Vol.8 Love on the Boulevard - Full Throttle Turbo

Strolling along a tree-lined avenue, Minako Aino is rescued from a pair of thugs by a striking young man named Saito, and she promptly develops a crush on him. As she chases his attention, she discovers he heads a gang locked in battle with another crew of delinquents. Those rivals behave oddly, wielding strength beyond any normal person and obeying an unseen commander. That commander proves to be Vivian, an agent of the Dark Agency siphoning energy from the brawls. Once Minako uncovers the plot and becomes Sailor V, she rescues the delinquents while realizing she never truly had a chance with Saito.

The chapter opens with Minako writing in her diary about the day she met someone special on the boulevard. After a dreaded exam, she and Hikaru Sorano visit a coffee shop near the art museums, where friends notice how lovesick and distracted she has become. A flashback shows how, two weeks earlier, a tall long-haired stranger scared off two hoodlums menacing the girls, leaving Minako convinced a prince had come to her aid. Back in the present, warnings about the neighborhood's rising gang violence fail to keep her from lingering there.

Wandering the avenue alone, Minako gets caught between two feuding crews, and the same young man, Saito, steps in to defend her. A stray punch knocks her out, and he carries her off, while the rival leader calls off pursuit to seek a larger target. When Minako wakes, Saito recognizes her uniform, mentioning that Okamoto once taught him at Shiba Middle School, then warns her to stay away before departing. At home, Artemis frets over her injuries as Vivian reports her progress to Danburite, who looks forward to pleasing Kunzite with the results.

Rumors soon name Saito as the graduate orchestrating the gang wars, deepening Minako's fascination. She persuades her teacher Okamoto to help craft a promise ring, and the two run into Saito, who grows wistful at the reunion. Later Minako finds Saito badly beaten, his followers explaining that the strange rivals move as if controlled, gain superhuman power, and then abruptly weaken. Examining her bracelet, Saito urges her to confess to whomever she loves rather than live with regret, hinting at his own reasons for fighting.

When the rival gang attacks and Vivian gloats over Saito's defeat, Boss reveals that she works for the Dark Agency, brainwashing delinquents into puppets after draining their energy. Recalling the followers' wish for Saito to quit fighting, Minako disguises herself as Okamoto and orders him to stand down. Moved by memories of his old teacher, Saito confesses his feelings and kisses the disguised Minako before vowing this will be his final brawl. Snapped out of her daze by Artemis, she transforms into Sailor V, endures Vivian's electrified chain, then strikes back with Crescent Super Beam and finishes her with Venus Power, Love Crescent Shower, healing the delinquents. Weeping over her lost first love, she flees, only to leave the freed thugs behind for one last enormous fight.

This installment introduces Saito, the teacher Okamoto, and the villain Vivian, sets the tree-lined boulevard as a new locale, and debuts Crescent Super Beam alongside Venus Power, Love Crescent Shower. It stands as the only Codename: Sailor V appearance for all three of those characters. In the original tankoubon printing, it was the second chapter of the second collected volume. Danburite's passing mention of Kunzite hints that he is the true master pulling the Dark Agency's strings. The framing device closes with Artemis noting that Higashi, not Saito, was Minako's actual first love.