"Flesh&Blood" Vol. 15 - Pirate Series Reading Club 🏴‍☠ ⛵

“Flesh&Blood” series home thread

Welcome to the “Flesh&Blood” Vol. 15 Reading Club!

Back to Vol. 14
Forward to Vol. 16

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

0 voters

Please update your status accordingly whenever it changes.

Chapters

Chapter eBook % Physical
Chapter 1 4 % p. 7
Chapter 2 12 % p. 25
Chapter 3 23 % p. 49
Chapter 4 36 % p. 77
Chapter 5 46 % p. 101
Chapter 6 56 % p. 123
Chapter 7 68 % p. 147
Chapter 8 80 % p. 173
Chapter 9 97 % p. 210
あとがき 98 % p. 212-213

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. 15 on Bookwalker
Vol. 15 on Amazon

Vocab sheet

Artwork from volume 15

SPOILER WARNINGS

Full color extras


Vol 15, ch 1, p 19

Vol 15, ch 3, p 69

Vol 15, ch 4, p 97

Vol 15, ch 6, p 135

Vol 15, ch 7, p 159

Vol 15, Ch 8, p 193

Vol 15, あとがき, p 212-213

Historical Figures, Events and Places

The book mentions a lot of real (as far as we know :sweat_smile:) 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

Francis Drake (Ch 3) Francis Drake - Wikipedia
Pedro Pacheco de Villena (Ch 4, p 85) Pedro Pacheco de Villena - Wikipedia
Robert Cecil (Ch 6) Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury - Wikipedia
Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex (Ch 6) Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex - Wikipedia
Walter Raleigh (Ch 6, p 144) Walter Raleigh - Wikipedia

The Royal Diagram

Places and Rivers

La Rochelle (Ch 7, p 149) La Rochelle - Wikipedia
Newgate Prison (Ch 3, p 71) Newgate Prison - Wikipedia + https://www.historic-uk.com/DestinationsUK/Newgate-Prison/ + https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/Newgate-Prison-Wall/
Papua New Guinea (Ch 7, p 153) Papua New Guinea - Wikipedia

Historical Events, Things etc

Star Chamber (Ch 3, p 70) Star Chamber - Wikipedia
Chemise シュミーズ (Ch 5, p. 105) Chemise - Wikipedia
Rack torture (Ch 6) Rack (torture) - Wikipedia

Historical, geographical and other inaccuracies
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Chapter 1 thoughts

Darn, this volume start of stronk! O_O Like, action movie intensity reading!

Spoilers below
Kaito’s desperation is real as he’s hoping against hope for the tunnel to open up. Only after giving up, does it finally happen. And he’s met with Kazuya in the void, wanting to travel back in time. Well, Kaito throws those plans off course and off he goes. :sparkles: :fairy:

On the other side is Kazuya, who takes him to a nearby bench and calls an ambulance. But, even if Kaito hadn’t had some vague bad feeling about things, looking at the chapter art gave me goose bumps! :grimacing: Something’s going on here with Kazuya. :eyes: he’s extremely well-kept together and he’s laying down his plans for how things are to go after the ambulance arrives, instructing Kaito what to say to the police. meanwhile, he’ll make himself scarce to not further complicate things. And on the same note, he gets Kaito to give him the keys from Jeoffrey, saying he might be searched (why I have no idea, that’s not how you treat victims generally :eyes: )

Kaito also realize that the discrepancy in perception here between himself and Kazuya, who naturally believes Kaito is back for good. Eventually, Kaito is bound to hurt Kazuya again as he returns to Jeoffrey. Things are not going to be all that easy to navigate clearly. Again, Kaito will be forced to lie his way through this…

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Chapter 2 thoughts

I’m getting some really really possessive vibes off Kazuya. Sure, he’s now invested a lot of himself into his quest to find a path to wherever Kaito disappeared to, but yeah, it’s a bit unsettling. :eyes:

Anyway, this is a Kazuya POV chapter! :astonished: Glad to see we’re getting some new perspectives in this story! ^>^ And this is the leading-up to Kazuya being on the Hoe, being able to help Kaito who likely was in thermal shock almost by the time he arrived back in our time. But, I’m jumping ahead, first Kazuya becomes a biker boy! :motorcycle: I love the full-color art of Kazuya here. Very moody and those lovely colors! ^>^ We also get some recaping on what went on during the last volumes, i.e. the dreams, but also we get a much fuller picture of Kazuya’s movements so far. It seems he’s a meticulous planner/plotter. :eyes: He’s also willing to go very far to get Kaito back to him, to an extent that he’s now deep in lies and deceit.

