Chapter 43: Gundam, Launch!
Don't be fooled by Aizen's smooth talk and charming manner in public — behind the scenes, the man worked himself to the bone. Naturally, anyone under him had to suffer the same workload.
Even someone as steadfast as Gin Ichimaru occasionally felt a pang of sorrow.
When will this ever end…
"Ho?"
A strange female voice suddenly spoke behind him.
"Little boy, you seem to be up to something quite interesting~"
Gin froze, startled.
He whipped around and swung his blade with lightning speed—
but struck nothing.
When he turned back, there was only an empty forest.
"Eh? What are you looking at?"
The voice came again, right behind him. "I'm over here."
Gin spun once more,
Shinso slicing the air like the fang of a viper —
so fast that most vice-captains would have had no time to react.
Yet, once again, his blade hit nothing.
Floating before him was a woman cloaked in shifting shadows, her form blurred beneath a translucent veil. Even his Reiatsu Chikaku (Spirtual Pressure Perception) couldn't sense her reiatsu.
Gin's pupils shrank.
Different from before — his sword had definitely passed through her position, yet… there'd been no resistance at all.
Like cutting through empty air.
What's going on? No reiatsu, no sensation… an illusion?
"Oh? You look confused," the woman said, her tone laced with amusement. "Wanna guess how I dodged that? Guess right, and you might get a special prize~"
He couldn't see her face, but her contempt was unmistakable.
Gin frowned deeply and took a cautious half-step back, preparing to bolt—
and casually pointed his sword at her.
"Shoot to kill, Shinso."
The blade extended, then retracted. A simple ability—
but what if the speed surpassed sound itself? Faster than a bullet?
The faint slicing of air was drowned beneath rustling leaves.
Like a snake's silent strike, it pierced clean through the woman's chest.
But she remained floating there, utterly unmoved.
Gin narrowed his eyes.
What the…?
Mizuma winced, resisting the urge to yelp.
Ow, damn, that actually hurt!
His body, concealed and obscured by the mosaic provided by the messenger token was nearly revealed.
Putting on a show is indeed a risky thing — even though he overestimated Gin's speed as much as possible, his speed still caught him offguard. The first two thrusts he avoided with misdirection, but the last one came too fast; only "Erasure" saved him.
Ten minutes ago, Mizuma had used a Garganta to return to Soul Society via Hueco Mundo's as a shortcut.
He'd raced ahead of the 9th Division's search party and finally found what he was looking for —
Nine rampaging Hollows that were once Shinigami,
and Gin Ichimaru standing nearby, observing them.
So, naturally, he decided to make an entrance.
This version of Gin wasn't yet the infamous 3rd Division Captain who could suppress a Hollowfied Bankai Ichigo. His assassination skills were sharp, sure, but his raw power was lacking—he didn't even have a Bankai yet.
Mizuma thought smugly, "I've got captain-class strength.
If I strike while he's unprepared, shouldn't I be able to school this baby snake without effort?"
As for the result...
…Well, as you can see, regardless of whether he actually landed the hit or not didn't matter. He was completely fine.
The point was—did his entrance look impressive or not? Was he a show of force or not?
[TL: Smell that, it's Chinese.]
At least Gin looked shocked.
That last strike had been his full strength,
and even though he'd felt contact this time,
the woman still stood there completely unharmed — as if her heart hadn't been pierced at all.
Who the hell is this?
"Hm, how strange," Mizuma sighed, crossing his arms in a mock imitation of Ryugetsu's tone.
"Little boy, I don't recall any blood feud between us. Why attack me so fiercely?"
—If it had been Ryugetsu, those words might've come out more indecently, but Mizuma's moral reserves still held.
Gin tightened his grip on Shinso, right foot sliding back —
this time, he really was planning to run.
"Who are you? Why are you here?"
"Don't answer a question with a question, now."
Mizuma feigned exasperation, rubbing his temple. "I'm just a passing Onee-san, okay? Saw you playing with something fun and couldn't help but stay to watch."
Gin: "?!"
How long has she been watching?!
"You looked so cheerful I thought you were a friendly little guy," Mizuma said, wiping an imaginary tear at the corner of his eye. "But to be cut and stabbed without even doing anything— even a peaceful person like me gets angry, you know?"
Halfway through the sentence, he pulled out a silver orb from his pocket and tossed it to the ground.
"Teach him a lesson, Gundam One."
The orb transformed mid-air with a burst of metallic clicks —
a two-meter-tall autonomous android landed with a thud and lunged at Gin, its thrust swift and powerful.
Gin's eyes widened.
He twisted aside at the last second and instinctively countered.
Shinso struck the automaton, leaving only a shallow mark.
It did nothing.
The mechanical "Gundam" switched from thrust to slash,
its next swing cleaving straight through the thick tree branch beneath Gin's feet.
Just before the blade reached him, Gin used a quick flash step to reposition and landed lightly on the ground, kicking away a charging Hollow in the process.
The android froze momentarily, confused,
then realized its target had moved and resumed pursuit —
thus beginning a bizarre duel where one couldn't hit,
and the other couldn't deal any real damage.
Hmm… its pros and cons are obvious.
Strong defense, great strength, low cost.
But it was slow, and its tracking needed serious improvement.
The automaton functioned through mental commands —
the controller issued broad orders, and it determined the method of execution itself.
So far, it was performing decently,
but its computation rate was too low for high-speed battles.
He'd have to tell Ainicht to prioritize that in the next revision.
By the way, "Gundam One" was the name Mizuma had given it;
Ainicht had originally planned to call it something much more elegant.
While Mizuma lounged at ease, Gin's situation was pure misery.
Run? But what about the mission?
Stay? I can't beat either of them!
Never mind that mysterious woman —
even the iron lump she'd tossed was trouble enough.
It was slow, sure, but impossibly sturdy.
Even when Shinso pierced clean through it, it kept on fighting like nothing happened.
This version of Gin didn't yet possess the strength to bisect entire city blocks with a single stab.
Against Gundam One's defense — on par with a high-level Adjuchas —
he was completely outmatched.
And with Mizuma, the android, and the nearby Hollows all to keep track of…
the poor man was definitely underpaid for this job.
---
TL: This whole ch I was half-asleep and after that slept like a log for like idk how many hrs.
<><><><>
〔TL〕
Every 100 powerstones = 2 bonus ch.
Every 2 review after 100 ps = 1 bonus ch.