The Hard ザ・ハード Volume 4, Hunts 16-17 Original story & art Copyright (C) 1992 Saruwatari Tetsuya/Shuueisha This English translation Copyright (C) 1993 Translation by Henry Chung (hvchung@cs.tcd.ie) and Iain Sinclair (axolotl@socs.uts.edu.au) (Maybe it's better if you don't read this. Just buy it for the wild action scenes, which need no translation. :-) =========================================================================== Hunt 16: "Emily no koto" ------------- p.7: (Hard punches out Sakata) Hard: My father in law, who was so widely loved... it's a samurai's responsibility to avenge him! ------------- p.10 (Looking at the photograph of Sakata and Emily) Hard: Emily! Sakata: Give it back! Emily's the most important person in my life! Since you divorced her, she wants nothin' to do with you! Sakata: You still can't forget her, even now? (Sakata punches Hard) Sakata: Just what the f*ck are you thinking, shithead! [sorry about the harsh language, but Sakata really is foul-mouthed. His more exotic insults (like 'Chinpo-yarou') are partially censored in the ORIGINAL manga. -IS] ------------- p.11 Hard: I... (Hard punches Sakata) Hard: I still love Emily! ------------- p.12 (In the local Japanese restaurant) Shige: Emily... what caused you two to divorce? Emily: Shige-san, why would you ask such a thing? Shige: I know that you rejected Sakata, but there must be a good reason for it. I care about you both. Shige: I heard that your ex-husband went through quite a bit because he married you, why did you want to break up with someone like that? Emily: Even I myself don't know ... why I don't want anything to do with Hard... Emily: Although I hate to admit it, maybe I'm afraid of his gentleness and strength. ------------- p.13 Emily: Because he didn't have a father since he was a child, he regarded my father as his own. Dad liked his open, hard-working, honest son-in-law very much, and my brother became jealous. Emily: Barbariano commanded 20 smaller groups, about 30,000 members in total. Hard and I were both in the same situation - relatives of New York's biggest Mafia boss. Emily: A lot of people wanted to kill us. To protect our family, Hard learnt about martial arts, firearms, kendo... ------------- p.14 Emily: After all the harsh training, Hard became a very strong man. He developed extraordinary skill with guns. It wasn't long before none of my fathers' men could compare with him. Emily: He was polite and easy-going... a lot of people liked Hard. They even made an exception to the rule that non-Italians couldn't become Mafia leaders, all because of Hard. ------------- p.15 Emily: The relationship between Hard and my father grew closer each day, but the gap in our relationship got wider each day, and he treated me indifferently. Shige: Why? Emily: Back when he was considerate and kind, I wanted to be with him all the time, but after he become a gangster, he was a different person. Emily: I was looked down on by other people because I was the daughter of a Mafia boss, and I didn't want my daughter to end up like me. Emily: Hard comes from the land of the samurai... it's in his nature to be a fighter. ------------- p.16 Emily: (Hard, the samurai...) (back to the fight) Hard: I don't want to leave her! (fist slamming into Sakata's jaw) Hard: The reason I agreed to a divorce is because it's what Emily wanted. Cops: Hard! ------------- p.17 Helicopter: Give it up, Hard! Sakata: Keep your f*ckin' hands out of this. This is between two men and a woman! Sakata: I'm not gonna let Emily put up with a criminal! (back to the restaurant) Emily: The main reason is because of my father's word. Shige: Oh? ------------- p.18 (Flashback to an important mafia gathering) Barbariano: Japan is a unbelievable country... after losing the war, even though it has no material resources, it becomes the world's strongest economic power... power that comes from its people. Barbariano: Their people are well educated, they have a very hard-working nature. Masseria: Don Barbariano, what's your point? Today, we're supposed to discuss our future leader. Barbariano: Indeed we are, Masseria. I don't think Luke can handle such a big responsibility. Barbariano: With everyone's agreement, of course, I propose Hard as the next leader. ------------- p.19 Shige: I see. (Sakata kicks Hard in the chin) Sakata: If she insisted on divorce, she must have hated you! Hard: Y.. You don't care what the woman you love does, one smile and you forgive! ------------- p.20 Hard: Emily will be coming back for sure. Sakata: I won't surrender Emily to anyone! (restaurant) Shige: Then, what do you want? Is it not possible to go back to him? Shige: Sakata thinks that you haven't forgotten Hard, and that's why you rejected him. ------------- p.21 Emily: I... (Sakata pulls back his fist) Sakata: I'll be 10 times better for her than you ever will be! Emily: I think it's over between me and Hard. (Fist slams into