At Southern Cross, Shin and Yuria are looking out at the city. Shin says that it isn't possible to find a more beautiful place on Earth than here, and that the sun only shines just to give warmth to Southern Cross. But Yuria says that all that she can see is the barren wasteland outside of the city, and the blood which has stained his hands. Once again Shin gets frustrated as he just cannot get Yuria to like him, no matter what he tries.



Joker then appears and tells Shin that Dante has returned. The two of them leave Yuria and head to another room where they meet with Dante. Dante is one of Shin's warriors and had been sent out with his gang to crush a rebellion in one of Shin's territories, but as the rebels only consisted of about 50 farmers it was an easy task. Shin tells Dante that he now has a new task for him: kill the man with seven scars. As Dante once trained with Shin in the art of Nanto Seiken, he should be able to do it. Joker tells him where Kenshiro is going, and then Dante and his men set off.



Meanwhile Ken, Bat and Lin are once again on the search for Southern Cross when Bat mentions he's really hungry. Salvation seemingly appears though when the trio arrive at a beautiful town with such luxuries as grass. Pity it seems to be next to a large volcano though. As soon as they arrive they are surrounded by villagers with weapons, who demand to know who they are and what they are doing here.



But then a guy called Dr. Duran appears and says that Kenshiro is no evil man, as why would two little kids be traveling around with him? He then says that just by looking into Lin's eyes he can tell that she has her total trust in him and he calls the villagers off. As introductions are made nobody is aware that up in the mountains near the town, Dante and his men are spying on them and have seen Kenshiro's arrival.



They then also see Duran and seem to recognise him. Dante tells his gang that they will wait until it is night and then attack the town and kill everybody. Back in the town, Duran shows that he is a great doctor and is the one all the people turn to when they need medical aid, and he saves the life of a little girl's father. Everyone is happy and even Ken cracks a smile. Maybe Duran reminds him of someone he knows.



Meanwhile Dante and his goons have gone off to another town nearby and have trashed the local bar so they can have free food and drink. Some of the towns folk run in telling them to leave, but the gang just laugh. Dante then gets up and says that it looks like these guys don't understand that the weak are ruled by the strong in this age. He walks right up to the four villagers.



And then he does some weird motions with his hands which slice up the first guy's staff...and then his head. The three other towns people meet gruesome fates as Dante, pleased with all of the blood that has been shed, smiles and then seemingly kisses two of the dead people for some reason.



Back in Duran's town, Bat and Lin are doing some repairs to the car when they see how popular Duran is with the kids of the village. He juggles some stones whilst singing a song that they all join in with. He gets Lin to come over too and when Ken sees this he seems pleased, possibly because he's finally met someone on his journey who isn't a complete jerk and he doesn't have to kill. Later on at night, everyone has gone to bed, but two shadowy figures approach Duran's house...




...and go inside it. They pin him down with boomerangs and as Duran gets up he knows who these two punks are: members of Dante's gang. It is here where the shocking truth is revealed -Duran used to be part of Dante's gang, but he realised what he was doing was wrong and to repent for his sins, he came to this town to help others. But the punks say that he will help them and that he must kill Kenshiro. If he doesn't, they will keep coming after him until he has been killed instead, and the town will also be destroyed. They give him a bag of gunpowder and tell him to use it wisely. The two guys then leave.



Duran thinks for a moment. Yes, he has done bad things before. But if he doesn't do what his former friends tell him to do then the village he is trying to help with be destroyed. With this in mind he goes off to the house Ken, Bat and Lin are in and starts to put some of the gunpowder around it. But he then hears Bat talking about him and calling him a fool for not demanding rewards for helping others. Lin defends him and says that he is a very nice man. Duran then hears a voice behind him -it is Kanna, the little girl who had a sick father earlier. She asks him what he is doing out, but he just says nothing.



She has come to find him as her father, who is now much better, has given her some food to give to him. After giving him this she then asks if he will be staying in this village forever, and he says that he will. The reason why she asks this is because, she says, when she grows up she wants to be his wife! She then runs off leaving Duran temporarily stunned, because he knows that he is going to have to do something terrible soon or she and everyone else in the town will die.



The next morning Duran asks Ken to join him in going to collect some herbs that he uses to create medicines. As these rare herbs are located inside the volcano, he tells Bat and Lin that they can't come. Ken tells Bat to keep trying to fix the car and then he and Duran head off. However, Dante sees them and believes that Duran is not going to kill Kenshiro, so he and his gang set about plans of their own. Meanwhile, Ken and Duran are soon up the side of the volcano and find some herbs.



The land Duran is standing in suddenly crumbles and he falls in, but Ken manages to grab his arm and save him from falling into the actual lava. But Duran sees this as his big chance and shoves the bag of gunpowder in the side of the volcano before dropping the fuse into the lava. It ignites and after a few seconds a large explosion can be seen. Dante and his gang see this and believe that Duran must have done it after all, so they head up to check.



Duran has survived and Dante congratulates him on a job well done. But then everyone finds out that Kenshiro has also survived! He jumps back up away from the lava. He asks Duran what the deal is.



Before he can explain, Kanna runs up shouting that her Daddy is sick again and he needs Duran's help. But one of Dante's men grabs her and Dante tells Ken that they'll hill her if he doesn't jump back into the lava. Duran runs across saying that she has nothing to do with this, and pushes the punk out of the way. But the other punks throw boomerangs into his back and kill him.



Kenshiro gets angry and after ripping his shirt he quickly kills the men with Dante, who explode to pieces after being hit. Dante then attacks Ken believing that his Nanto Hyakuzan Ken (South Star Hundred Slash Fist) will be able to defeat him. He strikes quickly and even manages to hit Kenshiro once, but this isn't enough to stop him.



Ken then blocks one of his moves and crushes one of his fists, before using the Hokuto Hyakuretsu Ken against Dante, hitting him many times.



Ken has also struck a pressure point that makes Dante lose control over his legs. He cannot stop himself from walking directly toward the volcano and into the lava. Before he can walk into it though his chest and back explodes, the force of which cause him to suddenly jerk forwards. And before he even touches the lava his head explodes resulting in a really messy death. As his body finally touches the lava, he is completely destroyed.



Later on a grave is made for Duran. Whilst Kanna and Lin are devastated by his death, Ken says that they must all say a prayer for him.


NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW

Kenshiro is up against his strangest opponents yet: zombies! Can the evil curse of the priest that controls the villagers even control Lin? Find out next time in "Count to Three! You're the One Who'll Die!!"