Martino was a mercenary that was briefly encountered by an adolescent Guts during a period of time before he joined the mercenary band that battled against the Band of the Falcon.[1]
Personality
Martino was a jovial man, and was cunning and clever. Guts' hostile attitude toward him when they first met did not seem to bother him, nor did the implication that he was sexually interested in Guts.[1]
Though he reprimanded the guards for beating Guts, he was not above placing Guts in danger or using him as bait: he convinced the young mercenary to make a break for freedom, getting him severely wounded and recaptured in order to secure his own escape.[1] Though he placed a higher value on his own wellbeing than on Guts', he was happy to see the boy come out of things alive and would always repay a debt.[2]
Story
Guts met Martino when the latter displayed some appreciation for his slyness alongside concern for his wounds. He taught Guts what they planned to do with captured mercenaries like them: they were used as labor to build a castle. When Guts fell over, Martino berated the guards for beating a kid and tried to help them up. Though violently repelled when he first attempted to touch Guts, he was able to convince him to lean on his shoulder, given his injuries, and was unbothered when Guts implied him to be sexually interested in him. He later gave Guts a lockpick and used it to unlock his shackles, convincing him to run for freedom. However, Guts' wounds prevented him from making it far, and he was shot in the back by several arrows and recaptured. Martino, however, easily escaped from his own manacles and salutes Guts as he makes his own, successful escape.[1]
Guts flashes back to his youth, remembering a particular battle where he and several troops were tricked into being used as bait by Gambino. Finding Guts alive, Gambino congratulates him and muses on using him and other trusting men as decoys. Amused with Guts' dumbfounded look, Gambino tells him to use the experience as fatherly advice, that he should get by on his own brains and skill and trust no one else - even his own 'father'.[1]
After beating a viscount's son in a pre-arranged execution match, Guts attempted to escape while using the son as a hostage. As he was surrounded by guards, Martino attacked the courtyard with some men, causing chaos that allows Guts to escape. Martino smiles when he sees Guts still alive and offers him a bonus for his service, which Guts turns down before leaving.[2]
Notes
- When he claimed that if Guts were to find an unnamed person or group of people, they might give meaning to his life, a white falcon is shown in the sky.[1]