly disgusting Rock.

Rock then uncomfortably listened to Sawyer's two affiliates discuss how the man that Sawyer killed was a shopkeeper who tried to expose their black market, but they managed to stop him before he could escape. As the men mentioned how they were not sure if the other meats were human meat or authentic Kobe beef, they laughed it off and decided that they could market it as real meat either way, with Sawyer smiling at their proposition. Noticing all the meat around him that was likely human, Rock tried not to listen to the conversation anymore and covered his ears, but he heard them mention that the Yellow Flag cook Nhân, who was cooking the meat at the beach for the Lagoon Company, was a frequent customer of theirs who recently bought meat from them. Sawyer confirmed that Rock is with her, so the black-aproned man put his arm around Rock and said that the warehouse was a secret, causing Rock to laugh nervously.

Opening the large freezer where the meat was stored, Rock saw inside as his eyes widened and his jaw dropped in shock. The black-aproned man asked him if he wanted to buy anything, and Rock only answered that he needed beer. As Revy, Dutch, Benny and Eda ate their burgers, Rock returned and Revy greeted him, showing him the burger and telling him that there was still plenty of Kobe beef left. Biting his lip in anguish, Rock let out a loud scream and vomited, with Revy asking what was wrong and berating him for throwing up in front of everyone.[109]

Sometime later at the Lagoon Company office, Rock entered as Benny greeted him. The latter asked the ex-salaryman if he cleaned up the old pile of clothes in the Black Lagoon, and he confirmed. Rock elaborated that Sawyer took care of it and Benny asked him about the details. Rock then replied that there was an unfamiliar box in the Black Lagoon's hold which meant that someone broke into the boat to place it there, but it was only full of clothes and not explosives like he expected. Sweating, he remarked to Benny that he felt sick. Later, Revy visited the office and sat on the couch. Smoking a cigarette, she asked Rock about the crate, and he confirmed that he dealt with the matter. When Revy informed him that some guy spotted a similar looking box, the surprised Rock asked where, also asking if it was related to the mansion massacre across the street the other day.

Remembering it, Revy clarified that it was a drug house where hitmen killed everyone there since they were business rivals. She then added that one guy left the mansion before the murders and said that he saw a crate full of old clothes. Deducing the story, Rock thought about a killer who snuck in under old clothes and could have possibly been inside the Black Lagoon, but he remembered that he only saw clothes inside the crate. Crushing her cigarette pack, Revy angrily asked him where he was since she declared that it was dangerous to go inside the PT boat without permission, throwing her pack at Rock and telling him to look more carefully.[110]

Volume 4[]

After some hoodlums vandalized some shipping products in one of the Lagoon Company's storehouses, Rock commissioned Sawyer to help him clean off the bloodstains off the various products. Outside the small storehouse, Rock and Sawyer walked toward the door as Rock remarked that her previous aid was helpful. Saying that he would do all the work due to the budget, Rock told Sawyer that he would appreciate her guidance, and she shrugged to smirk. He placed down two buckets and began to unlock the door, commenting that he wanted to make it a work of art that he would bring to the Lagoon Company. He elaborated that he hoped to make it invisible to amateur eyes and hide the trails of blood.

Opening the door to the storehouse, they saw a large upright statue with a pointed head, darkened eye sockets, and a grimacing look, and next to it were a brazen bull and decorative items, and all these had trails of blood on them. As Rock awkwardly stated that it looked amazing, Sawyer inched slowly away from Rock to the side. Rock told her to wait, stating that he did not mean anything by his comment. After recapping what had happened, he finished that he must take responsibility to deliver the item without being found out. Because there was no extra budget, Rock said he must do the cleaning. Accordingly, Sawyer grabbed something below her, confusing Rock, but she smiled and held a cleaning tool. After donning their masks and aprons, Rock began cleaning while Sawyer examined the floor.

Exhausted, Rock commented that it was hard to clean off the blood and make the surface shiny, also saying in disgust that he had no choice but to clean it well without using chemicals. As he continued cleaning, Sawyer looked at the bull device, and Rock saw her curiosity and told her that it was called a Bull of Phalaris. He added that if she opened the hatch and lit a fire inside with corpses, the people's screams would supposedly be converted into a cow noise. Opening the hatch, smoke came out, surprising Rock, and Sawyer closed the hatch and looked back at him. Surprised that there was still a corpse inside, Rock ran to the storehouse door to find it locked from the outside and it would not open. Rock knocked on the door and asked who is outside. As he demanded that they open the door, Sawyer's attention was caught by the bronze bull, and Rock smelt the burning from the bull's smoke.

