The following recap contains spoilers. Proceed with caution.
Meanwhile, 3 years after the events of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Ichiban's old party has found themselves rather stable jobs. Ichiban is working for Hello Work, Nanba works as a medical instrument examiner, Saeko continues co-running the Cabaret Club Silky Queen, and Adachi runs a security consulting firm which identifies blind spots in others' security solutions. Ichiban has become famous among the ex-yakuza following the Great Dissolution for being helpful in getting them new jobs, something that would have been impossible otherwise due to the 5-year anti yakuza laws. Ichiban helps one ex-yakuza, named Sasaki, getting him a job with Adachi.
Meanwhile, Ichiban asks Saeko out on a date to confess his long held feelings for her. With Nanba and Adachi as wingmen, he and Saeko have a fun if a bit awkward date. However, Ichiban decides to propose marriage by a poorly thought out rambling speech to her immediately that night, which embarrasses Saeko and she walks off. Although Ichiban tries to make amends, he goes on yet another rambling speech and Saeko simply tells him that she doesn't want to be in a relationship.
One year passes, and we learn that Saeko has ghosted him since last November. One day, Ichiban goes to Hello Work to learn that he has been fired, before being accosted by a gang of hoodlums who tells him the truth: Ichiban's dealings with ex-yakuza by giving them jobs through Hello Work has been whistleblown by a drama Vtuber named Hisoka Tatara on the Tatara Channel, with a large amount of slander thrown in stating that he has been using the ex-yakuza to further his own agenda. He was fired from Hello Work for them to salvage their own image. Furthermore, Nanba has also been fired and funding has been cut off from Adachi's startup; Seemingly nobody wants to deal with the fallout of being associated with slightly with Ichiban's supposed agenda. After learning that Sasaki went back to join the Seiryu clan after Adachi's firm was shut down, Ichiban, Nanba and Adachi asasult the Seiryu clan HQ for answers. Infiltrating the Seiryu HQ once again, they find Masataka Ebina, who has been the acting chairman of the Seiryu clan since chairman Takabe's recent incarceration.
Ebina takes them to the old Liumang warehouse, which the Seiryu clan has bought: It has been converted into a massive vault facility run by a front company that stores sensitive evidence and unwanted but needtheless important materials, which he characterises as "waste", from other areas and countries. Ebina states that Takabe wishes to uphold Arakawa's dying wish of giving all the ex-yakuza another chance at a honest life. Additionally, Takabe wishes to dissolve all remaining Yakuza organisations in the country, including the Ryudo clan, Yomei alliance, and finally the Seiryu clan, in an uncoming event to be known as the Second Great Dissolution. However, knowing that the fallout from the first dissolution was severe, he wishes to carry out this second dissolution only after finding all yakuza members stable workplaces, such as the warehouse and shipping company. Ebina finally reveals that there is someone that wished to meet Ichiban, and asked to have him brought to the warehouse: It is none other than Jo Sawashiro, who was thought to be in life imprisonment in prison after the murder of the previous Seiryu Chairman, Hoshino.
Later, Ebina got in contact soon after his imprisonment and used his lawyers to clear his name and exonerate him. Sawashiro then calls Ichiban to Heian tower to entrust a job to him: to find Ichiban's birth mother and Arakawa's lover, Akane. Sawashiro tells a story about Arakawa's past. After his affair with Akane was revealed, his patriarch Hikawa tried to have both of them murdered. After Akane left their baby in a locker and escaped, Arakawa singlehandedly assaulted his patriarch Hikawa's HQ and tortured him to make him call off the assassins he sent after her. Hikawa remained steadfast and laughed as he was tortured to death, admitting to Arakawa that Akane had fled to the Phillipines on a cargo ship. Ten years later, Arakawa received a call from the Phillipines stating that Akane was spotted in Hawaii, her homeland. Arakawa then dispatched Sawashiro to find her in Hawaii. Sawashiro arrived in Hawaii, but knowing that if Arakawa and Akane reunited they would have soon enough discovered the true heritage of Masato (later Ryo Aoki), he intended to murder her and report her as having already died to Arakawa. However, Akane herself told Sawashiro that she wanted him to hide her existence and report her as dead to Arakawa, and Sawashiro obliged. After leaving prison, Sawashiro exchanged letters with Akane, telling her everything he had done and that Arakawa was now dead. After handing Ichiban one of the envelopes of their correspondences, Sawashiro tasks him with finding her so that she can see her real son again.
While visiting Arakawa's grave for the last time with Nanba and Adachi, Ichiban shows them a necklace holding his ashes that he intends to pass onto Akane. He then leaves for Hawaii alone, befriending a man named Eiji Mitamura on the plane. Eiji uses a wheelchair, which reminds Ichiban of Masato. After landing, Ichiban hires a taxi driver named Eric Tomizawa to take him to the address; Tomizawa tries to rob him instead, which ends up with Eiji saving Ichiban from the encounter as Tomizawa is arrested and his taxi is impounded. However, Tomizawa in a fit of spite swallows the envelope and leaves Ichiban with no way to find Akane's address. Eiji and Ichiban bond together, and he uses his laptop and the footage he recorded to help Ichiban find the address again. However, Eiji's motel room is attacked by a man named Yamai and members of his crime syndicate after being tipped off by Tomizawa, who works for him after going into debt with them. Yamai brutalises Tomizawa with a crowbar for getting his source of income impounded before fighting them both, but Ichiban comes out on top and escapes with Eiji. With the address found again with Eiji's help, they part on amicable terms and Ichiban visits the house where Akane supposedly lives.
On the car ride, Kiryu explains that he is in Hawaii due to a job given to him by the Daidoji which is to find and detain some specific individual. The two bond over drinks at the Survive Bar and Ichiban spends the night there. In the morning, Kiryu takes Ichiban back to Akane's house so that he can investigate the whereabouts of both Akane and Chitose. After they arrive, Kiryu reveals that the person he was tasked to detain by the Daidoji is, in fact, Akane herself. Soon after, Yamai brings Tomizawa and his goons to the house, tasking Tomizawa to do his job correctly this time. After a standoff, Ichiban and Kiryu manage to convince Tomizawa to turn on Yamai and escape with them on a pickup truck. After escaping, Kiryu discusses Yamai's past. Supposedly, he murdered his own patriarch after an affair with his wife, was branded a traitor and then escaped to Hawaii to start his own crime syndicate. Tomizawa states that Yamai was also on the hunt for Akane, but does not know why. The three decide to stick together for a while.
Kiryu explains that Akane has been missing for 10 days, and that Chitose is now their only lead. Tomizawa points the team towards a fence, Jeff, who may have been sold Ichiban's passport by Chitose. On their way, the three witness the massive crime syndicate consisted of mostly ex-homeless, the Barracudas, who start congregating after sundown. The Barracudas drag away a pickpocket and brutalises and impales him on a wall, disgusting the three. The team visits Jeff at his taco food truck, paying him for information on Chitose. He says that she came by to ask if Ichiban's passport would be enough for her to enter District Five, the Barracudas' hideout. The Barracudas have a rule in place where those who bring a real stolen passport may enter District Five; Their main trade is in fake passports. Hearing this information, Ichiban decides to chase Chitose into District Five. Jeff tells them of a way to enter District Five by joining the cop patrol which enters from time to time, as well as telling them about the cop in charge of the patrol, Roman. Despite Tomizawa's fears that the Barracudas will kill them too, both Ichiban and Kiryu argue that they have no time and that they could easily get Chitose and get out. After Tomizawa refuses to help again, the two infer that he has history with the Barracudas and ask him to tell them what happened.
Tomizawa tells them a story about back when he was a honest taxi driver and was married to a woman named Marie, expecting a child as well. One day, the cops showed up with a warrant for his arrest, framing him for the robbery of a rich entrepreneur. He ended up being imprisoned for five years, which caused Marie to have a miscarriage due to stress. After figuring out in prison that the boss of the Barracudas had framed him by using the dirty cop Roman, he started stalking a fancy restaurant near District Five to one day murder him. When he eventually faced the Barracudas' boss, he was unable to bring himself to kill him. Eventually, Tomizawa fell in with Yamai as he became destitute; Yamai was also the only crime boss who was headstrong enough to defy the Barracudas. Kiryu comments that his hesitation let him survive, and that he would have been killed otherwise, although Tomizawa continues to put himself down. After a pep talk by Ichiban, he decides to follow them to take on District Five together and set things right.
The three of them head to the bar Diamondhead and find Roman there. However, Roman refuses to deal with them, demanding a 50,000 dollar bribe instead. When he is rebuked, he pulls a gun on them and threatens them alongside the other bar patrons. Kiryu stares him down and overpowers him before a fight breaks out. Roman attempts to shoot Tomizawa, but Ichiban and Kiryu save him by knocking Roman out. Now victorious, they interrogate Roman, making him agree to clear Ichiban's name and lead them into District Five on the following day. After going back to Kiryu's hotel room, The three share a drink as Tomizawa makes clear his resolve. Kiryu then tells them that everything comes to an end and you must make every moment count. Concerned by Kiryu's speech and somewhat distant attitude, Ichiban asks if everything's okay, which is when Kiryu decides to break the news:
He has cancer.
Kiryu tells them that he had already seen a doctor, and that the cancer had spread too much and surgery would be useless. Ichiban insists that Kiryu shouldn't be forced to do this, and that it is the Daidoji faction's fault; Kiryu however states that coming to Hawaii was his decision and that he chose to take on this job as he did not want to wither away during his last moments. After Kiryu leaves the room, Ichiban admits to Tomizawa that he cannot stop Kiryu anymore as he has already made up his mind, and that he has the same look in his eyes as Arakawa once did. They agree to help him finish the job quickly and then take him to a hospital when they can. The day after, Ichiban thanks Kiryu for his honesty, and asks him to entrust his belief in them, which he agrees to do.
