Hokuto no Ken GOLDEN GUY

GOLDEN GUY (北斗の拳 イチゴ味 ファルコ外道伝 GOLDEN GUY) is a one-shot published in April 2017 in the seventh volume of Ichigo Aji. Written by Kawata Yushi and drawn by Yukito, this story dedicated to Falco is part of the series of end-of-volume gaiden in Ichigo Aji. It shares the volume with Ultimate Sadistic Action : Yakusoku no Basho, dedicated to Ein.

Synopsis

In the secret village of the Gento clan, Falco and Solia watch over the future Tentei. When an enemy troop approaches and threatens the secret of the sanctuary...

The eldest's sacrifice

The one-shot opens with the scene from the original manga where Solia faces Kenshiro. Before him, Solia displays the eye that Falco tore from him in an instant, long ago, and the story goes back to that day. Everything plays out in a village absent from any map, the sanctuary of the Gento clan, where the future Tentei still rests in his mother's womb, under the protection of Falco, Solia, his elder brother, and the young Shōki.

Around twenty routed soldiers, armed and closely pursued by their enemies, spot the village and decide to entrench themselves there to set up an ambush. Falco is confident he can exterminate them alone, despite Shōki's calls for restraint, but the Brilliant Hand comes at a price. A single survivor would be enough for the army to learn of the village's existence and of the Gento Kōken. So Solia's elder brother, who was never able to master the Brilliant Hand, makes his decision: he will be the one to go. Before departing on his suicide mission, he entrusts the Gento to Falco.

Desperate, Solia wants to follow his brother and clashes with Falco, who refuses to let him run to his death. In the confrontation, Falco's hair is cut and the Brilliant Hand takes Solia's right eye, both men gaining there the appearance they are known for in the original manga. The eldest charges alone into the soldiers, proclaiming the wrath of the Tentei. A final insert reassures the reader, with a reference to the ultimate edition as support: the eldest survived, and it is to him that Falco speaks with respect when Raoh arrives at the Gento village in the original manga.

The origin of the scars

GOLDEN GUY adopts the characteristic approach of the Ichigo Aji gaiden: taking a discreet detail from the original manga and inventing a dramatic backstory for it. The narrative connects in a single episode Solia's lost eye, Falco's short hair, the upcoming birth of the Tentei, and even the anonymous person to whom Falco speaks with respect in front of Raoh, identified here as Solia's elder.

The introductory page of the volume places the one-shot back in context. A sudden illness of Yukito-imouto disrupted the series' schedule, and the volume includes two gaiden at once, drawn by Yukito. She also explains the construction of the one-shot, which shows its endpoint from the very first page, the canonical scene, and devotes the rest to unveiling its origin.

The title, finally, echoes the golden epithet used for Falco in the original manga, and the title page pairs two faces: the young, long-haired Falco and Solia's elder.