I must confess to speeding along this chapter, I might reread once the rest of you catch up. For now, I’m more into getting to the point where the story merge with present-day events fro Kaito. ^^;

spoilers
it finally explained why Kazuya never appeared on the Hoe (because he was merely testing things out before finally going through with it - only to end up bringing Kaito back instead in the end.) It’s interesting to about Kazuya’s precautions to being found out having been in Plymouth when Kaito got back…

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Chapter 3 thoughts

It’s the chapter we’ve all been hoping for: Nigel POV! :sob:

spoilers
I guess, it’s fitting with how events have gone. We still don’t know what happened to Jeoffrey in the end. :cry: The full color art is painting a pretty dire picture for him. :sob: Well, apparently we’re getting a flash-back/revisit of the events from Nigel’s POV. Joan fed him sleeping meds to keep him out of harms way as things went south. Right, I forgot about Joeffrey ordering her to make sure Nigel was removed from the action, to ensure he’d remain in charge of Gloria but also receives the deed to Jeoffrey’s mansion after things die down. Nigel is not on the same page here, though he realize Jeoffrey does this to protect him, not throw him aside. :cry: I also feel sad for Nigel, who somehow still thinks he’s got a chance with Kaito and that his and Jeoffrey’s “contest” over him isn’t over. :woman_facepalming:

When Nigel awakes again, he’s already been transported outside of Plymouth, all the way to Buckland Abbey. I’m glad that both Joan and Kit are by his side, so he’s not alone a least. :face_holding_back_tears: And he’s clearly protected from Walshingham thanks for Drake. <3

So, which Petronius is referenced on p 67? :thinking: Petronius - Wikipedia or Petronius Maximus - Wikipedia or someone else?

In any case, we’ve also got some gorgeous chapter arts! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: Nigel looking very fine! :blush:

spoilers
Kit has only bad news for Nigel though. Jeoffrey is accused of betrayal against the crown, or more specifically, to be sowing conflict and so he’s now locked up in Newgate prison. :sob: And Kit doesn’t know what happened to Kaito either, just that Washingham want’s him erased as a liability.

new proverb: 例によって例のごとく
https://proverb-encyclopedia.com/reiniyote/

spoilers
Well, that’s was a great chapter. Nigel and Kit are going to London next to see what can be done about Jeoffrey’s (and Kaito’s) situation. They still don’t know he’s not around anymore.

Chapter 4, thoughts

We’re also getting a Vincento chapter! ^>^ <3

It turns out he’s at the royal palace and he’s not all too fond of being stuck there. He’s still in touch with Alonso it seems, which makes me happy. :slight_smile: This is a very introspective chapter, well, Vincento is medicating it seems over Christian teachings and his attraction/love for Kaito. Ngl, I’m a little confused as to the purpose of us visiting Vincente at this point in the story. :thinking: But, I do love the conversation between Vincente and Leo, and Vincente coming clean about how he feels about Kaito as well. So much love and trust! :sob:

More lovely chapter art! Vincento & Leo! <3 ^>^

Chapter 5 thoughts
Spoilers
Well, we’re finally learning of Jeoffrey’s fate and it’s not good. :sob: He’s being locked up in a dungeon with untreated wounds after being tortured and with no light for company. i don’t know if I can read this. :sob: it’s a chat between Jeoffrey and his tormentor, apparently Jeoffrey has yet to tell them what they wanna know, which is regarding Kaito’s whereabouts. Not much he can say about that either. :sob: For good or bad, it’s Raven handling Jeoffrey and so they talk a bit about Kaito’s experience in prison before. :eyes:

