A condemned storyteller once asked to be beheaded while telling a story.
My father, Yamada Asaemon Kichiji, accepted his request.
Even after he was beheaded,
the storyteller finished his tale.
He didn't even realize he'd been beheaded.
It was the perfect blow, painless and devoid of emotion.
After that, I made it my goal to duplicate that stroke my father made.
An impressive blow.
Brilliant work for a woman.
Thank you.
There's fear.
In your swordsmanship.
Doubt and fear.
You'll make the condemned die painful deaths.
I'll work on it.
Sagiri...
Look at your blade.
The truth is reflected in the blade.
My blade, heavy with fear, causes the condemned to suffer,
which makes my blade heavier still.
What should I do?
How can I eliminate doubt and fear from my heart?
Like my father.
Perhaps...
if it were a life I could take without doubt or hesitation.
Screening and Choosing
Thank you for coming, condemned criminals.
The man sitting before you is the 11th Sei-i Taishogun,
His Excellency Tokugawa Nariyoshi.
Normally, you'd never have the opportunity to have an audience with him.
What was that?
You ain't so special!
You lookin' down on us, huh?
What's a shogun?
Who do you think you are?
Is it safe to have so many of them gather here?
It's what the shogunate wanted.
A burglar who killed 30 people, Tanio Seikichi.
Condemned Criminal Tanio Seikichi
The serial arsonist, Nikimaru.
The former constable and murderer, Kido Shukan.
They're all heinous criminals who've caused chaos.
Aw, man. I can hardly breathe.
I wanna see Tokugawa in person.
You cannot.
Here are your secret orders.
You will travel to Shinsenkyo and return with the immortality-granting Elixir of Life.
Whomever completes this task shall receive an official pardon...
in the form of this certificate.
The atmosphere changed.
With that, I could go on a killing spree again.
Adachi Matagoro...
A fiend who killed only woman and children, and only for pleasure.
Could I kill a truly evil person who's better off dead without doubt or hesitation?
Are you Gabimaru the Hollow?
Your hair color and build gave you away.
You're pretty famous in our line of work.
But...
I'm disappointed.
You're way smaller, more wretched-looking, and even tinier than the rumors say.
You've even been apprehended, too.
Sorry to disappoint you.
I was certainly wary of him at first.
But now he's so listless, like he's a different person.
Is this man just like the other criminals?
Or is he even more evil than that, as the rumors claim?
I shall now describe to you the island you'll be going to.
It is like Paradise...
We already heard that!
Whatever!
Is this some kind of fairy tale?
Remove your masks, criminals.
I can finally breathe again.
He's the only sergeant who returned alive from a recent expedition.
As you can see, he's no longer human.
When he returned, he had lumps all over his body.
They began blooming the next day.
The roughly 60 other members of the expedition are still missing.
We don't have the slightest clue what happened
on the island, considering this is our only source of information.
No one said the island would be so dangerous!
What's the problem?
Blossoming into flowers would be a mystical blessing.
It would almost be wasted on you lot.
Screw you!
What are you talking about?
I'm not going!
Don't mock us!
Enough.
You're criminals sentenced to death,
and you're being granted an opportunity to travel to Paradise.
Don't you realize how generous His Excellency is being?
Hey!
You don't know anything about the island, right?
What if the Elixir's not there?
Yeah!
Can we come back empty-handed?
They've got excuses for everything.
If you don't like what we're offering, then you can drop out.
Participation is voluntary.
Then I'll pass. Gives me the creeps.
I'd rather die with my boys waiting for me at the—
I forgot to mention one thing.
When you arrive on the island, you'll be assigned monitors.
M-Monitors?
You've already been condemned to death.
That still applies on the island.
In other words...
Act out on the island, and you'll be beheaded on the spot.
The Yamada Asaemon will accompany you as your monitors.
Don't get any funny ideas.
They're from the Yamada clan.
Turn against them, and you'll end up like him.
Naturally, if your monitor dies, whether by accident or homicide, you'll be beheaded.
If your monitor isn't with you, you won't be allowed onto the return boat.
Really?
Yes.
I see.
I can't tell if he's brave or just dumb.
Hey, you.
Yes, Your Excellency.
Sorry, but there's one more thing.
Before you land on the island, you need to reduce your numbers.
What?
All of you won't be able to land on the island.
The ship's capacity and the number of Asaemon available are limited,
so we'd like you to reduce your numbers.
Reduce?
You're a bunch of idiots.
In other words...
You want us to winnow the chaff here, right?
Wh-What are you...
See?
They're not saying anything after witnessing that.
They want us to kill each other.
If you don't act quick, you'll be killed.
Well, that's one way to interpret it.
