Part 39: Nobunaga Boss Fight

Part 36: Nobunaga Boss Fight!

Snake and a squad of his best MSF horsemen ride into a village on the outskirts of Kyoto, where they meet up with a bunch of more retreating MSF soldiers.

Your radio cut out. What's the situation?

He's, uh…

AAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!



Nobunaga stands in the middle of a pile of debris, armed with an anachronistic machine gun! He fires wildly at the sky and begins turning the nearby houses into swiss cheese.

He's got a machine gun! Must have found it in one of those salvage piles. We don't recognize the type, but it's big and it's belt-fed.

He can't shoot for shit, though. He's scared off all his own men with the noise, too. So, I'm thinking, maybe we should just wait for him to run out of ammo, and then we rush him.

Hmm… no. I'll handle him myself.

Boss, you don't have to kill every major badass you meet one-on-one.

Ordinarily I'd agree with you, but this time, trust me, this is something only I can do. If I screw this up and die you can totally kill Nobunaga, though. Besides…

Nobunaga is still firing wildly at nearby houses and trees.

GAAAAAH! FUCK YOU! I'LL KILL YOU ALL! YAAA-HA-HA-HAAAAAA!

At the rate he's going he's going to overheat that thing any second now. Anyway…time to show this samurai the power of a modern-day ninja.

Snake creeps his way down to the gunner warlord, flanking him. He pulls out a blasting bomb made of primitive black powder, lights it and tosses it opposite Nobunaga. The explosion startles Oda and he begins shooting at that direction.

YOU THINK YOU CAN SNEAK UP ON ME, YOU CREEPY WORTHLESS CRAWLING REPTILE!? I'LL MURDER YOU! ALL OF YOU TREACHEROUS, THIEVING, BACKSTABBING SCUM! YOU DESERVE EVERY DEATH YOU GET! I'LL--Gaaah!

The machine gun, completely overheated, starts firing off its own bullets automatically in a "runaway." Nobunaga has to rip the ammunition belt off and throw the weapon to the ground, where it eventually sputters to a stop.

Nrrraagggghhh! Even the ultimate gun betrays me! WHY IS THE WORLD SO AGAINST ME!?

Hey.

Snake rises from cover, pointing his newly refurbished tranquilizer gun at Nobunaga.

YOU!!!

Hey, look, calm down for a second, sir. Or I'll put a dart in your eye.

Nobunaga manages a rough laugh and draws his sword.

Okay, fine, have it your way!

Snake shoots--and Nobunaga cuts the dart out of the air! Snake blinks, then shoots again--and Nobunaga deflects the second shot, and the third!

The hell?

This is no ordinary sword. It can cleave rocks in twain and knock bullets aside like flies! Such a wonderful find. Now…DIEEE!

Nobunaga rushes Snake screaming, but Snake throws out a second powder bomb at him. Nobunaga reflexively slashes it in half, covering himself in a small cloud of powder getting into his nose and eyes. Gagging, he stumbles mid-charge, and Snake closes the distance to deck Nobunaga!

YAgghggh!

The two grapple, fighting over each other's weapon. Snake shoots Nobunaga in the unprotected areas on each of his legs, but the gun is knocked away with a swift kick, and Nobunaga's sword goes flying through the air and embeds itself into a nearby house. Snake headbutts Nobunaga in the nose, then flips away from the stunned man.

I know about you. You hate the code of the samurai…because the code is why your master died.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW!? Hah…guh… once… Once I was content! I lived…and laughed… and loved… and drank with whomever I wished. My friends were from all worlds, all clans, all classes.

And your master committed suicide to shame you.

THAT FOOL! What idiot takes another's disgrace on himself? And why is friendship of any kind a disgrace!? Once, I had no ambition…but I gained it. I gained it! I swore to break down the entire world, shatter the rules that made him kill himself, that made men enemies. None of the others understood. So they all had to DIE!

My master killed herself too. And she used me to do it.

…eh?

Snake's combat stance relaxes.

She gave me the fight of her life, but in the end, she was just building me up to kill her, to be the weapon that could finish her. And she died for politics! To keep the secrets of some idiot politicians. There had to have been another way…and if there wasn't, she could have at least told me! But she didn't. All she said in the end was, "Jack, you're a wonderful man. Kill me. Kill me now."

Huhhh…

She pounded it into me, over and over, that you never give up, never give in. But then she rolled over and died, let them use her honor as toilet paper to wipe their asses! After that, I knew I could never again work for the people she died for.

Nobunaga looks lost, but a light's dawning in his eyes.

So…you too seek a world apart from those nonsense rules.

I don't think we should be fighting each other. Do you?

I…auuughhh!

Nobunaga's knees weaken and he collapses.

You--you poisoned me!

Nah, just tranquilizers, your legs will wake up soon.

Wha…what? You… you never meant to kill me, did you?

Well, I'd like to avoid it if I can. Fewer ghosts that way. Now, join me. You'll love it. In the old world we were bound by old rules, but here we can forge a new reality, together. And besides… if you like guns, my technicians are working on getting new ones.

Oh… well… when you put it that way… I…ughhh…

Snake reaches down to pull Nobunaga up.

Don't worry, buddy, you'll be fine soon.

I really shot up the village quite a bit, didn't I? So many wasted bullets…

We'll fix it up. And we'll get you on some mood stabilizers too. We'd better, anyway…



To Be Continued!