Chapter 25: Capture Byakuya! The Determination of the Soul Reapers!
The zanpakuto, its unique shape and abilities are defined by its Soul Reaper. A Soul Reaper is able to harness the power of the zanpakuto by learning its name and forming a synergistic unit. The Zanpakuto is born with its Soul Reaper and dies with its Soul Reaper. That is the existence of the zanpakuto.
Yumichika appeared behind the zanpakuto and said, "This game is over. I would rather die right now than have your shikai being seen by others, Ruri'iro Kujaku. But that's not all there is to it. If I don't use Ruri'iro Kujaku, then I'll use whatever it takes to win. And that is my aesthetic." Yumichika cut Kujaku down and the zanpakuto returned to his sword form.
Suzumebachi rushed towards the marking on Soi Fon's cheek. Before her stinger could touch the marking, a white aura surrounded Soi Fon, stopping the zanpakuto. "What?!" she shouted shocked. "This can't be!" her eyes widen when Soi Fon swung her sword and cut off her stinger.
"I concentrated the energy of Shunko around the Homonka mark that you aimed for." Soi Fon explained. "A sword cannot penetrate that. I'm sorry but I do not rely solely on my zanpakuto. That was the way which I was trained to be at this level."
"Damn it!" Suzumebachi cursed as her body returned to its sword form.
Then a loud yell was heard in the area, getting Luffy and Ichigo's attention. Luffy looked behind his shoulder and saw Senbonzakura coming towards him. He tried to counter but the zanpakuto hit him with the pedals and was send into the purple smog. "Damn!" Luffy cursed, getting back to his feet. As he stood up, his legs started to feel heavy and he coughed up blood. "What the…" He quickly covered his mouth, trying to keep his attention on the two figures outside of the smog but they disappeared. Luffy's vision became blurry and he collapsed.
Luffy, Ichigo, Rukia, Zoro, and Sanji were lying on the ground unconscious inside of the purple smog, infected by the poison emitted from Ashisogi Jizo. The smog started to fade away Ashisogi Jizo changed back into its original form. The zanpakuto looked around the unconscious bodies and stopped when he saw Ichigo. He smacked the substitute soul reaper in the head multiple times, trying to wake him up. Then the laughter of Yachiru started the little zanpakuto and he flash stepped away.
"Found you!" Yachiru shouted, appearing behind the zanpakuto and starling him. "It's hide-and-seek time!" The zanpakuto tried to get away from the lieutenant but Yachiru grabbed him by his moth wings and dragged him to the ground. As Yachiru was played with his wings, the zanpakuto wiggled free from the lieutenant.
"Bankai!" The zanpakuto managed to say. Before he could active his bankai, he felt the hand of a certain squad captain grab him by his head.
"Hey next time, just keep your ass out of my battle." Kenpachi warned. "Because of your interference, Byakuya had the chance to get away from me. So how do you plan on making up to me, huh?" Unknown to Kenpachi, another captain appeared behind him with a device in his hand. The captain pressed down on the device and Ashisogi Jizo blew up, leaving behind a broken sword.
"This is my zanpakuto." A familiar voice said. Kenpachi behind his shoulder and saw Mayuri walking towards him. "And I will not allow you to do whatever you please it. It is my duty to administer the punishment to it for betraying its master."
"Damn you!" Kenpachi cursed.
Soi Fon picked up her zanpakuto and placed it back into its sheath, breathing after the battle she just fought. "I must go." She said. As she started to walk, her legs gave out on her. Before she fell, a dark skin hand grabbed her wrist and kept her up. Soi Fon looked behind her shoulder to see who grabbed her and a blush came on her face when she saw that it was Yoruichi.
"It looks like you've really beaten up." Yoruichi said, picking Soi Fon up bridal style.
"Lady Yoruichi…" Soi Fon said.
"What is it, Soi Fon?"
Ichigo's scream filled the seireitei as the sun begun to rise. "PLEASE, NOT THAT!" He yelled, trying to escape from the Squad 12 captain. "STOP! LET GO! I'M BEGGING YOU!"
"Why are you protesting treatment?" Mayuri asked calmly, taking an injection needle. "Your body has been infused with deadly poison. You must be treated immediately or you'll die." Mayuri squirted a little bit of the substance of the needle onto the ground. Steam come out of the substance like it's acidic.
