Offered

Offered is one of two manga series of Ikegami's that was published by ComicsOne. Up to this point in time, all translations of his work has been done by Viz Comics or Eclipse. ComicsOne published both volumes of Offered and the nine volumes of Wounded Man before they went out of business.



Yu Tachikawa is an olympic-class track star. During a major track meet, Yu is kidnapped by Payetta (leader of an outlaw gang) who has plans to get impregnated by Yu. Her organization believes that Yu is the test-tube son of Gilgamesh. According to legend, Gilgamesh preserved his seed by ejaculating into ivory tusks that were sealed and buried in a glacier. It is believed that one of the tusks have been found and was used to inseminate Yu's mother. Payetta plans to have Yu's child and raise him to assume Gilgamesh's role as ruler of the world. In exchange for this information, Yu agrees to inseminate Payetta.

Unknown to her, another group has discovered Payetta's plans. They develop their own plans for Yu and launch an attack to kill Payetta. As she lay dying, she hypnotizes Yu and brainwashes him into believing that is is Gilgamesh and he has to become ruler of the world. Unfortunately, as she gets weaker, her commands are not as forceful which allows him to keep his own mind and thoughts, but unable to resist her commands.



He discovers that the only way to overcome his hypnosis for his sense of self-preservation to kick in. When he is threatened, he is able to take control of his actions. Through a series of trials, he is finally able to build a resistance to the subliminal commands and return to a normal life. When he returns to college, he finds that his former team mates are enraged with him because of his disappearance at the track meet. Yu enlists the help of a female biology professor, Ray, to help him discover if Payetta's claims are correct.

Ray helps him track down Yu's mother and she tells him that Yu is not the heir of Gilgamesh. She was offered the opportunity to be inseminated with the semen found in the ivory tusk. She refused. But she reveals that there is another woman from Turkey who accepted the offer and had a male child (Mikhail Pasha Likinius) who is the descendant of Gilgamesh. She wants Yu to find Gilgamesh's treasure (which will help Mikhail take over the world) first and keep it out of Mikhail's hands.



When Yu meets Mikhail, it's almost like he is looking in a mirror. If Mikhail is the descendant of Gilgamesh, that means Yu's mother has lied about his lineage. In fact, being slightly older than Mikhail, he is the rightful heir. During their final confrontation at the tomb of Gilgamesh, Mikhael is killed and Yu barely escapes with his life as the cavern collapses around him.