Chapters · Four Emperors (Yonko) › Wano Country

Chapter 970: Oden vs. Kaido

Arc: Wano Country · Saga: Four Emperors (Yonko) · Released: 2020-02-03 Oden-era flashback .

Summary

Kozuki Oden marches on Kaido, who admits the truce between them was a lie from the start: had Oden returned and joined forces with the boss Hyogoro, the combined samurai and yakuza of Wano would have outnumbered Kaido’s then-weaker “Numbers,” so Kaido feigned peace until his own forces held the advantage. Kaido mocks Oden for choosing a non-violent path — stripping to a loincloth and dancing for the crowd’s ridicule — as having “none of the old Kozuki dignity,” lumping the “soft” greats Newgate and Roger in with him. The battle erupts: eleven samurai (Oden, his nine retainers, and the defecting kunoichi Shinobu) against roughly a thousand pirates. Oden’s strength surpasses the enemy’s imagination, and with his Two-Sword Style he lands Paradise Totsuka, a blow that cuts the dragon-form Kaido and stuns every onlooker. But Orochi takes the eight-year-old Momonosuke hostage on the field; the distracted Oden is struck down and captured. The fires of the battle burn Udon’s forests for five days. Oden and his nine followers are imprisoned in the Flower Capital to await punishment for rebellion — a cold, disappointed public reaction — while at Oden Castle, Yasuie (sent at Oden’s request) shelters Toki and the children, who innocently await their father’s return. The sentence is handed down: the ten “wicked samurai” are to be boiled to death in the public square in three days.

New reveals

• Oden lands a blow on the “invincible” Kaido with the Two-Sword Style attack Paradise Totsuka — the first on-page depiction of Oden, the only one ever to wound Kaido, actually doing so.
• Kaido confesses the peace with Oden was “all lies”: he only feigned alliance because Oden’s return plus an alliance with Hyogoro would have given Wano’s samurai and yakuza the numerical edge; Kaido waited until his own Numbers outweighed them.
• Orochi takes Momonosuke (age 8) hostage mid-battle; Oden, distracted by his son, is felled by Kaido.
• Oden and his nine retainers are captured and imprisoned in the Flower Capital, sentenced to be boiled to death in the public square in three days.
• Young Shinobu defects from the Kozuki/Orochi palace ninja corps (led by Fukurokuju) to join Oden — making the loyalist force eleven samurai against ~1,000 pirates.
• Yasuie (Tonoyasu) was entrusted by Oden (via horse-borne messenger) to protect Toki and the children if the battle was lost.
• Kaido groups Newgate (Whitebeard) and Roger with Oden as “mighty but soft” pirates.

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters (shown): Kozuki Oden, Kaido (dragon form), Orochi, Momonosuke (child, taken hostage), Kozuki Toki, Kozuki Hiyori (child), Tonoyasu (as “Lord Yasuie”), Shinobu (youth, defects to Oden), Fukurokuju (youth, ninja-corps leader), and the Nine Red Scabbards imprisoned together — Kin’emon, Kanjuro, Raizo, Kawamatsu, Ashura Doji, Inuarashi, Nekomamushi, Okiku, and Denjiro (shown as one of the nine; not individually named on-page).
• Characters (named only): Hyogoro (“if you had joined forces with Hyogoro”), Whitebeard (“Newgate”), Roger, Kozuki Sukiyaki (“the days of Shogun Sukiyaki”).
• Groups / families: Animal Kingdom Pirates (Kaido’s ~1,000 pirates + the “Numbers”), Akazaya Nine, the Kozuki/Orochi palace ninja legion (Fukurokuju’s corps); Kozuki, Kurozumi (Orochi).
• Locations: Wano Country, Flower Capital (prison), Udon (battle; forests burn 5 days), Kuri (Oden, “daimyo of Kuri”), Oden Castle (Toki + children).
• Techniques: Oden Two-Sword Style (Oden Nitōryū); Paradise Totsuka (Rakuen Totsuka).
• Cover: Gang Bege’s Oh My Family, Vol. 19: “Bege and Vito Are Immobilized” — Capone Bege .

Notable panels

• p.1 — Title page “Chapter 970: Oden vs. Kaido”; B&W cover-story inset Gang Bege’s Oh My Family, Vol. 19.
• p.2 — Flower Capital under shamisen music (BE-BENG); Oden strides toward the confrontation; oiran and townsfolk.
• p.3 — Oden faces the coiled dragon Kaido: “This is not what I expected!!”; Kaido reveals he “came out to meet you” and suspects “a spy in your castle, Woro Ro Ro.”
• p.4 — “Then it was all a lie!!” — Kaido admits the truce was a ruse to avoid facing Oden + Hyogoro’s combined forces while his Numbers were fewer.
• p.5 — Kaido lumps “Newgate and Roger” with Oden as “mighty but SOFT”; mocks “the fool who chose to dance.” Oden: “I stand by my decision that day.”
• pp.6–7 — Battle erupts (RAAAAHHH); “Follow Lord Oden into battle!!!”; Beasts pirates stunned by samurai toughness.
• p.8 — Oden Castle: Yasuie arrives at Oden’s request to shelter Toki and the children; “Lord Momonosuke is already eight.”
• pp.9–10 — Shinobu leaps into the fight and defects from Fukurokuju’s palace ninja corps to join Oden (“I WILL JOIN YOU!!!”); narration: “On one side, 11 samurai ventured into battle…”
• p.11 — “Oden Two-Sword Style!!”; Oden: “The only thing I want to cut is your scaly neck!!”
• p.12 — Splash: “PARADISE TOTSUKA!!!” — the two-sword strike lands across the dragon Kaido (mirror/splash candidate).
• p.13 — “…on the invincible Kaido… he landed a blow”; Kaido: “Never come back to Wano!!!”; then “Stop right there, Oden!! Help, father!!” — Momo taken hostage.
• p.14 — Distracted Oden (“Momo…”) is struck down (GONK); Orochi cackles “Kyo kyo kyo” over a cocked gun (CLICK).
• p.15 — Oden falls (DOON / SHUNK); narration: Udon’s forests burn five days; Oden + nine retainers imprisoned in the Flower Capital for “rebellion.”
• p.16 — Cold public gossip (“After what a disappointment he was…”); a hooded kunoichi confronts Toki (“Begone, kunoichi!! Are you after my life?”); the children innocently await Oden’s return.
• p.17 — Sentence: the ten “wicked samurai” to be boiled to death in three days; a man strums shamisen by the prison (BE-BENG).

Open questions raised

• Who is the hooded kunoichi who confronts Toki at the castle (p.16) — an Orochi assassin, or an ally (Shinobu)? Her purpose is left unstated.
• Why exactly did Oden choose the humiliating public dance — what was the “decision” he stands by (p.5)? (Payoff withheld — forward.)
• Will the boiling execution be carried out, and can Oden’s retainers escape it? **