There are a lot of mysteries lingering around our coolest sensei Gojo Satoru. One of these mysteries is his ability to fly or hover around the air, which is not normal in the Jujutsu Kaisen World. There have been instances of Jujutsu Sorcerer flying, like Momo Nishimiya riding her broomsticks and Geto Suguru riding a flying-type Cursed Spirit. But none of these is more intriguing than Gojo Satoru casually floating in the air.
There is neither a formal statement from the author Gege Akutami nor a mention of the mechanics behind it in the manga so we could only speculate based on the known abilities that Gojo Satoru has shown so far.
How Can Gojo Fly?
There are two possible explanations for Gojo Satoru’s ability to fly. These are:
1. Stepping on Infinity
We know that one of Gojo’s Jujutsu techniques is Limitless. His technique allows him to manifest and control space at will. Another technique is called Infinity, which allows him to bend space so that everything that approaches it slows down. This creates a seemingly invisible barrier around Gojo Satoru that protects him against anything he sets it to filter.
The first time we see Gojo Satoru flying or suspended in the air is during his fight against the Special Grade Cursed Spirit Jogo. At first, it just seems like the intensity of the Jujutsu Techniques they use in the fight and their physical capabilities are what put him at such an awkward height. But later on, we can see him actually floating in the air while carrying Itadori like a sack of rice. He is nonchalantly suspended in the air with the tip of his feet barely touching the water’s surface, creating multiple ripples in the process. They then proceed to stand on top of the water, which makes Itadori wonder why they are not sinking.
The plausible explanation for this is Gojo manifests Infinity on the surface of the water so that Itadori can comfortably stand while watching him fight against Jogo. Their feet are not in an awkward position, instead lying flat horizontally above the water like how they normally should when standing above a flat surface, which indicates that they are actually standing on something invisible – Infinity. On the other hand, Jogo is on the more shallow part of the lake with his feet submerged up to the ankle.
2. Pushing Himself Up Through Repulsion
During the Hidden Inventory Arc, Gojo Satoru faces Toji Fushiguro in a death match where he experiences near death. On the brink of death, Gojo realizes the concept of Reverse Cursed Energy, wherein the naturally “negative” Cursed Energy is multiplied by each other in order to make a “positive” Cursed Energy. This can be used to heal wounds and, unknowingly, is the type of Cursed Energy required to use one of his Cursed Techniques, giving birth to more possibilities.
The Cursed Technique that requires a positive Cursed Energy is the Cursed Technique Reversal: Red. It is essentially a Cursed Technique that manifests a force of repulsion.
We know that Gojo is a genius and the type of person that wouldn’t pass on the opportunity to improve. After only one year of learning the concept of positive Cursed Energy, Gojo already incorporated it into his Infinity making it automatic and constantly activated. He learned and mastered the Reverse Cursed Technique by constantly healing his brain to keep it fresh, indicating how good his skills are in manipulating Cursed Energy.
Using this as a base, Gojo most likely used the concept of Repulsion to keep himself afloat. Constantly applying just enough force of Repulsion against the ground to cancel out the force of gravity impending him into the air. His feet are pointing slightly diagonal which is the natural posture of feet when in a relaxed state indicating that Gojo is not stepping on something and is just plainly suspended.
Can Gojo Fly Using “Attraction”?
The first Cursed Technique that Gojo Satoru learned is the Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue. This technique uses Cursed Energy to create an Attraction. Gojo uses Cursed Energy to create a negative distance in the area resulting in a vacuum that will then produce the “Attraction” force. It is a Cursed Technique with a wide area of effect and is quite devastating unlike its counterpart the repulsion which is a single-target Cursed Technique. It is capable of turning a whole house into a ball of rubble indiscriminately which means it will attract everything within its range including human beings.
In the Hidden Inventory Arc, despite being born gifted with the Limitless and Six Eyes, Gojo only knows Jujutsu Techniques Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue and Infinite. He can also perform the maximum output of the Blue which indicates that Gojo already reached the pinnacle of his technique and the only thing he can do in order to push his techniques to a greater height is by increasing his Cursed Energy output. And despite all of that, we have never seen Gojo fly and fight primarily on the ground with lesser mobility.
After learning the Reverse Cursed Technique, Gojo unlocked the opposite of Attraction – Repulsion. His fight against Toji at that time was much more agile than the previous one. Gojo even performed Cursed Technique midair, eventually defeating Toji. A year after that, he pushed the technique again to the limit which resulted in his Infinity being turned automatic and the constant healing of his brain using the Reverse Cursed Technique – a great improvement that made even the Special Grade Sorcerer Geto Suguru inferior.
Even though we can’t rule out the possibility that Gojo can already fly with his force of Attraction in the Hidden Inventory Arc, Gojo is given a lot of opportunities to use his flight in different circumstances. But he did otherwise. He always pushed his Jujutsu Techniques to the limit coming up with different utilization of his Limitless Technique but he didn’t use his flight during the time when he only knew Attraction. This means he is incapable of using his force of Attraction to fly. He may have also felt reluctant to derive flight from Attraction since a bit more Attraction would mean that he will be engulfed by his own technique and turn into a ball of flesh.