A Fateful Encounter, Kyros and King Riku

Usopp's strike proves useless: Trebol simply reassembles himself and continues toying with the sniper. The scene then sinks into the Thunder Soldier's memories of life before his curse. At fifteen, Kyros was jailed for killing two men, and King Riku spared him on the condition that he survive a hundred arena bouts. He earned his freedom within four months, yet kept fighting because the public still branded him a murderer with nowhere else to belong. After a thousand victories, Riku asked why he craved combat so badly, and Kyros confessed he only wanted people to forget him and his bloody past, a wish that would be granted years later in cruel fashion. Nightmares of the blood he had spilled haunted him while the king quietly watched.

Nine years of flawless wins won Kyros the crowd's affection. Disguised as Ricky, Riku himself entered the ring against the gladiator's three thousand wins and lost, but not before landing a single blow to Kyros' head when shock at recognizing the king left him open. Riku then urged the man who had taught him swordplay to leave the arena and serve as captain of the guard. Princess Scarlett distrusted him for his reputation and forbade him to ever touch her, until pirates abducted her and Kyros came to her rescue. Won over, she fell for him, and despite his reluctance the two eventually wed. To live freely with him, Scarlett had her father stage her death, and she bore a daughter named Rebecca. Believing himself too stained to touch his pure child, Kyros wore gloves whenever he played with her, yet found more happiness than he ever expected, right up until the family spotted the palace ablaze.

The anime expands the recollection with Kyros fighting Riku's soldiers, a nightmare before visiting a friend's grave, his duel with Ricky, and his onscreen rescue of Scarlett. In the manga he had been avenging a friend from the slums; the timing differs here. Several manga details, such as Kyros battling a giant and a fish-man underwater and overseas challengers, go unmentioned. The episode also lists Scarlett as fifteen at her first meeting with Kyros, whereas the manga gave her age as sixteen. The preview is shortened.