Chapter 186: My Turn!
A pillar of reiatsu descended from the sky and struck directly in front of Sasakibe.
"...!"
His reaction was half a beat slow.
But he was a Bankai-capable fighter, and that counted for something. Sasakibe got clear of the subsequent reiatsu surge, flashed back, and retreated.
When the dust settled, he looked at the several large holes that had been blown open in front of him and raised his eyes to the scene ahead.
Three figures in civilian clothing landed slowly.
From their appearance alone, nothing stood out. Similar heights. Body types that were close to identical, maybe ninety percent the same.
That wasn't natural. They appeared to be deliberately concealing their identities.
Sasakibe stepped back, set the sake bottle down at his feet, and raised his voice.
"How dare you! Do you have any idea what you're doing?!"
"Of course we do. A couple of gentlemen out for a stroll from the inner court? Heh, spare a little coin? Things have been a bit tight lately."
All three wore something like masks, making faces and expressions invisible. Their voices were just as unreadable.
No good.
There was nothing to work with here, nothing to identify or analyze.
"You have no idea who you're dealing with! I strongly advise you—"
Sasakibe was still attempting to negotiate. Yamamoto had already spoken.
"Chojiro. Stand down."
He turned slowly. The faintly tired expression that had been there before vanished without a trace, replaced by something cold and severe.
His body had grown old, certainly. But under those eyes, white around the edges, all three figures felt it: a sharp, unmistakable sense of danger.
Was this the skinny old lion who couldn't do much anymore?
No.
Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni right now was no less formidable than he had been a thousand years ago.
"Ordinary thieves have no reason to hide themselves like this."
He walked forward at a measured pace. His cane lifted slightly, then fell. With that single simple motion, the vines wrapped around it shattered apart and broke, scattering away.
What they revealed beneath was encased in a fine, heavy sheath.
The Zanpakuto acclaimed as the most lethal and most feared in all of Soul Society.
Now held in Yamamoto's hand.
"Insignificant ones."
He held his gaze on all three and continued forward. His tone was steady, but beneath it ran a faint, contained heat. Just hearing the words, you could feel the flame waiting just behind them.
"You've disguised yourselves reasonably well. Not well enough. The reishi outlines are obvious... you have been waiting here for some time in order to ambush me."
A premeditated ambush against the Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13.
The evidence had assembled itself, and Yamamoto's expression settled into something cold and indifferent.
"An ambush like this could not be for the purpose of reminiscing with an old man... Very well. Compared to underhanded types who talk one thing and strike from behind, this kind of direct confrontation is considerably more honest."
Therefore.
"Dispense with the unnecessary probing. I am right here."
Shhhk.
He drew his blade and regarded all three with an expression like frozen stone.
"Make your move. Come and kill me."
The pressure behind those words was genuinely something else.
All three went visibly quiet for a moment. Whether actually unsettled or simply thinking, it was hard to tell.
After a few breaths, the figure on the left slowly stepped forward.
He seemed genuinely put-upon, maybe a bit pained about the whole thing. He raised a hand, rubbed the back of his neck, and spoke in a tone that somehow managed to be both resigned and appreciative at the same time.
"Uh... I'm your opponent today, old man. Please go easy on me."
"When facing an enemy, there is nothing more to be said."
Yamamoto's cold gaze shifted to this person. Like scrutiny. Like the first step of something much worse.
"Draw."
Hearing those words...
Matsushita Yusuke was, in the most literal sense, a little nervous.
The three of them were none other than the Club's own people.
Based on intelligence shared a week prior, the group led by the Boss had already been waiting in this area for close to half a day.
Disguising themselves sounded like a tired approach, but under Kyoka Suigetsu's cover it was the most effective way to minimize identity exposure.
He just hadn't expected the Boss to get this into character.
That line just now was genuinely hard to imagine coming from someone this serious. Did the Boss usually run this suppressed?
Anyway.
Matsushita Yusuke looked ahead at the figure in front of him.
On anything related to Yamamoto, no amount of overestimating the opponent was unreasonable.
Because right now, from direct experience, Matsushita Yusuke could feel it clearly: an unmistakable target-lock.
Different from Unohana's needle-prickling sensation, different from Zaraki's burning heat. Yamamoto's hostility was clean and uncomplicated.
He regarded them as though they were simply a mass of flesh. No emotional involvement. Nothing.
This kind of opponent was the hardest to deal with, because there was almost no way to imagine any approach that could influence his judgment.
That was probably exactly why Yhwach had been as successful as he was in the source material.
"Well then. My turn."
Matsushita Yusuke reached for the Zanpakuto at his side.
Only with his Zanpakuto in hand could he feel anything like steadiness.
The other two responded accordingly. From somewhat further away, Sasakibe gritted his teeth and raised his voice.
"Stop!"
As vice-captain, he could not stand by while the Captain-Commander was attacked without acting. He was about to move.
But before that.
Tosen Kaname moved with shunpo and appeared in front of Sasakibe in an instant, right hand raised in a downward pressing motion.
"Stay here and watch. Or..."
Thud.
His right hand came down, and he gripped the handle of his blade.
"Be my opponent."
"Get out of my way!"
The Captain-Commander's safety was his absolute line. Sasakibe's eyes went wide. His reiatsu erupted across his entire body in an instant.
"Bankai..."
Before the word finished.
Aizen Sosuke raised his right hand with a light motion, and the burst of reiatsu that followed simply "pushed" both Tosen and Sasakibe away.
A battle between the strong had no room for complications. The only actors on this stage...
Were these two.
"The parties who would complicate things have been cleared out. Both of you, feel free to go all-out."
No matter how you heard it, that came across as a provocation.
Yamamoto wouldn't be moved by something like that. He gazed coldly at the figure before him. One second. Two seconds.
Still no reaction?
Bang!
Then he'd go first.
One step, and Yamamoto's figure flashed forward.