Anime all-stars · Superhuman
DIO vs Tanjiro Kamado
A vampire who stops time meets a boy whose sword style is made of sunlight.
Tale of the tape
| JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure | Universe | Demon Slayer |
|---|---|---|
| Superhuman | Tier | Superhuman |
| Vampire strength, regeneration and The World, which stops time | Strength | Sun Breathing and a nose that smells openings |
| Sunlight, and the certainty that he can never lose | Weakness | Too kind to demons |
| 0–2 | Record on Versus | 2–2 |
The Arena
DIO woke inside an old mountain shrine in a country he did not recognise, and he was hungry. He smelled a village below, and a boy coming up the mountain path with a box on his back and a black sword at his hip. The boy stopped at the shrine gate and sniffed the air. “Demon,” Tanjiro said quietly. “A very old one.”
DIO laughed and stepped out into the moonlight. “Demon? I am something far greater than your demons, boy. I am DIO.” Tanjiro smelled him again: blood, arrogance, and a hundred years of killing. Beneath it, he smelled something he had never smelled on a demon before. No regret at all. Not even buried.
Tanjiro drew his sword. “Then I will cut you down before you reach the village.” DIO smiled. “You can try.”
Round One
Tanjiro attacked with Water Breathing, flowing strikes that cut DIO’s arm and shoulder. DIO healed instantly and answered with vampiric speed and strength, a kick that sent Tanjiro through the shrine’s wooden wall. The boy rolled up, gasping, his ribs aching. This demon was faster than any he had fought except the Upper Moons.
DIO summoned The World, his golden Stand, and its fists came down in a rush that Tanjiro could smell but not see. He dodged by scent alone, catching the rhythm of the attacks, but two blows landed and threw him across the courtyard. DIO strolled after him, entirely relaxed.
“You fight well for a human,” DIO said. “It is almost a shame to drink you.” Tanjiro wiped blood from his mouth and rose. The sky behind the mountains was starting to turn grey.
The Turn
DIO stopped time and walked up to the frozen boy, ready to end it. Then he paused. The black blade in Tanjiro’s hands was faintly warm, even in stopped time, and the air around it smelled of sunlight. DIO frowned and decided to be careful. He threw a dozen knives instead and let time resume.
Tanjiro felt the knives coming the instant time restarted and switched breathing styles. Hinokami Kagura, the Dance of the Fire God. His sword burst into flame the colour of sunrise, and he cut the knives out of the air in a single burning arc. DIO stepped back. The fire burned his eyes.
It was not ordinary fire. It was Sun Breathing, the technique created to kill the demon king himself. And to DIO’s flesh, it felt exactly like the dawn.
The Finish
DIO stopped time again and again, attacking from every angle, and Tanjiro took terrible wounds. But every time time resumed, the boy was still standing, still breathing in the steady rhythm of the Sun, and every burning strike that landed left wounds on DIO that refused to heal.
Then the first ray of real sunlight crested the mountain. DIO saw it coming and tried to stop time one last time, to flee into the shrine’s shadows. Tanjiro, who had smelled the panic before DIO even moved, was already between him and the darkness, his sword blazing.
Sunrise Countdown. Thirteen forms in one unbroken dance, the last landing just as the sun touched DIO’s face. The vampire screamed, burned and fell to ash on the shrine steps. Tanjiro sank to his knees, exhausted, and looked at the ash for a long time. “I hope,” he whispered, “that in your next life, you learn to feel sorry.”
The verdict
Tanjiro Kamado wins
DIO is faster, stronger and can stop time, but Tanjiro’s Sun Breathing burns like daylight on vampire flesh, his sense of smell reads DIO’s attacks, and the fight runs straight into sunrise.
- Sun BreathingA sword style that recreates sunlight, DIO’s fatal weakness.
- Sense of smellTanjiro reads attacks and intentions he cannot see.
- The clockDawn arrives before DIO can finish him.
How the rematch could go differently: At midnight, with hours of darkness ahead, DIO’s time stop would almost certainly finish Tanjiro before the sun could help.
Who do you think wins?
Who would win in a fight between DIO and Tanjiro Kamado?
Tanjiro Kamado wins. DIO is faster, stronger and can stop time, but Tanjiro’s Sun Breathing burns like daylight on vampire flesh, his sense of smell reads DIO’s attacks, and the fight runs straight into sunrise.