Others are formally trained, proficient in Zanjustu, Hakuda, Hoho, and Kido.
But Ichigo is self-taught, only knowing his limited set of moves. If those three moves don't work, he faces a bitter fight.
The problem is, Byakuya has only shown his Shikai and some Kido so far, and hasn't revealed anything else!
Simultaneously, Byakuya also asked: "So, will you surrender? By now, you should be very clear about the difference in strength between us."
"Without Bankai, you cannot defeat me."
"Ending this battle here wouldn't be a bad outcome!"
However, Ichigo scoffed at Byakuya's advice.
Ichigo asked: "Are you bleeding?"
"Huh?" Hearing this, Byakuya was taken aback.
Ignoring him, Ichigo continued: "You're not bleeding, and my blood hasn't run dry yet. Why talk about ending?"
Although he used all his means and only managed a slight disadvantage...
Is it really a team fight if both sides pull back after one exchange and no one dies?
"I see. So that's what you think."
Hearing Ichigo's words, Byakuya nodded. "I was right. You are indeed the fighting maniac type from the 11th Division."
"In that case, I shall grant your wish!"
Under the surprised gazes of Rukia and Renji, and the confused eyes of the live stream audience, Byakuya raised the hilt again and recalled Senbonzakura.
The next moment, thousands of cherry blossoms gathered once more, and Senbonzakura's clear blade reappeared!
"Brother, are you...!" Rukia couldn't help but take two steps forward.
Seeing this, Renji was also very surprised: "Captain, are you going to use Bankai? Against a mere Kurosaki Ichigo!"
"Bankai!!!" Hearing Renji's words, the live stream audience tensed up again.
"Is it finally happening? The first Captain's Bankai, also the first Bankai we've seen!"
It was almost embarrassing.
The live stream audience had been watching for nearly a month, but from no perspective had they seen anyone use Bankai!
And Byakuya was the first to do so!
Raising Senbonzakura vertically, Byakuya turned his wrist, using his hand as the axis, letting Senbonzakura fall naturally by gravity.
Then, when Senbonzakura was perpendicular to the ground at a 90-degree angle, Byakuya released his grip, and Senbonzakura plunged into the ground!
Byakuya spoke faintly: "Bankai."
The single Senbonzakura completely sank into the ground.
Simultaneously, over a dozen massive Senbonzakura blades rose from both sides of the ground!
Then, just like Senbonzakura's Shikai, these massive Senbonzakura blades shattered simultaneously.
Instantly, an ocean of cherry blossoms flooded the entire street!
Only then did Byakuya utter the name of his Bankai.
"Senbonzakura Kageyoshi!"
Countless Senbonzakura petals filled the sky!
If the number of blades in Senbonzakura's Shikai was in the thousands.
Then the number of Senbonzakura blades now was easily in the hundreds of millions!
The Senbonzakura petals swirling everywhere were dreamlike and illusory, like a beautiful scene!
It truly lived up to the name of Senbonzakura's Bankai, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi! (T/N: Senbonzakura Kageyoshi means Vibrant Scape of a Thousand Cherry Blossoms.)
Since Shikai wasn't enough to defeat Ichigo, he went straight to Bankai!
Byakuya had no thoughts of 'you use Shikai, so I'll use Shikai too'.
"Hey, Kurosaki Ichigo, surrender!" Renji advised from the side.
"To force the Captain to use Bankai with just your Shikai... although part of it is because Shinigami at Lieutenant-level and above officially coming to the Living World have an 80% power limit..."
"But to force the Captain to use Bankai, you can already be proud! It's enough!"
Hearing Renji's words, everyone was shocked again:
"What? Kuchiki Byakuya, who was fighting Ichigo with ease and even suppressing him, was only using 20% of his strength?"
"Captain-level strength is that terrifying?"
"My god, what kind of monsters are these?"
For the first time, the Earth audience watching the battle gained a preliminary understanding of a Captain's strength.
After all, they could never have imagined.
Among the many Shinigami in the Seireitei, most ordinary Shinigami are unnecessary and unimportant.
Because as long as the Seireitei has its thirteen Captains, as long as Captain-Commander Yamamoto is still there, the Seireitei will never fall!
However, while the audience didn't know, Ichigo had known all along.
Forcing Byakuya to use Bankai here, he had already surpassed the original Ichigo by who knows how much.
Indeed, such an achievement was enough to be proud of.
But Ichigo was not satisfied.