RETURN TO THE HOMELAND – CAN YOU DO IT?
Yakuza HQ, Slave Quarters
The slave quarters are uncared for; they show no concern for the welfare or happiness of the slaves. They consist of bunk beds, triple layered bunk beds with no room to raise your body in the night. The bunks raise all the way to just short of the ceiling, an old stone ceiling. These quarters, just like all the others were constructed mostly of stone, the moisture highly unpleasant and certainly not suitable for living with.
As the Honda becomes slightly agitated by the smell he considers whether he should allow slaves to have a shower occasionally. His thoughts are interrupted by the arrival of his most trusted aid.
"They are here master" Kara informs Honda before turning her body to the side, "Should I excuse myself now". Kara knows that whatever the master has planned is undoubtedly highly unpleasant and perhaps even degrading.
"You stay here; I will be interested to see how you react to the situation" orders the Yakuza boss.
"Yes" replies Kara as she shuts the door behind her, her eyes as lifeless as ever as the large metal frame slams into the rectangular hole. Kara locks the door knowing that her master probably didn't want any of the slaves running. The metal thump sends a noticeable chill down the slave's spines.
As the adults amongst the slaves position themselves between the children and the Yakuza, Honda turns to his subordinates. "Yaru, Lucy, what do you think of the slave's quarters" he asks as he gestures with his hands as presenting a grand hall.
"I… it is horrible" starts Yaru, struggling to get out the words for what he wants to say, "I don't want to have to be in here another second". His green hair flutters around as his head darts from side to side, taking in every corner of the room.
"I don't care" Lucy says blandly, "I am not the one who is living here so I feel no pain". Lucy knows that her brother is staring at her, she could feel his eyes burning a hole in her head. 'Who cares about him though, it doesn't matter if this pains him, I feel no pain' she says to herself.
"That is the correct answer Lucy" Honda says as he claps his hands together and laughs maniacally. Finally settling down from his amused turn, he looks to the younger of the siblings, "But you Yaru, you were more hesitant".
"It's not that" replies the expert kicker, waving both hands in front of his face, "I'm just commenting about the living conditions". Fearful that the boss may further pursue the issue he elaborates on the most obvious issue he can find, "I mean the smell is so bad I'm struggling to bring myself to breath, if we found being here pleasant then wouldn't we decorate our rooms this way".
"I see, I suppose you are right" replies Honda with a contemplative look, "Then you wouldn't hesitate to kill a slave if I asked you to".
The question causes Yaru to start, he dares not to hesitate though, he clenches his fist and resolutely answers, "I wouldn't hesitate".
The young Yakuza member feels a pang of guilt as all the slaves gasp and the children tighten their grip on the adults. It isn't that long ago that he and his sister were children, struggling to survive after losing their parents, desperately clinging to anything they can. Now that the Yakuza had saved them they were on top of the world but there were plenty just like they were, who suffered.
"Then go ahead, show me you can do it" Honda instructs.
"Why" Yaru quickly shouts in reply, not realising how dramatic he is being, "They haven't even done anything to upset me yet".
Honda frowns and twiddles the hair from his grey beard, "I thought you said you could do it".
"I can do it" Yaru strongly claims, "I just don't understand what it achieves". In the past Honda has always demonstrated the murder of slaves as a manner of revenge, as punishment when they do something wrong. Previously it has always been to the end of improving their performance, this would just be murder for the sake of murder.
"It doesn't motivate them like killing them when they have done something wrong, aren't I right" Yaru asks as he turns to his sister. The younger sibling is struck when he realises that his sister isn't reacting in the slightest, if anything she is annoyed that he is hesitating. Turning to Kara provides no relief to Yaru, she looks into his eyes with her own dead looking pair, uninterested in his opinion or the situation as a whole.
"I see" Honda says, causing Yaru's head to swing back around, "You are misunderstanding something my boy, we don't kill them to teach them a lesson, you can't teach dead people a lesson" explains the Yakuza boss.
"We kill them so we have the pleasure of knowing that none who have crossed us have lived" he finishes.
Yaru clenches his fists, 'Then why are you killing these people and not Sawada Tsunayoshi' he thinks to himself, knowing better than to vocalise the opinion.
"Can't you do it" Honda asks, "Don't worry, I thought you might struggle, that's why I have brought some motivation along".
Catching the elder sibling by surprise, Honda appears behind Lucy and grabs her hair firmly. As Lucy's hands go to the back of her head her defence is stopped in its tracks as the elder slams her head, face first into the stony floor.
As Lucy screams in pain Honda chuckles to himself, "Oh, you are screaming already, we haven't even got to the painful part yet".
Yaru isn't angry as he would if anyone else attacked his sister, he is just afraid, what is he going to do. Lucy doesn't struggle, infuriating the mam, the god who promised that she would experience even more pain would only make things worse for her, their fates had long since been in Honda's hand.
"Kara, hand me the modified cane" orders the old man.
Kara reveals that she has been holding a weapon all along, as Honda had implied the weapon looked a lot like a cane with some modifications. The modifications are what scares Lucy the most. All along the length of the cane are small rusty spikes.
