"Flesh&Blood" Vol. 3 - Pirate Series Reading Club 🏴‍☠ ⛵

[NicoleIsEnough]

“Flesh&Blood” series home thread

Welcome to the “Flesh&Blood” Vol. 3 Reading Club!

Back to Vol. 2
Forward to Vol. 4

Participants

• I am planning to read this book
• I am currently reading this book
• I have finished this book
• I am taking a break and will return
• I have dropped the book and will not return
• I don’t plan to read this book

Please update your status accordingly whenever it changes.

Chapters

Chapter	Kindle %	BookWalker %	Physical
Chapter 1	1%	1%	5
Chapter 2	13%	16%	33
Chapter 3	24%	27%	56
Chapter 4	33%	35%	74
Chapter 5	44%	45%	98
Chapter 6	52%	53%	115
Chapter 7	68%	69%	147
Chapter 8	78%	77%	167
Chapter 9	91%	90%	197
Chapter 10	96%	96%	209
あとがき	99%	98%	216

Discussion Rules

Discussing anything is fine, be it about language questions, about the contents or about real historic events! Please state clearly which chapter (or roughly which percentage) you’re referring to, and please hide spoilers. Also, don’t forget the forum etiquette, of course.

Buying the Book

If you’re planning to buy the book on Bookwalker or Amazon and if you’re outside of Japan, you will need a VPN to buy them. Afterwards, you can download it to the app without the need for a VPN. I think you cannot read it in the browser without VPN, though.

Vol. 3 on Bookwalker
Vol. 3 on Amazon

Vocab sheet

~ FLESH & BLOOD ~ Volume 3 ~ Vocab list

Artwork from volume 3

See the following post

Historical Figures, Events and Places

The book mentions a lot of real (as far as we know ) historical figures and events. Here are some information resources on them. (Please be aware that if you want to go in 100% blind, these lists will contain some spoilers for you)

Please add Chapter, Page, if possible, when something is mentioned in the story.

Historical Figures and Groups

Franciscans (Ch 4, p 83) Wikipedia article
John Dee (Ch 6, p. 123) Wikipedia article
Julius Caesar (ユリウス・カエサル) (Ch 4, p. 80)
Jesus, Society of (also: Jesuit order) (Ch 4) Jesuits - Wikipedia
Khitan people (キタイ人) (Ch 3) Khitan people - Wikipedia
Loyola, Ignatius of (ロヨラ) founder of the Jesuit order (Ch 4) Ignatius of Loyola - Wikipedia
Marco Polo (Ch 4, p 80) Wikipedia article
Marie Antoinette (Ch 1, p. 8) Wikipedia article
Marquis of Santa Cruz (Ch 6, p. 117) Wikipedia article
Philip II (Ch 1, p. 9) Wikipedia article
Valignano​, Alessandro (ヴァリニャーノ神父) (Ch 4) Alessandro Valignano - Wikipedia
Walter Raleigh (Ch 7, p 164) Wikipedia article
Xavier, Francis (ザビエル) (Ch 4, 84) Francis Xavier - Wikipedia

Places

Bay of Biscay (Ch 2, p. 50) Wikipedia article
Cadiz (Ch 5. p. 110) Wikipedia article
Canary Islands (Ch 1, p. 28) Wikipedia article
Cape Finisterre (フィニステレ岬) (Ch 5, p. 100) Wikipedia article
Cape of Good Hope (喜望峰) (Ch 5, p. 110) Wikipedia article
Cape Verde Islands (ヴェルデ諸島沖) (Ch 4, p 87) Wikipedia article
English Channel (英仏海峡) (Ch 2, p.46)
Escorial, El (エスコリアル官) monastery and palace of Philip II (Ch 4) Wikipedia article
Gibraltar (Ch 1, p. 10) Wikipedia article
Iberian Peninsula (Ch 1, p. 10) Wikipedia article
Jerónimos Monastery (ジェロニモス修道院) Wikipedia article
Lisbon (Ch 2, p. 48) Wikipedia article
Lizard Point (リザード岬沖) (Ch 3) Wikipedia article
Madeira (マデイラ諸島) (Ch 3, p. 69) Wikipedia article; Wiki article on Madeira wine
Madrid (マドリッド) (Ch 4, p 80) Wikipedia article
New Spain (Ch 2, p. 45) Wikipedia article
Sagres Point ( サグレス岬) (Ch 5, p 98) Wikipedia article
Savoy, The (Ch 3, p. 63) Wikipedia article
Tagus, The (テージョ河) (Ch 7, p. 157) Wikipedia article
Terceira Island (Ch 2, p. 47) Wikipedia article
Veracruz (Ch 2, p. 45) Wikipedia article

