Chapter 97

I, Love, Chainsaw (愛・LOVE・チェンソー, Ai LOVE chensō) is the 97th Chapter of the Chainsaw Man Manga and the final chapter in the Public Safety Arc.

Summary
In a park, Kishibe sits on a bench drinking alcohol as Denji walks towards him, walking all 7 of Makima's dogs as Meowy sits on his head. Denji sits down next to Kishibe on the bench, letting a few young children come and play with the dogs as Meowy moves over to rest atop Kishibe. A young girl approaches them and says 'Doggies!'.

Denji tells Kishibe that he had eaten all of Makima, and that she hadn't revived -- Not in his stomach nor the toilet. Kishibe then asks Denji how he killed her despite the fact that attacks had no effect on her, to which Denji responds that he honestly didn't want to hurt Makima, and that him eating Makima and becoming one with her wasn't an attack, but rather love. Kishibe tells him that he probably just ended up accidently finding a way around her contract before asking Denji how he managed to attack Makima without her detecting him. Denji says that he had figured out Makima only perceived people through her sense of smell rather than their face, and that because of that he took a gamble; He bet that Makima only saw Chainsaw Man the entire time he'd known her, and never truly took notice of him.

The young girl moves closer to pet Cream Puff, leading Denji to tell her that he and Kishibe were having a top-secret conversation and that she needed to beat it, moving his hand as to try and swat her away. The young girl walks up to Denji before biting his index finger, quickly leading Denji to recognize her bite -- It was the same as Makima's. The young girl looks up at Denji, showing him that her eyes also had the same target-like pattern as Makima's. Kishibe tells Denji that the young girl had been recently discovered in China, and that he had stolen her and got her to Japan. He tells him that the young girl wasn't Makima, just the control devil, and that no memories from Makima were in the girl. He says that if they left the young girl in the hands of the Japanese government, she'd inevitably become just like Makima again. Denji tells Kishibe that he didn't really want to eat any more meat for a while before Kishibe ends off by telling Denji that he would be leaving the reborn control devil in his hands, as he was going to be really busy for the discernable future. Denji and the young girl have a stare-down, ending with the girl pointing at Denji and saying 'Doggy' and with Denji looking away, beginning to tell Kishibe that he wouldn't be taking the girl in as he realizes that the devil hunter had left.

Denji asks the young girl what her name was as she hops atop one of the dogs, to which she responds that her name was Nayuta. Denji sighs and asks her if she wanted anything to eat that wasn't meat. She responds that she wanted to eat sliced bread, prompting Denji to say that she was a pretty inexpensive devil to keep. Nayuta holds up a V-sign. Denji walks back to his apartment, walking the dogs with him as Nayuta rides on his back, her arms wrapped around his shoulders. Back at his apartment the two eat some sliced bread before falling asleep, with Nayuta sleeping in Denji's futon while Denji sleeps directly on the floor, using one of the dogs as a pillow as it sleeps around his head. The other dogs are shown sleeping on the floor around the room.

Denji begins to dream, the dog sleeping with him being replaced with Pochita within the dream as young Denji opens his eyes, holding Pochita as the two sit within the shed they lived in during Denji's time with the mafia. Pochita tells Denji that his dream was to be hugged by someone, as his strength made it hard for anyone to want to hug him. Pochita thanks Denji for making his dream come true. Pochita asks Denji if he could fulfill the Control Devil's dream too -- A dream of building equal relationships with other people. Makima had this dream, but couldn't accomplish it since she only knew relationships formed through the power of fear, and because of that grew yearning for something like a family. Despite this she had tried to accomplish this dream, though her steps towards doing so were unjust. Pochita tells Denji that he wanted him to make that dream come true for Nayuta, to which Denji asks Pochita how he was supposed to do that. Pochita says that it could be done through giving her lots of hugs.

At some point in the future, a large, deformed devil rampages through the streets of Tokyo as several dozen citizens run from it. Several rumors about Chainsaw Man are shown: That he had killed another devil, that killing devils was just his hobby, that he only saved girls, a question of if he was truly human, and that he was a high school student. Standing against the crowd, Denji stands wearing a school uniform as he faces the devil and pulls down on his chest cord.

Characters

 * Denji
 * Kishibe
 * Nayuta
 * Pochita