"I don't need that stuff! I already heard that your 'treatments' don't really work!"
"My goodness, who would've told you such a vicious lie?"
"It was Uryu. He told me."
"Oh, that Quincy…I knew that I should've rebuild him too. That would have kept him from spreading such ridiculous rumors."
"Too?! Did you just say 'too'?! That means that you have the intention of rebuilding me as well!" Then Ichigo started to cough due to the poison in his body.
"You talk too much as well." Mayuri said. "I'm thinking that since I'm treating you anyway, I can rebuild without an extra charge. You should be grateful." Ichigo flash stepped away from Mayuri before the captain could inject the substance into Ichigo's body.
"I should be thrilled about being injected with something harmful?!" Ichigo shouted.
"Nemu…" Then the lieutenant of Squad 12 appeared on top of Ichigo, holding him to the ground.
"Wha…Hey no!" Ichigo shouted, trying to get out of Nemu's grasp.
"Please Ichigo, calm down." Nemu said to the substitute soul reaper.
"Keep him still, Nemu." Mayuri said as he walked towards Ichigo.
"Hey…" Kenpachi said, getting Mayuri's attention. "I don't care about what you do to Ichigo as long as he's still able to fight me when you're done."
"Kenpachi, don't just sit there." Ichigo said to the Squad 11 captain. "Stop him, would you?"
"Why should I? I don't care if you get turned into a machine or a fire breathing monster as long as I can still fun fighting with you."
"You jerk!"
"You heard him, Ichi!" Yachiru shouted.
"Hold you, how come the poison isn't affecting the two of you?!"
"Oh, good question. We heard our breath and didn't breathe in the poison so we're doing a-ok!"
"Well, that's rather strange." Mayuri said. "That poison is supposed to be capable of entering your body whether you inhale it or not. Well, maybe it doesn't work on idiots."
"I bet that there's another reason." A new voice said, getting Mayuri's attention. "I bet that Captain Zaraki's spirit energy repelled the poison."
"Captain Kyoraku and Captain Ukitake!" Ichigo said, shocked to see Jushiro and Kyoraku.
"Sorry about showing up so late, Ichigo." Kyoraku said.
"So are you alright then?" Jushiro said.
"Captain Kurotsuchi, our thanks for attention to everyone." Unohana said, appearing with her Squad 4. "Now that Squad 4 has arrived, we take care of things from here on."
"Great, I'm saved." Ichigo said in relief.
"Please be quiet." Nemu said, tightening her grip around Ichigo.
"Hey, let me go!"
"It isn't easy to treat a victim of my poison if you're not familiar with it." Mayuri said to Unohana.
"Please rest assured, we successfully treated Isane and the others who were exposed to the poison during Ashisogi Jizo's attack." Unohana said. "We have already analyzed its contents."
"That was unwarranted." Mayuri said, putting his needle away. "Next time, I create a poison that even you won't be able to analyze and treat so quickly, Captain Unohana."
"Well I have that to look forward to." Unohana said.
"Are they having an argument? "Ichigo asked with a sweat drop.
The Straw Hats' monster trio already sitting up as they were being treated by the member of Squad 4. "Ashisogi Jizo? You mean that monster attack us last night?" Zoro asked.
"Yes." Unohana said. "Before coming here, Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo infiltrated the seireitei."
(Flashback)
Rangiku and Iba were carrying the injured Isane with Momo following them as they ran away from Ashisogi Jizo and his poison.
"Hado #31: Shakkaho!" Momo shouted, shooting a red kido blast at Ashisogi Jizo and creating an explosion. Thinking that she hit the zanpakuto, she started to run again to catch up with her fellow lieutenants. The smoke cleared and revealed that the zanpakuto wasn't harmed by Momo's attack.
"Bankai!" Ashisogi Jizo said as his body transformed. Now he has a giant worm like body, his wings had fallen off and poison came out of his mouth. After his transformation, he rushed towards the lieutenants.
"Damn it!" Iba cursed. "He's catching up to us!" The zanpakuto started to pick up more speed as he ran past several buildings and head for the Squad 6 barracks. Momo and the other lietenants walked out of one of the destroyed buildings without a scratch on them. Soon, Momo's leg started to feel heavy as she started to fall.
