"Flesh&Blood" Vol. 7 - Pirate Series Reading Club 🏴‍☠️ ⛵

[NicoleIsEnough]

“Flesh&Blood” series home thread

Welcome to the “Flesh&Blood” Vol. 7 Reading Club!

Back to Vol. 6
Forward to Vol. 8

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	eBook %	Physical
Chapter 1	1 %	p. 5
Chapter 2	19 %	p. 44
Chapter 3	30 %	p. 68
Chapter 4	41 %	p. 92
Chapter 5	52 %	p. 116
Chapter 6	59 %	p. 133
Chapter 7	70 %	p. 157
Chapter 8	80 %	p. 180
あとがき	98 %	p. 220-221

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. 7 on Bookwalker
Vol. 7 on Amazon

Vocab sheet

FLESH & BLOOD ~ Volume 7 ~ Vocab list

Artwork from volume 7

Full color Extras

Vol 7, ch 1, p 33

Vol 7, ch 5, p 125

Vol 7, ch 6, p 153

Vol 7, ch 8, p 203

松岡なつきのあとがき, p 220-221

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 or Things

Anne Hathaway (Ch. 3) Anne Hathaway (wife of Shakespeare) - Wikipedia
Barbican (Ch. 8) Barbican - Wikipedia
Charles VIII (Ch. 4) Charles VIII of France - Wikipedia
Francis I (Ch. 4) (フランソワ一世) Francis I of France - Wikipedia
Henry III (Ch. 4) (アンリ三世) Henry III of France - Wikipedia
Henry VIII (Ch. 4) Henry VIII - Wikipedia

Plants

Chicory (Chapter 8, p 183) Chicory - Wikipedia
Gorse, Ulex (Ch. 8) Ulex - Wikipedia
Heather (Ch. 8) Ericaceae - Wikipedia
Pictures of gorse and heather (like in the story): ウェスタンゴースはどんな植物？ わかりやすく解説 Weblio辞書
Hemlock (Ch. 7) (ヘムロック) Conium maculatum - Wikipedia
Wolfsbane (Ch. 7) (ウルフスベイン) Aconitum - Wikipedia

The Royal Diagram

Places

Berwick (Ch. 3) (ベリック) Berwick, East Sussex - Wikipedia
Brighton (Ch. 1) Brighton - Wikipedia
Deal (Ch. 1) (ディール) Deal, Kent - Wikipedia
Dover (Ch. 1) Dover - Wikipedia
Eastbourne (Ch. 1) Eastbourne - Wikipedia
Hastings (Ch. 1) Hastings - Wikipedia
Isle of Wight (Ch. 7) Isle of Wight - Wikipedia
Margate (Ch. 1) Margate - Wikipedia
Portsmouth (Ch. 1) Portsmouth - Wikipedia
Reading (Ch. 8) (レディング) Reading, Berkshire - Wikipedia
Rye (Ch. 1) (ライ) Rye, East Sussex - Wikipedia
St Andrew’s Church, Plymouth (Ch. 8) St Andrew's Church, Plymouth - Wikipedia
Worthing (Ch. 1) (ワージング) Worthing - Wikipedia

Historical Events etc

Italian War (Ch. 4) (ナポリ侵攻) Italian War of 1494–1495 - Wikipedia
Lammas Day (Ch. 4) (ラマスの日) Lammas - Wikipedia
Lawn Bowls (Ch. 7) (ローンボウルズ) Bowls - Wikipedia
Nine-pin bowling (Ch. 7) (ナインピンズ) Nine-pin bowling - Wikipedia
Saint John’s Eve / Midsummer (Ch. 3) Midsummer - Wikipedia
Syphilis (Ch. 4) (フランス病 / 梅毒) Syphilis - Wikipedia

Historical inaccuracies

The book (Ch. 4) says that it is suspected that Henry VIII of England suffered from syphilis. This theory has been abandoned by most historians by now. Wikipedia links two papers that are from 2010 and 2016, respectively, and thus were published after this volume had been released. The wikipedia article lists some more recent suspicions. Henry VIII - Wikipedia

