Chapter 16

**Sixteenth Bone: "Stand Up, Please--Justice Is Here"** is the fifteenth (numbered sixteenth) chapter of the manga *B. Ichi*. It was collected as part of Volume 4.

## Featured Appearances

### Characters

**Shotaro's Group**

* Shotaro
* Mana Hinoki
* Yohei Nanami
* Tool
* Zuno (*dead*)
* Assi

**Fear Factory**

* NoFix

### Locations

* Japon
	+ I. C. Prefecture
		- Fear Factory
			* Fear Robot Hangar

### Objects

* Law-Abiding Silver Gun
* Fear Robot

## Techniques

* Powers of Spin
	+ Healing Cells
* Spin Spin Nose Drill
* Spin Spin Little Drill
* Justice Blade

## Plot

### Fear Robot Hangar, Fear Factory

Even with his hands still frozen to the wall by the Law-Abiding Silver Gun's Cold Shot, NoFix is able to make the Fear Robot move. Tool, Mana, and Yohei stare in shock as NoFix asks whether the robot wants him as its pilot. With that, NoFix snaps his frozen arms from the wall and uses his Powers of Spin with his feet, tearing up the floor and propelling himself like a cyclone. The spinning also opens the entrance into the Fear Robot's pilot seat, upon which he seats. Like NoFix, the Fear Robot's arms are still destroyed from its fight against Charisma Justice. NoFix uses Spinning Cells to regenerate his lost limbs--which somehow makes the Fear Robot grow new limbs as well. Yohei and his teammates stare in fear as NoFix cackles and orders the trio to die.

### Near the Fear Robot Hangar

With Zuno's corpse leaning against the hallway wall, Shotaro thanks Assi for teaching him how to use the elevator to return to this floor. Shotaro is ready to rejoin his teammates. Assi expresses confidence that Shotaro "can do anything." Shotaro bites on one of his bones and tells Assi to "hang in there for Mr. Nose Hair." As Shotaro departs to find Yohei, Assi looks as his deceased friend, asking him to watch over Shotaro's group from Heaven. But Assi is shocked to see something flutter out of Zuno's nose: one of his nosehairs is growing.

### Fear Robot Hangar

Debris is kicked up. NoFix continues to giggle as his opponents scream. Tool's arm is broken. Mana is out of breath. Yohei loudly asks why NoFix is targeting his friends rather than him.

The Fear Robot prepares Spin Spin Nose Drill, the nose of the machine spinning off its face and heading towards Mana. Yohei manages to push Mana out of the way--the tip of the drill piercing him into shoulder, pinning him to the wall. NoFix is outraged--at Mana, as he did not want to injure Yohei. Despite blood pouring from his wound, Yohei giggles and asks whether Mana is okay. Meanwhile, NoFix curses Mana and send the robot's right fist to pummel her. The attack is blocked by Tool's thick dome atop his head. Tool orders Mana and Yohei to retreat while he determines how to defeat the Fear Robot. Tool chides the Fear Robot as not being strong enough to crack his head. Upset, NoFix decides to increase the power of his punches.

While Tool bears the brunt of the Fear Robot's punches, he determines that he could use his kappa powers to suck the soul, the "life force," out of the Fear Robot, which would prevent it from functioning. But one more punch from the robot shatters the dome atop Tool's head. Undeterred, he leans against his pickaxe to stay standing--and is punched against by the Fear Robot.

Mana rushes to Tool--and NoFix uses this opportunity to fire Spin Spin Little Drill through her left thigh. Mana falls to the floor. The Fear Robot's right hand scoops her up and begins to squish her. NoFix begins to giggle again before he uses the left index finger of the Fear Robot to flick Mana's head.

Furious, Yohei tries to stand, shouting for NoFix to stop. NoFix tells Yohei to be silent, reminding him that he has told him before--even if he cannot quite remember the date--that he was going to kill Yohei's friends. To prove his point, NoFix has the Fear Robot's left index finger start to rub Mana's bloody head. Yohei stands, impotent against NoFix's power: he fears he will again see his friends die. Yohei reflects on how he left Dokeshi Hunt to avoid losing friends again. He remembers after that loss how he threw his Law-Abiding Silver Gun into the Fantastic Island trash dump, so he could forget his pain. He remembers Tool handing him back the Silver Gun with the direction to trust friends like him, Mana, and Shotaro. With these memories, Yohei refuses to let his friends die.

NoFix cackles upon seeing how tortured Yohei looks. He prepares to kill Mana with one more punch.

"Justice Blade!" Yohei and NoFix are surprised to see Shotaro fly towards the Fear Robot's fist. With one swipe of his hands, Shotaro shatters the fist holding Mana, then holds onto the back of her fuku uniforms with his teeth to fly her to the floor. He concludes, "Justice is here."

## Trivia

* This chapter lends doubt as to whether Zuno dies, as the growth of his nosehair suggests he is still alive. However, the appearance of hair growing is in itself not an absolute indication of life. Ignoring any potential Dokeshi ability for Zuno to have his hair continue to grow after apparent death, the idea that hair grows after death is popularized by urban legends and fiction. Hair grows due to a group of cells under the skin that divide to produce new cells that make hair strands longer. These hair cells depend on energy from the burning of glucose, which requires oxygen. The heart distributed oxygen through the body inside of blood; once the hearts stops pumping blood, the oxygen is lost, no glucose is burned, energy dries up, and so ends the cell division that drives hair growth. In other words, it is not likely that hair grows after death. While there are comparatively few scientific studies on hair growing after death, the appearance of hair still growing from a corpse may actually be a misunderstanding: skin tends to retract on a corpse due to lost moisture, which may make the hair within that skin appear longer.

## References

1. ↑ Hammond, Claudia. "Do Your Hair And Fingernails Grow After Death?" *BBC*. 28 May 2013. Accessed 2 Nov 2015. http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130526-do-your-nails-grow-after-death