Jujutsu Kaisen's Merger may have already begun, with Kenjaku's words and Megumi's awakening being the keys

Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 268, which was released earlier last week, marked the decisive conclusion of the Shinjuku Showdown arc. However, it also left the majority of the fandom feeling disappointed, as it dashed quite a lot of their hopes of witnessing some of the major unresolved plotlines and unanswered questions being addressed before the manga's imminent end.

One major complaint that fans have with the manga's current direction, is that it completely disregarded the threat of the merger being activated. It was a plotline that the series had been building up to for quite some time, but was ultimately left out from the narrative. With the manga being only three chapters away from its conclusion, fans are reasonably worried about the direction of the story.

As such, a fan, on a popular Jujutsu Kaisen community on Reddit, recently proposed an intriguing theory regarding the series' ending. According to them, the merger may have already begun without anyone's knowledge, with Megumi's awakening in chapter 268 and Kenjaku's last words all but confirming it.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers from the Jujutsu Kaisen series.

Jujutsu Kaisen: Popular fan theory suggests that Sukuna may have already activated the merger

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Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 268 not only saw the curtains falling on the Shinjuku Showdown arc, but it also featured Ryomen Sukuna's long-awaited defeat at the hands of Yuji Itadori, which some fans deemed to be a bit anticlimactic.

For the longest time, Gege Akutami had been building up to The Merger being the endgame for his magnum opus. At least, that is what the majority of the fans had anticipated to happen after Sukuna was ultimately defeated.

If the story ended up going in this direction, as many had predicted, it would cement Jujutsu Kaisen as one of the few shonen series to conclude on a dark and depressing note.

Master Tengen as seen in the manga (image via Gege Akutami, Shueisha)

The Merger in Jujutsu Kaisen basically refers to Master Tengen fusing with all of humanity in Japan. The results of this merger would be unfathomably catastrophic, since Tengen merging with all of humanity within Japan would lead to the creation of an all-powerful and evil Cursed Spirit, that could probably ravage the entire world.

It is something that Kenjaku had been planning to achieve for over a thousand years, as he believed that it could lead to Cursed Energy being optimized to its most refined degree, thereby resulting in humanity reaching the next stage in evolution.

That said, Kenjaku later revealed that his main motive for seeking to activate the merger was to simply satisfy his own curiosity, as he wanted to see what shape the merger would take upon activation.

Kenjaku as seen in the anime (image via MAPPA)

According to u/Adventurous_Dealer31 on the r/Jujutsufolk community on Reddit, the merger may have already been activated, and the current developments of the story as seen in Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 268 are happening in the rift between dreams and reality, aka the Cursed Realm.

The user started off their theory by stating that in his final moments, Kenjaku had claimed that his will would be inherited, which likely referred to him passing on his will to Sukuna, who held the key for activating the merger after consuming Tengen.

Given that the majority of the fans may have forgotten about this development due to the current events of the story, the user claimed that they believed that this development would come to a full circle in the upcoming chapters of the Jujutsu Kaisen manga.

The user further said that Sukuna may have activated the merger at some point during his battle against the Jujutsu Tech sorcerers. It is also possible that when Sukuna felt his hold on Megumi's body weakening from Yuji's attacks, he activated the merger as a failsafe for his defeat.

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Additionally, in his final moments, Sukuna mocked Yuji for being a fool and declared that he was and would be a Curse till the very end. While his final words may be nothing more than words of contempt, it could also refer to the fact that he had already foreseen his defeat, and had opted to die as a curse by activating the merger and taking down all of humanity with him.

Another aspect of the recent developments that the user focused on was Megumi's awakening in Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 268, as they claimed that the narrative immediately switching to him waking up right after Sukuna's defeat was a bit too sudden and jarring to some extent.

As such, the events that took place following Sukuna's death might be nothing more than a mere dream sequence that Megumi is currently envisioning while being trapped inside the merger alongside his allies.

The user concluded their theory by saying that if the series went down this route in the upcoming chapters, it could have an open ending with no definitive conclusion as to what really happened after the activation of the merger. They also believed that this direction would make the abrupt ending of the series more sensible.

Regardless, if Gege Akutami does go down this route, it would undoubtedly solidify Jujutsu Kaisen as one of the few shonen series to end on a bleak note with the villains' victory and the heroes' demise.

UPDATE: With the release of chapter 269, it seems less likely that the Merger has begun or will begin in the future. The latest chapter saw all the surviving sorcerers discussing about how they could've handled the fight against Sukuna differently. We also see that Higurama and Yuta are alive and well. However, there are still some chapters left, and Gege can't be completely trusted to not pull a sudden plot twist.

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