Giant Rambly Theory Post the Third
Or, "Why Byakuran is not only still a dick, but even MORE of a dick than we all probably thought."
Disclaimer: This entire post is basically me taking an idea that randomly popped into my head, and then running with it waaaaay past where I by all rights should have stopped. (Also, if you've read either of my previous theory posts, then you know that I am a retardedly loyal subscriber to a now mostly defunct BRAINWASHING!!1 theory that I will still nonetheless attempt to squeeze into this new theory because I am just that attached to it.)
Anyway.
"It's a power that can only be used under extremely limited conditions. But..."
Let's start by recapping everything we know about Byakuran's "power" so far (that I can remember).
"Everything about the development of the boxes involved coincidences happening at a most unusual frequency." - Hibari Kyoya, chapter 160
"But, even without my help, he would have found some way to send you guys to the future. Plus, there's another reason why I had to use this method. The only way to stop him is to do it in this era. The only way to seal Byakuran's power and defeat him is in this era!! - Irie Shouichi, chapter 219
"A lot of impossible things that have happened in this era have been caused by Byakuran's power." - Irie Shouichi, chapter 221
"Unlike you, I am under the protection of the man with great powers." - Rasiel, chapter 222
"And then... the miracle came to pass. That man had saved my life. He granted me a vaccine that should not yet even exist..." - Genkishi, chapter 248
So, things we pretty much know for sure:
- Byakuran's power involves him being able to do "impossible things"; e.g. perform miracles like saving Rasiel and Genkishi's lives.
- Byakuran's power has also caused other "impossible things" to happen, though Irie doesn't mention specifics.
- For whatever reason, Byakuran's power can only be sealed in this era.
- The "coincidences happening at an unusual frequency" very likely also had something to do with Byakuran's power.
- Byakuran's power of "miracles" is not just limited to resurrections and such, otherwise he wouldn't have become as much of a problem as he is now.
- Any attempts to stop Byakuran in the past would have ultimately failed. He can only be defeated "in this era", meaning that whatever his power is, it's something that couldn't have been stopped before now.
Okay, so based on the above, this is my best guess at what Byakuran's "power" really is: The ability to manipulate luck.
If you've ever seen Vision of Escaflowne (and if you haven't, you really should; aside from Cowboy Bebop, it's probably the best anime ever made), then you probably know where I'm getting at. In that series, the villains' ultimate objective (LOL SPOILERS) was to create a machine that could manipulate probability to alter the outcome of events in their favor. For example, if they wanted to win a battle, once they activated the machine, all sorts of things might happen to the army on the other side; their weapons might malfunction, their soldiers might suddenly get distracted by things, the weather might change, some key player might slip and fall and break his leg or something (not all of this actually happened, I'm just running with the examples here), and so on. In other words, "fate" would intervene in a way that resulted in a victory for their side. It was all very dramatic. :P
This is basically what I think Byakuran's ability is. If you think about it, this guy has had something of an amazing run of luck over the past ten years or so. To recap:
- He somehow became the head of the Gesso family.
- He managed to acquire/win over/BRAINWASH!!!11 key subordinates that helped him build up that family's power: Irie Shouichi, Genkishi, etc.
- His rise to power coincided with the amazingly coincidental development of weapons that he ended up using to his great advantage (if the box weapons hadn't been invented, there's probably no way he'd have gotten as far as he did, let alone so quickly).
- He was able to acquire the first set of 7^3, the Mare rings, with hardly any effort at all thanks to a bizarre as-yet-unexplained decision on Uni's part to merge the Giglio Nero family with the Gesso.
- He then managed to somehow kill one Arcobaleno after another to acquire most of the second set of 7^3. Now, if you think about it, his luck in this case was incredible; these were the strongest mafiosi in the world, bar none, people he should have never stood a chance against. But somehow, he came across this magical deus ex machina thing called non-7^3 radiation that just so happens to completely immobolize the guardians of the 7^3 pacifiers. How fortunate was that?
- Finally, when the third and final set of 7^3 was destroyed, he just so happened to have a subordinate that was capable of basically creating a time machine to bring them back to this era just for him. Really, this is where you pretty much have to stop calling it coincidence and start calling it fate.
