Searching for A.W. - The Clown's Joke

Searching for A.W. - The Clown's Joke (A.W（アレン・ウォーカー）をたずねて・道化の戯れ言, A.W. (Aren Wōkā) wo Tazunete Dōke no Zaregoto) is the 221th chapter of the D.Gray-man series written and illustrated by Katsura Hoshino. The chapter is published in Jump SQ.Crown in January 2016.

Color spread
Yu and Alma back to back. Kanda is wearing his exorcists uniform and wields mugen in his left hand and its sheath in his right hand. Alma is in his akuma form, he looks skyward.

Cover page
Allen and Nea sit on a red couch. They are both in suit and tie, Allen has a red tie and Nea a black one. Allen' s eyes are shut and Nea is leaning on the backrest with his legs crossed.

Short summary
Nea is restrained by the finders's talismans. One of them mistakes the Earl for a human onlooker and pushes him aside, which prompts the latter to use his soul consumption power on the finders. After devouring their souls, he attacks Nea but Nea is saved by Howard Link who restrains the Earl with a spell. Link takes Nea and Johnny and goes a few blocks away. Link claims that he is now Nea's ally.

Summary
Members of CROW activate a talisman that seals Allen (Nea) making him unable to move. Mana, who is still reeling from his conversation between him and Nea, a piece of The Earl of Millennium's mask covering his left eye, looks weak and delirious and reaches out to Nea to help him. Eams is calling for back-up to surround Allen (Nea). Nea berates himself for not detecting them, attributing it to not being used to Allen's body. One of the CROW mistakes Mana for a bystander and knocks him away from the barrier, prompting Nea to call out for him in worry. Nea warns the members that they have to run away, one of them tries to silence him, but is pierced from behind by a scythe-like version of the Earl's middle finger. Mana, now black-eyed and slack faced, proceeds to absorb the man, turning him to particles. Allen(Nea) then yells at Eams that he must run. Eams asks Allen what he has done, but Allen(Nea) tells Eames that he is not responsible for the attack and that the man in front of them is the Millennium Earl. Eams takes out his gun and shoots towards the Earl, but the Earl heals and spits out the bullets. The Earl smiles, reprimanding Eames for having taken a look of his true face, which shocks Eams. Allen(Nea) warns Eames that the Earl eats souls and he has to run. Eams listens to Allen and runs away from the Earl. While running, Eams is contacting the headquarters to report the news. The Earl pulls up a finger to stab through Allen into Eams body, dissolving the latter. Nea curses Eams for his stupidity. The Millennium Earl then turns towards Nea, asking him what they had been talking about; having seemingly forgotten.

Nea then remembers what a friend told him long time ago about the Helix of Life, which he knows that the ability the Earl uses is to absorb human souls. Nea asks the Earl, who he refers as Mana, if he is going to devour him for the second time. The Earl suddenly remembers their previous conversation and calmly tells Nea that he not Mana, but the he does know where he is. This shocks Nea, and the Earl gleefully explains that Mana is "in a place from which he can never return". Nea looks worried for a moment, and briefly flashes back to young Mana and Timcanpy smiling at him, but quickly restores his face and mocks the Earl saying that he has some lame jokes despite being a clown. Nea questions that if the Earl isn't Mana, then what about "Mana Walker" the memories of all those years he spent with Allen? But the Earl tells Nea that it wasn't him. Nea continues to press until the Earl flies into a rage, and starts to attack Nea, transforming into a grotesque shape. The Earl tells Nea that he is truly in the way. They are about to clash when the Earl's fingers are suddenly pierced with spikes, forcing him to release Nea, and the Earl is paralyzed by seals. Link appears and quickly deduces that the other man is the Millennium Earl. Link asks the Earl to step away from Allen while the Earl screams in pain. Nea is shocked seeing Link wondering why he is alive. Link takes Allen with him to a safe place somewhere in the town. Nea is visibly hurt by the talismans and Link apologizes to Allen for his roughness, explaining that it's difficult to hold the Earl in one place.

Nea pretends to be Allen, while Link is seeing to the wounds Allen was left with after he was pierced by the Earl. Link tells Allen that the appearance of the Earl adds an element of danger and that members from the Order are appearing as well, which is why they can stay long in the same place. Link uses Atūda to heal Allen's wounds, impressed seeing Atūda in action for once. Nea, who had noticed that his body had Link's own life force, tries to ask Link what it is but he is stopped by him telling Nea that he can stop pretend to be Allen. Nea asks what he is talking about, claiming that he is Allen. Link tells him that he can only feel a cold bloodlust in Allen's 'ki', which is completely different than the Allen Walker Link knew. Nea drops his charade telling Link that he is a sharp human Nea asks him what he is going to do about the situation, and noticing that he is in pain, Nea warns Link that he is prepared to kill him.

Link explains to Nea that his master Lvellie made a secret pact with Cross Marian, and Link therefore got sent here to protect Nea, the 14th, as an ally. Link explains that he has been waiting for the past three months to talk to Nea and not with Allen, telling Nea that he is an ally of the new 14th and proposing to him to use his life to his own gain; which disgusts Nea.

Chapter Notes

 * The technique The Earl of Millennium uses is a technique that can devour human souls.
 * The 'friend' Nea was talking about could be Allen, due that the two bears lots of similarities with each other. It is also possible that Allen's Eyesight is not clear as he is seen wearing glasses.
 * Lvellie and Cross Marian both made a secret pact with each other to protect Nea.
 * Link is revealed to be an ally of the 14th, as well as Lvellie and Cross Marian.

Trivia

 * With 56 pages this is the third longest chapter of the series.
 * This is the last chapter of volume 25.