Two days passed in a flash, and the Seireitei gradually calmed down from the commotion of two days prior.
However, this calm was merely superficial.
Because Ishikawa had immediately notified the Onmitsukidō to cordon off the area, the Zanpakuto of ordinary Squad Members and Seated Officers were mostly suppressed right away; some were killed by their owners, while others were handed over to the Shinigami Research and Development Institute for detailed study.
But the man named Muramasa had yet to appear, and the Captain-level Zanpakuto he had taken were still missing.
Also missing were Captain Commander and Kuchiki Byakuya.
However, these matters had little to do with Ishikawa. In two days, under his powerful self-healing ability, the scorched flesh on his body had recovered. Aside from losing his Reishi, Ishikawa, who had been severely injured and on the verge of death two days ago, now looked like a perfectly healthy normal person.
This deeply shocked the Fourth Squad Members who had been caring for Ishikawa.
It is worth mentioning...
Unohana, who had returned to her original appearance, also returned to the Fourth Squad. Ishikawa had met her twice, and she was still as gentle and composed as ever, giving off an extremely reliable feeling.
There was no trace of the sinister, ruthless, and murderous demeanor she displayed when she was with him.
Due to Captain Commander's absence, Captain Unohana had been acting as the senior figure, temporarily managing the Gotei 13 during this period.
Even the meeting place for the Squad Captains had changed from the First Division to the Fourth Division.
Because of this, Ishikawa hadn't seen Unohana Retsu and Kotetsu Isane much in the past two days. According to the Fourth Squad Members, Retsu had been taking Isane everywhere recently to conduct rescue work and coordinate actions among the various Squads.
With Captain Commander absent, the most suitable person to coordinate the Captains was, without a doubt, the senior Unohana.
Her suggestions were almost never refuted.
Getting back to the main topic.
Lying on the bed in the intensive care unit, Ishikawa looked at his palm and sighed inwardly.
The situation was as he had expected; even though his body had fully recovered, he still couldn't use even a trace of Reishi.
This was because there were no signs of healing for the damage to his Spirit Core, Binding Threads, and Soul Sleep within his body.
Ishikawa couldn't even perceive the omnipresent Reishi in the air.
Aside from his somewhat special body, he was now essentially no different from an ordinary resident of Rukongai, possessing none of the qualities a Shinigami should have.
Of course...
Punching an Espada to death a few times was still not a big problem.
"Sigh~"
Sighing heavily, Ishikawa sat up from the hospital bed.
At this sight, Komamura Sajin, who was standing nearby, twitched his mouth slightly.
He had personally witnessed Ishikawa being pushed into the intensive care unit, at which point Ishikawa was barely clinging to life. Yet, in just two short days, this guy had recovered like shedding skin; all the charred flesh had healed, and a layer of black char had peeled off his body...
If he hadn't seen Ishikawa recover little by little with his own eyes, he might have thought the Fourth Squad had arranged a special treatment service for him.
What kind of monster was this?
Ishikawa was unaware of Komamura Sajin's thoughts. Although he already had a plan for his own treatment, how to carry it out still presented a huge challenge...
He couldn't use Reishi.
No matter what ability, it couldn't bypass Reishi; almost all abilities required Reishi as their foundation.
The method for temporarily using Reishi was not difficult to find.
External Reiatsu Crest!
When Ishikawa had taken Ganju to Hueco Mundo, he had once transformed a Hollow into a Hollow Mark and inscribed it on Ganju to disguise his identity.
With this method of inscribing a Hollow Mark, Ishikawa could freely use the spiritual power of the Hollow until its Reishi was completely exhausted.
However, finding a Hollow in the Soul Society was quite difficult.
Even if he found one, this method was not suitable for use within the Seireitei, because if even a tiny fluctuation of Hollow spiritual power was detected, the place where Ishikawa was conducting his research would instantly be surrounded by the Onmitsukidō.
Unless...
He replaced the Hollow with a Shinigami.
Doing so would undoubtedly be the best method. Anyway, many Shinigami had already died or gone missing in the Gotei 13 due to the Zanpakuto rebellion, so a few more wouldn't cause too much impact.
But one or two would definitely not be enough.
His research process would require at least nearly a hundred, or even several hundred, ordinary Squad Members as consumables.
The entire Gotei 13 only had a little over six thousand Shinigami. Even taking one hundred as an example, he would need one-sixtieth of the Gotei 13 Squad Members.
