"What's happening?" Ushimaru dragged his chains toward the iron bars. Deprived of food for so long, his body was terribly weak, but he could still manage to hold on.
"Looks like someone's breaking into the prison!" The samurai imprisoned alongside him had excited expressions on their faces. Their time in the quarry had been pure torture.
If it were a normal sentence, it wouldn't have been unbearable. But Kaido's gang only gave them the bare minimum of food to keep them alive, all to force them into submission. Yet the daily labor was grueling beyond belief.
As a result, they barely had the strength to resist. Many had already surrendered and become Kaido's underlings.
The sadistic Kaido even made those turncloaks put on the uniforms of guards and wardens, escalating their cruelty against their former comrades.
"It must be an operation organized by Kin'emon and Lord Yasuie!" The prisoners who were still holding on all smiled. They had very few sources of information and assumed this raid was the work of Kin'emon and the others.
Shimotsuki Ushimaru's face also showed a glimmer of hope. He looked beyond the iron bars at the explosions and battle cries. The chaos made him momentarily uncertain if this was real.
"Lord Ushimaru!"
"Lord Shimotsuki Ushimaru!"
He heard someone calling his name, and then saw a man wearing a blue ninja outfit with a face like a square stone rushing toward him while shouting.
Along the way, the guards who tried to stop him were struck in the throat by shuriken and killed instantly.
"You are...?"
Raizo quickly found Shimotsuki Ushimaru's cell. Just then, a red-haired man with a face as white as a ghost, dressed in kabuki style, caught up as well.
"Let me handle this!" Kanjuro glanced at Raizo and swung his brush. It was not just a brush — it was also a sword.
Kanjuro sliced through the prison's iron bars in a single stroke. The cells from this era didn't use much Seastone in their construction.
After all, mining and forging that material was extremely difficult.
"You're... from Lord Oden's side..." Shimotsuki Ushimaru stared at them in shock, his heart swelling with joy and excitement, tinged with a hint of disbelief.
"Does that mean Lord Oden has returned too?!"
He seemed terrified that this might all be just a dream.
"Of course! Lord Oden is fighting these bastards head-on right now!" Raizo shouted.
"Let me help you remove your shackles, then grab some weapons and fight our way out together!"
He was about to use his ninjutsu — his unlocking technique. But Ushimaru and the other prisoners quickly stopped him.
"No, these chains require a key to unlock. Otherwise, they'll explode immediately." Shimotsuki Ushimaru snapped out of his joy, his already disheveled face looking even worse.
"And if you leave the quarry's boundaries wearing them, they'll also explode..." The other prisoners wore bitter expressions as well.
This information wasn't hearsay. It had been tested with their lives. It wasn't as if no one had ever tried to escape before — but they had all died in the explosions.
"How could this be..."
"It seems we must find the keys. Otherwise, even if we kill every enemy here, there's no way to free Lord Ushimaru and the others." Kanjuro said in a low voice.
Just as they were at their wits' end, another voice called out.
"You fools are too reckless. You still need our help." Tsurujo swooped down from above, her slender crane claws clutching a struggling enemy.
With one stomp, her talons tore open the enemy's chest, and she let the corpse crash to the ground.
Tsurujo elegantly folded her ink-painting-like wings behind her back, then reached her right hand into the valley of her collar and pulled out a large ring of keys.
"These should be most of them, though I can't be certain."
"Actually, even without keys, we could ask Kozuki Oden to rip these shackles off. If someone can skillfully use internal destruction and has strong enough Haki, they could remove them before they explode. It would just be more trouble."
Tsurujo waved her hand, and the keys clutched in her slender fingers jingled like a wind chime.
"You are..." Shimotsuki Ushimaru and the other prisoners stared at Tsurujo, swallowing hard in unison.
This woman before them, with wings on her back and bird-like feet, looked exactly like a creature from the yokai legends. By all accounts of those tales, she should be something evil.
But somehow, they found her rather beautiful?
Shimotsuki Ushimaru and the others blushed, deciding that Tsurujo was definitely no monster — she must be a goddess at the very least!
"This lady was sent by Lord Ren to help. He knew Lord Oden was coming to rescue you, so he specifically dispatched several oni warriors." Kanjuro explained quickly.
"I didn't expect it to be the daimyo of Kuri who sent them." Shimotsuki Ushimaru was somewhat wistful. Back when Kaido first came to Wano, he had gone to Kuri for help, but the acting daimyo of Kuri had only offered a token gesture of assistance, clearly intent on playing it safe.
They didn't waste time talking, though. Raizo quickly found the matching keys and freed Shimotsuki Ushimaru and the others.
"Finally... finally free!"
Some wept tears of joy. All the pain and suffering they had endured here — now they would finally be rid of it.
"Now isn't the time to celebrate. Since we have the strength to fight again, we should hurry and help Oden!"
Shimotsuki Ushimaru was clear-headed about what needed to be done. Though his body was still weak, with his level of strength, even in this state he was far stronger than an ordinary person.
At the very least, even Raizo and Kanjuro combined might not be his match.
So they split up again. Raizo and Kanjuro took the keys and continued freeing the other prisoners, while Shimotsuki Ushimaru grabbed a sword and charged into the battlefield to rendezvous with Oden and the others.
"Oden Nito-ryu — Samurai Spirit Grand Soul!"
Kozuki Oden leapt high, his twin swords flashing as he instantly cut down over a dozen enemies who were trying to surround him. Fierce sword energy radiated outward like a ring in all directions.
"That's Oden for you, so strong!" Shimotsuki Ushimaru spotted his silhouette from afar, his heart surging with emotion. With Kozuki Oden here, even Kaido might not be unbeatable.
Orochi was also a powerful fighter, but Shimotsuki Ushimaru didn't feel his own strength was inferior to Orochi's.
Combined with the additional reinforcements, the resistance's forces had suddenly grown enormous. They had been barely holding on before, but now they actually had the strength to launch a decisive battle!
[
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