Disclaimer: Shin Kenpachi belongs to me, Dagon. Zaraki Kenpachi belongs, obviously, to Tite Kubo. This fight scene is totally incidental and has nothing to do with my proper story. Enjoy, and thanks for all the views and favs!
What would happen, I once wondered, should the legendary father of the title Kenpachi face off against the current holder? An anti-society wanderer versus a man who only fits into a government place out of the convenience of a loophole. Well, I'm sure someone out there wondered the very same thing, so I crafted this fight. The present Shin Kenpachi against the present Zaraki Kenpachi. The release limit is: Shikai. The time limit: does not exist. The battlefield: the outside wilderness of the Seireitei. No outside help can be called upon. No kido magic can be used (Zaraki's handicap). Flash stepping is optional, but not endorsed. First to stay down or bleed out loses...or wins, depending on their personal views.
GO!
Shin and Zaraki, two utter strangers linked by a shared name of their own thievish invention, stared each other down. One scraped six feet tall, a head of short an unkempt hair above a face of stern apathy. The other bordered at seven feet tall with a mane of spikes for hair. He had a battle-jaded face with a long scar over his right eye and an eye-patch over his left. He grinned, just slightly, showing a sliver of silver teeth.
"Oh?" Zaraki grunted. "Who are you? Another flimsy substitute shinigami from the living world like Ichigo?"
"Eh?" Shin grunted. "What about fruit?"
"Hehehe..." Zaraki growled with laughter. He drew out his sword, chipped and battered from constant war, and held it firmly in one hand. Shin's face went unchanged, but he drew out his much cleaner and sharper sword as well. There was no witty exchange of ideals or thematic styles, that's not what a Kenpachi does to fight. Instead ,Shin started the fight with a flash-step-speed stab! Zaraki blocked it very lethargically with only his wrist.
"You're quick" Zaraki noted.
"Damn" Shin said. He quickly dashed back out of Zaraki's range and stood firm. "You're pretty quick too. I didn't anticipate that. Now I have to rethink my whole damn plan."
"You had a plan?" Zaraki asked. Shin flashed ahead again, this time stopping short of Zaraki's reach with his sword wound back over his shoulder. Shin swung down hard, aiming for Zaraki's chest, but Zaraki blocked it with the same uncaring force that just barely moved his sword as before. Shin landed, grunted in frustration, and started attacking some more. An upward slash into a horizontal sweep, stab stab, all the while stepping forward into his swings and hopping back when snapping into position. Zaraki stared down over his smooth, emotionless face.
"Hey, what's this?" Zaraki asked as Shin chopped away. "Where's the fun in your eyes? You name is Kenpachi, right?"
"It is" Shin answered in grunts. He made one last, powerful blow with his arm wrapped around his neck and his whole body twisting to whip the air apart with his sword. This moved Zaraki from his spot in the ground but his body oddly remained static.
"You should be having fun!" Zaraki pointed out, looking surprised.
"I fight to live" Shin said "and live to fight. Maybe you can't see the duality of that, but it doesn't neccesarily include fun. Besides, it's hard to have fun when the wall you're hitting doesn't have the common decency to at least crack a litte!"
"Is that all?" Zaraki asked, tilting his head with a smile. "Well, come on then! I'll do you a favor!" Zaraki pulled apart his robes and revealed his polished chest. "Take a free shot! I'm sure you can make a hole in this wall!"
"Let's hope I can" Shin whispered. He dashed, not flashed, forward with his sword cocked behind his back for a powerful thrust. Zaraki stood like the wall he preached to be, a static smile on his face. There was only anticipation for the coming blow in his eyes, not anger or vindication or wrath. He was in the moment and having fun. Shin saw that in his eyes and had to strain himself mentally not to go easy on him with his free shot. Finally, with a leap forward, Shin thrusted his sword at Zaraki's chest.
Zaraki's face went from happy to confused, then surprised, then mildly curious as he looked down. Shin had punched his pec with the handguard of his sword. The blade was sticking out Zaraki's back, through the robes, dripping with blood.
"Huh" Zaraki grunted. "That's never really happened before."
"Oh well" Shin said, wrenching his sword out and kicking off of Zarki's abs to get away. Zaraki was still in relative bewilderment over the attack and patted his wound to check its severity.
"You just barely missed my heart!" Zaraki said with a smile. "Ha! I thought you'd be a bit smarter and aim straight into it!"
"Now, now" Shin said, getting into a low-to-the-ground pose, "what fun would that be?" Shin returned Zaraki's smile with his own, projecting his aura of inevitability. Zaraki's grin grew even toothier and meaner and his brow went upwards in glee.