After gearing up, the team enters District Five. Roman explains that District Five was an abandoned area stated for redevelopment which became a slum over time, and that many homeless gather in Hawaii from abroad, handing over their passports for a chance at a new life under the Barracudas. They soon learn that Chitose had entered into the area, and a fight broke out over where she stayed as she did not bring a tent herself. The trio ask around further, finding a man named José who claims to now be her lover. He ends up being uncooperative and calls on thugs to lynch them, and they are forced to defend themselves. After a fight, José reveals that Chitose had actually gotten him drunk to extract information from him on how to enter the underside of District Five. Roman urges them to abandon her to her fate and stop the investigation, but they refuse and force him to take them to the underside under the condition that they do not try anything stupid and let him speak for them. Roman eventually leads them into the sewers under District Five which then leads into a remodeled underground bunker housing a replica of the Anaconda Shopping Center. A massive counterfeiting scheme in this "fake market" replicates high-end goods with near perfect accuracy to be sold in black market auctions. Department store suppliers and the high class elite from all around the world come to the fake market to later mark up and sell the fake merchandise to clueless buyers. Roman leads them deeper into the compound into the workshops where the counterfeits are created. Despite his earlier comments that the workshops work 24/7 without stopping with the abundant homeless labor from above, they find the workshop completely empty. When a squad of Barracuda men enter the workshop to greet Roman, they murder him in cold blood for bringing outsiders into the center of their operation. The trio then fight through hordes of Barracuda soldiers to try and find Chitose. Along the way, Kiryu struggles to walk after overexerting, forcing them to take cover in a storage room to take a breather.
Just at that moment, Chitose finally finds them. She tells them that the Barracudas are trying to hunt down Akane as well, before explaining who she is and what happened. She explains that she was hired to do Akane's housework, but she had disappeared about twelve days prior with no signs of her whereabouts. As she was working a part-time job illegally, she could not call the police to let them know about her disappearance. When Ichiban came to Akane's house, Chitose was there to rob her to get her unpaid wages; She explains that she was worried about Ichiban realising what she was doing and potentially calling the cops, which is why she had him drugged and dumped on the beach. After making the others swear to keep what she says a secret, she tells them that she entered District Five because of her family. As the eldest daughter of the rich and powerful Fujinomiya family, she would be the successor to their fortune, but she would be in great danger if word got out that she illegally took on a part-time job. Because of this, she came to District Five in the hopes that it would allow her to escape the repercussions. When she first entered District Five, the boss of the Barracudas himself took a liking to her and kept her hostage at the hideout. She eventually became bored, searching the hideout. She came across a report on Akane and all her personal information in the trash, which she took to mean that the boss was keeping her hostage somewhere. With them all on the run, Chitose offers to lead them to the exit. However, Tomizawa decides he wants to settle the score with the Barracudas' boss, and Ichiban wants to find him and save Akane if he is indeed keeping her hostage. Agreeing to leave immediately if things get dangerous, Ichiban, Kiryu, Tomizawa and Chitose group up together to find the Barracudas' boss.
After fighting through more Barracudas, the party makes it back to the fake Anaconda Center. As they make it to an elevator located at the back of the fashion show runway which leads to the gang's HQ, they are made to take part in an impromptu show. They fight a large group of Barracudas including the fashion models and the show host himself on the runway. After the fight, they reach the hideout which they quickly realise is actually the Crystal Aloha Resort Hotel - the auction bidders from before would stay at the hotel before using the elevator to make it down to the fashion show below. Chitose tells them that the top floor of the hotel has been rented out permanently to the boss of the Barracudas. After more skirmishes with Barracudas, Chitose asks why Ichiban is so quick to trust her, and that if she had been working as a double agent for the Barracudas' boss they would be walking straight into a trap. She makes a comment that if she is lying, the elevator they are waiting for would be full of men with machine guns. Ichiban says that it's his choice to trust her, and that he's ok with taking responsiblity for the consequences. After her bluff about the elevator turns out to be false, she stays back with an odd expression before leading them to the actual path forward: a secret passageway hidden behind a bookshelf. Through a room filled with poison gas, they make it to the top floor suite where the Barracudas' boss resides. The boss, named Dwight Méndez reveals himself, monologuing about how the entire beach at Waikiki is fake, taking over the original taro fields of the area, justifying his counterfeit business.
Dwight tells them that Chitose had betrayed him. Chitose reveals that when she dug through his files, she did not escape afterwards as she stated earlier but actually got caught. When Ichiban entered District Five, Dwight offered her a chance to save herself by leading the intruders into an ambush; She had been telling a half-truth about being a double agent for Dwight. However, Chitose had been leading them away from all the traps and ambushes Dwight had set up. When Dwight asks her about why she changed her mind, she simply says that Ichiban is the most sincere person she has seen, and that she knows he would not be able to betray her. Dwight then attempts to intimidate her by mentioning his ties to the Fujinomiya family, and that he will extort them by holding her ransom. Tomizawa then confronts Dwight by mentioning the robbery he was framed for, and Ichiban demands to know if he had found Akane. However, Dwight refuses to talk, instead attacking them with two machetes. After being defeated, Dwight tells them that they had looked for Akane but did not find her. When asked what they want to do with her, he says that they do not know, and were only requested anonymously to track her down with a million dollars as down payment. Finding and returning her would have brought then 10 million dollars in full. Tomizawa then approaches Dwight with a machete, which Ichiban tries to stop. However, Kiryu stops him from intervening as Tomizawa threatens Dwight, forcing him to admit that he was indeed the one who planned the robbery and pinned it on Tomizawa. Dwight then offers Tomizawa 10 million dollars and for all criminal charges to be wiped; Tomizawa however cuts his face, yelling that none of that will bring his son back. Tomizawa spares Dwight before he demands that he wipe all his intel on Chitose, which he promises. Tomizawa then says he will make public the fact that he had humiliated Dwight to the point of him urinating in his pants, which makes him faint. When Chitose asks why he did that for her, Tomizawa says that after being indebted to both Ichiban and Chitose he was just repaying her the favor. The party shares a laugh as Ichiban jokingly asks how Tomizawa became so cool all of a sudden.
The party meets a woman working at the orphanage named Dana, who initially mistakes them as being with the police and coming with information on Akane. Dana states that she had worked with Akane for over two decades, but Akane disappeared from the orphanage thirteen days ago (the same timeframe as when Chitose had last seen her before her disappearance). She left a note saying that she was resigning suddenly; Dana found this strange as Akane was extremely devoted to her work, although the note was indeed in her handwriting. The police had dropped her disappearance case entirely after the handwriting analysis. Dana explains that Akane was a mother figure to all the kids at the orphanage, and had been its director for over 40 years. Kiryu and Ichiban discuss that this means she started working at the orphanage not long after her escape from Japan, and when Sawashiro came to see her she had already been the director for quite some time. After some more discussion, they learn from Dana that Akane rarely if ever talked about herself and that she was a devout follower of the Palekana religion. Palekana worships nature and the volcano goddess Nele, with the organisation itself a way for followers to act on their beliefs. The Palekana followers are said to not preach or indoctrinate, but simply aid those who need help and let their actions speak for themselves. Dana comments that Akane had an exceptionally strong spirit and was a role model to many.
A man from the orphanage named Kalon enters the room to talk to Dana about their food bank contribution. While they grow vegetables in the orphanage and would like to offer what they have to the food bank, Dana worries that they cannot provide meat nor fish. When Akane was at the orphanage, she was able to negotiate with stores to get them to donate meat and fish, but the remaining staff at the orphanage do not have her prowess. Ichiban volunteers to aid them in providing for the food bank, hoping that they could learn something about Akane by taking over her tasks for them. Dana welcomes their help, and Kalon tells them of one rule: Because the Palekana religion focuses on the natural bounty of Hawaii, all donated food must also be locally sourced. The team carries out the request by visiting a number of other stores and bringing donations of food back, including a fruit stand run by Tomizawa's friend's father which is briefly attacked by Barracuda members before Ichiban and his friends fight them off. The party discusses their findings on Akane while gathering the food, or rather the lack of findings. Desparate for more information, Ichiban volunteers again to carry out Akane's daily routine that she carried out as the director: Gathering trash on the beaches, and an evening patrol as part of a neighborhood watch scheme. Kalon is thankful for his help and points them to the cleanup operation taking place on Aloha beach later that day.
After unwinding for a bit enjoying the various sights of Hawaii, the party goes to Aloha beach to witness the Palekana volunteers praying towards a small island named Nele Island on the far horizon. Kalon explains that only the Sage of the Palekana, and a select few individuals named Haku are allowed to set foot on Nele. When Ichiban asks if Akane would have wanted to be named a Haku, Kalon says that she would have never wanted that as she was too selfless. He then says that Akane had once said that her work with the Palekana is a form of atonement. Unsure of what she would have wanted to atone for, the group helps clean up Aloha beach. After the beach has been cleaned up Ichiban and Chitose share a moment where she attempts to flirt with him half-jokingly, but Ichiban is reminded of his failure regarding Saeko. When Ichiban rebukes her jokes of eloping and simply states that he would still help Chitose run away from her overbearing responsibilities as the heiress to the Fujinomiya family if she chooses, Chitose calls him an idiot for being clueless, before finally thanking him as they leave the beach.
Still faced with a complete lack of information, Ichiban also agrees to take on Akane's evening patrol where she would find wandering tourists in the night and make sure they were safe. Kalon takes Ichiban on the neighborhood watch patrol through. They come across a shakedown taking place at a coffee shop. When the Chinese gangsters harassing the shop owner try to destroy the shop, Kalon and the Palekana members form a human shield. The leader of the gangsters, Jin, tries to attack Kalon with a hammer, but Ichiban intervenes and a fight breaks out. After the Chinese gangsters are defeated, the coffee shop owner gets his revenge by attacking Jin with a push broom, but he pulls a gun on him. Jin tries to shoot him but fails as the gun's trigger is jammed. Suddenly, an old man wearing Palekana clothes appears, telling Jin that Nele forbids the use of fire in conflict. When Jin attempts to shoot the old man, his gun backfires into his face. The old man offers to tend to his wounds, but Jin screams that the old man is a monster and runs off with his men. Kalon then exclaims that what happened was a miracle and names the old man as Bryce Fairchild, the founder of Palekana.
