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Introduction[]

Katsura, Sakamoto, and Gintoki must face off against the most dangerous members of the Harusame, the 3 Mad Stars. First up, it is Katsura vs Shoukaku, along with the reveal of Katsura's past.

Plot[]

Katsura and Shoukaku strike. The Harusame commander wasimpressed with the samurai’s “art of war”, the strength to stop his attack as if by magic. Katsura insists it was not magic but the use of a single stick to bring down a monkey, before pushing him away. The monkey agrees as they fight; he fought his way to the top only with his stick and exclaims that despite how advanced all the intelligent lifeforms became, they would rather fight each other on top of a pile of bodies. He knocks Katsura back before moving in for the kill, stating that all men were monkeys and wondering which one of them will be on top. Katsura throws a bomb to his face and Shokaku swallows it before it explodes as he brings his pole down to the ground. He survives the explosion only losing a tooth and complains how Katsura had used such a dirty trick. Katsura responds that a stick always has balls near it, revealing that he had dodged the strike, replacing himself with two bombs before throwing more bombs at him.

At the explosions, Katsura reaches Elizabeth and tells him and the Joui faction to run. They do so under constant gunfire and Katsura uses more bombs as smokescreens. He asks them to continue running and not look back and Elizabeth responds that they have always done so with him and will always stay by his side. Katsura stops as the rest go on; he apologizes to his men that as long as he remains the “leader of an organization,” he would not be able to defeat Shoukaku. He had to fight for his own sake; he takes off his haori and the right side of his yukata then draws his sword. The monkey is surprised that “Runaway Kotarou” had decided to fight but the Joui leader admits that he would not have received that nickname if he did not know which people he can or cannot run away from. Shoukaku believes Katsura had accepted his fate but the human instead responds that it was resolve; he would not run away anymore. The two fight.

In a war flashback, around a campfire at night, a group of soldiers argue who is the strongest - Gintoki for his brutal fighting style or Takasugi for his tactics and Kiheitai leadership. No one bothers to consider Sakamoto but do admit his loud obnoxiousness and monetary greed beats everyone else. As for Katsura, the soldiers knew that he was the calming influence between Gintoki and Takasugi for years, the perfect leader material. But as for his battle prowess, he was more known for defensive battles then offensive, barely attacking or falling for enemy's provocations, earning him the mocking nickname “Runaway Kotarou” by his enemies. They do see how his steadiness can be mistaken for cowardice. Sakamoto (who was there unnoticed the entire time and was also the one who offered his own name into the discussion) chastises them for thinking that Katsura was a coward due to not realizing his actual role in battles. He said that fighting losing battles were harder that winning battles and one must know when to retreat to regroup. Only people who understood war could fight battles that focus on protecting allies instead of attacking enemies. It was thanks to Katsura that they were still alive and in this fight. Sakamoto tells them they will see Katsura true strength when he sheds his “cowardly leader” mask and tells them about Katsura’s past.

His parents died due to illness, and he was raised by his grandmother. Their home was seized and the two became homeless for a while. His grandmother taught him about being the cautious general. Whether a leader is strong or smart, if he falls, the battle is lost and he would not be around to protect anything or anyone. As such he must become the biggest coward in the battlefield. It did matter if he is weak or called a coward, as long as he survives, and people around him would know that he was a great general. His grandmother later dies, leaving the young Katsura as the only living head of his clan. While struggling to survive, he earned a reputation for his genius, even to the point of gaining an offer for adoption, though he refused the offer. While living alone, Katsura admits that wearing his “general” mask has helped him survive but left him lonely. He concluded that he must become stronger and more cowardly to protect himself and his comrades. Sakamoto finishes by stating that the moment when another general appears whom Katsura trusts enough to take his burden or when he encounters an enemy where the only way to win is to put everything on the line, Katsura will willingly shed his mask and reveal his true name, his true strength.

In the present, Katsura and Shoukaku continue their battle across the alleyways. Katsura strikes at the monkey who caught the sword with his teeth before the Amanto retaliates by shoving the human through a building into the air, then slamming him through the same building’s roof. Suddenly through a memory/dream in the Shouka Sonjuku dojo, young Katsura is asked by young Gintoki for a spar, calling him “Zura” due to laziness. Young Takasugi insists that Katsura will refuse due to his belief that a general should not be involved in personal battles, with the said “general” agreeing. Gintoki instead responds that he will take Katsura’s place as the general; when Gintoki or Takasugi were around, Katsura can be "Zura" and do whatever he wants. Gintoki and Takasugi begin to bicker about who would take up the general's role, and Takasugi berates Gintoki for not knowing what a general is despite his speech. A secretly grateful Katsura interrupts to insist that he spars with both boys to see if they were “general” material. Back in the present, Katsura smiles at the memory; Shoukaku states his regret that the Joui leader could have been an excellent commander of one of the Harusame divisions and bids farewell to Katsura. Suddenly, his pole is grabbed by the still standing human who thrusts it into his chest, declaring that his name was not Katsura but "Zura".

