A Portuguese sailor stranded in Japan, drawn twice over

The book, reviewed by Le Temps, brings together two accounts of the same story: one drawn by Cyril Pedrosa, the other by Taiyō Matsumoto. Both follow Fernando, a red-haired boy described as sensitive and fond of animals, whose years in the care of harsh priests turn him into an unflinching killer. He ends up aboard a Portuguese ship among what the album calls "bad Christians but skilled merchants."

When pirates attack the ship one night in the South China Sea, Fernando is wounded and falls overboard. The sea carries him to a beach in Japan, where an old clam-gatherer named Shobei finds him unconscious and takes him in. Despite the language barrier, a friendship grows between the fallen mercenary and his rescuer.

Living a simple, rural life, the "nanbanjin" — the Japanese word for foreigner — finds a measure of inner peace, though threats linger, including two horsemen who watch him from a distance. He befriends Toramaru, a formidable samurai marked by a fox stole, and Kumagiku, a wandering Shinto priestess, or "miko", who is also an occasional prostitute. In return for Shobei's hospitality, Fernando gives him back his love of the sea — a sea that Shobei says has given him much but also took his son.

To avoid being kept as an interpreter in the service of the local lord, "Felunando", now at peace with himself, ultimately sets out to sea again. Le Temps describes the album as an adventure story that takes its time to be contemplative.