Chapter 176: That's a Wrap
The reference point here was the source material itself.
In the Soul Society arc, when Ichigo came crashing through the Gotei 13, his first encounter with Zaraki went almost exactly like this. Ichigo threw everything he had at the man, got cut down for his trouble, and then, because the most catastrophically overpowered stat monster in all three worlds had no other option, Zangetsu opened the floodgates and let him access the full depth of what he was actually carrying. His numbers went through the roof.
Zaraki got caught completely off guard. No time to settle in, no time to read the shift, no time to do anything. Down he went.
That was the basic blueprint.
And Matsushita Yusuke had built his entire approach around exactly that.
Hit him before he can build a full head of steam. Get him down before the battle fever locks in and everything clicks into place.
Pull every particle of reishi within Ichion Enpo's range and end it with one decisive blow.
That was the plan. It had worked.
The cost was a different matter.
Right now, Matsushita Yusuke was running on something close to empty. He always kept a small reserve in ordinary circumstances, something to fall back on if things shifted. This time he had gone all the way to the wall: pushed Ichion Enpo to its absolute limit, wrung out every last drop of what he had to give.
That kind of output left a particular feeling behind. A quiet hollowness sitting just under the surface.
But the result spoke for itself. More than successful.
More than that, even...
He let his gaze drift sideways toward Unohana Retsu.
Zaraki was still in her grip, barely resembling anything that had recently been a person.
The hair was gone. The skin was gone. Muscle tissue lay exposed, scorched down to something that looked uncomfortably close to charcoal. Fingers and toes had crumbled away to fragments and were still dropping in small pieces.
From the outside, there was almost nothing recognizable left.
By any reasonable accounting, he should have been dead.
Of course.
If the old bat hadn't stepped in, Matsushita Yusuke had every confidence he could have evaporated Zaraki completely inside Goryutenmetsu.
Which brought him to the obvious question.
Wasn't that cheating?
Or, to put it another way:
"You don't think I won fairly? You're not going to recognize the result?"
Unohana didn't dodge it.
"That is not what I think. Power has no reason to discriminate by form. Kido is a legitimate expression of strength... I have no grounds to look down on it or resent it. Only this—"
She answered him, then let her gaze drop to the battered figure in her hands. Her tone shifted into something harder to read.
"I did something I should not have done."
The Kenpachi succession was the thing she had dedicated her entire existence to. The one thread she had never let go of across a thousand years. Her most fundamental principle.
She should not have intervened. She knew that.
She had done it anyway, and she was not going to pretend otherwise.
"This was entirely my own decision. For that, I owe you an apology... Matsushita Yusuke."
"I'm not looking for an apology."
Matsushita Yusuke scratched the corner of his mouth.
He wasn't that petty about it. What he was genuinely curious about was something else: what had pushed Unohana to break her own principles and act anyway?
"I simply felt... that this man dying here would be a waste."
Unohana chose her words carefully, which was unusual for her. She was the one who had done something wrong here, and she seemed to feel it. After a brief pause, she continued.
"I want to bring him into Squad 4. Let him recover. Give him time to find his footing. Once he has something to show for it, I want to fulfill the promise I made him. If you'll allow it."
Ah.
Right. There was that.
Matsushita Yusuke let it settle and found it made complete sense.
Unohana had always been drawn to strong opponents, but as Yusuke had noted earlier, everyone had their type. His own Kido-heavy approach was clearly not what the First Kenpachi wanted to see across from her. Zaraki, who had once managed to injure her and had a ceiling that was genuinely hard to put a number on, was exactly the kind of opponent she had been waiting for. The type that suited her.
Completely understandable. Everyone had their own particular taste.
As for forcibly pulling Zaraki back from a sure death, honestly, Yusuke had no real objection to the outcome itself. The mission was complete. And Zaraki didn't seem like the type to hold a grudge. Probably.
But.
If she wanted him alive and had plans for him, then Matsushita Yusuke had something to say.
"Let him come to Squad 11."
He landed with an easy step and looked at the charred wreck in Unohana's arms with a cheerful expression.
"Let me be the one to train him. What do you think?"
He had no particular interest in taking on students as a general rule. But Zaraki Kenpachi was a different case entirely. Someone sitting on that kind of potential, if he could actually be brought into the squad and developed under real conditions, that was a windfall of the first order.
The returns on this would blow Gin Ichimaru out of the water by several times over.
Not going to pretend he wasn't interested. So he said it plainly.
Unohana's expression shifted into something openly puzzled.
From where she stood, the logic of this was genuinely impossible to follow.
Why would you want this man anywhere near you...
That was what she was thinking. But underneath it, something quietly unknotted.
Because even for Unohana, the concept of shame existed. If Matsushita Yusuke had refused to budge, she had ways to work around it, but none of them would have looked particularly dignified.
This resolved things cleanly. Better than that: it left everyone satisfied.
"Thank you for understanding, Matsushita-kun."
"Don't mention it. Heal him up and send him over when he's ready. I'll handle the rest personally."
You get stronger, I get stronger. Everyone wins.
A relaxed smile had settled on Unohana's face. She had just opened her mouth to say something further when a cluster of figures appeared in the distance, moving toward them at speed.
At the front: Sasakibe Chojiro, Vice-Captain of Squad 1. Behind him, Kyoraku Shunsui. Both moving with purpose, both wearing the kind of expression that said this was not a casual visit.
Fast response time. Faster than expected, actually.
Matsushita Yusuke said nothing. This part was better left to Unohana. She was the resident authority on all things Kenpachi. Whatever explanation was needed, she was the right person to deliver it.
As for Matsushita Yusuke himself?
Time to clean up and head home.
A bath. A bowl of ramen. And then a leisurely review of the rewards.
Hell yeah. Stronger again.
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