The Cut Worm Forgives the Plough

The cut worm forgives the plough.--William Blake, "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" (1790-1793)

With most of the captains unconscious, Fon Shaoling temporarily took over as the commander of the Gotei 13. Although the Zanpakuto had suffered heavy losses due to the attack on the Twelfth Division, sporadic harassment continued in the latter half of the night. Fon Shaoling had no choice but to lead the Onmitsukidō and cooperate with the Lieutenant of each division to stumble back to the Fourth Division served as the temporary headquarters.

Fortunately, Komamura, who was recuperating in the Fourth Division, and Sasakibe, the Lieutenant of the First Division, had regained consciousness. After learning about the situation at the front, they led their team to provide support and managed to bring the entire team back before dawn.

Fourth Division

The morning light seeped through the window paper, casting very faint grayish-white spots of light in the corridor. The air was filled with a heavy smell of blood, herbs, disinfectant, and a lingering, sweet aftertaste brought back from the purple poisonous fog of the previous night.

The atmosphere inside the temporary headquarters was extremely oppressive. The soldiers silently went about their own business in the corridor, all with the same expression on their faces—a bewilderment after being severely injured, mixed with a kind of anger at their own powerlessness.

It wasn't until the sunlight fully illuminated the courtyard that news began to arrive from the Fourth Division members:

8:00

After exhausting his Reiatsu in a fierce battle with Hyōrinmaru, Hitsugaya Tōshirō awoke after several hours of rest.

9:30

With his limbs successfully reattached, Retsu Unohana arrived at the Fourth Division and, with the help of Flesh Supplement, regained consciousness.

10:00

Exhausted after the battle, Jūshirō Ukitake, who had fainted from his injuries, awoke.

11:00

Shunsui Kyōraku opened his eyes under Nanao's care.

11:30

With the help of the Flesh Supplement and Kidō from the Fourth Division, Yumeoto Kurotsuchi's lower limbs began to gradually recover. Through the life support device, she informed the members of the squadrons about the auxiliary device that Mayuri Kurotsuchi needed in his current state. The members of the Twelfth Division quickly made one, Mayuri Kurotsuchi was finally able to communicate with the outside world in his current state.

Noon

Sylvan stumbled back to the entrance of the Medical Station. He sat on the stone steps outside the corridor by the door, his blood-stained hands trembling as he stroked the jet-black cane.

Oren nestled beside him, his ears twitching every now and then. Rain rested on Sylvan's shoulder, his eyes half-closed, as if he were dozing off.

"That's... Sylvan!?"

Tōshirō and Rangiku walked from the end of the corridor and saw Sylvan sitting on the stone steps.

Seeing that Sylvan seemed preoccupied, and noticing that Rangiku seemed to know him, Tōshirō said, "Go and check on him."

"But Captain..."

"It's alright. This Captains' Meeting is being held in the hospital room. The Lieutenant doesn't have a private waiting room. Just come pick me up in front of the ward before the meeting ends." After saying that, Tōshirō went to the ward on his own.

Rangiku, on the other hand, went back and fetched two glasses of ice water, then pressed the ice water against Sylvan's pensive face.

Sylvan was startled, then looked up and said, "Rangiku- nee?"

"What are you thinking about?" Rangiku handed Sylvan a glass of ice water and sat down next to Sylvan.

"Last night was so long." Rangiku held her teacup, looking up at the sun that was already high in the sky. "The few beds that the Fourth Division managed to reduce yesterday are now full again."

"Hmm." Sylvan fell silent for a moment, his head lowered even further.

"But Jiku'a is really strong." Rangiku sighed and looked at the cloudless sky, recalling, "When I arrived, it was shortly after Captain Ukitake was pulled off the battlefield. After that, Kurosaki took over, and then Captain Kyōraku was also defeated. Finally, after defeating Kurosaki, he swaggered away right in front of the Gotei 13."

Rangiku's mood soared as she continued, "The captains are helpless against him, and Lieutenant like me isn't even qualified to join the fight."

