Long and probably overly convoluted theory time (but on the other hand, no more convoluted than the "fake Meguro's death" plan):
Okay, so if the guy with Jou-kun's bracelets is Jou-kun, then he's been playing dead. I can understand why, since the Mad War had backed him into a corner. Cops, yakuza and OG's starting to get pissed off, the other gangs growing desperate, and even plotting within Kilihito. In the flashback of Tanzawa's childhood, Jou-kun speaks of a place very similar to what the Shimokawa brothers spoke of in the first arc, a place for delinquents, neither legal nor yakuza. Perhaps Jou took the chance to disappear since the war made such plans impossible? If so, then the question is: was Yoshiki in on the plan or did/does he really think he killed Jou? Is Tanzawa in on the plan or does he really think Jou died? Yoshiki wants to disband both Kyoranki and Kilihito, as we know from Nikaku. Maybe it's because he intends to hand over power to Jou to start something altogether new with the trustworthy remnants of both gangs? Is this all a plan to find out who Jou will be able to depend on in the future, while simultaneously weakening the other gangs? After all, Kyoranki has pulled lots of powerful officers from other gangs, especially Folly Wolf, and those were Jou's enemies. This way, Folly Wolf is weakened and Jou and Yoshiki are in a situation where they can turn on the former enemies they've absorbed, while also testing Tanzawa's generation's loyalty. Jou should be able to trust them but, Jou is paranoid as fuck and doesn't trust well ever since he was betrayed by his father, and once he realized his own gang was turning on him in the Mad War, that must've worsened.
This could work very similarly if Tanzawa is in on the plan instead of Yoshiki, too. On the other hand, when Tanzawa is told about the Shimokawa's plan during their duel, he loathes it, even though it's similar to Jou's old dream.
