"Do you know any Rukongai residents that Captain Retsu Unohana knows?"
"How many years ago would that have been?"
Hearing Zaraki Kenpachi's reply, Tsugikuni Yoriichi couldn't help but recall the interesting rumours within the Seireitei.
The Seireitei Communication Log once commented:
"Captain Retsu Unohana possesses the gentlest smile in the Seireitei, and it has been so for hundreds of years."
Yoriichi found it hard to connect her with the Shinigami who had wounded Zaraki Kenpachi.
Furthermore, the Fourth Division is a healing division.
How could its Captain be a master swordsman?
"What?"
"You look surprised?" Zaraki Kenpachi pressed his hand against his wound to quickly stop the bleeding.
He watched Tsugikuni Yoriichi indifferently, casually saying:
"Tch, what's there to be surprised about? The first day I saw that woman, I knew it."
"She's a woman far more insane than I am."
"Her blade is sharp, her killing intent cold, and millions of Rukongai residents have died by her hand."
"Although this was hundreds of years ago, for us, a few hundred years is but an instant. She shouldn't have changed much, right…?"
"Otherwise… I'll be very disappointed!"
He swung his blade through the air, his palm tracing the scar on his face, a dangerous smile spreading across his lips.
"It was she back then who nearly killed me. I've always wanted to find a chance to cut her back!"
"I still remember the haori with the number eleven on her back!"
"One day, I will become a Shinigami, and then, I will defeat her!"
"Eleven?" Yoriichi heard this, gripped his sword hilt tightly, and felt a sudden confusion.
If he remembered correctly, that should be exclusive to the Captain of the Eleventh Division. Was Captain Retsu Unohana once the Captain of the Eleventh Division?
It was something from hundreds of years ago, no wonder he didn't know. And no wonder this man before him harboured such great hostility towards Shinigami.
Whew…
Breathing slowly, Yoriichi adjusted his stance, preparing for a quick battle.
The sound of the wind suddenly ceased, and yellow sand solidified in mid-air.
The atmosphere abruptly changed.
Zaraki Kenpachi swung his sword and smiled.
Then.
Clang!
… …
"Ah… ah…"
"Kenpachi is going to lose."
Above the tree branches.
Kusajishi Yachiru dangled her small feet, a hint of regret in her voice.
She gazed at the battleground of the two, pressing a finger to her lips, and asked with full of doubt:
"How strange, why can't Kenpachi's blade hit him?"
"Is he that much stronger than Kenpachi?"
"No, no, that's not right. It's probably a difference in skill."
"I don't think I've ever seen Kenpachi practice his swordsmanship."
Yachiru shook her head slightly. Faced with Zaraki Kenpachi's disadvantage, she had no thought of stepping forward to help.
Kenpachi hated it most when outsiders interfered in a duel between two people.
Even if he was cut down by his opponent.
He would never ask for help.
Kusajishi Yachiru had lived with him for so long, she knew this well.
However…
"That being said, I don't think I can just ignore Kenpachi getting cut down by his opponent."
Sighing, Kusajishi Yachiru slowly stood up, a trace of adult-like helplessness appearing on her childish face.
She leaned against the tree trunk.
Thud!
She instantly appeared in front of Zaraki Kenpachi, grabbing his collar with one hand and sharply pulling him back.
The moment his figure swayed.
Whoosh!
A chilling red sword gleamed cut through his original position.
Seeing this, and feeling his body being pulled back, Zaraki Kenpachi, who had narrowly escaped danger, felt no gratitude towards Yachiru.
Instead, endless indignation surged within him.
He shouted:
"Yachiru!"
"What are you doing!"
"Let go of me quickly!"
"Who told you to come over?"
"Oh, Kenpachi, don't mind these details," Yachiru retreated rapidly through the air, still having the leisure to look at Zaraki Kenpachi while changing position.
"I'm sure you've noticed, you're currently no match for him. Your technique is too poor."
"Even if you lose, you're not using your true strength."
"Kenpachi, I understand you. Go become a Shinigami. Only by becoming a Shinigami and learning swordsmanship can you defeat that woman."
"For now, let's retreat."
"Retreat?" Zaraki Kenpachi laughed in anger, "Are you kidding me? When has Zaraki Kenpachi ever retreated!"
Boom!
He exerted force from his waist and abdomen, his feet slamming into the ground, forcefully slowing his backwards movement through friction.
Screech—
Even the hard ground was ploughed with a trench dozens of meters long by him.
Seeing this, Yachiru could only release her hands. Landing on a nearby stone, she sighed softly:
"Kenpachi, your stubbornness shouldn't be used here. If you die, how can you seek revenge on that woman?"
"If I die, it means I'm nothing more than this!" Zaraki Kenpachi panted slightly, his feet bleeding profusely.
He didn't look back, staring intently at Tsugikuni Yoriichi in front of him.
With a voice almost like a roar, he shouted:
"If I can't even defeat this guy in front of me, how can I defeat her!"
"Kid, tell me your name!"
"I want to know, between you and Retsu Unohana, who is stronger?"
"Tsugikuni Yoriichi," Tsugikuni Yoriichi's voice came unhurriedly.
When he answered the latter question, his steps unconsciously paused for a moment, then returned to normal:
"As for the strength between me and Captain Retsu Unohana… I'm afraid I cannot judge."
"However, based on position and seniority, she should be much stronger than me, after all, I've only been a Shinigami for a few days."
"She has been a Shinigami for hundreds or even a thousand years."
Zaraki Kenpachi keenly noticed the detail in Yoriichi's words and subconsciously asked, "How many days is 'a few days'?"
"Hmm… that?"
Tsugikuni Yoriichi thought for a moment, then gave a definite answer: "Three weeks, I suppose."
"What?"
Zaraki Kenpachi instantly gripped his Zanpakuto, his pupils gradually widening.
He had originally thought his opponent was an experienced Shinigami, otherwise, how could his swordsmanship be so exquisite, even able to suppress his beastly intuition honed for seven hundred years?
But, he didn't expect.
Three weeks…
Are you serious?
Then what have my battles over these past few hundred years even amounted to?
At this moment, Zaraki Kenpachi seemed to see the profound gap, like an abyss, between himself and Retsu Unohana back then.
Even Yachiru, not far away, couldn't help but blink, her small head unconsciously tilting to one side.
She mumbled, "Ara ara."
How strange.
The words he said were very ordinary, even a little humble.
But why, when they reached her ears?
Did they have a different flavour?
… …
At this moment.
Within the Seireitei, inside the Fourth Division barracks.
Retsu Unohana, who was conducting a medical experiment, suddenly felt her steady hands, which were controlling the instruments, tremble slightly and unconsciously.
As if by a ghost's whim, she put down the instruments in her hands.
She gently brushed aside the hair from her forehead, smiling, and cast her gaze towards a certain direction.
A long-lost excitement, like an electric current, instantly coursed through her body.
Killing intent was inadvertently released, and the white mouse on the table immediately rolled its eyes, foamed at the mouth, and fell unconscious.
Not paying attention to this tiny change, the curve of her lips became even more captivating.
Her intuition told her.
Something interesting had happened there.
—What exactly could it be?
—Ah… I want to know.