Chapter 10: The Straw Hat Crew Gets Wiped Out! The Fullbringer's Powers in Full Swing!
"There are two reasons why the Head Captain decided to restore your powers." Zoro said, walking up to Ichigo. "The first one is just as Robin explained to you. The second has to do with him." Ichigo looked at the tower and saw a figure inside of him. It was Ginjo. "We are told that long before you came along, there was another man was issued a combat pass as a substitute soul reaper. But he relinquished that position and disappeared. That is him, the first substitute soul reaper Kugo Ginjo." Ginjo cut through the spirit energy and revealed that he now has white armor on his shoulders, chest, neck, arms, and legs, much like Ichigo's fullbring. Ginjo looked down at Ichigo and the Straw Hats with a smirk on his face.
"The first…substitute soul reaper?" Ichigo questioned with widen eyes. "How is that possible?! I thought…"
"When you got that position, I'm sure that someone must have told you about it." Sanji said, lighting a cigarette. Ichigo widen his eyes remembering what Jushiro said to him when he first got his combat pass.
"The law governing substitute soul reapers was created for Ginjo himself." Robin said. "But I'll save the detail for later. Right now, we must concentrate our attention on him."
"Ha, that's a good idea!" Ginjo said. "You guys are going to have a very big problem if he's not focus on me. Oh and by the way, thanks Kurosaki. If I haven't borrowed your powers that last attack probably would've killed me!"
"Right now, Ichigo shouldn't be the only one to worry about." Luffy said, walking up to Ichigo and cracking his knuckles.
"Oh really, and who are you?"
"I'm the guy who's gonna kick your ass!" Luffy declared, glaring at Ginjo.
Chad and Orihime ran through the forest, trying to search for Ichigo. 'Ichigo…he was crying.' Orihime thought as the image of Ichigo sobbing played in her mind. 'I don't understand. Ichigo and Mr. Tsukishima are best friends. So why did thing turn out like this?' Images of Tsukishima in Orihime's memories appeared in her mind as she's still under the influence of Tsukishima's fullbring. 'Mr. Tsukishima is the one I love way, way before I met Ichigo. He was there in my life, watching over me, always protected me, and treated me with kindness. For as long as I can remember, I always looked up to him. He means everything to me and I would sacrifice everything for Mr. Tsukishima. That's how I've always felt.' Then tears started to form in Orihime's eyes. 'So why? Why does it hurt me more to see Ichigo like that? I don't know why but I can't stand it. It's too painful. It hurts in my mind, in my heart, and even in the pit of my stomach. Please don't cry Ichigo. It's tearing me apart! Please don't cry!' Orihime looked up at the sky and saw Ichigo standing tall without a tear coming from his eyes. That brought a smile on Orihime's face. 'Ichigo, thank goodness. You're not crying.' Then she noticed Rukia, Luffy, and the other Straw Hat Pirates standing with Ichigo.
"Rukia…Luffy…Chopper…Nami…" Orihime said. "Do you see that Chad? They all came here to stop Ichigo."
"Something's not right." Chad said, getting Orihime's attention. "Why is everyone up there standing behind Ichigo?" Orihime looked back up and notice that Chad was right. Beside Luffy, who's standing to Ichigo, Rukia and the other Straw Hats are standing behind Ichigo. "I thought came to stop him. But now, instead they came here to defeat Ginjo.
"What's the matter, you two?" Tsukishima said, appearing behind Chad and Orihime, getting their attention. "Could it that you're having doubts about your past?"
"Mr…Tsukishima…" Orihime said, getting a little scared.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Don't tell that you've forgotten all the memories we've shared. Just think about it. Who protected you from your parents when they abused you Orihime? And who was it that gave that pendent when you were a young boy, Chad?"
Orihime and Chad's bodies started to shake as the most important of their childhood were replaced by Tsukishima. "Something's not right with me!" Orihime shouted. "I'm alive right now because of Mr. Tsukishima! So why am I having doubts?! I believe it!"
"I believe it!" Chad said. "I believe in Mr. Tsukishima! He's my true friend! He's always been!"