This was very difficult reading. :cry:

Chapter 6 thoughts
We’re back to Nigel POV, part 2! ^>^

Nigel and Kit are in London, trying to figure things out. Nigel realize how much he’s relied on Jeoffrey these years and that he might be unable to fill his shoes. I liked this introspection, as it feels like Nigel grows closer to Jeoffrey again after having grown apart. :slight_smile:

Of course, they need help and so Nigel has contacted Robert Cecil, the son of William Cecil, secretary of state who would succeed him. But more importantly, he’s the one that devised the plan to get Kaito freed last time they got entangled in the Royal court. As good an advisor as anyone. :eyes:

the plot thickens

Robert has interesting news about Walshingham not appearing in court for several days and that a doctor had been called. Matsuoka-sensei is as accurate as always with the historical facts, Walshinham is speculated having had issues with kidney stones and that he might have died in prostate cancer later (surely testicular cancer=prostate cancer ^^;; )

More chapter art and I’m loving this pic of these 3 schemers! ^>^

Nigel has done good in renaming Gloria->The Precious to keep her and her crew safe. Though he’s clearly unhappy about having to rename the ship. ^^;

It’s deeply disturbing to read about what torture Jeoffrey has been suffering under. I did myself a disservice and looked up what the Rack is about. :grimacing: :fearful: And since he’s not confessing Kaito’s whereabouts the torture will just continue. :sob: Thankfully, Robert Cecil comes up with a way to at least stop the torture for the time being, which can prolong Jeoffrey’s life.

:open_mouth:
It finally happens in the main series!

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Hurry up and catch up! ^>^ :sparkling_heart:

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We’ll be there soon, I promise! Was chatting with @NicoleIsEnough before, and we’ll probably be starting volume 12 soon, then it’s only a matter of time before we catch up.

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Chapter 7, thoughts

Kaito is in hospital and is finally on the mend. :relieved: Seems the doctors got interested by how strange the strain of tuberculosis bacteria he was infected by; it being nothing like modern day tuberculosis cases, and more like something found in Papa New Gunnea. ^^; As much as Kaito is getting much needed medical attention, he’s already missing Jeoffrey. :cry:

About Kaito’s family being contacted, that’s usually not done without the explicit approval of the patient. :eyes: you absolutely can sign into a hospital without letting your family know about it. Maybe the rules are different in Japan, but I kind of doubt it. ^^’ In any case, here the doctors have already contacted Kaito’s parents it seems, much to his consternation. But, it also seems his parents are not willing to stick around until he’s well enough to have visitors. they’ve returned to London instead. ^^; They sound like really cold people, ngl. >_>

And, Kaito’s parents and his doctors are not the only ones taking an interest in his hospitalization, Inspector Lewis is also asking questions. Meanwhile, as Kazuya told him to, Kaito is pretending to not remember anything, a pretty hard to swallow lie. It just begs more questions really, like how on earth he got sick with tuberculosis. ^^;

Kaito doesn’t get much time to prepare himself here, as Lewis walks into his sickroom. And no matter how naive you are, Kaito’s non-answers really doesn’t sound likely or believable. :sweat_smile: The branding isn’t helpful either. Or the fact that he was found with no shoes and frostbite on his hands and feet - in summer. ^^; Kaito’s circumstances are just really, really fishy. :sweat_smile:

Chapter 8 thoughts

we get another Kazuya-chapter. Regarding Inspector Lewis, Kazuya is playing a long-game; eventually Lewis will have to move onto other cases and no longer get h is superiors support to lock into Kaito’s disappearance. it’s just a matter of time. !

Kazuya’s feelings are being made clear here: now that he’s gotten Kaito back, he intends to never let go again. Or to follow him wherever he goes. :eyes: It’s obvious that Kaito’s realization that he should keep his intents about returning hidden for now is probably for the best. :sweat_smile: He’s really possessive I feel, in a way that’s, frankly, worrying. :frowning_with_open_mouth: Kaito’s mum also shows up for a visit, which goes as well as one might have guessed considering they are on bad terms in general.

