--MANGA TRANSLATIONS--
--TRIGUN MAXIMUM VOLUME 5, CHAPTER 3--
--"LOSS"--
Translation by sumire
Page 64
Wolfwood and Midvalley have each other at gunpoint.
Midvalley: Heh. Interesting.
Wolfwood: .....?
- Midvalley: Chapel, I'm on to you.
- Your eyes... are the eyes of a traitor.
Wolfwood: Huh. You're bringing up the Blade and Ninelives now!?
- Midvalley: That's not what I'm talking about.
- That's not it at all, is it, Chapel?
Page 65
Milly (arrives at the top of the stairs): Wolfwood-san!
Midvalley and Wolfwood open fire.
They draw back, each with superficial wounds.
Page 66
- Midvalley?: You saw through the lie!?
- You even heard me breathing!?
Milly fires another stun-bolt. Midvalley counters it in an explosion.
Page 67
The smoke clears.
Milly: He... He's gone!
Midvalley (walking away): I aimed for the girl to buy me some time, but...
- Midvalley: ...You're something to be reckoned with, all right.
- Even with your unseeing eyes, instinctively shielding her...
This just gets more and more interesting!Page 68
Midvalley: If you will persist in facing the world with teeth bared, then attack, O Wolf.
He passes an explosive device on the wall.
Hopperd (in flashback): I'll cover your tracks in a mountain of rubble.
- Midvalley (thinks): Are you going to have to use this?
- Sorry... Gantlet...
Page 69
Hopperd has crashed through the wall and into the elevator shaft.
Page 70
Meryl is startled as the elevator lurches.
- Hopperd (thinks): Did I do it?
- No... I can feel something.
There was a strange deceleration.Hopperd grimaces.
- Hopperd (thinks): I can't move...
- So in the end, I missed my last chance.
Hopperd: !?
A strange feather appears in his view. He peers over the edge of his shell.
Page 71
A mass of glowing feathers emerges from Vash's body.
Hopperd screams as he has flashbacks of the Angel Arm.
Page 72
Hopperd fires up the rockets on the back of his shell.
Meryl screams.
Page 73
The elevator cable frays and snaps.
Hopperd (thinks): Die! Be crushed and die!!
Page 74
Vash's body erupts in feathers.
Page 75
Vash is out of control.
A tip of feather touches Hopperd's face, and he is sucked into Vash's memory.
Page 76
Knives stands by a window.
Hopperd (thinks): Knives...
Knives: Yo. Vash.
- Hopperd (thinks): Where is this?
- I remember this place...
...July!?
This is July, back then!?Vash draws his gun.
Vash: We meet at last. Knives.
Knives frowns.
- Knives: And here it's been so long since we last met.
- How gauche.
His left hand begins to glow.
Page 77
Vash: GAH!
Vash falls.
- Knives: Take it easy.
- I've been waiting for you, you know.
Knives descends a long, dark staircase.
- Hopperd (thinks): Where is he going?
- Where is that?
A syringe pierces Vash's arm.
- Knives: How is it, Doctor?
Page 78
Vash is strapped to an operating table, dozens of needles and tubes monitoring his right arm.
- Doctor: He's giving incredible readings.
- His "Gate" may be even greater than yours.
Knives is impassive.
- Doctor: You know, Knives. This is beginning to scare me.
- ...this power is greater than anything any one individual has ever possessed.
Knives: So?
Page 79
Knives glares at the doctor.
- Knives: So what if it is? What are you going to do about it?
- Are you going to destroy us? Hm?
The present. The feathery tendrils pass through the ceiling of the elevator. Meryl screams as they envelop her.
Page 80
Another time. Vash gasps for breath, staring at his right hand, which is beginning to Angel-Arm.
Knives watches, smiling.
Vash: Kni--Knives... What is this!?
- Knives: .....
- It's power.
Page 81
- Knives: I've been studying it all this time.
- --This special power contained in our "seeds".
Vash: GAH!
The feathers erupt.
- Knives: It's hot, isn't it. Can you feel the great flow of energy?
- It's hard to handle the first time.
Don't worry. Just let it resonate with mine.Page 82
- Knives: If you just open it once more, it'll engulf everything, like this.
- It's an amazing feeling of release.
It blows away all reason and consciousness.
Aren't your restraints about to come loose?Knives leans in close.
- Knives: Say.
- Can I ask you for an honest answer on something.
Living with them for nearly a hundred years...
Haven't you just once felt hatred for the human race?Page 83
- Vash: .....
- Stop it.
- Knives: I don't think so.
- This is important.
Vash: I'm not like you.
Knives: I was speechless when I saw those scars on your body.
- Knives: How many times have you been betrayed?
- How many times have you been hurt?
How many times have you been lied to?
How many times have you been humilated?
--been treated as something other than human?
--had that which was most dear to you taken away?
--had your word doubted?
--been laughed at as they ground you into the dirt?Page 84
- Hopperd (thinks): Stop... Don't stir up that darkness...
- I can feel a terrible premonition...
I don't want to see... I don't want to see...Vash, trembling, raises his gun.
- Knives: Face reality.
- You're full of contradictions.
- Knives: Your pretty ideals and foolish pride--
- --aren't they eating away at your heart!?
Page 85
He lays his hand on Vash's face.
- Knives: .....
- How I hate you, Rem.
You were the one who made him like this.Page 86
Vash--and Hopperd--scream.
Hopperd (thinks): This overwhelming... feeling of loss!
Vash's left arm seizes Knives by the collar.
Page 87
Vash has a vision of all his friends.
- Knives: You still...
- ...don't get it!?
Knives: You fool!!
Page 88
The Angel Arm erupts.
Hopperd: No! Please!
Page 89
- Hopperd: No!--Don't make me watch!
- --That moment in July!
The Angel Arm is pointed at Knives.
Knives: What!?
Vash's eyes are blank.
There is a flash of light.
Pages 90-91
The destruction of July City.
Page 92
Hopperd screams as he sees his blind love destroyed.
To be continued...