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Inside the Supervisory Team station, the fervent cleaning displayed on the large screen had plunged everyone into a deathly silence.
Even though previous intelligence suggested Ishikawa Katori had a high probability of subduing all prisoners barehanded, they had anticipated a difficult battle and had even prepared for a rescue.
The result…
It was a one-sided crushing, even subduing all the prisoners in the Maggot's Nest. This outcome truly exceeded their expectations!
If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, who would have thought that those insane prisoners would one day voluntarily clean their own cells?
Moreover, the power Ishikawa Katori displayed shocked everyone.
Absolutely Captain-level!
Even without a Zanpakuto, judging solely by his Hakuda, Kido, and Shunpo, he was fully qualified to serve as a Vice-Captain in any Squad of the Gotei 13.
"But what was that 'rope' with lightning?"
"It looks somewhat like 'Bakudo #4: Hainawa,' but 'Hainawa' isn't offensive."
"That is Hainawa."
Soi Fon's clear voice sounded from behind the others, causing the faces of those discussing to change, and they quickly stood up.
"Strictly speaking, it's based on 'Hainawa,' with Byakurai incorporated into it, thereby creating a new Kido that possesses both Bakudo and Hado properties."
At these words, the faces of the Supervisory Team members couldn't help but look strange. Even though it was spoken by the Commander herself, suspicion still appeared in everyone's eyes.
Create a new Kido?
Just him?
Soi Fon didn't explain, she just looked at the black-haired young man leading a group of prisoners in cleaning on the large screen and fell into thought.
Ishikawa Katori's performance was more than just unexpected for the team members; she herself was somewhat shocked by his performance.
However, at the same time as the shock…
She felt that he was simply too suitable for the position of Supervisory Team Captain.
She had always had a headache regarding the prisoners in the Maggot's Nest. The creation of the Maggot's Nest could be said to have been orchestrated by the Central 46, in the eyes of those high-and-mighty individuals… there absolutely could not be a situation where unsuitable individuals appeared among the qualified members of the Gotei 13.
That's why they openly used 'resignation' as an excuse, but secretly imprisoned these unsuitable individuals according to the Seireitei's rules.
Resignation from the Gotei 13 is not absolutely nonexistent, but situations where individuals leave the Squad due to personal reasons and with the Captain's permission are called 'temporary leave.' Only when 'temporary leave' lasts for a very long time will their names be 'removed from the registry.'
This means that once one joins the Gotei 13, members cannot resign of their own free will without the Captain's permission. Unauthorized departure is considered desertion.
One could even view ordinary members of the Gotei 13 as, in another sense…
Slaves!
Upon entering the Shin'ō Academy for study, they had already lost their personal freedom, and their masters had gained the power of 'life and death' over them.
This can be seen from the Shin'ō Academy textbook; the first page of the textbook clearly states:
Do not pursue the aesthetics of clashing swords; do not pursue the virtue of dying without return; do not only consider one's own life; if you wish to protect the King and the Five Great Noble Families, you should slaughter all enemies from the shadows!
Ordinary members are slaves, and their masters are the Soul King and the Five Great Noble Families, while the Central 46 are the managers of these 'slaves'.
However, unlike slaves in the conventional sense, members of the Gotei 13, while surrendering their 'personal freedom' to their masters, also receive excellent treatment and can, through their own efforts, escape 'slavery' and become Seated Officers, Vice-Captains, or even Captains!
From former slaves to members of the management.
This has not changed since the birth of Soul Society, it has only become more secretive.
In the past, there was no such thing as 'unsuitable individuals.' Any slave who displeased the managers could simply be killed.
But as time passed, perhaps the emergence of talented individuals from the Rukongai made the managers feel pressure, or perhaps they felt that direct killing would harm their reputation, or perhaps for other reasons.
But no matter what… while the core remained unchanged, the external aspects underwent some changes.
This led to the birth of the Maggot's Nest.
Because they were innocent, they could only be imprisoned, not executed.
The prisoners were well aware of this, and relying on it, they vented their resentment, anger, hatred… all sorts of negative emotions, onto the 'jailers' who supervised them. In fact, for the past century, Soi Fon had tried to have others become the Captain of the Supervisory Team.
But without being able to carry a Zanpakuto, without being able to kill, and even without being able to cripple…
Many candidates died at the hands of those prisoners, because there was no way to subdue them. Even if they initially temporarily subdued the prisoners with caution, the moment they made a slight oversight, the candidates would suffer a backlash from the prisoners!
