Chapter 221

To rekindle hope and release Gojo from the Prison Realm, his allies put their plan into motion. He never shows himself to them, leaving them to wonder about his fate, and goes instead directly to face Kenjaku, charting where the jujutsu world heads next.

Inside a cramped room, Yuji Itadori and Fumihiko Takaba slice away the rear of the Prison Realm. Fearing the tight quarters and the object's frozen time may have harmed Gojo's mind, the group shifts the gate elsewhere, to Training Ground No. 4 of Jujutsu High in the Kiroko Mine of Saitama Prefecture. With everyone clear, Toge Inumaki gives the cue and Hana Kurusu unleashes Jacob's Ladder on the gate while the others await the strongest sorcerer. Once the dust falls, the cursed object has vanished and Gojo is nowhere to be seen, until an earthquake rolls through. Far away, Kenjaku admits he had sunk the Prison Realm into a subduction zone at the deepest point of the Japan trench, wrapped it in seal upon seal plus cursed spirits as detectors, a measure set after Tengen warned him of the back gate; he had hoped it would kill Gojo on escape, yet it did not. Now Kenjaku stands before the returned holder of the Six Eyes.

Gojo triggers Blue, raising a strong pull. As Kenjaku struggles against it, Sukuna cuts in midair. Gojo notes Megumi's altered look, and Sukuna recalls his vow to slay Gojo once he ruled his vessel, a pledge he means to honor even after switching bodies. Gojo jeers that Sukuna fled from Yuji, provoking Uraume, whom he punches aside and downs. Kenjaku asks Sukuna to keep their bargain first, and Gojo, knowing he cannot kill Kenjaku while the binding vow keeps the pair allied, agrees to settle things later; Sukuna, recalling Yorozu's talk of love, consents. Gojo proposes the final fight fall on December 24th so Suguru's body would hold a single date of death. Asked whether he anticipates defeat, Gojo answers as he once told Yuji, that he would win.

This nineteen-page chapter was published April 24, 2023 across issues 21 and 22, belonging to the Culling Game Arc and gathered into Volume 25, with Yuji, Takaba, Hana, and Momo Nishimiya on the cover. Gojo's escape, his use of Blue and Infinity, and Hana's Jacob's Ladder all appear, and the December 24th date for his showdown with Sukuna is fixed.