Chapter 15

**Fifteenth Bone: "Silver Cannon--One-Shot Trick"** is the fourteenth (numbered fifteenth) chapter of the manga *B. Ichi*. It was collected as part of Volume 4.

## Featured Appearances

### Characters

**Shotaro's Group**

* Mana Hinoki
* Yohei Nanami
* Tool
* Zuno (*Bonus Art only*)
* Assi (*Bonus Art only*)

**Fear Factory**

* Nofix

### Locations

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

### Objects

* Law-Abiding Silver Gun
	+ Silver Cannon
* Nofix's Yoyo
* Fear Robot

## Techniques

* Powers of Spin
	+ Yoyo Attacks
		- Walk the Crazy Dog
		- Loop the Death Loop (*first appearance*)
* Kappa Style, Art of the Dish, Dish Shield

## Plot

### Near Fear Robot Hangar, Fear Factory

Mana and Tool follow the rumbling sounds of explosions. Tool warns that he hears the objects around him "getting violent fast."

### Fear Robot Hangar

The grappling feature of the Law-Abiding Silver Gun is attached to a pipe high above the floor. Yohei swings from his gun, barely missing the explosion from Nofix igniting gas pipes with his yoyo attack Walk the Crazy Dog.

From below, emerging from the explosion, Nofix repeats "What?" and "No fair!" in reaction to Yohei leaving him to be the only one blown away by the explosion. As Yohei extends his tether to land safely on the floor again, he calls Nofix insane, as he was the one who chose to cause an explosion--and just stand there as it happened. Yohei pulls back the tether on his Silver Gun. His weapon lacks enough ammo, only one standard silver shot and one cold shot. He flips his gun through the air to give him a free hand to place another cigarette in his mouth. Catching the gun, he uses a flame from its muzzle to light his cigarette. As he begins his smoke, he determines to use the gun's Silver Cannon feature as his final shot.

Nofix, laughing, repeats "Hey, Yohei" before asking whether he is enjoying this battle, especially since he is facing off against the man who killed his Dokeshi Hunt teammates. Nofix extends his middle finger at Yohei, which has tethered to it his yoyo string, releasing Walk the Crazy Dog again. Yohei has no time to dodge: the yoyo attack slices across his right shoulder. Yohei falls to the floor but tells Nofix that this chatter is not getting them anywhere. Nofix slams his right hand to the floor to initiate his Powers of Spin, telling Yohei that a little murder can be fun. The Powers of Spin kick up the floor panel beneath Yohei, knocking him back into a wall.

Nofix slowly stands and remembers Yohei had a lesson to teach to him, which the Dokeshi finds hard to believe based on their murderous relationship. Yohei looks down but aims his Silver Gun at Nofix. Yohei begins to laugh and looks up at Nofix with a smile. "Trusting your friends," Yohei says, "ain't such a bad idea."

Nofix grimaces and complains that Yohei's remark is boring. He begins to complain that something "stupid" about Yohei is rubbing off on him: "the senselessness of a murderer," "everyday common sense," the humanity of even "pigs." Nofix asks that they stop these mind-numbing conversations. He turns around and clasps his hands behind his back. He begins to speak more elegantly that they need to stop being optimistic about sunny days, warmth on cold days, and commiserating over drinks. He finds such ordinary experiences and ordinary conversations to be dull. He turns with a precocious smile and tells Yohei that murder is far more interesting.

Yohei frowns. "If your only recommendation is something that moronic, I'd rather sell my badly-made machines to idiots." He aims his Silver Gun to the side and triggers it, releasing its grapple to a nearby lever, pulling it down. Nofix, anticipating Yohei's actions, smiles, repeating that he recommends murder. Yohei replies, "Die."

The lever releases a crate above Nofix. Yohei retrieves his grapple and mocks the "moron."

Yohei is then shocked to see Nofix is right in front of him, seemingly having moved so fast as to dodge the crate. Nofix slugs Yohei in the face, knocking him to the floor. Nofix lies down beside Yohei, telling him that he will have to watch more closely. He pulls the Silver Gun's muzzle to his forehead and repeats that Yohei has to aim "right here." Yohei clenches his teeth and fires--and Nofix is already gone! One of his last bullets hits only the floor.

Now Nofix is atop Yohei, yelling at the idiot that he was supposed to watch him. Nofix adds that he cares not what happens to this world or anything around him and Yohei. He then stands up and clutches his crotch, telling Yohei to keep his eyes on him only so that everything will make sense. He adds that bloodlust will let them accomplish anything.

