Soul Society, Magnolia Branch
Chapter 4: Set Sail
In a shady bar somewhere, a man named "Shinigami" sat around a table, addressing the group. "Just a little while longer boys, it took us a few days longer to get Kageyama to break the seal. He'll get us Lullaby within the next two weeks" He took a sip from his drink. "Soon, we will have our revenge. Just wait boys."
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Natsu opened the window and stealthily climbed into the house, carefully trying not to make noise. Ah there's the bed. He settled himself down and prepared the request paper in his hand. His partner-in-crime Happy also eagerly awaiting their unwary victim to come into the room. The heard footsteps and held their breath. Then they heard the door open.
"Hey Luce! I got us a job to do. C'mon let's go."
"Yeah Lushy, you gotta come with us, it's gonna be so fun!"
After recovering from her shock at being shouted at just as she opened the door to her house, not expecting anyone to be in, she saw red.
"What are you two doing in my house?! Did you sneak in?! Get out!" Lucy screamed at the two, shoving and kicking them to the window.
"Aw but Luce, the quest is really good…"
"I don't care! Get out of my house!"
The cogs and gears in Natsu's head began to turn. He had a plan!
"Oh well Happy, I guess we should go. I guess I'll find another Celestial wizard to take the Golden Key reward…" with a fake despondent look on his face, Natsu started making his way out the window. Happy followed through with the plan after realizing what is going on.
'Three… Two… One…'
"Wait Natsu, did you say 'Golden Key'?"
'Gotcha!'
"Yep, it's one of the rewards. As well as a ton of money, but oh well… you don't wanna go. I'll just ask Cana." With that, Natsu leapt out the window and started making his way down the street with his hands interlocked behind his head in a nonchalant manner.
"Hold on! I'll go with you Natsu, wait up!"
Natsu's grin spread from ear to ear as he sped up down the street.
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"Has anyone taken an S class request recently Mira?" Makarov questioned the bar maid.
"No master, none of the S class mages have taken an S class request recently."
A grim expression found its way onto the elderly master's face. "An S class request has gone missing. A recent one for Galuna Island."
"Oh that one? I saw a blue cat nab it." Laxus commented from the second floor.
"A blue cat?! That's obviously Happy! Why didn't you stop them?!" Mira asked heatedly. If Happy is involved, then Natsu was definitely involved too. And any plan that Natsu has concocted regarding an S class quest was not good news. An S class quest is not to be taken lightly, she knew that better than most people.
"Why should I care? Maybe the twerp won't return and we won't have to pay so much bills."
"How can you say that Laxus! You must go find them! You're the only one fast and strong enough!"
"No thanks Master" the last word uttered was loaded with venom as he barely managed to get it passed his gritted teeth. "I don't care what happens to him, you can go find him yourself if you want to."
Makarov rubbed his temples in frustration. "Where's Erza?"
Mirajane shook her head to the sides, "She's not near. She's on a job, but she should be returning back to the guild soon."
"Let's hope she gets here fast enough then…" Makarov took a gulp from his mug and hoped silently that Erza's return would be hasty.
A black cat took all this in while watching from the rafters. She smirked, finally some fun.
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Ichigo made his way to the Guild basement. Apparently Urahara needed him to be at the basement. For what? Only God and the mad scientist knows.
"Hey Geta Boshi, what did you need me for?!" Ichigo called out as he made his way down the stairs.
"Ah Kurosaki-kun, how wonderful that you're here. The Head Master told me to prepare the portal. We'll be going through the portal, so get ready to see the Soul Society again."
"What does he want with us?" Ichigo asked.
"No idea." Kisuke chirped, pulling his fan out and covering his mouth to hide his grin as he watched a vein throb on the side on Ichigo's forehead.
Both the Soul Reapers were brought out their thoughts by a whirring of a machine and the sound of the door of the portal open.
"Ah it's ready! Let's go!" Kisuke sprinted into the portal, closely followed by Ichigo.
Ichigo once again found himself in front of the Soutaicho. He was being closely analysed, almost like as if he was being judged. Finally, after a long silence and stare, the Head Captain spoke. "Ichigo Kurosaki, you have been exceptional in the helping and defending of not only the Soul Society, but the balance of souls itself. While this is late, the Soul Society would like to thank you." He turned to his side, and looked at a low ranked Shinigami woman. "Bring them out."
She almost bolted out of the room, both eager to please the two-time war hero and to get away from the Head Captain. She returned a moment later with a folded robe in her arms, a black box, and a smaller silver box.