Trying to assess the situation, Rock thought that friends of the hooligans from before were trying to kill them by locking them inside and having them burn to death, so Rock continued to knock on the door and yelled for help. Seeing that the fire was burning fast, Rock then saw Sawyer climbing the items to try exiting a small window, remarking that he could not fit through but Sawyer possibly could. Walking to her, he told her that he would hoist her with his shoulder. As he got beneath her, he accidentally saw below her skirt, immediately turning away his face. Sawyer turned around with an angry face, stomping her foot onto Rock's right shoulder in response. He apologized and clarified that he did not want to see either and continued attempting but struggling to hold her up. As Sawyer's hands inched closer to the window's bottom, she finally got hold, but several bullets pierced through the window, shocking both her and Rock.

As Sawyer fell onto Rock and on top of him, Revy burst through the door and called for Rock and asked if he was all right. As Sawyer made an awkward face while her skirt covered Rock's face on the ground, Revy briefly stuttered and glared, sarcastically and angrily asking Rock if he was busy. Smiling angrily, Revy clarified that the thugs had been dealt with, telling Rock that he could take his time to enjoy himself. As she left, Sawyer stood still as Rock called for Revy since the fire was still burning, but Revy shut the storehouse door on him and furiously told Rock that he could come out once he was done "cleaning" with Sawyer. As Rock pleaded with her again, the bull of Phalaris made a moo sound, interrupting the awkward atmosphere.[111]

Volume 6[]

Noticing that Revy had not returned from the Yellow Flag, Rock drove around town and saw Feng Yifei walking on the sidewalk. Pulling up to her, he asked her if she saw Revy, to which Feng confirmed that she was just drinking earlier with her, so Rock invited her into the car. As Rock drove, Feng relayed to him how Revy came to her by chance and tried to challenge her to a drinking contest, and during Revy's heavy drinking, she broke Feng's glasses, angering her. Consequently, Feng left the drunk and unconscious Revy on the street as payback, worrying Rock. Arriving at the place where Feng said she dropped her off, Rock noticed the sea of vomit in the area, indicating that Revy was indeed there. When Feng apologized for her fault, Rock calmly told her to find eyewitnesses, and she agreed. Soon, the two reconvened and sped to Sawyer the Cleaner's workplace after learning that a hoodlum had placed the unconscious Revy in a body bag and sent her there.

Arriving outside her workplace, Rock rushed inside and yelled to Sawyer where Revy was. Cleaning her gloves, Sawyer silently pointed to a small bed nearby where Revy was sleeping on. As Rock noted to his relief that Revy was still breathing, Sawyer stomped the bottom of her mop onto the floor, and Rock rhetorically asked her if she had to clean up her mess. Seeing Sawyer's silent glare, he looked at the liquid on the nearby table and saw that it is secret medicine and turmeric which Sawyer fed to Revy. Carrying Revy's arm over his shoulder, Rock thanked Sawyer and informed her that he would not tell Revy about it. The next day at the Lagoon Company office, Revy slouched on the couch and claimed that she still felt ill. Rock asked her if she still had alcohol in her system, and she angrily rejected his question, saying that she felt fine despite knowing that she drank heavily last night and wondered why she did not have a hangover. As she yelled, Rock noticed that she still had not noticed the word "Stupid" written on her forehead, making him chuckle. In response, Revy furiously asked him what he was laughing about.[112]

Much later after Sawyer killed three gladiators and their leader on an island, her assistant Choptop ordered another man to call a boat for them, and subsequently, Black Lagoon arrived to the island to pick them up. Rock himself stood on the deck as Revy welcomed the cleaners onboard.[113]

Volume 7[]

When a large ship stopped behind Black Lagoon, Revy decided to explore it with Sawyer and her cleaners. While waiting in the bridge for her return, Rock wondered aloud if she would be all right. The calm Dutch responded that he told her crew to turn back right away if the situation turned awry, adding that they could not go anywhere either way due to the fog in the area.[114]

Volume 8[]

At the beach, Rock and Revy salivated at the lobster which was being cooked, with Dutch telling them that they could eat it at anytime since seafood went bad quickly and that they did not have any refrigeration nearby.[115]

Relationships[]

Revy[]

At the beginning of the series, Revy had a explosive and rough attitude towards Rock. It grows to a respectful but still rough relationship near the middle of the series. At times, he criticized some of her usual habits and job related actions to be extreme, infantile and sickening in ways. Rock has also recognized her actions are not just out of toughness or sheer recklessness but also mental illness and disorders that have made her become who she is. To anyone else, Revy would retaliate to this attitude but took his words into account. In their emotional standoff at a diner in "Calm down, two men." Rock left a lasting impact on her life after the confrontation. As shown in "Greenback Jane," Revy is attentive and protective of him and displays jealousy, always ready to lash out at anyone who plans to hurt, kill, or hit on Rock.

