Being a Captain Is Dangerous

"Starrk, could you please stop coming here?!!!" Ten Unohana shouted.

Ten Unohana couldn't help it. Starrk had driven him to a nervous breakdown, and all his plans to get laid had been put on hold. The last few times, whenever Ten Unohana was about to get intimate, Starrk had shown up, forcing him to postpone his plans again and again. After being interrupted so many times, Ten Unohana had tragically discovered that whenever he tried to put his plans into action, he couldn't help looking toward the door.

"Just this once," Starrk promised with a perfectly serious expression, although he had made that promise many times before.

Ten Unohana was speechless. "All right, what is it?"

"Nothing much. I just wanted to give you some advice as a friend." Starrk said seriously, "They say doing that stuff too much can affect your physical development. You should be careful, Little Ten!"

"Careful my ass!!!"

Ten Unohana roared and hurled Starrk out, then sat down in a huff.

Tier Harribel also looked at Ten Unohana without expression.

Ten Unohana gritted his teeth and thought, This won't do. What if this keeps up and I end up with, you know, that problem?

"Go. I'm definitely going!"

With that thought, Ten Unohana said to Tier Harribel, "Little Bell! Um, well, I'm going to the World of the Living. Want to come?"

Ten Unohana's question was a little unnecessary. He knew full well that Tier Harribel, as a Menos Grande, wouldn't go to the World of the Living, but he asked anyway, because there was a fashionable phrase for what asking her would let him do: picking up girls with imperial permission.

Tier Harribel said dejectedly, "Go ahead! I won't come. Be careful, and don't use Resurrección whenever you feel like it. The Soul Reapers from Soul Society will find you!"

Ten Unohana smiled. Yes, he smiled wickedly. Girls of the World of the Living, I, Ten Unohana, am coming!!!

Even so, Ten Unohana comforted Tier Harribel before saying to her, "All right, I'm leaving. I'll miss you. Oh, and let Cirucci and the others know. I'm off."

Karakura Town

A Garganta slowly appeared in the sky above.

Boom—

He dropped like a falling meteor, leaving a huge crater in Karakura Town.

"Well, well, I didn't expect free fall to feel so great. I'll come down like that next time too!" Ten Unohana ignored the people gathered around the crater and left with a Sonído.

"The first thing I need to do is take over Mom's business in the World of the Living," Ten Unohana thought as he hurried into the distance. I wonder if the Gigai I prepared before is still there. It's been so long.

The Gigai Ten Unohana spoke of had been prepared when he was planning to defect from Soul Society. But he hadn't expected Old Man Yamamoto to show up in the end, so he had used another plan: going to Hueco Mundo.

As a result, the Gigai he had prepared in the World of the Living had been left at the business Retsu Unohana had established back then. But after so much time, was that business still around? And if it was, how well had his Gigai been preserved?

At a manor in Karakura Town, in a heavily guarded underground passage,

A man's body was frozen quietly inside a massive block of ice. He had sharp brows and bright eyes, and was very handsome.

Ten Unohana stood beside the block of ice and said with a smile, "Not bad. Better than I imagined."

With that, he raised his Blade of Slaughter high.

Boom—

"Who goes there?!"

"Someone's broken into the underground chamber!"

"Quick, go report it!"

"Hurry inside and take a look. Prepare for battle!"

Tap, tap, tap.

Footsteps rang out as everyone raised their weapons high.

But then,

"Ah!!"

"This is...!!!"

Ten Unohana was very pleased as he looked at the dumbstruck crowd. He hadn't expected his Gigai to have been preserved so well.

Thud, thud, thud, thud. A series of hurried footsteps approached.

Ten Unohana tilted his head and looked toward the corner. A plump figure rushed over at tremendous speed, shouting as he came, "Who dares trespass in the Uten Group's restricted area?"

"Heh heh." Ten Unohana smiled as he watched the fat figure rush up to him. "What's the matter, Pangpang?!"

That alone left many people dumbstruck...

"Pangpang."

The wealthiest man in all Japan, the man at the helm of Karakura Town, had actually been called Pangpang!!!

But what stunned them even more was that this number one man wasn't angry. Not only was he not angry, he even greeted the man with a smile.

Just who was this man??

At that thought, everyone suddenly realized that this man was—

The man who had been frozen all this time.

He was also said to be the owner of the Uhana Group, but—

The Uhana Group had been established over a hundred years ago, and now they were saying its owner had appeared.

Most importantly, this body had supposedly been preserved for over a hundred years, and now...

He was alive!!!!

Wasn't this ridiculous?? Everyone reacted as if they'd seen a dinosaur walking down the street—no, they were even more shocked than that.

"Young Master Unohana!" Pangpang hurried over to Ten Unohana and spoke deferentially.

Ten Unohana looked at Pangpang. "You, what's your name again?? Forget it, never mind. I remember you were still a little brat back then, following your father around. Your father's name was Takeda... Takeda... Takeda what again??"

