Yeah, looks quite like Admiral Watanabe fell for one of the oldest ones in the book. ._. Although I’m not even sure whom that reflects worse on: Watanabe for falling for it, or the Professor for not coming up with something better.
After all, Watanabe has a pretty valid excuse – while it’s a pretty time-worn prank in the West, it probably was never really that popular in Japan to begin with. Had the Professor asked him whether he had Haru-no-miya Yoshihito Shinno in a can, instead, I don’t think the Admiral would have fallen for it. Not again, that is. >_>
And the other half of Adm. Watanabe’s excuse is comprised of the fact that he knew that Prince Albert actually happened to be on the island, and that he had earlier excused himself to visit the public convenience.* That definitely lent a lot more credence to the Professor’s statements. And, no, I don’t know what Prince Albert is doing on Aravanadi…my best guesses are a visit of state, or a shopping trip. =P (Naturally, I equipped HRH with a newspaper to keep him decent – I didn’t want to wade into the controversy about whether he was pierced or not. XD)
Plus, the Admiral definitely made up for his earlier lapse of judgement by drawing some impressively accurate conclusions in the final two panels. He’s right on the nose, there…and that’s made even more impressive by the fact that the vast majority of villains mess up at that particular point.
More on Thurs…uh, Monday!
* Which, I assume, was especially labeled as such in honor of the royal visit.