Whether it's a mule or a horse, you have to take it out and trot it—no matter how pretty the talk, on the mat you show the truth.
Roy didn't object to joining the Demon Slayer Corps. In fact, once he graduated, if he wanted to kill more demons and gather "life energy," he'd need the Corps' intelligence network to back him.
If the Ubuyashiki family wanted a look, he'd let them look. Of course… before that—
"Brother, I have one condition."
Roy looked calmly at Tomioka Giyu. "Once I join, I want a complete list and dossiers on all known demons."
Beyond the ones from the tale—the Hand Demon, the Swamp Demon, the Temari Demon, the Arrow Demon, the family of spider demons led by Lower Five Rui on Natagumo Mountain, and the rest of the Lower and Upper Moons—Roy wanted every demon the Corps had on file.
Take a feather as the goose flies—not a drop of life energy wasted.
Giyu fell silent. Sabito glanced at him and, without a ripple, asked Roy, "What do you intend?"
Makomo, Shinsuke, Fukuda, and the rest looked on. And then—Urokodaki, who seemed to sense something beneath Roy's words.
The old man looked long and deep at him…
Roy stroked the short blade and smiled, showing white teeth. "Wipe out evil to the roots. If it's a demon, it dies—I plan to kill them all, and give the world safe nights again."
As expected, Urokodaki thought.
Sabito and Makomo exchanged looks—unsure what to say…
Giyu froze for a moment—remembering the day he was acknowledged by the Master as a Hashira and permitted to engrave "Destroy Demons" into his Nichirin. Looking at the boy now, he felt a moment's daze.
Because of his sister; because of Sabito; because of the countless scenes of demons eating people—he too had once harbored this very thought. But once he became a true demon slayer, he learned how absurd—how impossible—that vow truly was.
"It's… very hard," Urokodaki said. An old Water Pillar, he understood the bent of the young—but facts remained facts.
"You cannot kill them all—unless you kill Kibutsuji Muzan."
He wasn't wrong. Becoming a demon only required one thing: withstanding Muzan's blood. And the more of it you endured, the stronger you'd be.
By contrast, to cultivate a single mature Corps member capable of resisting ordinary demons took years—three, five, ten…
Even so—
"Your heart's in the right place," Urokodaki added quickly, lest he douse the boy's fire.
Roy sipped his tea without a word. He knew the truth—he simply wasn't killing fast enough.
Cut down Muzan's dearest Upper Moons, and Roy didn't believe Muzan would sit idle.
"I can't promise that on my own." Giyu gathered himself and met Roy's eyes. "I'll petition the Master when I return and do everything I can."
"Your word is enough," Roy said, standing, the path clear in his mind. Power won permissions in the end…
He lifted the short blade and spun a single clean flower-stroke, smiling at Giyu. "No time like the present, Brother. Please."
Giyu held the boy's gaze, rose, set a hand on his Nichirin, slid the door back, and stepped into the mountain dark ahead.
"Whoosh—" A cold wind followed. Shinsuke and Fukuda, circling slyly, called to Roy: "Rōichirō—hurry up! Old place!"
Roy smiled, turned to Urokodaki. "Master—what about you?"
"I'll sit this one out," the old Water Pillar said, finishing his tea and taking up his knife. "I'll wait here."
He went and sat on the stump and began to carve. Old eyes blur sooner than one likes; he fretted that someday he might be late to send a disciple off. At least—at the very least—he must finish before he sent Rōichirō to the Fujikasane exam.
"Go on," Sabito said, clapping Roy's shoulder. "Let Makomo sit with Master."
"No, I'm watching," Makomo called, already streaking out the door. "I'll come back after!"
Sabito: "…"
He shook his head, helpless. This time Roy clapped his shoulder. "It's fine. It'll be quick."
Sabito: "?"
He peered at the boy.
Roy tightened his grip on the short blade, said nothing more, and walked out—unhurried, like it was no joke at all.
"One by one—you leave me speechless," the fox-masked youth muttered, then floated up after him…
Ten minutes later—on the opposite banks of a waterfall—Roy and Tomioka faced each other across thirty meters of white rush, each standing on a broad green stone.
"Whoosh—" Shinsuke and Fukuda each picked themselves a tree. Sabito came last, drifting up to touch a birch's tip—and settled beside Makomo.
Then Tomioka spoke, edges smooth but firm. "I hear you haven't learned Breathing. To keep it fair, I won't use it either."
An "assessment," not a fight to the death—Giyu would not lean on technique to bully Roy. However—
"That was two days ago," Roy said, slowly drawing the short blade. He ran two fingers along the spine and narrowed his eyes. "Master taught me yesterday. Please—do your utmost. Don't hold back."
…?
Giyu blinked at the boy—and stole a glance at Sabito. Sabito nodded, still unable to quite believe it himself. "It's true.
"Master taught him yesterday."
So it wasn't that Master's letter had been careless—it was that this little junior changed daily—progress so fast even Master couldn't keep up with his own reporting?
Giyu remembered the detailed progress chart attached after New Year—the one about Roy's sword practice. His expression settled; he drew his Nichirin.
Shiiing— Steel against scabbard—sweet iron-song.
DESTROY DEMONS gleamed cold and pale.
"Good," he said—but nothing more.
Eyes met—the boy's opening cut was a flying slash—in a blink it crossed the gorge, arcing for Giyu's chest!
The span was nearly thirty meters.
Giyu's pupils pinched. Wasn't it only ten?
He knew then his guess had been right—from Master's New Year letter to now, the boy had leapt forward again.
A flying slash of thirty meters—shocking.
"Water Breathing, First Form—Water Surface Slash!"
Hushhh—
A run of water whispered forth—hand to hilt; hilt to steel; steel to the water's surge—Giyu cut across, found the slash's heart, caught it on the blade, and lifted.
The slash turned and sailed high—
In that instant, his ears pricked—footfalls on water. He glanced aside—
Roy came skimming across on a perfected Silent Gait, and mirrored the Water Surface Slash straight for Giyu's heart—fluid, unhesitating. It didn't look at all like something learned yesterday.
~~~
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