Dark clouds hung over Mount Fuji.
Smoke and the smell of burning oil filled the air.
In the center of the plaza.
A giant iron pot, over ten meters across, sat on a high stone platform.
Red pine logs burned fiercely beneath it. The fire cracked loudly under the black bottom of the pot.
Yellow-brown oil boiled inside.
Bloop... Bloop...
Murky oil bubbles rose from the bottom and burst on the surface, splashing scalding drops. The heat warped the air above the pot.
This was a public execution by boiling.
Up on the platform.
The Shogun of Wano, Kurozumi Orochi, sat in a chair. He leaned forward with a twisted grin. His mustache twitched as he gripped a folding fan, eager to see the man who had terrified him for years die in the pot.
Next to Orochi, Kaido of the Beasts sat cross-legged.
He was covered in bandages. A thick bandage was wrapped around the left side of his stomach, covering a deep sword wound that had reached the bone. Even with his Zoan recovery, it still ached three days later. But that did not ruin his mood.
He grabbed a huge bowl of alcohol and tilted his head back, taking a large gulp of strong liquor.
Glug, glug.
The spicy alcohol flowed down his throat. It dulled the pain and made his head heavier.
"Burp..."
Kaido burped and put down the bowl. Then he looked at the spot behind him.
That was the designated seating for the All-Stars of the Beasts Pirates.
Queen the Plague held a bowl of red bean soup with mochi in his left hand and a roasted chicken leg in his right. Grease covered his mouth as he ate, and he swayed to the drums.
Kaido frowned.
To his left, King should have been sitting there—the man with black wings and a black uniform who was always silent and reliable.
But right now, that seat was completely empty.
"Hey, Queen."
Kaido frowned harder.
"Why has King been gone for so long? Is he still not back?"
"Huh? I can't reach him either, Kaido," Queen said.
"Tsk."
Kaido scratched his messy hair in frustration and muttered.
"What the hell... is King doing?"
"Wasn't he just going to teach that newly built Marine branch a lesson? Why is it taking so long?"
Based on the schedule, King should have returned two weeks ago.
Kaido clicked his tongue.
King was strong, and he never ignored orders. This silence was wrong.
"Kaido! It's time!!"
Right then, Orochi's sharp, grating voice interrupted Kaido's thoughts.
"The Foolish Lord has been brought up! Look! The good show is starting!!"
Kaido pushed the bad feeling aside and looked back toward the plaza entrance below.
Forget it.
He would deal with the execution in front of him first.
Clank... Clank...
The sound of dragging heavy iron chains covered up the boiling noise from the pot.
At the far end of the plaza, a large figure slowly walked forward.
Kozuki Oden.
The man who had once carried Wano's hopes was covered in chains and wounds.
But even in this condition, his back was completely straight.
He was shirtless. His body was covered in crossing wounds. Some had scabbed over, while others still leaked blood. They were wounds from the battle a few days ago.
Just half a month ago, Oden finally saw through Orochi's lies and led the Akazaya Nine in a surprise attack on Kaido's base.
Both sides clashed in Udon.
Their Haki clashed, and the battlefield was torn apart.
Oden cut through Kaido's dragon scales and left a deep wound on him.
But in the end...
Oden still lost.
During the battle, Oden cut Kaido open and knocked him down, but Kaido got back up.
Kaido was still called the Strongest Creature for a reason.
With his Mythical Zoan body, Kaido endured the damage and kept fighting. Every time he fell, he got right back up.
In the end, the battlefield was left in ruins.
An exhausted Oden collapsed.
On both sides of the road, the citizens who did not know the truth watched without pity. Some even shouted insults.
"Look! The Foolish Lord is going to be boiled!"
"Is it finally ending? For the last five years, he's danced naked in the capital like a clown. He's completely thrown away the Kozuki family's face!"
"This is what happens when you go against Shogun Orochi! He deserves it!"
Vicious insults rose one after another. Under Orochi's years of brainwashing, Kozuki Oden was no longer the respected Daimyo of Kuri to them. He was a joke, a madman who had thrown away his pride just to stay alive.
Rotten eggs, old cabbage leaves, and rocks hit Oden like rain.
Splat.
An egg smashed against Oden's forehead. The yolk dripped down from his unique topknot, sliding past his blood-covered cheek.
Oden did not wipe it off.
He did not even blink.
Oden did not react.
At this moment, he only cared about the nine retainers behind him who tried to rush forward and block the rocks for him despite being tied up, and... this country Orochi was destroying.
Loneliness.
He was alone.
As the head of the Kozuki family, he had no way out. His family would be hunted after today, and the Kozuki name would be hunted with them.
But he did not regret it.
