Kokuoh has been stolen, but Raoh doesn't seem that unhappy. Whilst Zack has a vehicle ready for his master to travel in, Raoh refuses, saying that he wants his horse back. But they won't have to go out and look -Kokuoh will come back here along with Juuza, according to Raoh. In the meantime, Raoh tells Zack to take his troops out and stop Kenshiro from reaching the Nanto capital.



Not far away, Bat raises the alarm as Ken-Oh's troops can be seen heading their way. There are lots of them this time but they can't deal with any more delays, so Fudo steps up by ripping a chunk of rock out of a wall. He then tells Kenshiro to go the the capital by himself, he will deal with the troops and protect Bat and Lin with his life. He says that Ken must get to the capital first, if he unites with the last Nanto General then peace and harmony will return, and his destiny will come to an end.



Even Lin tells Ken to go -if Fudo is trying so hard, then there must be a very good reason for Ken to get to the Nanto Capital. Ken says he's counting on Fudo and then starts to run. Fudo thanks Lin, and says that her eyes remind him of the last General's. He then throws a huge chunk of rock at the approaching forces...



...which takes many of them out. After hiding Bat and Lin, Fudo goes to battle, and none of Ken-Oh's troops have a hope of standing up to him.



Elsewhere, Juuza and his friends have gotten a good distance away from Raoh, and are having some drinks to celebrate. But Kokuoh is getting restless and can't be calmed down until Juuza himself simply tells him to stop.



Taking Kokuoh out to the edge of a cliff, he knows that the horse wants to be returned to his master. One of Rihaku's men runs up and says that Kenshiro is now heading to the Nanto capital by himself, which is great news as at this rate he'll get their first. Juuza tells him to go and catch up with Kenshiro, as there is no need for him to be here any more. As he heads off Juuza knows that he will have to fight Raoh again.



Fudo has nearly wiped out all of Zack's troops. When Zack finds this out he doesn't know what to do as if he reports this to Ken-Oh, he will be killed for his failings. A sinister chuckle is then heard as a man with a red cape jumps down. This man is Hiruka, who works for Ken-Oh and tells Zack that he has a plan. He has found out that Fudo looks after orphaned children, and they can use this fact to their advantage.



Hiruka knows where Fudo's brats are and heads there. The kids know that their father will be back soon and are cleaning the place up, as the guards outside don't have much to do. One of them complains how sleepy he keeps getting due to the boredom...



...but is suddenly ripped to pieces by some red ribbons! This move is called Jako Tai (Biting Snake Sash) and is from a fighting style known as Taizan Yo Ken (Taishan Bewitching Fist), which Hiruka is a master of.



"All clear."






"Not clear."



Inside the cabin the kids are messing around, as one tries to pull another out from under the bed. Hiruka then enters and tells them to come with him, and swiftly captures them all apart from one who gets back further under the bed and hides. Meanwhile, Fudo has trounced Ken-Oh's troops and tells Bat and Lin that they'd better move quickly, so they can catch up with Kenshiro.



But as they start to move Fudo realises someone else is here and yells out for the person to reveal himself. Whilst they don't see the guy, they hear him, as he laughs and tells Fudo that if he cares about the lives of those orphans he's looking after, he'd better come to the quicksand-pit straight away. Meanwhile, the kid hiding under the bed has gone out to look for help, but as he walks across the desert some of Ken-Oh's troops find him. They tell him to get up and run away or they'll drive into him.



The troops decide to have some fun and one starts whipping the boy repeatedly, including one particularly unpleasant hit in his eye. The kid is about to be struck again when Kenshiro appears, and stops the attack.



Ken hits the guy with the whip so hard that his first goes straight through his head. It doesn't take him long to kill the other men and wreck their vehicle.



Ken finds out from the kid that he needs help as his friends were kidnapped by Ken-Oh's forces. Meanwhile, at the sand pit, Fudo, Bat and Lin arrive, but they find Hiruka and his men above with all of the captured kids.



The first two kids, Danji and Jiro, are the first up. Despite the fact that these two are apparently related to Hiruka's bloodline, he doesn't care and has them thrown in. Hiruka then wonders what Fudo is going to do. If he doesn't do anything, the two kids will die!



Fudo leaps down as Hiruka yells that he knew he would do that. With Fudo now also stuck in the pit, he apolgises to his leader as it looks like this will be the end of him, but he must save the lives of these children -he does not want them to lose their bright futures.


NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW

As the last Nanto General waits for Kenshiro, what will happen to Fudo? Could this really be the end for him? Find out in "Treacherous Quicksand! Will the Hand of Salvation Reach Fudo!!"