While King and Bella were still silently staring at one another, another samurai hurried over with a report.
Yamato was still upstairs with Ace, so the samurai went directly to her. The news quickly made its way back down.
A poisonous mist had appeared around the ruins of Oden Castle, and the entire area was now completely engulfed. Hardly anyone normally lived there, but several people who happened to pass nearby had already suffered mild poisoning.
Worse, rumors had begun spreading.
Some claimed it was the curse of the Kozuki family—that punishment had descended because Shogun Yamato had refused to follow the prophecy.
The moment King heard that, his brow tightened.
It had barely been any time at all, and the remaining Kozuki loyalists were already becoming restless.
Fortunately, the samurai trusted enough to serve in the shogun's residence had all chosen to follow Yamato, so none were particularly shaken by the rumors.
King remained silent for several moments before making a decision.
It seemed he would have to eliminate these unstable elements on Yamato's behalf.
His thoughts immediately went to Denjiro and Kozuki Hiyori, whom he had personally captured earlier.
During the battle on Onigashima, everything had become so chaotic that nobody had paid much attention to them afterward.
Could they have escaped?
Yamato herself was far too occupied with Ace's bizarre "difficult labor" to investigate the matter personally, but she still took the report seriously. In the end, she asked King and Izo to go together and find out what had happened.
…
A short while earlier—
"Hang on, Hiyori-sama! We're almost there!"
Denjiro carried Kozuki Hiyori through the rugged mountain forest at full speed.
They had managed to escape through the chaos surrounding Cain and Kaido's earth-shaking battle, and the place they were heading toward was the last source of comfort either of them had left.
The ruins of Oden Castle.
Years had passed since the castle was destroyed, leaving little more than broken walls and scattered stone.
Yet calling the entire place abandoned wouldn't have been completely accurate.
Near the graves of Momonosuke and the others, there were clear signs that someone had been living there—a cooking pot, bedding, simple utensils, and even charcoal that still retained a trace of warmth.
Hiyori sank to the ground and stared around in disbelief.
"Denjiro… this really is Oden Castle?"
"It is."
Denjiro looked around cautiously.
"Why someone has been living here, I cannot say."
"For now, Hiyori-sama, please rest here. I'll inspect the surrounding area."
"There should still be a well nearby. I'll bring you water afterward."
He settled Hiyori onto a relatively flat piece of stone and headed away.
Not long after Denjiro left, Hiyori rose on her own and walked toward the graves.
She knelt solemnly before them and bowed deeply.
Then something strange caught the corner of her eye.
Brightly colored fruits had been arranged around the gravestones.
…
Elsewhere among the ruins, Denjiro was inspecting the signs of habitation when he heard the faintest rustling from a nearby patch of grass.
His expression sharpened.
His sword was out almost instantly.
"Who's there?!"
"Wait! I—I wasn't trying to eavesdrop!"
The blade stopped with its tip pointed directly at a heavyset man wearing a strange mask.
The stranger raised both hands hurriedly.
"I once served the Kozuki clan! I swore my life to Lord Oden!"
He quickly rolled up one trouser leg, revealing the crescent-moon tattoo around his ankle that marked a Kozuki loyalist.
His voice trembled with excitement.
"To think the two of you are Hiyori-sama and Denjiro-sama!"
"I can hardly believe my luck!"
"I heard Kaido has finally been defeated. All these years of effort were not in vain!"
Seeing the familiar crescent mark, Denjiro slowly sheathed his sword and decided to trust the man for the time being.
"Effort?"
"Yes!"
The masked man nodded vigorously.
"The stories about the masked spirit haunting the ruins of Oden Castle were all about me!"
"I tried to imitate the great figure of Kozuki Oden in hopes of restoring the Kozuki clan's reputation."
"To think I would actually meet Lord Oden's own bloodline here… It is an incredible honor!"
Clearly, he had overheard Hiyori and Denjiro's earlier conversation.
Still, his knowledge of Kozuki Oden's past sounded convincing enough that Denjiro's suspicion faded somewhat.
He then began asking about the mask.
Underneath it, the man's face was already covered in cold sweat.
The self-proclaimed Kozuki retainer standing in the ruins was none other than Kurozumi Orochi.
Orochi had survived by hiding for years, clinging to the prophecy and waiting for the day Kaido would finally fall.
So desperate had he been to witness it himself that he had secretly tattooed the humiliating crescent mark onto his own ankle—the symbol worn only by the most devoted followers of the Kozuki clan.
Years of hiding and poor nutrition had made him noticeably thinner than before, and the strange mask did just enough to conceal his identity.
What Orochi had never imagined was that Komurasaki, the courtesan he had once showered with favor in the Flower Capital, was actually Kozuki Hiyori.
Nor had he realized that Kyoshiro, the subordinate who had served him faithfully for twenty years, had secretly been Denjiro all along.
Just as Denjiro began insisting that Orochi remove his mask so he could verify his identity—
a piercing scream suddenly erupted behind them.
"AAAAAH—!"
Denjiro spun around.
His pupils contracted.
Kozuki Hiyori had collapsed beside the ruined gravestones.
Her complexion had turned dark and bluish, her lips were pale, and heavy beads of cold sweat rolled down her face.
She lasted only moments longer.
Her legs suddenly kicked once.
Then her body went still.
Denjiro stared in disbelief.
He rushed to her side and reached trembling fingers beneath her nose.
