Jie Chengxian wasn't stupid; he'd never clash an asauchi with a Zanpakuto in Shikai. A real man fights fist to fist.
If he couldn't even beat a mere Shikai of a third-rank reiatsu, what kind of unrivaled talent did he have? He might as well go home and brain himself on a tofu block.
'Bankai, Ryūkyū Kobi-maru!'
A torrent of reiatsu erupted from Kinoshita Hanta, condensing over his left shoulder into a dragon-head gauntlet. Two white ribbons streamed behind him, each tipped with a revolving disk ringed in blades.
Gripping his Zanpakuto, Kinoshita regarded Jie Chengxian with grim eyes—one premature victory had already slapped him in the face, so any hidden ace had to be watched for.
Jie Chengxian clicked his tongue. After a Shinigami's Bankai, power varies by individual, but it's at least triple the Shikai—tricky. He tossed the asauchi aside and set himself to keep fighting with Hakuda; right now his strongest offense was pure hand-to-hand.
'Little Brother Jie, want Big Sister to lend a hand?'
'Heh, relax. A guy that ugly can't beat me—don't you know Shinigami battles are beauty contests?'
Jie answered with words Yoruichi couldn't parse; Shinigami fights hinge on reiatsu, not looks.
'Even a genius like you, without Bankai, will still end up a ghost under my blade.'
Kinoshita leveled his Zanpakuto across both shoulders, dragon head and tip aimed at Jie. A soft exhalation—and the tip flashed to Jie's brow. He felt the chill of steel as though it had already sliced skin.
On the brink of death, Jie's mouth split in a wild grin; every cell seemed to scream in delight. He smashed a fist toward Kinoshita's skull, ignoring the blade about to pierce his forehead.
Had the guy just given up?
Seeing Jie abandon all defense, Kinoshita sneered—another fool gambling at the end—until the tip struck a pale-blue reiatsu shield. Before surprise could form, Kinoshita's cheek met a reiatsu-charged fist and he toppled.
'Captain-level? You feel kinda watered-down—did you buy your promotion?'
Jie didn't waste the opening: a sweeping leg robbed Kinoshita of balance, a Shunpo placed him above the fallen man, and an elbow spike slammed him to the ground. Straddling him, Jie hammered punch after punch, thankful Kinoshita's Bankai was purely physical; if it had been flashy Kido or elemental, he'd have needed Yoruichi.
Enraged, Kinoshita sent the twin disk-blades screaming from his ribbons. Jie had to Shunpo clear, abandoning the beat-down. Bleeding but barely hindered, Kinoshita looked annoyingly durable; without high-level Kido, Jie lacked a finisher—had he known Yamamoto's Ikkotsu, the man's brains would already be on the floor.
'Roar—'
A titanic boom burst from the dragon head on Kinoshita's shoulder; spheres of compressed reiatsu shot out in rapid fire, his blade strikes chasing each blast. Jie chained Shunpo to evade, racking his brain for a killing move—only option left was melding Kido into Hakuda.
His mind raced: coat the whole body and reiatsu would bleed away; just reinforce back and shoulders to boost strikes. A split-second's over-thought cost him—Kinoshita carved a bloody gash across his chest.
'Looks like it's over, brat. So much for genius.'
Kinoshita's cruel grin widened as he leveled the edge at Jie's neck; meanwhile the twin disks whirred in to lop off his head, sealing every escape. Unless a miracle struck, death was certain.
Glancing at the blood on his chest, Jie understood.
Highly compressed Kido cloaked his back and shoulders. A thunder-crack boom shredded his coat, revealing a muscled torso. The blast scattered the spell into spirit particles that merged with fists and feet, gifting titanic force. He swung at the air; a freight-train roar of reiatsu thundered through Kinoshita.
'One thing you got wrong: I'm no genius. A genius is just the admission fee to meet me.'
Jie reset his stance, wild eyes fixed on Kinoshita—one arm now dangling. Had the man not jerked aside, every bone in his body would be powder.
Yoruichi, who'd started to intervene, froze mid-Shunpo, stunned. She'd been experimenting with the same Kido-Hakuda fusion—how had he pulled it off first?
With his offense finally patched, Jie bullied the half-baked 'Kensei-on-a-good-day' captain. Moments later a hole gaped in Kinoshita's flank and he collapsed from blood loss.
The fight over, Jie exhaled, feeling the delayed ache, and sat down hard. Yoruichi cuffed Kinoshita with Onmitsu restraints, then knelt to bandage the gash across Jie's chest.
'So, Yoruichi, wanna be my disciple and learn this Shunko of mine?'
Realizing his new move mirrored what she would later call Shunko, Jie shamelessly borrowed the name—left to himself he'd have picked something absurd.
Yoruichi flicked the freshly bandaged wound, satisfied when he hissed.
'No thanks—watching you use it once was enough to figure it out.'
The woman who'd taught him Transformation Technique saw the condensed Kido settle on his body and understood at once; perhaps the kid was right—genius was merely the price of entry to meet Jie Chengxian.
'The hell? I'm billing old man Yamamoto for intellectual-property rights!'
He'd grasped the move on death's doorstep, and Yoruichi had just pirated it. Jie flopped back, heart heavy with woe.