This Is So Giyu

By midnight, on the small path leading to Fish Scale Village, Hiruma was stuffing his face with a pork trotter and a pork shank, his mouth slick with grease. He was completely full and felt like he could take down that trash boss with a single strike.

As he walked, Hiruma suddenly felt an icy chill surge from behind him. He shuddered and spun around abruptly, only to see a figure standing motionlessly not far behind him.

Under the clear moonlight, he saw it clearly: a strange combination, a human body topped with a shark's head.

There was no doubt about it, it was a demon.

The Shark Demon was entirely white, but it was an oily white, as if its entire body had been coated in white latex paint. It kept its eyes shut and remained perfectly still.

Even the killing intent from moments before had vanished.

There was no pressure, no threat; this demon was a complete pushover.

That was Hiruma's assessment of the Shark Demon, but he felt something strange about its aura.

The human and the demon faced off for several minutes. The demon kept its eyes closed and didn't move an inch.

In that time, Hiruma finished the pork trotter. He flicked the bone towards the Shark Demon as a projectile.

"Swish swish swish!"

With the force of Hiruma's powerful grip, each bone whistled through the air, shooting out with astonishing speed, as swift as bullets.

In the blink of an eye, the bones embedded themselves deeply into the Shark Demon's body like raindrops, piercing its tough outer hide.

Strangely, not a single drop of blood flowed from it. It remained as still as a statue.

A hallucination?

Controlled?

Or a clone?

Hiruma had several theories in an instant. However, the Shark Demon opened its eyes. They were eyes with only whites, and its left eye was carved with characters—

Lower One.

The moment Hiruma saw those two characters, he immediately dropped the half-eaten pork shank. Every cell in his body was cheering.

Lower Rank!

Am I going to be promoted to Hashira on my first mission?

At the same time, the Shark Demon moved. It was as fast as lightning, disappearing from its spot in the blink of an eye, leaving behind streaks of white afterimages flashing along its path.

Likewise, Hiruma vanished from his spot. Deep blue Battle Qi emanated from him, and countless afterimages condensed around the Shark Demon, eventually forming the shape of a coiling dragon.

The dragon's head hovered above the Shark Demon's head, holding a blade of azure wind in its mouth.

Way Breathing: Water Form: Coiling Dragon.

Hiruma floated in the position of the dragon's head. The sword in his hand glinted coldly. He swung it with force, and a brilliant sword light tore through the void, descending like a cascading galaxy.

All of this happened in just a few seconds.

The shark's head flew off, exploding in the night sky. However, instead of blood and flesh, milky white water sprayed out.

Hiruma quickly distanced himself from the demon's corpse. Just as he dodged a few paces away, the corpse exploded, splashing milky white blood all over the ground.

Something's wrong. The feel is wrong, the strength is wrong.

Although Hiruma didn't know the full extent of his own power, the Twelve Kizuki shouldn't be this weak.

No Blood Demon Art, no defensive instincts, just seemingly extreme speed and mindless charges.

This guy must have been a clone or something. After the exchange, he was sure of his guess.

But this meant the demon behind Fish Scale Village was Lower Rank One.

This is quite interesting!

Hiruma sheathed his sword. When he walked closer, the pool of bloody water had vanished, as if nothing had happened.

"Sigh!"

"What a letdown, and I wasted half an elbow, damn it!"

Without stopping, he quickly ran to the coconut tree at the village entrance. Looking up, he saw one Kasugai Crow had become two.

"Blade, this is..." By the time Hiruma saw clearly, he exclaimed, "Holy crap, Kansaburo!"

Kansaburo was Giyu Tomioka's Kasugai Crow. It was very old, an elder among Kasugai Crows, and highly respected.

Its presence here meant Giyu was also here.

"Hello!" Kansaburo greeted Hiruma. Its voice sounded like a steady and weathered old man.

"Hello!" Hiruma crossed his arms, looking around, but he couldn't see where Giyu was hiding.

This shouldn't be!

Giyu isn't the type to play pranks.

"Where's Giyu?" he asked, looking at Kansaburo.

"Giyu was knocked unconscious by the villagers and locked up!" Kansaburo said unhurriedly. From its tone, Hiruma could tell Giyu wasn't in immediate danger.

"Huh?!" Kansaburo's words left Hiruma baffled. Why would he be locked up by the villagers?

Afterward, Kansaburo roughly explained the situation to Hiruma.

Giyu had arrived at Fish Scale Village a day prior. He found a demon with a fish head and human body near the village's sacrificial shrine and, while cutting down the demon, coincidentally destroyed the shrine.

Giyu's reasoning was simple: the shrine housed a monster with a fish head and human body, identical to the demon he had just slain.

However, he knew it was a demon, while the villagers did not. To them, an outsider had simply destroyed their shrine.

Although Giyu argued his case, the villagers refused to believe him. Furthermore, he absolutely would not lay a hand on ordinary people. In the ensuing chaos, he was knocked unconscious by the villagers.

"Ugh! (ˉ―ˉ?)" Hiruma was momentarily speechless. Couldn't they just avoid an argument if they couldn't win one? Did he really have to reason with them?

This was so typical of Giyu. He knew he was right and was acting for the villagers' own good, but he just couldn't express it.

Hiruma could perfectly imagine the scene: Giyu, after smashing the shrine with his sword, would have a poker face with an expression that said, "You owe me a hundred million," as he told the villagers:

"This thing is bad for you all. It's a demon, not a god."

"Forget it. Tell me where Giyu is being held, and I'll go rescue him."

Kansaburo blinked in surprise, then put on a show of racking his brain. It was clear he was trying to recall, and trying very hard at that.

There was nothing to be done about it. Kansaburo was old, and his memory wasn't great, which was understandable.

After a moment, Kansaburo's crow body trembled, and he declared loudly, "I'm sorry, I forgot!"

Hiruma froze on the spot at his words.

The Blade, standing nearby, couldn't bear to watch any longer and added, "That young girl might know where Giyu is being held."

"Blade, how did you know?"

"Senior Kansaburo told me."

Kansaburo shook his head, looking embarrassed. "I forgot."

Hiruma was quite frustrated. Kansaburo's memory was truly something else. Still, thanks to his poor memory, if things had gone according to the plot, Tanjiro would have had to erect another grave for a stranger when Muzan attacked his family.

"How do we get to that girl's house? Take me there!"

"Okay!"

The Blade nodded and took flight. Kansaburo perched on Hiruma's shoulder for a ride.

He infiltrated Fish Scale Village under the cover of night. Along the way, he could indeed see many damaged shrines.

"No way!"

"Is Giyu here to demolish buildings? He destroyed twenty-five shrines?"

Hiruma counted them and let out a long sigh, thinking that the guy's knocking out wasn't entirely unreasonable.

This was so Giyu.