Unknown Persons

Edith (Ch. 7) (イーディス), doctor / healer, died before 1587
Cranes (?) (Ch. 4) (クレインズ) Mayor of Plymouth after Sir Francis Drake

Modern people and events

Isle of Wight Music Festival (Ch. 7) Isle of Wight Festival 1970 - Wikipedia
Kim Wilde (Ch. 4) Kim Wilde - Wikipedia
Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil” (Ch. 7) The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil Lyrics | AZLyrics.com
Triumph car (Ch. 7) (トライアンフ) Triumph Motor Company - Wikipedia
Val Kilmer (Ch. 7) (in the book: バル・キルマー, but the correct form seems to be ヴァル) Val Kilmer - Wikipedia

[ekg]

lol I have some catching up to do! XD

[eefara]

We can probably drop the separate columns for Bookwalker and Kindle percentages at this point; they haven’t been different enough to be significant in the past.

@ekg

lol I have some catching up to do! XD

You and me both!

[ekg]

@eefara

We can probably drop the separate columns for Bookwalker and Kindle percentages at this point;

lol, me realizing I never included 2 columns for them in the word-sheets on Google! XD

[NicoleIsEnough]

@eefara

We can probably drop the separate columns for Bookwalker and Kindle percentages at this point; they haven’t been different enough to be in the past.

Yes, that’s a good call. I’m happy to add the Bookwalker percentages going forward, if that’s of any help.

[NicoleIsEnough]

Sooo, some time ago I accidentally read a spoiler for this volume (I thought they were only talking about earlier volumes ) - anyways, to those who were following the developments so far it shouldn’t come as a big surprise anyway but apparently this volume will finally be BL with a very very capital L Let’s see how that unfolds!

[NicoleIsEnough]

Chapter 1 is done!

The very first sentence of the chapter already had me tingle with excitement: “The phone rang.” And as it is to be expected, we get the next episode in Katsuya’s current life. Luckily he is no longer in the hospital / prison /wherever he was but back in his home. We learn how he and his mother cut all ties to Kaito’s mother because they did not want to induce grief on her through their presence - but as Katsuya’s father is a subordinate of Kaito’s father, this is pretty tricky because there are events where he is supposed to attend together with his wife…

Interestingly, during this episode Kaito is not dreaming but he is fully aware of himself and that he sees Katsuya’s world… this is a bit different from the first occasion if I’m not mistaken.
After waking from this “dream” Kaito goes on deck and notices a person in the water swimming alongside the ship - and on closer inspection this is the (presumably dead) boy who was on the pirate ship Geoffrey and Nigel talk him out of this, and we learn a bit more about how very superstitious sailors are, and about Nigel’s past where he was almost lynched because the crew thought he had brought them bad luck

Kaito then starts to believe himself that it was just a ghost he had seen - but interestingly Blacky had also reacted to the presence of whatever that was…

[NicoleIsEnough]

Finished Chapter 2!

And hoo boy I do hope that the educational lesson is over for this volume… that was a tad too much for my liking…
First of all, Geoffrey tells Nigel that he let the sailors drink the wine barrel he had cracked open for the French messenger because it can’t be sold any more now that it has been opened already. Clearly that rubs Nigel the wrong way, on the one hand because it’s dangerous when the sailors are drunk and e.g. have an accident - we already saw how that can end! And also of course because it’s such a waste of good and expensive wine in Nigel’s eyes. So Geoffrey gets an intense scolding. Then (here comes the learning part!) Nigel asks Geoffrey why he keeps breaking the rules although he clearly knows it’s wrong, and why he exposes himself to being scolded although he tries to avoid unpleasant situations at all cost. To which Geoffrey simply answers that he doesn’t hate being scolded by Nigel
Anyways, we get a bit of a psychological analysis, and also some reflection on Geoffrey’s and Nigel’s past. And Geoffrey promises he will be more careful in the future.

Then they switch topics and talk about Gloria and its maintenance as well as the necessary preparations for the upcoming war. Finally a sleep-deprived Kaito appears, and while he reacts adversely to Geoffrey’s touch, he is immediately softened by Nigel’s suggestion of having food for Blacky and Kaito. Which of course leads to another outbreak of jealousy in Geoffrey, but he gets it under control (another learning part!) and lets the two walk off. Of course not without contemplating about it and how he will be alone together with Kaito soon.