Even so, she hides the fact by lashing out against him for his stupidity, morals, moments of embarrassment and chastises him about "trying to get himself killed".[12] Additionally, Revy also complains about his habit of being captured/kidnapped. Rock is also unaware of moments when Revy could be seen visibly empathetic when he is hurt, or in a state of depression under grim circumstances such as in "Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll."[31] His personality grew darker in Roberta's Blood Trail; in response Revy was very disturbed and kicked him across the deck of the boat (anime only).[10] Revy gradually begins to feed off of Rock's more soft, kind, and justice-driven personality. She becomes very protective of who she sees as the only beacon of light in Roanapur, even going as far as to encourage Rock's reckless side during "The Wired Red Wild Card" in the manga. Likewise, Rock begins to gradually feed off of Revy's more dark, sadistic nature.

Dutch[]

As a direct accomplice to Rock's kidnapping in the past, of course, there was talk ransoming and threatening and of course roughing up. Over time in taking him, Dutch took a liking and respect to Rock for his resourcefulness and skills as a former businessman which serve well in the company. In Roberta's Blood Trail, he along with the rest of the group were uneasy and disturbed by Rock's growing darkness as a result of the twisted wiles of Roanapur.

Benny[]

For the most part, Benny gets along with Rock, as the two share the trait of not being killers or fighters like Dutch and Revy are. Benny seems to be the only person to talk to and not get eventually yelled at by Revy. In Roberta's Blood Trail, like the rest of Lagoon crew, he was troubled by Rock's dark transformation. Later, there were some moments of weirdness between the two men when Jane began her relationship with Benny, as Rock was disturbed by Jane's sexual comments and display of affection for Benny.[11] Nonetheless, the two are quite comfortable around each other, and they have played several games of dart throwing.

Mister Chang[]

Mr. Chang is often amused at Rock's "unique" way of handling things, once commenting that Rock's actions will determine the fate of not only Garcia and Roberta, but of Roanapur itself.

Trivia[]

  • The name Rokurō means "green" (緑) (roku) and "son" (郎) (rō). Rokurō's surname Okajima means "hill" (岡) (oka) and "island" (島) (jima).
  • In a character popularity contest released during the May/June 2008 issue of Monthly Sunday Gene-X, Rock ranked 6th with 307 votes. Additionally, in a top 10 worst characters contest in the same issue, Rock ranked 6th with an unspecified number of votes.[116]
  • In a popularity contest released during the 10th manga collection release, Rock ranked 7th with 686 votes.[117]
  • In a popularity contest released during the 12th manga collection release, Rock ranked 6th with 955 votes.[118]
  • Rock is the only member of the Lagoon Company shown to have an explicit age as well as a specific birthday.

References[]

