Nero Nero Island

The island is written as the second largest urban settlement in Italy, though it measures only about a tenth of Morioh. Roughly three thousand people live among its brick buildings and windmills, and its harbor is crowded with vessels bearing Italian names. Seen from below, the underside of the mass spans around two hundred meters across.

What makes Nero Nero Island extraordinary is its transformation into a living thing. In 2012 it sprouts insect-like legs and begins swimming under its own power toward Morioh with the aim of grinding straight through the town. When it strikes, the collision of the two settlements' barriers throws it upward, but more limbs keep pushing out from beneath it until it breaks through Morioh's defenses entirely and comes to rest on the harbor, crushing several houses in the process.

Long a stronghold for the Mafia, the island now houses Passione and its membership of more than three hundred. The narrative first raises it at the end of chapter six, where it approaches from the waters south of Sardinia. As it nears Morioh, Muryotaisu and Joji study it through binoculars while Muryotaisu digs an encyclopedia entry on the place. Once it has landed and revealed itself, the gunmen stationed on top begin firing down at civilians at random.