Chapter 27: Japan

The Exorcists, Chomesuke, and the survived crew reached Japan at the bay that has the stairs nearby and they all (except for Chomesuke) wearing cloaks.

"We're here." Chomesuke announces.

"This is..." Lavi says.

"Welcome to Japan."

Then they all start climbing the stairs and follow Chomesuke in its human disguise. Chomesuke is now a beautiful woman with red hair, red eyes and a pink kimono.

"For about 300 years, Japan has existed in the East end as a closed country, refusing to trade or make any connections." Bookman explains. "Nobody could go in and nobody could come out. Come to think of it, this is a great hiding place. Could it be that the Earl was behind the national seclusion?"

"Yup." Chomesuke confirms. "The Earl was sending his Akuma machines out to the world from Japan-cho. 90% of population in Japan consists of Akuma and the Earl governs every aspects of this country-cho."

"For 300 years..." Lenalee says.

"This must have been a paradise for the Earl and his Akumas." Chaozi says.

"There is no safe place for humans in this country-cho... Although the same could be same for Akumas as well."

"What do you mean, Chome?" Lavi asks.

Chomesuke then notices a woman is standing in front of them. "Someone's there!"

"Sachiko..." The woman calls.

"Kawamura!" Chomesuke calls.

"Who's 'Sachiko'?" Lavi asks.

"It's my name for this disguise-cho." Chomesuke explains. "That's my comrade 'Kawamura'. He's an Akuma that was converted my Marian too-cho." When Chomesuke reaches Kawamura, Chomesuke puts her hands on Kawamura's shoulders. "You came to pick us up, Kawamura? Thanks so much-cho. I'm about to reach my limit..." Chomesuke then notices Kawamura is acting strange. "Kawamura?"

Suddenly, Kawamura's neck snaps and web appears behind her and changes into her Akuma form. Chomesuke quickly steps back.

"Chomesuke?!" Lavi calls.

"HIDE EVERYONE!" Chomesuke exclaims as she rushes back to them.

"Huh?" Lavi says as they are being push by Chomesuke to hide.

"The Akuma are coming! Hurry!"

Then they see three Level 3 Akumas walking towards Kawamura.

"Level 3...?!" Lavi whispers.

"And three of them." Krory adds.

"D-don't breath. They'll notice!" Chomesuke whispers. "E-erase your presence as much as you can-cho!"

"Hey, what's going on?" Lavi asks. "What happened to that Kawamura...?"

"Kawamura came to pick you guys up. But he was caught by those Level 3 Akumas. It's too late already-cho."

The three Akumas are in front of her.

"Caught?" Lavi says. "Why would that happen between Akumas...?"

Then the Akumas open their mouths and bite down Kawamura.

"It's to eat him-cho..." Chomesuke explains. "These kind of things happen if the population of Akumas in a high area is too high-cho. To satisfy their desire to kill humans, they kill each other Akumas and absorb their abilities. I'm only Level 2 so I'm no match for them... In Japan, it doesn't matter if you are an Akuma of human... only the strongest manage to survive-cho."

Ugh..." Lavi groans seeing the dead bodies when they all reach the top of the stairs. "I feel like throwing up..."

"To think of them eating each other..." Bookman says.

"These... Are they the remains of the Akuma they were eaten?!" Krory questions looking at the pile of dead Akuma.

"Ugh." Lenalee groans.

"Are you okay?" Chaozi asks. "If you are not feeling well, would you like to drink some water?"

"No, I'm fine." Lenalee reassures. "Thank you, um...?"

"My name is Chaozi." Chaozi introduces. "On the ship I was a third-class sailor. Those two are Masao-senpai and Kie-senpai!"

Lenalee looks behind her to see two people.

"I'm Masao." One of them says.

"I'm Kie." The other one says.

"We hope to be of your help, Miss Exorcist." Chaozi says. "We will try do our best to fulfill the duties our comrades left to us and we want to use our lives if it will help you achieve your purposes!"

"No..." Lenalee says. "Let us all go back alive..."

As Chomesuke continues to lead them to Edo, she gulps and her killing intent is coming back.

"What's wrong, Sachiko?" Lavi asks.

"Just call me Chomesuke." Chomesuke says. "Otherwise, it will be confusing."

'Oh no, I'm getting thirsty-cho. I really am reaching my limit…' he thought.

Suddenly, Chomesuke feels something coming into her head and clutches it.

"ARRGH!" Chomesuke grunts.

"What happened, Sachiko?" Lavi asks.

"You idiot, I told you to just call me Chomesuke!" She yells. "It-it's a message from the Earl."

"From the Earl?!" Lavi exclaims.

"Have we been found?" Miranda asks.

"N-no, I don't think that's it-cho..." Chomesuke replies. "It's a really big message-cho... I can't c-control... AGH. My head, it's getting... Who am I? Where are we?"

"Hold on, Chomesuke!" Lavi shouts.

"The range of the message... The Earl is trying to gather in all the Akumas in Japan!"

The transmission starts to get stronger.

"UWA―!" Chomesuke screams.

"Hang on, Chomesuke!" Lavi calls.

"What is happening?" Krory asks.

"What do you mean, 'The Earl is trying to gather in all Akumas in Japan'?!" Lavi exclaims. "Hey, Chomesuke!"

"I-I'm an Akuma, but... I've also been converted my Marian and I can act without the need to obey the Earl's orders-cho..." Chomesuke says. "But... this message from the Earl is... t... too... stron...g..."