Hard's face) ------------- p.22 Sakata: Finally, it's done! People: Hard's been arrested! People: The evil murderer has been caught! Hard: Momoko... ------------- p.23 People: That f*ckin' Jap should die! People: Death penalty! Death penalty! (Someone throws a stone at Hard's head) Hard: ku.. Sakata: H.. hey, are you OK? Hard: Getting hit by stones is nothing, compared to Momoko seeing me like this. She shouldn't see me like this. Momoko: Papa.. (Hard is silent) Momoko: Papa..........! ------------- p.24 M's friend: Eh, eh, eh? Isn't Momoko's papa supposed to be nice? Momoko: PaPa! Hard: I don't know you! I don't have any daughter! (Momoko in tears) ------------- p.25 Shige: Today's been a difficult day, Emily.. Emily: Yes.. see you. (A huge fist punches Emily into a wall) Shige: Ha? Emilyyyy! ------------- p.26 (Bacchus, a 9m tall hispanic guy with cobwebs tattooed on his forehead, slings Emily over his shoulder.) Bacchus: Old man! Shige: aaaah... ------------- p.27 Sakata: Why did you say such a thing to Momoko? Didn't you come to L.A. to see Emily and Momoko? Hard: Yes.. how I longed to hold them in my arms... But look at me now, I'm only causing them trouble. Sakata: It's me... ------------- p.28 Radio: Sakata, it's me... Sakata: Hey, it's Shige-san, how are ya? Shige: Emily... Sakata: What? Emily's been kidnapped?! =========================================================================== Hunt 17: "Best Tag" ------------- p.31 Hard: Emily was kidnapped? Sakata: Damn! (massive car pileup as Sakata U-turns on the freeway) Driver: Japanese cars are much more economical, well built and longer-lasting. Driver: Hm? ------------- p.33 Driver: Whaaaa?! This is a one way street... how come there's a car coming in the opposite direction? Sakata: This is an emergency, get out of my way! (Sakata ploughs through oncoming cars) Hard: Emily... ------------- p.34 (Little Tokyo) Sakata: Shige-san! ------------- p.35 Sakata: Shige-san, hang in there! Shige: I'm sorry, Sakata... There was this huge man, he took Emily... Sakata: Shige-san, is that man's head tattooed? Shige: Y.. ye... Sakata: Fuckin' scum, it's Bacchus from the "Bombers"... Hard: Bombers? ------------- p.36 Sakata: In south L.A., there's a gang that sells cocaine. A few days ago, I nailed them... they had about 20 kilos. Since then, their leader, Bacchus, wants me dead. Shige: auurgh.. ------------- p.37 (Shige coughs up a hurriedly-drawn spurt of blood) Shige: Sorry, Sakata, I won't be able to look after you anymore... Hard: Don't talk, the broken ribs might pierce your lungs. Hard: Sakata, call an ambulance! Sakata: Shaddap, I already have! You still want to tell me what to do, murderer? Hard: I'm not a murderer! Sakata: But you're a suspect! Shige: A.. aren't you.. Emily's husband? Hard: Eh? Y.. yes. Shige: Sakata, he's not a bad guy, I can tell... he is a real samurai, a real Japanese man. ------------- p.38 (Sakata sees the ransom note left by Bacchus, ordering Sakata to swap the cocaine for Emily at the baseball stadium) Sakata: That f*ckin' Friar Tuck!* [* I'm proud of finding a good English equivalent for that insult. :-) -IS] Sakata: How the hell can I get 20 kilos of coke - steal it from the police department safe? He expects me to do that!? Hard: If you don't do as they say, Emily's life is forfeit... Sakata: I know that! But even I if give them the coke, there's no guarantee that she'll live! ------------- p.39 Hard: Didn't you say that the police department holds cocaine? Sakata: y.. yeah.. Hard: Then, let me do it! I'll go and steal it! Sakata: What?! ------------- p.40 (Emily held hostage in the back of Willy's trailer, driven by whistling Bacchus) ------------- p.41 Willy: Ohh, look at your face, you poor thing... Willy: Sorry, Bacchus doesn't know how to treat ladies. He likes to torture them! (Bacchus smiles childishly) Emily: Officer Willy, you and Sakata are colleagues, why... Willy: Bacchus is my "sponsor". He and I have this certain business relationship. That asshole Sakata knows all about it, and he won't mind his own business, so I have no choice. Emily: You call yourself a detective?? (Emily spits on Willy's face) ------------- p.42 Bacchus: You f*ckin' bitch! (Bacchus slams Emily's head into the wall) Willy: How very stubborn. I don't mind, but Bacchus seems quite upset. Bacchus: Bacchus likes to mash the face of beautiful gals. Bacchus: "A woman's face is her life", huh? Geheheheh. ------------- p.35: (Outside the police station, Hard scaling the drainpipe, Sakata smoking dozens of cigarettes) Sakata: Jeezus... a cop helping people to break in... If anyone finds out, I'll be sacked for sure... Sakata: But this guy's pretty good, climbing that high with handcuffs on. Sakata: Not too damn bad, Hard! ------------- p.36: Hard: Let's see, the password to the electro-magnetic lock is... Sakata: What's the hold-up? Sakata: Shiit, how much longer is that c**ksucker gonna take?