Chapter 955 was quite an info dump chapter. I am going to state everything of importance we learned and then go on towards my speculations.
- Orochi learned that Udon has been compromised. He calls to confirm and then says that Kaido’s men are untrustworhy.
- Orochi learns that Hiyori is alive and in the Northern graveyard. This puts her on the opposite direction from port tokage where Luffy’s group is present.
- Franky is building ships for 10k people and not just 4k. This means they will have more people joining to depart for Onigashima.
- The rebels who were caught by Orochi are still in prison. Kinemon’s people were unable to free them. I doubt we will see them sit out the war.
- Orochi’s men number 10k which is more than twice the number of rebels. Orochi would think that the rebels currently only have the pirates and prisoners from Udon making them 4-5k strong.
Now a couple of things from previous chapters. Hiyori stated that she wants to kill Orochi herself. We know she stayed with Kyoshiro for quite some time so she may have learned swordplay decent enough. As for Kyoshiro himself, it is heavily hinted/speculated that he is Denjiro and will betray Orochi. I may use the names interchangeably going forward. And let’s not forget that Orochi still trusts the man. Now let me state the big speculation on which the rest of my theory lies-
The person who passed info of Hiyori’s location and Udon’s status was none other than Hiyori herself.
Now before you close the page thinking that this is stupid, let me just mention that SHE IS NOT EVIL AND STILL AGAINST OROCHI/KAIDO. I believe that she asked Denjiro to directly/indirectly inform Orochi of these 2 pieces of info so as to bait him. Yes, Hiyori wants to make herself a bait.
Why do i think so? I think there are 2 things hinting at this-
- The timing of when Orochi learns of Udon’s status. It’s already the last day when we see Orochi getting this info. But we know that Udon fell many days back and everyone in Kinemon’s group learned this long ago. If this informant was someone from that group then Orochi would have learned this long ago too. But Hiyori separated from Kawamatsu and Zoro only recently and would have enough time to get this info to Orochi by the last day.
- Moreover, the important 2 pieces of info that were left out if the informant/traitor was with Kinemon’s group or Udon grup. Firstly, he says Hiyori is alive but doesn’t mention anything about Momonosuke and everyone is well aware of this in both Kinemon and Udon groups. Secondly, we know that Nekomamushi will be arriving with Zou’s forces and everyone in Kinemon’s group is well aware of this. If this informant was with them then why didn’t Orochi mention these important pieces of info. Instead since Hiyori has only met Kawamatsu, he would tell her the story of his escape and she would learn of Udon’s fall but Zoro is hardly a person to go around spilling the plan.
Another important thing from previous chapters I would like to speculate on is the person who saved Law was not Drake but rather Denjiro/Kyoshiro. Law says that whatever the person was planning, he is in on it. And I do think that Denjiro/Kyoshiro has a plan to use Law.
Now let’s get into the meat of what Hiyori and Kyoshiro are planning.
- Inform Orochi of Udon’s fall and make him believe Kaido is untrustworthy. Being the sad little man he is, he will easily think that Kaido is probably planning something against him and whatever rebellion is happening, he will try to squash it himself. He may even believe the rebels will leave from port Tokage to join up with Kaido.
- Orochi doesn’t know of Momonosuke so he will prioritize killing Oden’s daughter before he goes to kill the rebels.
- Orochi trusts Kyoshiro who would ask him to strike and kill Hiyori in the north and to gather up all his 10k men and everyone who was guarding the caught rebels and then strike port Tokage before they can set out.
- Kyoshiro’s plan for Law is to free the prisoners when Orochi’s men have departed and to lead a second army behind them. Kyoshiro can’t do this himself as Orochi would not let him leave his side. Moreover, Law’s power is one of the best to free a vast number of people from chains.
- The location being exactly opposite of port Tokage also fits because even if they fail here, they will put a lot of distance between Orochi’s 10k men and the main rebel army who can strike Onigashima.
- One other possibility is that Orochi takes only a part of 10k men (say 1k) and sends the rest to port Tokage but it doesn’t change change the plan that Denjiro and Hiyori are planning for Law’s army to strike from the back and kill Orochi in the north. But i like to believe that Orochi is such a scared man that he would likely keep all 10k of them close to him even if they are going to kill just 1 girl.
- Moreover, just like Kyoshiro, There may be more people who are pretending to support Orochi counted in his 10k but will betray him on Kyoshiro’s command. This will increase the strength on their side even more.
So that’s what I believe they are planning. But like all grand schemes in One Piece, I believe this plan will also fail. Orochi will somehow manage to escape because Ame no Habakiri is still with Luffy’s group and that sword has to somehow come into play when killing him. For those who are unaware “Another totsuka sword in Susanoo’s possession, which he used to slay Orochi. This sword is also named Ama-no-Habakiri or Ame-no-Habakiri“
*Theory by Enticemeant