I Am Oden, and I Was Born to Boil

At the execution ground, Shinobu faces the people who have only just learned what Oden endured. Someone says, "You said that we were protected by Oden," but another admits, "Even if that's true... it's hard to suddenly change your mind!!" Shinobu is grabbed by Fukurokuju's men, yet she refuses to obey anymore. Fukurokuju says, "The 'truth' only brings confusion, Shinobu. The lord idiot who rebelled against the Shogun will die." Shinobu answers that if this is how the sentence will be executed, she is ready to die with the Kozuki. She declares, "I am a vassal of Oden-sama and I will live or die like him!! I don't obey you anymore!!"

Shinobu's defiance spreads through the crowd. She vows, "We will all survive... and exterminate you next time!!" but Fukurokuju sneers, "You're dreaming." The citizens, now torn by guilt, plead with Orochi: "Sh... Shogun Orochi, please end this punishment!!" "You are welcome!!" "Please!!" Their cries are answered with violence. An arrow cuts through the air and strikes a man near the execution ground. People scream, "He was shot by an arrow!!" and "Look out!!" Orochi laughs while Shinobu snarls his name, and Kaido watches as the crowd begins to understand what kind of ruler they have served.

The crowd instantly understands how terrifying revenge can be. There is no longer hope for Wano; this punishment has gone on far too long. The people realize that the subordinates of Kaido and Orochi have surrounded them with weapons in hand. They scatter in panic, shouting, "Damnit, we're pathetic," and asking, "So he was the one who saved us that day?" The explanation for Oden's strange actions over the last five years spreads quickly through Wano. Around the boiling pot, the crowd's mockery turns into shame, but the men with weapons make sure that shame cannot become rescue.

A message system using arrows spreads important news across Wano's provinces, because these arrows can cross huge distances. The truth reaches more and more people while Oden still holds the plank above the oil. The oil in the pot has heated to over 700 degrees and continues rising. The people now cry, "Oden-sama!!" "Oden-sama stay alive!!" "We knew nothing, sorry for insulting you!!" and "Thank you for protecting us!!" But Oden, still carrying his retainers, answers sharply, "It's a little late, bunch of defectors!!" and then, with the same absurd honesty that made him Oden, adds, "You're welcome, I'm doing my best!!"

Oden, barely breathing, tells the retainers what he wants if he survives the scalding: "I would like to... open this country...!!" The others are confused, asking what he is talking about and what he learned at sea. Oden explains that the Kozuki clan had something to do with the closure of Wano. A very long time ago, those who sank the country away from the outside world were members of the Kozuki clan, and they did it "to protect Wano from a 'gigantic power'...!!" His final wish is no longer revenge; it is to reverse an ancient choice and restore Wano's role in the world.

Oden declares that Wano, and the world itself, is waiting for a particular individual. When that person appears after traveling through 800 years of time, Wano must be a country that can welcome and support him. Oden says bluntly that Kaido and Orochi will kill him today, so he gives the task to his retainers: "I want you... to 'open' Wano for me!!" The retainers begin to protest because a third of the hour has already passed and he is still boiling, but the message lands. Oden is asking them to survive not for him alone, but for the future that he and Roger saw coming.

The retainers accept Oden's dream as their own. They answer, "If it's your dream... then it is ours too!!" and "If that's the case then we will do it with e-" but Oden cuts them off with a simple "Well said!!" The hour continues to burn away. The pot has become a deadly heated hell, and even the boiling oil itself seems to burn Oden, yet he does not die. The clock counts down: thirty minutes, ten minutes, five minutes, one minute, ten seconds, three seconds, one second. The crowd stares at a man who should already be dead and asks, "Even in this heat, you don't die? Who is this man?"

The hour ends. The crowd erupts: "He did it!!!" "The miracle has happened!!!" "He has overcome his execution!!" "That's Oden-sama!!!" "He survived the boiling!!!" and "Oden-sama won!!!" The illusion around Oden has been dispersed, and once again the whole country is his ally. Oden, burned almost beyond recognition, stares toward Kaido and says, "Prepare yourself, Kaido!!" For one moment, the promise seems to have been fulfilled: Oden endured the impossible and earned the right to live.