Shoukaku grabs his pole back, shoving Katsura into a wall. As they trade blows, the 4th division commander notices that Katsura has changed and was fighting like a berserker, a wild beast that has lost his sense of self and forgot about defenses. Shoukaku claimed that it did not matter and he throws a punch at Katsura’s head. Katsura surprisingly blocks the hit with his left hand, causing said hand to be broken. Katsura uses Shoukaku’s arm as leverage to strike at Shoukaku’s head, forcing the monkey to use his other arm to block and resulting in losing said arm. Shoukaku throws Katsura off and shoves him into another building with his pole. As he watches Katsura breaking his weapon with a kick, the commander realizes that Katsura had not lost his sense of self; instead, he willingly discarded it and was sacrificing his life to kill him. Katsura slashes Shoukaku across the chest but the sword broke before cutting deeper into his shoulder. Stating that Katsura had won his heart, Shoukaku kicks Katsura through successive window awnings towards the ground. Katsura stabs Shoukaku in the stomach with his broken sword as they heavily landed and were thrown on the ground. Having lost their weapons, the duo slowly rise to their feet and walk towards the other. They both declare that they have one last trick before stopping in their tracks.

In the past, young Gintoki, Takasugi, and Katsura lay exhausted on the dojo floor. Katsura declares himself the winner, though Gintoki retorts that the only thing he won in was having the hardest head; Takasugi argues that they both were unsuited. Katsura stands on his feet then pulls up Gintoki and Takasugi up, and thinks that even if they become great leaders of their own army in the future, he hopes that they will always remain great friends. In the present, the two fighters headbutt each other and Shoukaku collapses, with Katsura stating that he would not give up the title of "most hard-headed" even if he gives up on being a general. The pirates surround Katsura, aiming to shoot but the monkey tells his men to stand down, reminding them that the battle is lost if the general loses and admits defeat. He rises to sit before telling the surprised Katsura how he never liked working in a group or following the Harusame's rules. But admits that the Harusame no longer had the rules to support themselves nor the freedom that they as pirates should have; the pirates have became toys to Utsuro. He did not know what Utsuro was planning after trying to get rid of Katsura and his friends, but knew that those plans cannot be stopped; they were all Utsuro's puppets that will dance until they break. Katsura declares that they had no intention of dancing for anyone; Shoukoku agrees but adds that it was time for his friends to get involved in another "dance party".

In the air, the Kaientai shoots at a few Harusame ships before fleeing under Sakamoto’s orders. He tells Mutsu that his fleet was no match for the Harusame so their only plan is hit and run, and to draw their enemy away from the main battle. Suddenly the main ship Kaienmaru is attacked and worse, it was the rest of the Kaientai fleet who was behind it. In his room, Nobu Nobu overhears the Kaientai guards panic over the attack until they encounter someone and is attacked themselves, accidentally opening his door. He sees Hankai somehow turning the guards into slouching figures and immediately looks at him. In the control room, they receive a short transmission from one of the attacking ship pleading for Sakamoto to flee. Mutsu deduces that since neither their allies nor enemies were controlling the ship, someone must have hacked into ships' system and took over.

Hankai sends a video feed and introduces himself as the person responsible for controlling the ships. He then forces them to choose between shooting down their allies or allowing themselves to be shot down. He added that they must deal with something extra, the door opens and some of the crew attacks. The robot reveals that the so called only member of the 3rd division had an army; although too small to see, his nanomachine virus can infiltrate machines and the human brain to infect them, gaining complete control. The group fight off the mind-controlled crewmates and Sakamoto shoves them all out the room. He orders that they seal the door and not let anyone into the ship's control; Mutsu does so, locking herself out with the Kaientai Captain and the infected crew. He asks why she came with him; she answers that there was a third choice, to defeat Hankai and save the fleet. If Sakamoto gets infected, she had to kill him. Sakamoto admits that he will be killed if he tried to defeat her if she was infected. She responds that she was infected long before…by his stupidity as the two rush forward.

Characters[]

Trivia[]

  • Sakamoto, Mutsu and crew were making jokes about Hankai as MS-06 Zaku II from the Gundam series.
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