"Orochi? What do you want with me?"
Inside the shogunate mansion, Kurozumi Orochi sat enthroned at the head seat. Kozuki Oden's gaze lingered for a moment on the elderly figure beside Orochi before shifting to the man himself.
Kurozumi Orochi had, at some point, begun keeping a three- or four-year-old child by his side. Every time Oden saw that child, he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
'She must be about the same age as Hiyori by now,' he could not help thinking. 'No — Hiyori would be a bit older.'
It had been five years since Kozuki Oden last laid eyes on his two children.
Not long ago, he could still occasionally catch a glimpse of Orochi bringing Grace along while Oden danced, but even that had stopped in recent months.
"Oh, you have arrived, Oden." Orochi looked at him with a grinning expression.
Then suddenly, he put on a mask of sorrow.
"Lord Oden, I have been counting the days. The five-year period we agreed upon is nearly up."
At the mention of the five-year pact, Oden's expression instantly grew heavy.
He had swallowed his pride and endured humiliation all these years — all for the sake of his wife and children. He had always feared that Orochi would break the agreement, but now, with only a few months remaining, it seemed Orochi still remembered their deal.
This allowed Oden to breathe a small sigh of relief.
Once the five years were up, he would take back his wife and children. Then he would make Kaido and Orochi understand what it meant when the Dragon King returned!
Truth be told, if Orochi had governed this country properly, Kozuki Oden might have been able to let the past go. His wife had suffered humiliation, but he did not blame her for it. A family living together in peace was more important than anything.
But Orochi's tyrannical rule had made the entire country suffer unbearably.
Oden might have been foolish, but he was not evil.
For the sake of the oppressed citizens, he had no choice but to take up his blade against Orochi.
"Lord Oden, although we agreed upon five years, let us consider that arrangement at an end."
"Starting today, you no longer need to dance." Orochi said with a look of mock benevolence.
"What?" Oden had not expected Orochi to say something like that. Had this wretched man actually developed a conscience?
"Then release my wife and children." Oden shot Orochi a pained glance and forced out the words.
"Orochi! I know you hate the Kozuki clan, but after all these years, surely your grudge has been spent?"
"If you govern this country properly and stop working with Kaido, I will take my family and leave this land."
For Oden to speak those words required every ounce of his strength.
But for Kurozumi Orochi, how could his hatred simply dissipate?
"Your proposal is quite reasonable, Oden..." Orochi said, his face a mask of grief. "Very well then, let us do as you suggest."
With that, he waved his hand, signaling a samurai to enter.
"Take the little girl away first. Then bring Lady Kozuki, Lord Momonosuke, and Lady Hiyori here." Orochi instructed.
The samurai bowed and led the little girl away in front of Oden's eyes. A long time passed before he finally returned, carrying a box.
"Lord Orochi, I have placed it here." The samurai set the box on the ground and immediately withdrew.
Kozuki Oden did not understand what was happening, but a terrible premonition coiled in his chest.
"Orochi, what is the meaning of this? Where are my wife and children?!"
"Lady Kozuki and Lord Momonosuke — and Lady Hiyori too — are they not right here before you?" Orochi replied with a question. "Regrettably, all three have passed away."
In truth, Orochi had told half a lie. Only Grace and Momonosuke had died. As for Hiyori, he had kept her alive — he planned to send her to the Red Light District when she came of age, forcing the Kozuki bloodline into a life of degradation for generations to come.
"What did you just say —"
Kozuki Oden's body seemed to fill with molten metal in that instant. Something surged through his veins, sending waves of pain radiating through his entire body!
The fury in his heart threatened to consume the entire shogunate mansion, to drag the hideous man before him and his own rage together into the depths of hell!
"Orochi —"
"— did we not have an agreement!"
Seeing Oden's berserk fury, Orochi's face grew even calmer.
He oozed false sympathy.
"Lord Oden, you must take care of your health. No one wished for this to happen."
"But I have already afforded them the highest courtesy in seeing their souls to rest."
"I must say, I got the idea from you. Using your wife and children's bones to cook oden — it really is quite delicious."
Orochi delivered the cruelest blow of all with absolute coldness.
Kozuki Oden could endure no more. He lunged at Orochi with everything he had.
THUD —
Like the muffled tolling of a great bell, Kurozumi Semimaru's barrier once again blocked Oden's attack.
"You truly never learn, do you? You know full well that this is pointless." Orochi spoke as though the raving man before him did not exist.
"Then again, you should not be too heartbroken." Orochi continued. "Although your wife and daughter have passed, Lady Kozuki did leave something behind, did she not?"
"That is right — that little girl who was just taken away. Don't you think she looks remarkably like Lady Kozuki?"
Oden stood frozen in place.
"That is correct. That girl is also Lady Kozuki's child." Orochi laughed.
"However, she was born from me."
"OROCHI! KAIDO —!"
"I would advise you not to lose your temper. Unarmed as you are, you cannot defeat me."
"Moreover, if we were to fight here, what would happen to the citizens of the Flower Capital? Have you not considered that?"
Orochi's words forced Oden to suppress his rage.
He stopped pounding the barrier with his fists, his eyes boring into the man before him as though staring death itself in the face.
"Do not look at me like that. You cannot possibly have believed what I told you back then, could you?"
"How foolish, Oden." Orochi mocked him without mercy.
"Orochi! I will never forgive you! When you are dragged to hell, you can repent to them there!"
"Say whatever you like. I will give you one chance." Orochi sneered.
"I will be waiting for you in the wilderness outside the Flower Capital. It is time we settled this once and for all."
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Originally, the easiest path would have been for Orochi to team up with Kaido right then and eliminate Oden.
Oden was alone and unarmed. But Orochi wanted to draw out every last one of the rebels.
As long as the people of Wano Country witnessed Kozuki Oden's crushing defeat at their hands, that alone would be enough!