One Piece Chapter 962: The Daimyo and His Retainers

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After being exiled from the capital, Oden leaves Hakumai. The people who see him go cry, "Are you really leaving, Sir Oden...!?" and, with mixed relief and affection, "We will be free of your trouble, but it will be lonely without you!" Oden's curiosity turns toward Kuri after he hears there is a beast living there, "a monster by the name of Ashura Doji!!" Yasuie calls Kuri "a cancer upon Wano" and says even Lord Sukiyaki does not touch the place. As soon as one crosses into Kuri, the laws of the shogunate become meaningless; it is so lawless that it may as well not be part of the country. Oden only grins: "How interesting!! I think I will take my own tour around the country!!"

Back in Hakumai, Yasuie discovers that his room has been wrecked and his money stolen. His retainers shout, "This is the room he stayed in!! Just look at this place!!" and "We should demand compensation!!" Yasuie tries to soften the judgment, saying, "Well... I would rather just pretend a natural disaster passed through..." but they insist, "Lord Yasuie, you are too soft on Oden!!" The money was locked in the safe, yet it is gone. Orochi nervously says, "Um... I hate to be a snitch, but... I saw what happened." He claims, "It was Lord Oden... He... stuffed all the money into a bag!!" When asked if he is certain, Orochi stammers, "Hee hee... Yes, please forgive me... I was just too scared to stop him..." The retainers believe him and rage that Oden repaid their hospitality by robbing them, while Yasuie falls silent. The story lets the theft sit on Orochi, not Oden.

Oden and his followers cause many incidents on their way to Kuri. Oden asks Kinemon and Denjiro, "How long are you two going to follow me!?" They answer with total devotion: "Forever!!" "We adore you!!" Yasuie looks disgusted by them, but their loyalty only grows. As Oden travels, he decides to keep a log, saying, "Apparently, sailors from the outside world do the same thing during their voyages. I have decided to keep a log." When Kinemon and Denjiro try to stand guard, Oden snaps, "What are you doing!?" They insist, "As your servants, we must stand guard!!" and he calls them dolts, telling them to come inside already.

Oden's log records the people he meets on the road. In Ringo, he encounters two filthy, starving brothers, Izo and Kikunojou. They were raised in a dancing school, but their family fell apart after their father was arrested and convicted. The locals mocked them as they danced in the streets to survive, yet the boys devoured the oden Oden made while tears streamed down their faces. Oden barks, "Eat up, you little brats!!" In Kibi, he hears of a demon that steals human hair whether the victims are dead or alive. That demon is Kanjuro, a weirdo who used the hair to make brushes. After Kanjuro targets Oden's hair, Oden beats him, and Kanjuro follows him ever since, crying, "Uwaaah, I yield!! I yield!!" while Oden tells him, "It seems that he was persecuted in the past, but you reap what you sow!"

Oden's log continues. In Udon, there are rumors of a heinous mountain bandit who fights any man he locks eyes with and kidnaps any woman. The bandit turns out to be Raizo, a genius ninja who resigned from the Kozuki family's Oniwabanshu after being rejected by a kunoichi. Raizo, miserable and dramatic, says, "Lord Oden!! I am sick... of living in hiding like some hermit!!" Still, Oden wonders, "Why do you guys keep following me...?" Meanwhile, Kuri waits ahead as the lawless land ruled by Ashura Doji. When Ashura hears, "Kozuki Oden is coming to Kuri?" he laughs that he would love to kill shogunate blood, ordering, "Bring him to me!!" Ashura hates privileged people with power most of all.

Oden's followers lose track of him because he has gone south instead of toward Kuri. They know his habits too well: "He often disappears for a day or two on a whim, right?" When they reach Kuri, the front gate is already broken. Kinemon is furious that he is late to the battle, shouting, "How disgraceful!! I swore that I would die for him... But I am late to the battle!!" Inside, Oden stands amid wreckage and bodies, facing Ashura Doji. Ashura asks, "So you are Kozuki Oden?" Oden answers that he was disowned, so that name is no longer his. He explains what happened: "After I broke open the gate... I was overwhelmed by the stench of blood, sweat, and corpses." It was as if the entire world had turned its killing intent toward him, "and directed it towards me...!!"

Kuri's rules are brutal and simple: one is free to enter, but leaving means death. The ruffians tell Oden's group, "Tell your boss... that a samurai has come." Oden looks at the place and judges it without hesitation: "How stifling! Such an environment is unfit for humans." The rule he hates most is "Never leave..." so he smashes into Kuri's violence directly. As dust rises from the mountain, his followers hurry after him. People shout, "Hurry, look for Lord Oden!!" and "Sir Oden!! We are here to help!!" while Kinemon realizes, "He must be there!!" Oden notes that they followed him even out there.

By the time the others arrive, Oden is sitting atop the defeated Ashura Doji. He apologizes as if he merely took a detour: "Sorry... I just finished up here..." and admits, "It took all night... I cannot believe it took that long!!" The witnesses understand the scale of it: "So this is the power of the infamous Ashura Doji!!!" But Oden has already made his decision. He tells Ashura, "I will be needing your strength and wits... I have decided that I want to... become the king of these scumbags!!" Kinemon, still shaken, asks whether they still adore him after seeing where his life is headed. The followers answer without regret: "I have no regrets."

Kuri had been a hellish land filled with the stench of corpses, but Oden used his overwhelming might to round up all the ruffians. Then he turned that hell into a peaceful and prosperous place for its inhabitants. People who once feared Kuri now ask in disbelief, "Changed that Kuri?!" Others say, "Only he would be able to do something like this!" "He really..." Having heard of Oden's remarkable exploits, Shogun Kozuki Sukiyaki reverses his decision to disown him. He then declares his son daimyo of Kuri.

Kuri erupts in celebration. The people shout, "Kuri's daimyoooo!!!" and "Our very own Lord Oden is going to become..." They cheer, "We did it!!!!" and believe that with Oden, Kuri will become a proper region. Even the former ruffians marvel, "It is hard to believe...!! This is finally happening after all that hard work!!" The crowd surrounds Oden, Ashura, Kinemon, Denjiro, Izo, Kiku, Kanjuro, and Raizo, crying, "Daimyooooooo!!!" "Yeaaaah!!" and "Congratulations, Sir Oden!!" The scattered people of Kuri have become a community around him.

After the celebration, Ashura sits quietly with Oden and admits what has changed inside him. Oden asks, "Is something wrong, Ashura?" Ashura begins, "...I..." then says, "Well, this is the first time... I have seen what peace looks like... Thank you, Oden." Oden rejects the sappy talk and instead makes his demand: "Enough with the sappy talk!! So you guys will do!! You can be my samurai!!" Ashura and the others are stunned into silence. Oden adds that now that he is a daimyo, he requires retainers, though he would rather not have uptight officials following him.

Six years pass, placing the story thirty-three years before the present. At Kuri Castle, Oden's retainers are still exasperated by him, yelling, "Lord Odeeennn!!!" and "Gwaaah!! Get off me!! Your snot is dripping everywhere!!" The narration says that these men would eventually become the beacons of power for the next generation. At the same time, the survivors of the legendary Rocks Pirates start recruiting. On Kuri Beach, strange figures wash ashore. Someone gasps, "How freaky!!" Others wonder, "What are they?? Animals?!" "Or are they just hairy people?" and "Weird-looking monsters, perhaps?" The chapter ends with the discovery of those two figures on the beach.

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