Chapters · Four Emperors (Yonko) › Wano Country

Chapter 942: Daimyo of Hakumai, Shimotsuki Yasuie

Arc: Wano Country · Saga: Four Emperors (Yonko) · Released: 2019-05-12

Summary

In a Hakumai flashback, the daimyo Shimotsuki Yasuie lectures a young, sea-hungry Oden to take responsibility as the shogun’s son under Kozuki Sukiyaki (pp. 2–3). In the present, at the Rasetsu Town prisoners’ quarters in the Flower Capital, the cheerful Ebisu beggar Tonoyasu is exposed as the phantom thief Ushimitsu Kozo and, more, as Lord Yasuie, the former Daimyo of Hakumai, sentenced to die for past rebellion against Orochi (pp. 4–6). Orochi broadcasts the execution across Wano on light-scrolls. Yasuie confesses to the crowd that he personally invented the crescent-moon “riddle image” twenty years ago as a meaningless prank — a decoy to expose Orochi’s cowardice and shield the real cause — recounting how, after Oden’s death, the four daimyo rose against Orochi and Kaido, failed, and saw Wano razed (pp. 8–11). Taunting Orochi to his face (pp. 12), Yasuie secretly passes the Akazaya a coded message: the leaked plan is “a blank sheet of paper” again, there is a new gathering place, and they must take Kaido’s head at Onigashima (pp. 13–14). He is shot dead before his weeping daughter Toko (pp. 14–15). Then the gut-punch: the people of Ebisu Town burst into helpless laughter at his corpse — they ate defective SMILE fruits that left them able to express nothing but mirth, even as they cry (pp. 16–17).

New reveals

• Tonoyasu = Ushimitsu Kozo = Shimotsuki Yasuie. The Ebisu sycophant “Yasu,” the Robin-Hood phantom thief, and the former Daimyo of Hakumai are one man (pp. 4–6). He admits “I’m not the hero you think I am!! …That was a lie!! I figured that if I was going to die… I might as well grab your attention” (p. 5).
• Hakumai held Wano’s only proper port and was Yasuie’s domain; he was even rumored a likelier heir than Oden after Sukiyaki (p. 2).
• The crescent-moon “riddle image” was Yasuie’s own decoy. He created it 20 years ago after Oden’s death as “just a little prank” (pp. 9–10) — making Orochi panic and arrest innocents wearing the moon symbol, exposing the shogun’s cowardice (p. 11).
• The 20-years-ago uprising: after Oden died, Orochi confronted the four remaining daimyo — “serve Kurozumi, or fight” — and they took up arms; they “failed to overcome the monster that is Kaido, and Wano was razed to the ground” (pp. 10–11). Yasuie survived and lived in Ebisu Town in disguise.
• Toko is Yasuie’s daughter — she cries “Daddy!!” and he begs “Forgive your father for leaving you behind!! Forgive me, Otoko!!” (pp. 13–15).
• Yasuie directs the raid: “Go to Onigashima!! Avenge your fallen liege!!!” — and tells Kin’emon the old plan is “a blank sheet of paper” again but there is “a new gathering place” (pp. 13–14).
• Ebisu Town’s people are defective-SMILE victims. “They’ve been robbed of every expression but smiles… Laughing is all they can do anymore!! …The ‘SMILE’ fruits!!! …And it’s all… because of Kaido and Orochi!!” (pp. 16–17). The townsfolk laugh helplessly at Yasuie’s death while actually crying.

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Tonoyasu (= Denjiro = Shimotsuki Yasuie), Toko, Orochi, Kozuki Oden (flashback), Kozuki Sukiyaki (named), Momonosuke, Kin’emon, X Drake, Oiran (top courtesan of Wano) (referenced — funeral/co-sentence), Kaido (named), Charlotte Mont-d’Or (request title page)
• Locations: Flower Capital, Rasetsu Town, Hakumai, Ebisu Town, Wano Country, Onigashima (named)
• Groups / families: Akazaya Nine, Shimotsuki, Kozuki, Kurozumi
• Lore: SMILE

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title page (reader “Request” art): Charlotte Mont-d’Or sampling cheeses while first-class sommelier mice taste wines (request by M. Hiyu). Not a serialized cover story.
• Page 2 — Hakumai flashback: young Yasuie tells young Oden “You ARE the son of the shogun” under Kozuki Sukiyaki; rumor that Yasuie, not Oden, would be the next shogun.
• Page 4 — Caption “Rasetsu Prisoners’ Quarters, Flower Capital”; Yasuie paraded as Ushimitsu Kozo, co-sentenced with the oiran Komurasaki.
• Page 5 — The reveal panel: “SHIMOTSUKI YASUIE!!! Lord Yasuie!!” — the daimyo of Hakumai unmasked.
• Page 6 — X Drake present at the execution (“DRAKE!!”); the people of Ebisu storm the capital gate to save “Tonoyasu.”
• Page 9 — Yasuie: “I CREATED THAT IMAGE!!!” — claiming the crescent-moon riddle image as his own decoy.
• Page 11 — Recap panel: the daimyo + people take up arms 20 years ago and Wano is razed by Kaido.
• Pages 14–15 — Yasuie sings “And a-one, and a-two!♪”, points to Onigashima, and is shot dead before Toko.
• Pages 16–17 — The town laughs at his corpse; the SMILE-fruit reveal lands on a close-up of Toko laughing while tears stream.

Open questions raised

• What are “the words that have a stranglehold on” Orochi’s heart, and why can a “man of such small caliber… never truly devour Oden”? (p. 12)
• Where is the “new gathering place” Yasuie arranged after the plan leaked, and who leaked the original plan? (pp. 13–14)
• How many of Ebisu Town’s residents are defective-SMILE victims, and is the affliction reversible? (pp. 16–17)
• Is the Wano “Shimotsuki” line connected to the East-Blue Shimotsuki (Zoro’s master/rival)? (p. 5)

Cross-links

• Resolves: Wano Phantoms (Ushimitsu Kozo half)
• Pays off: Ebisu Town’s Perpetual Smiles · SMILE
• Seeds: The Shimotsuki Name Links Wano To Zoro’s Lineage
• Visual mirror (laugh-before-execution): Pirate Laugh Before Execution Mythic Doctrine — Yasuie’s grin-at-the-firing-squad (pp. 14–15) quotes Luffy Ch. 99 / Roger Ch. 1
• Families: Shimotsuki (new) · Kozuki · Kurozumi