Introduction[]
The Heavenly Kings are reunited to fight against the Harusame and Utsuro. Meanwhile, a certain father and son also reunite to kill the other; but not if Kagura have anything to say about it.
Plot[]
Takasugi sees his former Joui friends surrounded by Naraku and Harusame and notes the irony of Katsura and Gintoki becoming enemies of the same country they had defended from him months before. The duo responds that after dealing with their new opponents, Takasugi was next. In other words, Sakamoto translates, he had to stay alive; he also “translates” that the three should become friends again, which earns Katsura, Gintoki, and even Takasugi’s wrath. The three spit on Sakamoto in turn, as Sakamoto reminds them that they should be spitting at the enemy instead. Takasugi remarks that the students of Shoka Sonjuku were fighting against the state, but Gintoki adds that the Naraku they were up against was barely a country. In one of the Harusame ships, Utsuro sees Shouyou’s students back together and speaks to Shouyou within him; his students have parted ways and reunited because of him, but will once again be destroyed by him. Three tanks burst out of the ground surrounding the four while Takasugi reveals that he had some idea about the link between Utsuro and Shouyou. Similar to Gintoki, he understood that Shouyou had been struggling against his own darkness and believed that only Shouyou himself (or truly his dark side) could possibly capture and kill someone as powerful as him. The darkness was unleashed and was responsible to the state of the world as it is now; thus his goal of destruction was to get rid of the world that Utsuro helped create.
Utsuro orders the tanks to fire with a direct hit, but Bansai proclaims that the quartet cannot be stopped now. The four survive the blasts and orders their allies fight the Naraku while they fight the tanks. Fighting through the Naraku, Katsura thinks back to after Shouyou’s execution where he, Takasugi, and Gintoki not only buried their dead comrades and teacher and went their separate ways, but they also buried “themselves”. However, the trio did not stray from Shouyou’s teachings; they doubted and lost their way but continued to fight to become the samurai that they wish to become. This led to them meeting each other again. The Joui faction leader didn’t know if their encounter was by chance or how long it would last, but admits to himself that if they can just for a moment return to being fellow students and friends, then he could not ask for anything else. The quartet, with skills and teamwork, easily defeats the tanks to the Harusame’s shock while their allies also fight through the Naraku, emboldened by the strength of the four. Sakamoto thinks to himself how much he missed fighting with the other three again, to the point of not caring about the outcome of their battle, though he believes that the others would not take to kindly to that kind of thinking.
Sakamoto tells Katsura and Takasugi that the three will create a fake retreat to distract the enemy, while Gintoki use the distraction to go ahead into the higher cliffs. He reminds the stunned silver-haired man that they were also here to help his new friends. Katsura adds that while Gintoki's old friends would take on the old country, Gintoki will lead his new comrades into Japan’s future. Takasugi proclaims to Shinpachi, who was riding Sadaharu, that the teen should make sure to keep Gintoki alive so that Takasugi could fight him the next time they meet again. Gintoki climbs on top of the dog and the three go on while Sakamoto, Takasugi, and Katsura and their allies stay behind to face the approaching Naraku. The Kaientai leader then admits that even if the four never meet again, they were still friends that will proudly stand by each others’ side until the end. Back on Utsuro’s ship, the immortal orders his ship to land so he can deal with “his” students himself. Oboro then calls him from the ground, appearing increasingly ill, and declares that as one of Utsuro’s disciple, he will discipline the others for him as his last duty. The call is interrupted by a distress call from a pirate from the 9th division asking for reinforcements as both Umibouzu and another person had mostly annihilated both air and ground troops, but his call is cut off when Umibouzu destroyed the ship the pirate was in.
Umibouzu, Abuto and a few Yato of the 7th division were the only survivors of the clash between them and the Harusame but they see on top of a large cliff more pirates led by Shirei. Umibouzu wonders why Abuto still did not leave but the vice-commander counters with an inquiry of whether the father really wanted to kill his son and what true goal was. Umibouzu had no answer and concedes that he had no clue on how to have a normal father-son spat; the only way he knew how to express love and hate was through his fights. Shirei calls for his weapon while proclaiming how much he found a worthy opponent to battle against. He is then suddenly sliced in half by his own weapon, wielded by someone who decided to take the 1st division commander’s place as his father’s opponent, Kamui.
Shirei’s men attack and Kamui dodges before slicing off a large part of the cliff containing them, falling towards Umibouzu. The hunter punched the boulder in half before it landed on him and Kamui followed it up by striking him with the stolen sword. Umibouzu blocks the sword with his umbrella then shatters the sword with a kick, leading to them punching each other across the field. Abuto calls out to the two men to stop fighting but to no avail and now believes that no one can stop their fight. Throughout the fight, Kamui thinks about how much stronger he became, taking his father’s words to heart after their fight in the past that nearly killed him. He could finally show how much he surpassed Umibouzu by killing him and pleads to the older man to discard their familial bonds and fight like beast, also believing that no one can stop their fight. When the two men rush towards each other, Umibouzu pauses due to the phantom memory of child Kagura holding him back by his arm years before, and then sees present Kagura stopping Kamui by his arm, telling them that she will stop their fights and wishes for them to be a family again.
Shinpachi and Gintoki mow through the Harusame while on Sadaharu, looking for Kagura. Gintoki notices a path of corpses that they believe was by Umibouzu’s hand. Shinpachi suspects that he was protecting Kamui from them but Gintoki was not sure, adding that the son wants nothing more than to kill the father. They both knew that Kagura would be rushing to their side. Gintoki tells the teen they need to hurry, uneasy on how the pirates were retreating despite having an ample opportunity to wipe out the Yato family. Back to the said family, Kagura pleads to the two males to stop fighting and return to being a family; Kamui insists it was already too late as her brother and family did not exist anyore, before dislocating his shoulder, flipping her into the ground and then kicking her away. He decides to attack her, thanking her for giving him a chance to bring out Umibouzu's inner beast by using her death as a catalyst, with Umibouzu rushing to stop him. But Kagura stops her older brother with a boot to his face, stating that the little sister he knew did not exist anymore too, before grabbing and throwing him into the cliff face. She declares that Kamui was the only one who had not changed, still a crybaby putting on a brave face; everyone else has moved on and left him behind. The siblings continue to fight, with Kagura pleading for Kamui to come back to them, while Umibouzu, remembering how much his constant departures affected his children, pleads for them to stop. Abuto watch on until sensing someone’s arrival and he immediately calls out to the hunter, just as Utsuro runs down the cliff to strike at Kamui. Umibouzu pushes his son out the way and blocks the strike, losing his robotic arm in the process. A ship blasts their location, causing the siblings to fall down the cliffs and leaving Umibouzu to face Utsuro alone.
Characters[]
- Kiheitai
- Jouishishi
- Kaientai
- Sakata Gintoki
- Shimura Shinpachi
- Sadaharu
- Kagura
- Harusame
- Shirei
- Utsuro
- Tenshouin Naraku
- Umibouzu
- 7th division