A Request

The Wind Hashira and Upper Rank One collide, with Kokushibo loosing Moon Breathing, Fifth Form, a spinning wheel of crescent slashes that drives Sanemi back. Noting the demon can repeat the technique with a single swing, Sanemi answers with Wind Breathing, Third Form. Kokushibo praises the Hashira's body and skill as fully matured, while Sanemi privately admits the demon's mastery raises the hair on his neck. He observes that every cut spawns chaotic, shifting blades that defy prediction, and he concedes that without his own hard experience he could never hold them off. The blend of Kokushibo's speed with a demon's regeneration and strength marks him as a foe whose power keeps rising.

Energized rather than cowed, Sanemi presses on, calling Kokushibo a demon truly worth killing. He cuts at the eye-covered blade, leaps in to threaten the neck, and even tries to scoop up Genya's fallen short sword with his foot, matching the demon strike for strike. Kokushibo retaliates with Moon Breathing, Sixth Form, carving deep wounds across Sanemi's chest and limbs and shattering the surrounding pillars. As Sanemi rises, bleeding heavily, Kokushibo's pulse quickens against his will. Sanemi laughs and explains that, much like catnip on a cat, his Marechi blood intoxicates demons. He lunges anew, leaving the unsteady Upper Rank to stagger, thrilled that his rare blood affects even the strongest demons.

Sanemi battles Kokushibo alone and works out that the demon's swings generate erratic, size-shifting blades.

The Wind Hashira nearly keeps pace with Upper Rank One but cannot land a clean hit. After being badly cut, the blood from Sanemi's wounds reaches Kokushibo, and the scent of his Marechi blood makes the demon stumble and lose his footing.

Set within the Infinity Castle Arc and collected in Volume 19, the chapter highlights both the lethality of Kokushibo's Moon Breathing and the unique advantage of Sanemi's Marechi heritage. The revelation that his blood disrupts even an Upper Rank reframes the wounds Sanemi sustains as a deliberate gamble rather than simple disadvantage, tilting the duel in unexpected directions.