"From
the capital there is a demon gate under the northeastern sky. On the slopes
of Mt. Hiei, famous from olden times as a mountain of ghosts that protected
the emperor’s castle ..."
Shishio and Yumi
return to the base in Kyoto and are welcomed by Houji, who is pretty psyched
when he hears that the Juppon Gatana are being gathered. This means once
they've all arrived, Shishio can begin the conquest of the country. Before
spreading the word to their forces throughout the country Shishio wants
the Juppon Gatana to kill the government's secret weapon: Hitokori Battousai
He'd like to kill Battousai himself, but will be pleased as long as the
guy dies. Poor Kenshin, bwa ha ha!
Houji had been keeping
tabs on Kenshin for Shishio, so they knew he was trying to find a new sword.
One of the first Juppon Gatana to arrive, Chou, plans to pay Ken-san a
visit (mostly to get Shakkuu's final work - Chou has a thing for swords
^_^ ) Of course, Chou loses to Kenshin, and winds up in a prison cell.
After that, Kenshin goes off to learn his succession technique from Mr.
Joe Cool himself, Hiko Seijuurou.
Soujirou returns to
Kyoto with some members of the Juppon Gatana and 'accidentally' bumps
into Shinomori Aoshi. Shishio wants to see Aoshi, who agrees to go with
Soujirou since he could make use of their spies to find Battousai. Shishio
greats his men, and then welcomes Aoshi to their headquarters. Basically,
Shishio wants to use Aoshi, but knows Aoshi isn't the type of guy to fight
along with others. He gives Aoshi information, figuring if Aoshi finds
and kills Battousai it'll save him some trouble. After a little speach,
Houji becomes even more devoted to Shishio - maybe Yumi should be worrying
about him instead of Kamatari?
Houji:
I’m
shaking with joy . . . All those I’ve met serving the new government were
shrunken fools, hardly worth remembering. But I finally chanced to meet
a man of true caliber, greater than I had ever imagined. I’m honored to
build a new Japan with this man!
Meanwhile, back in prison
Chou is going to spill his guts to my husband, Saitou. Chou says that Shishio
plans to destroy Kyoto in a way that sort of copies the Ikedaya affair
( After setting Kyoto ablaze, Ishin Shishi extremists assassinated important
members of the Bakufu who opposed them at the Ikedaya inn.)
Kyoto
will be surrounded by 500 soldiers and burned to the ground. In the confusion,
the Ten Swords will eliminate all important members of the government.
Just as Lord Shishio was burnt by his own comrades in the time of the Bakumatsu,
we'll return the outrage exactly as they did. As suits Lord Shishio, it
will be a declaration of war tinged with irony.
Chou:
We'll begin when all Ten Swords are gathered. The day is near.
Luckily that was all
Chou knew (Of course, Shishio sorta wanted that part of his plan to get
out, so it's not like Chou did too much harm...) The Juppon Gatana had
gathered, minus the captured Chou, and so Shishio was ready to kick off
his Kuni Tori in style. The Burning of Kyoto is scheduled for 11:59 the
following night! Kenshin & Saitou have information regarding the fires,
but not the other half of Shishio's plans.
In
the decisive battle of the Boshin war the Bakufu shogun deceived his allies
by fleeing by ship from Osaka Bay to Edo. This maneuver was the main reason
for the government victory. Shishio will ironically make his victory into
his own . . .
The
Kyoto Fire is the only the first stage of his plans! His true objective
is a marine bombardment of Tokyo!
The police, the Oniwabanshu,
and the townspeople are prepared to fight Shishio's men and stop the fires
of Kyoto while Kenshin, Saitou, and Sano go after Shishio in Osaka harbor.
Shishio will be waiting to set sail for Tokyo, hoping to stir everything
up - after Commodore Perry appeared with his black ships to open the country,
if another mysterious ship were to appear and begin firing on Tokyo, chaos
would ensue.
Shishio put his experience
as a Hitokiri to good use. There are two ideal conditions for a Hitokiri
to work under - confusion in the darkness, and confusion is a crowd. By
sending his forces to start fires and assasinate people he's covered the
first condition. By disguising his battle ship like all the others in the
harbor he's creating the second. While the boat looks rickety on the outside,
the inside holds a first class battleship, the Rengoku.
Kenshin is no slouch
either, and puts himself in Shishio's shoes. He's able to guess what Shishio
would do, and when they arrive at the harbor, they begin to look for an
old ship that has set sail. They decide to hit Shishio from high &
low - Saitou and Kenshin go high while Sano, armed with explosives, comes
in low.
Shishio fires on them
with an Armstrong cannon, then busts out the gatling gun to shoot Sano
(where did he get the money for all this kewl stuff? My guess is that he
blackmailed people using his secrets, ran your run of the mill illeagal
Mob-like establishments, etc. Plus, he had his involvement in petroleum,
right? He thinks ahead, what a guy!) Unfortunately, Sanosuke is able to
score a direct hit with those nifty explosives, and the lovely Rengoku
begins to burn.
Poor Shishio. He realizes
his mistake though, because he learns from his losses. He announces that
he was wrong to underestimate them, and that they will have to be killed
before he can go any further in his plans for Kuni Tori. Before, he simply
thought of them as a diversion from his plans, but NOW they would receive
his FULL attentions. ^_^ He graceously invites them to his headquarters/fortress
to have a proper fight. |