Upon hearing this, Sylvan gripped his water glass tighter. "I'm sorry."

"Why did Sylvan apologize?" Rangiku asked.

"Because I failed to control the ability of Jiku'a, I caused significant losses to the Gotei 13. This is my responsibility." Sylvan was filled with remorse, while Oren and Rain also opened their eyes slightly, watching Rangiku's reaction.

"Are you worried about this? Don't worry about it." Rangiku patted Sylvan's back heavily.

"But..." Sylvan wanted to say something more.

"No buts!" Rangiku interrupted him, pinching Sylvan's cheek between her hands. "Listen carefully, Sylvan. From the moment the Zanpakuto started the rebellion, everyone was mentally prepared for this to happen. Any Captain-level Zanpakuto could potentially cause this kind of damage."

Rangiku finished her ice water in one gulp and said to Sylvan, "Zanpakuto have been the most reliable partners of Soul Reaper for thousands of years. No one expected the Zanpakuto to rebel, and it's not your fault. Even Jiku'a appearing there was something no one expected. Cheer up, Sylvan! The next moment is crucial."

Rangiku stood up, patted her skirt, and said, "The captains' meeting is about to start, I should probably go too, I'd better get myself ready."

After Rangiku left, both Rain and Oren opened their eyes.

Rain watched Rangiku's departing figure. "What should we do next?"

"What else can we do?" Sylvan finished his water, placed the teacup at his feet, and let out a soft sigh. "Just like Rangiku- nee said, I'll tidy myself up and then try to get involved in the Captains' Meeting."

Oren: "Great! I get to see Shaoling again!"

After noon, in a three-bed ward, Kyōraku sat up from his bed with Nanao's help. Some of the bandages on his face had been removed, and at least his facial features were now visible. To his right was Ukitake's bed, where Ukitake was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at the battle statistics table that had just been completed.

To his left was Ichigo's bed, where Ichigo lay on his side facing the wall, his head wrapped in a blanket, as if he were still resting.

The first to enter was Fon Shaoling, wearing the Captain's Haori of the Second Division, with a golden light floating beside her, and her expression was somewhat somber.

Next to enter was Unohana, who was pushed in by Isane in a wheelchair. Although her limbs had been reattached, Isane stubbornly pushed Unohana in.

Next was Komamura, who was the first captain to be seriously injured, but now he is considered to be one of the captains with a relatively good mental state. After Komamura came Tōshirō, with Hyōrinmaru by his side.

Kenpachi came in after Tōshirō, and he was the same as usual.

Finally, there was a strange machine inside, about a meter tall, shaped like a pepper shaker, with a semi-circular transparent dome on top, inside which was a gelatinous substance.

Kenpachi turned to look at the strange object. "What is this thing?"

A mechanical, mixed voice emanated from the "pepper shaker": "It is I, Mayuri Kurotsuchi."

Kenpachi looked at the "Pepper Pot" in front of him with an expression that said, "So you've finally abandoned even your human form?"

"Heh, how could someone like you, whose head is filled with nothing but fighting, possibly understand my philosophy?" Mayuri Kurotsuchi scoffed before ignoring Kenpachi.

Kyōraku glanced around the now crowded hospital room and thought, "Is this all the high-level combat force of the Gotei 13?"

"Many of you are still recovering from your injuries, please sit down." Nanao, Sentaro, and Kiyone took out chairs and distributed them before leaving the ward with Isane. Chōjirō Sasakibe entered and closed the door. Kyōraku, seeing the door closed, said, "Kurosaki-kun, if you want to listen, sit up. It's too hot under the covers with so many people here."

Ichigo hearing Kyōraku's words, Ichigo knew that Kyoraku had noticed he was awake, so he sat up in bed.

Once everyone was seated, Kyōraku said, "Then let's begin the meeting for the team leader."

Meanwhile, the Lieutenant were also sitting outside the ward, chatting.

