Amid the battle against the pirates, Taira no Moriyasu gets seriously hurt from protecting Kiyomori, and the Taira clan once returns to their base. Kiyomori, however, goes back to the Sea alone being mad at his cowardliness, where he is saved from his sinking boat by Takashina no Michinori. Meanwhile, Yoshitomo, who is on his way eastward from Kyoto, encounters Yura Gozen, daughter of the chief priest of Atsuta Shrine. Back at the Imperial Palace, Nariko from a middle-class aristocratic family becomes pregnant with a child of the retired Emperor Toba. Kiyomori and Michinori are captured by the pirates and taken to the giant vessel.
巨大な宋船と戦闘を始める平氏一族。初めての本格的な戦闘にひるむ清盛（松山ケンイチ）をかばい守役・盛康（佐土井けん太）は深手を負う。圧倒的な海賊たちの武力の前に、宿営地に一時、引き上げた平氏。清盛は海賊の正体を知るために小船で再び海へ。しかし途中乗り込んできた通憲（阿部サダヲ）と共に海賊に捕らえられ船内に拘束されてしまう。２人の前に現れたのは兎丸（うさぎまる）（加藤浩次）という海賊の棟りょうだった。