Historical Events etc

Ave Maria (Ch 4, p 75) Wikipedia article
Carmo Church (カルモ大聖堂) (Ch 3) Carmo Convent - Wikipedia
Christianity coming to Japan (Ch 4) Christianity in Japan - Wikipedia
Cochineal/ Carmine (Ch 2, p. 47) Cochineal - Wikipedia
Saint George’s Cross, flag of England (Ch 1, p.10) Flag of England - Wikipedia and Saint George's Cross - Wikipedia
Savoy (サヴォイ) (Ch 3) Savoy Hotel - Wikipedia
Tordesillas, Treaty of (トルデシリャス条約) (Ch 3) Treaty of Tordesillas - Wikipedia
Utrecht, Peace of (ユトレヒト条約) (Ch 1, p. 10) Peace of Utrecht - Wikipedia

[ekg]

I come bearing gifts! ^>^ @NicoleIsEnough

Artwork from volume 3

Full color extras

Vol 3, ch 1, p 15

Vol 3, ch 3, p 65

Vol 3, ch 7, p 165

Vol 3, ch 8, p 183

Vol 3, ch 10, p 213

松岡なつきのあとがき

As always, be careful of spoilers in the images.

I guess, you don’t really have to do anything, with this being the second post! XD

[NicoleIsEnough]

@ekg

I guess, you don’t really have to do anything, with this being the second post! XD

Fair point! I added a hint to the OP. Thanks for the pics

[ekg]

Chapter 1 starts off as a natural continuation of where we left off. In volume 2, the relationship between Kaito and Nigel ended up in focus toward the end (with him stopping to accuse Kaito of being a spy)

But, just because Nigel has decided to be more friendly, doesn’t mean he’s willing to drop the special formalities onboard a ship. And so Kaito gets himself into trouble by refusing a direct order to continue sparring with Nigel, after Jeoffrey had made it clear he wants Kaito to be able to protect himself. Countermanding an order from the ship’s sailing master cannot stand, but more than anything, Kaito again puts his foot in his mouth by insulting Nigel (calling him a sadist lol XD). So Kaito ends up having to suffer through punishment (though thankfully nothing as terrible as keel-hauling, but still clearly a nasty experience).

Not that Nigel or Jeoffrey wanted things to go too far, from their commentary about it. They both worry about Kaito. But, I guess, they just have to ensure their authority goes unquestioned or the command hierarchy crumbles onboard. I guess it’s possible, in the long run, that it helps Kaito if he’s not spoiled rotten by Jeoffrey at all times either. Better to make Kaito stand on his own legs. At least, in the eyes of the rest of the crew I bet.

Though, I can’t help doubt the pedagogical talent of either Jeoffrey or Nigel in this case!

Sidenote: I’ve been keeping the nautical glossary list open at all times while reading. But now I actually recognized a vocab item (top of the mast, 檣楼 しょうろう ) and I felt incredibly pleased with myself! XD

There’s some bird confusion here for me as well, p 27.
The lookout might have spotted a “sea hawk”, which would make you think of an Osprey

鶚 みさご osprey, sea hawk, fish hawk, Osprey - Wikipedia

but the kanji spells out 盗賊鴎 とうぞくかもめ skua Skua - Wikipedia

I guess, that means he’s asking if he’s seeing a skua, rather than an actual hawk. Still, what’s so interesting about a skua?? (actually the wiki article is plenty interesting, just not from a sea farer’s POV…)

But, ignoring the birbs for now, the story quickly heats up even more in this chapter: they’ve spotted an enemy ship! dun dun dun

Also, Kaito seems pretty happy about being tended to by Jeoffrey as they punishment if called off.

[eefara]

Finished chapter 1! Off to a good start so far; like volume 2 things start moving fairly quickly, what with Kaito yelling at Nigel. I’m thinking this will be a good learning experience for Kaito and hopefully Nigel too; Jeoffrey’s too nice to the kid, haha. There’s a ship in sight, too; I’m hoping my ship vocab can withstand all the action, haha.

A little bit random, but right at the begging of the chapter, Kaito mentions not liking ピンクのアイシング施されたケーキ. Is this a specific kind of icing? I tried searching to see if there’s some kind of British-specific dessert, but all I’m getting back is cakes with pink icing. Maybe he doesn’t like icing in general?

After that there’s a flashback to the first weevil-infested biscuit Kaito finds; I don’t think there’s a very clear segue back to the present, though, is there? The writing read as if almost all of chapter 1 was a flashback.

@ekg

Though, I can’t help doubt the pedagogical talent of either Jeoffrey or Nigel in this case!