"Haha, Kira, I heard you got a good beating from your own Zanpakuto. Don't be discouraged, not everyone can subdue Zanpakuto on their own, haha." Marechiyo Ōmaeda patted Kira on the back to comfort him.

Kira was stunned by the camera, staring at the burly man with a five-pointed star hairstyle standing next to Marechiyo Ōmaeda, and then shut himself in a corner.

The burly man with the five-pointed star hairstyle picked his nose and muttered under his breath, "What do you mean by 'recaptured alone'? If I hadn't been knocked away by Kenpachi Zaraki during the battle, who knows who would have won or lost."

Upon hearing Gegetsuburi's mutterings, Marechiyo Ōmaeda immediately ran over, stuffed a bag of potato chips into his mouth, and told him to shut up.

At this moment, Shūhei walked over to the withdrawn Kira and comforted him, "Cheer up, Kira. Even Mr. Sasakibe didn't retrieve his Zanpakuto. If Zanpakuto were so easy to deal with, people who could Bankai would be everywhere by now. Just prepare a strategy and fight again."

On the other side, Ikkaku looked at the Monkey Woman and Snake Man next to Renji and stroked his chin. "Is this the physical form of your Zanpakuto? It actually has two consciousnesses, how interesting."

The Snake Man, feeling a little uncomfortable under the scrutinizing gaze from the Ikkaku, propped himself up with his tail. "Not only are we interesting, we're also very strong."

Ikkaku Kaidō, "You seem quite determined. How about a match?"

Just as Snake Man was about to agree, Renji immediately pressed his head down. "That's enough. What time is it now? We don't have the time or energy to let you do this. I'm sorry, Mr. Ikkaku."

"Tch~ That's boring. You've become too smooth, Renji." Ikkaku commented on Renji.

"Oh, not at all, I'm far from that level. By the way, what brings you here, Mr. Ikkaku?" Renji said modestly.

"Idiot, this isn't a compliment," Ikkaku retorted. "We're in the ward next door right now. The poison from Ashisogi Jizō is no joke. If we hadn't received the antidote at noon, we'd probably still be lying here."

"Them?" Renji was still wondering when Yumichika emerged from Ikkaku of the hospital room, followed by a tall, dark-skinned man with orange hair. "Oh, so it's Mr. Ayasegawa. And this is Mr. Ayasegawa's Zanpakuto? It's really impressive."

Renji's statement was immediately rejected by all three. Ikkaku said, "This is the physical form of my Zanpakuto, Hōzukimaru. You really have terrible taste. This physique is something only my Zanpakuto could have."

"Exactly, exactly," Hōzukimaru chimed in.

"What about Mr. Ayasegawa's Zanpakuto?" Renji asked.

Yumichika Kaidō, "That guy tried to interrupt the captain's battle and got slashed by him. He's broken in two now and is sitting with the other broken swords."

Renji realized he'd asked the wrong question and quickly apologized, but Yumichika Kaidō, "That guy deserved it for obstructing the captain's battle; there's nothing to apologize for."

Meanwhile, Yongyin, Isane had just stepped out, sighed. Kiyone asked, "Sister, what's wrong?"

Isane sat down on a chair nearby. "It's nothing... it's just that the Fourth Division has had a lot of work these past two days..."

"Sis? Sis! What's wrong?" Kiyone looked at Isane, who had closed her eyes after saying less than half a sentence, and was a little worried. Hinamori promptly draped a blanket over Isane: "Let Isane rest well. Captain Unohana has been away from the team these past two days, and Isane has been handling all the seriously injured patients. Last night, she even performed surgery on Captain Unohana in such harsh conditions. Even a body tempered by the Sekkiseki would break down by now."

"Is my sister working so hard?" Kiyone looked at the figure sleeping against the wall with some concern.

"Oh my, has the meeting already started?" Rangiku walked over at that moment.

"Matsumoto- nee." Kiyone greeted Rangiku as she approached.

