Kozure Ookami Chapter 54 Discussion

Such an awful guy, but it was nice seeing him be kind to Daigoro.

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                        Diagoro continues his search for Itto, but he's starving and has just about reached his limit as he bakes under the intense heat of the sun. Being a samurai's child, he refuses to steal food or have help from strangers. He decides to sit down under the shade of a large tree since he's too tired and sapped of energy to continue walking. As he's sitting there, people come and go to sit under the tree and have a meal. Any other child would have begged for food, but not Diagoro. Later on some gangsters climb into the tree to wait and ambush an escort party that's transporting a criminal. The escort party decides to take a break under the tree and it's at that point that the men in the tree jump down to kill them and free their boss. The boss decides to take Diagoro with them to use him as cover and as a hostage if necessary. Diagoro refuses the food they give him until he hears that they're going to make him work for them. Now that he's been "hired", he finally accepts the food and is happy. They're surprised to see him smile and realize that he's a tough kid since he isn't scared to sleep next to the dead bodies the men had killed. Later on after killing more people to steal their money, they end up getting caught and cornered. The henchmen tell their boss to use Diagoro as a hostage, but he sees too much of himself in Diagoro and is reminded of his own childhood, so he ends up letting him go instead. The henchmen are surprised and the boss decides to fight in a blaze of glory before being cut down. Crazy how even Diagoro can soften the heart of a wanted gangster and murderer.  He's a tough kid tho. I just hope he finds Itto soon. They've been away from each other for several chapters already.