The Big Brother 2 (before battle)
Good, good! You nicked my sunglasses!
Too bad~ You'll have to try again!
... Damn it...!
I... didn't face... all those Waves just to...!
As long as I can keep trying, I can...!
The mist thickens.
It expands, devouring everything - our futures, our hopes, and any slim chance of victory we had.
And so does the fog of my sight, of my mind.
Will this continue until... either Ishmael gives up...
Or until he gets tired of this little game?
Until he simply walks over and crushes my clock?
Could Vergilius piece my shattered clock back?
Is that even possible?
If... I did as Faust told me to and blew up my head...
Not even a shred of me would be...
... Your repertoire's starting to get old.
How about we just zoom right past that and to the main event? I call this clock bashing~!
<…!>
No...! Dante! Run! Get out of here!
That clock fella's gotta be someone so very precious to you, hmm? Just look at her, hanging onto my leg... after all that beating.
Not the manager... No...! Not Dante...! Not Dante...!
Should I... press the button?
Is that really going to be my last ever thought?
There was a distant sound. Like an answer to my question.
That solemn sound tolled clearly through the blinding fog.
…….
It was a skiff. One much smaller, much more modest than ours.
From beyond the misty veil, the skiff slowly glided across the water in our direction. On it was a solitary figure holding an oar. A giant harpoon was attached to the bow of the ship.
But why...?
The Big Brother of the Middle...
Who could probably break that puny skiff in half with his bare hands...
... stares at it in stunned silence.
…….
It became clear that the skiff didn't float here by accident...
... when the figure on the boat began gently rowing in our direction.
Through the mist, we saw something flash atop the skiff.
The figure hurled something in our general direction. It flew so fast that no human eye could catch it.
I didn't even have the time to register that something was thrown... before I noticed that something was piercing the Big Brother's left shoulder.
Then, a powerful shockwave, far mightier than anything the pirates had fired earlier struck us. The air itself quaked.
It was not a distance that most people would even think about jumping across, but...
... the figure leaped over from the skiff to the Lobotomy Corp. Branch gracefully and with agility.
The man from the Middle, who so far had appeared unassailable... stumbled, and fell to his knees. His shoulder was skewered.
Haah... You...!
That's when I finally noticed that what the figure had thrown... was a harpoon.
A harpoon too immense to be thrown by a mere person, let alone at such a blinding speed.
The hooded figure's arm was wreathed in a familiar light.
You old geezer...
Thought you were out there, fishing... What, you think you're some hot shit now that they made you a Color? Just because you hunted the Marlin Whale? Are you challenging the Middle to a hunt like we're some Whale? That it?
You're not the kind of idiot that would attack me without knowing the consequences.
The Middle is no different from a Whale, hm. But that's not why I am here.
I'm just after a fish that got away.
Ha... ha ha... 'Course you are... I'm sure there's no need for me to remind you that the Middle never forgets.
Feel free to write me down in the remaining margins of that nasty little book, if you wish.
The old man tugs the harpoon lodged in the Big Brother's shoulder.
Hngh...
The 'Big Brother' tried to hold his ground against the harpoon's pull... Until there was a crunch.
Those that do not bend... break.
The harpoon tore off his entire shoulder with it.
... It was a force that would have turned most people into tattered meat.
Not bad.
Would you like to give it another try?
... Fine, fine! I'll leave for now. But... don't you forget.
The Middle remembers. It doesn't matter what I did here; the Middle will remember everyone and everything that dared to turn their back on it.
And the Middle always pays its debts. In whichever form…
…….
Ishmael and I had no choice but to watch in silent awe as the old man approached us.
The harpoon was still in his hand, and if he wished to strike us with it... we could never hope to get out of its way.
I'm looking for the fish that consumed this structure.
Are you two also here to fish?