Back at the orphanage, Bryce talks to the party about Akane. Bryce believes that she came to Palekana to start a new life, and tells them that the religion took her in when it was clear she had nowhere else to turn to. Bryce was thoroughly impressed by Akane's conviction and mentions that he did bring up the prospect of becoming a Haku to her, but she had refused stating that she wanted to remain with the orphanage as long as possible. Bryce turns to Ichiban and requests that he get back to him with information on Akane if he does find her. The party decides to stay for dinner with the Palekana members, but Chitose mysteriously leaves her seat during the meeting. As the orphanage kids and the rest of the party look for her, she is hiding out of sight, talking on the phone to someone and telling them she is still with Ichiban's party as requested, and that she was able to earn their trust.
In the morning, Chitose asks Ichiban if Akane actually knows what he looks like in the current day. When Ichiban suggests that she would have learned from Sawashiro, she then brings up her plan to find Akane. Reflecting on the fact that none of their leads so far led to any more clues, she suggests that they make Akane come to them instead. Chitose suggests uploading a viral video to spread Ichiban's word, as if Akane would eventually come find them if she knows her real son has come to Hawaii. Despite some reservations about relying on internet gossip due to already having experienced the fallout from the Tatara Channel. Ichiban decides to go along with the plan. He reminisces about his successful plan a few years ago (shown in Yakuza: Like a Dragon) when he hijacked Kume's election speech to get himself viral as a non-aligned candidate in Yokohama. The party thus films a video near the beach where Ichiban flamboyantly and confidently introduces himself and states that he is looking for his birth mother. Afterwards, Chitose says that she will edit the video down to post on the internet, and the four bond over how fun their experience in Hawaii has been so far. They split up and enjoy some down time while Chitose edits and prepares the video for publishing.
Later at Revolve Bar, Chitose uploads the video. Soon after, Eiji contacts her saying he needs to meet them, and they agree to meet up at the Anaconda Shopping Center. At Anaconda, the team gets Eiji up to speed regarding Akane and the various groups trying to find her. Eiji then asks if he can aid them with his knowledge of the internet, stating that he came to Hawaii after losing his job in Japan; Kiryu then notices a group of Chinese gangsters, including Jin from before, surrounding them. Eiji believes that they are with the Ganzhe, the large Chinese mafia gang operating in Hawaii. One of them steps forward asking for Ichiban only, outlining their plan to hold him hostage in order to lure Akane out. Given the chance to abandon Ichiban and leave, his friends refuse and instead defend him from the Ganzhe members. Ichiban interrogates one of them and asks why they are going after Akane, but learns nothing as the man was only a low level grunt. Kiryu urges Ichiban to get back to safety as more Ganzhe will likely be sent after him soon, and together with Eiji they travel back to Kiryu's hotel. However, just as they are about to enter the hotel Yamai arrives and accosts them. Surprisingly, he is not there for Ichiban; Instead he says he came to fight and kill Kiryu. After fighting for a bit, Yamai voices disappointment that Kiryu didn't put up as good of a fight as he expected. When Ichiban tries to defend Tomizawa from him, Yamai ignores him saying Tomizawa doesn't interest him anymore. He then proclaims that his only goal is to fight Kiryu going forward and walks away. Fearing further attacks from the Barracuda and the Ganzhe as well as the fact that Yamai now knows where he is staying, Kiryu decides to take the party (now including Eiji) to a Daidoji safehouse for their safety.
Kiryu enters the safehouse with the rest in tow, only to be met by Hanawa and a cohort of three Daidoji agents holding them at gunpoint. When Kiryu refuses to give more information until they lower their weapons, Hanawa obliges and begins explaining their situation. He says that the Daidoji is trying to operate away from US government eyes, and were only able to rely on five agents up to this point: Hanawa, Kiryu, and the three agents who had already been operating in Hawaii. Thus, he admits that they are in need of Ichiban's cooperation. Hanawa offers Ichiban's party sanctuary in the safehouse in return for their information on Akane, and tells them that they too are trying to find Akane and keep her safe. Ichiban then begins to explain his true intentions for publishing such a video publically. If he advertised himself as Akane's son and made a big deal about it, then everyone who came to find him afterwards could be assumed to be well-versed in the situation and thus major players with a stake in Akane's retrieval. He then lists out the current threats against them. Tomizawa's threats towards Dwight would have effectively neutralized the Barracudas, and Yamai was now more interested in fighting Kiryu than capturing Akane; The only remaining faction with an understanding of Akane's situation would be the Ganzhe. Tomizawa then comments that the Ganzhe already knew that Akane had a son, and the team agrees that someone must have divulged information regarding Akane and Ichiban to the Ganzhe. They decide to interrogate someone from the Ganzhe to find out more. Eiji mentions that he knows of someone with ties to the Ganzhe: the proprietor of the Nirvana hotel, who is also rumored to be its leader itself, named Wong Tou. Hanawa adds that Wong Tou is much sharper than Dwight and it would be almost impossible to storm the Nirvana like they did with District Five. Desparate to get to Wong Tou, Ichiban asks Hanawa if there is any way to approach him. He then tells them of a secret casino operating out of the Nirvana hotel where Wong Tou is said to personally serve the guests, and lists out a plan that involves becoming a high roller at one of the other Ganzhe-operated hidden casinos and receiving an invitation that way. However, nobody is certain where these casinos are. The team decides to leave and start searching for leads, but Eiji decides to remain in the safehouse as he feels like he would be more useful that way.
Tomizawa takes them to a sushi restaurant where the head chef is rumored to know about the secret casinos in town, but the chef instead tips off Yamai's men about Tomizawa. Although Yamai himself doesn't care about him anymore, the men decide to attack him for leaving the syndicate; They are easily defeated. The party confronts the chef for selling them out and he begins to tell them about the casinos, intimidated. The casinos are always moving between locations and only a few operate at a time, making them difficult to find; However, he tells them that one of the casinos currently operates out of the Black Hibiscus restaurant and tells them the password to be let in. At Black Hibiscus, they order the "fried dumplings from the mainland" as per the password and are seated. Soon, the restaurant is suddenly transformed into a makeshift casino and the party begins gambling. As they all repeatedly lose, Kiryu devises a plan for them to cheat which works out well. The manager of the establishment comes out to greet Ichiban. While initially unable to convince the manager to put in a word for them to the Nirvana, Chitose introduces herself as the Fujinomiya heir and argues that due to the family's part ownership of the hotel, they have an obligation to let her and her friends inside. Despite Ichiban's conflict about revealing Chitose's ties to the family, Chitose remains unfazed. In the end her gambit earns them passage into the Nirvana hotel.
The party plans their intrusion into the hotel's secret casino. Because of Ichiban's infamy at this point, Kiryu instructs him to be their eye in the sky and help them from the outside while the rest of them enter. Chitose acts as the guest of honor and Kiryu and Tomizawa as her bodyguards, and he three make it through tight security into an extravagant casino on the 7th floor. Wong Tou arrives to greet Chitose, but suddenly looks straight into the camera and reveals that he knew of their ruse from the start. Guards surround them and force Ichiban to come to them in person as well. Wong Tou makes clear that he knows what they are there to seek: Information on Akane. Wong Tou leads them to his office for a talk, where he brings up what he knows so far and asks Ichiban to share what he finds out about Akane in the future. When he refuses, Wong Tou orders his men to kill all of them except for Ichiban. After a long fight, Ichiban's party manages to come out on top, and Wong Tou attempts to escape. However, Kiryu dispatches him and allows Ichiban to interrogate him. Tomizawa holds the other three Ganzhe men hostage in the room as Ichiban asks what the importance of Akane to the Ganzhe. Wong Tou tells them that Hawaii is secretly run by a single man they call the Overseer, who actually controls both the Ganzhe and Barracudas. He then reveals that the Overseer requested that both groups search for Akane as she had stolen something from him. Suddenly, one of the Ganzhe men who were also being held hostage reveals that he is actually a spy answering directly to the Overseer and he must now give a signal for Wong Tou's revealing of information. The man then jumps out of the window, killing himself. With everyone in the room startled at what happened, Wong Tou realises that his six-year-old son in the top floor penthouse will now be in danger due to his betrayal.
Rushing to the elevator to get to his son, Wong Tou is ambushed by more of his men who tell him that his son has already been taken. The men turn on him, although the party is able to defeat them. Wong Tou goes to brutalize one of the men for turning on him, but is stopped by Ichiban. He then promises to let them know everything as long as they can protect him and they leave the hotel as police gather around to investigate the suicide of the man from earlier. Wong Tou tells the doorman to not make a scene and let him go. After they leave, the doorman makes a call to someone and instructs them to mislead the police on where Ichiban and his party, as well as Wong Tou, are headed. As they walk down the street, Ganzhe men close in and attack them once again. While they are defeated, one of the men attacks Wong Tou with a knife and stabs him in the thigh. The party hurriedly tends to his wound and escapes into the forest. With his bleeding stabilised for now, Wong Tou tells them more about the Overseer, and how his influence is far greater than he once thought: He has spies in both the Ganzhe and Barracudas, as well as within the police.
He then reveals that the overseer is none other than Bryce Fairchild, the Sage of Palekana himself.
Yamai enters the forest looking for Wong Tou. While Yamai does not work for Bryce, Wong Tou believes he is there to finish off him and the Ganzhe so that he can take control in its wake. Yamai then sets fire to the forest to flush them out of the shadows, and they escape the burning forest with Ichiban and Kiryu carrying Wong Tou on their shoulders. Yamai intercepts them at a clearing and attacks them, but Tomizawa arrives with a car. The party quickly tries to get Wong Tou on board and escape, as Kiryu holds Yamai's men back. However, he overexerts and starts vomiting blood. Despite Ichiban's protests, Kiryu forces them to leave him behind and collapses on the ground before Yamai attacks him with a crowbar.
