Chapter 164

Having strayed off, the young princess crosses paths with bandits who know her face and try to grab her. Koza flings himself in their way, and with the Sand-Sand Clan backing him he tucks Vivi out of sight among some ruins. The bandits track her down regardless, only for Koza to intervene a second time and lay out one of her pursuers. The clan members end up sprawled and battered across the sand, so when Igaram turns up looking for the princess, one of them recounts the whole affair. The bandit chief at last corners Vivi, but Koza faces him head on and beats him, taking a knife wound for it. As the rest of the bandits move in, the king and Igaram arrive to bring them to heel.

The wounded boy is rushed to the palace and treated. In gratitude for protecting the princess, Cobra voices his hope that Koza might one day help watch over the realm. Once back on his feet, Koza shares with Vivi that her father has granted his family leave to raise a fresh settlement named Yuba. The pair exchange farewells and swear to serve their kingdom. The flashback closes on the disclosure that the rebels mean to overrun the capital in one enormous push, with Koza standing at the head of that revolt.

The cover carries on the Jango's Dance Paradise serial, volume 30, where a Marine Headquarters tribunal condemns Jango to hang for his offenses. Set within the desert-kingdom arc, the chapter finishes Vivi's shared past with Koza and binds her childhood straight to the conflict gripping the nation in the present.