Nothing.
Her heart had stopped.
Even more disturbingly, Hiyori's body began rapidly going limp within seconds, while thin strands of poisonous mist seeped from beneath her skin.
Everything had happened far too quickly.
The shock shattered Denjiro.
Years of memories crashed over him all at once, while crushing guilt tightened around his chest.
If he had been stronger—
if he had been more careful—
none of this would have happened.
Denjiro had always been the sort of person who blamed himself for every failure.
Now, faced with this unbearable loss, the final thread holding his sanity together snapped.
Blade after blade of sword energy erupted wildly from him.
The Kozuki graves shattered beneath the slashes.
The brightly colored fruits scattered around them burst apart as well.
Denjiro seized Orochi by the collar, his bloodshot eyes completely devoid of reason.
Orochi struggled desperately, but there was no escaping Denjiro in this state.
The poison that had killed Hiyori had already accelerated the decay of her corpse, and the destroyed fruits released even more toxic vapor.
Poison spread rapidly through the ruins, engulfing both men.
As Denjiro continued lashing out wildly, the entire remains of Oden Castle disappeared into a thick poisonous haze.
…
By the time King and Izo arrived, the ruins were completely submerged beneath dense poison.
Then a figure came staggering out of the mist.
Kurozumi Orochi.
His mask had already shattered, exposing the twisted face beneath. Poison vapor rose continuously from his body, and every step looked as though it might be his last.
Even with the regenerative power of the Snake-Snake Fruit, Model: Yamata-no-Orochi, his body was rapidly approaching its limit.
King hovered above the area, coldly staring down at the rolling poison.
Naturally, he noticed Orochi immediately.
"So Kurozumi Orochi was still alive."
He watched the man stumble forward.
"Though judging by that condition, not for much longer."
"Orochi!"
Izo followed King's gaze, raised his pistol, and fired without hesitation.
The bullet struck Orochi squarely between the eyes.
He collapsed immediately.
The man responsible for usurping Wano had finally been killed by Izo's own hand.
Or so it seemed.
A moment later, Orochi's fallen body began twisting unnaturally.
A completely new head grew from his torso, while the old poisoned body sloughed away like discarded skin.
The poison vanished from the regenerated body along with it.
"Damn it."
Orochi grumbled as he climbed back up.
"Another life gone."
He hadn't even realized he had been shot.
He assumed the poison had simply overwhelmed one of his lives.
King immediately remembered the nature of Orochi's Mythical Zoan.
The Yamata-no-Orochi possessed eight heads—
and, effectively, eight lives.
King stopped wasting time.
He dove from the air, seized Orochi by the throat with one hand, and lifted him off the ground.
The latest regeneration had purged the poison from Orochi's body completely.
King himself was protected for the moment by his leather clothing, while the constant beating of his wings pushed most of the surrounding poison away before it could reach him.
"What happened here?"
His voice was ice-cold.
Orochi struggled against his grip, but eventually choked out the events in broken fragments.
"So… Hiyori-sama and Denjiro as well…"
Izo covered his mouth and stumbled half a step backward in disbelief.
"What? Who did you say died?!"
A sudden shout broke through the silence.
The newcomer was Tenguyama Hitetsu—or rather, Kozuki Sukiyaki—the same masked old man who had often brought food to Orochi while he lived hidden among the ruins.
The instant Sukiyaki heard that Hiyori was still somewhere inside the poison, he rushed toward the mist without hesitation.
Izo instinctively tried to stop him.
King raised one arm and blocked the way.
"Yamato sent the two of us together."
His voice remained calm.
"So you don't get to die here."
His gaze never left Orochi.
King had already gotten the information he needed.
A cold smile appeared beneath his mask.
His fingers tightened.
Crack.
Orochi's neck broke cleanly.
King released the body and simply waited.
When Orochi regenerated—
King killed him again.
And again.
Every time a new life appeared, King immediately destroyed it until no further head could regenerate.
By the end, nothing remained capable of rising again.
Izo stood nearby, watching the ruthless efficiency of King's methods in silence.
Then he lowered his gaze toward the poison-covered ruins.
Complicated emotions churned inside him.
His homeland after so many years away.
The final known bloodline of the Kozuki clan.
The devotion of retainers who had followed them until death.
Everything had ultimately disappeared into this silent poisonous fog.
What Izo didn't know was that the old man who had just rushed into the poison was Kozuki Sukiyaki himself.
With his death, aside from Momonosuke—who had not yet traveled forward through time—the Kozuki bloodline had effectively been wiped out.
King had little interest in dwelling on any of that.
Instead, he turned toward Bella, who had been silently following them the entire time under Uta's orders.
She had never let him out of her sight.
Conveniently, King now had a use for her.
He instructed Bella to encase the entirety of Oden Castle in ice, sealing the poison inside for the time being.
As for what to do with it later, King intended to ask Queen.
The man knew far more about poisons than anyone else available.
Preferably, Queen wouldn't neutralize the fog too quickly.
Because King had already decided on a fitting place for the remaining Kozuki loyalists.
Just like the old man who had willingly charged into the poison—
if they were truly that devoted to the Kozuki clan, then they could join them there.
The region had already become a sealed toxic zone where nobody else would enter.
For King, it was the perfect place to remove the remaining threats to Yamato's rule.
By the end, Oden Castle had disappeared beneath the poison mist, and the entire area was sealed under a massive dome of ice.