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Trembling.
Convulsing.
Stiffening.
Until he finally staggered and collapsed.
As the Zanpakutō was ripped free from his body, Kenpachi Zaraki's pupils slowly lost focus. A creeping cold spread through his limbs.
He looked like he was hovering on the edge of death itself, ready to topple into a pool of blood and fade away at any moment.
"It ends here…"
With her back to Kenpachi, Retsu Unohana gave a light flick of her wrist, shaking the blood from the tip of her blade. Her voice was utterly flat, devoid of emotion.
The motion was smooth and practiced.
Like a butcher in a slaughterhouse, someone who'd been killing animals for years, casually cutting down an unremarkable chicken.
Yes.
Whether through Unohana's own eyes,
or through the eyes of the audience watching this unfold,
the clash that was supposed to be a life-or-death struggle for the title of Kenpachi never played out the way anyone expected.
Instead, it became a one-sided massacre.
Defeating Kenpachi Zaraki…was easier than killing a chicken.
...
Hueco Mundo, Las Noches.
"Holy shit?!"
"Kenpachi Zaraki… that terrifying man… got beaten this easily?"
"What the hell! How is that even fair?!"
"Why is every random Shinigami captain that shows up more terrifying than the last?!"
…
No one even knew how many times it had happened anymore.
The Arrancar army was so shocked they were practically numb.
They stared at the barely breathing Kenpachi on the ground, then at Unohana, whose expression hadn't changed even once from start to finish. It felt like they'd been dragged into some kind of horror game.
The game had just started. They hadn't even gotten the hang of the controls.
Then suddenly the screen went black. Death. Game over.
They did not even know how they died.
That was exactly how the Arrancar felt right now.
Every single one of them felt a chill crawl up their spine, fear stabbing straight into their hearts.
Among them,
Nnoitra's reaction was the strongest.
This was the same man who constantly shouted that "women are trash," who despised anything he deemed inferior. Yet now, staring at Unohana's back, he swallowed hard.
Whatever pride he had as a man shattered along with his trembling body.
All that remained in Nnoitra's eyes was pure terror.
After all, in the previous round of evaluations, he himself had been the opponent who got instantly slaughtered by Kenpachi with a single move after the eyepatch came off. The infamous two-handed strike.
That fight had nailed Nnoitra to a pillar of humiliation, to the point that he had wanted to leave Las Noches altogether, just so he would never have to see that damned video again.
And now…
As the stepping stone beneath Kenpachi's feet,
watching the man who once annihilated him get cut down by another woman with a single slash…
Nnoitra was terrified.
His mind took a hit a thousand times worse than before.
Despair swallowed him whole.
"I get the feeling… that woman still isn't even serious yet," Szayelaporro muttered uneasily from the side. "That Zanpakutō she's holding doesn't look released at all."
With his eye for detail, and the mountains of research he'd done on Zanpakutō using Aizen's data, he could tell at a glance.
The blade in Unohana's hand was still in its most primitive state, a simple Asauchi.
No Shikai.
No Bankai.
Yet a single swing of it had knocked Kenpachi Zaraki down.
What kind of monstrous swordsmanship was that?
"…"
Those words made the already heavy atmosphere sink even deeper.
So she was this strong with nothing but normal slashes?
Could it be… this female captain was also a "basic-attack king"?!
In truth, the Arrancar had guessed right.
Because the moment that thought surfaced, the video changed again.
——
On screen.
Just as Unohana prepared to sheathe her Zanpakutō and leave this blood-soaked hell,
suddenly—
"W-Wait…"
Kenpachi's weak voice came from behind her. "We're not finished yet."
"Hm?"
Her steps halted abruptly.
Unohana frowned in irritation.
When she turned toward the source of the sound, she saw Kenpachi using his Zanpakutō as a crutch, struggling to pull himself out of the pool of blood. Blood seeped between his teeth as he coughed, yet he still forced a fierce grin onto his face.
"Unohana Yachiru…"
"Don't forget… I'm Kenpachi Zaraki! Captain of Squad Eleven!"
"I'll never fall!!!"
It was a roar.
And at the same time, a battle horn of absolute confidence.
Just like countless moments before,
Kenpachi ignored the fatal wounds tearing through his body. He lifted his blade without hesitation and lunged at Unohana's back like a raging tiger.
A beast might lose its way for a moment,
but it would never fall on the road to becoming king.
Just like now.
Kenpachi would rather die in battle than lie on a cold floor, watching Unohana walk away with the title of "Kenpachi."
So—
This was a strike that gambled his life.
The final stand he made for the number "Eleven" at his back.
"As expected of Captain Zaraki! He'd rather die than submit!"
"Yeah! That's exactly why we joined Squad Eleven in the first place! We followed this man!"
"Captain Zaraki is the strongest Kenpachi! Please, you have to win!"
…
Watching Kenpachi's death-defying charge,
everyone in the Squad Eleven barracks, officers and regular members alike, was swept up by the emotion, shouting their support.
There was no denying it.
In most people's hearts, Retsu Unohana had always been a highly respected figure, beloved by the Shinigami. Even the rough brutes of the combat squads felt the same.
But…
That only applied to the Unohana of the past.
Now,
the woman walking through blood in that video was no longer Retsu Unohana.
