c15 – The Huge Zanpakutō
As soon as Itokai's spiritual pressure fully dissipated, the suppressive force restraining Ye Chuan vanished, and his own spiritual pressure surged like a tidal wave crashing into a shallow bay, regaining its natural flow.
Suddenly, a wave of dizziness washed over him. When his vision cleared, Ye Chuan realized the world around him had changed drastically. This was neither the Forest of Menos nor anywhere within Hueco Mundo.
Low earthen houses, crowded, crumbling alleys, and the worn stone paths surrounded him this wasn't an illusion. It was…
"District 77… Zaraki, West Rukongai?" Ye Chuan muttered in disbelief.
He recognized the chaotic layout from Itokai's fragmented memories. This was the very place where Itokai had once lived, where blood ran deeper than water and survival was carved by the blade.
"No… not the actual Soul Society. This is… Itokai's inner world!"
Before he could gather his thoughts, a tall figure stepped from the far end of the broken street. A lean, violet-haired man in standard Shinigami attire complete with a standard-issue Asauchi strode forward, exuding a familiar yet volatile spiritual presence.
"Itokai?" Ye Chuan called out tentatively.
The man didn't respond. Instead, his hand moved instinctively to his sword. In the span of a breath, he unsheathed his blade and vanished in a burst of high-speed movement.
Shunpo! Ye Chuan's instincts screamed.
In an instant, the purple-haired Shinigami closed the distance and brought his blade down in a brutal vertical arc. Ye Chuan hastily raised his right arm, electricity crackling across it in a defensive surge.
Puchi
Crimson sprayed in the air. Despite his attempt to block, Ye Chuan's entire right arm was severed cleanly, sliced as easily as paper under steel. Pain surged, but his focus remained.
With a shriek of movement, Ye Chuan Sonído-ed backward, scooping the dismembered arm with his tail and pulling it toward his wounded shoulder. Regenerative granulation immediately wriggled at the wound.
Just as the arm was nearly reattached, the violet-haired Shinigami struck again his Zanpakutō morphing into a long, pitch-black Yari-like spear, a possible manifestation of the true spirit within.
With a thunderous gust of wind generated from the weapon's sudden transformation, the whirlwind scattered the regenerating limb midair.
"Damn it, he's fast!"
Ye Chuan's retreat blurred through multiple Sonído steps, barely escaping the spear's gale. His right arm, now fully obliterated, regenerated anew, though the process drained more spiritual pressure than mere reattachment.
Yet oddly, he felt no actual depletion.
"This confirms it… I'm inside Itokai's inner world. Spiritual law is different here."
Ye Chuan recalled that in Bleach, Zanpakutō spirits fought for dominance within the inner world. If a Shinigami failed to defeat their Zanpakutō spirit, they could never achieve true Shikai or maintain balance.
Being "killed" here wasn't fatal in reality but it could break one's will entirely.
As 'Itokai' approached again, eyes blazing with killing intent, Ye Chuan raised his voice.
"I can help you find Xiada Road… and Yunchuan!"
The words struck like lightning.
The purple-haired man staggered, falling to his knees, clutching his head in agony.
"My… my wife… Yunchuan…"
"I… am Itokai… no… I am Kamikazemaru…"
Ye Chuan stood silent. This was the true spirit Kamikazemaru, the inner being forged from Itokai's soul and deepest regrets. As in canon, the soul of a Shinigami is split between the user and their Zanpakutō's spirit. Kamikazemaru was consumed by unresolved obsession.
With no exit from this world until it calmed, Ye Chuan knelt nearby and waited.
Eventually, the storm passed. Kamikazemaru stood again, his gaze solemn.
"I… am Kamikazemaru. I survived through the master's dying will… to find Yunchuan."
With a final wave of his hand, the world blurred. Dizziness struck Ye Chuan once more, and when his senses returned, he was back standing among the towering white trees of the Forest of Menos.
"I'm back…"
Only a heartbeat had passed in reality, but Ye Chuan felt as though he had experienced hours of psychological warfare.
His confidence, sharpened from days of devouring Hollows, had been shaken. Facing a vice-captain's inner spirit reminded him how far he still had to go.
"The vice-captain of Squad 11… that was their power... No wonder the 11th Division scorns Kido and still reigns supreme."
"I have to get stronger… even faster!"
Taking a deep breath, Ye Chuan focused on the techniques newly imprinted in his mind Itokai's decades of combat mastery, spiritual pressure control, and even the Bakudō and Hadō spells he'd quietly learned on the side.
Raising his left hand toward a towering hollow tree, he recited:
"Hadō #4: Byakurai!" (White Lightning)
Spiritual pressure gathered erratically.
One second.
Two.
Thirty seconds.
Nothing.
"Tch… Hollow spiritual pressure can't invoke Kido. Makes sense. I'm not a Shinigami."
Still, he wasn't discouraged.
What truly excited Ye Chuan was the Zanpakutō that now rested in his palm an enormous, ten-meter-long blade, adapted to his body, radiating with new life.
"No Arrancar has ever possessed a Zanpakutō without the ritual of breaking their mask…"
He had achieved the impossible: a Hollow with a living Zanpakutō, bypassing resurrección entirely.
This wasn't just symbolic. The spirit of Kamikazemaru had accepted him. He now bore the legacy and swordsmanship of a veteran vice-captain.
He swung once.
A single arc of silver light cleaved horizontally through a massive tree, slicing its five-meter-thick trunk like tofu.
Boom!
It crashed down, flattening undergrowth and sending a shockwave through the forest.
Ye Chuan looked at the blade affectionately.
"The craftsmanship of a true master Kenpachi-class, at the very least. This is a weapon worthy of Ermeiwu's legacy."
With a childlike grin, he swung the massive blade again and again, as if testing a new toy—one capable of razing mountains.
---
"ROAR!"
"ROAR!"
"ROAR!"
A group of seven Gillian-class Menos Grandes bellowed in rage, surrounding Ye Chuan in a tight formation. Their towering black forms loomed with killing intent, but Ye Chuan remained calm.
"Seven of you, huh? Still no Adjuchas among you? What's a guy gotta do to find a real challenge in this wasteland?"
Smiling coldly, Ye Chuan raised his massive Zanpakutō and unleashed a series of seven sweeping slashes.
Seven arcs of death.
Seven Gillians, each one severed cleanly in half.
With the Ghoul Soul active, a swirling dark-gold vortex opened at the base of his tail, drawing in their fading spiritual matter. The devouring vortex spun like a black hole, feeding Ye Chuan's core.
His body swelled with power, and a satisfied grin crept onto his face.
It had been six months since he gained Kamikazemaru.
In that time, he had mastered every technique Itokai left behind, hunted Gillian after Gillian, and pushed his spiritual pressure to nearly five times its original level.
Against ordinary Gillians, he no longer needed strategy—just raw force.
A single swing was enough.
And this was only the beginning.
---