"Tsukishima, stop drilling more memories into them!" Ginjo ordered. "You'll make them useless to us. Do you realize how many people broken like that?" Then Orihime and Chad felt something hitting in the back of their necks, knocking them out. Tsukishima looked at who the attackers were and saw Kisuke and Isshin.
"Well, that was easier than I thought it'll be." Kisuke said, catching Orihime.
"Really?" Isshin deadpanned. "I'm the one with all the dead weight on my shoulders."
"Thanks to your careless to unsettle them, Tsukishima, we were able to come up from behind and knock them unconscious." Kisuke said to the fullbringer. "In the end, you did us a great favor. Now that they've both been temporary taken out of action, we won't worry about accidently hurting in the event of a confrontation." Then the former captain looked at Ichigo. "You don't have to worry Ichigo. We already moved the others to a safe place. So now you'll be able to fight without holding back." Tsukishima and Ginjo narrowed their eyes at Kisuke now that they can't use Ichigo's friends against him anymore.
"Kugo!" Jackie shouted, getting Ginjo's attention. Ginjo looked down and saw the other Xcution members running towards the battlefield.
"What?!" Kutsuzawa exclaimed. "I knew that this would happen. This is really quite unfair. We had an agreement. How could you take Ichigo's power all for yourself?!"
"Hold on, Giriko!" Riruka shouted, not worry about Ichigo's power.
"Yeah, he's right!" Yukio added. "You promised to split his power with all of us!"
Riruka ran in front of the group and said, "Everyone just chill out here! I, for one, don't really care about having Ichigo's powers!"
"All of you shut up!" Ginjo shouted, cutting Riruka off. "I need to be reminded of what I said." Ginjo's sword started to glow a green light as he slashed the Xcution members with it. "There, I just shared a portion of Ichigo's powers. Now are you happy?" Then a green aura surrounds the Xcution as they felt a huge surge of power flow through their bodies. Ichigo narrowed his eyes as the members of Xcution transformed like Ginjo did.
"Oh crap, that doesn't look good." Usopp said, getting a little scared now.
"It's wonderful!" Kutsuzawa shouted happily. "Amazing, Ichigo's fullbring is truly an awesome power! It feel like my entire body is be rejuvenated. I feel as I did in my youth!"
"I'm not surprise for your reaction." Yukio said. "It's what I expected for an old guy."
Ginjo smirked seeing that the transfer of powers was successful. "Aren't you going to share this with Shishigawara?" Tsukishima asked Ginjo. "It's not nice of you to leave him out."
"The truth is I thought it would be risky to increase his powers." Ginjo said. "When this fight is finally over, I want you to kill him."
Tsukishima looked Ginjo for a while and a smirk came to his face. "That's too bad. I thought he had an interesting ability."
"Alright, here we come Ichigo!" Kutsuzawa shouted. "In a few minutes, you will fully feel the full power that you've given us!"
"Listen to him, all in your face." Zoro said, grabbing the hilt of one of his swords. Ichigo put his hand in front of Zoro, stopping him.
"Stay back, Zoro." Ichigo said. "It's my fault that their powers were allowed to increase. Let me handle this." Ichigo descended to the ground below in front of the fullbringers.
"What?!" Kutsuzawa said confused. "Wait, what in the world do you think you're doing? Don't tell you trying all of us on at once." Ichigo raised his zanpakuto at the Xcution, firing a blast of spirit energy at them, knocking them into the ground. Ichigo looked at the fullbringers and saw that they're unconscious.
"I went easy on you." He said. "That's why you're all still alive."
"Oh, really?" Yukio said, shocking Ichigo. "I'm supposed that you're proud of yourself for that." Then the bodies of the Xcution members disappeared and the real ones reappeared, unscathed from Ichigo's attack. "You think that you're so cool. But you're just a joke to us. You don't get it, do you? You think that the tag should be 'You've defeated the enemy.' But in fact, the tag reads 'The enemy has evaded your attack', thanks to my Digital Radio Invaders." Ichigo narrowed his eyes at Yukio. "Pretty cool, isn't it? It's one of the new upgrades I just got. It's something that came from taking away your fullbring. That's right; we can wear and mend our fullbring just like you did. Before my Invaders Must Die can only be used in video games. But thanks to you, I can extend its powers to the real world."