  1. His height is shown on the anime character settei; see the "Other" section on Rock/Image Gallery.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Chapter 00: Black Lagoon
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Episode 01: The Black Lagoon
  4. 4.0 4.1 Episode 19: Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise
  5. 5.0 5.1 Episode 09: Maid to Kill
  6. 6.0 6.1 Black Lagoon: Shaitane Badi (Chapter 2)
  7. Episode 13: The Vampire Twins Comen
  8. 8.0 8.1 Chapter 106: L'homme sombre Part 5
  9. 9.0 9.1 Episode 22: The Dark Tower
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 Episode 29: Codename Paradise, Status MIA
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 Chapter 77: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 1
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 Episode 23: Snow White's Payback
  13. Episode 02: Mangrove Heaven
  14. Chapter 01: Chase for ring-ding ships
  15. Episode 03: Ring-Ding Ship Chase
  16. Episode 08: Rasta Blasta
  17. Chapter 02: Rasta Blasta Part 1
  18. Episode 10: The Unstoppable Chambermaid
  19. Episode 04: Die Rückkehr des Adlers
  20. Chapter 06: Das Wieder Erstehen Des Adlers Part 2
  21. Episode 05: Eagle Hunting and Hunting Eagles
  22. Episode 06: Moonlit Hunting Grounds
  23. Chapter 09: Calm down, two men Part 1
  24. Episode 07: Calm Down, Two Men
  25. Chapter 11: Bloodsport Fairy tale Part 1
  26. Chapter 12: Bloodsport Fairy tale Part 2
  27. Episode 15: Swan Song at Dawn
  28. Chapter 17: Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll Part 2
  29. Chapter 18: Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll Part 3
  30. Episode 11: Lock'n Load Revolution
  31. 31.0 31.1 Episode 12: Guerrillas in the Jungle
  32. Chapter 25: Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise Part 4
  33. Chapter 26: Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise Part 5
  34. Episode 20: The Succession
  35. Episode 21: Two Father's Little Soldier Girls
  36. Chapter 35: Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise Part 14
  37. 37.0 37.1 Episode 24: The Gunslingers
  38. Chapter 36: Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise Part 15
  39. Chapter 37: Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise Part 16
  40. Chapter 39: Greenback Jane Part 2
  41. Episode 17: The Roanapur Freakshow Circus
  42. Episode 18: Mr. Benny's Good Fortune
  43. Chapter 45: El Baile de la muerte Part 2
  44. 44.0 44.1 Episode 25: Collateral Massacre
  45. Chapter 46: El Baile de la muerte Part 3
  46. Chapter 48: El Baile de la muerte Part 5
  47. Chapter 51: El Baile de la muerte Part 8
  48. 48.0 48.1 Episode 26: An Office Man's Tactics
  49. Chapter 53: El Baile de la muerte Part 10
  50. Episode 27: Angels in the Crosshairs
  51. Chapter 60: El Baile de la muerte Part 17
  52. Chapter 64: El Baile de la muerte Part 21
  53. Episode 28: Oversaturation Kill Box
  54. Chapter 72: El Baile de la muerte Part 29
  55. Chapter 73: El Baile de la muerte Part 30
  56. Chapter 76: El Baile de la muerte Part 33
  57. Chapter 78: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 2
  58. Chapter 79: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 3
  59. Chapter 81: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 5
  60. Chapter 82: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 6
  61. Chapter 83: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 7
  62. Chapter 84: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 8
  63. Chapter 85: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 9
  64. Chapter 86: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 10
  65. Chapter 87: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 11
  66. Chapter 88: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 12
  67. Chapter 89: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 13
  68. Chapter 90: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 14
  69. Chapter 91: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 15
  70. Chapter 92: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 16
  71. Chapter 93: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 17
  72. Chapter 94: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 18
  73. Chapter 95: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 19
  74. Chapter 96: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 20
  75. Chapter 98: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 22
  76. Chapter 99: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 23
  77. Chapter 100: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 24
  78. Chapter 101: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 25
  79. Chapter 103: L'homme sombre Part 2
  80. Chapter 104: L'homme sombre Part 3
  81. Chapter 105: L'homme sombre Part 4
  82. Chapter 107: L'homme sombre Part 6
  83. Chapter 108: L'homme sombre Part 7
  84. Chapter 109: L'homme sombre Part 8
  85. Chapter 110: L'homme sombre Part 9
  86. Chapter 113: L'homme sombre Part 12
  87. Chapter 114: New Girl in the Hood Part 1
  88. Chapter 115: New Girl in the Hood Part 2
  89. Chapter 116: Where the Chips Fall Part 1
  90. Black Lagoon: Shaitane Badi (Chapter 1)
  91. Black Lagoon: Shaitane Badi (Chapter 3)
  92. Black Lagoon: Shaitane Badi (Chapter 4)
  93. Black Lagoon: Shaitane Badi (Epilogue)
  94. Black Lagoon 2: Ballad of the Sinful Wizard (Tricia O'Sullivan)
  95. Black Lagoon 2: Ballad of the Sinful Wizard (Frederica Sawyer)
  96. Black Lagoon 2: Ballad of the Sinful Wizard (Lagoon Company: Dutch)
  97. Black Lagoon 2: Ballad of the Sinful Wizard (Shenhua)
  98. Black Lagoon 2: Ballad of the Sinful Wizard (A Certain Wizard: 2)
  99. Black Lagoon 2: Ballad of the Sinful Wizard (A Certain Wizard: 3)
  100. Black Lagoon 2: Ballad of the Sinful Wizard (Dutch: 2)
  101. Black Lagoon 2: Ballad of the Sinful Wizard (Edith Blackwater: 4)
  102. Black Lagoon 2: Ballad of the Sinful Wizard (Balalaika)
  103. Black Lagoon 2: Ballad of the Sinful Wizard (Edith Blackwater: 5)
  104. Black Lagoon 2: Ballad of the Sinful Wizard (Rebecca Lee)
  105. Black Lagoon 2: Ballad of the Sinful Wizard (Epilogue — Frederica Sawyer: 2)
  106. Gore Gore Girl Chapter 05: A Quiet Place
  107. Gore Gore Girl Chapter 08: Chill Out
  108. Gore Gore Girl Chapter 09: Basket Case
  109. Gore Gore Girl Chapter 15: DELICATESSEN
  110. Gore Gore Girl Chapter 16: Dressed to Kill
  111. Gore Gore Girl Chapter 22: IRON MAIDEN
  112. Gore Gore Girl Chapter 36: The Hangover
  113. Gore Gore Girl Chapter 42: The Island
  114. Gore Gore Girl Chapter 43: Ghost Ship Part 1
  115. Gore Gore Girl Chapter 50: WASABI
  116. https://sundaygx.com/blacklagoon/contest/
  117. http://sundaygx.info/blacklagoon_contest/
  118. http://sundaygx.info/blacklagoon_contest_12/
Advertisement