Guiganjo

Guiganjo was a giant so grotesquely built that people recoiled at the sight of him.

He stood well over two meters tall, with mountain-like layers of fat piled across his body, stretching the front of his robes taut.

His short, bristly beard merged with his hair like a boar's. His vicious face held neither mercy nor compassion, only misshapen yet terrifying folds of flesh.

Two strange horn-like protrusions grew from his lips beneath an upturned, pig-like nose. It was impossible to tell what they even were...

His double chin bulged out like that of an overfed domestic pig. The sight alone was enough to make one nauseous.

His pea-sized eyes were filled with lazy indifference as he casually swept his gaze around, until his expression turned to disgust.

"Don't give me that disgusting smile. I hate this sort of thing most... Honestly, how many people have to die before you remember?"

He spoke in a calm tone, yet his words sent chills down one's spine.

And when Arima Shizuya saw the captain's haori symbolizing the man's position, his expression turned completely serious.

This was no joke.

The man standing before him truly was the captain of the Eleventh Division.

The Eleventh Division Members, who had been so arrogant moments ago, let out strange wails and dropped to their knees, crying out as though begging for mercy.

"C-Captain! We were doing exactly as you instructed!"

"It was just that guy trying to stop us! It was all him... It's all because of him!"

Huh?!

Arima Shizuya went numb.

He had no desire to get dragged into this kind of trouble out of nowhere, and instinctively tried to step back and distance himself from it.

But the instant he tried to retreat, Arima Shizuya felt an intense, scorching sensation.

"Hmm?"

With a questioning grunt, the mountain-like man finally shifted his gaze onto Arima Shizuya.

That gaze felt tangible, carrying a pressure strong enough to make his palms sweat.

This was bad.

He could no longer leave... The moment he realized he had been singled out, Arima Shizuya noticed that there was no one else left in the tavern.

Doesn't that mean I'm the only one left?!

The waitress in his arms clutched his lapels like someone falling into a well clutching a rescue rope. Tears streamed down her face.

"Please, please, save me..."

Calm down first. This guy might not even be able to save himself right now...

Before he could respond.

Hiss...

An abnormally heavy breath rang through Arima Shizuya's ears.

Though they were still seven or eight meters apart, Arima Shizuya could vaguely smell the nauseating stench of entrails.

The other man took a step, and when his foot hit the ground, it boomed like thunder.

As the distance closed, his already overwhelming presence grew even more imposing.

Staring up at the massive figure he had to crane his neck to face, Arima Shizuya could not help swallowing.

This was the first time he had truly faced someone of captain-class.

He had met quite a few before, but since none of them had harbored any hostility, there had naturally been no sense of pressure.

"You..."

As the man looked down at him from above, Arima Shizuya swallowed and heard him ask,

"Since you're wearing a Shinigami Uniform, why aren't you wearing your division insignia? Don't you have any concept of organization or discipline?"

...Huh?

Did someone who looked so rough and terrifying actually care about that? Arima Shizuya watched the man crouch down. With a build like a silverback gorilla, he frightened the waitress so badly that she trembled all over.

"Not talking? Hey, are you looking down on me?"

"Or do you not recognize this uniform I'm wearing? That can't be right. Are young people these days really this blind?"

"Kid, or have you simply never put me, Guiganjo Kenpachi, in your eyes?"

"Kenpachi, Kenpachi! Do you have any idea what it means to bear that name?"

Arima Shizuya watched him raise his right hand, sticking his thumb high in the air as he pointed it toward his own cheek.

"I took down that useless piece of trash who held the name before me and claimed it for myself. That means I'm the strongest one too. Hey, kid, do you understand?"

Though he had never met the man before, the moment Arima Shizuya heard that name, he finally understood.

Guiganjo Kenpachi.

He remembered now... The name Kenpachi could only be passed to someone who defeated its current bearer, forming its own unique tradition of succession.

However, there had also been some unusual cases throughout that history.

For example, the eighth-generation Kenpachi, Gisei Shoya.

He had been sentenced for illegally altering the residents of Rukongai, meaning the succession to the ninth generation had not been a traditional bloody battle... It had instead become a succession by rank.

Gosuke, who had served as Gisei Shoya's Vice-Captain, ascended according to that rank and thus became the ninth-generation Kenpachi.

Arima Shizuya could not recall this man's appearance or name, but he did have some impression of Guiganjo...

The man had been a crude fellow born in Rukongai, and a bloody battle of this sort was, in a sense, an extremely convenient way to claim the title.

In other words.

He had picked up an easy win.

That alone showed why the Gotei 13 held the beliefs it did—regardless of one's origins, beliefs, or morality, as long as one could fight, that was enough...

Still, whatever the case, this guy had defeated a Vice-Captain head-on. His strength could not possibly be weak.

A direct confrontation was absolutely not an option.

As Arima Shizuya considered this, Guiganjo, standing before him, revealed a look of distaste, apparently dissatisfied with his reaction.

"What... Can't even speak? Honestly, that's why young people these days are so hopeless. Their skills are mediocre, and they've even forgotten the most basic manners."

His broad hand reached toward Arima Shizuya, palm spread open.

"Get up already. Sitting on the floor like that is far too improper."

Looking at the thick, inhuman right hand before him, covered in coarse, long black hair... Arima Shizuya could not help freezing for a moment.

Was this guy really that easy to talk to?

Or had he simply judged him too much by his appearance and let his first impression take hold? Maybe the man really was crude and ill-tempered, yet perhaps in some respects, he could be fairly normal...

His thoughts did not have time to settle, because in the next instant, every hair on Arima Shizuya's body stood on end.

Something was very wrong.

Guiganjo maintained that calm, unreadable expression, but his right hand suddenly flipped over. Keeping his palm open,

he swung it straight at Arima Shizuya's face.

So fast! I need to dodge...

Bang!