Chapters · Four Emperors (Yonko) › Wano Country

Chapter 938: A Woman's Secret

Arc: Wano Country · Saga: Four Emperors (Yonko) · Released: 2019-03-24

Summary

The chapter intercuts four Wano fronts. In a flashback at Ringo, Zoro is overpowered and wounded by the bridge bandit Gyukimaru, who makes off with his black blade Shusui. At the Northern Graveyard, a beautiful kimono-clad woman and the little girl Toko nurse the recovering Zoro with stolen “toad oil,” thanking him for saving their lives. At Kuri, Kin’emon and the minks (Dogstorm/Inuarashi’s musketeers) discover that the enemy has decoded the alliance’s secret recruitment symbols — the ankle mark and the crescent-moon flyer — and word has spread to the capital. In the Flower Capital, Orochi and Kaido’s men arrest anyone bearing the ankle mark as a traitor, while Boss Kyoshiro learns the “dead” oiran Komurasaki’s wake has been canceled. At the Ebisu Town hideout, Trafalgar Law and the scabbards (Shinobu, Kanjuro, et al.) descend into paranoid infighting over the leak — Shinobu urging they silence the captured allies — before unnamed capital entertainers barge in reporting that “a great battle brewing” is the talk of the town. The chapter closes on the Ringo woman confiding her secret to Zoro: she is searching for her older brother, and her name is Kozuki Hiyori — Momonosuke’s younger sister.

New reveals

• The woman who saved and nursed Zoro at Ringo is Kozuki Hiyori, Momonosuke’s younger sister, separated from him 20 years ago (p.13).
• Hiyori — visually identical to the “slain” oiran Komurasaki and accompanied by Toko — is alive in hiding, strongly implying Komurasaki’s death was staged (pp.10-13). (Explicit Komurasaki = Hiyori identity NOT stated on-page; strong implication only.)
• The enemy has broken the Kozuki recruitment code: the ankle mark, the crescent “mark of the moon” flyer, and the coded image are now understood — allies are being rounded up as traitors (pp.4-5).
• Komurasaki’s wake is canceled in the Flower Capital; Orochi is enraged and Kyoshiro complains he is the one most damaged (pp.5-6).
• Gyukimaru wounded Zoro and took Shusui; Zoro means to retrieve it (pp.2-3, 11-12).
• The scabbards’ operation may have been leaked by captured allies (Bepo / Heart Pirates suspected), igniting distrust at the Ebisu Town hideout (pp.7-8).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Appear: Zoro, Kozuki Hiyori, Toko, Gyukimaru (flashback), Kin’emon, Inuarashi (Dogstorm), Shinobu, Kanjuro, Trafalgar Law, Kyoshiro
• Referenced / mentioned: Oiran (top courtesan of Wano) (canceled wake), Momonosuke (Hiyori’s brother), Bepo (captured, suspected leak), Orochi, Kaido, Kozuki Oden (“Lord Oden’s hopes”)
• Locations: Ringo, Northern Graveyard, Flower Capital, Ebisu Town, Kuri, Wano Country; Bandit’s Bridge (referenced)

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title page request art: “Birds sandbathing in Crocodile’s sand” by Purple Panda (decorative fan-request illustration of Crocodile; not a serial cover story).
• Pages 2-3 — Flashback: Gyukimaru overpowers Zoro (“WHAT STRENGTH…”), who goes down (“SIR SAMURAI!!”).
• Pages 4-5 — Kin’emon and the minks at Kuri learn the recruitment symbols are decoded; the Wano region map (Kuri, Ringo, Udon, Hakumai, Onigashima) is shown.
• Page 6 — Flower Capital: Komurasaki’s wake declared canceled; Kyoshiro laments his losses.
• Pages 7-8 — Ebisu Town: Law and the scabbards turn on each other over the leak; Shinobu urges silencing the captured.
• Page 10 — Zoro at the Northern Graveyard, tended by the kimono-clad woman; townsfolk recoil at his swords.
• Page 13 — The full-panel reveal: the woman’s face as she names herself Hiyori — a composition that restages the identical beauty-reveal close-up that unveiled the oiran Komurasaki Ch. 928 p.14 (same drawn face, same chapter-climax close-up slot). Visual identity proof; see [[Foreshadowing/Oiran Komurasaki Beauty-Reveal Close-Up Restaged As Hiyori's Name-Reveal]].

Open questions raised

• Is the woman calling herself Hiyori the same person as the “slain” oiran Komurasaki? (Strongly implied, not stated.)
• How did the enemy crack the alliance’s recruitment code, and who leaked it? (Bepo and the captured allies are blamed — is the suspicion justified?)
• Will Zoro recover Shusui from Gyukimaru, and how does that bear on his swords in Wano?
• Can the compromised raid plan still succeed now that the capital knows a battle is brewing?