Chapter 185

The youngest of three, Panda has always relied on a brother and sister to shield him. Gorilla holds little patience for that frailty, even as their sister keeps working to soften him. Now that Kashimo has wrecked Panda's body, the trio faces the moment when they must part.

A dreamlike vision stands in for Panda's bond with his sibling cores: a child-sized Panda is getting roughed up in a play-fight against his big brother Gorilla. When their sister Triceratops declares it the little one's turn to strike back, Panda's attempted punch is met by a savage left hook that reduces him to tears and infuriates her. A second memory finds Panda goaded by two other children into hurling his treasured ball into the water, Gorilla idly watching the whole thing, then calling him stupid; Panda weeps because he only did it hoping to join his brother and the others at play. Triceratops returns, finds him crying, and rounds on Gorilla at home for failing to protect him. Gorilla counters that Panda is spoiled and weaponizes tears, but his sister turns it back on him, arguing Panda's bottomless forgiveness is precisely what spoils Gorilla. Panda then bursts in showing off a beetle he caught, a dangerous one, so Gorilla flings it away at once.

That evening Gorilla counts the money he has set aside to replace the lost ball, trying and failing to recall its color before settling that any shade will do. He is then roused by their father, a stand-in for Masamichi Yaga, who takes him and Triceratops away. The father says they can no longer remain, and while the youngest hunts in a panic for them, Gorilla insists Panda cannot make it on his own. Gently reframing things, the father says it is the siblings who are being left behind, and asks them all to say farewell as the three of them weep.

In the waking world, nothing of Panda survives but his head, the sibling cores shattered and his frame collapsed into corpse blood and stuffing. Earning zero points tells Kashimo his quarry is still breathing, so he spears the head onto his staff and once more demands information about Sukuna. Panda gives up nothing. As Kashimo readies the finishing blow, Hakari plunges from above behind him in a surge of cursed energy, flattening a container on impact and quipping that his partner looks like he has lost weight. Panda lights up at the sight, and even Kashimo grows curious about the newcomer.