So, bottom line, some character development but also lots of recurring themes here. Let’s see whether the next chapter is more interesting!

[NicoleIsEnough]

Yesterday I had a lot of time during a long train ride, so I read a great deal. Here are my comments for the first part of what I read yesterday (and the days before when I didn’t comment yet):

Chapter 3:
The ship arrives in Plymouth, and we meet the Gloria crew once again! And we almost immediately learn about Juan’s most recent endeavor: On Midsummer’s Eve, everybody gets drunk and then walks off into the forest to do things with other people. Turns out that Juan did not remember the things but upon waking up, he finds a young woman next to his side, and of course she has become pregnant! (He should really play the lottery ) Anyways, he needs money in order to be able to marry her and to rescue her from her father who is a drunkard, and as Geoffrey cannot pay the crew yet because first he needs to settle things regarding the attack of the French ship (if I got that correct?), Kaito steps into the breach and lends him one of his gold coins.

After that, Geoffrey and Kaito discuss where to stay. Geoffrey’s house is still being built, and so Nigel invites them, but Geoffrey declines as he is in dire want of some intimate time with Kaito which he doesn’t want to postpone, and of course he doesn’t want that to happen in Nigel’s house. So he decides to stay at an inn which is right outside of the town walls. He checks back with Kaito whether he is still positive about having sex with him, and Kaito agrees, but he asks for a bath beforehand.

Chapter 4:

Kaito and Geoffrey arrive at the inn, not without Kaito having worried a bit about whether the first sex might be painful for him. But Geoffrey tries to disperse his concerns by telling him that he would definitely not want to hurt him.
At the inn, it turns out that it’s actually a brothel They meet Lily who runs the place together with her husband Sam. She allows them to use her own bathroom. Turns out that Lily has built herself something like a bathtub and shower combination with shower head, curtain and drain! She is also well-versed with herbs and medicine, makes her own soap, and also knows a lot about diseases like Syphilis, which allows her to identify and remove sick wannabe customers, thus protecting her girls.
And with this information, Kaito and Geoffrey start the showering procedure.

[NicoleIsEnough]

Chapter 5:

They take their time cleaning their bodies, and Kaito washes and untangles Geoffrey’s hair. Afterwards, Sam brings them hot water so that they can take a bath.
In the hot bathtub, things get hot pretty quickly. Luckily Geoffrey is fully aware that he can’t simply penetrate the inexperienced Kaito, and so he gives him a hand job instead, which - to Geoffreys great surprise - Kaito is more than eager and willing to receive. The next big surprise for Geoffrey is when Kaito promptly returns the favor…

Chapter 6:

Back in their room, they light a fire in the fireplace, and then everything starts to heat up once more. This time Geoffrey gives Kaito a blow job. But even after that, Kaito is super eager to have “real” sex with Geoffrey because he wants to make up for all the patience and all the favours that he had received thus far, and because he really want’s to become bonded to Geoffrey. But Geoffrey warns him that it might not work out or that it might hurt. Kaito ignores all this and urges him to try nonetheless. So Geoffrey starts to prepare Kaito, but at some point he realizes that it just won’t work yet. Kaito is dejected, but Geoffrey consoles him and says that it doesn’t really matter whether it’s a few days earlier or later. Incredibly 優しい人, as always…

Chapter 7:
Oh. My. God. This is incredible!

The next morning, Geoffrey leaves to look after Gloria and everything, and Kaito goes to have a shower. Lily assists him with the water (as her shower requires somebody to operate a manual pump).

As she walks over to the pump, she starts to sing a song which Kaito recognizes as “Sympathy for the Devil” by The Rolling Stones

Turns out that Lily knows how to build a shower, that she knows a lot about hygiene, medicine etc. because she came to the 16th century when she entered a time tunnel in 1970! Of course they immediately bond, and both are extremely happy to have somebody to talk to who understands this time travel business. I’m really happy for the two! Curious to see how Geoffrey reacts to this new friendship, though. Right now he seems to have less issues with jealousy as he has received such a strong commitment from Kaito, but will this last?