"That's a true Kenpachi thing to say!" Zaraki growled. "It looks like I may have to be a bit more serious now. You obviously won't be worn down through a straight fight. I assume you want this to end quickly?"
"I'd appreciate that" Shin said.
"Tough ****!" Zaraki shouted. The sudden change in his demeanor from happy and calm to happy and manic took Shin by surprise. "This fight is going on for as long as I like!" Shin couldn't help but grin at his enemy's tenacity and prepared for a charge with both hands on his sword. Zaraki started stomping forward, sword in hand and held in front, ready to attack. With a stomp into the ground, Zaraki rose his sword high up for an overstrike, but Shin fell victim to overestimation.
Will he fake me out with an obvious motion? Shin asked. No, this guy seems pretty simple. It's gonna be a straight attack. If it isn't, then I may be in trouble...maybe I should wait for him to start swinging before-NO! This guy is far too fast and strong to dodge on reflexes and he probably knows it. I need to trust my sword! Shikei, block him! On its own, Shikei rose up to black a straight, downward slash. Zaraki's sword came crashing down, forcing Shin so deep that he formed a crater below his feet. Zaraki raised his sword back up and Shin lowered his own to rest his now shaken arms. As Zaraki threw another fatal blow straight down, Shin flashed backwards and dodged it. Still, his mad opponent fought on with a bleeding chest and started running forward close to the ground. Zaraki wanted to compensate Shin's height disadvantage by staying down and slouching a bit so his swings would resonate on a more familiar level with his enemy's.
Zaraki started sweeping hard and slow from left and right. Shin knew the swings couldn't be properly blocked and he thusly dodged and stepped away from what he could. Zaraki pulled back for what looked like a thrust and Shin stood with his arms down, glaring through his bangs at the tall man trying to cut him apart. Zaraki did indeed thrust, but Shin's absurd speed allowed him to step onto the attack, walk down the sword, and get his own blade at Zaraki's throat. Zaraki gave a mighty shrug at his shoulder and tossed Shin away.
"So you can follow me" Shin said. "That's interesting. I assumed you only knew how to throw a sword around thoughtlessly. No offense."
"None taken" Zaraki answered as he turned around. "Honestly, I get that a lot. It doesn't matter to me what other people think about my style. The fact is I've got the power to blow through nearly anyone's defense. Your thing seems to be less about raw power and more about the substance of that power. You can analyze the situation as it happens better than I can, it seems. I just let things happen and never really think about death."
"That can be smart" Shin admitted "or foolish, depending on how you use it. I nicked you heart and you haven't actually complained about it yet. That's impressive. However, there is still one more side of power I haven't seen from you. Where's your pressure?"
"My pressure?" Zaraki repeated. He smiled widely and glowered at Shin. Suddenly, rock-breaking pressure erupted from all over. The air hissed with the dead and undead whispers from behind Zaraki, and Shin's legs shook under his power. "Yours must be phenomenal as well, right?"
"You could say that" Shin said. He rose up under the influence of his and Shikei's shared pressure field that overthrew and canceled out Zaraki's. Now the air crackled and roared with the deafening blaring of Shin's strength, but Zaraki wavered not. "I, personally, have a low opinion of it."
"That's pretty good" Zaraki said with his dumbly distant face.. "No, that's really good. Wow. I thought I had an intimidating force. I can't even bring myself to move my feet right now..." He started smiling and, at length, laughing madly. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!" Shin was taken aback slightly and forced a stern glare at his enemy. The pressures balanced out, letting both Kenpachi's inhabit their own worlds of crushing death. "Now I'm having fun! Yeah, this battle looks like it could go for a long time! HA!"
"What kind of warrior prides himself on a never-ending fight?" Shin asked. He didn't wait for an answer from his jolly enemy, he just blew forth with a mist of his own pressure trailing behind and around him. He came in with the intention of using both hands to empower his attack, but Zaraki managed to block it with only one. Then he deflected it, throwing Shin's sword above his head, and kicked Shin away. The counter was successful, and Zaraki was quickly running forward for the follow-up attack. Shin got on his feet and blocked what could only be described as a flurry of blind slashes straight from hell. They came randomly and extremely fast. Some cuts and gashes appeared on Shin's arms and legs, one shallow cut on his torso and a nick on his face. Just the pressure with which Zaraki swung his sword was cutting him, even through his own pressure field.
"Die, Shin Kenpachi!" Zaraki announced. He rose his sword up high and arched his back. This next attack would obviously be lethal. Shin vanished and Zaraki's face went from wildly happy to frozen in confusion. His sword felt a bit heavier.