Back at the safehouse, the party attempts to call Kiryu to see if he is alright, but his phone has been turned off and is impossible to track. They come to the conclusion that Yamai has captured Kiryu and is holding him in his hideout. Hanawa tells them that although the mission is important, they will leave it for now to save Kiryu; When asked why he would do that, he comments that although Kiryu is a pawn of the Daidoji, he is more valuable than a mere agent. However, simply charging into Yamai's compound with only three of them would be suicide. Just then, Adachi and Nanba call Ichiban to tell him that they have arrived in Hawaii after inferring that he would need help on his search for Akane. Ichiban goes to meet them and gets them up to speed. Now reunited, the party of five enter Yamai's turf. After talking to a tattoo shop owner, an old lady that Yamai respects for her tenacity, they are attacked by Yamai's goons. The party quickly defeats them and interrogates one of them, learning that Yamai runs operations from the top floor of an old theater building. The party raids the building and fights through the droves of Yamai syndicate goons within. After a long and grueling trek, they finally find Yamai being attended to by two hostesses in the top floor cabaret club. When asked where Kiryu is, Yamai refuses to answer and they engage in battle, and the team witnesses Yamai's true power for the first time.
Eventually, Ichiban gains the upper hand and interrogates Yamai. Yamai refuses to tell them what happened to Kiryu and nearly goads Tomizawa to the point where he tries to assault him with his own crowbar; Tomizawa is stopped by one of the hostesses who tells them that Kiryu is safe and sound, to which he voices disappointment. She leads them to a makeshift hospital bed where a doctor is watching over Kiryu. When asked why they were tending to him, she says that Yamai had asked them to as he had always respected Kiryu. Yamai then enters the room and tells them that the rest of Hawaii's underworld was also going after Akane, and he wanted to show up the larger criminal organisations by finding her first. When asked who Lani really is, he admits that he does not know which relieves Ichiban. Ichiban then explains everything he knows about Akane, Lani and Bryce to Yamai, which makes him decide to stop chasing Akane as he does not want to leverage a kid for money. He tells Ichiban and his friends to take Kiryu and leave when he comes to, and that he wishes they will never cross paths again.
While unconscious, Kiryu dreams of his memories of Haruka, including her speech proclaiming Kiryu as family, her on the beach at Okinawa, and from the time she befriended a dog in Kamurocho. Suddenly, he sees Lani in the place of Haruka and imagines a horde of gang members chasing after her and Akane. He desparately tries to tell them to leave her alone, and he wakes up from the nightmare in a sweat. When he comes to, he finds himself back in the safehouse being looked after by everyone including Hanawa. Ichiban tells him everything that went down with Yamai, and urges him to leave the rest to them. Although Kiryu still tries to make himself useful against their wishes, he is eventually convinced to rely on them for the time being and return to Japan and recover. Kiryu admits his long-standing fear of asking for help, and finally asks the rest to take over for him. Nanba decides to also return to Japan so that he can look after him on the way back.
The next day, Ichiban sees Nanba and Kiryu off, and Kiryu once again entrusts Akane and Lani to Ichiban. Afterwards, Nanba quickly takes the opportunity to tease Ichiban about hitting it off with Chitose, and they share a final laugh before they part with a warm farewell. The remaining team decides to go back to the Palekana orphanage to find clues they may have missed with the new knowledge of Bryce's true identity. When they arrive, they find it strangely deserted save for a single kid who runs away from them. They sense that something is off and investigate, only to find Bryce giving a sermon to the children of the orphanage. Bryce beseeches two Haku armed with swords to guard him. When confronted, Bryce forces the children to pray for them and preaches that he has been given the power to judge by Nele. A squad made up of Bryce's men from both the Ganzhe and the Barracudas burst into the room, and when Ichiban demands to know what he will do with Lani, he simply leaves the room with the children and has his men attack them.
Although Ichiban's party emerges victorious, Kalon and Dana come into the room and witness the destruction. Ichiban explains the true intentions of Bryce to the two Palekana followers, but they are hesitant to believe him. Ichiban tells them that he understands their hesitation, but urges them to give more information. Dana recounts that the Palekana had been sending children who grew up to be Haku away, supposedly to Nele Island, for decades. and instilling that virtue in all the others. However, one day Dana saw a policeman in the city who she believed to be one of the children she helped see off to Nele Island. While their face and voice was different, Dana knew deep down it was the same child. Now with the added context, she understands it to mean that Bryce had given the child facial and vocal surgery to change their identity before sneaking them into the police force as a spy; Nele Island is more of a training facility for Bryce to manipulate the children into becoming his soldiers. Despite everything, Kalon and Dana state that the religion is everything they know and that they cannot go against the Palekana way of life. When Chitose confronts her about continuing to send children to Nele Island despite now knowing what happens there, Dana then tells them that they only send off children to Nele Island twice a month. Thus, the party renews their conviction to save Akane and Lani before the next group of children are sent to become Bryce's followers.
First stop: The batting center. Kiryu ends up enjoying his time there thoroughly, and some discussion leads to Kiryu deciding to list and do everything he wants to do before passing away: A bucket list. After picking up Saeko from her cabaret club, the party promises to help Kiryu fulfil his bucket list. Nanba secretly tells Seonhee that he wishes for Kiryu to regain his will to live from the experience so that he will eventually consider treatment; Seonhee agrees to help Nanba achieve this goal. As Kiryu explores Yokohama and witnesses many nostalgic sights that remind him of his past, the team eventually ends up at the Survive karaoke bar. Entering the bar, Kiryu and Kashiwagi identify each other but silently agree to respect each others' wishes to stay hidden. Afterwards, the party cheers Kiryu on as he sings his favorite songs.
Seonhee suddenly receives an urgent call. Worried, she relays to Kiryu that the Seiryu Clan has been growing exponentially and have been pulling ex-yakuza into their ranks regardless of if they already had stable lives or not, despite what Ebina had said. Furthermore, they have been planning to expand their waste storage operations into Hawaii and their members are migrating to Hawaii en masse to set up the new business. Seonhee thinks that Ebina's supposed goal of the Second Great Dissolution is merely a front and his true intentions lie elsewhere. The group comes to the conclusion that Ichiban's presence in Hawaii and the Seiryu now expanding there are related. Furthermore, Seonhee suspects Sawashiro as he was the one who sent Ichiban off on the mission to find Akane. Kiryu decides to pause his festivities and find Sawashiro for answers.
Seonhee mentions that the Seiryu have opened a new branch office solely for the new recruits and Sawashiro is most likely there and they head there the next day. When they arrive, it turns out to be the old Tojo Clan HQ; After the great dissolution, it was left vacant and the Seiryu had taken over. Initially being turned away, a man named Narasaki soon comes to greet them inside saying Ebina had been expecting them. Sawashiro invites him inside as Narasaki hurls vague insults at Kiryu, although the gathered masses of Seiryu clan members bow to Kiryu. Inside the building, Kiryu reminisces about the Tojo clan and his memories there before entering the meeting room where Sawashiro, Ebina and Narasaki are already waiting. After a brief standoff, Kiryu denies Ebina's right to sit in the Tojo chairman's position. While Narasaki tries to threaten him into submission, Ebina obliges and takes a seat as the meeting begins.
Under a tense atmosphere the four ask Ebina about what they had heard, all of which Ebina confirms: they had indeed been taking in ex-yakuza that had already started stable lives, although he defends this decision by stating that ex-yakuza can never truly become civilians. He also elaborates on their plan to move operations to Hawaii, revealing that the Seiryu clan's idea of storing "waste" was suggested to them by none other than the Palekana cult themselves. In truth, Nele Island houses a similar facility where waste is locked away, and new Seiryu recruits are being sent to Hawaii to unload the Seiryu's waste to them. Sawashiro confirms that it was Palekana that helped Akane escape to Hawaii in the first place. Ebina and Sawashiro deny any ulterior motive for sending Ichiban to Hawaii, and seem to feign ignorance on Akane and Lani's situation. Kiryu's party is then sent away, with Kiryu and Seonhee remaining skeptical.
Motivated by his brief visit to the Tojo HQ building, Kiryu visits the graveyard where Nishiki, Yumi and Kazama's graves are and pays his respects. While he reminisces about them, Date suddenly appears and greets him before the two visit New Serana just like old times. With Date already well aware of Kiryu's condition, Kiryu confides in him that his wish to protect those he cares about always kept him going and he now only wishes to save Lani. Kiryu tells Date about his bucket list before parting for the night. The next day, Date asks Kiryu to come to a cabaret club. Kiryu notices Date speaking to a man as he enters; Date reveals that it is Taichi and that he brought him here. Date expresses regret at how Kiryu had to fake his death and hide away from his own family, and that allowing him to see his kids be happy once again is his way of setting things right. When a brief altercation breaks out, Taichi makes Kiryu proud by standing up to a gang of drunkards to protect the cabaret club girls. Kiryu is forced to not intervene, although he eventually beats up the drunkards as Taichi is knocked out. Taichi does catch a small glimpse of Kiryu just before losing consciousness and calls out for Uncle Kaz. Eventually, Kiryu is forced to leave before Taichi wakes up.
Later, Kiryu and Date share drinks as Date tells Kiryu that he plans to remain in Yokohama for a while and help him finish his bucket list, and that he is calling in favors all around the area; Kiryu objects, fearing the Daidoji will come after Date, but he remains headstrong and vows to help Kiryu live out the rest of his days. Kiryu thanks Date for going that far for him and admits that he felt happy to see Taichi again.
