As we see in Chapter 1008 the “Kozuki Oden” that appears before the Scabbards is revealed to be a fake drawing created by Kanjuro, who is still alive and inside the Skull Dome. Orochi is also revealed to be alive and starts fires inside the Skull Dome.
- Part 1: Blinded By Emotion
Kanjuro being alive is an idea many of us subscribed to. And for good reason, Oda never discards his characters without getting the full usage out of them. But what is remarkable about this revelation is not the revelation itself (because come on, we’ve all seen this coming) but the subtext behind it. The Scabbards are a family and Oden was the head of it, you could even say he’s like a father to them, but let’s leave just it at the “head of the family” because Oden is as unfatherly as it gets (lol). As a result, when Oden appears in front of the newly healed Scabbards, they suspend all doubt and accept that it is Oden without questioning or analyzing the situation.
This is clearly because they were blinded by emotion, the same emotion that saved Kanjuro’s life, because Kiku, like all the other Scabbards who are vulnerable to their emotions, failed to kill Kanjuro because he had been a member of their family for decades. Now that he’s back on his feet, he’s using that same emotion to manipulate the Scabbards by creating a painting of Oden. If you needed me to state it out, that emotion is love for one’s family. This scene shows just how incredibly perceptive Kanjuro is and how emotionally vulnerable the Scabbards are when it comes to one of their own. Even Ashura, the voice of reason, was stabbed by a painting created by a dying Kanjuro, the same Ashura who sliced Jack like butter back in Kuri.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to get into power scaling, but it should be obvious that Ashura was more than capable of dealing with this painting, but he couldn’t because, even if it were just a painting, Ashura couldn’t cut Oden’s image. And so, Ashura gets stabbed, consciously blinded, and limited by his love for his late master, with his following dialogue iterating this very point: “And now we know, I’m no different from you guys.”
- Part 2: Kurozumi With Nothing To Lose
Orochi is a slightly misunderstood character. I say slightly because.. well, here’s why. Orochi was acting very uncharacteristically in this chapter. Orochi is a paranoiac who always assumes the worst of any situation and his overconfidence in any situation is never a product of dumbassery, but rather of cold, hard calculations. He was the Shogun of Wano, with minawagumi, oniwabanshu, and thousands of samurai on his payroll, not to mention he had fucking Kaido’s support, but he never let the throne’s comfort get to him. He was always paranoid, always planning how to deal with shit in the event that Toki’s prophecy came true.
So whenever we see Orochi being arrogant, it’s due to his own calculations rather than his throne or Kaido. But why is he now so arrogant and self-assured? He lacks his throne, power, and Kaido, and no strategy he concocts will help him escape Onigashima with all 7 or however many heads he has left. So I say Orochi is slightly misunderstood because, in all of the discussion surrounding this chapter, no one even mentions how hell-bent Orochi is on vengeance against Kaido, when the Orochi we know and hate is a coward who would do nothing when the odds are stacked against him. So here’s how I explain everything: Orochi, like Kanjuro, has nothing to lose anymore. We are only afraid when we stand to lose something. So when all hope is lost, fear follows. So I guess that’s what’s going on with Orochi and Kanjuro; they’re aware that they’re royally screwed, but in death, they want to burn down the rest of the world as well. Either that or having your head chopped off makes you more courageous.
So Orochi now has 7 heads remaining (considering one head to be toppled off by Kaido). And with Inuarashi fighting Jack, there are 7 Scabbards remaing…..so I think each one of them will cut off one head each of Orochi maybe at same time or one by one. That is how Orochi will die I think.