In any case, Kaito got his stuff returned to him + some other useful things, among them books about the Spanish-English war and a laptop to do research on! :+1: I’m just relieved he got the Jeoffrey’s keys back. :relieved:

Today I learnt a very useful new word: メアド short for メールアドレス . :sweat_smile: Japanese people sure love abbreviations.

p 188
I wonder if I read it correctly that they talk about

Hamstead Health (public park in London)?

Getting here & around — Hampstead Heath

Chapter 9, thoughts
This is just something to close the volume, but yeah, Kaito is trying hard to answer the one question he’s had since he first met Jeoffrey and understood his connection to Drake: how come Jeoffrey’s name is not mentioned among the captains fighting the Armada? dun dun dun

Just a heads up to @pyororon that I think I’ll be starting volume 15 this weekend.

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Thanks for the heads up and sorry its taking me so long catching up, I’m in Japan at the moment and while I was planning on having a pretty chill trip with lots of time to rest and read it hasn’t gone that way so far. I’m looking forward to reading your thoughts once I do catch up!

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Oh, have fun! And no worries; I know travel time for me basically equals no reading since I’m so busy doing stuff, so I understand!

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Well, I was hoping to have started, but I’ve been far busier than I originally thought I would be. :\ Still hoping to start sometime this month, at least. If I can finish 美しい彼 or 神去なあなあ日常 at some point that’d free me up a bit.

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Wasn’t quite able to start today, but there’s nothing major blocking me. Anticipating beginning tomorrow, or Wednesday at the latest.

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Couldn’t hold back from starting today (technically yesterday when I’m writing this) but I won’t read too far ahead. Finished chapter 1 which is on the short side.

We start off from Kaito’s perspective just before the end of the last volume leading up to him going through the tunnel. When the tunnel opens and he can see through to the other side, instead of ninepins, this time he sees a face. It’s Kazuya! He makes it through the tunnel back into modern day and is reunited with his best friend who now seems to give off a bit of a different vibe than he used to. I’m still really curious about what was going on with the dream where Kazuya went through the tunnel since as of now the other info seems to match Kaito’s dreams :thinking:

Kaito’s thoughts on how he’s going to have to leave Kazuya again once he’s better seems like it’ll be a major conflict in this arc. I really can’t imagine after all he’s been through that Kazuya will easily accept that.

This volume seems like it’s going to be really exciting. I took a peek at the first page of the next chapter and it’s Kazuya’s POV :eyes:

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No worries about waiting for me; be free! I’ll catch up soon enough, haha.

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@pyororon, I read the first chapter and it was so good! :face_holding_back_tears:

Aaaagh, OMG, I want to read! >.<

Man, I’m so curious what the trigger is now! Since it wasn’t open by default and Kaito counting to nine didn’t seem to have any effect? Or at least not an immediate one?

Ugh, I can’t wait to see what the new Kazuya is like. We’ve seen comparatively little of him and really only have Kaito’s thoughts and feelings to go off of. This Kazuya smokes now, right? Hahaha, or he said something about drugs or something a few volumes back to the police officer; I can’t remember.

Yeeaaah, I’ve got a feeling this is going to be a real heart-rending one. I was already tearing up a little bit at their おかえり. :sob:

Right?! Oh, and since you’re on a trip now, so just ignore all my comments on your comments, by the way; I’m just leaving them here for later when you’re free!

Anyway, this volume started off intense. Great way to get the readers back in the thick of things and ready to go.

Man, art already; make sure you take a look at it @pyororon! Kaito’s goofy Hawaiian shirt gets me every time, I can’t take him seriously in that thing…

I figure it’s because they’re likely to treat Kaito’s case as a kidnapping one. A teenager disappears for like a year, reappears with an advanced case of tuberculosis and says he can’t remember anything? Locked up in someone’s basement for sure. :ok_hand: So it’d make sense to search him for clues.

