The downpour in Kuri could not wash away the stench of blood in the air.
Kin'emon slowly regained consciousness in the cold, muddy water.
Opening his eyes, he saw Kozuki Toki's pale, lifeless face and Kozuki Oden, still writhing tirelessly in the mud pit.
"Madam..." Kin'emon's throat burned with pain, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood as soon as he spoke.
"Go."
Kozuki Toki did not utter another word. She tore off the hem of her ornate kimono and tightly bound the swaddled Hiyori to her chest.
She stepped forward to help Kin'emon up from the ground.
Without another glance at the man she had once adored.
There is no sorrow greater than a heart that has died.
Raizō, Kikunojo, and Ashura Dōji quickly lifted Kin'emon to his feet.
A few surviving retainers protected Kozuki Toki as they plunged into the rain-soaked mountains under the cover of night.
Behind them, Kuri blazed with fire, accompanied by the Beast Pirates' unrestrained, maniacal laughter.
The path of escape was paved with blood at every step.
Having lost their strongest combatant, Kozuki Oden, and with most of their samurai fallen, this battered remnant of a force stood no chance of escaping the Beast Pirates' hunting net.
"We knew you rats would try to flee into the mountains!"
Deep within the dense forest, Jack, in his Mammoth Zoan Form, let out a heavy, white breath.
He casually pulled his two Shotel Swords from the corpse of a fallen samurai guard, blood flowing down the blade grooves.
In the surrounding shadows, dozens of vicious Pirates aimed their rifles, having already surrounded them completely.
"Kill them all. Leave none alive." Jack spat out the rainwater in his mouth impatiently, issuing the death command.
"You take the Madam and Lady Hiyori and go first! Break through toward the coast, seize a ship, and escape to sea!"
Kin'emon suddenly halted, drawing the broken sword—now only half its original length—from his waist and holding it horizontally before his chest.
Raizō and Ashura Dōji understood immediately, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him on either side. Kikunojo, with one arm already immobile, clenched a sword hilt between his teeth and stumbled forward to block the front.
"Madam! Carry on with hope... live!" Kin'emon did not look back, but his desperate roar drowned out even the thunder that filled the sky.
Kozuki Toki bit her lip hard until it bled.
She knew.
This was the Red Scabbards buying her time with their lives.
No weeping, no sentimentality. She abruptly turned, clutching Hiyori, and ran desperately into the deepest part of the forest.
The dull thuds of blades piercing flesh, the sharp cracks of breaking bones, and the dying roars of the retainers intertwined into a symphony of despair behind her, growing fainter yet hauntingly persistent.
She did not know how long she had run, her stamina nearing its limit.
The rain blurred her vision, and her foot slipped, sending her and the child tumbling into a muddy, deep pit. The impact made her vision go dark.
Startled, Hiyori in her arms finally let out a loud, wailing cry.
In the silent rain-soaked night, it was undoubtedly a fatal sound.
"Ha! You can't run anymore, little lady!"
Several dark figures emerged from the curtain of rain, trudging through the muck to block the edge of the pit.
A Pirate with a twisted mouth and slanted eyes, hefting a broadaxe, jumped into the pit with a sinister grin.
"Hand over that little bastard, then entertain us properly. Maybe Kaido will reward you by making you his slave!"
Another pirate reached out, grabbing Kozuki Toki's disheveled hair without any courtesy.
Kozuki Toki slumped in the muddy water, with nowhere left to retreat. Her back pressed firmly against the pit wall as she closed her eyes in despair.
It was over.
Eight hundred years of time travel.
She thought she had found the key to changing the world, only to witness the most absurd destruction instead.
The sharp edge of the axe cut through the air in the curtain of rain. The shadow of death descended upon her.
Yet.
The expected agony never came.
"Thud—!"
A sharp, silent streak of light suddenly sliced through the night sky!
Kozuki Toki's eyes snapped open.
A few drops of scalding blood splattered onto her cheeks.
The pirate who had raised the axe, along with his weapon, had been sliced cleanly in half at the waist!
This sudden turn of events left all the pirates stunned.
A chilling cold shot up from their feet to the tops of their heads.
"Who's there?!"
Tap. Tap.
Steady footsteps splashed through the muddy puddles, producing crisp sounds.
Kozuki Toki trembled as she looked up.
Through the dark curtain of rain, a tall, upright figure slowly approached.
The traveler's ronin haori on his back was disintegrating in the wind. He removed the old garment and replaced it with a strikingly snow-white coat.
No matter how torrential the downpour, not a single drop could dampen the coat. On its back, two bold characters, written in thick ink, shone under the lightning with an overwhelming, awe-inspiring presence.
[Justice].
The man slowly turned around.
His face was almost flawlessly handsome, with sharp brows, bright eyes, and an imposing aura.
Most importantly, his deep eyes were filled with anguish for this scorched land and the deepest compassion for the weak before him.
"I'm sorry I'm late."
Kane lowered his head slightly, speaking in a deep, magnetic voice tinged with profound self-reproach.
"Allowing this land to suffer such torment is a failure of my duty as a Navy Admiral."
The pirates stood frozen, staring at this suddenly appearing man whose presence was utterly different from theirs.
"A... an Admiral?!" someone stammered, uttering a whisper of near despair.
Kane ignored these underlings. He looked down slightly, gazing at Kozuki Toki, who was slumped on the ground.
Kozuki Toki's taut heartstrings finally snapped.
She stared blankly at this man before her—his grandeur, his strength, like the only source of light in the darkness.
All the pain, despair, and betrayal she had endured seemed, in this moment, to have found a harbor to rely on.
"Madam." Kane reached out, gently brushing away the tangled hair and mud from Kozuki Toki's forehead, his movements as delicate as if handling fragile porcelain. "It's all right now. Leave everything to me from here on."
Kozuki Toki clutched the edge of his coat tightly, feeling the sense of security it conveyed, and nodded frantically through her sobs.
Only in the depths of his eyes, hidden from view, did a flicker of cold mockery pass through Kane's gaze.
So gullible.
Truly so gullible.
What belated Justice?
He had arrived half an hour ago. He had been sitting cross-legged in the clouds, watching the show, eating an apple, and relishing the sight of the Red Scabbards being crushed like insects by Jack.
Why hadn't he acted sooner?
If these die-hard remnants of the Kozuki clan from the old era aren't completely wiped out, if this woman isn't plunged into utter despair where heaven and earth offer no salvation, how could she ever develop absolute dependence on an "outsider from the Navy" like him?
After today, Wano Country would no longer have the Kozuki—only puppets firmly grasped in Kane's hands!
He slowly stood up, turning to face the terrified pirates.
"You, are you from the Beast Pirates?" Kane's fingers lightly tapped the hilt of the Soul Slayer Sword at his waist.
"Spare... spare us! We didn't know a Navy Admiral would..."
"Shh." Kane raised a finger, cutting off their pleas.
"Since you're pirates, then eliminating you shouldn't weigh on my conscience. For absolute Justice."
Snap.
Kane snapped his fingers with a crisp sound.
"Silent Severance."
The moment the snap echoed, the pirates didn't even have time to scream before a faint red line simultaneously appeared across their necks.
In the next second, six heads soared into the stormy sky. Headless bodies fell like harvested wheat, collapsing neatly into the muddy ground.
He killed without a trace.
After finishing this, not a single drop of blood stained Kane's clothes.
He turned back, looking at Kozuki Toki, who was tightly wrapped in a Navy coat and gazing at him with eyes that seemed to behold a deity.
Kane extended his hand toward her, wearing a compassionate and holy smile.
"Come, madam. I'll take you to a safe place."
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