Hearing her husband's answer, Yoruichi calmed her heart. She turned away from Kenma's lap and reached up to wrap her arms around his neck.
Her golden eyes looked at her husband, her gaze sweeping over his thick, furrowed brows and landing on his black eyes.
Looking deeper, she saw genuine earnestness in her husband's candid gaze, along with a trace of guilt hidden beneath.
Yoruichi's expression grew serious, and she nodded gently.
"I'll wait for you."
Pausing, Yoruichi sighed in her heart. She never thought she would one day accommodate someone else.
It seemed she had changed a lot through their subtle time together.
As for the person who caused such a change in her?
Naturally, it was none other than her hypocritical husband right here.
"But let me say this up front: I can't wait for you too long."
"A cat's curiosity is very strong, and its patience is quite limited."
Kenma nodded gently without speaking, only tightening his arms, embracing Yoruichi's waist, bringing her closer to him.
Yoruichi pressed against her husband's chest, her face gradually darkening as she said softly, "Kenma, after this is over, can you please not leave the Seireitei right away?"
"Father's body—is already failing—"
Yoruichi's voice grew weaker, completely fading away at the end.
"I know."
Kenma lowered his eyelids and nodded again.
Kenma felt deeply grateful for this father-in-law who trusted and heavily relied on him.
Naturally, he had been keeping track of his physical condition.
According to the judgment of the Fourth Division Captain, Shihoin Shun'gen was nearing the end of his lifespan and likely wouldn't hold on for much longer.
Thinking of this, complex emotions churned within him, momentarily indescribable.
After a moment of intimacy, Yoruichi left the Stealth Force headquarters, satisfied.
Shisui, who had been waiting outside for some time, walked in, holding a stack of documents.
"My Lord, these are the files we have collected during this period. All the intelligence regarding the Ninth Division Captain is here."
"Thank you for your hard work."
Kenma took the documents and opened the first page. The first thing that met his eyes was a photograph.
It showed a robust, silver-haired man with a fierce expression. His handsome appearance was currently marked by glaring eyes, making him look extremely difficult to provoke.
A line of characters was written in one corner of the photo: the name of this Shinigami Captain.
It was none other than the most famous battle power measurement unit in the Shinigami ranks, one of the "Three Heroes" of the Thousand-Year Blood War: Kensei Muguruma, wielder of the time-type Zanpakutō, who "won't waste much of your time."
Looking at this newly appointed Captain of the Ninth Division, Kenma didn't know why, but a sudden, unbidden smile welled up in his heart.
After a long while, he managed to suppress it, his brows relaxing as he looked at the information that followed.
After a brief review, Kenma handed the documents to Shisui: "Archive it under the highest A-rank, just like the other Captains."
Even if his performance in combat was lacking, he was still a Captain, and worth being vigilant about.
After the Stealth Force was established, Kenma ordered the collection and archiving of intelligence on all Shinigami in the Seireitei.
These powerful Shinigami Captains were naturally the top priority.
Over the past two years, the Stealth Force had achieved considerable success in information gathering.
Few places in the entire Seireitei could conceal anything from Kenma, who commanded the Stealth Force.
Nearly two years had passed since Kuchiki Kōga's incident.
Aside from Kenma's unrestrained expansion of power, the Gotei 13 spent this period licking its wounds and recovering the vitality lost earlier.
Although they had been sanctioned by Central 46, they were still the largest violent organization in the Seireitei, and their foundation remained incredibly deep.
After holding funeral rituals for the slain Captains, the Gotei 13 immediately took action.
In the time that followed, the thirteen divisions, working with halved budgets, streamlined their personnel size, eliminating redundant Shinigami members.
These mediocre Shinigami were sent to other departments, relieving the financial burden.
This included the Central 46 Guards, the Kido Corps, and the newly established Stealth Force.
Kenma's Stealth Force, in particular, directly hollowed out most of the Second Division, and then some.
The Second Division, due to the nature of its work, originally had significantly more personnel than the other divisions.
After Kenma's poaching, the division's numbers were now streamlined to be similar to other divisions, with only a sparse two to three hundred people.
This was only just enough to maintain the minimum required personnel for a division.
As for authority, that was directly packaged up and taken away by the Stealth Force.
The only functions the current Second Division could still perform were the visible Patrol Corps (Keigoku) and the Inner Court Patrol Unit (Rikuteitai), which was responsible for communication.
Even these two had subtly shown signs of being eroded by the Stealth Force.
This was why Yoruichi was idle all day, wandering around the Seireitei with nothing to do.
However, after eliminating a large number of mediocre individuals, the Gotei 13 retained all of its truly excellent elites.
In the process, they even filled the Captain positions that had been vacated when Captains were killed by Kuchiki Kōga.
Besides the recently appointed Ninth Division Captain, Kensei Muguruma, the Captains who had taken up their positions a year prior were Third Division Captain Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi and Seventh Division Captain Love Aikawa.
Adding Hirako Shinji of the Fifth Division, the "Three Heroes" of the Blood War are now assembled.
Now, among the entire Gotei 13, only the Tenth and Eleventh Divisions remained without a Captain holding down the fort.
Shisui delivered the document to the archive room.
Seeing him return, Kenma spoke, "Ace contacted me earlier, saying his brother's pirate crew is regrouping and setting sail again."
"Shisui, arrange your work for the next few days. You will accompany me on a trip to that ocean."
Shisui was startled at first, then showed an understanding expression: "Is it the world where Ace and the others are located?"
"Correct." Kenma nodded.
Shisui asked curiously, "My Lord, if you have something to handle, wouldn't it be easier to let Yakumi and Ace execute it there? Why go yourself?"
"Ace's brother is setting sail again. Naturally, I must see it with my own eyes," Kenma said.
He had confirmed that the world he had accessed had the exact same time flow as the Soul Society.
Now that two years had passed in the Soul Society, two years had also passed in the Pirate World.
Luffy's crew was about to regroup at the Sabaody Archipelago and set sail again.
Seeing this, Shisui became increasingly curious.
At Ace's execution, he had also seen Ace's younger brother, whom he only thought of as reckless and without anything particularly special.
But seeing Kenma's demeanor now, he clearly admired Ace's younger brother greatly.
'I really don't know what the Lord sees in that silly boy—'
"Besides taking a look, I also have a small idea I want to test out."
As he spoke, the image of the afro skeleton who loved looking at panties floated into Kenma's mind.
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