Chapter 52
Summary
As the Ripple makes contact with Straizo's face, Joseph's punch sends the vampire flying off the side of the bridge. Straizo desperately attempts to latch on to a ledge and fails, but Joseph quickly grabs his arm and holds him in mid-air. Straizo asks why Joseph saved him despite his knowledge that he still has enough power to blow off Joseph's right arm. Joseph threatens him, saying he would still be able to handle Straizo even with one hand, and then asks Straizo why he didn't even give Speedwagon a proper burial and instead threw his body into a river. Straizo explains that in the cave, the group had found a man fused inside a pillar. The pillar was sucking up the blood of the bodies of his dead companions. Given the nature of the Stone Masks, Straizo found it necessary to prevent the possibility of the pillar man's awakening by disposing of them. Suddenly, Straizo ironically uses the Ripple to commit suicide, as his vampire body is not able to withstand it. He says that he has no regrets, preferring to go to hell with his youth than die pathetically of old age. Straizo explodes and Joseph cries out in distress.
Meanwhile, in a Nazi base in Mexico, a man named Rudol von Stroheim is awkwardly being shaved by, presumably, 2 female servants. A soldier enters the room and announces that a team had found an old man in the river, and with his regained consciousness, they planned to get information out of him regarding the whereabouts of the ruins. The old man turns out to be Speedwagon.
Back in New York, Joseph takes a look at the woman whose mouth Straizo ripped a tooth from. Joseph mentions that she appears to have a lot of cavities, which earns him a punch in the face. The lady is furious because Joseph had insulted her back when she was being held hostage by Straizo. After getting kicked again by the woman, Joseph decides to head to Mexico to visit the pillar man and to find Speedwagon.
