A Woman's Secret

Zoro's blow lays Kamazo out, astonishing Gyukimaru, Toko, and their companion. Sour about being hurt right before the war he has been waiting for, the swordsman goes lightheaded and drops as Gyukimaru pockets one of the assassin's scythes and slips away. The two women carry the unconscious Zoro to the Northern Cemetery and tend to him there.

Deep in Kuri, Kin'emon reaches a deserted settlement and warns Inuarashi's Musketeers that Kaidou and Orochi have decoded both the crescent moon sign and the message they had circulated. Puzzled over how it slipped, they can only watch as the shogunate begins seizing Kouzuki sympathizers throughout the capital. Patrolling with Hawkins, Drake gripes that the crackdown is already common knowledge, leaving them nowhere quiet to go.

Over in the Red-Light District, Kyoshiro is told Komurasaki's wake has been called off because grief has boiled over, with mourners crowding his gate, some blaming him outright. He insists her killing was his only option and that no one grieves her more than he does, then turns over the coded note he retrieved at the banquet, remarking that it is what has set Orochi off. In Ebisu Town, a bruised Sanji begs Law and Shinobu to stop trading blame; Shinobu is convinced the captured Heart Pirates exposed the plan and wants them written off, but Law swears to disprove her by freeing them, and Kanjuro insists their allies must be kept if Orochi and Kaidou are to fall. Tonoyasu then walks in, startles Shinobu and Kanjuro by knowing them, and holds up a copy of the message while musing that the decisive hour may have come.

The revelation that ends the chapter is the woman's identity: she is Kouzuki Hiyori, sister to Momonosuke, and she has been searching for him. Zoro wakes in the cemetery house, tries to leave after Gyukimaru and Shusui, and reopens his wound before Toko offers him stolen toad oil. Kamazo has fallen, Gyukimaru has departed, Kin'emon's capital allies are being arrested, and Law is en route to his crew. The cover art requests small birds bathing in dust within the sand that Crocodile controls. Part of the Wano Country Arc.