Chapter 23: Gunfire

Inside a ramen shop, Denji eats alongside Power, Aki, and Himeno, while across town the various Division 4 members from the night's earlier drinking go about their separate duties. In that same moment, ordinary people surrounding the agents draw firearms, and the crack of gunfire begins to sound out through the city.

Catching the noise, the diners brush it off as nothing more than drumming. At the neighboring table a stranger pipes up to mock how poor the ramen is, which offends both Denji and Power. He needles the duo over their crude palates, claiming a youth spent eating little breeds dull taste. Aki, uneasy, suggests they head out, yet the man rambles on about a doting grandfather, then drops that the old man was the Debt Collector who once took Denji on as a hunter. Blaming Denji for that death, he declares the Gun Devil wants his heart before drawing a pistol, putting a round through Denji's skull, then striking Himeno's chest and Aki's arm. Power cuts him off with a punch that sends the gun flying.

Aki calls on the Fox Devil to swallow the attacker whole, glancing in alarm at Denji's still form and Himeno's grave wounds. The Fox Devil reports that the man counted as neither human nor devil, right before being shredded from within. Climbing back into view, the figure shows himself to be a fusion of human and devil, his body merged with the Katana Devil. Aki tells Power to stem Himeno's bleeding as he draws his own blade. This installment belongs to the Katana Man arc, fills out Volume 3, and was adapted as Episode 8.