When Natsuki returned to Seireitei after completing his mission in Rukongai, he was somewhat taken aback.
So Gosu Kenpachi had really died just like that?
A new Kenpachi had been born?
Natsuki hadn't felt much when Kuruyashiki Kenpachi died. After all, he'd only just joined the 11th Division back then. Even though Kuruyashiki Kenpachi had looked after him because of Watanabe Yuji, Kuruyashiki Kenpachi himself had been an easygoing man, so Natsuki hadn't felt much reluctance to part with him.
As for Azashiro Kenpachi, Natsuki had simply been puzzled as to why he'd done such a thing. In the end, Azashiro Kenpachi hadn't died; he'd only been imprisoned in Mukaden, so there wasn't much else to say.
Gosu Kenpachi was different.
Perhaps, in Captain Unohana's eyes, his strength had been somewhat lacking.
But in the eyes of the 11th Division's members—and in Natsuki's own—Gosu had certainly been a capable Kenpachi.
He'd been conscientious and responsible, leading from the front in battle. Even when he was repeatedly wounded, he never complained.
After Gosu became captain, Natsuki had served as his lieutenant for years, helping him handle the division's affairs.
In other words, Gosu had been someone Natsuki knew very well.
Even though he'd long known about the 11th Division's unusual succession ritual for its captain,
Gosu's death still filled Natsuki with emotion.
That feeling didn't last long.
The 11th Division still needed to keep running.
After the Kenpachi changed, the new one couldn't adapt to the division's affairs so easily. When Gosu became Kenpachi, the division had kept running because he'd already been lieutenant. Before him, when Azashiro Kenpachi took over, it had been Gosu's tireless efforts that had kept the division from grinding to a halt.
Now, that responsibility had fallen to Natsuki, the lieutenant.
Natsuki suddenly found himself incredibly busy.
He spent all day handling division affairs. At the same time, he began dealing with the new Kenpachi—the man who, after killing Gosu, had received an appointment from Central 46. Formerly known as Kiganjo Kenji, he was now called Kiganjo Kenpachi.
Frankly, Natsuki didn't like him much.
The man was an idiot.
He was savage, brutish, and even illiterate.
Whenever Natsuki went to report on division affairs, the man understood none of it. He apparently couldn't even read.
Could someone like that really manage the division properly as captain?
Still, since the man had become Kenpachi through the proper channels, Natsuki could only bury his dissatisfaction.
At first,
perhaps because he'd only recently become Kenpachi, Kiganjo Kenpachi, for all his brutality and savagery, showed some restraint. After all, he hadn't been in Seireitei long, and he didn't want to reveal the bad habits he'd picked up in Rukongai.
But as time went by,
the various bad habits Kiganjo Kenpachi had acquired in Rukongai began to show.
The farther out you went in Rukongai, the harsher the living conditions became. In those districts, souls fought over water every day, and brawls could break out at any moment. It was also true that harsh conditions bred tough people; places like those were more likely to produce the strong.
Their strength might be impressive, but their character was rarely any better.
Kiganjo Kenpachi was one such person.
He'd grown accustomed to throwing his weight around in Rukongai. The lowly commoners had to live at his mercy, doing everything they could to curry favor with him. Later, he'd grown tired of life in Rukongai, so he'd come to Seireitei.
After easily defeating Gosu Kenpachi, who had borne the title of the strongest Shinigami, Kiganjo Kenpachi's arrogance only grew. He believed that the Shinigami who'd once seemed so far above him weren't all that impressive after all.
All it took was a little effort, and I snatched the title of Kenpachi.
These Shinigami should be serving me.
Back when Kuruyashiki Kenpachi was still alive, he'd believed men and women were equal and that women could fight just as well as men. Because of that, the 11th Division had been home to many female Shinigami.
Even after years of fighting—and especially after so many members had died in the war against the Quincy—there were still plenty of women in the division. Quite a few of them were attractive, too.
Kiganjo Kenpachi was domineering to the extreme. He was violent, selfish, and completely self-centered.
Once he'd figured out how the 11th Division worked, he stopped hiding his ugly nature.
"Captain, what are you doing?"
A female squad member looked anxiously at Kiganjo Kenpachi, who was holding her hand.
Kiganjo Kenpachi reeked of alcohol and some other, unidentifiable odor. He seemed like the sort of man who didn't like bathing, and he'd had a bit too much to drink that day.
As he faced the flustered squad member, his eyes openly betrayed his greed.
"Hey, gorgeous. You're such a pretty little thing, so I'll give you a chance to spend the night with me."
"Don't worry, I won't take advantage of you for nothing. If you make me feel good, I might even give you a Seated Officer position."
Normally, you earned a Seated Officer position through strength.
But Kiganjo Kenpachi apparently didn't see it that way.
After becoming Kenpachi, he seemed to have decided that the 11th Division was his personal property.