And this black-haired young man…
Possessing the ability to suppress this group of prisoners barehanded, he also possessed extremely strong Kaido mastery. Even if he struck too hard, he was confident he could pull the prisoners back from the brink of death.
Soi Fon had to admit that he was simply too suitable for the position of Supervisory Team Captain.
"Captain Soi Fon, regarding his detailed information and the issuance of the communication permit, do we need to report it to the other Squads?" an Onmitsukido member asked with some hesitation.
Normally, the Onmitsukidō's Supervisor are kept completely confidential and not reported to other Squads, as their Supervisor are themselves members of other Squads. This is also to prevent any favoritism from occurring.
But Ishikawa Katori was different; he was not a member of the Gotei 13, and the power he displayed was enough to warrant serious attention.
"No need."
Soi Fon replied coldly.
If it were just as the Captain of the Second Division, she would indeed need to report Ishikawa Katori's situation to the First Division, which manages the internal affairs of the Gotei 13.
However, while the Onmitsukidō subtly shows signs of becoming a subordinate organization of the Second Division, its authority is parallel to that of the Gotei 13.
As the Commander, she did not need to report the Onmitsukidō's actions to the Gotei 13.
Moreover, even the Onmitsukidō's direct superior, the Central 46, had already clearly stated that as long as this person, who was sheltered by the Shiba, did not take any actions that substantially harmed the Seireitei, there was no need to restrict him.
…
"Stop dawdling, hurry up and work!"
Ishikawa Katori cleaned spiderwebs from the corner of the wall while directing the prisoners, giving off a feeling of being completely at ease.
And in fact, it was pretty close. In Ishikawa Katori's eyes, these prisoners were actually similar to the villains in the lower-numbered districts. If they hadn't joined the Gotei 13, they would have mostly become residents of the lower-numbered districts.
So, Ishikawa Katori was truly good at dealing with these prisoners!
"If you don't have enough rags, tear off a piece of your prison uniform."
As for water, this dungeon was not lacking it; directly above the prison was the moat.
While directing the prisoners, Ishikawa Katori wasn't idle either. After cleaning up all the cobwebs and dust in the entire entrance area, he took out his carpentry toolkit and began to repair the houses and ground that had been damaged in the previous battle, as well as the doors that had fallen into disrepair and could no longer close.
If these skilled tasks were left to those prisoners, things would only get worse.
His Everything Store's reputation absolutely could not be tarnished, and who knows, perhaps the Captain of the Second Division was secretly supervising him. A good performance might even earn him some favorability.
He wondered if the experience points provided by the Captain would be as much as those from Kukaku.
Ishikawa Katori multitasked, repairing his surroundings while focusing on the system interface in his mind.
…
Name: Ishikawa Katori
Race: Human
Level: Stage Four
Physique: Intermediate (1520 / 10000)
Reiatsu: High (10430 / 100000)
Hakuda: High (2043 / 100000)
Shunpo: High (864 / 100000)
Zanjutsu: High (432 / 100000)
…
Current Experience: 1640
…
After a battle, Ishikawa Katori's gains were extremely rich.
Not only did his Reiatsu increase by over 600 proficiency points, but purely by using Hakuda to counter the moves of former Shinigami prisoners, his Hakuda proficiency increased by nearly 1000 points.
Unlike Reiatsu, where most experience points were invested, Hakuda was something Ishikawa Katori trained little by little.
After the four skills of Zankensoki reached the high level, it became increasingly difficult to gain experience points through simple training. Even without encountering a bottleneck, it would take a month or even several months of training to gain 1 experience point.
Indeed, fighting is the best way to train.
Speaking of which…
Did his physique increase again?
Ishikawa Katori looked at the number next to 'Physique' and couldn't help but curl his lips. He was increasingly feeling that there was no need to invest experience points in Physique.
Originally, Ishikawa Katori thought that when Reiatsu reached a certain level, one must possess a sufficiently strong physique to withstand one's powerful Reiatsu. But when Ishikawa Katori's Reiatsu reached the Vice-Captain level, perhaps due to a qualitative change in Reiatsu.
As his Reiatsu increased, his physique naturally became tempered, and even without investing experience points, it still progressed rapidly.
From this perspective, as long as Reiatsu cannot drive the growth of physique, and the body does not feel unable to withstand its own Reiatsu, there is still no need to invest experience points in the physique category.
