Chapter 26: The Blacksmith Ōetsu Nimaiya
Outside of the Seireitei walls, Yoruichi takes Sango and Miroku to see the great Sword smith Ōetsu Nimaiya. "So this Ōetsu Nimaiya is the greatest sword smith in the entire Soul Society?" Miroku breaks their silence. "Oh yes, he could rival your Feudal Era Totosai." Yoruichi quickly answers his question with a smile. "And he's the one who forged everyone's Zanpakuto?" Sango asks her question this time. "Yes, and the new owner must synergize the Zanpakuto's power." Yoruichi said to them in a cheery tone. One question after another begin to slightly annoy Yoruichi. 'and these guys keep on jabbering?' she thought to herself.
What seems like days they finally arrived at Ōetsu Nimaiya's place. It's like Totosai's cave except the skull cave he lives in regular cave in the mountains instead. "Hey Ōetsu Nimaiya! You there?" Yoruichi shouts into the cave. "Yoruichi is that you out there?" A male's voice replies as he comes out to see his old friend.
Ōetsu Nimaiya comes out to expose himself to the trio. Miroku and Sango tilt their heads to believe what they're seeing. Ōetsu is dark-skinned man with thick, black hair that is shaven and dyed green on the sides of his head. He wears a variation of the Shinigami shihakushō, featuring instead a green undergarment, and a shortened hakama that exposes his lower legs. Worn over this is a white, sleeveless puffer jacket that bears the Royal Guard emblem on its back, as well as the alternating circle and diamond pattern of a captain's haori along the bottom. His attire is completed by gold-framed sunglasses with blue lenses, and a pair of green slippers that are gold trimmed and have a shoe-like appearance. "Ah it is you Yoruichi. Who do you have here?" Ōetsu smiles to them. "I'm Miroku Houshi, captain of squad 3." Miroku bows to him. "And I'm Sango Taijiya captain of Squad 5." Sango bows to him as well. "My, Yoruichi you really know how to recruit the right people." Ōetsu comments to the duo. "So what do you need me for?" He asks while he cleans the lens of his sunglasses. "We're here to re-forge Miroku and Sango's weapons into Zanpakuto." Yoruichi points out their reason for coming. "Oh yes. Come on in." Ōetsu gestures them to enter.
Inside Ōetsu's place every wall is full of swords that he forged over the years in his life. "So which weapons need to be re-forged?" Ōetsu asks as they each took a seat. Miroku pulled out his staff while Sango laid down her Hiraikotsu. Ōetsu expressed his look of interest as he exams the two. "So where on earth did you get these weapons?" He asks. Sango answers first, "Well this is my weapon Hiraikotsu, it's made by the bones of slain demons back in my village." Sango tells his the weapon's background. Ōetsu narrows his eyes to see what else he can find out about it. "I have to admit that this is very special to you. Not only that but you inherited from your grandfather as well." Sango is shocked. "How did you know?" She asks in disbelief. "I have the ability to read the weapon's history." Ōetsu replies to her. "And it's very important to keep the tradition of demon slaying alive, but you've been devastated with the raid to your village that you and your brother are the only survivors of it." He adds his statement. Sango nods tell him that's his right. "I can turn it into a regular sword so that you Hiraikotsu can turn back into its boomerang for Shikai." He suggests as he picks up the weapon. Surprisingly it wasn't that heavy for him that he carried like it was a bird feather, leaving the rest speechless.
"And now we have a staff here then huh?" Ōetsu asks Miroku. "And it was passed down by your father as well." He asks more of the staff background. "I think I knew what happen that it's too much to be said." Ōetsu comments as he saw the sincere face on Miroku's face. "This will re-forged into a Zanpakuto as well." He finished his lecture as he takes the staff and placed it by Sango's Hiraikotsu. "It'll take three days to get this done. Now if you excuse me?" Ōetsu said as he pulls a rope from above. "Bye-bye!" He shouts as the floor disappears from below Sango, Miroku, and Yoruichi. The three of them scream as they fell through the hole and end up back into the Squad 11 Barrack secret path.
Back in Squad 11 Captain Zaraki is lazy as he lays on one side and looks outside with boredom. And he knew that his lieutenant has been playing tag with Shippo for the pass few days. "I need to do something." He sadly said to himself with a gloomy face. All of a sudden a noise gets his attention. He turns his gaze to where it's coming from. "Okay who's there?" He gets up to the source. Out comes Miroku and Sango crawling out of the closet where the cleaning supplies where placed. "You didn't came here to play hide and seek with me?" Zaraki asks the two. Miroku and Sango look to see where Yoruichi was. "You mean Cat woman? She's a sly one to come by. So that means you're the only ones who barged into my barracks without my permission." Zaraki grins likes a wild man and charges at them. "Captain Zaraki don't be so rash!" Miroku shouts as he and Sango tried to dodge his upcoming attacks. "And what leave me alone to boredom? Not gonna happen on my part." He shouts as they run out of Squad 11 Barracks.
Inuyasha, and Ichigo, walk back towards the Squad 11 Barracks until the see something coming their way. "What the hell?" Ichigo said with wide eyes. Inuyasha narrows his eyes and realizes it's his captain chasing his friends. "You've got to be kidding me." Inuyasha shouts as he and Ichigo gets out of the way. "What did you guys do?" He shouts at them. "It's not our fault! We went to Ōetsu Nimaiya to re-forge our weapons until he sent us back to Captain Zaraki's office!" Miroku shouts with fright as he and Sango are still in pursuit. Inuyasha rolls his eyes. "Do your friends do this?" Ichigo whispers to him. "No." Inuyasha replies as they continue to head back Squad 11.