The streets outside the Eleventh Division were in chaos.
Zaraki Kenpachi swaggered forward, blade resting across his shoulder, Yachiru skipping a few steps behind.
"Hey! I heard your Eleventh Division is supposed to be the toughest in the Gotei 13! Doesn't look that way to me. Hurry up and call your captain out!"
One of the seated officers lost his temper, chanting furiously:
"Masked god of blood and flesh, all creation, fluttering wings, crowned with the name of man! Heat and discord, across the sea, surge southward, step forth! Hadō 31, Shakkahō!"
A ball of flame shot toward Zaraki.
"Weak! Too weak!"
Zaraki didn't even bother to cut it. He barreled straight through the fire, scattering it with his body, and slashed a deep line across the officer's chest.
"Captain!"
From a distance, Higashino Shuuichi laid his hand on his sword, glancing toward Unohana Retsu.
When Zaraki first stormed Seireitei, Unohana had already tracked him with hell butterflies. She knew from Shuuichi's description what kind of power he carried.
If she fought him seriously, half of Soul Society might be reduced to rubble.
She wanted that fight, but reason held her back. For now, she only observed.
"Can you beat him?" she asked Shuuichi softly.
Shuuichi bit his lip. "But… Captain…"
"Kiganjō Kenpachi is here."
Unohana's gaze shifted toward the Eleventh Division barracks.
At last, Kiganjō emerged, stretching lazily before leaping onto the wall.
"So you're the brat who broke into Seireitei?!"
The number "11" was bold across his haori. Zaraki grinned wide. A true Eleventh Division captain had to be stronger than that so-called 4th Division vice-captain he'd fought before.
The reiatsu he'd been holding back exploded outward. Kiganjō's face collapsed into shock, but too late.
Zaraki's strike came faster—born from mountains of corpses and rivers of blood.
Steel split the sky.
Kiganjō was hurled into the air, organs rattled from the impact.
"Don't… get cocky… I am… Kiganjō Kenpachi!"
But he wasn't a pushover.
He unleashed everything—shikai, kidō, even bankai—without restraint, heedless that they were in the middle of Seireitei.
The roar of battle drew captains from across the divisions. Only those bound by duty elsewhere failed to appear.
Among them was the 2nd Division's captain, Shihōin Yoruichi.
"Shuuichi-dono!"
A voice broke through the noise. Shuuichi turned, spotting a girl—now in her teens, growing into a young woman—Sui-Feng.
"It's been a long time, Kaoling. And Captain Shihōin."
He smiled politely, shifting his gaze to Yoruichi. She greeted him with casual warmth: "Yo\~ Shuuichi-kun! You're here too, huh?"
If he hadn't already suspected Urahara Kisuke's hand in past events, he might've been fooled by her flawless tone.
"Mm. Too many shinigami wounded by that man Zaraki. Some injuries are serious, so I came to the front to treat them—ease their pain if I can."
"Shuuichi-dono is still as kind as ever!" Sui-Feng beamed.
Yoruichi only nodded with a knowing smile, then turned to the battlefield.
The Eleventh's barracks were already a ruin.
Kiganjō knelt in the rubble, sword fallen, a bloody blade stuck in his chest.
"You're strong, but you fight without giving me any fun!" Zaraki looked down, disappointed, though his own wounds were heavy. Kiganjō's reckless, no-guard style had thrilled him.
He had answered it in kind—pure offense, no defense. Whoever stepped back first, lost.
But Kiganjō lacked Shuuichi's endurance, lacked his tricks, his kidō, his refined swordplay inherited from Unohana and Aizen.
Zaraki yanked his blade free. The captain's body slumped.
"I heard from Yachiru—this means I'm Eleventh Division's captain now, right?!"
He laughed, glaring around at the assembled captains.
Silence. The Eleventh's tradition was clear, but no one had ever seen it done so brazenly.
"You've gotta be kidding—"
Muguruma Kensei bristled, ready to strike.
But Unohana's gentle, unyielding voice cut across him:
"Correct. By our custom, from now on you are the Eleventh Division's captain."
The other captains exchanged looks—confusion, calculation—but none objected.
Zaraki grinned. "Good! And I remember you—you're the 4th Division captain! Last time I saw you! Now send your vice-captain—Higashino Shuuichi—to fight me!"
Dozens of eyes turned on Shuuichi.
…?
Wait, wait. That wasn't how the script was supposed to go.
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