"former leader" is still alive but clearly in a crippled state. Not only physically but probably mentally too. Bittersweet but better than being dead at least.
was this axed? seems like the last gamble was a lot shorter and less complex compared to the fight with lalo and game island. and lots of loose ends just randomly closed up (introducing that guy looking for his bro and then finding him under the command of that woman and then thats it) and backstories not explored (who was leaders mom and why was she so special? etc)
@cromat I don't think this one was especially rushed. This arc was noticeably shorter than the Protoporos arc and for good reason. The scale of each was drastically different - time, the amount of people, and the location itself. Protoporos was an entire island filled with hundreds of people, and the game that took place lasted almost a month. The Surpass the Leader Challenge was played by two people, could never take more than half a day to end, and was confined to a single room. Sako Toshio spent several chapters giving exposition to several characters - some still living, some long dead. Typically, axed works don't spend several chapters giving exposition - the end goal is to rush to the ending while giving as much of an ending as the author can. We still have several more chapters to go, so I imagine we got even more loose ends to tie up. It's nice that rather than an entire epilogue dedicated to the aftermath of the game, we get an entire volume instead.
Does anyone know if there are oficial english prints of this manga I could buy? It has entered my top 3 of all time for sure. If there are no oficial translations I may buy the original manga itself just to have it in my shelf.