One day, Kiryu is awakened by a call from Seonhee who urgently sends him a Tatara Channel video. The video blows the whistle on Kiryu's survival via an interview with Ebina and Sawashiro. Ebina tells the world directly that the Daidoji faction aided his fake death, also framing Kiryu as the mastermind behind Kasuga's plans and saying that he plans to bring back the Tojo clan. Nanba and Saeko rush into the room closely followed by Seonhee, and they discuss the incident. Seonhee theorises that the Tatara Channel itself is being used as a propaganda machine by Ebina, and that they have been working together for a long time. The party decides to find Sawashiro once again and demand real answers, and they head to the original Seiryu HQ in Ijincho expecting their forces to be spread more towards the ex-Tojo HQ. The hecklers who had attacked Ichiban following his Tatara Channel exposé appear and harass Kiryu, but are soon joined by Seiryu clan members when Kiryu punches one of them. After dispatching them and interrogating their leader, Kiryu learns that he was sent directly by Tatara Channel and promised Seiryu protection. Affirming that Ebina and Sawashiro had been using Ichiban from the start, Kiryu tries to find out how he is doing by calling Hanawa in Hawaii only to be met with no response.
While they theorise the lack of a response is due to timezone differences, we soon see Hanawa lying motionless in a pool of blood mere inches away from his phone...
The story jumps back to right after Nanba arrived in Japan with Kiryu. The party discusses Akane and the video: While the video has gained some traction, Akane has not responded to it yet. Hanawa promises to use Daidoji resources to extract Akane and Lani as soon as they are found, although he admits he does not understand the higher-ups' intentions. Wong Tou shares his Palekana intel stating that about 10 days ago, Akane was spotted near Yamai's territory. Jumping on this lead, Ichiban and party decide to head to Night Square to talk once again to the Tattoo shop owner. However, they are now under constant attack by the new Barracuda-Ganzhe alliance helmed by Bryce, who have also fully overrun Yamai's territory. Although they eventually reach the Tattoo shop owner, she refuses to give them information about Akane and tells them she knows nothing. Continuing to ask around Night Square, they finally hear that Akane had actually entered the theater building where Yamai has made his HQ, although they are once again attacked by Bryce's men in front of the building. However, Yamai shows up with his lackeys before asking for Kiryu. After being told that Kiryu has returned to Japan, Yamai decides to temporarily fight alongside Ichiban and his party to drive out Bryce's men from his territory.
Driven off by Yamai and Ichiban's party, the Barracudas and the Ganzhe scatter. Yamai tells Ichiban to leave his territory as well. However, Ichiban begins to ask for Yamai's help against the factions under Bryce's control. Mentioning that Yamai stopped his hunt for Akane after learning the real stakes, and that he chose to save Kiryu's life when he was defeated, Ichiban calls him a true Yakuza and appeals to his morality. When Yamai still refuses to aid them, Ichiban intentionally provokes him and Yamai attacks the party alongside his men. After a long and grueling fight where Yamai truly goes all out, he is eventually defeated. Yamai, while still insisting that they will never be allies, offers the theater building as a sanctuary to bring Akane to once they find her. Having witnessed their tenacity, the tattoo shop owner suddenly calls Ichiban and the party to her shop for a chat. She arranges for a meeting at the docks on the night after to discuss Akane, but only after Ichiban pays her 10,000 dollars.
Just before heading to the docks, Chitose appears late and acts aloof, although Ichiban does not mind. At the docks, the tattoo shop owner hands Ichiban his money back before taking them by boat out to the middle of the sea. With the tattoo shop owner imploring that they do not betray her trust, eventually they rendezvous with a yacht; Out steps Akane and Lani, and the party sees them in person for the first time. Ichiban hesitantly asks if she is Akane, and she responds by greeting Ichiban warmly.
The party delivers her to Yamai's building, where Akane and Lani introduce themselves and get acquainted with everyone there. Akane apologises to Ichiban for everything that had happened to him, although he has a hard time coming to terms with everything. She reveals that she was the one that wanted to reach out to Ichiban, and that the tattoo shop owner's name is Kiyo. Fearing Bryce's forces, the party makes preparations to take them to Japan via their Daidoji connections. Ichiban contacts Hanawa and transports Akane and Lani to the Daidoji safehouse via Yamai's help, although Chitose continues to remain aloof and seemingly worried about something.
On the car ride to the safehouse, Lani reveals a sacred pendant that symbolises the birthright of the Palekana Sage, revealed to be the reason Bryce is hunting her down. Akane tells Ichiban of the events that led up to this point. She tells him that Lani came to her one night asking for her aid, before explaining the origin of the pendant: It was given to Lani by her grandmother alongside a will written by the Palekana Sage 70 years ago. The will denounced Bryce Fairchild's claim to being the sage, and legitimised only the heir of the Mililani family as the rightful claimant. With Lani being the only remaining Mililani, only she would, according to Palekana tradition, have the birthright to the seat of the Sage. Not sure of the letter's authenticity, she contacted Bryce to let him know; Bryce then tried to murder Lani after seeing the pendant, and Akane had to take her and run. Eventually, they were taken in by Kiyo and escaped out into the open ocean, where Bryce could not find them. It is then revealed that the flashback seen in the beginning of the game was a robbery in which the Palekana sage and his wife were murdered; Bryce claimed that he was entrusted with the pendant as the sage passed, but Akane believes he was the one to order the robbery in the first place. However, she also believes that the sage had been wearing a fake to protect the real one, and this forgery is the pendant now in Bryce's hands. Akane plans to leave Lani out of the succession crisis, citing that the religion has operated well without her all this time. After finishing her story, Ichiban and Akane share a moment as she reveals she never forgot her son, and that she regrets leaving him in the coin locker. However, Ichiban commends her bravery and relays Arakawa's love for her.
Finally arriving at the safehouse, Hanawa greets them and tells them that the plane leaving for Japan will be ready soon. Suddenly, Chitose takes Eiji's phone and accuses him of trying to make a call. She then reveals that Eiji has actually been blackmailing her all this time, and that Akane and Lani are still in danger, which confuses Ichiban. Chitose then pulls Eiji off his wheelchair, claiming that he has been faking his disability all this time to play on Ichiban's sympathy and memory of Masato. Although Ichiban tries to violently deny it, Eiji eventually admits that he had used anaesthetics to numb his legs, and that he was ordered to do all this by Ebina. Chitose realises that Eiji had been streaming the entire thing to Dwight, and soon afterwards Barracuda soldiers storm the safehouse. In the ensuing attack, Hanawa and Wong Tou are shot and killed, Akane is badly wounded, and the Barracuda members escape with Lani and Eiji.
Just then, Kiryu's phone call comes through, and Ichiban tells him everything that happened.
Kiryu talks with Ichiban over video call following the fallout of the struggle. He tries to comfort Ichiban, who is now beating himself up that his trust in Eiji led to the deaths of Wong Tou and Hanawa. When Kiryu asks Chitose to tell them the full story, she reveals that she was behind the VTuber, Hisoka Tatara. She explains that she would perform the scripts Eiji gave her, and that everything Eiji does is under Ebina's orders. She also tells them that Ebina only sent Ichiban to Hawaii to draw Akane out, and that Eiji was dispatched to keep tabs on him from the very start. Kiryu then tells Ichiban about Sawashiro's involvement in the recent exposé, but Ichiban refuses to believe Sawashiro had the same intention as Ebina of baiting Akane out as he believes Sawashiro truly wanted to pay his debt to Arakawa by giving her closure. Ichiban asks Kiryu to find Sawashiro and get his side of the story while he chases after the Barracudas who took Lani. Kiryu put his faith in Ichiban as he, Nanba, and Saeko decide to follow Seonhee's lead to find Sawashiro.
Kiryu's party reconvenes at the Survive Bar where they reunite with Zhao and Joon-gi, as well as briefly meeting Sugiura and Tsukumo from the Yokohama 99 detective agency. Discussing the recent events, Joon-gi theorises that Takabe's incarceration itself may have been part of Ebina's plan, and that the Second Great Dissolution is indeed nothing but a ruse. They remain unsure about why Ebina would have left the police force before performing such a grand play for power, and decide to go ahead with finding Sawashiro. Kiryu calls Sawashiro using the number Seonhee provided and expresses his desire to meet him alone without Ebina. At Sawashiro's behest, they head to meet him at the Seiryu warehouse on the docks, although he warns them that he is guarded by Seiryu men. Unsure of whether Sawashiro truly intends to meet them and was asking for their help, or if he is leading them into a trap under Ebina's thumb, the party heads to find Sawashiro now joined by Zhao.
Kiryu defeats the guards of the warehouse before lecturing them about how they must do better than simply follow orders to truly lead a fulfilling life. In the warehouse, Kiryu talks to Sawashiro as he demands to know why they are pulling ex-yakuza back into the criminal world and why the Seiryu are shipping people to Hawaii. He simply repeats that they are rehabilitating the Yakuza, and Kiryu implies that Ebina is simply using him and hasn't told him the story. Angered by this, Sawashiro attacks Kiryu's party, and after a long fight Kiryu defeats Sawashiro. Sawashiro reveals that he cannot talk freely while he is under the Seiryu's watch, and requests that Kiryu pretend to brutalise him and let him escape. They devise a plan for Kiryu to throw him into the sea and announce that they are done, after which he will meet them again at Ichiban's apartment.
Kiryu walks into Ichiban's apartment to find Sawashiro in disguise hiding from the Seiryu. Sawashiro admits that he now realises the second dissolution was a ruse, but he only realised Ebina's true intentions after he sent Ichiban to Hawaii. Sawashiro vows to go through with the dissolution regardless of Ebina's wishes, but states that he needs more information on Ebina's business with Palekana: He has figured out that Ebina and the Palekana are smuggling radioactive waste from power plants to bury at Nele Island, which has been a nuclear waste dumping ground for at least 20 years. Hearing this, Kiryu is reminded of the circumstances surrounding his cancer diagnosis. Sawashiro reveals that he has been working with Ebina for as long as he needs to figure out his intentions, and that he will not hesitate to fight against him if he goes against Arakawa's dying wishes. He formally asks for Kiryu's aid when the time comes. After discussing Arakawa's wish, Kiryu begins to suspect that the leaders behind the dissolution (Daigo, Majima and Saejima) knew something about the great dissolution that he did not, stating the odd convenience of Ebina swooping in and preying on the ex-yakuza after its fallout.