To protect the fools who followed him, and to keep the last pride of a samurai, even if he had to die, he would die the right way.
"Let's go."
Oden dragged his heavy leg shackles. Surrounded by endless insults, he walked step by step toward the giant oil pot.
"Lord Oden..."
Kin'emon stared at Oden's tall back. He bit his lip so hard it almost bled.
If they had just been stronger, would the outcome have been different?
If Lord Oden didn't have to worry about them holding him back, would he have escaped a long time ago?
No one knew the answer.
Oden dragged his heavy chains and walked up to the massive oil pot.
Heat struck his face.
"It is time for the execution!!"
Orochi's sharp, grating voice drowned out the insults from the crowd.
Orochi grinned down at Oden from the high platform.
"Throw him in! I want to see him turn into tempura! Kuhehehe!"
"Hold on!!"
Just as the executioners got ready to move, Oden suddenly roared.
He looked straight at Kaido.
"Kaido! Give me a chance!!"
"I have to live... At least, let me finish what I need to do!"
"Oh?" Kaido looked down at him with interest. "What right does a defeated general have to make demands?"
"Let's make a bet!"
Oden glanced at his young retainers behind him.
"All ten of us will go into the pot! If anyone can survive in there for the time you set... you let that person go!"
"Worororo... Interesting."
Kaido laughed at him.
He looked at Oden, who was covered in injuries but still refused to lower his head. For some reason, Kaido agreed.
"Since you want to live that badly, I'll give you a chance."
Kaido held up one finger.
"One hour!!"
"If you can last in the boiling oil for one hour, I'll let you go! I never go back on my word!"
"But... looking at your half-dead state, you probably won't even last a minute in that oil!!"
"Fine!!"
Oden did not hesitate at all.
The crowd watched as he stepped onto the wooden plank leading to the pot.
A wave of heat rushed at him. Before he even got close, his eyebrows and hair were already curling and burning from the high temperature.
"Heh..."
Oden grinned, showing off his bloodstained white teeth.
Splash!!
Oden jumped straight into the boiling oil.
Sizzle————!!!!
The sound of his skin and flesh cooking made the crowd flinch.
"Urghhh!!!"
Even Oden shook from the pain. He gritted his teeth, and the veins in his neck stood out.
That wasn't weakness.
It was his body reacting to the pain.
The oil covered him to the waist. His whole body shook, but he forced himself to stay upright.
He planted his feet on the bottom of the pot.
"Lord Oden!!!"
Kin'emon and the others, held captive nearby, cried out and tried to jump into the pot.
"Don't come over!!!"
Oden let out a loud roar, his voice cracking from the terrible pain.
He planted his feet, forced his body to stop shaking, and stood straight in the boiling oil.
Pant... Pant...
Oden breathed heavily. Every lungful of air he breathed in was so hot it burned his lungs.
Fighting through the pain, he grabbed the giant wooden plank that was originally meant to cover the pot and lifted it over his head.
"Get on!!!"
"Lord Oden..."
"Get on right now!!! This is an order!!!"
"My Lord... No! We won't go up! We want to stay with you..."
Kin'emon's face was covered in tears as he desperately shook his head. Live by stepping on his Lord's body? That was worse than death!
"Bastards!!"
Blood and sweat ran down Oden's face. He roared.
"Do you want my efforts to be for nothing?! Do you want my flesh to burn for no reason?!"
"If you die, who's going to witness how I die?! Who's going to pass on my story?!"
"Get up here! Stop wasting time!!"
Kin'emon and the others finally climbed onto the plank, crying.
One, two... nine of them!
With every new person, more weight pressed down on Oden.
When the full weight of nine grown men pressed down on the plank, his knees bent under the weight. His body shook violently again.
Scalding drops of oil splashed around. They landed on his bare upper body, burning black blisters into his skin.
But he still gritted his teeth.
His arms did not drop.
"Hey! Does this count?!"
Up on the platform, Orochi watched the scene. He jumped up furiously, pointed at the oil pot, and yelled.
"How is this 'going into the pot together'?! Those retainers haven't even touched the oil! Does this really count?!"
"This is just Oden taking the punishment alone! It doesn't count! This definitely doesn't count!"
However.
Glug.
Next to him, Kaido tilted his head back and took a large gulp of alcohol. He wiped his mouth, looked down at Oden, and spoke calmly.
"Ten people really did go in together."
"It's a bit of a trick, but there's nothing wrong with it."
Kaido's final verdict on the matter forced Orochi to swallow the rest of his words. Orochi went silent with rage.
The citizens around the execution grounds watched in silence.
Then voices rose from the crowd.
"Hey... Are you kidding me?"
"The Foolish Lord... is holding up nine samurai by himself?!"
