Chapters · Four Emperors (Yonko) › Wano Country

Chapter 959: Samurai

Arc: Wano Country · Saga: Four Emperors (Yonko) · Released: 2019-10-13

Summary

Two days before the raid on Onigashima, the Kozuki alliance finalizes “Operation Onigashima.” At Itachi Port in Kuri, Franky (as Franosuke) drives the shipwrights to finish enough ships to carry the ~5,000-man force; weapons and katana are being hauled in from all over Wano (Ringo, etc.). The plan: leave on the Sunny, meet the minks and other allies at the promised port at the second hour of the bird just before sunset, timed to the Fire Festival so the shogun’s procession and the festival crowds mask their movement. Side beats establish the cold winter entrance to Onigashima (relevant to the minks’ Sulong transformation, which needs an unclouded full moon), Big Mom’s arrival in Wano, and Luffy’s faith that Jimbei will come. But the operation is already compromised: Shogun Orochi has obtained exact intel on the raid and unleashes sabotage — eerily drawn messenger birds carry his bombing orders, and his forces blow up the great bridges linking the regions (Kibi–Udon, Ringo–Hakumai, Kuri–Udon) and the ships at the ports, cutting every route to the rally point at Tokage Port in Udon. Orochi gloats at the “Akazaya Ghosts,” mocking the samurai who “flew here from 20 years in the past.” Near Tokage Port the despairing Nine Red Scabbards quarrel — flee or fight — before resolving to remain Oden’s samurai to the very last and to carry out his dying creed: open Wano’s closed borders, because the world will soon begin to shift. The chapter ends pivoting into the past — “39 years ago, in the Flower Capital” — as the young, riotous Kozuki Oden returns to the capital and the townsfolk panic.

New reveals

• Alliance total manpower is about 4,200; Itachi Port (Kuri) is racing to finish enough ships to carry 5,000 men to Onigashima (pp. 1–2).
• The rendezvous is set for the second hour of the bird, just before sunset, on the night of the Fire Festival, so the shogun’s harbor procession and the festival crowds will mask the alliance’s movements (p. 4).
• The entrance to Onigashima is in winter (Orochi’s word); the minks’ coats handle the cold, and an unclouded full moon is required for Sulong (pp. 4, 6).
• Big Mom has already reached Wano; Jimbei has not yet arrived but is expected — Luffy: “Your captain… is me now!!” (p. 7).
• Otsuru is Kin’emon’s wife (p. 9); she is sheltering the people of Okobore Town and offers to divert the investigating Beasts headliner Holdem.
• Orochi already holds precise intel on the secret raid — the men, the four-thousand count, the ports — and acts on it, destroying the inter-region bridges and the ports and cutting all routes to Tokage Port in Udon (pp. 10–13).
• Orochi references the samurai who “flew here from 20 years in the past” — the enemy now knows of the Kozuki time-leap (p. 12).
• The Scabbards quote Oden’s creed: Wano must open its closed borders before “the world will begin to shift” (pp. 15–16).
• The Oden flashback opens on the final page — 39 years ago in the Flower Capital, the young Kozuki Oden returns (pp. 16–17).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

(None resolved on-page this chapter. The enemy’s awareness of the Kozuki time-leap [p. 12] is a soft acknowledgment of Toki’s Dying Prophecy Casts Nine Shadows Across Twenty Years / The Kozuki Time-Leap, not a resolution.)

Mentions / appearances

Characters: Luffy, Zoro, Franky, Brook, Tony Tony Chopper, Carrot (Mink), Wanda, Shishilian (with the Mokomo guardians Giovanni and Concelot), Nekomamushi (Cat Viper), Inuarashi, Otsuru, Holdem, Orochi, Momonosuke, Kin’emon, Kozuki Hiyori (mentioned — “Lady Hiyori”), Kozuki Oden (flashback), Jinbei (mentioned), Big Mom (mentioned), Kaido (mentioned), Denjiro (mentioned), Usopp (mentioned)

Groups / crews: Akazaya Nine (the Nine Red Scabbards), Straw Hat Pirates, Animal Kingdom Pirates, Minks

Locations: Wano Country, Kuri, Itachi Port, Amigasa Village, Okobore Town, Ebisu Town, Udon, Tokage Port, Ringo, Hakumai, Kibi, Flower Capital, Onigashima (Kuri Beach — bombed)

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title page. Cover-story side comic: Gang Bege’s Oh My Family Vol. 9 — “Inside the Country! Dressrosa, Scarred by Battle.” Bege levels a gun before the rebuilding Dressrosa skyline (Flower Hill).
• Page 2 — Franky as “Boss Franosuke” rallying the shipwrights at Itachi Port, Kuri (“two days before the battle”).
• Page 5 — Zoro in samurai armor; Enma half-drawn lets out a “be-beang!!”, black Haki bleeding off the blade.
• Page 6 — The minks (Wanda, Shishilian, Giovanni, Concelot) discuss the cold entrance and the full-moon Sulong condition.
• Page 9 — Otsuru, captioned “Kin’emon’s wife,” stands between Holdem and the people of Okobore Town.
• Pages 10–11 — Drawn-looking messenger birds carry Orochi’s orders; bombs detonate at Kuri Beach and the great bridges between regions.
• Page 13 — Orochi laughing over the map of Wano, having cut every route to Tokage Port, addressing the “Akazaya Ghosts.”
• Pages 16–17 — Splash transition into the flashback: “39 years ago, in the Flower Capital… Kozuki Oden has returned!!” as the townsfolk scramble to hide.

Open questions raised

• If Ushimitsu Kozo (= the late Yasuie) is dead, who is still carrying out the thefts attributed to him in the capital and at the farms? (p. 8)
• How did Orochi obtain the alliance’s exact secret plan? (Strongly implies a traitor in the Scabbards’ circle.) (pp. 10–13)
• With every bridge and port destroyed and the routes to Tokage Port cut, how can the alliance still gather 4,000+ men in time? (pp. 11–14)
• What does Oden mean that the Kozuki clan and Wano’s isolation are tied to the world “beginning to shift”? (pp. 15–16)