This time Shunsui stepped forward. "Ah Kurosaki-kun. The robes are for you. They have the sign of the Gotei Thirteen on the back, in standard design of the captain's coat. It's to symbolize that although you were not a part of the official Gotei Thirteen given that you were still human, you still did such great things for us and made large sacrifices, which in the end saved not just us, but the world multiple times. It's the least we could do to show that you are now an official member of the Gotei Thirteen, albeit as part of the branch squad. The coat will bring you about as much respect as a captain's coat from the Shinigami, it's a little late but please do accept it. Now then, in the black box is my very own Shinigami handbook that I wrote for you. It even included some tips for dual sword style fighting. I'll let the Head Captain tell you what's inside the small silver box."
Shunsui gestured toward the Soutaicho, bringing Ichigo's full attention to him.
"Now Ichigo Kurosaki. You are the one that slayed Yhwach. A threat to all the worlds. And as per usual when it comes to war, victor takes the spoils. Inside the box are your very own spoils of war. We found this on Yhwach's body as we were rebuilding the Seireitei. It is up to you to decide what you want to do with it. Inside the box is Yhwach's very own Quincy Cross. We have done you the service of removing it from the medal and attaching it to a chain."
This stunned Ichigo to the core. Never did he expect the Head Captain to let him keep one of the main enemy's weapons. Especially something like his Quincy Cross. What would he do with it…?
'I suggest we keep it Ichigo, I still have yet to teach you Quincy techniques. This should be able to help facilitate it.' Zangetsu-no-ossan suggested.
Oh well. If the sword he has trusted for as long as he can remember wants him to keep it, what choice did he have?
"I'll keep it, thanks Yama-jii." Ichigo picked up the Cross and wrapped it around his wrist.
Yamamoto felt his rage building at being referred to so childishly. He kept himself in control and glared at the teenager.
"That will be all child. Urahara Kisuke, come over here." Once again, he gestured toward the girl.
This time she came back with another white robe. "This robe, is a way to officially lift your exile as well as welcome you back into the Gotei Thirteen. You are now recognized as a captain once more. Though you will not be in the Soul Society branch, you are now the official captain of the Magnolia Branch as you have named it. You may choose your lieutenant."
This time Kisuke had nothing to say. He chose instead to pull his hat off, give his widest smile, and bow. When he came back up, the smile changed. Before it was genuine, now its malicious. He directed his smile toward Ichigo.
Ichigo caught on, and he paled.
"My choice of lieutenant will be Ichigo Kurosaki sir."
"Very well, your lieutenant from now on shall be Ichigo Kurosaki. Now one final announcement. In a week's time, a captain from the Gotei Thirteen will be sent over to check on operations and determine if reinforcements will be needed. You are all dismissed." Yamamoto hit the floor with his cane, sending out a loud thud to represent the finality of his words. Ichigo was still left gaping, unbelieving that he became the creepy hobo-looking scientist's lieutenant.
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"Sir, is it a good idea to give Kurosaki the Cross?" Soifon asked her commander in a hushed tone. "Why would you do it anyway?" Soifon was never one to question the Head Captain, but this seemed ridiculous.
"Firstly, do not ever question me child. You are a thousand years too early to question my decision with such nonchalance.
"Secondly, we must keep a good relationship with the substitute. Do not forget, though he is young, he is immensely strong. He can still be swayed into an enemy's grasp. If they manage to use him against us, I fear it will be a great threat."
"Thirdly, we have no use for the Cross. Perhaps the boy could put it to good use under the watchful eyes of Urahara." With those parting words, he shunpo'd away, eager to enjoy his tea in his barracks.
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Kisuke and Ichigo stood in the basement of the guildhall. "Ah Kurosaki-kun, are you going to figure out how to use the cross?"
"Yeah, I figured I'd head out to the forest to get some bit of training in."
"I see, remember to keep the limiter on."
"I will." Ichigo sped out the guildhall with a shunpo. Admittedly being much slower than before due to the limiter.
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He soon found a quaint little clearing in the forest where he sat down and entered his Inner World. He was greeted by the sight of the serious Quincy manifestation.
"Yo Ossan. Let's get this Quincy training underway huh?"
"We shall Ichigo, but first, before all else you must attain some control over your Reiatsu."
"Damn it…" There was no lying, Ichigo absolutely sucked at controlling reiatsu.
"Imagine yourself grabbing hold of the edges of your reiatsu and pulling them in. We cannot control it for you forever Ichigo, especially so for Quincy techniques. The method should be familiar to you as your previous Bankai did a similar thing."
