Wolverine Vol 2 1

Wolverine Vol 2 1

"Sword Quest"

• Release Date: July 12, 1988
• Cover Date: November, 1988

The Island of Telambang, located off the coast of the Indonesian Archipelago, Captain Lee Kwan Pen of the Sovereign Airways runs for his life from Banapur Khan, a pirate who hijacked his plane and took his passengers hostage, killing the men and preparing to rape the women and sell the survivors off to the slave trade. The Captain doesn't make it very far before Banapur and his men track him down, recapture him and behead him in front of the other survivors as a lesson to them what happens when people try to escape.

These pirates, however, do not expect the arrival of Wolverine, having come to liberate Kojima Noburo a nobleman in the employ of his lover Mariko Yoshida. Wolverine easily kills the guard left to keep an eye on the stolen plane and slips past the traps set up around the island. Entering the pirates camp, he saves a young stewardess from being raped by one of the pirates and kills him, he tells her to keep quiet while he goes to work to rescue the surviving passengers. Finding the hut where Kojima has been kept prisoner, Wolverine finds him on the brink of death. When he tells Kojima who he is, the dying man doesn't believe it as he believes that Wolverine is dead[1]. Wolverine is then discovered by Banapur and his men, who rush him.

Despite the army of pirates armed to the gills with automatic weapons and swords, Wolverine's mutant healing factor and Adamantium-laced bones prove more than ample protection for Wolverine to single-handedly defeat all his attackers in. As Wolverine slaughters them all, the flight attendant he saved earlier takes Kojima off to safety. With all the soldiers dead except for Khan, the pirate leader makes a desperate escape with a hostage aboard a boat. Although he escapes Wolverine's retribution he leaves himself open to the stewardess who was hiding aboard the boat and shoots him dead from behind. Wolverine goes back to the dying Kojima who tells him that the Cult of the Black Blade is seeking to collect the Muramasa Blade -- a powerful sword of that corrupts those who wield it --, a sword that is due to be shipped through the city of Madripoor the following day. As Kojima dies in Wolverine's arms, Logan swears to him that he will return to Lady Mariko and tell her that he died a true samurai.

Wolverine researches the Cult of the Black Blade and learns that they are an ancient cult that has sought the blade for centuries. They had disappeared until the cult found a resurgence in the 1920's. Disguising himself, Logan tracks the woman who Kojima has told him is transporting the blade into Madripoor: his old ally from the X-Men's day in San Francisco, Lindsay McCabe. Bumping into her to make sure she doesn't recognize him and to lock onto her scent, Logan follows after her. Noticing that some hired thugs are on location to follow her as well, Logan pops their tires so that they can't. When Lindsay enters her hotel room she is attacked by two people seeking to claim the Muramasa Blade, however, they find -- much to their frustration -- that it is not in her luggage.

"Patch" (as Logan calls himself) bursts through the room and easily takes out the male attacker however the woman gets the drop on him and puts a gun to his head. Before the can pull the trigger Lindsay comes up behind her and smashes a lamp over her head. Convincing Lindsay that he is a friend, Patch tells her what's going on and she reveals to him that her friend Jessie is the one transporting in the blade tomorrow. She is also shocked to hear that Kojima was murdered because she thought she was talking to him up until today. Which leaves Logan to believe that Lindsay's partner is walking into a trap.

Continued in the next issue.

Appearances

• Cult of the Black Blade (First appearance)
• Mei Yin (First appearance)
• Tsuboro (First appearance)
• Kojima Noburo (First and only known appearance; dies), Mariko's secretary