Can Zenitsu defeat Gyokko in Demon Slayer? Explained

Demon Slayer has a variety of demons that come with their diverse range of Blood Demon Art forms arising out of their consumption of Muzan Kibutsuji or his Twelve Kizuki’s blood. To counter them, the series provides a solution in the form of demon slayers who excel in certain breathing styles that originate from Yoriichi Tusgikuni’s Sun Breathing Style. In the latest Swordsmith Village arc of Demon Slayer, viewers are introduced to two primary antagonists – Upper Moon Four, Hantengu, and Upper Moon Five, Gyokko. 

Hashiras Mitsuri and Muichiro, accompanied by Tanjiro, Nezuko, and Genya, are doing a good job to defeat the demons, but what if there were other strong characters in the picture? The hypothetical battle of Hantengu with some other Hashira is a topic for another day, but suppose a non-Hashira character like Zenitsu  was stationed at that village and made to fight Gyokko all alone, would he be able to fare on his own and emerge victorious?

Note: This article contains spoilers from the Demon Slayer anime and manga franchise.

Demon slayer Zenitsu’s Thunder Breathing may have an edge over Gyokko’s Blood Demon Art

The answer to the above-mentioned question has two possibilities. To put it briefly, if the Zenitsu from the anime’s current season is to fight Gyokko, he may lose. However, if the Zenitsu after the Hashira Training arc is involved, he may have a greater chance to defeat the Upper Moon Five. 

Now, another aspect to take into this account is the elements that are associated with Gyokko’s Blood Demon Art and Zenitsu’s Breathing Style. The latter uses Thunder Breathing Style, which is a derivative form of the Sun Breathing Style and combines lightning and thunder to generate electricity. The Upper Moon Five, on the other hand, uses Blood Demon Art that majorly involves the use of porcelain vases and aquatic lifeforms or water. 

To entertain the first possibility, where Zenitsu will be defeated, one needs to remember that the demon slayer can only use one form of Thunder Breathing Style currently as of the anime’s events. However, given his cowardly nature, Zenitsu would eventually go into his sleep-mode, a survivalist instinct, to battle Gyokko. The Upper Moon Five’s porcelain vases are made up of earth, as against his water techniques and summoning of non-sentient creatures. Porcelain is an earthy substance, and it is believed that earth is a good resistor of lightning and thunder. So, if Zenitsu releases a thunder-based technique on the ground, and if Gyokko happens to be within the vases, he may resist the impact. But the flip side is, due to the thunder technique’s impact, the technique may generate heat to melt or shatter it.

Even if Zenitsu is able to slash the pots like Muichiro or shatter/melt it to cancel the effect of Gyokko’s summoning technique, the Upper Moon Five can hop or transport from one vase to another at great speed. Here, one can contest Zenitsu’s speed, which readers and viewers saw during the Entertainment District arc when he, and later Inosuke, cut the fabric neck of one of the Upper Moon Six siblings, Daki, with his godspeed breathing technique. So, Zenitsu may apply the same speed here, but the unpredictability of Gyokko’s location would be hard to trace if the vases are located at covert places and beyond Zenitsu’s reach. 

While Zenitsu’s Godspeed technique’s range remains primarily unexplored, one can presume that he would be able to fight at such a speed within a specific area, as seen in his battle against Daki or the other previous other demons seen in the anime. However, Gyokko’s Killer Fish Scales technique, which uses a wide range of area to deliver blows at incredible speed, may hold off well against Zenitsu’s speed.

Another possibility is, if Gyokko uses Water Prison to lock the demon slayer within it, Zenitsu’s First Form won’t be potent enough to cut through the elasticity of the technique. Moreover, suppose he doesn’t turn out to be resistant to lightning and thunder, his techniques may electrocute him. Even though his powers are currently developing, the impact may gravely injure him. 

Then, if Gyokko uses Thousand Needle Fish Kill, among the sheer number of needles, some may be able to hurt him while he is in his powered state, thus making him prone to poison. Once he immobilizes, Gyokko can use his Octopus Vase Hell to trap him. But even if Zenitsu manages to cut through it, the Upper Moon Five’s use of Ten Thousand Gliding Slime-Fish can prove to be fatal, where he can summon the same number of slime-fishes to attack Zenitsu. 

The technique involves attacking the prey and eating them alive, leaving nothing but bones. In case, they are cut, the fishes will release poison. Now, imagine Zenitsu once again inside the Water Prison and the Ten Thousand Gliding Slime-Fish is released upon him: one, he cannot escape and will fall prey to the carnivorous fishes, leading to death; two, the fish may enter the water prison and attack him, in which case, Zenitsu might hold his breath and then attack the aquatic creatures. However, the slashing would contaminate the water with poison and kill him eventually if he gulps down the water after reaching the limit of his breath holding.

Zenitsu after the hashira training arc is a certified GOD🔥🤯💫 pic.twitter.com/D1gdcpoiFJ

— 2% (@exetariq) February 23, 2020

Now that the discussion of present Zenitsu against Gyokko is discussed, it’s time to explore the second possibility, i.e., the blond demon slayer’s hypothetical win. Coming back to the topic of elements, as fans of Pokémon or Naruto would know, lightning release or types work fantastic against water types. Given Gyokko’s past, his Blood Demon Art is primarily rooted to his geographical past, which was close to sea. As a result, fans of Demon Slayer see him using powers based on the water releases. 

