"Master!!" Arata fell to the ground. Denji and Pochita threw themselves over at the same time. Even though they had only known each other for a day, Arata had given Denji an experience he had never felt before.
No one had ever thought of him the way Arata did. He took him to a high-end restaurant he had never seen before, and even had a waitress feed him bread. For the first time, Denji realized eating could be like that. Now he had material for his dreams.
Arata took him to soak in a hot spring, gazing at the stars and the moon, without forgetting to teach him about devils. Denji felt the comfort of a hot spring for the first time. It turned out taking a bath was actually a wonderful thing.
He took him to a five-star hotel, showing Denji that even a single room could be taken to the absolute extreme. He even made sure to give both him and Pochita a good dream. Plus the sweet breakfast and their conversations on the road. Besides Arata, no one else could give these things to Denji.
It was Arata who gave Denji a brand new experience. Calling him "Master" might have been stiff, but it came from the bottom of his heart. It was just hard to get used to saying it the first time. He even had thoughts of sticking around with Arata for the long haul.
Even if Arata snatched his bread, scolded him, or hit him, Denji truly didn't want to lose him anymore.
"Stop staring, he's dead as a doornail." Ino laughed out loud, looking at him like a stray dog.
"Dammit!! I finally just got the will to live, so why... why do you have to destroy it?!"
Denji crouched beside Arata, clenching his fists. Pochita let out an angry bark at Ino.
"You still want to live? You're nothing but our dog. If you weren't obedient and somewhat useful, we would've killed you ages ago." Ino's tone grew increasingly arrogant.
"Ino, how can you say that?"
"Boss... you..."
"He's still our dog after all. Talking to him like that means he might not work for us anymore."
"Boss, didn't you say that a dog is still a dog? Even if you beat it, as long as you give it a little treat, it'll still wag its tail and stick its tongue out at its master."
"Haha, exactly." The yakuza boss chuckled, then asked coldly, "Denji, are you the kind of dog Ino just described?"
Denji lowered his head, picking up Pochita and slowly standing up. "I am..."
"Haha, what a good dog indeed. Still barking even now."
"Boss, a dog this obedient, we should keep him. It'll be hard to find another one like him later."
"Of course we're keeping him." Tears were practically coming out of their eyes from laughing so hard, and the surrounding underlings joined in.
Suddenly, everyone was laughing, cracking up completely. The tense atmosphere instantly dissolved.
Seeing this, Denji violently yanked the cord on Pochita's rear.
The roar of a chainsaw erupted. With a furious shout, he charged at the yakuza boss. "I am not a dog! I have my own thoughts too!!"
Riiip!!
The rapidly spinning chainsaw sliced into Ino's shoulder. Fresh blood and flesh were instantly chewed up by the blades.
"Ah!!!" Ino screamed in agony, never dreaming he would be bitten back by the person he looked down on the most.
"Die!!"
Slash!! Denji sawed down hard, directly shearing off half of Ino's shoulder.
But it wasn't over. Amidst Ino's bloodcurdling screams, his body was sawed apart piece by piece by Denji.
The crazed actions made the yakuza boss frown. He hastily scrambled backward. "Kill... kill him!!"
"Bring it on! I didn't want to live anyway. Before I die, give me back what you owe me."
Denji gripped the chainsaw tight and rapidly caught up to the yakuza boss.
Bang bang!! Two bullets pierced right through Denji's body.
Denji only paused for a brief moment, not feeling any discomfort. Instead, he lunged forward and decapitated the yakuza boss with a single strike.
Bang bang bang!!! The underlings reloaded. Dozens of bullets slammed into Denji's back. Fresh blood dyed his entire back red.
"Po... Po... chita."
Riddled with bullets, Denji's eyes rolled back, and his limp body crashed to the ground.
The sole remaining Pochita was also shot multiple times, collapsing into a pool of blood. But before he died, he still crawled toward Denji. He refused to close his eyes until he was resting right by Denji's side.
The surviving underlings hadn't left yet.
"Dammit!! He actually got pushed over the edge and killed our boss."
"No one expected him to actually dare to do that in the end."
"Forget it, if the boss is dead, he's dead. The yakuza never lacks bosses."
"Let's go, let's go!"
Thud!! The man walking at the very front suddenly collapsed to the ground without any warning.
"What's wrong with him?"
"He suddenly fainted?"
Two of them lifted him up to check. He was jumping around just fine a second ago, and now he had fallen dead asleep.
"Hey, wake up?"
"No, his body..."
Whoosh!! The sleeping man's body suddenly levitated into the air.
Everyone froze in place for a moment, staring blankly.
"Ah!!!" A scream rang out. The sleeping man struggled relentlessly in mid-air.
Slash!! Blade marks continuously appeared on the sleeping man's body at a speed visible to the naked eye.
At first, they were just flesh wounds. Then it turned into total dismemberment. Chunks of corpse rained down from the sky, landing right on everyone's faces.
"Ah!!"
"Devil!!"
The men snapped out of it, screaming as they scrambled to flee in every direction. But no one could escape.
Before they could take two steps, they collectively fell asleep and collapsed onto the ground. Everyone's method of death was identical to the first.
Levitating in the air, screaming endlessly. Countless wounds appearing, bodies sliced into pieces.
Once everyone was completely dead, Arata, who had been lying on the ground, opened his eyes.
"When I'm alive, maybe I'm a bit mischievous, but after you kill me, I become far more terrifying."
Arata stood up and surveyed the dismembered limbs scattered around him. If there were bears in the area, they could totally come over for an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Arata then walked over to Denji's corpse. His expression held no trace of sorrow; instead, he seemed to be anticipating something.
He even wore a smile as he said, "Denji, your missing nut is about to make a comeback."
Saying that, he plunged his hand in and ripped out Denji's heart, holding it in his grip as he muttered, "Let's begin!!"
...
Some time later. The lead surgeon wiped the sweat from his forehead. As he put his scalpel away, he declared the surgery a success.
"Drink a little blood to finish it off."
A few drops of blood fell into Denji's mouth. Drip!!
"Cough, cough!!"
The blood slid down his throat and was rapidly absorbed. Denji jolted awake with a heavy cough.
He sat up violently. The first thing he saw was Arata.
"You..."
"Are we in hell or heaven?"
"We're in hell."
"Oh my god, I don't think I've ever done anything bad! Is it because I never paid off my debt, so I still went to hell anyway?"
"Wake up, you're still alive."
"I'm still alive?"
Denji inspected his surroundings. The environment was so unfamiliar he couldn't recognize it at all.
"This is the yakuza boss's house. After he died, his wife and house became ours."
"Huh? I didn't die? Where's Pochita?"
"He's inside your heart." Arata pointed. Denji looked down and saw an extra pull cord right over where his heart should be. He recognized that cord; it was Pochita's tail.
"Both you and Pochita were shot to death by the yakuza, but to save you, Pochita gave you his devil heart. Right now, you are both human and devil."
"Pochita." Denji touched the spot over his heart. "He gave me his heart... is he dead?"
"Relax, he's not dead. He just merged with you into one entity. As long as you pull the cord connected to your heart, you can transform into Chainsaw Man."
"Chainsaw Man?" Denji repeated the name, his hand already grabbing the chainsaw pull cord.
"Wait, don't transform just yet. The yakuza boss's wife is going to be out of the shower in a minute."