"I should pay more attention in the future. After all, they are members of my Eleventh Division. It wouldn't be good if they were taken by Aizen as material for the Hōgyoku... It seems I need to go out and move around more. With luck, I might even get to beat up that guy Aizen again..."

With these thoughts, Ailin left the Seireitei and headed towards the Rukongai Districts, going in the direction of Zaraki's spiritual pressure.

As Ailin expected, Zaraki was either fighting or searching for a fight. When Ailin arrived at Zaraki's location, he happened to encounter Zaraki battling a bald man.

Behind the bald man stood a flamboyant male clutching his stomach.

Ailin knew the names of these two men - Ikkaku Madarame and his good friend Yumichika Ayasegawa.

Crossing his arms, Ailin walked up beside Yumichika and shook his head as he watched Zaraki and Ikkaku fighting.

"Tsk, small fries squabbling..."

"Hm? Who's there?"

Hearing Ailin's voice, Yumichika was startled and immediately jumped away from where he had been standing, eyeing Ailin warily.

"Who is this guy? How long has he been here? If he hadn't spoken up, I wouldn't have even noticed someone else was here."

Glancing at Ikkaku fighting Zaraki, Yumichika felt anxious.

At a time like this, having an unknown powerful person appear beside him was very dangerous.

Yumichika slowly placed his hand on the hilt of his sword at his waist.

If this guy wearing the white haori dared to attack Ikkaku who was fighting, he would absolutely not back down.

Sensing Yumichika's action, Ailin glanced at him sideways.

"!"

"So terrifying..."

Yumichika froze, large beads of cold sweat dripping down his forehead.

Just one glance made Yumichika clearly realize the gap between himself and this man was as vast as an ant drifting and the bright moon.

Unlike Ikkaku Madarame, who, like Zaraki, reveled in the joy of battle.

Even knowing the difference in their strength, Ikkaku would still draw his weapon and charge at his enemy to fight.

Yumichika was much more sensible. When faced with an opponent he couldn't defeat, Yumichika preferred to flee.

It's just that, knowing Ikkaku's personality, Yumichika often feigned the same battle lust as Ikkaku.

Well, of course, to Yumichika, he could lose a fight, but his hairstyle must absolutely not be messed up. Victory or defeat was but a fleeting moment, while beauty is eternal.

"Don't worry, young one. I have no interest in bullying you."

Ailin took a few steps forward and slowly raised his left hand, placing his index finger on Yumichika's chest.

"You see, if I wanted, my hand could pierce through your heart at any time..."

Yumichika's pupils shrank. This man...so terrifying... Am I going to die?

Just as Yumichika was terrified, Ailin suddenly smiled at him.

"Just kidding."

Withdrawing his hand, Ailin ignored the frightened Yumichika and continued watching Zaraki and Ikkaku's battle.

Although the battle between the two looked like small fries squabbling to Ailin, he had to admit that after his few fights with Zaraki, Zaraki had regained much of his original strength.

Even with the eyepatch suppressing his spiritual pressure to around a captain's level, Zaraki's current strength far surpassed when Ailin had first defeated him.

Especially Zaraki's swordsmanship - in his battles with Ailin, Zaraki had unconsciously started imitating Ailin's sword techniques.

Compared to the "way of the sword" that Captain-Commander Yamamoto wanted to teach him, Zaraki's instincts felt that Ailin's sword style suited him better.

Cut everything, sever anything!

Of course, the current Zaraki could not reach that level yet. Well, not even Ailin could do that yet.

Perhaps only by forging Oetsu Nimaiya's “Sayafushi” Zanpakutō could Ailin fully master such a "way of the sword."

However, learning Ailin's sword style also made each of Zaraki's sword strikes faster and more powerful.

Under Zaraki's attacks, Ikkaku had no ability to resist.

With each of Zaraki's strikes, Ikkaku was forced back dozens of meters. His legs had already carved countless intersecting deep trenches into the ground.

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However, Ikkaku was also a tough guy. Even with his feet ground down to the bone by the trenches, he never evaded Zaraki's attacks, defiantly meeting his sword with his own.

Ailin's arrival was undetectable by Ikkaku and Yumichika, but Zaraki could sense it.

At this point, Zaraki had lost interest in continuing to fight Ikkaku. He raised his Zanpakutō high and swung it down fiercely.

"Shh!"

This time, Zaraki's strike was so powerful that Ikkaku couldn't retreat or deflect it in time. His sword was directly cut in two, and a huge gash opened from his left chest down to his right abdomen.

Thump...

"Ikkaku!"

Amidst Yumichika's scream, Ikkaku fell to the ground.

Sheathing his Zanpakutō, Zaraki didn't even look at Ikkaku before turning to walk towards Ailin.

But as he passed Ikkaku's body, Ikkaku reached out with his right hand and grabbed Zaraki's foot.

"Hey, you bastard, are you looking down on me? Why don't you just kill me?"

Although severely injured, Ikkaku found Zaraki's dismissive attitude even harder to accept than being killed.

"Brat, do you want to die that badly?"

"I don't want to die, but living on due to my enemy's mercy is worse than death for me."

"Tch... Rest assured, that last strike wasn't me going easy on you! Your survival instinct just made your body flinch back a bit, allowing you to barely survive my sword. Otherwise, you'd have been cut in two."

With that, Zaraki spat and shook off Ikkaku's hand, heading towards Ailin.

"What, you come looking for me for some reason?"

Although his fighting spirit flared, Zaraki didn't immediately attack Ailin.

It wasn't time for their decennial fight yet, there were still a few years left.

"Yeah, I feel like the Soul Society hasn't been too peaceful lately. Someone might be doing something dangerous in the shadows. I don't want members of my Eleventh Division dying not on the battlefield, but from sneak attacks and ambushes.