Yeaaahh, I was thinking that same thing, haha. If this was literally Kaito’s first time with a sword, I can’t be too hard on him for being so upset.

I’m curious how usual of a thing it was for a person to use two blades in battle - in Nigel’s case a rapier and a knife. Was that kind of fighting style a thing? I always more just associated it with “a cool anime character” or whatever, but 松岡’s generally been seemingly pretty good about these details so far.

I thought it was a really nice detail that when Kaito called Nigel a sadist, Nigel’s first reaction was, “What’s a sadist?” de Sade wasn’t born until the mid-18th century, so good on 松岡先生 for that historically-accurate tidbit.

A few questions on sentences I had for chapter 1:

Chapter 1 Qs

この料理は乗組員の数好かない楽しみの一つで、海が荒れて竈に火を入れられないと判ると、突端に甲板の雰囲気も低気圧気味になった。
How’s that 一つ modifying things here? “There was only one among the small number of crew who enjoyed the food”?

「虫が毒味をしてくれていると思え。
Is Jeoffrey saying here to consider the weevils like poison checkers for the food? Like, if there were something seriously wrong with the food, the weevils would already be dead kind of thing?

泣きべそをかいた海斗に、ジェフリーは忠告した。
(A few sentences after the previous) What’s this かいた here?

「いくら分別のつかねえガキでも、やっちゃいけねえことはあるんだぞ」
This is right after Kaito insults Nigel, from one of the surrounding crewmen. Is he just saying that Kaito had poor judgement in his choice of words?

そう、グローリア号は遊びでカナリア諸島くんだりまで航海してきたわけではない。
This is right after Yuan’s sighted the galleon. What’s this くんだり doing here?

[ekg]

It would be helpful with knowing which pages here I think.

Second question:
I think you got the right idea about the mushi in the food, they’re poison-tasters for you. XD

Jumping one question

I would translate 「いくら分別のつかねえガキでも、やっちゃいけねえことはあるんだぞ」as “No matter how lacking in judgement a kid can be, there are some things that simply shouldn’t be done [implied said]”

I have to think more on the rest! ^^

[eefara]

@ekg

It would be helpful with knowing which pages here I think.

Sorry; my Kindle copy is only give me percents, and I didn’t think they would be useful. Let me hunt down some page numbers after work.

[ekg]

Before you make the effort, maybe @NicoleIsEnough can answer/figure things out as well?

[NicoleIsEnough]

@ekg

maybe @NicoleRauch can answer/figure things out as well?

I started reading today (with a tiny head-start yesterday ) but then my neighbor invited me over to her balcony, which won over Kaito and Jeoffrey So I’m only halfway through the first chapter and not sure what I can read without spoilers…

@eefara

Kaito mentions not liking ピンクのアイシング施されたケーキ. Is this a specific kind of icing? I tried searching to see if there’s some kind of British-specific dessert

I think he might refer to Tottenham Cake: Tottenham Cake | Haringey Council
but maybe it’s just ordinary British cake (they are generally pretty strong on the topic of icing in my opinion).

@eefara

After that there’s a flashback to the first weevil-infested biscuit Kaito finds; I don’t think there’s a very clear segue back to the present, though, is there?

I was a bit confused about that as well; first I thought it was a memory of the past, but later it did not find its way back to the present, so I figured that maybe everything was just the present and there was no flashback. But not really sure either…

OK haven’t read your other spoilered comments yet, but I think I can answer your specific questions:

@eefara

この料理は乗組員の数好かない楽しみの一つで、海が荒れて竈に火を入れられないと判ると、突端に甲板の雰囲気も低気圧気味になった。
How’s that 一つ modifying things here? “There was only one among the small number of crew who enjoyed the food”?

This is 楽しみの一つ meaning one of the pleasures. The sentence says that (hot food I think) is one of the few pleasures of the crew, which is not possible to have during stormy weather.

@eefara

「虫が毒味をしてくれていると思え。
Is Jeoffrey saying here to consider the weevils like poison checkers for the food? Like, if there were something seriously wrong with the food, the weevils would already be dead kind of thing?

Oh that’s a very good point, I thought it said that they were poisonous in and of themselves, but I think I overlooked the くれる when I read it. Your version is much more plausible now.

@eefara

泣きべそをかいた海斗に、ジェフリーは忠告した。
(A few sentences after the previous) What’s this かいた here?

It’s 泣きべそをかく - Jisho.org

@eefara

「いくら分別

I haven’t reached that part yet, so I dare not comment on it.

@eefara

そう、グローリア号は遊びでカナリア諸島くんだりまで航海してきたわけではない。
This is right after Yuan’s sighted the galleon. What’s this くんだり doing here?