Orochi breaks the agreement immediately. When the crowd cries, "What did you say!? If you win, you win!!" he calls them fools and says he changed the sentence to a shooting execution one minute earlier. He adds that he will kill Oden's whole family. Oden realizes the promise has been betrayed, and in the final seconds he makes his choice. He throws the plank and the Nine Red Scabbards out of the pot, sending them flying away from the execution platform. Then he shouts the command that matters more than his own life: "You guys, I am counting on you!! Open Wano!!!" Kaido, watching the deception, calls him a kid who thinks with his ass.

The retainers are hurled free. Oden yells, "Run!!!" and Kin'emon orders, "To Kuri!!" as they sprint away with their bodies still smoking. Shinobu is cut loose in the chaos and calls after them. The execution ground turns into confusion while Kaido's men fire and pursue. The Scabbards do not have time to grieve; Oden has bought them seconds, and every second now belongs to Wano's future.

Kaido orders the total erasure of the Kozuki name: "Kill them all!!!" and "Make the name Kozuki disappear forever!" The retainers run, and Oden calls after them, "Do not underestimate my samurai!!" One of them shouts, "Turn around, don't look back!!" even as they cry, "Oden-sama!!" Kaido speaks to Oden with a grim respect: "Whatever your ambitions, your body is already dead. But the least I can do is finish it myself as a sign of respect. The age of Kozuki will now end!! You will all die..." Oden, however, has already turned death into a command for survival.

As the Scabbards flee, memories of their first meetings with Oden flood back. Kin'emon remembers Oden taking what was "ours" and still becoming their lord. Kanjuro recalls being called a real madman; Raizo remembers being recognized despite his strange past; Ashura Doji remembers Oden asking whether he was the mountain bandit and the one who reigned over Kuri. Each retainer sees the same thing through a different memory: Oden accepted them as they were and made them part of his life. Now they run because that is the last order he gave them.

The memories continue as Oden's words cut through shame and fear. He tells one man, "You should be ashamed!!" and another that being afraid of difference only proves ignorance. He says, "To be afraid of being different from you only proves your ignorance!!" His old kindness appears too: when someone says, "I am so hungry..." Oden tells him, "Fine, go and eat something!" and when asked whether a person is worthy of a daimyo, he answers with food and fellowship rather than judgment. Oden also speaks of their remarkable way of dying and says he will talk about them for a long time. These memories are why the Scabbards keep moving even while their lord remains behind.

Oden speaks his last words to Kaido and Wano. Kaido apologizes about the old hag, and Oden answers, "Even if you forget me, I don't mind. My soul will continue to live on." Kaido says Oden is a serious one and should get as strong as he can, adding that he already killed the old hag. Oden, half dead but still himself, says, "If I accompany you with a cup of sake, then that suits me!" Then he gives the line that seals his legend: "'The more he is boiled...'" The people complete it, inspired: "The better he is!!!" Oden thinks of Toki, Momonosuke, and Hiyori, says "I'll be going on ahead," and drops into the oil with a final plunge. A legend has just bowed out.

The people of Wano cry out the completed phrase, "The better he is!!!" as the capital shakes with grief. Oden's final fall echoes through the pot, and the narrator says, "A legend had just bowed out." The people who mocked him now scream and weep. The music of the boiling oil and the closing "Beben!" turn his death into a performance no one can forget. Oden has died, but the meaning of his life has finally reached the country.

News reaches Toki: "Lady Toki, we just heard of the death of Oden-sama. His last moments were said to be admirable." Toki is not allowed to collapse. She remembers Oden's words: "Toki, I have reached my limits. If I don't manage to knock down Kaido, no one of our time will succeed." He told her that in a little more than twenty years, a gigantic war capable of separating the oceans would surely break out, and that the protagonists of this immense war would arise in the New World. They would be the ones who could defeat Kaido. As a long winter brews in Wano, Toki looks at her sleeping children and understands that the future must be protected.

Toki remembers Oden asking, "Toki, I want to use your power if I ever die." She grips his swords and asks that his katanas be given to their children. When someone asks whether she is sad because of the execution, she answers with a smile, "Oh, but you're not going to die, are you? Wahaha, that's my wife!" But alone, she will not cry: "If I cry, people will laugh at me." She calls across time: "Look closely, Oden!! 20 years into the future!!" There is no question that the children are a burden for her, but the story continues its course in the present. Oden's death becomes Toki's resolve to send hope forward.

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