We then see Daigo smoking by the sea dressed as a fisherman, sighing as he looks off into the horizon.
Back at Yamai's hideout, Ichiban continues to put himself down and blame himself for everything before Yamai knocks sense into him and makes him live up to Kiryu's trust in him. While talking to Tomizawa and Adachi, they find that Chitose has left on her own. Unable to trust her anymore, Tomizawa expects her to have cut them off and run away although Ichiban continues to trust her. Just then, Yamai tells them that she stole a gun from him and ran away about half an hour prior. They realise that she must have gone after Eiji and the Palekana on her own, and rush to find her before she gets herself killed. After they fail to find any clues on her whereabouts, they decide to head back to the comrpomised Daidoji safehouse and see if Eiji left any trail that they can follow.
Outside the safehouse, Ichiban comes across the remaining three Daidoji agents, who were off preparing the private jet when the safehouse was raided and thus spared from the attack. Hesitant to discuss details in the open, they arrange a meeting in the hotel room Kiryu was staying at to discuss the true identity of Eiji. There, they explain that while Akane has indeed been secured, the Daidoji faction now plans to secure Lani as well. They reveal that Palekana has negotiated with the Japanese government itself regarding the export of nuclear waste material to Nele Island and the faction is trying to prevent the deal. They then explain what they have found out about Eiji. Eiji was once a reporter before being fired after a hit-and-run incident five years ago; Eiji insisted that it was a set-up by the Arakawa family after his digging into their business, although no evidence proved as such. Driven by revenge against the Arakawa family and by extension all Yakuza, Eiji then turned to Bleach Japan to further their cause of cleansing Japan of its crime. However, they are still unsure why Eiji decided to join forces with Ebina.
Just then, Ichiban gets a message from Chitose which leads them to a bar named Club Guilty, close to District Five. Chitose then calls Ichiban and tells him that she left to find Eiji alone, and that he is in the back of the club and heavily guarded. Despite her protests, the party storms the club to save Chitose. When they get there, Eiji who has already been waiting for them sics the Barracuda men on them. Ichiban defeats the Barracudas and asks Eiji where Lani is. However, he says that Lani has already been murdered and disposed of. Just then, Chitose holds him at gunpoint, revealing that she was in disguise this whole time. She demands he stop lying and tell them where Lani is. After a long standoff, Eiji eventually reveals Lani gagged and bound to a wheelchair. When Chitose drops her attention, she is attacked by Barracudas and forced to let Eiji go. Now reunited, the four battle the Barracudas and try their best to chase after Eiji but he once again takes Lani away and escapes.
Later, the party recouperates as Chitose tells them about the Tatara channel and its history. She began the channel as a hobby, but began whistleblowing soon after with one of her first callout videos being on her family, the Fujinomiya Group, and its concealment of a maritime tanker disaster caused by negligence. Soon after, Eiji had approached her and given her money to operate, albeit also becoming the scriptwriter for all of her videos. Running the channel alongside Eiji, she enjoyed heavy success. However, she noticed that Eiji was beginning to push his own agenda against ex-yakuza who had left the life of crime. When she told him she wanted to stop the channel, Eiji blackmailed her threatening to reveal her true identity to the world, and she was forced to continue her work. She reveals that Eiji had forced her to drug and rob Ichiban in the first place and later get into his good graces ever since District Five. However, despite everything Ichiban continues to put his trust in her, and warmly accepts her back as a teammate.
Suddenly, Yamai calls Ichiban to tell him that his men have defected and are trying to kidnap Akane to hand over to Bryce. When they arrive at his hideout, they witness his men breaking down the door. Eiji gets in contact with them and begins to taunt them as they make it to where Yamai is; When they arrive at the cabaret club on the top floor, It is already taken over by Barracudas and Eiji mocks them from a screen set up on the stage. Eiji attempts to poison them with gas, but Ichiban defeats all the Barracudas and tells Eiji he will find him soon. Yamai soon appears with Akane, who has regained consciousness; He had succeeding in defending her from all the traitors and the Barracudas. Ichiban asks the now conscious Akane where Nele Island is, but she does not know. While Ichiban wants to continue chasing Lani and Eiji, Yamai urges Ichiban to spend some time with Akane before it is too late and he obliges.
The two walk on the beach together talking about Ichiban's past, and how Sawashiro had told her about everything that happened including his upbringing at Shangri-la; he had always kept an eye out for Ichiban from the very beginning. Akane gets emotional when she sees how old Ichiban has become and how many years he lost due to his prison time, and apologises. Ichiban forgives her entirely and expresses his content at having met her no matter how late, and thanks her for giving him his life. She says she is proud to see he has grown to be like Arakawa. Finally, Ichiban gives her Arakawa's ashes that he has kept all this time, and she breaks down in tears thanking him.
Kiryu and the gang head to meet Daigo, Majima and Saejima. A flashback to Sawashiro's meeting with them back at Ichiban's apartment reveals he was the one who requested Kiryu that he go ask for their aid. Daigo and Watase's security company had gone under in about a year after the Great Dissolution and the four disappeared, and while Sawashiro himself is unsure where they are, he implies that Kiryu has known where the Tojo legends would have been all this time. Hitching a ride on a truck, the party travels for hours to a remote shack out in the middle of nowhere. After the journey, Kiryu enters the shack and reunites with the three legendary yakuza for the first time since the dissolution.
In the shack, Kiryu tells them of his diagnosis and how he does not have long to live. Daigo is heartbroken by the revelation and demands that Kiryu return to the mainland to seek treatment, but a saddened Majima calms him down and convinces everyone to sit down for some drinks. Over some sake, Daigo explains that directly following the dissolution, the security firm had been operating well and was able to rehabilitate a number of ex-yakuza. However, following an exposé by Tatara their clients left en masse and the government dropped all support for them. While the company stagnated and crumbled, the employees slowly started falling back into the yakuza life. Feeling as though they had failed them, the three exiled themselves to a remote area and survived as fishermen.
Daigo also reveals Ebina's true identity and past they had learned from digging around: Ebina's true last name was Hikawa, and he was in fact the only son of Yuriko Hikawa, the woman Arakawa was forcefully engaged to as per his patriarch's orders before his betrayal. Given this, the four theorise that Ebina has always lived with an undying grudge against Arakawa and his work towards the second great dissolution is an attempt to take over Arakawa's legacy. Kiryu asks them for their help in continuing Arakawa's true legacy with Sawashiro, but they refuse as they have become despondent with their failure and believe their presence would instill a false hope in anyone who follows them. After his pleas fall on deaf ears, Kiryu tries once more to reignite the fire in his friends spirits and likens their inaction to rotting away. His comments hit a nerve and the three confront him over what he said. An insulted Daigo reluctantly charges Kiryu, forcing Majima to intervene. Kiryu asks them to give it their all if they truly wish to fight him. His newfound party arrives to back him up, with Saejima nonchalantly joining the fray.
A fierce battle commences, with Kiryu nearly being taken out easily if not for his party protecting him. After the dust settles, everyone on both side is completely floored, leaving the fight over without a winner. A battered Kiryu tells his friends that there is no point being scared of what might happen if you never try at all before then bidding his farewell. Daigo, still distraught over Kiryu's cancer, pleads with him to dissuade him from going with Sawashiro's plan just to get himself killed, but Kiryu tells them that he will set things right before he dies. Before Kiryu leaves, he muses to himself if he had gone through with Sawashiro's request because he wanted one last brawl with his friends before exiting, leaving Majima upset.
When they return to Ijincho, Kiryu is accosted by an angry mob who turns on him after finally recognizing him. We find out that the truck driver had filmed Kiryu, Daigo, Majima and Saejima's conversation in the shack and leaked it to the Tatara Channel, and a video went live revealing Kiryu returned to Japan and colluded with the legendary yakuza to supposedly revive the Tojo clan. As Chitose was no longer working with Eiji, the entire channel was now being controlled by Eiji with a replacement voice talent. However, the video was nonetheless broadcast on the news revealing Kiryu's survival to everyone. Tatara's video finishes with an announcement that the Vtuber would go live later that day alongside another interview with Ebina and Sawashiro. Determining that this would take place yet again at the former Tojo HQ, Kiryu rushes there with his teammates. In front of the HQ, Seonhee receives a call telling her that Takabe was stabbed in prison as Tatara's stream begins. Ebina paints the Seiryu as the heroes by vowing to fight against the supposed Tojo revival by Kiryu. On the stream, Ebina finally announces to the public their plans to dispose of nuclear waste using ex-yakuza labor, before announcing the disbandment of the Seiryu clan... and its rebranding as the new Bleach Japan.
After the stream ends, Kiryu and the party storms the Seiryu HQ even as Narasaki taunts him that it would only be seen by the public as part of Kiryu's attempt to revive the Tojo clan. Fighting through the Seiryu goons, and even Narasaki himself, they rush into the meeting room but find it empty. Narasaki reveals to them that Ebina and Sawashiro was never in the building in the first place, and that the stream was pre-recorded; When they leave the building, they realise it was all plan to get the media and Tatara's fans to gather in place to witness Kiryu's destruction firsthand as they are swarmed by droves of men with cameras.
Back at Yamai's, Ichiban's party sees the media coverage of Bryce and the Palekana in Japan and decide to get to Nele Island as fast as possible. However, Nele Island is a black site hidden from almost all records by the Palekana and guarded heavily. With no leads, Ichiban suggests looking for ships that are headed to Nele Island instead. However, when they track down Tomizawa's acquaintance, Takada, who works at the marina for information, he turns out to be a Palekana spy indoctrinated from birth. After Takada and a number of other Palekana agents working at the marina are defeated, they kill themselves which traumatises Tomizawa. The party tries to escape back to Yamai's hideout but are chased through the city by bystanders who reveal themselves to all be Palekana sleeper agents and are forced to take shelter in a Japanese shrine.
