The Idiot Lord

Oden's blade comes down toward Orochi with killing force. Orochi screams, "Aaahh!!" while Oden roars his name: "Orochi!!!" The attack is "Tranche Lemale Oden!" and it should have cut straight through him, but someone shouts, "Wait, Oden!! Stop!!" Toki's warning echoes in Oden's mind: "Stop, Oden! If you get angry over something trivial like this the enemy will only..." The sword does not reach Orochi. Instead, Oden slams into an invisible force and is thrown back, leaving everyone staring at the impossible defense.

Oden tries to understand what stopped him. A strange old biwa player raises his hands, and a transparent wall forms between Oden and Orochi. Oden hits it again, but the barrier holds. Orochi pants in terror while Oden asks, "What is this thing?!" and then, "What?!" The attack has not failed because Oden lacked strength; it has failed because Orochi is being protected by an ability Oden has never seen before.

The biwa priest Kurozumi Semimaru tells Orochi there is no need to worry: "Have faith in my 'Bart Bart' technique." Oden demands, "Come out, Orochi!!" and asks, "Is this glass? No!!" but Semimaru's barrier will not allow anyone to come closer. The old hag Kurozumi Higurashi explains the truth: "As a pirate, you should know... about the abnormal power of 'Devil Fruits'!!" Oden realizes Orochi's side is using ability users, people some in Wano call "magicians." Orochi laughs, "Muhahaha Oden!!! Using force and anger to solve problems, the other villages' daimyo tried that as well!!!" then boasts, "But nobody can kill me!!!"

Outside, Wano's people believe Oden has returned to save them. They cry, "Did you see?! Lord Oden dashed towards the palace!!" "The legitimate heir of the Kozuki clan has returned!!" "Wonderful!! We will have a new shogun!!" and "He will definitely take care of Orochi!! And of Kaido too!!" Inside the palace, Oden demands answers. He says he never wanted fame, only to rule Wano into a better state, and orders Orochi, "So return the title of 'Shogun' at once!!!" Orochi responds by hiding behind technicalities: apparently Sukiyaki appointed him only as "proxy shogun" until the day Oden returned.

Orochi sneers that he will never hand the title back because Oden does not have the authority of a shogun. Then Higurashi steps forward wearing the face of Oden's father, Sukiyaki. Oden recoils: "Eh?! Father?!" and asks why they are all there. Higurashi laughs, "All these fools, starting with the daimyo... they all fell for this old hag's lies!!" By disguising herself with the power of the "Clone Clone Fruit," she fooled the entire country and enabled Orochi to take the position of shogun. Oden realizes his father's death and the succession were manipulated, and Orochi twists the knife: in other words, Oden has no obligation to receive the title, and no one cares what the real Sukiyaki thought.

The scene shifts to the public story that Wano is made to believe. A crowd gathered in front of the palace to celebrate the return of the Kozuki clan, but two poisoned arrows were suddenly shot into the crowd from an unknown direction. The victims collapsed, violently vomiting blood, and lost their lives as people screamed for a medic. Over the Flower Capital, the people saw a giant dragon in the cloudy sky, and they hastily took shelter in their homes. The narration remembers what Oden should have become: the savior of his people, the man who knew no enemy of his caliber, the daimyo of Kuri who returned strong after meeting the best pirates in the world. Yet the country is being turned against him through fear and spectacle.

A few hours later, Oden presents himself naked in front of Orochi's residence, making a fool of himself. Orochi's underlings and the Beasts Pirates laugh as the man who should have been Wano's last hope acts like a clown for pieces of gold. The country watches in disbelief. Some call him "the idiot lord of Kuri," and the jokes spread: "Don't laugh at his jokes. Whoopsie!" "Fell on his butt in front of a snake." The legitimate heir of Wano, the man everyone expected to challenge Orochi, is reduced to public humiliation. The people's desperation turns into anger and betrayal, and Oden says nothing.