So from now on, pay a bit more attention. If anything seems off, just release your full spiritual pressure and I'll be there as soon as possible."

"Tch, you're really annoying, you know that?"

Hearing Ailin's lack of faith in his strength, Zaraki snorted and turned to leave.

Did this guy really think he could die so easily, even against such enemies?

How vexing.

Unfortunately, his strength wasn't up to it, and Zaraki wasn't the type to just brag.

"Yachiru, let's go."

Yachiru then appeared from somewhere and flash-stepped onto Zaraki's shoulder, waving at Ailin.

"Bye Captain Ailin."

"Ah, bye Yachiru."

Ailin smiled in response.

Yachiru Kusajishi...

Zaraki, hurry up and get stronger. Strong enough that you don't need to release your Zanpakutō to tear all your enemies apart. Otherwise, you might really never see Yachiru again in the future.

I think if you do release your Zanpakutō, you probably wouldn't want to release it either, once you realize the consequences. The spirit of a Zanpakutō is different from a constant companion by your side...

"Wait, who are you guys? How could you possibly be so strong?"

Just as Ailin was about to turn and leave, the injured Ikkaku propped up by Yumichika shouted after him.

"Oh? Didn't you already know from the clothes we're wearing? We're Shinigami."

Ailin paused and turned back to smile at them.

"You two kids, the world is very big. If you don't step out of the well, you'll never know how vast the heavens and earth are. If you're interested, come join the Eleventh Division in the Seireitei. There, you might get to see even more sights."

With that, Ailin ignored them once more.

Given Ikkaku's personality, knowing the Shinigami's strength, he would absolutely not pass up the chance to become one.

If Ikkaku went, his good friend Yumichika would follow.

The Eleventh Division would soon gain two more capable members.

It's just a pity that the current Ikkaku and Yumichika hadn't yet become Shinigami, and the swords they carried weren't Zanpakutō.

Otherwise, Ailin could have acquired two more captain-level Zanpakutō. Well, Ikkaku's was hopeless, but Yumichika's Ruri'iro Kujaku Zanpakutō was exceptionally outstanding.

Watching Ailin's departing back, Ikkaku's eyes twitched involuntarily. They didn't recognize the haori Ailin wore. But they'd seen the Shihakushō on Zaraki before on other Shinigami.

However, compared to those Shinigami Ikkaku easily defeated, Zaraki was far stronger. It was precisely because of those Shinigami's poor showings that Ikkaku had thought Shinigami were nothing special.

Zaraki's strength made Ikkaku completely overlook his Shihakushō. Now it seemed the issue wasn't that Shinigami weren't strong, but rather that the Shinigami they'd encountered before were too weak.

To Ikkaku and Yumichika, Zaraki's strength already qualified as the "strongest" they'd seen. But Zaraki's deference towards Ailin made the two realize this white haori-wearing man was even stronger than the one who'd fought Ikkaku.

This guy was clearly more formidable than the man Zaraki had battled.

"Shinigami, huh? Hey, Yumichika."

"Ah, got it, let's become Shinigami..."

***

At the Fourth Division Relief Station, Tokinada Tsunayashiro stared at the child's remains suspended in a green nutrient fluid, lost in thought. This remnant was Tokinada’s proud creation.

After becoming the head of the Tsunayashiro clan and gaining access to their secrets, Tokinada ambitions were ignited.

However, with the "strongest Shinigami in a thousand years" still around suppressing the Seireitei, even if Tokinada obtained the Tsunayashiro clan's inherited "invincible" Zanpakutō, he didn't think he was a match for that great person.

Rebelling openly under that person's nose was tantamount to seeking death. But Tokinada couldn't just submissively bow his head either. So he set his sights on the "Soul King's power" that the Tsunayashiro clan had researched for over a million years.

However, the Tsunayashiro clan's initial goal wasn't to collect the Soul King's power, but to "remove" it, weakening the Soul King so it could no longer retaliate against them.

As a result, most of those powers scattered into the human world, giving rise to the tragic existence of "Fullbringers."

To reclaim these "Soul King's powers," Tokinada almost exterminated all the Fullbringers in the human world and pinned the blame on the Shinigami.

Until he encountered the Soul King's "Seal," Aura Michibane, Tokinada conceived an even more outrageous idea.

He wanted to create a "Soul King" under his control.

In the Soul Society realm, whether Shinigami, Quincy, Fullbringer or Hollow, the source of their power was absorbing reiryoku with their Saketsu, then kneading and locking it within their bodies to mold it into spiritual power under their control.

As the Soul King's "Seal," though Aura Michibane couldn't perform her Fullbring without her "beloved object," her very existence possessed the ability to "bind" everything together.

So under Tokinada machinations, Aura Michibane became a "tool" under his command. And using the Seal's power, he fused the remains of Fullbringers, Shinigami and Hollows into this abomination.

Gazing at this undead abomination, Tokinada reached out and extracted a mass of spiritual energy from it.

"The Soul King's power is the ultimate force... Right now this thing only has the power of Fullbring, Shinigami and Hollow. It's still missing the Quincy's power to be truly complete.

In that case, I'll conduct an experiment first using these three powers. If successful, with two 'Soul Kings,' how can that old man Yamamoto defeat me?"

With that, Tokinada waved his hand, opening the Tsunayashiro clan's Senkaimon, and his figure vanished within...

After decades of war, the human world had regained peace. Moreover, people developed rapidly in this era of peace.

At the very least, Tokinada had already discovered buildings taller than any in the Seireitei in the human cities below...

Sensing a pregnant woman in the city, Tokinada discreetly infused the mass of spirit particles into the fetus within her...