WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Chainsaw Man #96 by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Amanda Haley and Sabrina Heep, available in English now from Viz Media.
It turns out Denji did have a plan after all when he went for his Makima rematch alone in a field of graves. He also had plans for dinner. The penultimate chapter of Chainsaw Man Part 1 is filled with all the wild action and twists readers have come to expect from the series, but its sickest scene is actually it's one of its most low-key: at the end of the chapter, Denji is seen eating Makima's remains.
How does Chapter #96 reach this point? It opens with Makima affectionately holding Denji's heart, or rather, Chainsaw Man. When her guard is finally down, her first words tell us that she wishes to live a happy life together with Chainsaw Man. Of course, she really wants to utilize Chainsaw's power to create a utopia, but for a moment, she's behaving like an obsessive young girl in love.
It's revealed the "Denji" Makima was fighting was actually Pochita as Chainsaw Man. Denji was able to function separately from Pochita (his heart) for a brief time, which allowed him to catch Makima off guard. Ironically, for all the trash-talking Makima did at the start of the fight, she was actually dissing her idol without even realizing it. To throw some icing on the cake, Denji ultimately deals the final blow to Makima as himself, the person she blew off as inconsequential, using a weapon made from Power, whom she savagely murdered in the past.
The final panels of the chapter reveal more on a second read. When Denji is talking about "becoming one" with Makima, he's not being poetic. When he comments on her taste, it's not a romantic metaphor. Denji is actually eating Makima's remains. At the end of the fight, Denji apologizes to Makima for what he's about to do. The author quickly cuts away from this and skips to the next scene with Kishibe, but it's in the time between that Denji is preparing to cut up Makima. Directly before this, Denji sees Kishibe pull up to the gravesite and says "Master's here to pick us up." Denji isn't leaving Makima there to die. She's coming with him... in pieces.
Not only did Denji defeat Makima as himself, but he also eats Makima as himself. Remember, Makima stated at one point that if she was going to lose to Chainsaw Man, she wanted the honor of being eaten by him, the one she idolizes most. Denji is essentially denying her that dream by eating her as himself. Not only did he beat her in battle after being underestimated, but then he throws salt on the wound and denies Makima her dream death as well. She won't be a part of the Chainsaw Devil. Instead, she'll be a part of Denji.
What happens now? Not even Denji and Kishibe know. Yes, Denji is eating Makima, but since he's not doing it as the Chainsaw Devil, we don't know if it'll actually be effective in permanently erasing her from existence. Even in tiny pieces, it's possible that Makima can come back from this. After all, there's still the contract she had with the prime minister of Japan.
However, Denji seems confident that the chainsaw formed from Power's ability and its blood manipulating properties are enough to prevent Makima's regeneration; or at least slow it. Even if digesting her negates her regeneration and ends her, will the concept of "control" disappear along with her? What will a world without control even look like? With how much Fujimoto packed into this chapter, it's possible he could fit the answers to all of these questions in the next chapter, though he could also save some mysteries for Part 2.