With closed eyes and gritted teeth, Ichigo concentrated hard. He could barely even feel the edges of his Reiatsu, much less grab it. He thought back to the sensations of his old Bankai, how it felt and how it worked. It seemed so simple at the time. Just grab and pull… grab and pull… grab and pull!
With heavy effort, Ichigo finally managed to reign in some of his reiatsu. But it definitely wasn't enough, considering the look on the manifestation's face. This was gonna take a while…
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After a few grueling hours of concentrating and trying to pull something he could barely even feel, the old man finally gave his approval.
"At this level, you should be able to use basic techniques. We will have to work on your control more from now on. For now just use the basics. Infuse the Cross with your own reiatsu then use it as a catalyst to manipulate your reiatsu and the environment's to form your bow."
Ichigo did as was told. Though with great amounts of effort. It was a completely new topic for him, why couldn't he just rush through this like everything else?
Despite being unable to the first few attempts, his Cross finally started glowing. The bow started taking shape. Blue reiatsu started jutting off his hand upwards and downwards until from top to bottom they were the same height at his first Shikai form. They got refined from wispy blue reiatsu to a black colour before they eventually stabilized into a huge black metal bow.
The handle was wrapped in white cloth, with some of it unused and fluttering in the wind. The base of the bow arms were thicker than a usual bow's, almost three times as thick actually. They got thinner though as they reached the bow string, which incidentally was made of reishi.
"Woah, it reminds me of the old Zangetsu blade."
"You should not be surprised, at the time you thought I was your Zanpaktou. Right now I am your Quincy manifestation. So of course it will take after the blade."
"Wait so technically I could form the old blade like how I formed the bow?"
A tick mark formed on the side of Zangetsu's head.
"Get your basics down first before deciding to do anything too fancy." Chided the elderly part of Ichigo's soul.
"Geez alright alright, I'll get your bow down first."
"Good, if you wish to practice with it then practice in the real world. You should be able to summon it there."
"Alright, it's about time I get out of this wonky place anyway."
"Oh and Ichigo, as an added training method, you are forbidden from fighting with anything other than your Quincy techniques until you are at a level where I am able to begin teaching you how to unlock your Vollstandig."
Ichigo paled and gulped before he left. He was not looking forward to using something like this and potentially getting his ass kicked by Grimmjow… Or even worse… Being thought by Uryu. The thought alone made him nauseous. Damn, looks like he'll have to train hard.
Ichigo opened his eyes and looked toward the sky. Judging from the sun's position, a few hours must have passed. He got himself ready before attempting to manifest his bow. A few seconds of concentrating later and he found the humongous metal bow in his hand again. Strange, just like his old sword, it didn't weigh a feather to him.
He readied himself and formed an arrow. It was made of blue reishi and its edges were wispy and flame like. He pulled back the bow string and took aim at a random tree. He took a breath, held it, and let loose. The arrow travelled straight and true and struck the tree with enough force to jut out the back of the tree slightly.
'I suppose that's a decent result for now.'
'Not to worry Ichigo, as you get more familiar to the Heilig Bogen and controlling reiatsu and reishi, your arrows and your Heilig Pfiels will also get much stronger. Do not forgot that you also have a limiter placed.' Encouraged Zangetsu-no-Ossan.
'But remember King, just because you need to use these stupid Quincy techniques, it doesn't give you an excuse to get shit at using me.' Warned his hollow/sword.
'Yeah yeah I got it. Now shut up and let me practice.' Bit back Ichigo.
'Hehe, I'll make sure to test you King.' With that, both pieces of his soul disappeared into the back of his mind once more.
He readied another arrow.
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After practicing for almost two hours straight, Ichigo was panting and the surrounding area was full of large puncture wounds courtesy of him. He was lying down on his back sprawled out, staring at the blue sky above.
"Meow"
Ichigo sat up and looked to his side, seeing a black cat. His eyes widened with shock before calming down. After all to him there was no way Yoruichi would be here.
"Hey there little fella-"
"Meow" if he didn't know better, Ichigo would have thought the cat was glaring at him.
"Okay, little girl?"
"Meow" Now it looked pleased.
"So what are ya doin' here little girl? Are you lost?" Ichigo picked her up and tried to look for a collar.
"Meow" The cat squirmed in his grip and sat at the floor looking up at him.
"You remind me a lot of Yoruichi you know? She's my teacher… well of sorts. She's in the Soul Society right now. I think Soifon would love to keep you as a pet."