Taking all the possibilities discussed above, it’s time to consider the Zenitsu post-Hashira Training arc. At the end of this arc, Zenitsu receives the tragic news of his master’s death due to seppuku (ritualistic suicide) because one of his other students became a demon, and later an Upper Moon Six. Kaigaku, the demon in question, trained the same breathing technique as Zenitsu, mastering all forms except for the first one. 

https://twitter.com/EverySquids/status/1657885376025882624

On the other hand, Zenitsu could only use the First Form: Thunderclap and Flash in its three variations – Sixfold, Eightfold, and Godspeed. Initially, he remarked during his fight against Daki that the use of the latter variation more than two times is not possible due to muscle exhaustion, but he improvised it and showed to be using it more than twice against Muzan during the final battle. Zenitsu also introduced and mastered the Seventh Form of Thunder Breathing called Honoikazuchi no Kami, which was instrumental in killing the Upper Moon Six inside the Infinity Castle. Although a rank lower than Gyokko, Kaigaku was a formidable opponent who gained his demon strength through the consumption of several people.

At this point, readers of the manga can cite three points in regards to Zenitsu’s faceoff against Kaigaku:

• Zenitsu was emotionally held back due to his and Kaigaku’s shared history to finish the faceoff quicker. It was stated in the manga that if he wanted, he could have finished the battle much earlier.
• The blond demon slayer had become more mature, learned to fight awake, developed a great battle acumen and tactical intellect to correctly deduce Kaigaku’s demonic powers.
• Being able to hold off against an Upper Moon on his own, Zenitsu was canonically regarded to have achieved the level of a Hashira by the time he stood against Demon King, Muzan Kibutsuji, even though he was weakened by fatigue and anti-Muzan drug.

To reiterate Gyokko’s abilities once again, Zenitsu could easily kill the gigantic fish-like demons that the Upper Moon Five released on the Swordsmith Village. Muichiro and Mitsuri could easily kill them, so it shouldn’t be an issue with Zenitsu. Given his post-Hashira Training arc, he could also efficiently use his acumen to locate the porcelain vases efficiently and use repeated attacks of Sixfold or Eightfold to shatter the vases. This would give Gyokko less time to recover and hop from one vase to another, limiting his range of attack. 

Considering Zenitsu’s blinding speed during the Infinity Castle arc, it would also be tough to get hold of him. Chances are he might be able to deflect the Thousand Needle Fish Kill with his incredible display of mobility and also slash through Octopus Vase Hell should the creature come out of it to entrap him with its gigantic tentacles. Although durable and potent, the tentacles carry substantial amount of weight to make their movements comparatively slower than Zenitsu’s breathing technique and master swordsmanship, in which case, this should be an easy task. 

For the Water Prison, Muichiro Tokito used Second Form: Eight-Layered Mist to break through the demonic technique. The Mist Hashira’s technique involved eight quick forward slashes in great successive speed, so Zenitsu can use his Eightfold, which is the use of Thunderclap and Flash eight times repeatedly, to cut open the barrier. Upon summoning more tentacles, Zenitsu can again use his Thunderclap and Flash to achieve his desired results. Moreover, the demon slayer was struck by lightning before his hair turned blond, but the incident suggests that he has resistance to the same. So, if Zenitsu uses his trademark breathing style within the prison, it might so happen that the electrocuted water may not affect him. Instead, the high heat produced within the prison can evaporate the barrier. 

To counter Gyokko’s Ten Thousand Gliding Slime-Fish technique, Muichiro had completely relied on his speed and acrobatic techniques to avoid the demonic ability. While Zenitsu cannot the Mist Hashira’s Third Form that can remove any projectiles out of the way by creating a circular slash, Zenitsu can instead cut through the barrage of the carnivorous fishes at high speed while on ground and then jump or create an aerial distance to avoid the splattering of the poison.

Coming to Gyokko’s Blood Demon Art’s ultimate move, i.e., Killer Fish Scales, this one should be right up Zenitsu’s alley since overwhelming speed is his forte. However, given the potency of the technique, even if Zenitsu has to resort to Honoikazuchi no Kami, Gyokko’s beheading will be guaranteed. If a pre-Hashira Training arc Zenitsu could through Daki with the help of Inosuke, after the training, he alone should be enough to take down Gyokko.

Another possibility that may arise out of this face-off is the emergence of the Demon Slayer Mark, which often appears when a demon slayer is at the verge of death and fulfils certain requirements to activate it. Although not officially a Hashira, Zenitsu reaches the same level by the end of the manga, and if his comrade Tanjiro can activate his mark without having the Hashira affiliation, Zenitsu could also be a potential demon slayer to activate one. 

Supposedly, he gets pierced with the poisonous needles of the Thousand Needle Fish Kill technique, Mucihiro’s fight with Gyokko also showed that the poison may numb the muscles but since his status as a Hashira, the speed and endurance grants him the mobility. Plus, the Mist Hasira had awakened his mark at that point, so Zenitsu could probably achieve the same results with unlocking new powers at the face of death. In any case, the state may increase Zenitsu strength and speed by more, resulting in an unarguable victory.