The moment Minami Yojuro heard the voice from outside—and the name mentioned in it—he knew trouble had arrived.
The man who stepped into Squad Four's recruitment hall was tall and menacing, with a vicious face. A scar marked his left cheek, and an eyepatch covered his right eye. His black hair was styled into spiky tufts like a hedgehog, with little bells tied to the ends.
Resting on his shoulder was a small, pink-haired girl wearing a tiny shihakushō, looking no older than ten.
Behind the man followed two others: Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa, who had only just joined Squad Eleven.
"That guy Minami Yojuro said before that his biggest wish was to join Squad Four, so he should've come here first."
With no hesitation or guilt, Ikkaku sold his friend out in front of his idol.
Both Ikkaku and Yumichika already knew Zaraki Kenpachi—after all, back in Rukongai, they had been thoroughly beaten by him.
Why Zaraki had suddenly decided to drop by this round of recruitment was anyone's guess, but the moment Ikkaku saw him, excitement surged through him, and he immediately issued another challenge.
For a freshly graduated rookie Shinigami to openly challenge the man known as "Kenpachi"—the title given only to the strongest and fiercest—was something ordinary people wouldn't even dare to imagine. But Ikkaku went ahead and did it anyway.
His bald head gleamed as he recalled the years at Shin'ō Academy. Kidō had never been his strong point, but when it came to swordsmanship, hakuda, and shunpō, he had mastered them decently well. After systematic training, he was far stronger now than he had been in Rukongai. And so, upon seeing his idol again, he couldn't resist testing just how far he had come.
Normally, a captain of any other squad would have ignored such a rookie's challenge. But Zaraki Kenpachi was different.
A battle maniac to the core, he hardly cared about his identity as a Shinigami captain. His only reason for coming to Seireitei was that it was full of people worth cutting down.
Ikkaku remembered Zaraki vividly, but Zaraki didn't even recall Ikkaku's name. The only ones he remembered were those who made his blood boil in excitement. And back then, Ikkaku and Yumichika had been nowhere near that level.
Faced with a challenge, and seeing Ikkaku's face full of battle spirit, Zaraki naturally had no reason to refuse.
And so the one-sided fight began.
Despite the years of growth in Ikkaku's spiritual pressure, despite his refined swordsmanship and shunpō, against Zaraki's overwhelming power he was crushed once again.
This time, though, Ikkaku's strength at least managed to spark a faint interest in Zaraki, who finally remembered his name.
Yet when Ikkaku lay defeated once more, bitterness spilling from him, he carelessly mentioned Minami Yojuro's name—adding that if Yojuro were the one fighting, he might last longer against Zaraki, maybe even land a wound on him.
The words had been spoken without much thought, but they struck Zaraki deeply. At once, a grin split his face wide. He looked down at Ikkaku, eyes gleaming with excitement, and asked:
"That guy you just mentioned—Minami Yojuro. Where is he right now?"
There were plenty of people in Seireitei worth fighting, but the Gotei 13 did have rules—captains were forbidden from dueling each other. The spiritual pressure unleashed in such battles was too overwhelming, and if they fought seriously, it could bring devastating consequences to Soul Society.
However, according to Ikkaku, the one named Minami Yojuro was just a fresh graduate this year, a rookie Shinigami—and yet stronger than Ikkaku himself.
Since he wasn't a captain, the so-called rules didn't apply. If he couldn't cut down another captain, then surely cutting down a regular Shinigami was fair game.
And that was precisely why Squad Eleven had shown up at Squad Four's recruitment grounds.
Zaraki Kenpachi swaggered into the hall with the bearing of a thug. On one shoulder, he carried his Zanpakutō, and on the other, a pink-haired little girl. Flanking him on both sides were his two subordinates, Ikkaku and Yumichika. He stomped inside and bellowed:
"Which one of you is Minami Yojuro? Get out here and fight me!"
The rookie Shinigami beside Yojuro, Kotetsu Isane, had never seen anything like this before. She froze in shock. She'd heard rumors that squads sometimes competed for recruits, but she had never imagined Squad Eleven would storm in with their captain leading the charge.
No wonder they were called the "Battle Squad"—their way of doing things could only be described as utterly reckless.
"Captain Zaraki, this is Squad Four's recruitment site. What business do you have here?"
If Isane had been the only one present, facing this band of ferocious men, she probably would have collapsed from fright. But she wasn't alone. Standing there too was the woman once known as the greatest villain in Soul Society's history.
Kenpachi's group might have looked intimidating, but Unohana Retsu remained composed, her eyes narrowed in a serene smile as she calmly asked Squad Eleven to explain themselves.
"Kenny's here to find someone named Little Yo-yo. He wants to fight him!"
Before Zaraki could respond, the pink-haired girl on his shoulder—Yachiru Kusajishi—raised her hand cheerfully and answered.
"Vice-Captain, the guy we're looking for is called Minami Yojuro, not Little Yo-yo…"
Ikkaku corrected her helpfully, but the little pink-haired girl wasn't interested in being corrected. Giving people nicknames was her hobby, and having that hobby interrupted made her visibly unhappy.
"Shut up, cue-ball head! Don't interrupt me. Pffft."
Ikkaku was dumbfounded. He had tried to be helpful, and all he got in return was a brand-new nickname—"cue-ball head." Worse, the little brat even spat on his freshly polished dome. Could this really be tolerated?
"Yumichika, don't stop me—I'm gonna beat this arrogant brat to a pulp!"
For a bald man, a shining head was a matter of pride. Now that pride had been trampled, Ikkaku could no longer endure it, even if he normally refrained from bullying women or children.
"Calm down, Ikkaku. The Vice-Captain didn't mean anything by it—and besides, we probably couldn't win against her…"
Yumichika's words weren't just to soothe him; they were the plain truth. Yachiru might have looked like a tiny bean sprout, but she really did possess the power of a vice-captain.
Back when Ikkaku had challenged Zaraki, Yumichika had wondered why Squad Eleven's vice-captain was just a child. Out of curiosity, he'd once tried to test her himself. But before he could even move, Yachiru's figure had already ghosted behind him, like an apparition.
°°°
A/N: Donate some stones so we can release quickly