"Momo!" Rangiku shouted, catching her friends.
"I'm sorry." Momo said weakly. "I think that the poison has taken effect."
"I think you must be must be overtired."
"I'm glad that you're all safe." Then Momo's body became limp and she lost unconsciousness.
"Momo!" Rangiku shouted. Then her vision became blurry and she collapsed to the ground.
"Rangiku!" Isane shouted.
"They've been poisoned!" Iba shouted. Soon after Isane lost consciousness herself and Iba's vision started to blur. "Damn it!" Iba collapsed and was unconsciousness himself.
(End of Flashback)
"Fortunately, Ashisogi Jizo conducted its rampage relatively close to our Squad 4 barracks." Unohana continued. "All four of them are being treated there now. Thanks to our effective treatment, their lives aren't in danger. After a week or so of bed rest, they should be fully recovered."
"That's good to know." Ichigo said.
"Captain Unohana!" a member of Squad 4 shouted. "We've found third seat Madarame in the court yard and fifth seat Aysegawa in the forest. They were unconscious."
"I understand." Unohana said to her squad member. "In that case, I will look after that wound here. Please and go help out the others."
"Yes ma'am!" The squad member shouted.
"Say Captain Kurotsuchi, about your zanpakuto, was it really a wise decision to break it?" Kyoraku asked the captain of Squad 12 captain.
"Yes it was." Mayuri said, picking his broken zanpakuto. "It was more for me to recover Ashisogi Jizo to understand the secret behind the brainwashing of the zanpakuto."
"Wait, so earlier you forced it to submit?" Ichigo questioned.
"Hardly, it simply self-destructed. It was the same as when Zaraki took action and broke Wabisuke."
"Then it's lost forever."
"Enough talk! I broke my zanpakuto in order to discover vital new information. You asked too many questions."
"You don't think that losing your own sword just to conduct an experiment is too big a price to pay?"
"Of course not."
"It's good thing that you're on our side." Kyoraku said laughing.
"Rukia, are you ok?" Jushiro asked, concerned about his squad member.
"I'm sorry that I had you so concerned." Rukia said, trying to get up but her captain kept her down.
"It's fine, relax."
"Right."
"So you tried but you couldn't stop Byakuya." Rukia looked away with a sad expression on her face.
"Yes."
"I don't understand. Just what exactly is he intending to do?"
"Don't worry, Rukia." Luffy said. "We'll make Byakuya come to his senses. Even if we have to beat the hell out of him to do it."
In the zanpakuto's hideout, Byakuya walked through the dark cavern and spotted Muramasa staring a body of water.
"Good work." Muramasa said, facing Byakuya as a hell butterfly towards him.
"Are you heading to World of the Living?" Byakuya asked. Muramasa waved the butterfly away and started to walk farther into the cavern and Byakuya followed.
"Aright then, I guess that I'll get going." Kenpachi said, sheathing his sword.
"Where you going, Captain Zaraki?" Jushiro asked.
"You know where. I'm going to find Byakuya so we can finish our fight."
"That's sound like great fun, Kenny!" Yachiru shouted.
"You won't find him just by searching blindly." A new voice said, getting the captains' attention. They looked at where the voice came from and saw Yoruichi, Soi Fon, and the rest of the Straw Hat Crew.
"Hey guys!" Luffy shouted, happy to see his crew.
"Nami! Robin! Yoruichi! Sanji shouted with a heart his visible eye.
"Yoruichi Shihoin, you're back." Jushiro said.
"They really did a number on this place." Franky said, looking around at the destroyed barracks.
"What were you guys doing?!" Nami shouted. "I thought you guys would've taken care of this zanpakuto by now."
"Those zanpakuto are stronger than you think." Zoro said. "You'll know once you fight one of them."
"So do you know I'm going to be able to find those rebel bastards?" Kenpachi asked.
"We don't." Robin answered. "But we've discovered where they're holding the Head Captain." The soul reapers widen their eyes when they heard that news from Robin.
"So do you want to go?" Yoruichi said.
To be continued…
Next Chapter: Breaking Through Enemy Lines! Luffy and Ichigo Launch the Counter-Attack!