"Interesting..."
In the 1st Division's training ground, Zaraki looked at Byakuya ahead, the corner of his mouth lifting.
"I remember you."
"Among that group, you barely managed to pique my interest a bit."
Zaraki was referring to the times he sparred with the members in the 11th Division.
At that time, Byakuya had already risen to the Third Seat in the 11th Division and, along with Ikkaku and Yumichika, was considered a main combatant against Zaraki.
"Come on, kid."
"Let me see what kind of surprise you can bring me."
Facing Zaraki's slight, Byakuya held no objection.
He knew Zaraki's strength.
Although his own improvement during this period was significant, the distance to Zaraki was still vast.
But no matter what, he had completed his Zanpakuto's Bankai training and his combat power had reached Captain-level.
Even if there was still a large gap with Zaraki, he was much stronger than when he, along with Ikkaku and Yumichika, ganged up on Zaraki.
Taking a deep breath, Byakuya drew the Zanpakuto at his waist.
Holding the Zanpakuto upside down, Byakuya released his grip, letting it fall.
When his Zanpakuto hit the ground, it didn't stick into it. Instead, the ground, under his Reiatsu, rippled like water, completely swallowing his Zanpakuto.
In the next instant, ripples spread across the ground on both sides of Byakuya. Countless massive blades emerged from the earth, then transformed into innumerable tiny cherry blossom-colored sword fragments.
Simultaneously, Byakuya spoke his Zanpakuto's release command.
"Bankai: Senbonzakura Kageyoshi!"
A sakura-colored Reiatsu erupted from Byakuya.
The billions of cherry blossom-like blades swirled around him and, under his control, surged towards Zaraki!
The Captains observing the battle couldn't help but feel slightly surprised.
"To think Byakuya used Bankai right from the start..."
"Indeed. Even for us, Bankai is our strongest trump card."
"But even so, using Bankai immediately..."
"Perhaps Byakuya knows the gap in strength between himself and Lieutenant Zaraki..."
"If he didn't use Bankai immediately, he probably wouldn't last long against Lieutenant Zaraki."
Among the many Captains, only the recently promoted 7th Division's Captain, Komamura Sajin, was unaware of Zaraki's fearsomeness.
Hearing the conversation between Kyoraku and the others, Sajin moved closer to his close friend and asked Tosen, "Tosen, is the 11th Division's Lieutenant Zaraki that strong?"
Tosen was silent for a moment before finally saying one sentence to Sajin.
"Komamura, this guy is a monster!"
Feeling his Reiatsu surge six or sevenfold, Byakuya felt slightly reassured.
As the veteran Captains like Kyoraku had said, Byakuya was deeply aware of the vast gap in strength between himself and Zaraki.
If he didn't bring out his true strength immediately, he probably couldn't even stir Zaraki's fighting spirit.
In that case, Zaraki might lose interest in fighting him and defeat him outright.
The best way to fight Zaraki was to display strength that would please him.
That way, to enjoy the battle, Zaraki wouldn't go all out immediately but would use strength comparable to his opponent to savor the fight.
Byakuya waved his right hand. Instantly, the billions of blades surrounding him surged towards Zaraki like a sakura-colored deluge.
Byakuya's Senbonzakura could control the flight of these billions of cherry blossom-sized blades with mere thought. Both attack and defense were variations of 'flight'.
If Byakuya used his hands to assist in controlling the blades, their flight speed would double!
Speed is power!
As a user of light-based abilities, Kyoya had the highest authority on this.
It was just that the individual blades of Byakuya's Senbonzakura were too small. If they were larger, doubling their speed could multiply Senbonzakura's attack power several times over.
Even so, under the control of Byakuya's hands, the attack power of the Senbonzakura deluge increased by at least fifty percent.
But increased flight speed didn't just enhance attack power; it also allowed Byakuya's control over Senbonzakura to be more refined.
Think about it: both attack and defense speeds doubling meant Byakuya's overall combat power increased by at least three times.
"Heh, interesting!"
Facing Byakuya's attack, Zaraki showed no defensive posture.
Instead, he spread his arms, allowing his body to endure more blade damage.
For Zaraki, slaughter and battle were enjoyment.
Therefore, usually, when facing an enemy's first attack, especially from a weaker opponent, Zaraki wouldn't defend.
If the enemy couldn't even cut through the Reiatsu on his surface, Zaraki would have almost no desire to fight them.
After all, only those who could mutually inflict damage could be called 'opponents' or 'enemies'.
If only he could deal fatal damage to the other party, while the other party couldn't leave a single scratch on him even going all out, such a battle would be too boring.
Similarly, based on the damage he received from the attack, Zaraki would decide how much of his strength to release to enjoy the battle.
Likewise, although Byakuya's strength had entered the Captain-level after Bankai, how much strength Zaraki would use still depended on his performance.
The endless deluge of sakura petals bombarded Zaraki, cutting numerous gashes in his Shihakusho.
More sakura blades struck Zaraki through these openings.
Boom-
Sajin, seeing this, was startled.
Byakuya's attack would severely injure even him if hit.
'This Lieutenant Zaraki of the 11th Division was just letting Byakuya attack him like this...'
'Although Tosen had called Lieutenant Zaraki a 'monster', was this really okay?'
Fortunately, Sajin didn't see worried expressions on the faces of the surrounding Captains, so he suppressed his urge to intervene and settled down to watch with the others.
"Hahahaha, hahahaha..."
Within the sakura deluge, Zaraki suddenly burst into loud laughter.
The joy in that laughter was palpable even to the observing Captains.
Even Kyoya couldn't help but shake his head.