"Ichirō Takeda!"

"Oh, right, right, right, I remember now. Back then, Mom even modified you, and you cried. Honestly, do you know how many people dreamed of that..."

"Jūichirō was still young and didn't know any better."

Ten Unohana slapped his forehead. "I remember now. Once you said that, I remembered your name is Jūichirō Takeda. But I'll keep calling you Pangpang! It sounds nice and is easy to remember. All right, that's settled. Also, don't let your people go around talking about me! Mm! That's all. I'll go look around first. I wonder what it's like outside now?!"

Jūichirō Takeda—let's keep calling him Pangpang from now on! Pangpang quickly nodded and said, "I'll take care of them. As for going outside, Young Master Unohana, you should take this with you! If anyone asks you for money, just give them this. The password is 123321."

Ten Unohana took the bank card, nodded, and took the bank card.

While Ten Unohana was enjoying his carefree, romantic days,

In Soul Society,

Aizen's plan was slowly getting underway.

"Have you heard about the people disappearing in Rukongai??"

Then,

"The Ninth Division has already gone to investigate."

After that...

"Emergency summons!!!"

"Emergency summons!!!"

"All division captains, report to the First Division barracks immediately!!!"

"An abnormal incident has occurred in the Ninth Division."

"The Reiatsu signatures of Ninth Division Captain Kensei Muguruma and Lieutenant Mashiro Kuna have disappeared!!!"

"Therefore, an emergency assembly has been called—"

Kisuke Urahara heard the news!!

"Where's Miss Hiyori?"

"She just left."

Upon hearing that, Kisuke Urahara hurried anxiously to the First Division barracks.

First Division barracks

Old Man Yamamoto:

"This is a matter of the utmost urgency!"

"According to a report from the Ninth Division's standby unit on the front lines, the Reiatsu of their captain, Kensei Muguruma, and their lieutenant, Mashiro Kuna, vanished during their overnight encampment."

"And the cause—is unknown! This is one of the worst situations we could have anticipated!!"

"Until yesterday, this case could only be considered an ordinary incident in Rukongai. Now it has become an affair that must be resolved swiftly, with the dignity of the Gotei 13 at stake!"

"This is the most serious incident since the Ten Unohana incident. Therefore, I have selected five captain-level personnel and ask that you proceed to the scene immediately!!"

Only then did Kisuke Urahara finally arrive.

"You're too late, Kisuke Urahara."

"Please... let me go...!!!"

"No!"

Not only was Kisuke Urahara's request rejected by Old Man Yamamoto, he was also given a talking-to by Yoruichi.

The outcome didn't change.

Third Division Captain Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi, Fifth Division Captain Shinji Hirako, and Captain of the Seventh Division Love Aikawa were sent by Old Man Yamamoto to investigate the scene.

Also going were Tessai Tsukabishi, who had already been promoted to Grand Kidō Chief and commander of the Kidō Corps, and Hachigen Ushōda, the Kidō Corps' Vice Kidō Chief.

This time, however, Shunsui Kyōraku didn't repeat his line from the original story—that sending both the Grand Kidō Chief and Vice Kidō Chief was far too cautious. Instead, he said something different: to be safe, Lisa Yadōmaru should go along too.

No one asked why he said that, because Retsu Unohana was there, but they all wondered to themselves whether Ten Unohana had returned.

Only Old Man Yamamoto, Yoruichi, and Retsu Unohana knew that Ten Unohana hadn't done this.

Ten Unohana wasn't the sort of person who hid in the shadows and launched sneak attacks. What Ten Unohana believed in was absolute power, the power to cut through everything. His Zanpakuto alone showed as much.

If it were Ten Unohana, he would definitely have come straight to them. He wouldn't have skulked around like this and remained out of sight even now. Nor would Ten Unohana have done so much useless work.

"Damn it!!" Hiyori Sarugaki struggled to hold out on her own.

She didn't attack, only defended.

Suddenly, an attack was blocked...

"Are you an idiot? Why aren't you drawing your sword?"

"Shinji?!" Hiyori Sarugaki cried out, then lowered her head and said quietly, "Idiot, how could I draw my sword?"

Just then, Love Aikawa also shouted from a distance, "Shinji, Hiyori!!! Are you all right???"

And then...

Love Aikawa, Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi, Lisa Yadōmaru, and Tessai Tsukabishi and Hachigen Ushōda, who arrived afterward, were all stunned!!!!

"K-Kensei!!"

"What's going on here??"

"Is that really Kensei?"

"That mask, and that Reiatsu!! Isn't he just like a Hollow??"

Compared to everyone else's shock, Shinji Hirako was calm—

"I don't understand it either. I don't know if that's really Kensei... The only thing I'm sure of is that if we don't draw our swords—we'll be dead!!"

Everyone was ready to make a move, but then Hiyori Sarugaki, who let her emotions rule her, spoke up again—

"No! Don't you understand yet? That's Kensei!! If you do that..."