"When did the two of you get so close?"
"And why do you keep hitting me in the face?"
In the room,
Shiba Isshin squatted on the ground with a bruised nose and a swollen cheek, grinning painfully while clutching his face.
That mixed doubles beatdown really hurt!
"What's it to you if we're that close?"
"You're the problem."
"As a captain, you always pull off the most irrational stunts."
Matsumoto Rangiku cast him a sidelong glance.
"Wrong, wrong, I was wrong! I'll never do it again."
Wiping cold sweat from his brow, Shiba Isshin glanced at Matsumoto Rangiku's small hand.
Would you dare if you didn't have your Zanpakutō in hand?
Shing!
The Zanpakutō came unsheathed in an instant!
Matsumoto Rangiku measured it slowly, then sneered: "Not convinced?"
"…"
Who would dare to be?
Shiba Isshin froze, not daring to move. Women were terrifying.
"Oh, right."
As if remembering something, Shiba Isshin scooted back a little and asked sideways,
"While I was away the past few days… did that Menos Grande from the other night do anything suspicious?"
"Nothing."
"It really seems to have gone to ground. Maybe it left."
Matsumoto Rangiku glanced at Kanbaru. There was no need to hide this info — he had been there that night too.
"Is that so?"
Shiba Isshin nodded thoughtfully.
He'd returned to this world for the express purpose of guarding Karakura Town.
If that Menos Grande really had left, that would be a relief.
But then he noticed Kanbaru shaking his head.
"It hasn't left Karakura Town."
"Why do you say that?" Shiba Isshin rubbed his chin. "Rangiku's analysis isn't wrong. It hasn't appeared for days. Odds are good it just moved on."
"Or do you have some evidence? Know something I don't?"
Amid the lingering smell of smoke, Shiba Isshin looked Kanbaru square in the eye.
"After the Soul Burial Practice incident, do you really think it would just end there?"
Kanbaru asked with deliberate calm.
Of course, he couldn't outright tell Shiba Isshin that Aizen's true target was Kurosaki Masaki.
But offering a plausible warning? That much he could do.
"...Makes sense."
"Whoever's behind it has already set multiple things in motion. Their plans clearly aren't small-scale."
Shiba Isshin scratched his head, troubled.
Truth be told...
He had a gut feeling this was far bigger than he could handle.
But it was already too late to step out.
"Another thing."
"That Menos Grande from that night... if I'm not wrong, it wasn't just a Vasto Lorde."
"It had already undergone Arrancarization."
Kanbaru's words dropped like a bomb.
"What did you say?"
"An Arrancar of the Vasto Lorde class? Are you sure?"
Shiba Isshin's face changed dramatically. The cigarette slipped from his lips and hit the floor.
Even Matsumoto Rangiku's beautiful eyes flickered with dread.
Arrancar and un-evolved Hollows were two completely different levels.
Even an Adjuchas-class Arrancar could release spiritual pressure on par with most captain-level Shinigami.
But once a Vasto Lorde undergoes Arrancarization—with their mask partially broken and gaining Shinigami-like abilities—
their Reiatsu could reach a transcendent level far beyond any captain.
A full-fledged Vasto Lorde Arrancar wasn't just strong.
It was a monster.
At minimum, it would take two captain-class Shinigami to secure a reliable win!
"Are you questioning a Quincy's assessment of Hollow evolution?"
Kanbaru countered calmly.
"...That's bad," Shiba Isshin frowned, relighting a cigarette and taking a long drag.
He wasn't exaggerating.
In a one-on-one fight against a Vasto Lorde-level Arrancar...
even he didn't think he had a good shot.
Even standard Vasto Lorde were equal to captains in combat power.
But Arrancarized Vasto Lorde?
That was another dimension altogether.
...I might have to call for backup.
That unsettling thought quietly crossed his mind.
Shiba Isshin exhaled a smoke ring, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
"Yabai! Wait a sec—"
"Captain-level combat power... isn't there one right in front of me?"
Shiba Isshin blurted.
"Eh?"
"You mean... me?"
Matsumoto Rangiku blinked and pointed at herself in disbelief.
"I didn't mean you. Step aside."
Shiba Isshin waved her off, annoyed.
You're always getting in the way.
Matsumoto Rangiku: "..."
Are you seriously humiliating me in front of my junior?
Go to hell!!
Murderous intent spread like a miasma!
In that instant, Rangiku's aura darkened, entering pure-black mode.
Totally unaware, Shiba Isshin kept babbling and clapping his hands.
DUANG!
Watching Shiba Isshin twitch on the ground with swirls in his eyes, Kanbaru twitched the corner of his mouth.
"...By the way, is he really your captain?"
Matsumoto Rangiku gave a dangerous, elegant smile—Miss Rangiku's aura leaking wildly:
"Yeah. One hundred percent."
...Wait.
Did something just float out of him?
Kanbaru's eyes widened in disbelief.
After a brief episode of chaos and slapstick,
Shiba Isshin, now with an ice pack on the back of his head, finally quieted down.
After all, the line between "mischief" and "crippling injury" was razor-thin with this woman.
"...Speaking of which, Kanbaru—your Reiatsu really is at the captain level, right?"
After a short pause,
Shiba Isshin sat cross-legged and asked with rare seriousness.
Kanbaru: "..."
Bro, don't suddenly switch to your wise-mentor mode with a face like that.
You're still sporting a swollen nose and a lump the size of a melon.
"In a sense, yes."
Kanbaru nodded.
But he didn't mention that he'd already broken the Shinigami limit and stepped into a higher spiritual dimension.
What?
You think I'm lying?
Where's the lie?
Did Shiba Isshin ask for that detail?
No?
Then I didn't lie.
"Good enough for me."
Kanbaru had already decapitated an Adjuchas-class Arrancar during the soul burial exercise.
That alone had demonstrated captain-level combat strength.
Now confirmed, Shiba Isshin visibly relaxed.
Matsumoto Rangiku, however, looked at him suspiciously.
"Wait, you're not planning to dump this on Kanbaru, are you?"
"Don't tell me you're gonna ask him to help you fight that Vasto Lorde-class Arrancar?"
Shiba Isshin scratched his head with a sheepish laugh, then turned serious and looked Kanbaru in the eye.
"...As a man—"
"I'm begging you."
"So."
"Will you help me?"
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