The region of Udon was a desolate expanse of red earth and jagged canyons. In the future, it would be a prison mine. Today, it was a graveyard waiting to be filled.
"Don't step there," Deidara warned, sitting cross-legged on a floating clay owl. "Or there. Actually, just don't move your feet at all, un."
Ren stood on a high ridge overlooking the valley floor. He checked his watch—a stolen marine chronometer.
"They're late," Ren muttered.
"A wizard is never late," Hidan quipped, spinning his scythe. He had drawn a massive Jashin symbol in the dirt in the center of the valley. "Wait, no, that's Gandalf. Samurai are definitely late. They probably stopped to write poetry about cherry blossoms."
"They will come," Kaido said.
The future Emperor sat on a massive stone throne he had dragged out to the cliff edge. He was drinking from his gourd, his eyes fixed on the southern horizon. The air around him distorted, heavy with anticipation.
"They are honorable," Kaido rumbled. "They don't sneak. They don't hide. They march in the sun."
"That," Kakuzu said, counting shuriken in his pouch, "is a poor financial decision."
"Here they come," Itachi said softly.
Ren looked.
On the horizon, a dust cloud rose. Emerging from the haze were ten figures.
Leading them was Kozuki Oden. He wore his orange kimono, the giant nio-daisuki rope bow on his back, and his two swords—Enma and Ame no Habakiri—at his waist. He walked with a stride that ate up the ground, radiating an aura so intense it felt like a physical heat wave even from a mile away.
Behind him marched the Nine Red Scabbards.
Kin'emon. Denjiro. Raizo. Kanjuro. Kikunojo. Ashura Doji. Inuarashi. Nekomamushi. Kawamatsu.
They didn't look like men marching to their deaths. They looked like legends walking out of a storybook.
"Kaido!"
Oden's voice boomed across the valley, echoing off the canyon walls.
"You sit on my throne! You drink my sake! You enslave my people!"
Oden stopped in the middle of the valley, fifty yards from where the Beast Pirates waited. The Scabbards fanned out behind him, hands on their hilts.
"Leave Wano now," Oden shouted, drawing his blades. The Haki flowing off him turned the blades pitch black. "Or I will cut you out of history!"
Kaido stood up. He tossed the sake gourd aside. It shattered.
"Oden!" Kaido roared back, a grin splitting his face. "I've been waiting! Come and take it! If you can!"
Oden's eyes narrowed. "Scabbards! Charge!"
"OOOOHHH!" The nine samurai drew their weapons and sprinted forward.
Ren watched them run. They were fast. Incredibly fast.
"Deidara," Ren commanded.
Deidara grinned, forming a seal with a single hand.
"Katsu."
BOOM.
The ground beneath the charging samurai didn't just crack; it vanished.
Deidara had turned the entire valley floor into a C2 minefield. A chain reaction of explosions erupted, tearing the earth apart. Plumes of fire and white clay smoke shot hundreds of feet into the air.
"Cowards!" Kin'emon shouted, cutting through the flames with his Foxfire Style. "They use traps!"
"It's not a trap," Ren whispered from the ridge. "It's a welcome mat."
The explosion did its job. It separated them.
The Scabbards were scattered, blown apart by the blast waves. Only Oden remained on his path, having slashed through the explosion itself with a wave of Haki so dense it smothered the fire.
Oden leaped through the smoke, straight for Kaido.
"KAIDOOOO!"
Kaido leaped from the ridge to meet him.
CLANG!
Kanabo met Twin Swords.
The impact split the sky. A shockwave of black and red lightning decimated the surrounding rocks, blowing the smoke away instantly.
"Go!" Ren ordered his team. "Pick them off while they're disoriented!"
The Night Parade descended.
The Minks vs. The Miser
Inuarashi and Nekomamushi, the two massive Minks, landed on their feet near a rocky outcrop. Their fur was singed, but they were unhurt.
"Watch out, cat!" Inuarashi barked. "Enemy above!"
Kakuzu dropped from the sky. His body was already transformed—black threads erupting from his back, unleashing the masks.
Fire Style: Searing Migraine!
Wind Style: Pressure Damage!
A massive fireball, fueled by a gale of wind, incinerated the area where the Minks stood.
"Electro!" Nekomamushi hissed, channeling electricity through his body to speed out of the blast radius. "What magic is this? Is he a Mink?"
Kakuzu landed, his skin turning dark brown as he used Earth Spear to harden his body with Haki-like durability.
"No," Kakuzu said, his green eyes calculating the value of their pelts. "I am just a man who collects debts. And your fur looks expensive."
The Ninja vs. The Illusion
Raizo of the Mist spun through the air, throwing shuriken to deflect the falling debris. He landed in a cloud of dust.
"Where are you, enemy?" Raizo shouted. "Show yourself! A ninja does not hide from battle!"
"Correct," a voice said from everywhere and nowhere.
Raizo spun around. Standing in front of him was Itachi Uchiha.
"You call yourself a ninja?" Raizo asked, performing a hand sign. "Ninja Art: Clone Jutsu!"
dozens of Raizos appeared.
Itachi didn't move. He just stared. His Sharingan spun slowly.
"Genjutsu: Ephemeral."
Raizo blinked. Suddenly, his clones turned into crows. The crows began to peck at his eyes. The sky turned blood red.
"What... what is this?" Raizo screamed, clutching his head. "My Haki... I can't break it!"
"Haki is willpower," Itachi said, walking calmly toward the screaming ninja. "But what good is will if you cannot trust your own senses?"
