Kings Cannot Coexist

"Hmm?" Aizen Sōsuke asked in return.

Chiba Makoto casually swirled the wineglass in his fingers, somewhat enjoying the feeling of exchanging their inner thoughts with Aizen Sōsuke.

After all, in the entire Seireitei, Unohana Retsu was the only person Chiba Makoto trusted completely.

It was simply that there were certain matters and feelings Unohana Retsu could not resonate with.

Aizen Sōsuke, on the other hand, had unexpectedly resonated with Chiba Makoto in this regard, allowing them to converse openly.

"Those things do not count as gentleness or mercy."

Chiba Makoto shook his head, thought for a moment, and answered, "They can only be considered respect."

"Respect? Is there any need to respect ants?" Aizen Sōsuke was even more puzzled upon hearing that.

"No!"

Chiba Makoto corrected him. "What is being respected is not others, but your former self."

Aizen Sōsuke froze slightly.

Chiba Makoto continued.

"Aizen, have you ever heard the saying, 'The youth who once slew dragons eventually becomes an evil dragon'? Only by preserving that respect can one avoid becoming what one once despised."

At those words, Aizen Sōsuke... fell completely into deep thought.

Aizen Sōsuke was not of noble birth. On the contrary, he had once wandered Rukongai for who knew how long.

His powerful spiritual pressure and talent far beyond all reason had made Aizen Sōsuke utterly out of place among ordinary Rukongai residents.

He had no companions...

He could not even find anyone worth speaking with.

Everywhere he went in Rukongai, all he saw were residents struggling to survive.

But survival alone—was that not the simplest thing in the world?

From that moment onward, Aizen Sōsuke understood that he was different from those Rukongai residents, different from those ants who had to exhaust every effort merely to survive. The two sides... could never possibly resonate