Sixth volume of the Japanese anime series based on the classic Akira Kurosawa film 'Seven Samurai' (1954), and set in a war-ravaged future. When a poor village is plagued by heartless bandits who have altered their bodies with machine technology, they decide to hire samurai to protect them. Young priestess Kirara sets out to find the seven men who can save them. In this volume, the band of seven must come to terms with their number being diminished by one after the brave Gorobei risked and paid his life to save his brethren. Kambei departs on a solo quest with an even more perilous mission in mind. He ends up prisoner of the Emperor, an accused assassin of the imperial envoy.