Chapters · Four Emperors (Yonko) › Wano Country

Chapter 974: Onward to Onigashima!!

Arc: Wano Country · Saga: Four Emperors (Yonko) · Released: 2020-03-08

Summary

The chapter opens on flashbacks that fill the gap before the present-day raid. In one, the oiran Komurasaki — secretly Kozuki Hiyori — funds the phantom thief Ushimitsu Kozo so he can distribute coins to the poor of Ebisu Town, while a confidant who knows her true identity reminds her to wear blood bags beneath her kimono and reaffirms the plan to “separate Komurasaki from Orochi through death” once the 20-year mark arrives. In another, set “a few months ago,” Orochi realizes Toki’s time-leap power was real — that Kin’emon, Kanjuro, Raizo, Kikunojo and Momonosuke leapt forward from the burning castle 20 years prior — and the chapter then reveals that Kanjuro is Kurozumi Kanjuro, a Kurozumi-clan orphan whom Orochi groomed into a perfect deep-cover spy inside Oden’s retinue. Back in the present, the alliance reaches the rally point at Tokage Port to find it destroyed and all 4,200 soldiers gone — the plan was leaked again. Cornered into suspecting a traitor among themselves, the scabbards watch Kanjuro confess: he leaked Yasuie’s last-second change of meeting place, sent Orochi information for 20 years, and now — having drawn a flawless forgery to deceive them — the real Kanjuro is back at the port abducting Momonosuke to carry him to Onigashima. As the samurai’s tiny boat takes fire at sea, Luffy, Law, and Kid arrive to turn the Worst Generation against the pirates.

New reveals

• Kanjuro = Kurozumi Kanjuro, a descendant of the main Kurozumi family, orphaned when his theater-troupe parents were killed by Wano persecution; Orochi avenged them and recruited him as a lifelong mole (pp. 4–5, 11).
• Kanjuro was Orochi’s spy the entire time — he supplied intel on Oden’s raid 20 years ago, lived as a flawless Kozuki vassal, and was even willing to die in the boiling-pot execution to complete his “role” (pp. 5, 10).
• Kanjuro leaked the raid’s rally point twice: the first leak (blamed on Law’s subordinates) was him, and he relayed Yasuie’s last-second change to Tokage Port, rendering Yasuie’s sacrifice “officially in vain” (p. 11).
• The “Kanjuro” who stood with the scabbards was a deception/forgery — the real Kanjuro can paint with photo-real fidelity, hiding it behind a lifetime of deliberately crude art; the real Kanjuro is at the port and abducts Momonosuke (pp. 13–14).
• Komurasaki (Kozuki Hiyori) secretly bankrolled Ushimitsu Kozo’s charity thieving in Ebisu Town, and her “death” was a planned escape from Orochi — blood bags worn under the kimono (p. 2).
• The 4,200-strong alliance army that mustered at Tokage Port for the raid is gone; the port shows signs of destruction (pp. 7–8).
• Luffy, Law, and Kid arrive by sea — Kid surfaces his ship, Law his submarine — and turn on the Beasts Pirates to save the samurai (pp. 14–17).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Kanjuro (revealed Kurozumi Kanjuro), Orochi, Oiran (top courtesan of Wano) (= Kozuki Hiyori, flashback), Denjiro (flashback), Kin’emon, Momonosuke, Raizo, Okiku, Kawamatsu, Inuarashi, Ashura Doji, Luffy, Trafalgar Law, Eustass Kid
• Mentioned only: Jack (Kanjuro recalls how Jack reached Zou), Kaido, Tonoyasu (as Yasuie, whose changed meeting place Kanjuro leaked)
• Groups / families: Akazaya Nine, Kurozumi, Kozuki
• Locations: Wano Country, Flower Capital, Tokage Port, Ebisu Town, Onigashima, Zou

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title splash + cover story: Gang Bege’s Oh My Family Vol. 22: “Saved the Godfather’s Wife!!” (B&W; not a color spread).
• Page 2 — Flashback: Komurasaki/Hiyori funds Ushimitsu Kozo; the blood-bag-under-the-kimono staged-death plan.
• Pages 4–5 — Orochi’s recruitment of Kanjuro, the orphaned Kurozumi theater-child, as his lifelong mole.
• Page 6 — “PRESENT DAY, FLOWER CAPITAL” recap of the 20-year leap and the Kozuki-vs-Kurozumi grudge.
• Pages 7–8 — Tokage Port found destroyed; the 4,200-soldier army gone; Kin’emon refuses to give up.
• Pages 10–11 — Kanjuro names himself “Kurozumi Kanjuro” and confesses.
• Page 12 — Double-spread: the Akazaya samurai’s lone boat against the Onigashima-bound Beasts fleet.
• Pages 16–17 — Luffy, Law, and Kid arrive by sea; “…you fight against pirates!!”

Open questions raised

• Can the scabbards reach Onigashima and rescue Momonosuke before Kanjuro delivers him to Kaido?
• How far does Kanjuro’s true (unhidden) drawing power reach now that the crude-art act is dropped?
• How will the three Worst Generation captains coordinate (or clash) heading into the raid?