Chapters · Four Emperors (Yonko) › Wano Country

Chapter 963: Becoming Samurai

Arc: Wano Country · Saga: Four Emperors (Yonko) · Released: (Oden flashback — ~33 to 30 years before the present day)

Summary

A flashback to the youth of Kozuki Oden and the gathering of his future retainers. After narration recalls the ancient, “unbreakable pact” sworn “hundreds of years ago” between Zou’s Minks and Wano’s Kozuki clan, three shipwrecked outcasts — the mink Cat Viper (Nekomamushi), the mink Dogstorm (Inuarashi), and the kappa Kawamatsu (secretly a fish-man) — are saved by young Oden from a stake-burning mob and fed at Kuri Castle. Oden’s rough, thieving vassals are then refined into proper samurai by Yasuie, daimyo of Hakumai, who declares they will become Wano’s “guardian deities.” Three years later (thirty years before the present), Oden’s now-gallant retinue processes into the Flower Capital, where Oden exchanges what proves to be his last words with his ailing father, former shogun Sukiyaki. Later that year a pirate ship climbs the Wano falls to Itachi Port in Kuri — the ship of Edward Newgate, captain of the Whitebeard Pirates. Oden races to confront it, and after a clash declares his name and demands: “Let me ride on your ship!!!”

New reveals

• The Mink–Kozuki brotherhood is framed as an ancient “unbreakable pact” sworn hundreds of years ago — “if anything should happen to either side, the other will rush to their aid to fight” (p. 3), shown with Zou’s elephant Zunisha.
• How the mink dukes first came to Wano: Cat Viper (Nekomamushi) and Dogstorm (Inuarashi) were shipwrecked, starving outcasts washed up on the Kuri shore and persecuted as “monsters,” until young Oden rescued and fed them (pp. 4–6).
• Kawamatsu’s origin: he is a fish-man hiding as a “kappa.” His dying mother told him fish-men are “oppressed all over the world” and to claim to be a kappa; villagers stoned them and called them fish-men (p. 7).
• Yasuie, daimyo of Hakumai (“Yasu the Hedgehog”), mentored Oden’s thug-vassals — funding them to clean up, learn manners, buy books, and study etiquette/history — and prophesied they would be Wano’s “guardian deities” and Oden its shogun (pp. 10–12).
• Young Orochi was “one of Yasu’s men,” and Oden repeatedly lent him money (p. 9).
• Oden’s last words with his ailing father Sukiyaki — narration states “this would be the last day they ever exchanged words” (p. 14).
• Edward Newgate’s ship reaches Wano, climbing the Wano falls past “Foul Weather and Raging Falls” to Itachi Port, Kuri (pp. 14–17).
• Oden confronts Whitebeard and demands to join his crew: “My name is Kozuki Oden!!! …Let me ride on your ship!!!” (p. 18).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

(None resolve fully on-page within this chapter — the Mink–Kozuki origin and Oden’s voyage are reinforced as seeds, not closed.)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Kozuki Oden (young, shown in flashback — first chronological depiction of his youth), Nekomamushi (Cat Viper) (young, flashback), Inuarashi (Dogstorm) (young, flashback), Kawamatsu (young, flashback — fish-man origin), Yasuie / “Yasu the Hedgehog” (flashback, alive), Orochi (mentioned — young, “one of Yasu’s men”), Kozuki Sukiyaki (shown in flashback — ailing former shogun), Edward Newgate (flashback — arrives in Wano)
• Groups / races / crews: Minks, Fish-Men, Kozuki, Whitebeard Pirates
• Locations: Wano Country, Kuri (Kuri Castle; Itachi Port), Hakumai, Flower Capital, Itachi Port (new), Zou (Zunisha shown in the pact flashback)
• Named features: “Foul Weather” and “Raging Falls” — the perilous waterfall route by which ships climb into Wano (p. 17).

Notable panels

• Page 2 — Title-page splash, “BECOMING SAMURAI”: Oden’s future retainers rendered as wild, foreign-looking pirates. Cover-story caption: “Gang Bege’s Oh My Family Vol. 13: ‘The Germ Pirates Attack Countries Without A King’” (cover comic not in this scan — defer to cover-tracker).
• Page 3 — The ancient Mink–Kozuki “unbreakable pact”; Zou’s elephant Zunisha shown.
• Page 5 — Young Oden rescues the three outcasts from a stake-burning mob: “It is absolutely pathetic for you to torment little children!!”
• Page 6 — Caption reveals: Mink Cat Viper and Mink Dogstorm; Kuri Castle.
• Page 7 — Caption: Kappa Kawamatsu; he reveals himself a fish-man hiding his race.
• Page 12 — Yasuie’s speech: “You will be our guardian deities!!!”
• Page 13 — Oden’s now-gallant retinue (the future Red Scabbards) processes into the Flower Capital, “stunning enough to make the crowd forget to breathe.”
• Page 14 — Oden’s last words with his ailing father Sukiyaki (“this would be the last day they ever exchanged words”).
• Page 15 — Splash: “Captain of the Whitebeard Pirates — EDWARD NEWGATE,” his ship beached at Itachi Port, Kuri. Visual mirror: this seated-Newgate-plus-name-caption reveal restages Whitebeard’s canonical present-day debut frame (Ch. 234 p. 13) for his vital youth — see Young Whitebeard Flashback Restages His Seated Name-Caption Debut Composition.
• Pages 17–18 — Oden charges Whitebeard’s ship; “My name is Kozuki Oden!!! …Let me ride on your ship!!!”

Open questions raised

• Why is Sukiyaki ill, and is this truly the last Oden will see of his father? (Narration frames it as final words.)
• How does the Wano waterfall route (“Foul Weather and Raging Falls”) let ships climb into the closed country?
• Will Whitebeard accept Oden onto his crew?
• What deeper history binds two peoples as distant as Zou’s minks and Wano’s Kozuki for “hundreds of years”?