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Me too, is there just some weird time delay? or is it something else all together :thinking:

Looks like it from the colored illustration in the front. Definitely seems to have more of a bad boy vibe than he used to. I’m really looking forward to seeing more of his character.

Hang a camera around his neck and it’s fully a stereotypical tourist outfit :rofl:

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Finished chapter 2. I won’t likely have much time to read tonight, so I started early. At least one chapter/day is my goal, though since I’ll be traveling this weekend that may be disrupted a bit. Anyway, on to the show!

So pyororon was right, this is a Kazuya POV! Fun fact, afaik this is the second time we’ve had a Kazuya POV in the series total, though it’s the first in the main books. The other time was as part of 松岡先生’s school AU doujinshi, haha. This chapter covers Kazuya’s search for Kaito in broad strokes, starting from 3 months ago up until he finds Kaito on the Hoe.

Kazuya’s been up to some stuff, I must say. He’s gotten pretty good at: a) lying to his parents, b) dealing drugs, and c) avoiding the police, all in the name of preparing himself to figure out where and when Kaito went and how to follow him. He does indeed have a cool motorcycle, one he’s borrowing from his dad. :motorcycle: Interestingly enough, カルロス, Kaito’s friend who taught him Spanish street slang or something (or maybe it just sounded that way to Vicente due to how Spanish had changed in the last 400 years) was Kazuya’s in on the drug scene. Kazuya has also picked up smoking, something “he can quite anytime he wants to once Kaito’s back”. Man, Kaito inspires all sorts of substance abuse habits; first Geoffrey’s drinking, now this. :stuck_out_tongue:

We also get a look at the depth of Kazuya’s feelings for Kaito’s; there’s no outright declaration of love, but it’s a very similar “my world isn’t complete without you” that we’ve seen previously with GNV, soooo… Kazuya, buddy, you have competition. Which makes me think: Kaito’s almost certainly going to need Kazuya’s help to get back to the 16th century; I doubt Kaito’s going to have an easy time to sneak back to Plymouth on a very specific day after all that’s happened to him. So either Kazuya is going to need to come to terms with Kaito leaving again, or he’s going to follow him to Geoffrey and co. :thinking:

So it seems either counting to nine and/or circling a specific spot are either the trigger or part of the trigger for the time tunnel; Kazuya starts doing it as well, apparently learned from his own research. I guess my big question now is this: do you need two people on each end doing it to activate the tunnel, or is just one enough? If you need two, who was doing it on the 16th century end the first time Kaito fell through? Vicente accidentally? Kazuya does mention you need to wait a bit before it’ll open, so maybe it’s just a coincidence that he and Kaito both happened to be opening it at the same moment? And now I’m wondering who opened the tunnel way back in vol. 1; I don’t remember any instances of nine popping up, but it has been a while…

Anyway, Kazuya sees Kaito and pulls him through, then runs to a local druggie hangout spot to get someone to make a call for an ambulance from a public phone for him. It’s surprisingly well thought-out.

Took a peek at the next chapter to see who the POV would be, and it looks like it’s Nigel! Maybe 松岡先生 heard my tears from the last volume 14 years in the past through a time tunnel crack and is trying to apologize to me now. :face_holding_back_tears: I believe this is the first time we’ve gotten Nigel’s POV in the main series, no? He’s featured quite a bit in various short stories, but I think this is the first in the main series.

(Not really important, but noting here in case of any future reference needed: Kazuya’s father’s name is 公志 (こうし), and his mother’s name is 千春 (ちはる).)

Same here. He reminds me a bit of Nigel, actually. Which means, now that Nigel’s been able to go full kidnapping mode, Kazuya’s gonna have to step up.

I was wondering if this was the case, but (and it’s been a while, granted) I seem to recall the Kazuya in Kaito’s dreams actually falling through the ground, as if Kazuya took the tunnel. :thinking: Your memory should be fresher than mine @pyororon; do you remember? This would’ve been, what volume 13 I think.

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