Kenshin and Aoshi engage in a battle on the deck of the ironclad Rengoku. Behind the scenes, Sanosuke manages to board the ship and tries to blow up the engine room with the explosives he got from Tsunan. However, Shishio's underlings Hoji, Shuzo, Toshiro prevent him from going any further. Meanwhile in Kyoto, Arato faces off against Kamatari and Henya alone to buy time for the police forces to evacuate.