Chomesuke drops her arms and lifts her head.

"Chome...?" Lavi calls.

"I'm sorry, Lavi... I... have to go to the Earl..."

"Wait..." Leenalee says. "When you say 'to the Earl', you mean—?!"

"Right now... at the center of Edo... The Millennium Earl, he's here..."

The Exorcists and the three crew members are surprise at the news that Chomesuke delivers.

"The E–?" Lavi says.

"You mean." Bookman says.

"That Earl?!" Krory says.

"The Earl. He's in Edo..." Lenalee says.

They decided to go to Edo and when they got there, they hide in one of the houses in Edo and hear the Earl's speech.


~Meanwhile~
Black Order: Asia Branch

Fou stops moving when Allen's Cursed Eye activates.

"Fou?" Bak calls. "Why have you stopped suddenly?"

"Walker's eye has suddenly..." Fou trails off.

"Huh?"

"H-hey Shifu." Rikei calls. "Did you see that?!"

"Y-yeah..." Shifu replies.

"Walker?" Bak calls. "What's wrong with your eye?"

'This... Again...' Allen thought.

In Alice's room

Alice shoots her eyes and quickly sits up.

"Allen..." Alice mutters and quickly gets off the bed before she runs.


At Edo, Japan

"PREPARE FOR A COMBINED ATTACK, MY AKUMAS!" The Earl orders. "ALL FORCES IN JAPAN, GO AND DESTROY THE GENERALS!"

Lavi then activates Iron Hammer and a fire snake appears from one of the houses.

Take this!" Lavi says and points at the enemy.

The fire snake opens its mouth and swallows the Earl as the four Noahs jumps away. The Earl's hand starts to glow.

"As if." The Earl says and the snake bursts before he opens the umbrella part of the golem. "This attack... The level is too low to be that of a General." The four Noahs lands on three Akumas. "Come on out, now..." The Earl says as he looks at the house that the fire snake appeared. "You vermin."

Once the smoke clears out, the Exorcists, the three crew members, and Chomesuke are standing on the roof.

"We aren't going to let you get to the General, Earl!" Bookman declares.

"Ohh. And you think you can stop us?" The Earl questions.

"So." Krory says. "Is that silly-looking fatso up there the Earl, Bookman?"

"Yes." Bookman answers.

"So that is the 'Akuma Creator'..." Lavi says.

"And that..." Lenalee adds. "Is our sworn enemy."

"You're seriously going to fight against them-cho?!" Chomesuke questions. "There's a hoard of Akumas up there and on top of that, four Noahs! There's no way you guys can win-cho! You guys are definitely going to die!"

"Don't say that, Chome..." Lavi tells her "We know that they are really strong. But we're not really planning to fight a lost battle."

"Lavi..." Chomesuke calls. "But... Look at that. This is a lost battle-cho..."

"What a noisy guy." Krory notes. "We won't know if we'll lose until we try!"

"Yup, he's right." Lavi agrees. "We may even overpower them."

Both Lavi and Krory jumps up.

"WE WON'T KNOW TILL WE TRY!" Lavi shouts.

One of the Noahs then remembers the two Exorcists.

"Millennium Count, I'll go." He tells the Earl before he jumps off.

The three clash and Lavi remembers one of the Noahs and both Lavi and Krory spin around once both of them passes the Noah.

"YOU—!" Lavi calls.

"Well, well. If it isn't the Gentleman and the boy with the Eye-patch from before..." He recalls.

"That man!" Lenalee says. "He was in Tim's memory..."

"I won't forget that face...!" Lavi exclaims.

"Both Lavi and the Noah lands on the roof and Lavi is standing in front of Lenalee.

"That night..." Lenalee starts. "YOU WE THE NOAH THAT KILLED ALLEN...!"

"I'm a bit bored at the moment." The Noah says. "But maybe you can keep me occupied for a while like that, boy?"

"You asked for it." Lavi says and takes off his cloak.

"Lavi!" Lenalee calls.

"I'm the one that's going to get rid of this guy, so everybody, don't interfere!" Lavi declares and points Iron Hammer at the enemy. "I'LL HAVE TO POUND HIM TO DUST BEFORE I CAN CALM MYSELF DOWN!"

"What?" The slick back-haired Noah says. "Are you angry that I killed the cheating boy? Oh, I guess he was your friend?"

"Shut up."

"Ah, I see. You guys were friends."

"Shut up!"

"And could it be that the cute girl behind you was also his friend?"

"Shut up!"

"I'm sorry. It's a sad thing. I understand. Cuz I have them too. What you call friends?"

"Shut up!"

"I understand you, boy."

"Shut up!"

"When friends die..."

"Shut up!"

"It is a very sad thing."

"SHUT UP!"

"Don't be so angry. That boy's alive. He may be coming here soon with that girl, Alice Lakefield. Do you want to meet with them?"

Lavi and Lenalee widen their eyes at the news.

"Although, that'll be possible only if you guys are alive till then. It shouldn't take so long, I think. Cuz I've already destroy his Innocence, if he doesn't put up a pointless fight—and let the Akuma I sent capture him after beating him to the brink of death—that boy should be here soon. You must try your best to survive."


The Black Order: Asia Branch entrance

A Level 3 Akuma appears from the black portal with a black butterfly and the portal has the number 57 on it.