You do remember that the part about there being no danger is clear and total BS, right?
In this episode, the stick up Sagiri’s rear kind of bites her. She starts out insisting Gabimaru keep his hands tied on pain of death, despite the fact they’re now on the creepy garden island that nobody has returned from in human form. This is interrupted by an attack from one of the other criminals, with the support of that criminal’s assigned executioner. The criminals fight while Sagiri’s senior gives her a lecture about her inflexibility being her downfall, and how all that matters is the Elixir of Life and not the means of getting it.
Gabimaru wins the fight against the other killer, of course, and does it with his hands tied at that. The other executioner retreats to the boat, but not before predicting that things are going to get very bad very fast (with cuts suggesting several other deaths, whether predicted or actual), and that if the squad of criminals isn’t successful quickly, more seekers will be sent, including Gabimaru’s old ninja clan.
After he leaves, Gabimaru attacks Sagiri. His reasoning is that if the ninjas arrive, everything goes up in smoke for him, so he has to find the Elixir ASAP and, to that end, Sagiri is in his way. She fights back, but though Gabimaru gets the upper hand, he finds he’s not able to actually kill her, and has a bit of a breakdown. Facing up to her own feelings about the matter, Sagiri gives him a good speech about what it means to feel that reminds Gabimaru of his wife, allowing him to sheathe his blade and the two of them to go on. She says nothing between the two of them has changed and it’s just that Gabimaru isn’t his old self, but I’m not sure; it feels more like they’re going to move forward as uneasy allies rather than with Sagiri continuing to be an impediment.
Also weirdly, it makes sense that she’s actually able to trust Gabimaru more after this – he did attack her with some intent to kill, but his inability to follow through, even when he had an absolute free opportunity, is a good sign that she won’t have worse to fear, at least unless the situation meaningfully changes.
Thereafter, the Island finally decides to get pissed. With another of the pairs, the criminal is swift enough to cut off his own hand when he’s stung by a human-faced wasp, which seems to have been a pretty good move as the severed part sprouts flowers shortly thereafter. More hellish creatures emerge, including centipedes and giant monsters, leaving us with both subtle and unsubtle external threats to deal with.