- (Oh yeah, and there's also the fact that way back during his fight with TYL!Mukuro, he somehow stopped Mukuro from swapping bodies with like a magic forcefield or something, pissing Nappo off to the point where even he called shenanigans: "This is impossible!")
And then we have Shouichi's highly weird remark about only being able to defeat Byakuran in the future era. My bet is this is because any attempt to stop him in the past would ultimately be thwarted by that luck factor. For whatever reason, this is the only chance they have to finally stop him. (As for why, if I had to guess, I'd say it probably has something to do with combined power of the 7^3. But that's another theory for another day.)
One last question: If Byakuran really is leading the ultimate charmed life, then how could the Vongola ever actually stand a chance against him?
"Plus, being betrayed by my most trusted aide... had to have some effect on my pride as a leader, right?"
My best guess (and just a note of warning--this is where I really start to get into plain old speculation with nothing real to back it up) is that for all Byakuran has going for him, there are still two factors that may possibly be working against him.
The first is his own arrogance. Now, this is just my own interpretation here, but looking back on the relationship between Byakuran and Shouichi, I can't help but notice how strained it always was; Irie hardly ever just blindly went along with him, and if he did, he usually did so in kind of a reluctant, sulky way. XD And yet, Byakuran has on more than one occasion stated that Shou-chan was his favorite subordinate, the one he trusted over all others. While this wasn't necessarily true, it is pretty evident that Byakuran liked Shouichi a lot, in spite of his later revelation that "I knew you would become my enemy sooner or later." By contrast, the subordinate that arguably was the most loyal to him, Genkishi, was ultimately... well, BLOWN UP when Byakuran finally got tired of him. Blown up. For pretty much no good reason. Clearly Byakuran doesn't think all that highly of kiss-ups. :P
As I keep stressing, this is all just speculation, but I can't help but wonder if perhaps Byakuran favored Shouichi precisely because he always had that tendency to disagree with him. If Byakuran really does have magical god of luck powers, then he must be constantly surrounded by BRAINWASHED people that worship him and obey his every whim. Irie, then, would have been a breath of fresh air, a subordinate who was talented and loyal, but nonetheless exercised his own free will. I can't help but think Byakuran would have really been attracted to that, might have even encouraged it. If he does have some control over his powers, he might have purposely left Shouichi to his own devices, knowing it would probably lead to an eventual betrayal, but hoping all the same that maybe, just maybe, Shouichi would choose to side with him anyway. If so, that's a key wild card that he let slip into play, and one that might ultimately be his undoing.
And the other factor, the one that's the most unpredictable of all, is the Vongola's own luck. I'm starting to wonder just how important Reborn's line way back in chapter 174 was, about the kids facing a chance of success of just .0024 percent:
"Things that can't be translated into numbers... that's where their strength lies."
Somehow, in spite of everything (and with Irie's help, of course, but even that was ultimately only a small factor), the Vongola kids managed to beat those odds and survive. And if you think about it, from the very start of this conflict, Tsuna in particular has been the one person Byakuran hasn't quite seemed to be able to manipulate. Rather than follow suit with the Giglio Nero in handing over the Vongola rings, TYL!Tsuna opted to have them destroyed. That can't have been quite according to plan. And as recently as chapter 245, Byakuran made an almost "Hey, wait a sec :|" face when Tsuna revealed his new, ahem, mantle. (...that still makes me lol. XD) That stood out to me because it seemed like almost the first time Amano ever drew an expression on his face that wasn't :) or >:). I'm not at all used to seeing him actually pause or show surprise, even for a brief second. And maybe that's because he almost never has a reason to actually show it.
But TYB!Tsuna and the rest of the Vongola seem to be the one variable that maybe has the potential to throw him off. Maybe it's because they're from ten years ago, or maybe it has something to do with the all-powerful VONGOLA INTUITIOOOONNN, or maybe it's just because they are the main characters so back the fuck off, bitch. XD But for whatever reason, TYL!Tsuna and Shouichi decided to throw their lot in with them, and maybe, just maybe, Byakuran is finally starting to wonder if all the events here are still leading toward his expected outcome.
Anyway, this post is more like some kind of thesis by now, so I'll just stop here. THAT IS THE BASIC SUM OF MY CURRENT THOUGHTS ON THE TWEEKER GOD.