While Nofix just stands there, Yohei gets up. He recognizes that Nofix did not actually move fast but actually seemed to disappear. Yohei considers Nofix's Powers of Spin, determining those abilities must allow Nofix to perform some illusion. Yohei stares only at Nofix, waiting to see what happens. Nofix repeats "Spin."

But Nofix is already at Yohei's side. As he swings his elbow right by Yohei's head, he whispers that Yohei was not looking again. Nofix performs Loop the Death Loop, his string cutting along Yohei's body and slamming him into the floor. Nofix cackles, telling Yohei that the next time he takes his eyes off him, he will die. Nofix adds that he desires to kill Yohei but to rip him limb from limb--an idea that even Nofix knows makes no sense. Nofix adds that he likes Yohei, which is why he's giving him this advice.

As he stares at Nofix, who only cackles, Yohei struggles to catch his breath. Nofix is using his Visual Loop, one of his spin techniques that allows him to repeat a five-second visual illusion while the real Nofix can move around. At that moment, Nofix has his hands to a wall, using Power of Spin "to rip my beloved friend apart."

"Really?" Nofix freezes in a demonic grin as he hears Yohei's voice. He has his Silver Gun aimed at his back. "That's good to hear," Yohei concludes, as he fires his Cold Shot. Nofix stares in horror as the bullet freezes his limbs together and to the wall. Nofix is shocked how Yohei could see through his illusion, assuming it must be love. Yohei answers that he noticed a commonality to all three times he evaded his bullets, repeating the same movements and words: "I recommend it," "Right here," and "Spin." Yohei concludes Nofix repeats himself so people cannot determine when his Visual Loop begins or ends. By telling the people not to remove their eyes from him, Nofix then keeps the opponent focused on his illusion, drawn into the trap.

Nofix, still grinning, is confused: how could Yohei attack if he was still staring at the illusion that fourth time. Yohei explains he appeared to be looking straight ahead, but his focus was at the graffiti behind Nofix's head, that of a "Shit Sumo Wrestler." Nofix frowns, offended that Yohei was "in love with that fat piece of shit" graffiti.

Yohei prepares his final shot, the Silver Cannon and warns Nofix to focus on the situation at hand. Nofix refuses, wondering still whether Yohei has a "fattie" obsession. Yohei responds, "I guess I like 'em better than macho assholes, at least." He commands the Silver Gun to transform, ready to see whether Nofix can actually "survive being blown to bits."

Nofix tries to remove his frozen hands from the wall, claiming his Power of Spin cannot be stopped this way. Yohei responds that he only needs Nofix to stop moving. Then a bolt falls to Yohei's side. Nofix explains that he used his Power of Spin to loosened bolts in the ceiling tank. Therefore, Yohei has a choice for his last bullet: fire at Nofix and maybe stop him but be crushed by the ceiling tank, or save himself by firing at the ceiling tank but let Nofix escape.

"Like I give a damn!" Yohei shouts. He keeps his aim on Nofix and charges his attack. The ceiling tank begins to fall. "Get crushed and die!" Nofix shouts.

The Silver Cannon completes its fire right before the ceiling tank likely crushes the gun and Yohei with it. But as the smoke of the attack clears, Yohei is surprised to find he has not been crushed: the tank is still above him, held by the Kappa Style, Art of the Dish, Dish Shield--Tool is standing upright, his hard head keeping the tank above! Yohei and Tool smile at each other.

Yohei is then surprised to see Mana attempting to chop his forehead, as she teases how messy is his hair. Yohei mocks Mana as "ugly." Tool then wonders who here looks like the "bigger idiot for trying too hard." Tool asks where is Shotaro, and Yohei responds that the still-missing ally is likely fine.

As the debris of the Silver Cannon attack clears, Mana nervously alerts her friends that Nofix is still standing--right next to the Fear Robot. The nose of the robot begins to spin as Nofix assumes the Robot is asking him to pilot it again.

## Trivia

* This is the first chapter not to feature Shotaro, not even in cover art or bonus art.
* The chapter includes bonus artwork of Zuno and Assi.
* Tool's dish alludes to the round dish on top of kappa's head in mythology. It is in this dish that kappa are said to hold water.

### Musical Allusions

* When rising from the floor, Nofix clutches his crotch and pulls his head back. This pose is similar to one used by United States pop musician Michael Jackson.

### Connections to Okubo's Later Works

* Mana attempts to slap the edge of her hand onto Yohei's head in a "chop." This technique will be used repeatedly as a titular attack in *Soul Eater* and *Soul Eater NOT!*, including the Maka Chop, the Shinigami Chop or Reaper Chop, and the Sid Chop.

## References

1. ↑ *B. Ichi* Manga: Volume 4, Yen Press English eBook, Pages 34, 205