"I suggest you kill one of them quickly Yaru" begins Honda, "Because what your sister is about to experience will only stop when you do".
Yaru looks on in horror, paralysed by the deadly weapon threatening his sister. Honda continues, "And what she is going to experience feels like this". The old man slams the cane down into Lucy's back.
Yaru closes his eyes and holds his ears as his sister screams blisteringly loud. The slaves follow suit from Yaru, many of them believing that a scream that loud could burst their ear drums.
"Nothing yet?" Honda questions as if he is surprised, "Perhaps you're not screaming loud enough Lucy, oh well, once again".
As Honda hits Lucy a second time she screams even louder than the first time. Earlier Yaru thought that the conditions in this room were sickening but it was nothing compared to having to watch his sister go through this.
"Stop, I'll do it, I'll do it" Yaru shouts to the torturer.
"I would stop talking about it and do it" suggest Honda as he continues to hit Lucy.
As quickly as he can, Yaru kicks the nearest slave he can find into one of the stone walls. The death was quick and painless, Yaru had been merciful although that is the farthest thing from anyone's mind at this moment.
As Yaru falls to his knees he begins apologising, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, so sorry, I couldn't, I couldn't".
A few of the slaves question whether Yaru is talking to his sister or to them. "Sorry" mutters Lucy incredulously, "TO HELL WITH YOUR APOLOGIES". Lucy throws her arms out to the side, using her full power to throw glass at every slave in the room, the walls formerly damp with water are now damp with blood.
As Yaru starts at the bloodbath he has just witnessed, his sister mimics Honda's actions from earlier and slams her own brothers head into the blood drenched floor. Lucy senselessly snatches the cane from her master and repeatedly hits her brother with it, far harder and more often than she had been hit with it herself.
"You deserve to die for what you have done" shouts Lucy as she raises the cane one more time.
Suddenly a hand grabs Lucy's wrist before she can lower her arm, this hand belongs to the calmest person in the room, Kara.
"That is enough" Kara proclaims
As a moment passes where everyone remains still in silence Yaru is the first to move. It is an unconscious movement, the young Yakuza had fainted, the pain too much for him to endure.
"Bitch" yells Lucy who still hasn't quenched her thirst for blood, "What do you hope to gain by stopping me".
Kara calmly explains, "That boy is still a valuable pawn for the master, I can't have you damaging him too much".
Lucy screams once again as she leaves the room, as her scream fades into the distance Honda's laugh eventually becomes discernible by Kara. "You played your part perfectly Kara" compliments the self-proclaimed god.
"Thank you master" bows the young woman.
"I am retiring to my bedroom, see that Yaru has his wounds tended to" instructs the old man as he walks out of the door.
Kara looks around the room and confirms her previous assessment, when the master comes up with this sort of idea for improving his assets, it doesn't end well for anybody.
The Shimon Training Field
Enma and Reborn battle furiously to train themselves for the incoming threat. As the Shimon family watch in astonishment their boss creates a black hole next to his young looking opponent.
In retaliation to the creation of the gravity centre, Reborn fires a special bullet into the black hole collapsing it. Enma charges Reborn and the two exchange punches and kicks, a close range fight which few people on the planet could even hope to keep up with.
Suddenly Reborn leaps backwards, away from Enma with his guard down, signalling to Enma that the fight is over. Enma follows Reborn's gaze to his side, where a pink haired woman is standing.
"Cervello" exclaims Enma.
"What do you want" asks Reborn impatiently.
"I have come per the request of an acquaintance of yours, Dino" the Cervello explains.
"Dino, what did he want" Enma asks.
"The two of you are to attend a face to face meeting with some other leading mafia members" the Cervello declares before she hands each of the pair a small card with some information on it.
"Very well, message received" says Reborn before he continues training with Enma.
The Old Varia HQ
In the dark and intimidating headquarters of the Vongola assassination squad, another Cervello is approaching the Varia leader, Xanxus.
"Lord Xanxus" the Cervello prompts, as respectful as ever towards the man they have known for a long time.
"What do you want" Xanxus replies.
"I have come to invite you to a meeting of several mafia members" she explains as she hands Xanxus the card with the information on it.
"I don't have time for meetings" Xanxus replies.
The Cervello smiles having anticipated this reaction, "Bucking bronco says the authority comes from Sawada Tsunayoshi himself".
Xanxus facial expression changes slightly, reflecting his new found respect for the aforementioned Sawada, "Fine, I will be there".
The Chiavarone HQ
"Are they ready" Dino asks of an approaching Chiavarone family member.
"They are ready sir, of course they are only ceremonial" responds Dino's subordinate.
"Good enough" replies the bucking bronco, "It is a symbol, that's all it needs to be… have the invites been sent".
"Yes sir" Romario answers, "They have been told to come here this evening, I have had the rear yard set aside and isolated for you".
Dino is happy but has no time to smile, "Good work Romario, I want you to start working as an overseer on the escape plan, I'm working on the battle plan".
"Understood" declares the second in command as he moves to another room in the headquarters.
"Right, so how do we counter-attack" Dino asks the group that have been working on the battle plan.
The heroic strategy of Dino against the devious plans of Honda, who will win in the battle for Italy.