The Island Arc (島編 Shima-hen?) is the first arc of Jigokuraku. It covers chapters 1 to 16 from volumes 1 and 2.
The arc focuses on the events that have occurred prior to the criminals and executioners arrival on the unknown island to acquire the Elixir of Life.
Summary
The Hollow's Chance at Redemption
Gabimaru escapes execution and accepts the shogun's mission.
Gabimaru, the elite ninja of Iwagakure, prepares to be executed for his crimes, however, the young man manages to somehow survive every single form of execution he is sentenced to and begins to question why he will not allow himself to die. While being locked up, Gabimaru is interviewed by a woman about his past. He tells her about his marriage to his village's chief daughter after proving himself worthy, however, Gabimaru says that could not stand to be around her and asked for his chief's permission to leave her. Gabimaru is told that his request would come to pass if he completes a mission. Upon taking the mission, he is betrayed by his allies, who were ordered by their chief to have him arrested for planning on leaving the village. Later, Gabimaru prepares to be executed once again. He then encounters the woman who has been interviewing him and sees that she is actually a highly trained executioner named Yamada Asaemon Sagiri. Sagiri instantly gets behind Gabimaru to decapitate him but witnesses him moving out of the way. Gabimaru wonders why he avoided Sagiri's sword. Sagiri tells him that he has been lying to himself about wanting to die and that he wants to live because he loves his wife. This sparks an anger in Gabimaru and attacks Sagiri, denying her accusation based on the life he has lived and tells her that he could never have a peaceful life with someone he cares about. After hearing this, Sagiri shows Gabimaru a signed pardon by the shogun, saying that there is a chance his crimes can be overlooked and receive full protection from the shogun without having to worry about Iwagakure pursing him. However, she says that he must travel to a mystical island and compete with other criminals to retrieve the Elixir of Life for the shogun, which is believed to exist after several dispatched teams went missing and the only thing that returned to the mainland were boats filled with flowers and men transformed into flowers. Sagiri also informs him that his wife is waiting for his return and asked if he accepts the mission. The magistrate refuses to allow this action to pass and has his soldiers stay on guard. Knowing that he a chance to have a normal life with his wife, Gabimaru ignites his body on fire using ninjutsu and burns the soldiers. He then accepts and is taken to Edo by Sagiri.
Criminal Selection
Sagiri remembers the time she first witnessed her father's talent in performing an execution and became inspired to copy the same technique, however, she is unable to create a painless cut to the condemned because of her fear of taking a person's life.
Sagiri brings Gabimaru to Edo with many others of the recruited criminals set for the mission. The spokesperson presents a flower infected officer that recently returned from the island and gives the details of the mission; explaining that in order to receive the pardon they must return back with the Elixir of Life and with their assigned Yamada Asaemon as monitors. They are then ordered to reduce their numbers by starting a massacre since there are too many participants. After the Bandit King, Aza Chōbē, starts off by killing two criminals, the other criminals begin to kill each other. While watching the massacre, Sagiri is approached by Yamada Asaemon Eizen who tries to stated to her that she was not suited to be an executioner due to being female. Sagiri explains that as a child she could not avoid her clans trade of involving themselves with the dead and made it her objective to hone her skills as an executioner. A few criminals then attempt to escape by attacking Sagiri. Eizen prepares to cut them down but is halted by Sagiri who chooses to decapitate them herself. She then becomes frightened after ending their lives but looks towards Gabimaru as he asks the soldiers if he cannot be forced to kill unnecessarily. Unhappy with his attitude, one of them offers a few criminals a position on the mission if they kill Gabimaru. With no other choice, Gabimaru kills the criminals. Sagiri witnesses the slaughter and realizes that in order to overcome her fear of killing she must carry the weight of those she has killed like Gabimaru. Eizen looks at Sagiri and sees her crying, thinking that watching Gabimaru killing was too much for her. Sagiri disagrees with his statement and says that she will be the one to kill him.
After a solider calls off the massacre, ten criminals remained standing alive: Aza Chōbē, Tamiya Gantetsusai, Nurugai, Warped Keiun, Hōrubō, Gabimaru, Akaginu, Yuzuriha, Moro Makiya, and Rokurōta. They are then assigned their Asaemon's and depart to the island.