"And he's standing in boiling oil while doing it?!"
"Is his body made of iron?!"
This went beyond what they thought a man could endure.
The burning oil covered Oden's waist and stomach, and bubbles kept popping around him. He held up the plank carrying nine lives with both hands.
On top of the board, the Akazaya Nine kneeled. Tears had long blurred their vision.
"Lord Oden! We're begging you! Put us down!!"
"Let us die with you!!"
"Shut up!!" Oden ground his teeth, squeezing the words out. His body twitched from the terrible pain, but his arms did not drop.
Time began to pass.
One minute.
Two minutes.
Five minutes...
The oil temperature kept climbing. Oden's skin blistered and blackened, but he kept standing.
After the initial shock faded, a commotion started in the crowd.
For these citizens who had been brainwashed by Kurozumi Orochi for five whole years, admitting Oden's bravery meant admitting they had been wrong.
Some shouted louder, trying to deny what they were seeing.
"Hahaha! Look! He's shaking!"
"Is this the so-called invincible samurai? He looks like a boiled fool!"
"Die already! Foolish Lord!"
"What are you holding out for? Stop making a fool of yourself!"
They did not know the truth. They only remembered how this man had acted like a clown in the streets for the last five years.
"Shut up!! You bunch of idiots!!"
In the crowd, the female ninja Shinobu, who had been holding back, finally broke down.
She punched away a man throwing rocks. Tears ran down her face as she screamed at the crowd around her.
"You guys don't know anything!! You're just yelling nonsense!!"
"Do you think he danced for the past five years just for fun?!"
"The reason Lord Oden danced naked like a clown for the last five years is because Orochi took hundreds of innocent hostages! Your families were among those hostages! So were your friends!!"
"That bastard Orochi said that if he danced naked once, he would let a hundred people go! For five years, he acted like an idiot to trade his pride for your families' lives!!"
Shinobu shouted through her tears.
"Lord Oden traded his pride to buy you people five years of peace!!"
"He was protecting you!! You ungrateful idiots!!"
"He protected this country by himself! And you... you were laughing at him!!"
Her words hit the crowd hard.
However, those words did not instantly bring the whole crowd to regret like expected.
Five years of bias would not disappear after a few shouted words.
The crowd went silent at first. Then more people shouted back.
"Nonsense! How could that fool have done it to save people?!"
"Don't fall for it! They definitely made up this excuse! Are you trying to gain sympathy right before dying?!"
"If it was to save people, why do such a shameless dance? Why not just kill Orochi?!"
"Liars! You're all liars!!"
The insults grew even louder than before. The people did not want to believe that the "clown" they had mocked for five years was actually a hero protecting them. Admitting that meant admitting they had been cruel.
"You bunch of... hopeless idiots!!"
Shinobu looked at the crowd that still refused to listen. She trembled with anger, her nails digging deep into her palms.
She charged at the loudest man, grabbed his collar, and pointed at his nose as she screamed.
"Then tell me! Why did those missing family members suddenly come back five years ago?!"
"Why hasn't Orochi taken any more hostages for the last five years?!"
"Do you think Orochi suddenly became kind?! Lord Oden bought that back with his pride!!"
"Every time he danced, he was bowing to a demon for you, and you're out here throwing rocks at him?!!"
Her questions finally made some people fall silent.
The noise in the crowd slowly faded.
People looked at each other, confused and afraid.
They began remembering details they had ignored.
"Yeah... Five years ago, my little brother was suddenly let go..."
"The old man next door who got taken also just came back one day..."
"And... every time Oden finished dancing, a group of people would return home the next day..."
"Could it... Could it be true?"
"What... what have we been laughing at for the last five years..."
The truth quickly spread through the crowd. The crowd looked back at Oden in the oil pot.
The man was shirtless. His skin was burned and blistered, but he still held the plank above him.
Even when cursed at by thousands and pelted with rotten eggs, he never defended himself once.
The man they had mocked for five years had been protecting them.
Some people dropped their heads.
Others began to cry.
Thump.
Someone dropped to their knees first, knocking their forehead hard against the ground.
Soon after, others slowly knelt as well.
Some started crying.
"How... how did this happen..."
"Lord Oden... what... what have we done!!"
Cries spread through the plaza.
"We're sorry!! Lord Oden!!"
Apologies spread through the crowd.
Oden, suffering in the oil pot, heard those sounds.
Even through the pain, Oden managed to smile.
"Heh..."
"You finally... figured it out..."
"Shinobu... you really had to say it..."
He didn't need thanks.
He only needed to know that there was still something left in this country. That was enough.
Forty minutes.
Fifty minutes.
