One Piece Chapter 948: Kawamatsu the Kappa Appears

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The cover serial continues with "Short-Term Focused Cover-Page Serials, Part 24, Vol. 1: Escape Successful." The Tarte ship cuts through rough water with a large numbered sail and Big Mom Pirates styling. It is not part of the chapter's immediate Wano plot, but it is useful official cover-serial material showing events connected to the wider crew after Whole Cake Island.

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In Udon, Luffy sees the prison yard as a training ground now that Queen and Big Mom are gone. Surrounded by guards, prisoners, and weapons, he grins and says, "Look at all these opponents. I can practice on! I'm going to get this down!" Chopper worries that they need to save O-Lin, but Kiku points out that they need to back up Luffy first and asks why he is running. Hyo tells Luffy, "You're tough as nails, Straw Hat." Luffy tries to picture haki flowing through his body, but when he attempts the technique against an attacker, he gets struck instead and yells, "No! But..."

Monkey D. LuffyHyogoroTony Tony ChopperKikunojoBig Mom

Babanuki calls out to the prisoners, ordering them to use their strength to hold Luffy down because their friend Luffytaro is running amok. Luffy is confused, asking why they would do that, but the prisoners grab him anyway. One tells him, "I'm on your side, guys! Don't you want to get out of here?" and another answers that they do have grudges, but they saw him fight and it brought smiles to their faces. Then they ask the harder question: where could they run, when Kaido and Orochi control all of Wano? Luffy can fight and flee because he is a foreign outsider, but they have nowhere free to go.

Monkey D. LuffyBabanukiKaidoKurozumi Orochi

The prisoners explain the defeat that has crushed them for twenty years. They fought to avenge Lord Oden Kozuki's death at Kaido's hands, but they lost their friends and families and were bruised, beaten, and broken. Seeing Lord Yasuie's execution only brought back despair they thought they had forgotten. Even if they escape Udon, they say, they have no homes, no food, and no patch of soil in the country where they will ever be free. To Luffy, they shout, "You're just some foreign outsider! You can fight and run. All you want! Just keep us out of it!"

Monkey D. LuffyKozuki OdenShimotsuki YasuieKaido

Daifugo fires plague bullets into the crowd. Prisoners immediately begin to burn and scream, "So... hot! My body's burning! Save me!" and "Oi! What's the matter! Wait, what's this weird bruise on his neck?!" Babanuki laughs and reveals that it is a highly contagious plague: touch the infected, and the disease will spread. The guards call them plague bullets and warn everyone to get away from the victims. Babanuki adds that if Luffy tries any funny business, he will shoot him too.

BabanukiDaifugoMonkey D. Luffy

Babanuki says Lord Queen loves building things, and his hobbies include building weapons and viruses. He mocks the prisoners for siding with Luffy, saying the Beast Pirates crushed their dreams of rebellion long ago. Luffy demands that the guards tell the prisoners everything because hearing the truth might change their minds, but Babanuki says he only has to hit one of them and the disease will spread to the rest. Then a strange laugh echoes from the broken prison: "Kaaaaaappa! Papappa papa!" Luffy remembers there was supposed to be someone there.

BabanukiQueenMonkey D. LuffyKawamatsu

A voice comes from the sealed cell, and the head jailer is startled: "A voice... from inside the sealed cell?!" The guards mention a kappa and wonder who could have stayed locked up there so long. They were told to give the prisoner fish from the factory, fish poisoned by the runoff, and that Kaido's plan thirteen years ago was simply to execute him. The guards decide to finish him off and write it up as an accidental death. Then the man inside is named: one of the Nine Red Scabbards, calling, "Kappa-pappa! Release me from these cuffs!"

KawamatsuBabanukiKaido

Kiku realizes the prisoner really is Kawamatsu. The guards rush forward, eager to take his head while his cuffs are still on and mocking him as a weird poisonous fish rather than a legendary samurai. At the same time, Kiku enters the fray, and the invader from the previous day is recognized. Another shadowed fighter announces, "I'll take that head of yours!" with a blade gleaming in the dark, while Raizo darts through the prison as the guards shout that the ninja has run off.

KikunojoKawamatsuRaizo

Raizo reaches Kawamatsu in time and throws him the key to his cuffs and his blade, crying, "Kawamatsu! The key to your cuffs, and your blade!" The guards realize the flying objects are fish bones and needles too late. Kawamatsu catches what he needs and calls, "Just in time, Raizo." After thirteen years in the cell, he draws his beloved blade, Sotomuso, and asks the men around him whether they like sumo. The translation note explains that his move is an outer thigh propping twist down.

KawamatsuRaizo

Kawamatsu erupts from confinement with "Turret Ryuo!" and sends the guards flying in every direction. Babanuki gapes as someone shouts, "Wagh! What the--?! Someone sent those guys flying!" Hyo recognizes the style and tells Kawamatsu, "I see your strength has not waned, Kawamatsu!" Kawamatsu answers that it is like swimming even the torrents of the great rivers: such is the fierce kappa style. Hyo is overjoyed to see the strength of the old Wano warrior still intact.

KawamatsuHyogoroBabanuki

Kawamatsu introduces himself properly as Kozuki family retainer Yokozuna Kawamatsu. He jokes that he had heard poisonous fish were delicious, but he was wrong and his organs are groaning; when he thinks of the disgrace his lord suffered, all hardships seem like a spring breeze. After thirteen years in prison, he says he has never stopped living and has waited long for his allies. With his sword drawn and his wide hat hiding his eyes, he tells the prison to witness Kawamatsu the Kappa and unleashes "Haenami River!"

KawamatsuKozuki Oden

The guards panic that the Red Sheath has been released. Kawamatsu recognizes Kiku and Raizo and says, "I am glad to see you once more in this world!" Kiku answers that he has not changed, and Raizo returns the greeting. Babanuki realizes they now have three intruders and orders the men into combat positions with plague bullets. Kawamatsu, still sick from years of poisonous fish, apologizes that thirteen years of nausea hit him all at once, but he is already standing with his fellow retainers.

KawamatsuKikunojoRaizoBabanuki

The truth spreads through the prison yard. Luffy and the others react to Kawamatsu as a kappa, while O-Tama is warned to get away from Luffy-taro. A prisoner recognizes Hyogoro, exclaiming, "Wha--?! Is that... Boss Hyogoro?!" and Hyo tells Kiku and Raizo to reveal their identities to their friends. He says men whose spirits have been broken and warriors beaten into submission cannot be heartened from behind a disguise. Kiku agrees: to win these prisoners, they must let them see who has returned.

Monkey D. LuffyKawamatsuHyogoroKikunojoRaizoO-Tama

The retainers reveal themselves. Kawamatsu stands as the samurai and strongest sumo wrestler Yokozuna Kawamatsu, while Hyo is recognized as Hyogoro of the Flowers. Kiku removes the mask, revealing Kikunojo of the Lingering Snows, the foremost beautiful swordsman of Wano, and Raizo is named Fukurokuju's rival, the ninja Raizo of the Mist. Luffy understands that before fighting, they must first win the prisoners' trust; after all, to the broken men of Udon, these warriors have been nothing but ghosts for twenty years.

KawamatsuHyogoroKikunojoRaizoMonkey D. Luffy

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End of chapter16 pages

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