'It seemed that since their last battle, Zaraki had been suffering from severe pent-up frustration.'
Byakuya's attack, if it had occurred before Zaraki's fight with Kyoya, wouldn't have elicited such a strong reaction.
'Presumably, Zaraki might prolong this battle to thoroughly enjoy this hard-won happiness.'
'Byakuya was probably going to suffer a bit.'
However, Kyoya wasn't worried.
Byakuya's current strength wasn't enough to excite Zaraki to the point of losing control over his power.
Over the years, every time Zaraki challenged Kyoya, his strength would leap tremendously after recovery.
In Kyoya's view, Zaraki's current strength even surpassed that of his Hueco Mundo Arc self.
Byakuya, on the other hand, had just stepped into the Captain-level threshold. The gap between him and Zaraki was at least a hundred years!
This gap was, roughly, the difference between Hitsugaya and Kyoraku during the Gotei 13's battle with Aizen in Karakura Town decades later.
Boom-
A golden Reiatsu erupted from Zaraki.
The almost materialized Reiatsu directly scattered the sakura deluge around him, causing it to fall like petals.
Even, many of the sakura blades were directly destroyed by Zaraki's powerful Reiatsu, annihilated completely.
After all, the billions of sakura blades controlled by Byakuya were merely his Reiatsu transformed through Senbonzakura's ability.
Their essence was still Reiatsu.
Facing Zaraki's even stronger Reiatsu, the blades being destroyed wasn't surprising.
After the sakura deluge dispersed, Zaraki's bloodied figure appeared before everyone.
But those watching weren't worried about Zaraki's disheveled state.
Despite his appearance, his Reiatsu hadn't weakened in the slightest.
It can be seen that Byakuya's previous attack had only caused some superficial wounds.
Seeing his attack destroyed by Zaraki, Byakuya wasn't surprised.
He simply channeled more of his Reiatsu through Senbonzakura's ability, transforming it into more sakura blades, and manipulated them to attack Zaraki from all directions.
"Gokei - Senbonzakura Kageyoshi!"
Gokei was the first technique Byakuya learned from Senbonzakura after mastering Bankai.
This move allowed Senbonzakura's billions of blades to attack the enemy omnidirectionally without blind spots.
Additionally, due to the vast number of blades, it could also be used as a restraining technique to prevent the enemy from escaping.
Finally, the massive sphere formed by countless blades would attack its interior.
Enemies trapped within, without sufficient means, would likely be diced into pieces by the innumerable blades.
Zaraki drew his heavily notched Zanpakuto from his waist and swung it fiercely-
A golden Kenatsu directly slashed a massive gap in the spherical blade storm surrounding Zaraki.
Then, Reiatsu erupted at Zaraki's feet.
With an explosive sound, he burst through Byakuya's Gokeiand charged rapidly towards him.
"Hm?"
Witnessing this, Byakuya was startled.
Although he knew the gap in strength between himself and Zaraki, the fact that his technique couldn't even momentarily restrain Zaraki was somewhat hard for him to accept.
Fortunately, Byakuya had fought Zaraki multiple times.
Though surprised, his hands didn't slow in the slightest.
More Reiatsu, under Senbonzakura's ability, transformed into billions of sakura blades. Byakuya controlled them to form layer upon layer of protective barriers in front of him.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Three consecutive blade barriers finally slowed Zaraki's charge.
Next, Byakuya used Shunpo to flash away, creating distance from Zaraki.
Waving his hands, he manipulated Senbonzakura's blades into forming draconic streams, some attacking Zaraki, others defending against his assaults.
"A very smart way of handling it."
Outside the training ground, Kyoraku nodded slightly.
There was already a significant strength gap between Byakuya and Zaraki.
In such a situation, clashing head-on with Zaraki would only make Byakuya lose faster.
But the so-called combat isn't absolutely about the strong defeating the weak.
Or rather, the essence of combat is using one's own 'strengths' to attack the enemy's 'weaknesses'.
As long as one can understand the strength-weakness relationship between oneself and the enemy, and use one's 'strengths' to suppress the enemy's 'weaknesses' in battle, one can maintain an advantage.
This was also Kyoraku's own most adept combat style.
In the current battle between Byakuya and Zaraki, Byakuya was using his advantages in 'speed', 'attack range', and 'attack frequency' to suppress Zaraki.
Zaraki's own defense was too strong, and a casual slash from his Zanpakuto could destroy many of Byakuya's blades.
The battle in the arena looked more like Zaraki chasing Byakuya, with Byakuya, while being pursued, also restricting and attacking Zaraki.
It was just a pity that Byakuya's attacks were only minor scratches to Zaraki.
Although Zaraki appeared covered in countless wounds, none truly harmed him.
After fighting for so long, Byakuya started panting, yet Zaraki's Reiatsu showed no fluctuation.
Clearly, the battle between Byakuya and Zaraki was, for Zaraki, probably just a warm-up.
After chasing and slashing at Byakuya for so long without landing a single hit, Zaraki grew annoyed.
He stopped, raised his Zanpakuto high, and slashed down fiercely towards Byakuya's location-
Boom!
A golden flying slash cut through the air. Even the layered defenses Byakuya had set up were directly bisected by this slash.
"Is this... a flying slash?"
Seeing Zaraki's slash, Kyoya was overjoyed.
Since he had passed down his One Piece World's swordsmanship, this was the first time he had seen such a pure flying slash from a Shinigami other than himself.
As the World's Greatest Swordsman, Kyoya could confirm that Zaraki's slash wasn't a Reiatsu Slash but a true flying slash that only a [Great Swordsman] could execute.