Oden's skin was burned black in places. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air. His mind started to blur, and he was only holding on through willpower.
"Listen carefully... Kin'emon... Denjiro..."
Oden's voice was weak. Only the nine people on the plank could hear it.
"Lord Oden! Stop talking! Save your energy!!" Kin'emon cried out.
"Shut up... listen to me..."
Oden coughed up bloody foam. For a moment, his voice became clearer.
"I'm probably... not going to make it out alive today."
"No! There's only ten minutes left of the promised time! As long as you hold on..."
"Don't be stupid..." Oden let out a bitter laugh. "Kaido is a pirate. He won't let an enemy who can cut him walk away alive."
Oden looked up at the dark sky.
"I, Kozuki Oden, am an idiot. I cannot protect my family from here. After today, the Kozuki name will be hunted."
"But!"
Oden forced his voice out.
"The Kozuki family's will cannot end with me! The secret the Kozuki family has protected for generations... must be passed down!"
"Secret?" The Akazaya Nine held back their tears.
"Listen closely!"
Oden forced out the secret his family had protected for generations.
"A long time ago, the ones who sealed this country off were my ancestors, the Kozuki clan! It was to protect Wano from being harmed by a 'massive power'!"
"Wano is waiting!"
"Waiting for the one the world has awaited for eight hundred years!!"
"Even though I won't be able to wait... you all have to live! You must stay alive!"
"When that person shows up... that is the day Wano opens its borders!!"
Clang!!
Right then, a gong rang out.
The pirate keeping time nearby shouted with a shaking voice.
"One... One hour is up!!!"
The crowd erupted!
"He lived! Lord Oden lived!!" voices rose from the crowd.
The Akazaya Nine cried tears of happiness. "Lord Oden! We won! Come on up!!"
However.
Oden didn't move in the pot.
Because Orochi stood up on the platform and swung his folding fan.
"The execution is over!"
"Flip the pot!!"
"Rifle squad, ready! Fire!! Shoot him and all those retainers full of holes!!"
"What?!" The crowd gasped in shock.
Angry voices rose from the crowd.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Heavy gunfire rang out. Bullets rained down on the oil pot.
"Just as I thought..."
Oden watched the rain of bullets.
He used the last of his strength.
"Go!!! Don't look back!!!"
Boom!!!
He threw the giant wooden board carrying nine people above his head. Using all his remaining strength, he launched the board and the nine men far outside the execution grounds!
"Live! Wait until the day Wano opens its borders!!!"
"My Lord!!!!"
The Akazaya Nine screamed and cried in the air, but they understood. This was the chance their Lord bought with his life.
When they landed, they ran, each forcing themselves to keep moving.
"Chase them!! Kill them!!" Orochi screamed.
Countless samurai and pirates drew their swords and rushed after them.
"Run!!!"
Kin'emon ground his teeth, got off the ground, and pulled up a crying Raizo and Kiku.
"Don't let our Lord die for nothing!! Run!!"
Nine injured figures ran toward Kuri through the gunfire.
In the center of the plaza.
The oil pot was still boiling.
Only Oden was left.
He could no longer move, but he was still conscious.
Right then.
A giant shadow covered him.
Kaido jumped down from the platform holding a black pistol. He walked to the edge of the pot and looked down at the man he had come to respect.
Kaido was no longer laughing.
"You're an amazing man, Oden."
Kaido looked at the man who had lasted an hour in the oil. He respected Oden.
"I'll remember my battle with you for the rest of my life."
He raised the gun and pointed the dark barrel right between Oden's eyebrows.
"Too bad you're too naive. In the end, violence decides everything in this world."
"Hmph..."
Oden could barely breathe, but he still grinned, showing his signature smile.
"You... really are one awkward bastard."
Oden used his final bit of strength to shout at the sky.
"Oden wouldn't be Oden if it wasn't boiled!!"
Bang!
The gun fired.
The bullet shot straight through Oden's forehead.
Oden finally leaned back.
His smile froze on his face.
"Oden wouldn't be Oden if it wasn't boiled!!"
Splash!
His body sank into the boiling oil, splashing a massive wave.
Kozuki Oden met his end just like that.
Kaido put his gun away. He stared at the sinking figure and didn't speak for a long time.
Around him were the desperate cries of the citizens, Orochi's laughter, and the shouts of people chasing the Akazaya Nine.
But Kaido only found it noisy.
Kaido felt no joy.
Victory should have felt better than this.
He looked at his hand and felt none of the joy he had expected.
He turned around and ignored Orochi's laughter. He walked toward Onigashima all by himself.
Kaido walked away alone.
Kaido looked toward the dark sea in the distance.
Oden was dead.
His biggest threat was gone.
Wano was already his for the taking.