In response to The Narrator's challenge.
Disclaimer: I do not own SDK. I don't think I want to, either. Then I'd have to actually work towards it, or something. Just a note, though I've seen all the way through the Anime, I have no idea what really goes on in the Manga past English-translation volume 7.
The Truth is in the Point
As I sit here, reading through the reports, I realise that I miss it all. How it was. The life I felt at that time… I am the man who rules the world, and yet it is hollow.
Tokugawa Hidetada. What a grand name. It doesn't suit me, though.
When we are tied down, we lose
(Lose the spark)
Lose our way to success
(success in battle)
to rule an empty
(empty-meaning, who needs freedom?)
Throne that we did not earn
(earn the right to live)
Benitora. Now that's a name that suited me. I should have kept it. But no, I left it behind with my cross-headed spear, and the bandanna to hide my shaved head. When Ajira told me that I lacked his conviction, I hesitated, and that allowed our fight to be interrupted. That was eleven years ago. I thought at the time he was wrong.
Perhaps he was right. His life was devoted to his art… Though I have no respect for the charlatan Ajira, the man behind the mask has my accolade. Akira was a true warrior, focussed, and single-spirited. It's said that a Samurai's sword is his soul. Perhaps Akira, with his two souls, was stronger than I, who had no soul. I had thought at the time it was dilution.
When our fathers die
(Die for what they believed in)
A part of us goes with them
(Their power dies with their dreams)
We are left alive
(alive to prove ourselves)
And they burn for their sins
If only I had remembered what he told me, but I laughed at him. Makira had the right of it too… Grasp what you want, and it shall be yours. Wander aimlessly and lose it all.
Ieyasu, the old fool… Makira, the murderous traitor… Akira, the twin-souled swordsman. What had these men in common? Was it their drive? Certainly not skill or dreams. In my foolishness, even after associating with the greatest of their kind.. Kyo, what is the secret? I understand it now. For you, for Akira, the truth was in the curve of your blades. Makira, your scythe-spear was your soul as strongly as any of the other's swords.
On the other hand.. Live by the sword, die by the sword. In my gallant youth, I sought to deny this saying by wielding a spear. As though to spit in the eye of sages and wisdom. Well, live by the spear, die by the pen.
Yuya. So alive. I flirted with you, perhaps even planned to take you as a wife. Everyone thought that I was acting in jest, though Mahiro saw my true self more often than I'd have liked… Mahiro is another who lived by her way of life. She accepted the truth of events and still stuck to her revenge. Her arm never healed from the break inflicted by the psychotic wind-user, Chinmei. Kyo killed her, of course. With only one arm… well, she never had a chance in the first place, let alone after her injury.
All these people… they lived for what they believed in. I envy them, even the dead ones.
Now, I live alone and friendless, and rule the world.
And wallow in memories
(memories that linger)
memories of the past
(the past that fades)
past that lived.
(the present that dies)
Half-closing my eyes, I smiles at the man who stands in front of me, and give the order. We march to the Toyotomi's last stronghold. And I take up my spear one last time.