"You're way too soft for them, Ichigo!" Zoro shouted, appearing behind Ichigo and slashed Yukio. "There's no point on trying to end this fight striking the enemy with the flat of your blade. You have to crush them quickly. They're the ones who started this fight. They have to live with the consequences." Behind Zoro, a black digital space from the ground and headed straight towards the swordsman, only to be shattered by a kick from Sanji.
"What are you doing letting your guard down like that, Moss Head?!" Sanji shouted at the swordsman.
"Shut up!" Zoro barked back as Yukio appeared in front of Sanji and his clone vanished.
"Not bad." Yukio said with a smirk. "What do you think? Should I award bonus points?"
"No, don't bother." Sanji said, turning his attention back to Yukio.
Shishigawara jumped out of the forest with brass knuckles loaded right hand, aiming for Franky. The shipwright saw Shishigawara coming jumped out the way as the fullbringer crashed to the ground.
"And who in the hell are you?" Franky exclaimed, glaring at Shishigawara.
As the other Straw Hats landed, the members of Xcution appeared to face them. Jackie appeared behind Robin. Riruka appeared behind Nami and Rukia. Kutsuzawa appeared beside Brook. Zoro looked behind his shoulder and saw Tsukishima. Ginjo appeared behind Luffy and Ichigo.
"It looks like we're all probably positioned for the battles that are about to come." Yukio said as he started hitting the button on his glove. "Let me assign spaces for each pairing." Then black digital space to surround the Straw Hats and the fullbringers that they'll fight. After the black space surrounded the pair, they disappeared.
"What the…What just happened?" Usopp exclaimed with widen eyes.
"The others…they vanished…" Chopper exclaimed.
Inside Yukio's fullbring, the Straw Hats and Xcution members reappeared in different areas that Yukio send them too. Sanji and Yukio appeared in the hallway of a building. Robin and Jackie appeared in a raining area surrounded by huge columns of rocks. Nami, Rukia and Riruka appeared in an area filled with sweets and toys. Franky and Shishigawara appeared in the middle of a forest. Zoro and Tsukishima appeared on a platform with a blood red moon in the sky. And Brook and Kutsuwara appeared in the middle of an empty room.
"What the…what is this place?" Brook asked, looking around the new area. "Where am I? What happened to the others?"
"I think that you should be more concerned about your own wellbeing instead of your friends." Kutsuzawa said, getting Brook's attention. "For my cohorts will dispose of them shortly just like what I will do to you."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Brook said, drawing his sword from his cane. "I know that my crewmates will be victorious in the end. And by looking at you, you don't seem all that strong. I would look at you if skeleton had eyes to begin with. Yohohoho!"
"Well then, let's see if you have the same attitude when I smash my way right through you." A dial with the number 3 appeared on the fullbringer's chest and he turned it. Kutsuzawa closed as his skin turned green and he started to grow in height and in muscle mass. If Brook had eyes right now, they would've widened in shock as he saw the fullbring is now towering over him. "Do you still think that I'm just a weakling? Or am I more suitable now that my Time Tells no Lies have transformed me?! I've discovered the simpler the terms of my contract with the Gods of Time, the more powerfully its manifested. Are you impressed so far?! My contract right now is an increase in power! As you can plainly see, I am more powerful than…" Kutsuzawa widen his eyes, seeing that Brook disappeared.
"Well, take care then!" A voice sounded off behind him, surprising the fullbringer. It was Brook's voice.
'What?!' Kutsuzawa thought in shock, looking the pirate skeleton walking away behind him. 'How did he get behind me?'
"Quinto Tias…" Brook said, putting his sword into its sheath. "…Fantasia!" The skeleton finished with a metallic clink and a large slash appeared on Kutsuzawa's body.
"What happened?!" Kutsuzawa exclaimed as he fell to the ground. "Impossible…" A black digital space surrounded the skeleton musician and disappeared.
Elsewhere inside Yukio's fullbring, Luffy appeared in the middle of a modern-day city. Luffy looked up at the clear blue sky and saw Ginjo, staring down at him with a smirk.
To be continued…
Next Chapter: A Decisive Battle! Xcution vs. the Straw Hats!