"You know" Shin said, standing from the tip of Zaraki's zanpakuto, "I never really relish the end of a either. I can sympathize with wanting an endless, entertaining battle." Zaraki swung his sword just to swat away Shin and noticed just how much of Shin's pressure was lifted. Now he only had a cloud of black covering him in Zaraki's field of gray. "I doubt any warrior truly wants to stop fighting someone fun, but even so the inevitability of an ending is what makes a fight exciting. If a fight has no end, what can be learned from it? Soon the fighters will exhaust every possible move and thereby learn every possible lesson from each other." Zaraki had to pause from his crazy streak and think about Shin's point.
"I hope you're ready for the end" Shin warned, flipping his sword around on his hand to grab it in an odd fashion. Right hand high up on the blade, left hand still on the handle. "Unfortunately, Zaraki Kenpachi, all things glorious must have an end. Say good bye to this glorious fight."
"Huu..." Zaraki growled. He decided to ignore the obvious dangers present and went for it, running forward with his sword drawn back and off-arm in front with a tight fist.
"Reaping Time..." Shin incanted, ignoring the coming menace of Zaraki. The fight was, in all respects, over now. "Shikei!" With a wave of death that stopped even Zaraki, Shin's sword released into its scythe form. The air around Shin seemed to stir and retreat out of fear. The ground around him was dead and black. This was death, a fact that after a moment of deliberation, made Zaraki smile wide.
"You know your sword's name" Zaraki noted. "How lucky. Mine is always released, but I can't learn its name. It's bothersome, I think, but I don't really mind. I'd prefer a normal, traditional sword over an eccentric weapon like that any day!"
"Say what you want" Shin said, spinning his scythe around in a circle with both hands. "You know it's cool."
"Heh" Zaraki grunted. "It is fitting, but useless. You're range has become less than half of what it was when you had a normal sword!"
"That's where substance and style come in handy" Shin said. He continued spinning it at his right side with both hands twirling it and started running ahead. He only had a few steps to got before he was in perfect range. Zaraki brought his sword up and blocked Shin's first attack, but the reaping horizontal cut still pushed Zaraki's sword enough to dig into his side. Then, Shin drew the scythe all the way around with a few eloquent spins and attacked Zaraki's unguarded right side. It was barely blocked but the cut was still present, this time deeper than before. "You see?" Shin said, spinning the scythe back around his back and kick-flipping to the side, "Style overrules raw power."
"Like hell it does!" Zaraki said with a grin. Shin took it as a joke and grinned while he brought his scythe in front to block Zaraki's jumping slash. As Zaraki landed the weight of his huge body forced Shin's feet of the ground and he swung down hard. He expected Shin to fly away, but instead Shin hacked his blade in the ground and used the force to spin himself around and fly into Zaraki's face feet-first. Now blinded by Shin's feet and off-balance by his weight, Zaraki was at Shin's mercy for an attack. Shin took advantage and dug his heel into Zaraki's nose to spin around and make a head-splitting chop that traveled nowhere near Zaraki's head and sank into his stomach.
"Ow!" Zaraki shouted. "That one hurt a little!" His pain only served to amuse him, and his totally emotionless voice only added to Shin's own unsureness of the direness of his attack. Zaraki, using his opponent's blinding ego, brought his own sword up and smashed Shin in the back of the head with the broad edge. It was stern and powerful enough to force Shin to stagger off Zaraki's face, which let him lunge forward face-first to throw Shin away. Shin's scythe stayed inside Zaraki, which also seemed to amuse the madman. Once Shin landed, he spun around quickly to recover and looked on with dread at his scythe's current location. Zaraki pulled it out, grinned at it, and threw it back. It bounced once and Shin caught it, twirling it around his body like a waist-high halo.
"Thanks" Shin said honestly.
"Don't thank me" Zaraki growled. "I'm trying to kill you!"
"Well, not for that" Shin corrected. "I was thinking you'd break my weapon."
"Really?" Zaraki said, cocking his head to the side. "Why would you think that?"
"I'm not sure" Shin admitted. "Honestly, I wanted to see what you would do if you had my own weapon in hand. If you did break it, well, then I'd learn just how screwed I'd be if my weapon ever broke on me in a serious bout. I'm a little disappointed that I don't get to see it now, though..."
"Heh..." Zaraki smirked. That laugh gave way to another "Heh," then a "Ha!" and finally a whole string of mad, dying laughter. "HAHAHEHAHEHEHAHAHUHUHEHAHA!!!" Shin leaned back, still unguarded against Zaraki's fits of madness. "That!" Zaraki yelled, pointing at Shin. "That, that is it! That's the true spirit that I wanted to see! Testing your own mettle, your own limits with your life on the line! That's the Kenpachi way! That's what I expected of you!!!"
"Thanks...or not" Shin said, unaware of what praise from a madman sounded like until now.