"Yes, it's been going on for a while now," Nanao replied to Rangiku's question.

"Everyone's here, huh? Where's Yachiru?" Rangiku looked around but couldn't find the little pink figure.

"Yachiru should be outside the Medical Station right now. She said it's too boring to wait inside," Nanao Kaidō.

"I see. How's Nemu doing?" Rangiku asked.

"The bleeding from the wound has temporarily Kaidō, and thanks to the Flesh Supplement, the lost organs and lower limbs are slowly growing back," Nanao said, unconsciously gripping her notebook tighter. "We're all so powerless."

Perhaps it was the awakening and return of the captains that finally gave Nanao a sense of security, or perhaps it was Rangiku's arrival that finally gave her a reason not to force herself to stay strong, and tears involuntarily streamed down her face.

Rangiku gave her a big hug. "Alright, alright, it's all over now. The captains will definitely resolve this incident."

In the ward

"This concludes the intelligence analysis based on the results of each team's battles last night. Does anyone have any questions?" Ukitake closed the documents in his hand and asked the team captains.

"Even if the physical form of Zanpakuto is defeated, the wielder won't lose their Soul Reaper powers? In other words, even if attacked by another's Zanpakuto in the next battle, they can still attack without hesitation?" Tōshirō pondered.

"Tch, it's just that some people act without hesitation even without this intelligence." Mayuri Kurotsuchi spoke through the "Pepper Bottle".

"Huh? What's wrong with you, Nemesis? Are you trying to cause me trouble?" Kenpachi sensed that the other person was talking about him.

"I'm just stating the facts. Besides, the recovery period after Zanpakuto's physical form is defeated is very long. Only with the equipment from the Department of Research and Development can the recovery time be shortened to one day. Now that the equipment has been completely destroyed, it will take at least ten days to recover naturally," Mayuri Kurotsuchi, providing more data.

"In that case, we should let the higher- Seated Officers and above reclaim their own Zanpakuto to ensure that the Gotei 13's combat strength doesn't fall into a period of weakness," Ukitake thought to himself.

"Have the intelligence unit find someone Kōga," Mayuri Kurotsuchi continued.

"Kōga?" Kyōraku felt the name sounded familiar. "What's wrong with this person?"

"It's possible that Kōga, this Soul Reaper, is Muramasa's master, and Muramasa's goal is to rescue Kōga," Mayuri Kurotsuchi said.

"Rescued? So, Kōga is trapped somewhere? No, maybe he's being held captive somewhere." Kyōraku stroked his chin, recalling for a moment. "I feel like I've heard that name from Old Man Yama before..."

"Okay, I'll check the files after the meeting." Kyōraku, unable to recall the matter at the moment, had no choice but to postpone it for now.

"Besides this, isn't there someone else we need to be even more careful about?" Mayuri Kurotsuchi reminded everyone when they didn't react, "Jiku'a- Kara, Jiku'a, don't forget about that guy."

"But isn't the key issue Muramasa? Even if Jiku'a is strong, as long as we deal with Muramasa and remove his Brainwashing, would he still be hostile to us?" After waking up, Tōshirō had also read last night's battle report. A single Zanpakuto had managed to take on four captains. Even though none of the four captains could Bankai, this achievement still shocked him. Therefore, Tōshirō felt that if possible, avoiding battles with Jiku'a was the best strategy. In fact, most of the other captains shared the same thought after reading the battle report.

"Brainwashing? Who told you that Jiku'a was Brainwashing?" Mayuri Kurotsuchi a cold, electronic voice to shatter the other captains' preconceived notions. "It seems you're all quite unclear about this. Let me give you a simple explanation of Muramasa's Brainwashing principle. Listen carefully: Muramasa's ability is to intensify the conflict between Zanpakuto and Soul Reaper, causing Zanpakuto to no longer be willing to help Soul Reaper."

