Gintama 679

I really like this chapter.

[Gintama 679 Translation by Kewl0210]
Page 1:
Insert: Gintoki walks a steep path. But what is his goal?
Title: 'Gintama'
Anemone: You're checking all the Dragon Holes?
What in the world for?
You know how difficult such a task would be, correct?

Page 2:
Anemone: The 'Dragon Veins', the torrential steams of the planet's energy,
split off inside the earth like branching rivers and run all over the world.
'Dragon Holes' are spiritual locations where these Dragon Veins spout out from the surface.
Not only do they come in all different sizes, but there's a countless number of them all over the planet.
Even if you spent your whole life,
you wouldn't have enough time to accomplish such an enormous task.
If you're still choosing to do it despite all that,
just what reason do you have?

Page 3:
Gin: Yeah.
I've
already made up my mind.
No matter how many years it takes,
no matter how many decades it takes,
I'm hell-bent on finding

Page 4:
Gin: that person.
Top Insert: ☆Jump Comics Volume 73 & the new 'Ginpachi-sensei Class 3-Z' novel are both going on sale June 4th (Mon.)!!
Title: Lesson 679 No Dragon Holes Ventured, No Masters Gained
T/N: This title is a warping of a Japanese idiom equivalent to "nothing ventured nothing gained". Literally, "One may not catch a tiger cub without entering a tiger's lair".
Insert: Deep determination...
Taka: So after spending two years walking from Dragon Hole to Dragon Hole,
what you ended up finding
was that, was it?

Page 5:
Shin: Alive?
What do you mean by that,
Okita-san?
By "that guy",
you
don't mean...

Page 6:
Someone: Utsuro.
Yoshida Shouyou.
No, actually right now, it's neither one.
He might take an entirely different form.

Page 7:
Gin: But that guy is probably
still alive.
SFX: DOKUN (BADUMP)
Taka: Utsuro's,
Yoshida Shouyou's heart.
How long has it been since you confirmed
that he still wasn't dead?
Gin: I knew that from the beginning.
Back then, he threw himself into the vortex of the Dragon Vein.

Page 8:
Gin: His body was devoured by the Altana and it appeared to vanish,
but he's a being that was originally born from Altana.
So that wasn't much different from throwing a drop of water back into the ocean.
In other words, it didn't seem too far-fetched
for him to be reborn again somewhere in that ocean.
But the biggest factor
was what I heard back then.
Utsuro: Humans,
it will not end here.
You made a choice.
Endless war,
life colored with
suffering and sadness,

Page 9:
Utsuro: There is no longer anyone
that can end that.
There is no longer anyone
that can save
your master.
Gin: He tried... to end the world himself.
We succeeded in preventing that,
but that was the same as restoring
the endless, cursed cycle of rebirth of Utsuro... of Yoshida Shouyou...
Shouyou: I'm looking forward to it.
To you, someday,
coming to rid the world
of the monster that is me.
Gin: We managed to save the world,
but we couldn't manage to save one master.

Page 10:
Gin: So
I
became alone again.
Not as a Yorozuya,
and not to save the world,
but as a single disciple,
as Shouka Sonjuku's
Sakata Gintoki,
because I had found something I had to do.

Page 11:
Priest: We've enshrined that Dragon Hole for generations.
Ryuujin-sama dwells inside it, and protects this land.
T/N: Ryuujin (Dragon God) is a diety of the sea in Japanese mythology.
Priest: As a result, we have witnessed many strange phenomena since long ago.
We have recognized those events as the divine grace of Ryuujin-sama.
Though, there was one event...
When we first caught sight of it,
we thought it was the carcass of an animal that had drifted there...
but we soon realized we were wrong.
It did not resemble any animal.
It was a mass of meat that did not even look like a living thing,
but it was alive.
Before long, within a few days, it had changed form,
and begun to to take shape.
But, well, even we aren't quite sure how to say this...
honestly, it's quite difficult to believe.

Page 12:
Gin: Is this
a human?
Gramps, this is...
Goy: Yes, I know.
I believe what this is is more than we can handle.
So... if this is what you are looking for...

Page 13:
[No text]

Page 14:
SFX: DOH
Gin: HAa...
Whether he was going to become Utsuro, Shouyou,
or whatever else,

Page 15:
Giun: I could not end that kid.
I'm not sure if he could tell how I felt or not.
That thing grew in the blink of an eye, but... ["that thing" in italics]
not only did he not talk,
he never expressed any sort of will.
He just stayed quiet and followed me
no matter where I went.
SFX: GARARA

Page 16:
SFX: GARAR GARA DOBOON
SFX: BOROO
SF:X GAH
Gin: ...........
Geez.
You can't even ask somebody to lend you a hand?
Kid: .........
Gin: Actually,
maybe I'm the one acting weird here.

Page 17:
Gin: I feel like I'm raising a final boss.
Shouyou: You've got to use your sword,
to become stronger than me.
Gin: Shouyou,
is this how it felt for you?

Page 18:
Shouyo: No,
I don't think so.
Compared to when you were a child,
I think I'm a much more well behaved, more charming child that's far less of a handful.
You were a more mischievous,
difficult child than most.
But after that,
people were constantly relying on you and underwent more hardship than most.
If you'll agree to it,
I'd like to ask one last favor.

Page 19:
Shouyou: Will you lend me a hand,
Gintoki?
Insert: Those words, that smile----
Bottom: Gintama
...Lesson 679
/ End