"Ah, I almost decided to lose my faith in you" Zaraki admitted. "You redeemed yourself. I'm glad. Now, I have decided that you have gained another shot! Go ahead! END THIS FIGHT, SHIN KENPACHI!!!" Now Shin was grinning out of pure amusement. He was having fun on a deeper level than he had known before. His heart raced, his eyes shivered, his muscles twitched, his hairs stood on end; the 'End' crept up his spine.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!" Shin roared with a grin. Zaraki roared right back with his own toothy smile and they both charged. Shin adapted his style of rapid rotation against Zaraki's tried and true method of 'attack until you can't'. Shin spun his scythe between his fingers and hands with the speed and lethality of a rotary saw, making Zaraki's static sword look almost foolish. Shin spun around on one foot, while his scythe blade cut the air behind him, all the while he spun right into Zaraki's defense. Now at the edge of his reason, Zaraki decided to hit the scythe out of its rhythm and kick at Shin. He dodged, however, and got his rhythm back by spinning the blade and chopping into Zaraki's foot.
"HAAAH!" Zaraki shouted. He made a clean hack that traveled right into Shin's scythe. Shin pushed him off and countered with an overhead, helm-splitting blow that cut a diagonal gash in Zaraki's torso, shoulder to hip. Shin assumed Zaraki would waver in pain, but he again underestimated his opponent's sense of fear. Zaraki retaliated by chopping into the bone of Shin's left shoulder. Shin slid from the blade and kept spinning his scythe around in his right hand, his left arm now no longer able to move. Still, that didn't hinder him. He was able to expertly spin the scythe around with one arm and catch it with his neck and legs to perform kicking slashes.
"GRYAAH!" Shin bellowed. He had reduced himself already to Zaraki's animistic state of mind and fought on the equal level of total berserk. Now he took his scythe by the edge of its long handle and made a devastating cleave into Zaraki's upper body. Zaraki jumped away before the slash plowed through his muscles into his throat and was spared, but Shin came upon him with eyes of total madness, not that he minded at all. Zaraki stabbed into Shin as he came forward. Shin didn't notice, as he was too busy readjusting his grip to the middle of his scythe and slicing straight into Zaraki's right pectoral. Blood went everywhere, some from Shin and some from Zaraki. The ground was stained red all over now, the inhuman amounts of blood overflowing the soil and pooling all around. Everywhere the manly warriors stepped, things died and decayed instantly.
"DIE!" both shouted in unison. In a final ditch, Zaraki brought his sword around with his off arm whipping fast in the other direction to propel his hips to twist into the swing. The blade traveled to Shin's neck. Simultaneously, Shin made a similar gesture and brought his scythe to Zaraki's neck.
The fight stopped once both swords were a centimeter into the meaty necks.
"Huh" Shin grunted. "Looks like we're both dead."
"It seems to be a draw at this point" Zaraki admitted. "Damn. I couldn't use my full power, either."
"I would have wanted to see that, right?" Shin asked. Zaraki just grunted, not wanting to nod or speak much anymore. "Tell you what. As much as it tends to disgust me, let's end this in a tie."
"I like that idea" Zaraki said. They pulled their swords from each other and sheathed them. Shin deactivated his first. "This way we both technically lose."
"That's one way to put it, I guess" Shin said. "Now, I'd shake your hand and say good match, but I'm not entirely convinced that you won't try to rip off my arm when I do."
"The fight's over" Zaraki said, "at least for now. Get a bit stronger and come back later. I still have some tricks to try out on you."
"Hopefully I'll come up with something better too" Shin said. "Good fight." He offered his hand and Zaraki took it respectfully. In the match of the ancient past versus the present, it seems like a tie is inevitably the ending. Perhaps when Zaraki's power is fully unleashed and Shin's power is fully realized, the battle will be longer...more exciting and entertaining...more fun for everyone.
Until that time, we wish our fighters luck as they return to their respective worlds. Zaraki to Hueco Mundo to fight the Arrancar and Shin to realize his absolute potential.
"Thanks for reading" Zaraki says to the audience members. "Remember, all of my fun-filled exploits are available in the BLEACH manga series, currently serialized in America under VIZ comics."
"That's right" Shin said. "And don't forget, every week my adventures are updated, although not always staring me. If you have any questions or complaints about this stupid, pointless ending, please message the author and blame him."
"No, please don't" Dagon said, wearing a mask to hide his identity and masking his voice with...magic. "I...I don't think I'd handle it very well. Anyway, thank you very much for a full year's worth of support and praise, and thanks in advance for the reviews and compliments on my story 'The Berserker King, Shin Kenpachi'. Have...Have a nice day..."
"Quit being shy, dumbass" Zaraki chided. "Like anyone knows what you look like in text."
"Uh...Sorry" Dagon nervously said.