"Just how far did he progress during the seventy-two years he disappeared?" Gazing down below, Aizen muttered to himself absentmindedly. "Perhaps he has already walked ahead of me."
Ichimaru Gin smiled faintly without replying. Having followed Aizen for so long, he didn't believe for a second that the man was someone who feared others. It would be utterly foolish to take such words seriously.
The man before him was like the sky itself—his strength stemmed purely from his own overwhelming power, not from erasing existences that might threaten him. In truth, he was quite accommodating, even yearning to find others of his own kind.
Just like Urahara Kisuke, whom he had forced into exile. If Aizen had simply wanted to eliminate him, Gin was absolutely certain that Urahara Kisuke would never have had the chance to escape Soul Society.
*'Is he testing me again?'* Gin thought. *'He's clearly as powerful as a monster, yet he constantly maintains vigilance over everything around him. I really don't know if his words are true or false. You can neither trust a man like this nor completely doubt him. How terrifying, how terrifying.'*
*'Thinking about it that way, perhaps his assessment of Kōe Shihouin just now was also a lie? But it's more likely half-true and half-false. Even I can't say for sure.'*
However, Aizen's praise for Kōe Shihouin was undeniable, and its degree was no less than what he held for Urahara Kisuke. Setting aside elusive things like personality, based solely on ability, Kōe was certainly no ordinary individual. Being able to fight an all-out Zaraki to a standstill already proved as much.
It just wasn't enough yet. Gin raised his head and looked toward the opposite roof. Captain Aizen's intentions weren't as simple as just testing the other party's strength. For this man, success stemmed from the fact that he had already laid out his pieces without making a single sound.
"It seems Captain Unohana has been here for quite some time now, hasn't she?"
"It's only natural to be captivated by such a performance," Aizen smiled. "But it's about time. We need to quell this disturbance as quickly as possible, otherwise these Shin'ō Academy students will be in danger."
"I feel the same way," Gin said, glancing back at the little ones huddled against the wall behind them. In reality, the wind and rain outside couldn't reach them at all; if they were to die, it would likely be from sheer terror.
But for Kotetsu Isane, who was outside at this moment, the raging storm around her was very real. Furthermore, the two colliding Reiatsu in the distance made her feel far more uncomfortable than the severe weather ever could.
Letting Zaraki Kenpachi learn of Kōe's existence made the current situation an absolute inevitability. Despite rushing as fast as they could, they still hadn't arrived in time to stop all of this from happening.
However, a Reiatsu clash of this magnitude had surely been sensed by the other captains currently in the Seireitei. Once they hurried over, they would be able to stop those two monsters wreaking havoc in the distance.
Looking at Unohana's back, Isane couldn't tell if it was due to the weather or the terrifying Reiatsu in the air, but she felt that the captain was exuding a rather gloomy aura at the moment. She figured Captain Unohana must be deeply worried right now; after all, the Shin'ō Academy wasn't far from the battlefield.
If Kotetsu Isane could have circled around to Unohana's front, she would have been astonished to find that the woman was actually smiling. Although that smile lacked its usual warmth—resembling a hunter glaring at their prey from the shadows of the trees, sending shivers down one's spine—Unohana was indeed smiling, completely ignoring the Shin'ō Academy and everything else.
Zaraki Kenpachi and Kōe Shihouin. The two men closely tied to her had finally met. She had been looking forward to this day for a very long time.
One was the unknown man who had once bestowed humiliation upon her. The other was the child she had watched grow step by step—a child who outwardly resisted conflict but was actually highly adept at it, very much like a child of her own.
Unohana still remembered the scene when Head Captain Yamamoto had ordered her to secretly train Kōe. From being completely constrained at the very beginning, to eventually being able to deceive opponents in battle using actions, words, expressions, and even breathing, it hadn't taken Kōe very long at all.
He would resort to any means necessary. Of course, this was only true in combat—or rather, combat itself was inherently despicable. Kōe had inherited this trait perfectly, even surpassing his master.
Perhaps because Kōe hadn't realized that the masked person who trained him in his childhood was her, every time he acted goofy in front of her, Unohana would feel a sense of dissonance in her heart. After all, she was the same way. Granted, compared to her, Kōe's behavior appeared much more natural. Perhaps he was simply born fractured.
If Kōe was a continuation of Unohana's past—the most perfect version of her ideal state—then Zaraki Kenpachi was the passion she had lost or perhaps never possessed. He was the most direct manifestation of combat as a beast-like behavior, a future she could absolutely never reach.
Past and future, perfection and deficiency. Such a collision filled Unohana with excitement.
*'Settle the score. Which of you is truly the strongest? Fight to the death. Who is the king that represents the true meaning of battle? Hurry up. I can hardly wait to see the final result.'*
Unohana urged them on eagerly in her heart, but the two men on the field didn't seem to have any intention of fulfilling her wish. Although they were fighting fiercely, neither showed any sign of wanting to decide a victor.
It wasn't that their strength was too evenly matched to determine a winner, but rather that they inherently lacked the desire to defeat one another. Calling it a battle was a stretch; describing it as a sparring match or even roughhousing wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Frenzied and chaotic, Zaraki Kenpachi was entirely a beast relying on instinct, toying with his food. If he knew how to control his power, he would be even stronger.
But Unohana understood that this was impossible. Zaraki Kenpachi had been like this a thousand years ago as a child, leaving a mark of humiliation on her neck. This unknown Second Generation Kenpachi—he was meant to be like this raging storm, requiring absolutely no superfluous methods to change himself.
It was just a pity that because of her own weakness, he had sealed away his true strength and fallen to the level of mortals. Whenever she thought of this, Unohana felt a profound sense of shame.
However, the problem didn't lie entirely with Zaraki. Unohana's gaze slowly shifted to Kōe. She was finding it harder and harder to see through this little guy.
Compared to Zaraki, whose Reiatsu was unstable, she could clearly sense that Kōe's Reiatsu was weaker. Yet, Zaraki's Reiatsu seemed somewhat fragile in front of him. Unohana even had a feeling that the reason Zaraki's Reiatsu was so unstable was entirely because Kōe was secretly playing tricks in the shadows.
The manipulation of Reiryoku had always been Kōe's specialty, and now it was incredibly seasoned. Even with Unohana's vast experience, she couldn't help but sincerely call it breathtaking.
But such methods weren't meant to take a life. It seemed that even winning wasn't Kōe's goal. Unohana faintly felt that Kōe's objective was simply to maintain the current stalemate; every move he made was designed to ensure there was no victor.
*'Is he enjoying the thrill of battle?'* she wondered. *'That's not that little guy's style.'*
*'Or has he already figured something out, and is deliberately keeping Zaraki from touching upon his own seals?'*
But whatever the reason, Kōe's true desire was to prevent this battle from ending by his own hands. Coincidentally, Zaraki subconsciously harbored the exact same thought. It was truly a headache.
Unohana frowned slightly, her gaze drifting back and forth between Zaraki and Kōe. Finally, she closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh.
"Truly, two disappointing men."