In the shrine, Ichiban begins to doubt whether Lani has actually been taken to Nele Island, since Bryce's followers have all been deployed to Honolulu. Just then, Joongi enters the shrine and lends them aid, explaining that he was sent to Hawaii to identify how Palekana is transporting goods to Nele. Joongi shows them the intel the Geomijul collected on Nele and the Palekana, determining that there is a secret port under a cliff where ships headed to and from Nele are docked. Chitose tells them that she saw an underground passage heading away from District Five the last time she was there and that it may lead directly to the secret dock. The party, now bolstered with Joongi's presence, enter back into District Five to investigate the passageway.
Immediately greeted by Barracudas, they make their way through an abandoned shopping mall fighting all the way through. Eventually, they get to the underground dock just in time to witness Dwight loading Lani onto a boat. Dwight tries to kill Lani in spite when Tomizawa calls him a pawn to Bryce, but she is able to struggle free and escape. The party fights Dwight, knocking him out and saving Lani. With her secured, they finally return her to Akane and they share a heartfelt reunion. Ichiban calls Kiryu to let him know of their success, although they are unsure of how they can get Akane and Lani out of Hawaii safely. Yamai enters the room to tell them of a boat he owns that can get them out to Japanese waters so that the coast guard can pick them up, although the party is hesitant to believe him. Ichiban however, puts his full trust in Yamai's plan and agrees to leave the next morning.
When it is time to leave on the boat, Tomizawa hesitates for a bit as he feels he cannot go to Japan with Ichiban. However, Ichiban asks for his help and he jumps onto the boat last moment as he has decided to help them see it through. As they travel out into the open ocean, they are followed by Barracuda speedboats and forced to stop. Yamai warns them that they are at a feeding ground and they must be careful of the water. Dwight climbs onto the boat and a standoff occurs. Suddenly, a giant shark jumps onto the ship and more encircle them. Attacked from three sides by Dwight, his Barracudas, and the sharks, Ichiban succeeds in defeating him as Dwight expresses his fear of Bryce, saying that he is a monster and all of Hawaii will burn before him. He then attempts to escape but is ultimately devoured by sharks who followed the bright lights coming from his speedboat.
After the long journey, Yamai safely delivers them to a coast guard dockyard in Japan. Upon arrival, the party is greeted by Date, much to their surprise. Yamai reveals that he made prior arrangements with Date to turn himself in for the murder of his patriarch, Tabata, in return for safe transportation for Akane and Lani. Out of nowhere, Yamai seemingly betrays Date and takes off. Ichiban and Tomizawa suspect that something must have been on his mind and offer to track him down before the police start a manhunt for him as a way of repaying his favor. Adachi and Chitose also join them in tracking down Yamai, as Joongi stays behind to guard Akane and Lani. Suspecting that he went to find Yui Tabata, his rumored previous lover, they head to Kamurocho to find him.
Yamai had gone to find Yui in the hospital, where she was bedridden. Ichiban's party enters the room shortly after and asks what Yamai came here to do, and he explains that Yui has alzheimer's and does not recognise anyone anymore. Yamai tells them a story about his past, about how Yui was prone to waste the family's money, and how despite it he fell in love with her. One day, Yui came to him and told him that she had been having an affair with the Tabata family captain, and that she needed him to defend her from her husband's wrath. Later, she revealed the affair to the patriarch, and as he tried to kill her Yamai defended her and killed him instead. Just then, Yui lied to the Tabata members that Yamai had tried to assault her after murdering her husband. Realizing that he had been set up, Yamai escaped the family, only to later see her living a happy life with the captain. From that point on, he always felt shivers.
When asked why he did not take revenge on her, Yamai states that while he came to the hospital to kill her, he only feels pity for her current situation. When Yui mentions that the room is cold, Yamai takes off his coat and gives it to her, which she answers with a sincere "thank you". Finding closure in this, he then walks away to turn himself in, feeling cold no more.
The fallout of Kiryu's attack on the Tojo HQ building is felt by the entire nation. Both social media and official news channels continue to push the narrative of Kiryu being a dissenter opposing the yakuza disbandment. Because of the public outrage, the entire gang (including Ichiban and his party after arriving in Japan) are hiding out in the Ijincho homeless camp. Suddenly, Ebina calls Ichiban on the phone, taunting him with Sawashiro's fate and demanding they come to the Millenium tower before he kills him. Worse, Seonhee shows them news coverage that tells them the ex-yakuzas sent to Nele Island will arrive tomorrow. The team decides to split up once again with Ichiban's party going to Hawaii to stop Bryce, while Kiryu goes after Ebina. After the strategy meeting Kiryu takes Ichiban to the roof of the hideout to reveal to him Ebina's shared parentage via Arakawa. Regretting his own decisions that led someone like Ebina down this path, Kiryu expresses his desire to stop him and let the past glory of the yakuza die with him. Ichiban in return asks Kiryu to not give up on life and to help the ex-yakuza alongside him, and they agree. Kiryu even gives Ichiban some advice on how Saeko must have really felt following his disastrous proposal and how to truly make amends.
Suddenly, a Daidoji agent shows up to interrogate Kiryu about his recent behaviour. While upset Kiryu has disregarded his agreement with the Daidoji, he states that their political interests lie in stopping the Bleach Japan-Palekana deal. Furthermore, Hanawa's reports on the rest of the party painted a favorable picture of them and the Daidoji now consider them allies. Given this, the Daidoji prepares them a private jet to Hawaii to leave tomorrow. The entire gang shares a happy moment drinking together in the homeless camp as they prepare to leave on the next day. Ichiban, having been inspired by Kiryu's words to him on the roof, decides to try and make amends with Saeko. Telling her that he wants to talk to her after they return, Saeko and Ichiban promise to return safely after their missions are done. Meanwhile, Kiryu hears that the Tojo Clan HQ has burnt down following Ebina's arson and decides to take on the Dragon of Dojima moniker once again, wearing his original clothes and slicking back his hair. Chitose sneaks off on her own before the morning to do something, which Kiryu spots but does not stop her for.
The next day, Ichiban, Tomizawa, Chitose, Adachi and Joongi make it to Hawaii and get on a boat bound for Nele Island. On the way there the boat is attacked by a gigantic shark and they realise that even if someone found out about Nele Island, the shark would make approaching it impossible. After somehow driving off the shark before it sinks the ship, they continue onwards eventually reaching the island. Avoiding the well-guarded docks, the five sneak ashore and slowly make their way to the tower on the top of the island through minefields and ambushes, including a trap by seemingly friendly Palekana villagers who try to burn them to death. After defeating the zealots, Chitose interrogates one of the men of the village who tells them that Wong Tou's son is held prisoner there and Bryce plans to groom him as a figurehead to use to control Ganzhe fully. The party, vowing to return and save him after Bryce is dealt with, heads into the tower. When they enter, they see Palekana soldiers killing each other as part of the training process. Taking their leader hostage, the team enters a door only for the Palekana officer to lock them inside. Left with no choice and venturing deeper into the room, they come across a massive cavern with a pool of water. When they approach the water, a giant squid emerges and attacks them. After driving away yet another giant sea monster, they venture deeper into the cavern.
Eventually, they realise that the cavern has been used by Bryce as a nuclear waste dumping ground. However, the waste is simply being stacked haphazardly with no safety protocol. The party finally finds Bryce in the heart of the waste storage facility. Although he begins to preach his innocence and his beliefs, he soon admits that he does not truly believe the religion's teachings. In truth, his plan from the beginning was to turn Nele into his personal haven to use as he wants, due to its protection under religious freedoms. However, because the original Palekana Sage planned to sell the island for charity work, Bryce had him killed, using mafia connections he had as a former member, and took power. Using the protected nature of the island, he has struck deals with governments all around the world to store their nuclear waste on Nele, and plans to expand his business to also cover confidential material, akin to a second Swiss Bank. Angered, Ichiban tells him that despite his fake beliefs, there were truly good hearted people in Palekana and that he must pay for his crimes before charging at Bryce. Bryce sends wave after wave of Palekana zealots at them, even ordering some of them to suicide bomb the party and personally executing those who were defeated. Eventually, he takes the initiative and attacks the party himself, but Ichiban gains the upper hand and knocks him down.
Ichiban tells him that the operation will be exposed to the world. Bryce simply laughs and says that governments around the world already have his protection in their best interest and would ensure nothing happens to him. Just then, Chitose begins a stream as Tatara and blows the whistle on the truth of the operation and the unsafe storage conditions all over the internet. Furthermore, she even interviews her own father, the head of Fujinomiya Group, to make him admit his part in the conspiracy and take responsibility (having convinced him to help her take down the nuclear storage plan the day before when she snuck out from the homeless camp). Publically revealing her true identity as the final trump card, Chitose holds herself accountable for all the lies the Tatara channel spread over the years, asking for their forgiveness. When Ichiban tries to get Bryce to turn himself in, Bryce mocks them for having ruined the world's plans for nuclear power before throwing himself down into the waste storage cavern, attempting to make a martyr of himself. Ichiban however saves him and refuses to let him die without taking responsibility for his actions.
Meanwhile, back in Japan, Kiryu, Nanba, Seonhee, Saeko and Zhao head to the Millenium Tower spurred on by Chitose's stream. Although Kiryu tries to dissuade the others from following him up the tower, they refuse and vow to follow him every step of the way as they climb the tower, defeating the Seiryu soldiers within. On an empty floor, the team decides to take a break only for a helicopter to begin firing at them. All hope seems lost when suddenly, Daigo, Majima and Saejima appear. Saejima shoots a rocket at the helicopter, scaring it away and saving Kiryu. The three admit that Kiryu's words made them want to help the cause by fighting alongside him. The trio triumphantly state that they're done hiding - and from that point on, they'll give everything they've got to seeing things through. Reinvigorated, the four legendary yakuza take a stand against the ex-Omi Seiryu members that attack them together, and they urge Kiryu to climb up to the top as they take on the rest of the Seiryu. Kiryu obliges and quickly begins ascending the rest of the tower. When he is attacked by the helicopter once again, he manages to destroy it with a grenade and the party makes it up to the top.
