I think there is a specific reason that old man Hyou and Kawamatsu are alive and are being introduced in this way.
As we’ve learned from the last few chapters. Both Kawamatsu and Hyougoro aren’t supposed to be alive . Although Kawamatsu is one of the samurai they are supposed to be looking for, Raizou was shocked to find him alive, meaning that him and the other samurai allies knew it was very possible he was killed 20 or so years ago.
Similarly, Shinobu in chapter 935 states that Hyougoro was executed and that is what the citizens of Wano believe.
So I asked myself why Orochi would keep these two characters alive. He is clearly going to regret it, but he must have had a reason. Obviously Oda is setting Luffy up with allies here, but why would he show that they we’re originally believed to be dead almost before we even meet the characters.
Basically what I’m getting at is that I believe Orochi was simply too scared to execute anybody because of Toki’s prophecy. We’ve seen that Orochi is nervous about the spirits of the samurai returning from their graves to defeat him. What better way to make sure the prophecy doesn’t unfold than to keep them alive and in prison with watchful eyes over them.
Toki’s prophecy doesn’t state that the samurai would return from the dead, but it is what Orochi believes she meant, so he kept whoever he could alive and in prison so the full prophecy couldnt come true. Little does he know, he’s going to make it come true himself due to his own fear and keeping them alive. This being said, there could be even more Scabbards believed to be dead that are actually imprisoned.
*Theory by Team_Sanji
