Nineteen Units' Reiatsu

The next moment, Gion, who was already almost ground to a pulp by Yaen as if grinding soybeans, faced an attack that had suddenly intensified several times. Her maintained defense instantly crumbled.

"Ah~"

With a groan from Gion, a large amount of blood splattered from her body, almost instantly dyeing her pink top red.

Yaen waved the hilt of Senbonzakura, controlling the cherry blossoms to leave Gion's body. He then let the cherry blossoms slowly fall around him and said gently.

"Don't worry, Lieutenant Captain Gion, all attacks have avoided vital points."

However, as Gion used Konpira to prop herself up, clutching her chest and slowly standing up.

Yaen suddenly discovered that Gion's clothes were tattered, revealing large patches of fair, tender skin. Her expression was one of shame and indignation.

It's over, this misunderstanding is huge!

Yaen swallowed and couldn't help but cover his forehead with one hand, obscuring most of his eyes.

Yet, there were still small gaps between his fingers, allowing Yaen to clearly see that Gion's expression was extremely unpleasant.

"Well said, 'all attacks have avoided vital points'..."

Gion's chest heaved rapidly as she gritted her teeth and said, "Yaen, is your Devil Fruit ability used for such lewd purposes?"

Immediately after, Gion didn't wait for Yaen to explain. Her figure flashed, and she left the training ground using "Navy Six Styles: Soru."

"Sigh..."

Yaen sighed helplessly, released Senbonzakura's Shikai state, and returned the cherry blossoms to a blade before sheathing it. His head tilted back at a forty-five-degree angle towards the sky, looking melancholic and deeply regretting his choice to deceive Sengoku with "Zanpakutō: Senbonzakura" as his superficial ability.

Back then, Yaen's physique was much weaker than that of ordinary people. To enhance his strength, Sengoku spared no effort in collecting Devil Fruits for him.

Ultimately, Yaen was presented with a lower-tier Logia Devil Fruit, a Zoan Devil Fruit, and an unknown Devil Fruit, and was asked to choose.

Yaen's choice was the unknown Devil Fruit.

It wasn't that Yaen had a strong gambler's mentality.

In fact, the reason Yaen chose the unknown Devil Fruit was precisely to be cautious, attempting to conceal his special ability, "Zanpakutō," through this unknown Devil Fruit.

Based on Yaen's current research and summary of his abilities, he discovered that on his birthday each year, he would randomly awaken a Zanpakutō.

These Zanpakutō had different names, uses, and abilities, but most were useless "fodder" swords. Only a small portion were Zanpakutō that Yaen was familiar with, such as: Senbonzakura, Tenken, Tobiume, Gogyo Ken, and Zanji no Togen.

These initially awakened Zanpakutō could only "Shikai." As for the more powerful "Bankai," only Zanpakutō that Yaen had "Bankai"-ed in his memory could be further released, and it required sufficient Reiatsu to be infused.

However, Yaen was not a true Shinigami and had no idea how to cultivate Reiatsu. The only method was to shatter useless Zanpakutō to obtain it.

According to Yaen's calculations, the Reiatsu obtained from shattering an ordinary Shikai Zanpakutō could be simply calculated as one basic Lieutenant Captain level unit.

"Senbonzakura" requires at least fifteen Vice Captain units of Reiatsu to perform its Bankai, while "Tenkō" requires thirteen.

As for the other Zanpakutō that can perform Bankai, "Zanpakutō: Zanji no Togen," it was shattered by Yaen as a test subject, unexpectedly yielding six Vice Captain units of Reiatsu.

Coincidentally, the original owner of "Zanji no Togen" was Kenpachi Zaraki from the anime Bleach. To simplify calculations, Yaen simply designated each Vice Captain unit of Reiatsu as "one car."

Thus, Yaen's currently allocatable Reiatsu totals "Nineteen Units," which is only enough to unleash the Bankai of "Senbonzakura," but far from enough to unleash the Bankai of two Zanpakutō simultaneously.

Therefore, the physically weak and frail Yaen understood that the longer he lived, the stronger he would naturally become, completely without the need for unnecessary risks.

Just as Yaen was sighing, Sengoku appeared beside him in a flash, saying with a smile.

"Brat, congratulations on defeating Captain Gion. Perhaps you are the strongest new star among the young Navy generation."

"Old Man, don't try to flatter me."

Yaen shook his head and said dejectedly.

"You know my situation. My potential is limited, and I'll probably be like this my whole life.

"Captain Gion has unlimited potential and the makings of an Admiral. Today's misunderstanding has caused this situation, and I fear Captain Gion will seek revenge in the future. To avoid conflict, I think I should stay away from the Navy and go back home to farm."

Upon hearing this, Sengoku's face darkened, and he grabbed Yaen, saying.

"The facts have already proven that you have sufficient self-preservation ability. Today, no matter what you say, you must join the Navy for me."

Yaen gently touched his forehead and asked. "So... there's no room for negotiation?"

"Yes, we can discuss the position," Sengoku said.

Yaen was silent for a moment, looking at Sengoku, whose attitude was incredibly firm, and whose resolute eyes subtly revealed a hint of pleading. He sighed slightly and replied.

"Alright, since this is your request, Old Man, I agree."

Seeing this, Sengoku couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Sengoku had been busy with Navy affairs for the past ten years and naturally didn't have time to accompany his adopted sons, Corazon and Yaen, every day. However, he understood the personalities of his two adopted sons quite well.

Unlike Corazon's innate kindness and gentleness, Sengoku had always found Yaen somewhat inscrutable.

Ever since he rescued Yaen from the sea back then, Sengoku had noticed that Yaen's eyes were different from anyone he had ever seen at sea.

Even though Yaen was congenitally frail, Sengoku firmly believed that a man with such a unique gaze would not have a destiny of remaining unknown on the sea forever.

For this reason, Sengoku, moved by compassion back then, took both Yaen and Corazon as his adopted sons.

As if to repay his kindness, Yaen, who Sengoku perceived as physically weak, quickly showed his value.

Whenever Sengoku faced difficult decisions regarding the Navy's development, he could always find answers from Yaen.

For systems, Yaen possessed a unique perspective and way of thinking that seemed innate.

With Yaen's help, Sengoku, as an Admiral, even significantly improved the Marine's internal selection mechanisms, promotion systems, and merit-based reward system.

This became an extremely brilliant achievement on Sengoku's resume in Fleet Admiral Kong Gokei's eyes, and one of the important proofs of Sengoku's future qualifications to lead the Marines as Fleet Admiral.

It was precisely because of this that Sengoku, understanding Yaen's extraordinary nature, had forcibly required Yaen to join the Marines, in order to prevent Yaen from taking a path that opposed the Marines.

Because Sengoku... did not want to personally send Yaen to Impel Down, the "undersea great prison."