A technically interesting tidbit is that the two worlds seem to run in parallel with the exact same speed as Lily seems to have spent 30+ years, i.e. the same time it would have taken her to get to Kaito’s “now” time if she had stayed in the modern world.

By the way, I visited the Isle of Wight at some point (twice, even!) and they built a statue of Jimi Hendrix there in memorial of the festival:

I was there (I don't think this is a spoiler)

… as even if you know this place, you will not be able to understand the relevance to the story.

I went there in 2011, together with my family.

Chapter 8:
Oookayyy So I was expecting this chapter to be about Kaito and Geoffrey finally having “real” sex together, but when it started out with “Kaito wanted to go to town” I was suspecting that something might not turn out exactly according to plan and of course the idea of Vicente sneaking up on them crossed my mind as well. What I had NOT expected that we were to experience a quick flash of romance when Kaito bumped into Nigel who then decided to kiss him while Kaito was asleep in the grass Anyways, in the end Nigel could not win agains a bunch of pirates, and Kaito has been kidnapped by Vicente

In other words: I finished this volume

[eefara]

@NicoleIsEnough

Oh. My. God. This is incredible!

Staaaahhhp. Cease.

[NicoleIsEnough]

Just telling you to speed up a liiiittle bit

(sorry for the teaser )

[eefara]

It’s on the list, I promise! orz Think you’ll start with volume 8 immediately?

Edit: I’ve been stalking your Natively () and I see someone suddenly has the rest of the F&B books on their Owned list. Finally pulled the trigger, huh?

[NicoleIsEnough]

@eefara

It’s on the list, I promise! orz

Would make for a nice advent calendar, no? A chapter per day

But please don’t feel rushed! I’m just going a bit crazy currently, everything will be under control in no time, promise

@eefara

Think you’ll start with volume 8 immediately?

I… am… fighting… against… the maelstrom… but… it’s… pulling… so hard

Two other book clubs are starting this weekend, but one takes a bunch of weeks, so I can catch up a bit later as well , and the other is allegedly short and sweet so mayybeee I could squeeze Vol. 8 in somehow let’s see how it goes…

@eefara

Finally pulled the trigger, huh?

Yeah so I figured that if I still like it so much after almost 1/3 of the volumes, then I will probably want to read it to the end anyways, and there is currently a 50% cashback on Bookwalker. I had bought them up to vol. 14 already but I thought that if I keep reading them two a month, then I would read them all before the next plausible opportunity for a 50% discount arises (Golden Week and Obon are always likely candidates) and then I thought, if I want to get some right now, I can just get them all.

[eefara]

So I had a few minutes before my clothes were done washing today and, having made excellent progress on my other projects thus far, I figured, hey, let’s open F&B 7 just to whet my appetite. It probably starts off with Kaito scrubbing a deck or something. Nooope. I got two sentences in. Opens with a Kazuya chapter. This is absolutely terrible. I immediately put the book down in fear that I would be sucked in yet again. I can’t wait to start reading, this is awful for my productivity. Rest assured, fellow crewmates, this fan will not fall for 松岡先生’s heinous tricks and drop every obligation to begin 7 already. I will stay strong.

[NicoleIsEnough]

@eefara

Opens with a Kazuya chapter.

Fun times, eh? When I start reading a book, I usually mark the first word of each chapter to know the book‘s layout (and to take the percentage if I need it for anything) and often I cannot avoid reading it. Especially for the first word in the first chapter, this can’t be a problem, right? Except when the first word is 電話 I was sooo electrified!

[ekg]

I have finally made it to volume 7. Artwork has been added for your viewing pleasure!

edit: and vocab sheet added. ^^

[ekg]

Chapter 1 thoughts

This is a long chapter.

Kaito’s and Katsuya’s connection is still there. Katsuya seems to be dreaming about Kaito, and Kaito about Katsuya. Though, it’s a bit more complicated than that it seems. The plot thickens! But more than anything, Katsuya has been undergoing changes for the worse since Kaito’s disappearance. That much is clear.