The Samurai vs. The Immortal
Ashura Doji and Denjiro—the two strongest swordsmen of the Scabbards—found themselves facing a man with a silver slicked-back hairstyle and a scythe.
"Move," Ashura growled. "We need to help Oden-sama."
"Help?" Hidan laughed, swinging his scythe. "You guys are rude! I'm trying to introduce you to my god!"
Ashura Doji was fast. He was arguably as strong as Oden in raw swordsmanship. He dashed past Hidan, slicing the immortal's stomach open in a single stroke.
Slash.
"Done," Ashura said, sheathing his blade. "Let's go, Denjiro."
"Hey! That tickles!"
Ashura froze. He turned around.
Hidan was standing there, his intestines hanging out, but he looked annoyed rather than dead. He stuffed his guts back in and the wound began to close with grey paper ash.
"You cut my favorite sash!" Hidan yelled.
"He... he didn't die?" Denjiro's eyes widened. "Devil Fruit?"
"No," Ren's voice cut in.
Ren landed on a rock above them. He wasn't fighting directly yet, but he was observing, directing Hidan with chakra threads to cover his blind spots.
"Hidan," Ren ordered. "Get their blood. Just a drop."
"With pleasure!" Hidan licked his lips.
Hidan charged, reckless and wild. Ashura and Denjiro were superior fighters. They cut him. They stabbed him. They took off his arm (which flew back and reattached).
But they couldn't put him down. And the psychological horror of fighting a man who laughed at dismemberment was wearing on them.
The Duel of Legends
In the center of the valley, the earth was melting.
Oden and Kaido were trading blows that would shatter islands.
"Oden Two-Sword Style: Gun Modoki!"
Oden crossed his swords, unleashing a cross-shaped slash of Ryuo.
Kaido took the hit on his club, skidding back fifty feet. His arms shook.
"Strong!" Kaido laughed, blood trickling from his forehead. "You're strong, Oden! Stronger than before!"
"Why, Kaido?" Oden screamed, rushing forward again. "Why come here? Why ruin this land?"
"Because war is the only truth!" Kaido roared.
Kaido's body shifted. He grew scales. He entered his Hybrid Form—the form he hadn't needed to use against anyone since the Rocks Pirates disbanded.
He swung his Kanabo.
Thunder Bagua!
Oden didn't block. He ducked under the swing.
"Togen..." Oden's aura flared white-hot.
Kaido's eyes widened. He's inside my guard!
"...Totsuka!"
Oden slashed upward in an X-pattern.
CRUNCH.
The blades bit deep into Kaido's indestructible chest. Scales shattered. Blood—dragon blood—sprayed into the air.
Kaido howled in pain, his eyes rolling back for a split second. He staggered back, clutching his chest.
"I've got you!" Oden shouted. He raised his swords for the finishing blow. "Beast of the Sea, return to the depths!"
But Oden stopped.
A scream pierced the battlefield.
"ODEN-SAMA! HELP ME!"
Oden froze. He looked to the right.
There, caught in a trap, was his son, Momonosuke. The boy was held by the neck by a black shadow clone.
"Momo?" Oden's Haki faltered. He lowered his swords.
"Now, Kaido!" Ren screamed from the cliff.
Ren knew it was fake. It was the Mane Mane no Mi. It was Higurashi's face—no, wait. Higurashi was dead.
Ren looked closely.
It wasn't Higurashi.
It was Itachi.
Itachi had used a Crow Clone transformed into Momonosuke. It was a dirty, underhanded ninja tactic. And it worked perfectly.
Kaido recovered from the pain. He saw Oden distracted. He saw the opening.
He didn't hesitate. He didn't care about honor. He cared about winning.
Kaido gripped his club with both hands. His Haki flared, purple and black lightning crackling around the spikes.
"DIE!"
Kaido swung.
Oden turned back at the last second, but his Haki was disrupted. He couldn't block in time.
CRACK.
The Kanabo struck Oden squarely in the back of the head.
The sound was sickening. The ground beneath Oden exploded into a crater. The strongest samurai in Wano hit the dirt and didn't move.
Silence fell over the battlefield.
The Scabbards froze.
"Oden... sama?" Kin'emon whispered.
Kaido stood over the fallen samurai, panting heavily, blood dripping from the X-shaped scar on his chest. He looked at the "Momonosuke" which dissolved into a flock of crows.
Kaido looked up at Ren on the ridge. His expression was unreadable. Was he angry at the interference? Or relieved?
Ren met his gaze. This is what you wanted, Kaido. You wanted Wano. I gave it to you.
Kaido huffed, steam pouring from his nostrils. He raised his club to the sky.
"ODEN HAS FALLEN!" Kaido bellowed.
The morale of the Scabbards shattered like glass.
"Retreat!" Inuarashi shouted, grabbing the unconscious bodies of Raizo and Kiku. "We must save the family!"
"Let them go," Kaido ordered, his voice low.
"But Captain," Kakuzu stepped forward, wiping blood off his masks. "They are loose ends."
"I said let them go," Kaido snarled. He looked down at Oden.
Oden was breathing. Barely.
"Take him," Kaido said. "Throw him in the deepest cell in Udon. Chain him with Sea Prism Stone."
Kaido touched his fresh scar. It was burning.
"The war is over," Kaido said, turning his back on the samurai. "Now... the nightmare begins."
Ren watched from the cliff. He felt a chill run down his spine. They had won. They had defeated the hero.
But looking at the fallen Oden, and the treacherous way they had won, Ren knew one thing for certain.
They were definitely the villains of this story.