As Lord Kagemitsu Daigo waits for his wife Nuinokata to give birth, he recalls the time he made a pact with the twelve demons in the Hall of Hell, prepared to tread the path of evil in exchange for power. When his first son is born, the demons extract their payment: the child is born without limbs, facial features, or skin. The baby is set adrift in the river and left to its fate. Sixteen years later, he is now a young man, travelling alone, wearing prosthesis made by Dr. Jukai. While hunting a sludge-like demon Deiki, he encounters Dororo, a young petty-thief being beaten by three men who Dororo cheated out of their goods...