On the top floor where Ebina has begun setting up the new Bleach Japan's HQ, he greets them all. Soon, he explains to them what his plan was from the beginning: He already knew that the Palekana waste disposal plan was doomed to be exposed, and that he merely wanted to force the ex-yakuza to slave away in unsafe conditions. He reveals Sawashiro's unconscious body before recounting his memory of her mother and Arakawa, when Arakawa's wrath had caused the dissolution of the Hikawa family. After Arakawa's revenge, the remnants of the family had abandoned him and his mother, and she died alone sick and infirm. This in turn radicalised him against any yakuza, both ex-members and current, and incited him to take revenge on all of them by becoming a Tokyo PD officer. However, with Arakawa being murdered (by Tendo in the previous game), he lost his chance for revenge. Driven further to the brink by this revelation, he decided to exterminate the yakuza once and for all. After the dissolution and witnessing ex-yakuza slowly reintegrating into society (which he believed they did not deserve), he started climbing up the Seiryu's ranks so that he could gather all the ex-yakuza in one place. He even used the Tatara channel via Eiji to ruin those who already had stable, honest lives and force them into further criminality. His eventual goal was to drive them all to death, which the nuclear waste disposal scheme at Nele was a perfect way to sentence them to.
Kiryu tells Ebina that he understands his anger, and accepts his part in abandoning the yakuza to their own devices by resigning as the fourth chairman. He tells Ebina that he shall take on all their sins before the two take off their shirts and begin to fight. Though Kiryu is tired, with his cancer beginning to flare up, as well as Ebina proving himself to be quite a challenge to Kiryu's party, he ultimately proves to be no match for Kiryu, even with a katana. Eventually, Kiryu knocks Ebina clean out as Sawashiro finally wakes up to witness his power. Daigo, Majima and Saejima also make it to the top floor, having defeated the rest of the Seiryu clan on their own, and witness as Ebina laments that the Yakuza will always come back and never take responsibility for their actions. Ebina weakly curses the four, telling them that they will eventually be wiped out. He demands Kiryu kills him so that he no longer has to live with his failures, but Kiryu tearfully asks him to give everyone a chance to atone before it is too late, and not let anyone else die, before apologizing for everything and passing out from overexertion. Kiryu's friends and party distraughtfully rush to his side, with a tearful Daigo demanding him to wake up, to no avail.
Suddenly, we see Ichiban barging through a crowd of people seemingly filming something and entering a building. It is revealed that he went to see Eiji at his house, who has become a recluse and social outcast after the conspiracy with the Palekana and Ebina was made public; He has now become infamous to both the public and the ex-yakuza, and he was attacked by the crowd, causing him to be unable to walk properly. Ichiban urges him to turn himself in and atone, telling him that he never gave up on him as a friend after the time they spent together in Hawaii and anyone can start again from rock bottom. Finally deeply moved by his belief in him, Eiji decides to turn himself in and Ichiban carries him through the droves of people filming. The crowd soon turns on them and begins hurling trash at them, and Ichiban willingly takes multiple punches from a particularly riled up clout chaser to help Eiji to the police station safely. However, after seeing him off with a final "bon voyage"/"a hui hou", he is hit by a thrown bottle and passes out on the street. Kiryu meanwhile is carried to the emergency room by a helicopter.
A month passes, and the incident has slowly faded from the public's memory. Adachi, Nanba, Zhao, Tomizawa, Joongi, and Seonhee are seen drinking at Survive, reminiscing about the events. Nanba wonders why Ebina did not kill Sawashiro, to which Zhao says that much like Sawashiro after Hoshino's murder, he must have been asking for someone to help him before he had gone too far. The group then talks about how Akane and Lani are rebuilding the Palekana to help the public, and that Tomizawa wants to also head to Hawaii to help them. Also mentioned is that Chitose took on her father's duties as chairwoman. Outside the shop, Ichiban confesses his love for Saeko as the group cheers him on, which she accepts, but he goes overboard again by showing her a rather embarrassing T-shirt, causing her to leave.
Thanks to the encouragement from his Tojo friends, Kasuga, his party, and Date, Kiryu has decided to seek treatment to live out the rest of his life. Haruka and Haruto visit the hospital where Kiryu is being treated, but find his bed empty. We then cut to a wheelchair-bound Kiryu receiving his first chemotherapy session as a smiling Haruka sees the name tag on his bed. The doctor asks Kiryu for his name, and he lifts his head, smiling, to say:
Kazuma Kiryu.
Though the Dragon of Dojima is no more, Kazuma Kiryu lives on.
Life Links (work in progress)
Part of Kiryu's Bucket List, these substories revolve around Kiryu getting closure with all the people he's left behind after having faked his death. (Note: Episode 1: Memories of Taichi is not listed below, as it is a mandatory part of Chapter 8.)After Kiryu continues to argue in favor of keeping up the ruse, Date changes the topic, mentioning that with the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance gone, countless petty criminals have filled the gaps; additionally, Date had been unable to reach Shun Akiyama for some time. Akiyama had caught wind of Kiryu's involvement in the Dissolution, but was unable to find any concrete evidence, disappearing shortly after calling Date up for information late one night. Kiryu admits that he's curious about how everyone is doing, and Date reiterates that Kiryu's bucket list is an opportunity to get some closure on things like that. Date then asks Kiryu who else he'd want to know about, and after Kiryu dances around the subject briefly, he comes up with Kazuki and Yuya. Date asks Kiryu to give him some time to arrange something, and Kiryu says he'll trust whatever Date has planned and thanks him.
At Serena, Date is tending bar as Kazuki and Yuya arrive, with Kiryu eavesdropping from the stairs in the back. Yuya tells Date about the brawl from before (unaware that Date had seen it go down), and says it brought back memories of the fight he got into with Kiryu when they first met nearly twenty years ago. Kazuki reveals that Yuya keeps one of the club's most expensive bottles of wine on reserve in case Kiryu ever comes back, and Date shares their sentiments. Kazuki and Yuya then go on to praise Kiryu for how, in spite of all the trouble that seemed to follow him, he always took the brunt of it and how he could instill courage in others. Yuya admits he has a hard time believing Kiryu is truly dead, and Kazuki outright asks Date if something happened related to Kiryu to prompt him inviting them to Serena; however, Date denies any knowledge of him. In spite of this, Kazuki remains hopeful that Kiryu will return, and adds that he would be proud for Kiryu to see how Kamurocho is doing these days. Date says Kiryu would definitely be proud of the two of them.
Back at Harbor Light, Date apologizes for dragging Kiryu around like that, but Kiryu is glad to have done this even if it felt like he was listening in on his own funeral. Date understands how Kiryu feels, but argues that's the best way to get perspective on the life he's led; it's proof that even if Kiryu thinks he brings nothing but trouble to the people around him, the feeling is certainly not mutual. Date then adds that he's working on another clandestine reunion, and asks that Kiryu stay in touch until then. Kiryu thanks Date for the drink and leaves, but not before Date urges him to hold on to what Kazuki and Yuya said.
The two hurry over to the Lin Lin Hostess Club, where Tagashira, Matsunaga, and their subordinates are frustrated with the apparent lack of hospitality. Date heads over to their table, and while Tagashira is suspicious of him, Matsunaga reminds him that Kiryu had a cop friend named Date. Date then offers to buy drinks for the two of them, which Matsunaga takes him up on. Tagashira admits their frustration was due to the fact they made the trip to Yokohama all the way from Onomichi only to be treated like dirt by every yakuza, current or former, in town. However, the Yomei Alliance is doing fine for itself out in Hiroshima, and the two only came as a courtesy with no intention to fall in with the Seiryu. This causes Date to wonder aloud if they're purposely being isolated, at which point some ex-Tojo/Omi yakuza threaten to kick them out; here, Kiryu intervenes, but Date tells Kiryuin that he needs to stay at his table. Matsunaga asks Date if he knows him, and Date says it's his junior partner, Kiryuin, after the latter refers to him as "senpai". Date tells the Hirose duo to stay back, and Kiryu fights off the instigators.
Date, Kiryu, Tagashira, and Matsunaga go to Harbor Light to share another drink, where Tagashira thinks the incident will make a fine story for home. When Date tells them "Kiryuin" is the strong and silent type, Tagashira says he reminds him of someone they knew; he of course means Kiryu. Date says that he's known Kiryu longer, and that he's cooler than Kiryuin. When "Kiryuin" asks what Kiryu did for the Hirose Family, Tagashira says that Kiryu redefined what it meant to be a yakuza for them, and says that the family came out for the better as a result of what he did for them. However, there's only three proper members of the Hirose Family now — the two of them plus Nagumo — after Yuta Usami moved to Okinawa, which makes it feel like things will never be the same for them as yakuza. Matsunaga says Patriarch Hirose went out the way he would have wanted to, fighting alongside a legend like Kiryu, and that he himself had been picking pointless fights like the one in the hostess club; were it not for Date's intervention, the two of them very likely would have died there. Tagashira says seeing Kiryuin fight really opened his eyes to how bad things had gotten for them. The two get up to leave, saying they've "investigated" the Seiryu Clan enough, and they want to go home and tell Nagumo that they found someone Kiryu would have seen something in. "Kiryuin" warns the two of them that the Seiryu Clan can't be trusted, to which the two respond they already know but appreciate the advice.
With the two of them gone, Date figures they probably saw through Kiryu's disguise, and chides Kiryu for his recklessness; if things had escalated, it could have meant war between the Seiryu Clan and the Yomei Alliance, with the latter likely just cutting off the Hirose Family to wash their hands of it. Despite this, Kiryu thanks Date for his initiative, and is glad he got to hear them out after making a mess of things in Hiroshima and leaving before apologizing for any of it.
