Rukia and Toshiro both had ice-type Zanpakuto. When you got right down to it, they had quite a lot in common.
It was the first time Toshiro had been qualified to teach someone else.
Their conversation had only just begun when it was abruptly interrupted.
Because Aoto and Kaien had started arguing!
Both were a little tipsy. They couldn't get a single sentence across without standing up, grabbing each other by the clothes, and throwing each other around.
Then they started punching each other in the face.
Toshiro and Rukia could only stare, dumbfounded.
Wasn't this kind of hard-hitting brawl something only enemies did?
After trading blows for a while without either of them knocking the other down, they both drew their Zanpakuto and ran out of the house.
Oh, hell! This was going to end badly!
Toshiro and Rukia dropped the food they hadn't finished and hurried after them.
Those two couldn't just fight wherever they pleased!
They especially couldn't release their Zanpakuto. They'd definitely be punished for that.
But when they realized the two were heading toward Rukongai, Toshiro and Rukia both breathed a sigh of relief.
Even drunk, it seemed they still had enough sense to know better.
That was a relief!
West Rukon District, District Three.
This was where Kaien had taught Rukia to perform Shikai.
It was also where Kaien usually trained.
Now, Shiba Kaien and Aoto were locked in a fierce battle there.
Their Zanpakuto clashed against each other, and neither of them seemed to be holding back at all.
The Reiatsu of two top-level lieutenant officers clashed, stirring up a powerful tide of Reishi in the surrounding area.
Toshiro, who had followed them, managed to keep his footing in the turbulent tide of Reishi, but Rukia couldn't. Toshiro had to steady her, or she would have been swept away.
Toshiro was at a loss. His master's drunken antics had surely attracted the attention of the Correction Corps or the Twelfth Division the moment they drew their swords. Once his master sobered up tomorrow, he'd be lucky if he didn't have to write a long report.
Still, he couldn't afford to miss a battle of this caliber.
These were people who had already made it further than he had. They could show him the direction he needed to take to improve, giving him an excellent example to learn from.
After a violent collision, both fighters retreated some distance. Then, with remarkable coordination, they raised their Zanpakuto and released their Shikai.
"Let all creation become water, Nejibana!"
The Zanpakuto in Shiba Kaien's hand transformed into a steel trident longer than he was tall.
Nejibana was a water-type Zanpakuto. When it attacked, the trident's rotations stirred up powerful tides of Reishi, and it could channel their force into its next direct strike.
The tide of Reishi stirred up by the two of them clashing had become part of Shiba Kaien's power.
It was like getting a boost from the terrain.
As for Aoto... he had used a new Shikai command again.
"Turn back and find salvation, Ryuki!"
Aoto's Zanpakuto transformed into a single-headed steel spear.
Though it was a steel spear, it swayed back and forth with surprising flexibility as Aoto wielded it.
"Lone Dragon Emerges!"
Although the tide of Reishi had put him at a disadvantage, Aoto struck first.
He held the butt of the spear in his left hand and gave it a light thrust. The shaft shot straight toward Kaien.
Though the two of them were far apart, a Dragon Shadow formed from Reiatsu burst out from the spear's thrust, crossing the distance between them in an instant and rushing at Kaien.
Kaien remained calm. Gripping the middle of his trident with both hands, he spun it with ease, then brought its powerful tidal force down on the Dragon Shadow's head, smashing it to pieces.
And then... Aoto had already closed in on Kaien.
Aoto thrust again and again. Though he was clearly weaker, he was now the one pressing the attack.
Meanwhile, Kaien, whose strength kept growing with the tide of Reishi, continued to give ground.
Most people wouldn't have understood what they were seeing.
Rukia was confused too, so Toshiro explained that his master was using offense as a form of defense...
Since this was the Tide Power, it had to rise and fall.
Master Aoto kept attacking whenever Lieutenant Shiba gathered his strength. If Lieutenant Shiba didn't want to be stabbed through, he had no choice but to use that gathered power to defend himself.
At that point, Master Aoto would take the opportunity to pull back his spear, avoiding a direct clash with Lieutenant Shiba and leaving only the Dragon Shadow for him to destroy.
"But he can't keep doing this forever!" Toshiro said with a frown. "The Tide Power's getting stronger and stronger. This power must be able to defend as well as attack. If the Dragon Shadow's attack can no longer break through his opponent's defense..."
As if on cue, the Dragon Shadow was washed away by the Tide Power before Toshiro could finish speaking!
Shiba Kaien finally brought down the strength he had gathered in a sweeping strike aimed at Aoto.
Faced with the attack, Aoto turned and took several steps back, just managing to evade Nejibana's trident.
But the Tide Power kept surging toward him as if it had become tangible.
Aoto hadn't even turned his body around.
And yet his spear had already struck back!
Returning Horse Spear!
The dragon-like spearhead swept from above Aoto's head to behind him. The powerful force and Reiatsu carried by its sudden extension and retraction met the Tide Power head-on. After a brief struggle, it burst straight through.
The spearhead was now aimed at Shiba Kaien, whose strike had run out of momentum.
The greatest power of this change in Aoto's Shikai was concentrated in this Returning Horse Spear!
Every enemy who had faced this move for the first time had been stabbed straight through.
But Kaien had already experienced it once... The notch in his left ear was proof of that.
So this time, fully sober, Shiba Kaien instinctively moved his head aside, letting the spearhead pass by his ear... along the same trajectory as before, unchanged.
He dodged, but the shock still left his ear bleeding.
Aoto drew back his spear. Sweating from the exertion, he had sobered up completely too. Seeing Kaien's bleeding ear, he felt deeply regretful.
Making a groom shed blood before his wedding wasn't a good omen!
But Shiba Kaien himself felt exhilarated.
There weren't many Soul Reapers in Soul Society who used long weapons, and even fewer who could fight him at ease.
Though he'd fought Aoto many times, ever since Aoto had nearly pierced his head with Ryuki the first time, he'd never used it again.
This time, though he'd still lost their clash of long weapons, Shiba Kaien had enjoyed the fight immensely.
He could feel Nejibana's displeasure... Nejibana, you don't want to lose to Ryuki for the third time, do you?
Then hurry up and tell me your full name!
Shiba Kaien felt closer than ever to achieving Bankai!