She was the unparalleled demon of a thousand years ago.
The ultimate villain carved into everyone's nightmares.
And yet—
There are no miracles in hell.
This endless inferno was no exception.
"How boring…"
"You didn't disappoint me. But have you ever considered this? If miracles happened so often, then a hell filled with resentful souls would never have existed in the first place."
With a casual swing, a blood-red, crescent-shaped slash tore through the air.
Unohana tried to crush Kenpachi's will completely with the very same move as before.
"This is bad! Captain's in danger!"
Sensing the lethal intent packed into that slash, the members of Squad Eleven in the real world fell into despair.
Was this really it?
Were they about to watch their captain die with their own eyes?
"…Damn it."
Ikkaku Madarame could not bear to look. He shut his eyes tight, choosing escape over witnessing Kenpachi's death.
But then,
just as despair consumed him—
"Clang!!!"
Like a single sword splitting open the heavens.
The crash of metal rang out, deafening.
"That's…?!"
Ikkaku's eyes flew open in shock.
When he looked back at the screen, he saw it clearly.
Kenpachi Zaraki was still standing.
Not only that, he had both hands on his sword, braced in front of him, having actually blocked the curved slash head-on.
"Yes! Captain's alive! I knew it! He's not going down that easily!!!"
The ashen despair on their faces was instantly replaced by wild joy.
Not just Ikkaku Madarame—cheers erupted from every corner of the Eleventh Division.
Especially when blades clashed and crossed, and they caught sight once more of Kenpachi Zaraki's face, twisted with pure battle lust. Seeing that familiar, crazed grin set everyone's blood on fire. Smiles spread across their faces, straight from the heart.
"Unohana Yachiru…"
"You've become the first Kenpachi, so you've probably forgotten something. The more dangerous things get, the stronger I become, right?"
Kenpachi bared his teeth in a savage grin and swung his arm down hard. A golden wave of sword pressure came crashing forward.
The sheer destructive force left Unohana Retsu no choice but to evade. For the first time, she was driven back.
In reality—
Watching this scene, the Kenpachi who had been silent the whole time finally snapped back to himself, visibly pleased. He laughed out loud.
"Hah! Yachiru, did you see that?"
"No matter how bad things look at the start, I always grow stronger and stronger until I'm standing toe to toe with my opponent! That's what it really means to enjoy a fight!"
If he could jump into the future, Kenpachi would have gladly leapt straight into the screen, replaced his on-screen self, and relived that moment all over again, savoring the slaughter to his heart's content.
Yes.
That was Kenpachi Zaraki for you, absurd to the core.
And that was his one and only guilty pleasure.
"Yeah, Ken-chan, you're really manly!" Yachiru puffed out her cheeks, clearly conflicted. "But honestly… I don't really want Captain Unohana to lose…"
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Kenpachi barked. "You want her to cut me down or something?"
Good grief.
No wonder your name's Yachiru too.
So you're a traitor on the inside, huh?
"Oh come on, I'm just joking!" Yachiru ignored his threat, stuck out her tongue, and giggled. "You didn't take that seriously, did you, Ken-chan?"
"Hmph…"
Kenpachi snorted and pulled back his glare, as if to say, "That's more like it."
Then he turned his attention back to the video,
and threw himself once more into that brutal battle unfolding on-screen.
...
Inside Muken.
Wooden sandals scraped across the ground, leaving a long mark behind.
Unohana Retsu planted the tip of her blade against the floor, barely managing to steady herself.
But—to everyone's surprise, even though she had failed to kill Kenpachi Zaraki and had clearly taken the worse end of their last exchange, her expression didn't waver in the slightest.
If anything, she praised him instead.
"Very good…"
"Growing stronger when pushed to the brink. That's the version of you I wanted to see."
After the praise, her tone shifted, dropping low.
"And now…"
"You finally have the right to make me fight at full strength."
...
The moment those words rang out, everyone watching the video realized what that meant. Excitement surged instantly.
"The first Kenpachi… Captain Unohana Retsu…"
"Is she about to use Bankai?"
"I can't wait to see what her Bankai can do!"
…
It was only then that the captains and Shinigami of the Gotei Thirteen suddenly realized something.
They had no idea what Unohana Retsu's Zanpakutō actually did.
Which, really, made sense.
For hundreds, even thousands of years, as the captain of the Fourth Division, Unohana Retsu had rarely taken part in combat.
Forget Bankai.
She had barely even used Shikai, and when she did, it was usually for healing.
"Her Bankai better not disappoint me," Kenpachi muttered, eyes blazing as he stared at the screen.
His curiosity had been completely hooked.
He could clearly feel it.
In the video, Unohana Retsu's presence was steadily rising, an astonishing amount of power fermenting wildly inside her.
Sure enough.
Just a few seconds later—
when her aura reached its peak, under the stunned gazes of countless viewers, Unohana Retsu reversed her grip on her Zanpakutō and drew a blood-red arc through the air before her.
In that instant,
her spiritual pressure burst outward without restraint.
Her black hair fell loose like a waterfall, spilling down to veil her bewitching face.
At the same time, a release command so chilling it made one's skin crawl echoed through the space.
"Bankai… Minazuki."
"..."
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