くんだり seems to be derived from 下り, as in, going away from Tokyo, i.e. denoting a remote place. くんだりとは？ 意味・読み方・使い方をわかりやすく解説 - goo国語辞書

[eefara]

Ooh, thank you for the help, it’s much appreciated.

[NicoleIsEnough]

Ah, no worries, you helped me along as well

By now I reached the sentence with your last question, and I agree with you and ekg. I’d probably say (freely translated) something like “no matter how clueless a child he is, there are things that he simply must not say”

[NicoleIsEnough]

Chapter 1 comments:
Alright, stayed up very late yesterday and almost finished the first chapter, and read the last few pages over lunch.

@ekg

I guess, that means he’s asking if he’s seeing a skua, rather than an actual hawk. Still, what’s so interesting about a skua??

So I think that they generally stay close to the shore, but they will follow a ship across the ocean and fly around and above the ship, waiting for waste to be dumped overboard. This behavior allows the ship to be spotted way before it itself can actually be seen. (I would have expected this to be ordinary seagulls, but I’m not so deep into those distinctions.)
I googled a bit and found some bits here and there (but no single article that I deemed quoteworthy) and so another theory seems to be that the ship’s waves bring small fish to the surface which are then easy to catch for the seagulls. But it’s not clear to me whether this happens because of modern-day ship engine propellers or whether this also happened back then with sailing ships.

@eefara

I thought it was a really nice detail that when Kaito called Nigel a sadist, Nigel’s first reaction was, “What’s a sadist?”

I had to laugh when I read that! In my head I was telling Nigel that he would understand the word if he waited for another 300 years lol
And yeah, Kaito’s behavior is understandable from his point of view of exhaustion, but going against Nigel in such a manner is definitely a big no-go. So they had to do something about it.

@ekg

I guess it’s possible, in the long run, that it helps Kaito if he’s not spoiled rotten by Jeoffrey at all times either. Better to make Kaito stand on his own legs.

That’s what even Kaito acknowledged in the end, didn’t he? Saying that he stood his ground through the punishment, and that he was pretty spoiled before that.

@ekg

Though, I can’t help doubt the pedagogical talent of either Jeoffrey or Nigel in this case!

I must say I was very impressed by the tactics that Jeoffrey applied here. For one, he shocked Kaito quite a bit, showing him that he was clearly out-of-band with his behavior; secondly, he helped Nigel calm down, and also made Nigel support Kaito so that Jeoffrey could safely reduce the punishment without becoming noncredible; and last not least, Kaito got a pretty painful but in the long run harmless punishment that made him think and reconsider a fair bit. And all that without shouting or commanding or “I’m the boss” behavior, without making anybody (including himself) lose face. Everybody agreed in the end, and everybody was good friends again going forward (plus Nigel even reevaluating his training method). I thought that was pretty genius, to be honest

[eefara]

A single question for me for chapter 2 so far; page 33 in the book/14% on Kindle/first page of chapter 2.

Ch.2 Q

（風上にいるぶん、船脚はそちらさんの方が速い。
Just wondering about the bolded part, specifically the さん.

[NicoleIsEnough]

@eefara

Just wondering about the bolded part, specifically the さん.

It’s a polite way of saying “the other party”: 「そちら様(そちらさま)」の意味や使い方 わかりやすく解説 Weblio辞書 (here with 様 but that’s the same).

[eefara]

Ah, makes complete sense. Thanks!

[eefara]

Sooo, unrelated to F&B specifically, but there’s a POLL thread with F&B3 in the title. I don’t really hang out much in the poll areas, but do they just take thread title inspiration from whatever shows up on the recently updated thread bar?

[NicoleIsEnough]

Yeah, that’s my understanding as well I don’t read the poll thread either (luckily so far I managed to maintain my regular status without resorting to such drastic measures) but they seem to take a random title and mock or ridicule it in some way, is my take on it.

[eefara]

@NicoleIsEnough

but they seem to take a random title and mock or ridicule it in some way, is my take on it.

They’re really good at making me want to knee-jerk click it. “Oh? There’s a new reply? Wait, this isn’t the F&B thread…”

[ekg]

@eefara

but do they just take thread title inspiration from whatever shows up on the recently updated thread bar?

Pretty much, in hopes to lure some poor soul into the POLLs never to be heard of again!

[ekg]

I meant it in a literal sense, in how to teach sword fighting to a completely beginner (sparring with real weapons doesn’t seem like the first step here, or even the second or third…). ^^;

But, Jeoffrey is certainly a great leader here, showing great people skills.