"Kozuki Oden, can you see the future?"
Werther's abrupt question visibly startled Kozuki Oden.
"No, I cannot."
"Then stop making grand claims when you can't see the future. A friend of mine put it well.
"Justice always wins. Of course it does, because only the victor gets to call himself just.
"Right now, I'm the victor. What makes you think you can say I'll be destroyed?"
Werther held his sword in one hand and walked slowly toward Kozuki Oden.
Kozuki Oden stood where he was, as though waiting to die.
As Werther drew close, Kozuki Oden's hair suddenly shot out, forming sharp spikes that stabbed toward him.
Every strand was coated in Armament Haki. Combined with Life Return, it was not an attack to underestimate.
A sword flashed. Great swathes of hair were severed, and the strands scattered across the ground writhed like decapitated snakes.
"A last, desperate struggle."
Kozuki Oden sighed and turned toward Wano Country, where the flames of war raged.
"Thunder Swordsman, consider this the last request of Longliang's childhood friend. Spare this beautiful, peaceful country."
Kozuki Oden looked at Werther. In the lord's eyes was only longing: the longing to see his country spared.
"I refuse."
Werther's voice was cold, his refusal merciless.
Perhaps it had been fated from the moment Wano Country expelled his Master, from the moment his Master took him as a disciple.
Kozuki Oden closed his eyes in despair. Life Return faded, restoring his former, slightly plump build, though his face now looked somewhat aged.
With both arms gone, Kozuki Oden sat cross-legged on the ground and straightened his back.
"My life is yours. That is the price of defeat."
Werther stood before Kozuki Oden and raised his sword, ready to take his head.
Just as Kozuki Oden's head was about to