Chapter 2: The Place Where Pochita Is

As the car rolls along, Denji's stomach rumbles, so Makima offers to treat him to a meal and, seeing him bare-chested, drapes her coat over him. They pull up at a shop for food just as a man rushes in begging for help, his daughter having been seized by a devil. With her udon served and at risk of going soggy, Makima sends Denji off to slay the devil. He balks, not wanting his own udon ruined either, but she reminds him that a pet of hers has no business refusing her.

Trudging into the woods, irritated at being handled like a dog, Denji recalls that Pochita is no longer with him. A sound leads him to a child at play with the Muscle Devil, and when she spots him she plants herself before the creature, insisting it rescued her from a father who beat her. Denji proposes she flee alongside the devil so it might be spared, but the instant he relaxes, the Muscle Devil lunges. It tears through the muscle of his right arm, and Denji bites the ripcord on his chest, tugging it to become Chainsaw Man, declaring he can now slay it guilt-free as he hacks the Muscle Devil apart.

Carrying the girl, Denji makes his way back to Makima and, the crisis over, crumples into her arms, drained of blood by the chainsaws. When she asks how he wound up in such a state, Denji tells her the devil he once kept as a pet had become his heart. Makima notes that he smells of human and devil alike, a sign his friend lives on inside him. Unable to feed himself the udon, he is fed by her, and when he asks what sort of men she favors, she answers that she likes someone just like him. The chapter opens the Intro arc, fills Volume 1, and was adapted as Episode 2.