Doing this would be akin to seeking death.
Of course, the sacrifice could also be minimized, requiring only one Captain-level Shinigami.
The spiritual body of a Captain-level Shinigami was completely incomparable to that of an ordinary Squad Member, but Captain-level Shinigami were simply too few, and the death of even one would cause a huge impact.
Most importantly...
They were too familiar.
So familiar that Ishikawa couldn't bring himself to harm them.
And those villains in the later numbered districts of Rukongai, Ishikawa also didn't want to target them because they were too familiar.
So the best choice would be a Captain-level Shinigami who had caused great harm to the Seireitei and whose killing wouldn't matter.
Ordinarily, such a target would also be extremely difficult to find.
But for the present situation, Ishikawa had a very good target, and he didn't even need to take any action himself; others would release Ishikawa's target.
Muramasa's owner—Kōga Kuchiki.
He was once the son-in-law of the Kuchiki family and a famous genius Shinigami.
However, he was later sealed for committing the grave crime of murdering his comrades and attempting to incite a rebellion.
This current Zanpakuto rebellion was caused by Kōga Kuchiki's former Zanpakuto, Muramasa.
This information was from Ishikawa's memory. Because the incident involved the Kuchiki family, one of the Four Great Noble Clans, all records of that event had been completely erased. Those who knew about it were probably only the Kuchiki family, as the parties involved, and Captain Commander.
As for others, Captain Unohana and Kyōraku Shunsui, and other veteran Captains, should have heard about that turmoil, but as far as Ishikawa knew, to preserve the honor of the Kuchiki family, the former head of the Kuchiki family did not let them participate, only requesting Captain Commander and himself to seal Kōga Kuchiki together.
So even if they knew something, it shouldn't be much, otherwise they wouldn't still be unable to find the source of the Zanpakuto rebellion by now.
Of course, it's also possible that they knew but deliberately chose to conceal it because it was a family matter of the Kuchiki family.
Ishikawa had no interest in delving into the specifics.
The place where Kōga Kuchiki was sealed was known only to Captain Commander, not even to Kuchiki Byakuya.
Otherwise, Kuchiki Byakuya wouldn't have gone to help Muramasa.
That's right, it was help.
As soon as he heard of Kuchiki Byakuya's disappearance, Ishikawa knew that this Captain of the Sixth Division, who highly valued the honor of the Kuchiki family, had definitely gone to help Muramasa.
And the purpose was precisely to release Kōga Kuchiki from his seal, and then, as the head of the Kuchiki family, personally slay this disgrace to the Kuchiki family.
Getting back to the main topic.
Therefore, to find Kōga Kuchiki, Muramasa's plan must succeed.
According to the information in Ishikawa's memory, Muramasa's Shikai ability was to manipulate the Zanpakuto in the enemy's hand, controlling the owner's arm to kill themselves or their comrades. If the enemy did not draw their sword, it would summon a materialized Muramasa from the inner world to the real world to attack the enemy, but it was ineffective against enemies with closed hearts.
And his Bankai was 'Mugyuu Choujuu Muramasa', whose ability was to allow the materialized Muramasa to enter the enemy's inner world, thereby conducting mental attacks, memory reading, and causing the Zanpakuto brainwashing that led to this incident.
Calling it brainwashing is actually a bit imprecise.
Because Muramasa's brainwashing only magnified the Zanpakuto's inherent dissatisfaction with its owner. If a Zanpakuto had no dissatisfaction with its owner, it could not be incited, and it also had to be in a state where the Zanpakuto itself was completely defenseless to be incited and controlled by him.
The Zanpakuto rebellion causing the commotion in Seireitei right now was not Muramasa's true objective. His true objective was to read Captain Commander's memories to ascertain the location where Kōga Kuchiki was sealed and rescue his owner from the seal.
Although Mugyuu Choujuu Muramasa's ability was terrifying, like his Shikai, all of his inherent abilities were ineffective against enemies with closed hearts.
So, eliminating him was not difficult.
He must ensure Muramasa's plan succeeds!
With this thought, Ishikawa didn't hesitate further. He stood up directly from the hospital bed and walked to the medicine cabinet.
"Ishikawa?"
Komamura Sajin watched as Ishikawa skillfully opened the medicine cabinet and took out a set of black work clothes, his gaze instantly becoming a little strange.
"If anyone comes looking for me, please tell them that I have something to take care of first."