He handed out Seated Officer positions as he pleased. It was just another habit he'd picked up in Rukongai.
Resources were scarce in the outer districts of Rukongai. A strong man like him controlled a plentiful supply of water, and the commoners had to kneel and beg him just to survive. If they managed to please him, he didn't mind rewarding them.
He was already tired of the women among those commoners.
He hadn't yet found out what it was like to be with a Shinigami.
Perhaps because this was his first time, he was being fairly civilized about it. He'd even promised her a Seated Officer position. After joining the 11th Division, he'd learned that the thing low-ranking squad members wanted most was a Seated Officer position.
I've promised her one. She should be grateful and obediently take off her clothes to serve me, right?
But Kiganjo Kenpachi was disappointed.
The female squad member kept trying to pull her hand free. "Captain, you can't!"
Kiganjo Kenpachi had been drinking, and his temper was already unstable. At her words, he immediately flew into a rage and reached for her by force. "You ungrateful bitch! Who do you think you're talking to? You should consider yourself lucky I want you!"
No matter how much she struggled against Kiganjo Kenpachi's brutality, how could the female squad member possibly be a match for him?
After all, he was the one who'd defeated Gosu and become the new Kenpachi.
Fortunately, they weren't somewhere deserted.
Kiganjo Kenpachi's behavior quickly attracted the attention of many 11th Division Shinigami, who hurried over.
"Captain, what are you doing?"
One of the Seated Officers asked Kiganjo Kenpachi coldly.
Although he hadn't been Kenpachi for long, many members had already realized that the new Kenpachi didn't seem like a good person. But the rules were the rules, and they had no choice but to accept him as their captain.
They simply hadn't expected him to lay hands on a female squad member.
"Tch. Bunch of busybodies. What I want to do is none of your business!"
"Get back to your posts!"
Seeing so many people crowd around, Kiganjo Kenpachi felt annoyed and snapped at them.
The 11th Division members despised what Kiganjo Kenpachi was doing, but in the end, they forced themselves to hold back and obeyed the Kenpachi's order, retreating.
Once they became Shinigami, there was one thing they had to do.
They had to follow orders and obey the rules.
Still, not everyone obeyed Kiganjo Kenpachi's command and retreated.
A figure appeared without a sound, grabbed Kiganjo Kenpachi by the wrist, and pried his hand away from the female squad member.
Kiganjo Kenpachi flew into a rage. Then he saw a young face.
The lieutenant, Natsuki!
Natsuki met Kiganjo Kenpachi's gaze and said calmly, "Kiganjo Kenpachi, you're drunk!"
Kiganjo Kenpachi instinctively wanted to retort, I'm not drunk.
But for some reason, when he met Natsuki's gaze, a trace of unease came over him. In the end, he forced down his anger.
"Tch. This is no fun."
He gave up on taking the female squad member.
Seeing that, Natsuki also released Kiganjo Kenpachi's wrist.
Kiganjo Kenpachi flicked his sleeve and left.
Natsuki turned to the female squad member and comforted her.
What happened that night was only a minor incident.
Kiganjo's misdeeds after becoming Kenpachi went far beyond that.
Usually, aside from throwing his weight around in the division, bullying its members, and doing whatever he pleased, he also showed no intention of leading from the front in battle.
Even when a Menos Grande appeared, he had no intention of going out to fight.
When Natsuki asked if he was going to engage, his answer was:
"I'm the captain. Why would I go out and fight myself?"
"You lot can go fight."
As a result, casualties in the 11th Division rose sharply whenever they faced Menos Grande. Even ordinary squad members struggled against the lowest-level ones, and even Seated Officers were in danger when facing them.
And in the 11th Division, Seated Officers were few and far between.
Natsuki did his best to fight, but sometimes there wasn't just one Hollow in a given area. Several could appear at once, in different places.
There were bound to be times when Natsuki couldn't get to them all.
Time passed slowly.
In the blink of an eye, several months had gone by since Kiganjo became Kenpachi.
Over those months, Kiganjo had turned the 11th Division into a complete mess.
Natsuki's patience with Kiganjo Kenpachi had reached its limit.
Today, when Natsuki went to Kiganjo Kenpachi to discuss compensation for squad members who'd died in battle, Kiganjo Kenpachi actually said, "They're already dead. Why bother paying them compensation? I'd be better off using that money to enjoy myself."
"Come to think of it, we should check whether they left behind any property. I'll confiscate it!"
Those words finally ignited the fury in Natsuki's heart.
So he stopped handling division affairs.
Instead, he went to the 4th Division and found Unohana Retsu.
"Captain Unohana, I'd like you to serve as my witness!"
If Kiganjo kept serving as Kenpachi, who knew what a nauseating mess the 11th Division would become? Natsuki just couldn't put up with it anymore.
So he planned to challenge Kiganjo and kill him.
Before you continue