In chapter 933 we see Orochi attacks Komurasaki and overwhelms her in his Yamata no Orochi form, but is interrupted by Nami and Shinobu.
Komurasaki then willingly has Kyoshiro strike her down as a form of mercy.
I’m sure Komurasaki is not dead, she must have a Devil Fruit allowing her to come back into the story. This appears to be one of the many roles they’ve rehearsed:
The motive here is clear: to demonstrate Kyoshiro’s loyalty to Orochi, the reason behind it is for Kyoshiro to get close to him to eventually overthrow him.
My theory starts with Komurasaki, I suspect the samurai she’s the daughter to is the unidentified prisoner in the mines with Luffy and Kid.
He is one of the Kozuki retainers that stayed behind to look after Hiyori, raising her and Komurasaki as sisters.
Hiyori is the one who told Komurasaki the story of the Kozuki clan after her father was taken away. This is the emotional basis behind the song she plays, it is about both, her father and the history of the Kozuki clan.
To do her part in looking after Hiyori, Komurasaki became an oiran (at an appropriate age) under Kyoshiro to support Hiyori. I think he is aware of Hiyori’s status but was unaware of the truth behind the prophecy until recently (more on this further down).
With Komurasaki being “dead”, for now I believe Kyoshiro will shift his focus to generate other streams of revenue to support Komurasaki and Hiyori in private. He may become far more active in his yakuza role until Hiyori and Komurasaki are reintroduced into the story. The events in 933 will elevate him to become Orochi’s right hand man since he’s going through so much to prove his loyalty to eventually usurp him.
Komurasaki is playing her part as a daughter of a Kozuki clan retainer, one of the nine, to see to it that Orochi is taken down in the absence of her father and the other retainers (her assumption is they will not return).
That said, I’d like to focus on Kyoshiro, he dismissed Orochi to be a coward when he was introduced in 919. He knows of the prophecy and wants to clash with the Kozuki retainers anyway. This is reinforced in chapter 932, page 11, when he says in so many words he’d best Kinemon and any of the other retainers. 933, Kyoshiro cuts down Komurasaki and reveals the Kozuki calling card passed out by members of the alliance earlier in the arc making it clear to him the prophecy is true and not a ghost story. So he is in preparation for Kinemon returning.
How he got the card: in 926 when members of the alliance were passing out the cards, Kinemon gave them to members of the rebellion (with the crescent marking on their left leg), one of them in some way got back to Kyoshiro. There’s a great possibility some members of the rebellion are working under Kyoshiro now or are like Ashura Doji, who chose to go their own way.
Kyoshiro’s aware of what’s currently going on in Wano from Luffy being beaten by Kaido along with Sanji and Zoro attacking his men, to him this is no coincidence and his thoughts are right alongside Orochi’s in 932. Which is why he wants to clash with Kinemon and the other retainers. His purpose is to erect himself as shogun with Hiyori as his wife and Komurasaki as his right hand. I think this is the plan the three of them conceived long ago and in the event of Kinemon and the retainers returning, Kyoshiro is to defeat them and the shogun for Hiyori’s marriage and legitimacy as shogun in exchange for him protecting the two for so long. Taking on members of the rebellion as his family gives him the edge of being legitimate and associated with the old guard with Wano under his control.
I think in some way Kyoshiro respected Oden and seeks to keep his honor in tact which is why he is not afraid of the prophecy although I think he is currently opposed to seeing the old guard come back and undo years of planning he’s made for himself which would put him at odds with Kinemon, Momonosuke and the rest of the retainers who are not currently affiliated with him.
It’s a power struggle at work between the old guard consisting of Kinemon’s group including Momonosuke and the new guard consisting of Kyoshiro and Komurasaki affiliated with Hiyori behind the scenes. Both want to dispose of Orochi and erect themselves as the rightful shogunate of Wano. Kyoshiro is essentially Hiyori’s retainer until he can prove himself as her husband and Shogun of Wano by disposing of Kinemon, the retainers and Orochi.
Momonosuke could easily fit the role as shogun since he is male, Hiyori would need to marry into that position (through Kyoshiro). Considering her age now, as speculated, she would be of marrying age – to marry Kyoshiro after defeating Orochi and the returning old guard.
I don’t think he (Kyoshiro) informed Komurasaki or Hiyori about how much he knows about Kinemon returning, this could ruin his plans for becoming shogun so I believe he’s keeping the information away from both, her and Hiyori until Kinemon reveals himself.
This could spark a civil war between the retainers who sided with Kyoshiro and the retainers who waited for Kinemon to return. We see evidence of this in Ashura Doji, who chose to become a bandit but I do believe he will side with Kinemon in the event of a civil war with Kyoshiro’s family for the throne of Wano.
If this theory checks out and Komurasaki was raised with Hiyori as her sister, I would suspect Hiyori to be a Buddhist nun or someone pure, untouched, a virgin and introduced somewhere in the coming chapters under a different name and with her true status later revealed.
As to what happened to the prisoner, Komurasaki’s assumed father, Kyoshiro’s men probably tipped him off about his identity as a Kozuki retainer when he was starting out as a yakuza and Kyoshiro went to Orochi who, in turn, had him imprisoned unbeknownst to Komurasaki and Hiyori. This is quite possibly how Kyoshiro became close to the shogun and gained power, maybe demonstrating his worth to Orochi by defeating Komurasaki’s father.
Kyoshiro then uses the opportunity to take Komurasaki and Hiyori in and protect them on the condition he becomes Shogun and marry Hiyori if he defeats Orochi and any other opposition to the throne. Komurasaki is unaware of how true the prophecy is because Kyoshiro is keeping her in the dark about it. I suspect Hiyori has lost faith in the prophecy.
I also suspect, should Luffy free the prisoner (Komurasaki’s father) and ally with him and reconnect with the rest of the crew, he’ll somehow come into contact with Komurasaki and an unidentified Hiyori, undoing Kyoshiro’s plans and turning him into an adversary for clearer reasons.
*Theory by Roll Credits
