One Piece kicked off Oden Kozuki’s “Legendary Hour” with the newest episode of the series. With One Piece’s anime now in the climax of a flashback arc all about Oden Kozuki (as part of the third act of the Wano Country arc overall), the newest episodes of the series have reached Oden’s final moments. With Oden and the Akazaya Nine officially trying to retake Wano from out of Orochi and Kaido’s control, and failing to take them down after their battle, the ten samurai have now been sentenced to a horrible public execution.
The previous episode of the series saw Oden face down his boiling oil execution, and went for one last gambit. He gambled on the fact that Kaido would want to be entertained, and said that if he were to survive within the boiling oil for any time limit that Kaido and Orochi set, then he and the others should be set free and allowed to live. With the newest episode, we see this game begin.
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Dubbed as Oden Kozuki’s “Legendary Hour,” Episode 973 of the series sees Kaido accept Oden’s proposal. He sets an hour long time limit for Oden and the Akazaya Nine to withstand the boiling oil, and Oden agrees despite the obvious danger and probable death ahead of him. Oden jumps into the oil first, and immediately cries out in pain as the oil hits his body. It’s here that the Akazaya Nine all charge into the oil as well. But rather than have his retainers hit the oil, Oden grabs the wooden plank they are standing on and lifts all nine of him above his head.
Kaido laughs and counts this as all ten of them within the oil (because Oden interests him so much overall), so he begins the hour long countdown. Oden begins to bleed and struggle while his bottom half is coated in the burning oil, and agonizing minutes go by throughout the episode as Shinobu tells the people in Wano about Oden’s real heroic nature (that Orochi tried to ruin with years of having Oden do a ridiculous dance).
While the rest of the flashback has already proven how big of a prominent figure Oden really was for Wano, this “Legendary Hour” is what truly cements the flashback as a whole. Now it’s just a matter of seeing how the rest of the hour plays out in the next episode. What did you think of the start to Oden’s most dire hour yet? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or you can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!
