Introduction
Enemies and allies have gathered on Rakuyou. So now the battles begin!
Plot
In the Kaientai's main ship, Kairinmaru, Sakamoto tends to his prisoner, Nobu Nobu. The Shogun threw his latest meal on the floor and the Kaientai leader chastises him for doing so. Nobu Nobu cockily declares that by kidnapping him, the Tendoushuu won't let Sakamoto and his friends get away with this. Sakamoto instead retorts that Nobu Nobu was actually useless to both them and the Amanto group. He and his administration had just lost their allies and their power and worse, he has been captured due to his pettiness. The Tendoushuu would just as quickly get rid of them both. As such, Sakamoto adds, he should still try to eat as their battle has just begun.
A while later, Bansai shows his allies the planet where the Kaheitai, their leader and their allies will be, along with Kagura; the planet that was once her home. At the same time on said raining planet, Kagura stands in front of a grave on a cliff overlooking a city holding a bouquet. She thinks back to before she left, where she tells the grave, belonging to her mother, that she was leaving but promised to return strong enough to bring back her father and brother. Matako wonders about the grave but Kagura responds that she was here checking something. Another bouquet of flowers sits in front of the grave, confirming that Umibouzu was already here. In the abandoned building where the remnants were staying, Umibouzu finds himself surrounded by the 7th division Yato. Abuto tells them to stand down, reminding them of how more powerful the hunter was then them put together. He remarks on how similar Umibouzu and Kamui were, their single-minded pursuit of their chosen targets to the exclusion on everyone else. Abuto refuses to get involved in their father-son spat, but since the two knew that the missing Yato commander was still alive, he will accommodate the older man and they can wait for the youth's return.
In the city below, Bansai leads Gintoki, Shinpachi, Katsura, Sakamoto, and Mutsu through the streets to the hideout, relieved that the Harusame seemed to not be here. Shinpachi is surprised to see the rough people who lived in Kagura's hometown. But Gintoki remarks that the city greatly parallels the Kabuki district, even pointing out the similarities between a few of the townspeople to people they know, a gorilla cabaret girl, a hopeless gorilla suitor, and a gorilla artist. Sakamoto takes advantage to try to get laid and is punished by Mutsu while Katsura remarks that Kagura was attracted to Kabuki because of how similar they feel... to the same cabaret gorilla. Bansai is "awed" at their antics. Gintoki answers that the two towns felt completely different; the Rakuyou town smelled more of grime, mold and blood. Mutsu tells the others that they must hurry to find Takasugi and the others as without them, they will be at a worse disadvantage against the Harusame.
Bansai then points out an abandoned temple on a cliff that suddenly explodes. He then frantically points to other potential hiding spots on the same cliff just to see them explode, too. Gintoki retorts that Bansai was the one who destroyed the buildings with his finger instead of the Harusame but the humorless Bansai tries to cut off his finger as atonement before Shinpachi stops him. Two of the Kiheitai appear before him, answering that the explosions were a result of Umibouzu revealing their location to the Harusame. At the same time, Kagura and the other remnant Kiheitai run toward the destruction on a cliff. The two members lead Bansai and his group also towards the cliff while Bansai demands to know what happened to Takasugi. Before indicating their boss' demise, they are immediately shot and killed and the six quickly dodge the hail of bullets to hide. Gintoki remarks that they had fallen into a trap; the two dead men had allied with the Harusame and tasked with leading them to this destination to be killed, not realizing that they were disposable pawns too. He concludes, as they grow surrounded by ships and pirates, that the town was already under Harusame's control before they came here.
On another cliff overlooking the destroyed buildings, an awed Abuto admits that the blasts would have killed them if they had stayed. But they all survived thanks to Umibouzu. The hunter answers that his only prey was Kamui but Takasugi was neither his nor the Harusame's but a certain moron's prey. He doesn't like the fact that the Harusame interfered again despite his warnings and sees that they were prepared to take him on. So he must do the same, especially against its dangerous leader, Utsuro. In the town, Bansai despairs on the deplorable state of the Kiheitai thanks to Takasugi's downfall but Gintoki responds that because of said state, they were here to help, adding that he shouldn't let regret consume him while they were in the middle of battle. The silver-haired swordsman leaves his hiding place and stands in front of armed pirates on the rooftops. Gintoki dodges the bullets and, later joined by Katsura and Sakamoto, the trio rush towards a building housing the pirates and fight through them. The distracted army are then attacked by the trio's friends; Bansai realizes their plan and again in awe of how the times have broken then strengthen them, follows behind the trio.