Once a week, Oden shows up at the capital and dances like a fool in front of the palace, trying to make a living no matter whether it rains, storms, or snows. The people first plead with him: "Lord Oden, please!!" and ask, "What did you say to Orochi?! Why are you acting like this?!" Oden answers only, "Every week, I get paid for dancing naked, and that is my business." The crowd turns on him: "Don't lie to us!!" and "Even the people of Kuri, who have always believed in you, can't take this any longer!!" Rumors spread back to Kuri. People say, "It's the idiot lord!" and demand that he stop disappointing them. Someone even says that instead of bowing to Orochi, he should have committed seppuku like a warrior.

A year later, Oden receives a foreign newspaper from Orochi and runs across the beach crying like a fool. The news is Roger's execution. Oden's grief breaks into laughter because Roger's death has awakened the world. Many people set out to sea searching for the immense treasure Roger left behind, and Oden thinks, "The One Piece!! Roger!!" He cries, "You're really incredible!! What an incredible life you've lived!!" and the narration declares that the world has entered the Golden Age of Piracy. Even in his humiliation, Oden understands that Roger's life has exploded into something that no execution can contain.

Two years after Oden's return, conflict breaks out in Ringo between the Gecko Pirates and the Beasts Pirates, and the grave of the "Sword God" Ryuma is robbed. Yet Oden continues to dance. The only people who still speak to him are his family, retainers, and a few allies. Toki asks, "Are you going to leave me?" and Oden's allies tell him they do not want to miss his weekly dancing show, though the nickname "Idiot Lord" is still far too nice for him. At the same time, some keep a quiet faith: Hyogoro's household welcomes him in, and the old boss says, "Now, come inside and have a cup of tea." Even when others call him the boss's idiot lord, Hyogoro and his wife still treat him with human warmth.

Three years after Oden's return, the people still mock him: "The idiot lord is back!" Four years after his return, nothing has changed in the country, and Oden is still embarrassing himself. Hyogoro's wife, Okami-san, teases him kindly: "Your dancing is steadily improving, you know?" Oden says, "I will never be at his service!" and she answers, "Oh stop it, Okami-san!" The tone changes in the fifth year, when Shogun Orochi finally appears in Kuri. His arrival is announced with fanfare: "It's Shogun Orochi!!" "The shogun has arrived in Kuri!!" Oden's strange bargain with Orochi is about to be tested.

Orochi tells Oden he wants to build multiple factories in Kuri and expects his cooperation. Oden asks the questions that have mattered for five years: "What about the boat? And what about Kaido?" Orochi answers as if the old promise means nothing: "First I'd like to ask you, shogun..." then says he wants to transform Wano into a gigantic weapon factory. He also reveals that Hyogoro refused to comply, so Orochi left him in Kaido's hands and he will probably be killed. Worse, Hyogoro of the Flower was captured in the capital, causing his men to revolt, and the result was the killing of sixteen of Hyogoro's men, including his wife. Higurashi laughs that the woman who followed Hyogoro was shot. Oden finally understands the cost of waiting.

The samurai who had endured the pain for five years on his own finally cannot bear it anymore. As expected by his family and retainers, Oden's emotions break. A river of tears streams down his face as he says only one name: "This Kaido..." Then he swears, "I will make him pay!!!" The retainers understand that the words they have waited for all this time have finally been spoken. Kin'emon and the others stand ready, shouting, "Finally you've spoken them!!" and "Now!! Witness!!" The question becomes simple and terrible: what happens next, after five years of silence?

The greatest turmoil caused by a weeping Oden begins under the crimson light of a setting sun. At Oden's side are the nine men he picked up and made his samurai, men the people of Wano would later respectfully call "The Nine Red Scabbards!!" They are hungry for a fight, seeming clad in red flames, their swords at their waists reflecting the burning lives they have led. Their eyes are set on Kaido. Their path is also a sad story of the past, and their destination is the public execution of Kozuki Oden. Until the "Legendary Hour," an event passed down to future generations, the narration tells the reader: "Please do not avert your eyes!!!"

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