Anyway, as long as he stored enough experience points, when this situation occurred, Ishikawa Katori could immediately remedy it.
Besides…
"Hehehe—"
He was about to be someone with a communication permit, and with this permit, his customer base could expand into the Seireitei.
One day!
I want Captain-Commander Yamamoto of the First Division to come to my Everything Store, respectfully asking me to help him… clean the First Division's public restroom or something.
Ishikawa Katori's mouth twitched. After thinking for a long time, he realized that besides cleaning public restrooms and repairing houses, that person might not really need him for anything else.
Shaking his head, Ishikawa Katori didn't dwell on it further.
Anyway, the first step has been successfully taken. From now on, things will take their natural course. At worst, when there's no work, he can go to the Fourth Division as a temporary worker and gain some favorability with the nurses.
Creak, creak, creak —
Ishikawa Katori moved the door, then nodded: "Next time I come, I should bring some hinges… and, by the way, make a batch of wooden doors."
Every single wooden door here had suffered some degree of corrosion, but in such a damp environment, these problems were inevitable.
Ishikawa Katori carefully inspected them, noting down the tables, chairs, benches, beds, wooden doors, etc., that needed replacing, to change them all at once next time.
As for bedding and prison uniforms, that was a bit more troublesome. It wasn't that he couldn't make them, as he had worked many times as a temporary worker for textile factories in Rukongai over the past few years.
But cloth and cotton, unlike wood which is abundant everywhere, are not free; they need to be purchased with money.
When running a business, making a loss is absolutely out of the question.
"I'll make a note of it for now, and after I get out, I'll ask the Second Division if they can provide funding."
Work, it must be done splendidly!
Ishikawa Katori looked at the prisoners, a gentle smile appearing on his face.
Since he accepted this commission, taking good care of them was his responsibility!!
After all…
So many sparring partners he could freely beat up weren't easy to find.
Kido, Hakuda, Shunpo, Zanjutsu.
All four Zankensoki techniques could find corresponding sparring partners here. There really was no better place to train in the entire Soul Society.
Hitting others was illegal, but a jailer hitting prisoners was only natural.
In the distance, Nijima, who had been secretly watching Ishikawa Katori, couldn't help but shiver.
That gentle smile gave him a chilling premonition.
After completing the statistics, Ishikawa Katori frowned slightly, because as the big cleanup progressed, a thick layer of dust floated throughout the entire Maggot's Nest.
Even with spiritual power for protection, the dust could not be completely blocked out.
After a moment of thought, Ishikawa Katori walked to the entrance.
This scene immediately drew the attention of the prisoners, and schadenfreude appeared on their faces.
That door was inscribed with various Spiritual Crests; anyone other than the Onmitsukidō who touched that door would suffer a backlash. Although it wouldn't be fatal, seeing this cruel, violent Lunatic suffer would provide an outlet for their suppressed frustration.
Creak—
The anticipated backlash did not occur. The immensely huge stone door was actually pushed open with ease.
This scene left all the prisoners stunned in place!
"Hmm, that's much better now."
Ishikawa Katori looked at the smoke and dust spreading outwards along the doorway and nodded in satisfaction.
This lunatic…
Is actually a jailer!?
The prisoners understood better than anyone what it meant to open that door so easily.
But…
Such a Lunatic, demon, pervert… a hybrid, is not a prisoner, but a jailer!?
Then why are we locked up!!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…
And just as most of the prisoners felt incredibly wronged, figures suddenly rushed out, frantically using Shunpo, charging towards the wide-open prison door.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang…
What followed was a series of thuds from bodies colliding.
The prisoners who rushed towards the door were all sent flying back even faster than they came.
Ishikawa Katori, who had sent them back to their cells, pulled over a chair and sat in front of the large door, looking at the prisoners with a chilling gaze, a strange smile on his face:
"Anyone who wants to escape is welcome to try, I don't mind."
Seeing the faint, sickly, strange smile emerging on his face, the prisoners whose minds had been active once again recalled the fear this black-haired young man had previously instilled in them.
So, why wasn't this guy caught!?
"Hey, you…" Ishikawa Katori raised his hand and pointed at a prisoner: "Don't look, I'm talking about you."
Nijima pointed at himself in confusion, and upon confirming Ishikawa Katori wasn't calling anyone else, his face instantly turned pale: "Wait… I wasn't thinking of escaping!"
"What are you talking about? I'm telling you to drag those people over, I'll treat them."
"…"
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