On a nearby rooftop, a figure grows amused on how fast his subordinates were defeated, admitting that he underestimated them. Another figure, an android, chastises the first figure, a humanoid monkey, for straying from his plan and deploying his division. He almost remarks about what these particular humans were called but is interrupted by the third figure, a humanoid man with a third eye and his two normal eyes wired shut, who finishes saying they were the remnants of samurai. The monkey remembers that the cyclops was a mercenary involved in an Earth War years before and wonders how many enemy soldiers did the universe's best swordsman defeated. He corrects the 4th division commander and state that there was one man he couldn't defeat (implied to be Gintoki). He lectures that the samurai's main tactics involve staying in a group and the best way to defeat them is to split them up; this will be the end of the samurai. On the roof, the pirates panic as they are beaten back by Mutsu, Elizabeth, and Shinpachi. The former two non-humans admit that they may not be Earthlings but they had decided to fight with them as samurai. The ships blast the rooftop, reminding their comrades that the samurai were best at close quarters and knocking Shinpachi down. The pirates attack him but are stopped by Bansai's strings. He tells them to appreciate the samurai's song before they are all defeated by Sakamoto, Katsura and Gintoki. Gintoki teases Bansai about escaping the shinigami but Bansai corrects him and says that he was actually following a trio of grim reapers. Katsura and Sakamoto take offense and wonders what he means... before being directly hit by cannon fire.
Although separated, they safely escaped on different rooftops. Bansai reaffirms how the trio were death magnets while saving Gintoki with his string. Gintoki admits that they also had people who helped them and can see how his fellow shinigami had been helped by Bansai. Sakamoto calls out to the others, telling them that he and his group will find a way to stop the ships while Gintoki, Katsura and their groups find Takasugi and the others. And despite the disadvantage, he knows that they will succeed thanks to his trust in his fellow Joui friends and it will lead to all four of them reuniting. In one of the Harusame ships, Utsuro and Oboro watch Umibouzu, the 7th division and the Kiheitai remnant with Takasugi run along the cliffs. Oboro confirms that Umibouzu was the leak behind the Kiheitai and 7th division being saved by a third party and believes that the hunter's reason was to save his son. Utsuro corrects his subordinate; the hunter did want to kill Kamui and had no interest in attacking anyone else except those who wish to interfere between him and Kamui. As they watch Umibouzu destroy some of the Harusame ships chasing them, Utsuro doesn't consider the hunter an obstacle but the person who most likely may be able to kill him.
Umibouzu, Abuto and some of the 7th division hide in the forest overlooking an army of pirates leaving the ships. Abuto remarks how half of the twelve divisions were on this planet and half of that were going after the hunter. Umibouzu wonders why the others were here instead of fleeing while he distracts them; Abuto answers that the Harusame wishes to wipe them out and their best chance to survive to see their commander is ironically a Yato legend who is after their commander. He answers the hunter inquiry about who was here on this planet; The Yato are watching the disembarking of three divisions lead by one of them, the 1st division, whose commander is a humanoid lion Amanto named Shirei, known for his intelligence and strength. The people the hunter needed to be careful about were known as the Three Mad Stars, a trio of unruly former Harusame who were imprisoned for a while before being reinstated:
- The first was the third division commander known for being the only member in his division but is manipulative enough to control all troops in battle, Uranus Hankai. He is revealed to be the android, who was secretly standing on the Kairinmaru watching Sakamoto and his Kaientai entering the ship.
- The second has a psychic eye and is known as the best swordsman in the Harusame with the title of "Star Sword King", the second division commander, Pluto Batou. He is revealed to be the cyclops confronting Gintoki, Shinpachi, Bansai and their group.
- The third was one of the strongest and most athletic of the Harusame and its best assassin, the 4th division commander Neptune Shokaku. He is revealed to be the humanoid monkey and confronts Katsura and his Jouishishi faction by throwing a water cooler in front of them.
He introduces himself but Katsura interrupts him, complaining about his "long winded" title then decides to do his own even more long winded title with added useless trivia. The two then argue about the best way to shorten it so it can be memorable and Shokaku decides to say his name, personality... and blood type. All in vain as Katsura still didn't remember his name. The two then clash.
Characters
- Kaientai
- Hitotsubashi Nobu Nobu
- Sakata Gintoki
- Shimura Shinpachi
- Kagura
- Sadaharu
- Kiheitai
- Kawakami Bansai
- Takasugi Shinsuke (coma,cameo)
- Kijima Matako
- Takechi Henpeita (cameo)
- Kondou Isao (mention)
- Jouishishi
- Utsuro
- Oboro
- 7th Division
- Umibouzu
- Harusame
- Shirei (debut)
- Pluto Batou (debut)
- Neptune Shoukaku (debut)
- Uranus Hankai (debut)