Kenpachi's blade slashed through Gluttony's inhumanly large stomach like nothing. Blood spilled out like a crimson waterfall, while the Sin stumbled back, clearly in pain. Kenpachi frowned as his opponent fell over, moaning in what was apparently agony. "Sheesh," he muttered. "I thought you were going to be tough. Get up off that lard pile of an ass and fight me like a man!"

Gluttony groaned as he sat up slowly, his massive girth apparently making that difficult for him as he struggled to make an upwards motion. When he was finally sitting upright, he said, "Tasty… more… more to eat…" Kenpachi looked at the demon with a confused stare. His exposed eye then went wide as Gluttony wound seemingly sewed itself shut. Even all the blood that had splattered all over the ground had disappeared. Gluttony managed to pick himself up off the ground and again towered over the Soul Reaper captain. "Want to eat… consume…" The giant suddenly vanished in a flicker of motion, reappearing behind Kenpachi. "Devour!"

Kenpachi barely had enough time to react as Gluttony slammed booth fists into the ground in an attempt to flatten the Reaper, who leaped away and landed several feet from the Sin. The battle-hungry Soul Reaper grinned at the giant and said, "Well, I guess you are gonna be a challenge. You're pretty damn fast someone so large."

Gluttony cocked his head as if confused. "Fast?" he asked. "No. Just hungry. Need to eat. Your scent… lots of spirit energy… you'll taste good…"

Kenpachi chuckled. "Well, I'm right here, big guy. What are you waiting for? Fight me already!" And at that instant, Kenpachi got his wish. Faster than anything he had ever seen before, Gluttony charged him and slammed his massive fist right into the captain's stomach. The Soul Reaper coughed up blood from the blow and was sent spiraling into the sky by Gluttony's sudden uppercut. He didn't even have time to recover as the Sin slammed his entire body into him from above, sending them both crashing back to the ground.

Yachiru watched with wide eyes as this happened. She hadn't seen Kenny take a beating like this since he fought Ares nearly two years ago, and the God of War could only do that by entering his true form. Gluttony was apparently far stronger than either of them had expected. Regardless, she was still certain that Kenny could win. If he could just release his shikai, he'd win for certain. "Come on, Kenny! Beat him silly!"

Gluttony stood from the crater that he had just created and stared at the pink-haired girl who was cheering Kenpachi on. He cocked his head again. She looked like she might a decent dessert once he finished with the guy with the eye patch. The Sin was just about to gorge himself when he saw the Soul Reaper standing up again, this time holding his sword in both hands and his eye patch lying torn on the ground.

"Still hungry, fat-ass?" he asked with a smirk. "Eat this!" He swung his sword down, sending out a massive shockwave at the massive blimp of a man and surrounding the entire area with a screen of debris and scattered dust and dirt. Kenpachi eyed the general direction in which Gluttony had been standing. It was times like these when he wished he could actually sense spiritual pressure properly. Did that do it?

His question was answered as the obscuring fog of dust cleared out. His eyes went wide with shock when he saw that Gluttony had been completely unharmed… and was apparently eating the sheer power that Kenpachi's kendo had sent out. The Sin was swallowing down the yellow spirit energy as if it were a beverage of some kind, gulping it audibly. When all the energy was finally gone, Gluttony wiped his mouth with his wrist. He didn't look satisfied. "Tasty… Eat more… eat you… eat you good!" Then, Gluttony's stomach opened like a vertical mouth lined with rows of jagged fangs, each one caked in dried blood from previous victims.

Before he could act, a swarm of black tendrils shot out of Gluttony's second mouth and wrapped around Kenpachi, gripping him with almost bone-breaking force and dragging him towards the gaping maw. He struggled against the tendrils futilely as he drew closer and closer to those countless teeth. The last thing he saw before being swallowed whole was Yachiru staring with a look of horror in her eyes. Dammit, he thought as the mouth sealed shut around him.

Yachiru had no idea what to make of what had just happened. The man she had always seen as a father figure had just been swallowed whole by a huge fat monster of a man. But how? Kenny had defeated super strong Arrancars, beaten the Greek God of War Ares in a one-on-one fight, and was the one who had replaced Ares within the Greek pantheon of gods as a reward. Nobody should've been able to beat him! He was unstoppable!

Gluttony turned his attention over to the still-shocked Yachiru, his eyes still dominated by a twisted hunger. "Dessert…" he said in a low voice. He stomped towards her, his massive form towering over her, drool spilling out from his mouth. "Eat… you!"

Yachiru had reacted just fast enough to leap away from Gluttony's attempt to eat her whole. The Sin's face was now stuck in the ground, and Yachiru was just standing in the air, still staring with a shocked expression. Was that it for Kenny? Was he… dead? She shook her head. Of course he wasn't dead! He was Kenpachi Zaraki! It'd take more than what Gluttony could do to kill him. Still…

She shook her head again and drew out her zanpakuto, holding her weapon at the ready. She refused to believe that Kenny was dead. She had to at least make a stand against the Sin who had swallowed her captain whole. The behemoth of a man lumbered toward her. Saliva rolled past his teeth as he approached. Yachiru readied herself for what was clearly going to be the fight of her life.

