Wow. It makes sense that he's so defensive of those diamonds now. He just wanted to turn his most precious talents into diamonds and keep them forever. I like the idea that despite his otherworldly intelligence and cunning, what undid him was that he was too emotional after losing Billy and Voja. He's a special kind of insane, at the end all he wants is to see the diamonds that would come from Baku.
Ideal was really worth all the time and energy put into them in the manga. I can't hate them, they've been wildly entertaining. When Lalo goes I'll feel the same sadness I did when Caracal finally bit it.
As an aside, its funny that he didn't consider Marvin a rare talent like Billy or Voja. He really wasn't anything special, so this just hammers it home. I guess everyone on the big Ideal spread a couple chapters ago were the ones Lalo truly considered special.
@chrischewie
@spence7865
I don't believe there were any specific rules guaranteeing the winners safety, and the idea that Hal or Baku's allies could go in and save him is just as valid the other way around; there would be nothing to stop Fukurou from going in and holding Baku down to kill him either. I imagine both of them are extremely exhausted from the Witch Pain, and are likely still attached to the machine, so I don't think Hal can help. I don't know if Kakerou would allow for someone to jump in and free Baku since there were no provisions for it; Shion's description of the gamble involves the winner freeing themselves from the shackles, swimming to the top, and breathing out of the space at the top under their own power, but I don't know if that's a rule, something they expected to happen, or something they just assumed would happen.
Unless there's something specifically stated in the agreed-upon rules, I don't think Kakerou will interfere. We saw this dramatically in Oofuna's game; Mogami noted that there would have been nothing wrong with cheating and just pressing the other person's board, and they would have had no problem with Oofuna just killing Lacy once the game ended. Protecting the safety of the winner doesn't matter once the game officially ends, they have no obligation to Baku to save him. None of the referees will help, and that includes Yakou. I suppose Kaji, Champ, etc could try to break the glass to free him, but they're just normal humans (and Kaji's arm is broken), they probably can't break this big industrial prison tower. Marco seems to be nowhere in sight either. I agree with
@Woodchipper . Baku swimming into Lalo's range is his own mistake; he would have no one to blame but himself if Lalo holds him down and causes him to drown.
EDIT: Actually, they explicitly state the loser is supposed to drown, they probably would not allow anyone to break the tower and drain the water. Remember, in Hangman, they didn't let Yakou's brother kill Sadakuni because he was meant to die by hanging as a condition of the gamble. Air Poker is over, so Lalo can hold Baku down, but he still has to die there. So my interpretation is that Lalo has to die here by drowning, but they have no obligation to prevent Baku from drowning.
Considering, though, that this is Madarame Baku, who is very aware of Kakerou's strict adherence to the rules and knows that if Kakerou doesn't guarantee the winners safety they won't enforce it, I'd imagine he has some kind of reasoning for drifting towards Lalo. I don't think Lalo grabbing him was out of his predictions. In the Abandoned Building Game and Hangman, we saw him fuck with Q-taro and Sadakuni after winning, especially with Sadakuni and making his world go dark before being hung. I could see Baku trying to do something similar here to the leader of Ideal.
