At the edge of the Kozuki estate, in a hidden back alley.
A heavy stone slab disguised as a bluestone floor tile was violently pushed open.
Scorching ashes and rubble clattered down.
A blood-stained hand gripped the edge. Kin'emon gasped for breath, first poking his head above ground.
Before his eyes, the Kozuki estate was engulfed in flames.
Thick smoke billowed upward, obscuring half the moon. The palace that had symbolized the highest authority in Wano Country for centuries was being reduced to ruins amid the intense blaze, with the occasional muffled crash of massive timbers collapsing.
"Come out, quickly!" Kin'emon gritted his teeth and strained, turning to pull those inside the secret passage.
Raizō, Ashura Dōji, and Kikunojo emerged one after another, each bearing wounds. One of Kikunojo's arms hung limply, blood dripping from his fingertips into the mud illuminated by the firelight.
Last was Kozuki Toki, clutching the sleeping Hiyori tightly in her arms, her hair disheveled, her fair feet cut by several gashes from the rubble.
"The samurai covering our retreat..." Raizō scanned the surroundings, not seeing a single retainer following from deeper in the passage.
Ashura Dōji, gripping a chipped katana, squeezed out words through clenched teeth: "Jack crushed the entrance to the inner courtyard. They didn't even leave behind a single intact body."
From the streets came chaotic shouts.
The underlings of the Beast Pirates were sweeping through Kuri with torches.
"Chain up the men! Send them all to the Udon Quarry! Kaido's orders—Wano Country has no need for idle hands!"
"Search! Lord Jack's command—dig three feet into the ground if you must, but find the Nine Red Scabbards!"
The screams of civilians rose and fell, women dragged away by their hair. Once peaceful and prosperous Kuri had become a living hell.
Kin'emon's eyes bloodshot, he grabbed a handful of dirt mixed with scorching ash and soot, clenching it tightly in his palm.
The young master brutally killed, their home destroyed, brothers fallen in battle.
This blood debt could only be repaid with the heads of Orochi and Kaido!
Just at this moment of utter despair, a familiar, cheerful, even somewhat perverse "Yo—hohohoho!" sound pierced through the night, clearly coming from the direction of the inner courtyard.
Kin'emon and the others staggered toward it.
In a muddy pit, Kozuki Oden was still hopping about stark naked.
The mud on his body had dried and wettened repeatedly, making him look like a ridiculous clay statue, frantically shaking his hips in a contorted posture incomprehensible to ordinary people.
Kin'emon could no longer hold on.
His knees gave way, crashing heavily onto the rubble-strewn road. The pain of his kneecaps shattering actually brought him a sliver of clarity.
He crawled on his hands toward that muddy pit.
"Lord Oden..."
The man in the pit ignored him, focused on practicing a difficult one-legged spin.
"Lord Oden!!" Kin'emon suddenly straightened up.
His eyes were blood-red, veins bulging on his neck.
The spinning stopped.
Oden maintained his one-legged stance, tilting his large head, his vacant eyes finally focusing on Kin'emon.
Raizō covered his mouth, tears flooding out.
Kikunojo turned his head away, shoulders trembling violently.
Everyone held their breath.
This was the breaking point.
The mansion engulfed in flames, the retainers drenched in blood, the young master's tragic death.
Whatever this man had been holding back, whatever he had been enduring—now, that restraint had been utterly shattered.
The renowned Two-Sword Style Master Swordsman of the seas should awaken now.
"Lord Oden…" Kin'emon pressed his forehead hard into the muddy water. "The young master… the young master is dead! Killed by pirates! Not even his bones remain!"
"The Kozuki Clan is finished! Kuri is finished! Please, I beg you… stop dancing…"
"Draw your sword!!!"
Silence.
Apart from the crackling of distant flames, even the chirping of insects had ceased.
Oden lowered the leg he had suspended in mid-air.
He straightened his back, the foolish grin on his face slowly fading.
His thick, bushy eyebrows furrowed tightly, and his muscular chest began to heave violently.
It was working!
Kin'emon abruptly lifted his head, a look of wild joy flashing across his blood-stained face.
The lord he knew—the man whose anger alone could make the entire sea tremble—was about to return!
Oden snorted two heavy breaths from his nostrils, his shoulders trembling rhythmically, his lips pressed tightly together.
A strange gurgling sound emerged from his throat.
He was suppressing it with all his might.
And then—
"Pfft… Wahahahahaha!"
Deafening, earth-shaking laughter crashed down upon them.
"He died well! He died so well!"
Oden kicked Kin'emon aside, leaping high in the mud pit, even spinning around excitedly.
"That little brat was always crying and sniveling, and he loved hanging around the women—I've long been sick of him! Now it's perfect, no one will bother me while I dance anymore!"
He looked down at his retainers, frozen like statues on the ground, and pouted in dissatisfaction. "Why are you all looking so gloomy? What's the big deal about a kid dying? Today is a day worth celebrating—don't ruin the mood! Come, sway with me! Change the tune, ready—go!"
"Come on! Three circles to the left, three circles to the right, twist your neck, wiggle your butt!"
Kin'emon collapsed on the ground, his chest heaving violently.
He pointed at the wildly gyrating figure, his lips trembling, but not a single word could escape him for a long while.
"Ugh—"
Unable to catch his breath, Kin'emon's eyes rolled back, and he fell straight into the mud pit, fainting on the spot from sheer rage.
"Kin'emon!" Raizō rushed forward to drag him out, then turned to look at Oden, biting his lip until it bled.
What a scene of utter despair.
The backbone of Wano Country had been personally trampled and broken by this absurd dance.
Kozuki Toki stood a few steps away.
She held Hiyori tightly in her arms, tears she hadn't shed even while fleeing for her life now falling like broken strings.
She had traveled through eight hundred years of time, searching for the opportunity to change the world's fate.
She had once believed that this man before her was the dawn that would break the darkness.
He was passionate, bold, and deeply loyal.
He had shed the dignity of a daimyo to dance naked to save commoners—she had believed he was enduring, that he had a grand plan.
Even just now, the moment Momonosuke died, she had still clung to the tiniest shred of delusion in her heart.
The delusion that her husband would shed a single tear, that he would use the sword in his hand to cut through this tragic fate.
That fantasy was utterly shattered.
The creature now cheering and leaping with joy in the mud pit over his son's death was not Kozuki Oden.
"You…" Kozuki Toki's voice was hoarse.
Oden didn't hear a thing, completely lost in a complex tap dance routine, splattering mud onto Kozuki Toki's skirt.
Kozuki Toki lowered her gaze.
She no longer looked at that shell of a man.
The deep love that had transcended time, the hope for the country's future opening—after witnessing this farce, it all shattered into dust, scattered by the wind until not a trace remained.
She turned, her back to the marketplace, facing the few remaining retainers.
Her tone was icy, devoid of any emotion.
"You are not the man I once knew. You are nothing but an incurable madman."
Each word fell like a hammer on the stone pavement.
"From this day forth, the Kozuki clan has no head of household like you!"