"But…"
Komamura Sajin originally wanted to say, aren't you seriously injured?
But seeing Ishikawa's swift movements as he changed, he ultimately swallowed the words.
Ishikawa's injuries were extremely severe; he had heard this from Captain Unohana and Kotetsu Isane, and ever since Ishikawa moved in here, the Fourth Squad Members had flocked to him.
From their discussions, Komamura Sajin learned that...
Although Ishikawa appeared fine on the surface now, he had lost his Shinigami abilities and was essentially no different from an ordinary person.
But looking at Ishikawa, who had changed into a black work uniform, he somehow still vaguely felt an inexplicable sense of pressure, even more terrifying than when he had faced him before.
This made Komamura Sajin somewhat uncertain whether Ishikawa had truly lost his Shinigami abilities.
"Don't worry, I'll be back later. At that time, I might need a small favor from you, Captain Komamura."
"Ah?"
Komamura Sajin was startled, then nodded.
If it was just a small favor, he naturally wouldn't refuse, after all, Ishikawa, as an outsider, had always been helping the Gotei 13.
Komamura Sajin had always held a great deal of goodwill towards Ishikawa.
Even though he himself had been defeated by Ishikawa before...
Bidding farewell to Komamura Sajin, Ishikawa avoided the Fourth Squad Members and quietly left the Comprehensive Relief Station.
It wasn't because he was afraid of being discovered leaving the hospital, but because if he were surrounded by the Fourth Squad Members, Ishikawa would certainly face all sorts of questions and concerns, and in that case... it would take him at least an hour to leave the Comprehensive Relief Station.
And these people were all well-meaning, so Ishikawa found it hard to refuse.
However...
After leaving the Comprehensive Relief Station, Ishikawa realized he had overlooked one point.
Without Reishi, he simply couldn't conduct a search.
Normally, he relied on his probing senses and Reishi perception to find targets, but now he could only rely on his naked eyes.
Trying to find Muramasa in the vast Soul Society with just his eyes was practically impossible.
After a moment of contemplation, Ishikawa walked towards the outside of Seireitei.
The direction he was heading was not the Byakudo Gate in the west, but the Qingliu Gate in the east.
Leaving Seireitei, Ishikawa directly used the Everything Store in East Borough 1 to teleport back to the Everything Store headquarters in West 38th District.
The tavern was as lively as ever. The news of Ishikawa's severe injuries was not communicated to Utsuki and the others to prevent them from worrying too much.
"Ishikawa, you're back."
"Boss, what happened in Seireitei?"
"Right, right, I heard too. They say a lot of people died in Seireitei. What exactly happened?"
"Boss, now is the best time to attack Seireitei! When are we going to invade Seireitei?"
"I've long disliked those Shinigami. After we take them down, we'll become Shinigami, and you'll be the Captain Commander."
"Bah, what Captain Commander? Captain Commander is nothing! Ishikawa should be the Soul King!"
"..."
Listening to the excited shouts of these rascals in the tavern, Ishikawa's mouth twitched slightly.
With these rascals around, it was no wonder the Shinigami Research and Development Institute had never stopped monitoring him.
"Quiet down, I have something for you all to do."
At these words, the tavern, which had been incredibly noisy a second ago, instantly fell silent.
Everyone looked at Ishikawa with anticipation.
Are they really going to seize this opportunity to attack Seireitei?
Although they were shouting excitedly, it was mostly just talk. They weren't completely unaware of how powerful those Shinigami were.
But if Ishikawa led them, they might not be unable to invade Seireitei and replace those damned Shinigami!
"..." Ishikawa.
Looking at their extremely excited gazes, even without asking, he knew what these rascals were thinking.
These people truly had no self-awareness.
"Notify everyone in all districts to conduct a carpet search in Rukongai. I have a small notebook here with some people's portraits and characteristic descriptions."
"If you find the people I'm looking for, do not easily engage with them. Instead, notify me immediately and secretly monitor them."
"Tell everyone else that these people are extremely powerful, and absolutely do not engage them rashly."
Since it was extremely difficult for him to find them, he would mobilize everyone in Rukongai to search.
Besides the villains, Ishikawa also issued a notice to Rukongai residents, not requiring them to search, but if Muramasa and the Zanpakuto appeared in any district, they were to contact him immediately.
If Muramasa and the others were hiding in Seireitei, it would be somewhat difficult for Ishikawa to find them.
But Rukongai...
Here, Ishikawa was the absolute king!!