The materialization, or rather the separation and physicalization of the Zanpakuto's will from the body, requires a movable Spirit Body and an outer shell to lock the Zanpakuto's consciousness. That guy uses his Reiatsu to provide the outer shell to lock the Zanpakuto's will, but the Spirit Body is replaced by a hollow Spirit Body.

Therefore, as long as the outer shell that locks the Zanpakuto and the Spirit Body that receives its flesh are destroyed, the Zanpakuto's will will naturally return to the Soul Reaper's body.

But Jiku'a is different. He was left without a home because his master disappeared, trapped within his Zanpakuto, and he seems to possess the ability to manifest independently. When Jiku'a materialized, I scanned him using surrounding instruments; he didn't exhibit any signs of Brainwashing, nor did he show any of the outer shell's Reiatsu provided by Muramasa. In other words, Jiku'a stood against us by his own will!

Mayuri Kurotsuchi's analysis caused the captains present to frown slightly. Jūshirō Ukitake said, "In that case, Muramasa and Jiku'a are very likely to be in a cooperative relationship. Therefore, we must be constantly wary of Muramasa's interference when we are fighting against Muramasa."

"What's there to worry about? If he dares to come out, I'll just handle it." Kenpachi had fought with Koko before, so he naturally knew how powerful Jiku'a was. He had been looking forward to fighting Koko again, so he guessed that Jiku'a trouble.

"No, Zaraki. There's no evidence yet that Zanpakuto's been freed from Brainwashing can't be Brainwashing again. You're the most suitable person to deal with Muramasa," Ukitake objected.

"Then what about Jiku'a -Bankai?" Kenpachi retorted.

"As long as you take down Muramasa quickly enough, that'll be fine. Once your Bankai is restored, Jiku'a won't be too difficult to deal with either," Tōshirō replied.

Kenpachi looked at everyone and they all felt that it was the best solution for him to deal with Muramasa, but he himself was unwilling.

As everyone knows, Kenpachi's thought process is a bit different from others. If he had to choose, he would definitely pick the strongest one to fight. In order to fight at a higher level, Kenpachi's mind started working at lightning speed, which led him to see Ichigo sitting on the edge of the bed deep in thought, "That's it! How about letting Ichigo deal with Muramasa? He was the first guy to regain his Zanpakuto, and judging from Ukitake's words, even if the Zanpakuto is separated from his body, this kid can still Bankai, right? He can handle Muramasa?"

"Huh? Me?" Ichigo was standing to the side, had no idea how the topic had suddenly shifted to him.

While Kenpachi was trying to figure out how to face Jiku'a in the ward, a thin figure came over with a cat and a bird and knocked on the door.

After whispering a few words in Sasakibe's ear, Kyōraku said to him, "Okay Kyōraku, let him in."

The situation inside the ward was also getting out of control.

"Zaraki! How could you drag an ordinary boy into such a dangerous battle?" Komamura scolded.

"How dare you talk like that when you were seriously injured by your own Zanpakuto in a single encounter? Isn't the Seventh Division supposed to be the bodyguard of the First Division? Even the Captain-Commander has been lost, how dare you still say such things?" Kenpachi's mind was racing with thoughts of obtaining the mission to restrain Jiku'a, so he didn't care about anything else when he spoke.

Komamura, unable to refute his words, simply knelt down on the spot. "That's right. This time, the Gotei 13 has been put in such a disadvantageous situation, and Captain-Commander Yamamoto's disappearance is all my fault. I'm sorry, everyone. I will atone with my death!"

As he spoke, Komamura actually Zanpakuto. Several captains quickly stepped forward to stop him, not wanting Komamura to actually commit suicide.

"Stop it, all of you!" Kyōraku roared, interrupting the crowd's commotion. "What are you all thinking? Komamura, your problem will be resolved by the Old Man Yama himself after we rescue Old Man Yama. Zaraki, don't resort to insults over a battle we might not even win. I've decided to hand over the Jiku'a matter to someone else."

"It's him." As the ward door opened, everyone's eyes turned to Sylvan as he walked in.