Warning: Violence, drugs, and spoilers!
The battle for Macau is in full swing, and neither side is letting up. A stalemate between two power-hungry entrepreneurs to see who can outdo each other in the open sea. But when things cooled down on the high seas, it only heated up on the mainland. The Templars are all the more determined to overthrow Madam Lee and her merchant hold, all the while Kenway maneuvers his way into their ranks to find his next target to set ablaze.
Nao Kim starts to reconcile with his ancestors, and even goes so far as to connect with Sei a little more, even though she still holds onto the grudge she has towards the Assassin family and the disgrace that overshadows her every moment.
We left off Kenway last volume with an entire armada of pirates laying waste to the ports of Macau. With the help of his first (and only) mate, John Young, they prevented further attacks on the port of Macau from the pirates, enlisted their leader, and are now stalling the Templars from seizing more of Madam Lee’s cargo. So far, it’s been more and more intolerable having to deal with the Dutch navy than the pirates.
Master Sun managed to bribe them off in order to look the other way while the pirates attacked, so it’s up to Kenway to gain their attention the only way he knows how: slash and burn. While the Dutch navy was seizing Madam Lee’s cargo for “suspicious items”, it made it all the more easy for Kenway to slip onto one of Sun’s ships to find something even Lee couldn’t turn away from.
A Shaky Alliance Finally Cracks
The “devil’s powder” didn’t just draw a line between the pirate assassin and the woman merchant, it only brought it skyrocketing to the surface. The Templars’ plan was to seize the whole seaboard of Macau with the use of the devil’s powder. Once the populace had been drowned in an inescapable addiction, a Templar takeover would be no problem.
However, once word got out about their illicit cargo and even a handsomely paid-off Dutch navy couldn’t turn a blind eye to it no longer, neither could Madam Lee, and the potential profit she could make off of it, rather than destroy it as Kenway had intended. Heated arguments were exchanged between the two, and their mutual enemy had stopped being just the Templars and now turned toward each other.
Respect Your Enemies
Nevertheless, Kenway carried on with his mission. Even if the use of the devil’s powder may have been only postponed from leaving the ports, he needed to find the other Templar players and figure out what their next move was.
Following the trail of new faces entering Macau, Kenway mistook an old enemy’s Japanese ninja for Master Sun’s personal army, the Chinese Wokou. He followed them to Sun’s compound, where he ended up being reacquainted with none other than Saito of the Shimazu clan. The link between Sei’s family’s disgrace and the assassin’s involvement became that much closer.
Shimazu, Unmasked and Unfazed
Kenway’s attempt at dissuading Lee from seizing the devil’s powder for herself may have been thwarted, but he still had time to change her mind permanently if he were to remove the cargo from the picture. He made it to the cargo unnoticed by the Dutch navy, but he was cornered by Saito and their Wokou.
They’ve reluctantly teamed up with the Japanese ninja to reclaim the cargo and remove anyone who would stand in their way, including the navy and Kenway. As the Wokou fought outside, Kenway and Saito fought inside until they were irrevocably unmasked, revealing a deceptive secret: Saito of the Shimazu clan was a woman, an unshakable likeness to her eventual descendant Sei.
Those Were Not Some Good Genes
If a user is logged into the Animus for too long, they begin experiencing what Sei explains to Nao as the bleeding effect: a mixing between the user and their ancestor’s genes. The user starts to remember a past life a lot more vividly while forgetting their own. Nao’s blurred the past of Kenway with his own immediate present when removed from the Animus. Mistaking one of Sei’s guards for one of Kenway’s Wokou attackers, Nao leaps into action as if he were still on a burning ship in Macau 400 years ago. He manages to take down two of the guards before virtually knocking himself out.
He recovers with Sei at his bedside, two very guarded individuals exchange a very vulnerable moment, trying to explain their commitment to their causes, but almost connecting in a way they probably shouldn’t, remembering an unwritten rule between kidnapper/prisoner confidentiality. To resolve this issue, Nao stamps out a plan with Sei, telling her that they should make haste to Macau here in the real world. He believes there’s a hidden secret that only an assassin can recover, and instead of seeing the bleeding effect as a hindrance, Nao uses it to his advantage by gaining the skills and techniques brought on by Kenway. If he can use it to take down a couple of guards literally in his sleep, he can use it to escape or solve the mystery on his own, and indeed he did as soon as they made it to Macau.
Final Thoughts
It’s not uncommon in Chinese or Japanese culture to allow women to lead a host of military personnel into battle, but we’re on volume three now, and there’s not an ounce of backstory to Saito yet regarding how she gained her position. Perhaps it’s her skill, status in the Shimazu clan, or the glowing red eyes that are the power behind the mask, or her men don’t know that she’s a woman yet. And how exactly did Nao go from blond-haired, blue-eyed, Swashbuckling Englishman to a broken Korean college student? Clearly there are some steps missing, especially as to what exactly the “Shimazu disgrace” is, other than Kenway unmasking Saito. The consensus was Kenway might’ve gotten “lucky” with Madam Lee.
It’s practically science that high society women have a thing for scoundrels that can get things done, we don’t make the rules here. But with the wedge firmly placed between them now, it seems maybe Eddie boy could make it work with Saito if he plays his cards right. Sorry, John Young, still the first mate. Lastly, there doesn’t seem to be a limit to which kind of user can be in the Animus, it just really depends on whether they are linked to an ancient civilization, the first civilization as it were, if you’ve read the first volume review. What we’re getting at is, is Sei also an “Animus user”, and if so, has she experienced the bleeding effect, same as Nao? Is she hiding some underlying secret techniques passed down from Saito to her? We shall see…
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