At the end of the last volume, they were finally planning on getting back to Gloria and everyone. And, that’s basically what’s going down. Kaito is woken by Blackie on the ship going back to Plymouth.

Due to a strong Westward wind, they’re not making much progress. Being unable to sleep, Kaito is haunted by the death of the cabin boy in last volume. It soon turns all to real and he imagines seeing the boy swimming after their ship. This turns into a much too real spooky encounter.

I think, besides the premise of this story (the timeslip) Natsuki has stuck strictly to reality as we know it. Well, there was the previous shared dream sequence of Kaito and Katsuya, but other than that, there has been no supernatural events. This changes with this chapter. It opens up the possibility of things being more different where Kaito is now, than the world we know. well, at least if we assume Kaito really did see a goblin of sorts…

I got curious and looked up the type of goblin Kaito sees. It’s called a Bucca, or a Bucca-Boo. The Japanese wikipedia is probably why Natsuki-sensei knew about it.

Bucca (mythological creature) - Wikipedia

ブッカブー - Wikipedia

[ekg]

Chapter 2 thoughts

Well, there was quite a bit to unpack in the last chapter, that’s for sure.

The trip continues. Nigel is forced to have a serious chat with Jeoffrey about drinking and driving, I mean, drinking and sailing. ^^; And now it’s confirmed: Jeoffrey=M is Nigel=S.

Jeoffrey lays out his plans for Kaito’s training as well. Kaito might have a bit of a hard time learning all of this, though it seems for the best that he finally acquire the skills of a sailor, not just as a cabin boy. As Jeoffrey explains it to Nigel, who raises concerns, Kaito needs to know how to handle a ship it the worst comes to pass and he’s left on his own, alive. Living on a ship, means you need to know how to handle one.

Kaito isn’t the easiest person to please, clearly. I feel like Jeoffrey is having an unfairly hard time, even when he’s trying to be nice. ^^;

Full color art for this chapter of a jealous Jeoffrey.

[ekg]

Chapter 3 thougths

Kaito is finally reunited with the rest of the Gloria crew! <3 Ngl, I missed them!.

Being back in Plymouth also means one important thing…!

Page 77:
Kaito saying A Midsummer Night’s dream in Japanese was big confuse for me: I had to do some googling to get it together. ^^; Manatsu no yo no yume (2009) - IMDb

Well, Kaito does the crew a solid by lending all the reward money he got from Elisabeth, so they can get married and arrange for living accommodations for their new wives.

Another point to note: Jeoffrey lying to Kaito about the reason why he didn’t want for them to spend the night at Nigel’s home. But really, how is Kaito not able to figure that one out? Does he really think that spending the night at his friend’s place would make for a nice time to have sex with his partner for the first time. Sure, there are no rules against that, but finding a place alone without the rest of the crew hanging around, seems like a far better set-up.

Me being a bit critical, but it’s just my opinion.
tbh, I’m not a fan about how they appointed at time and place ahead of time, as if that could ever be a good idea for having sex for the first time. You really need to let the flow decide things here. And it makes the start of this…thing…very transactional for me. they’re still negotiating it. That genuine reluctance doesn’t translate into lovemaking next for me. And certainly, not if it’s some kind of misplaced guilt for making your partner suffer. If you don’t want it, don’t do it. But also, don’t lead your partner on and on. Kaito’s selfishness so far has been quite something to see, maybe he’s starting to realize that. But, that’s still the wrong reason to have sex. As often, in BL, I do feel like the final 2 pages of sudden change to actually wanting something, feels very artificial when you’ve build up so much reluctance before that (whole volumes of it) and no real suggestion that Kaito would ever want sex if it were up to him. This is a very Japanese take on sex and love I find.

That’s being said, it seems like they are actually going to take the next step in the relationship, finally.

@NicoleIsEnough

Kaito steps into the breach and lends him one of his gold coins.

Not just one gold coin, but the whole purse. Not just Juan was in trouble after all, but others in the crew had “similar situations” to do something about.