She immediately sprinted at him with blistering speed, running under him and slashing at his ankles as she ran past. Gluttony turned and stared at her with a stupid look. He gave no real sign of feeling injured.

"Fast…" The Sin turned and made to chase Yachiru, who continued speeding around and around the man. He couldn't keep up with her sheer speed. He may have been able to move pretty fast himself, but she was practically blinding. It was annoying.

Gluttony slammed his arm into the ground right on front of the black and pink blur. Yachiru was going too fast to turn or stop herself in time, so she crashed directly into the Sin's surprisingly solid forearm. She groaned as she fell on her rump and looked up at Gluttony, who was now emitting a large amount of spiritual pressure. She could practically see it oozing off of him.

"Dessert shouldn't be so annoying…" he said as his stomach began to open up again. "You need to slow down… can't eat dessert if it keeps running around…" The second mouth upon his stomach opened wide, its gaping maw ready to devour the pink-haired girl. The tendrils came next, lashing out rapidly, and barely giving Yachiru any time to react. She managed to Flash Step out of the way just before the tentacles crashed into the ground where she was. She stopped in the air, staring down at the bloated giant with a wild look in her eyes.

"I'm not annoying!" she called out with a pout. "If anyone's annoying here, it's you! Why couldn't you just let Kenny cut you up like all the other monster guys!?" Gluttony cocked his head, as if he didn't understand. Yachiru then dashed towards the brute at maximum speed, her zanpakuto ready to pierce his skull. Gluttony did nothing to evade the attack.

SCHLUK.

The blade slid through right between the demon's eyes, its tip poking out the back of his head. Slight traces of blood trickled out of the wounds, to which Yachiru grinned and giggled. She dropped down to the ground and beamed at the second mouth, thinking that Kenpachi would be able to pull himself out now. After several seconds, however, nothing happened, and the young Soul Reaper lieutenant's smile slowly began to fade.

Suddenly, Gluttony's right arm began to move, much to Yachiru's shock. He groaned as he reached up to his face and began to pull the sword out, gripping the hilt with two meaty fingers. When the blade was finally removed, the Sin dropped it onto the ground with a loud clang.

"Stings…" he muttered with what sounded like slight frustration in his tone. Gradually, his body seemed to grow and expand, larger and larger, and Yachiru just watched with wide, unbelieving eyes. Gluttony didn't stop scaling up until he was easily over a hundred feet tall, and half as wide, his stomach-mouth looking a thousand times more vile. "Now I'm even hungrier… I'll have to eat the whole city…" With that said, his actual mouth opened wide. Far wider than what was naturally possible. His teeth became monstrous fangs that looked sharper than any blade. His tongue was no longer existent. The inside of his mouth was a gaping void.

Yachiru stared at Gluttony's towering form with eyes full of shock and another emotion she had only ever felt a very small handful of times before: fear. Pure, legitimate fear. She could sense it, too: Gluttony's power was far greater than even Ares' true form. She was nothing to this monster. She was going to be eaten, and there was nothing she could do about it. There she stood, staring in terror at the behemoth, waiting to be devoured.

You're pathetic, a deep, threatening, masculine voice suddenly spoke in her mind. She looked around frantically to find the speaker, but inevitably found herself drawn to her zanpakuto, which had landed next to her feet. You're standing in front of the most powerful opponent you'll ever fight, and you're cowering like a newborn. You're hopeless.

Suddenly, Yachiru found herself in a forest unlike any she had ever seen in her life. It was humid, the air sticky with moistness. She heard no sound around her in the tropical woods, save for the sound of throaty growling behind her. She turned to find a massive tiger the size of a house lying before her, covered in battle scars and wearing cracked and torn armor that had seen more than its fair share of battle. Its hide was red as fire, and its eyes seemed to spark like lightning. "It's about damn time you got here, brat," the tiger said in an irritated tone. "I was wondering when you'd finally hear me."

"You're…" Yachiru began as she stared at the great beast in wonder. "You're my zanpakuto, aren't you?"

The tiger made a sound akin to scoffing at her. "What do you think? There's nobody else in this hellhole you call your soulscape. What else could I be?"

"If you're my zanpakuto, then… can you tell me your name?"

The tiger rolled his eyes. "I don't have to, you little snot. You already know it. Now get back out there and kick that lard-ass back down to hell, will you?"

And with that, she was back in the real world, Gluttony towering over her like a living skyscraper. She had her zanpakuto in hand now. She looked at the blade, then back up to Gluttony, renewed determination flaring in her eyes. She held up her sword, pointing it to the sky, cried out the first words that came to mind:

"Break through the frontlines, Akumatora!"

-o-

Translations for the curious:

Akumatora: Japanese for "devil tiger"

Hope you guys enjoyed! See you later... wait...