Anyone who dies here would've been useless anyway.
Oh, and don't untie your hands.
Die!
My, my.
You don't often see fights to the death in this day and age.
I've always wanted to see one.
Stupid shogun...
What point is there in doing this?
They can't fight properly with their hands tied.
It's a brawl. A chaotic free-for-all.
In the end, they'll all be useless.
So, which ones have red seals?
You mean the criminals with exceptional skills.
One might even describe them as superpowers.
They've been stamped with red seals in the registry.
That man is one of them.
Despite his young age, he led a group of bandits.
He's an extraordinary fellow who established
a bandit village deep in the mountains of Iyo.
Last year, that woman was involved in the invasion of Sagiwa Castle.
She's a kunoichi who neutralized every last retainer in the castle.
He's a master swordsman known as the "Blade Dragon" or "Unparalleled in Eight Provinces."
He's a massive fellow said to eat bears head-first.
They say neither swords nor spears were effective against him.
It's like a Warring States picture scroll.
Among them, the most notable is the living legend, Gabimaru the Hollow.
Over there.
Wait, what? The legend hasn't moved at all.
Feeling overwhelmed, Sagiri?
Eizen-dono...
It'll be even more brutal on the island.
Not just among the criminals.
You'll be exposed to harm as well.
When that happens, will you be able to kill?
Let me take this opportunity to tell you...
you're not suited to this job.
Why would a woman bother to wield a sword?
The daughter of a warrior should live quietly in her mansion
and stay far away from the fate of an executioner.
With all due respect, Eizen-dono, I would have if I could.
Testing swords on bodies, beheading criminals, making medicines from corpses...
Even if you don't wield a sword,
everyone born into the Yamada clan makes their living through people's deaths.
Wait up!
Daughter of Neck-Chopper Asa!
Daughter of Cannibal Asa!
Murderer!
Get out here!
Come on!
You can try to turn a blind eye to it.
But the truth is reflected in the blade.
Damn.
We've got no choice.
We'll have to break through the samurai to get out of here.
Boss...
That samurai is a woman.
We'll kill her and take her sword.
Can you kill him?
I can't escape the executioner's fate.
In that case...
I refuse to quietly accept it.
I'll see for myself what my fate is.
Why?
Killing people is never okay, y'know.
Can't you come up with another way to choose who's going?
When did you...
Get back!
We might be murderers, but not all of us killed because we wanted to.
What are the guards doing?
I won't let you do this to us.
How dare you tell His Excellency what to do!
Oh, come on.
Not killing people if you don't have to is the most natural thing in the world.
Watch your tongue, fiend.
If you don't want to participate, then forfeit your chance at the pardon.
You're not listening.
Hey, you there.
Huh?
I'll send you on the expedition if you kill this man.
What?
Seriously?
Stay where you are.
No, wait.
You guys don't like this pointless killing either, do you?
Doesn't bother me.
If that's what it takes to survive, then it suits me just fine.
Don't dodge that.
Can't we talk about this?
If you're not going to fight, then shut up and die.
Fine, then.
You leave me no choice.
Guess I'll kill you.
Huh?
If you try to kill me, I'll kill you.
I thought you didn't want to kill anyone.
I don't.
But I can't afford to die either.
So I don't have a choice.
What?
What are you talking about?
Just thinking about what
I'm going to be burdened with weighs heavily on my mind.
Aw, man. This sucks.
This really sucks.
He's a m-monster...
This is...
the Hollow.
Just thinking about what
I'm going to be burdened with weighs heavily on my mind.
His methods are brutal.
Would you approve if I made it pretty instead?
Is it possible that what I needed wasn't the strength not to fear killing...
But the resolve to take on the burden of that fear and the lives I took?
Sagiri, are you all right?
Perhaps this was too great a responsibility for you after all.
No.
I will kill him.
Stop, criminals.
You will be joining the expedition.
Aza Chobei the Bandit King.
Tamiya Gantetsusai the Sword Dragon.
Twisted Keiun, the Hunter of One Hundred.
Nurugai of the Sanka.
Horubo the Killing Prayer.
Runaway shinobi, Gabimaru the Hollow.
Akaginu the Cannibal Courtesan.
Kunoichi, Yuzuriha of Keishu.
Moro Makiya the Apostate.
Rokurota the Giant of Bizen.
The ten of you will be going.
Each of you will be accompanied by an Asaemon executioner of the Yamada clan.
You will board a ship,
travel to the uncharted island in the southern sea,
and find the immortality-granting Elixir of Life.
Do this, and you will earn your freedom.
Do not worry.
You are going to Paradise. Heaven. Shinsenkyo!
There is no danger.