"Meow" The cat seemed to smile up at him before curling around his wrist and lied down. Ichigo decided to follow and do the same, he sprawled back onto the ground. He was still catching his breath from the training session. He got better that's for sure, but only marginally. He felt a weight settle itself onto his chest. He looked up down to see the cat now sleeping on his chest. He decided to close his eyes as well.
'He looks so peaceful, I almost don't want to do this. Almost.' The cat got an evil grin and it readied its claws.
Scratch
"Argh what the hell, why'd you do that!" shouted the angry orange head, clutching his face.
"Meow" the cat bit onto the middle of the smaller Zangetsu and leapt away, running at practically shunpo speeds.
"Hey get back here!" Ichigo started to chase the cat down with his own slow shunpo. It was embarrassing really, losing to a cat when you have a practical super speed technique.
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Ichigo was hot on its tail. Literally. The devious little creature ducked beneath fruit stalls and in between people's legs. He chased the cat to the docks and it didn't seem to get any slower. Deciding to cheat a little, he decided to put in a little bit of sonido in his next shunpo to catch it by surprise. The cat of course, saw this coming from a mile away. The moment Ichigo sped up, it dived between two armoured legs.
Clang!
Ichigo and the person he crashed into were both now on their butts. God damn that hurt. Who wears armour for no reason…?
"You shall pay running into me, now accept your punishme- Ichigo?" came a distinct female voice.
He looked up to see scarlet hair, she looked familiar… Oh yeah she was one of the visitors to the guild.
"Sorry about that, uh… Erza?" He was unsure of her name. He only heard it in passing mention.
Catching onto his slight doubt, she eased his worry. "No problem, and yes, my name is Erza."
"Ah alright, I'm sorry anyway. Have you seen a black cat around here?"
"You mean that one?" She pointed behind him.
There was the wretched creature still with his sword in its mouth. It gently put it down before disappearing into the crowd by running away.
"Hey! Wait!" He tried to chase after her but he was gone, almost like the Onmitsukido does.
Erza began to contemplate an idea. Would Ichigo agree to come with her to bring back Natsu, Gray and Lucy? Extra power would definitely help, and with his speed, he should be able to round them up easily.
"Sorry to bother you Ichigo, but are you free at the moment?"
"Uh yeah, why?"
"May I ask that you come with me to Galuna Island to bring back Natsu, Gray and Lucy? They snuck off to an S class mission and need to be brought back for both their safety and punishment."
"Sigh… Fine, I'll go with you. I don't wanna see them hurt either. Think of it as my way of repaying you for bumping into you."
"Perfect, let's find a vessel and make our way there."
Erza found her choice of vessel a moment later. A pirate ship to be exact. After threatening the captain and crew, they set sail toward Galuna Island to bring back a few trouble makers.
[A/N] Heyo people! Another chapter up just before the holidays. I hope everyone have a happy and safe Christmas! To clear a little confusion, I'm putting the Galuna Island arc before the Eisenwald arc. Main reason is just to give Ichigo some interaction with the demons using his new quincy powers.
Originally I wanted to let Ichigo use Masaki's Quincy Cross, but I decided to let him use Yhwach's one instead.
Now some answering.
To Goost: Thanks for the review once again, you've been quite helpful. Yeah other than Alvarez and Acnologia there's not much, although if they do want to finish a fight early, they might have to use it. Uryu and Nemu is actually a pairing I dig quite a lot, Minerva is also a viable option though it will be hard to get their characters to have chemistry, but I suppose I could find a way. As for Chad, I already have plans for Yukino so she's out. Maybe Sherry Blendy? Jenny maybe? Maybe Éclair? There's some pairings I've thought of. Im still brainstorming about how to introduce Stark and Lily though, or to bring them back. Another character I have been exploring on how to bring back is actually Gin.
To Daizuke: Once again I don't understand… Me no hable espaniol amigo. But for your large harem, don't worry he will have a decently sized one. As for chapter length, it depends on that week for me honestly, it's quite hectic for me, although I will try and make the chapters longer. I can infer a little and say that perhaps you don't want me to pair Ichigo and Orihime, well I like the pairing personally but the pairing can change. I could just make it a one sided Harem to be honest since Ichigo tends to be supremely dense.
To ZERO: Right now :3
To Wellthatdidn'twork: Thank you! For the encouragement and translation.
To .927: Glad you do!
To Chaos-guard: Thank you!
To Bladetri: Glad you liked it.
Thanks for the reviews everyone! I'll see you all in my next chapter.
Toodles~
PartingGift.