Kenpachi Zaraki

The shockwaves caused by Liu Chuan's Thunder Roar Cannon had yet to fully subside in the training grounds.

An even more primal, brutal Spiritual Pressure crashed in from the entrance without warning, like a tangible raging tide!

Every Eleventh Division member, from Third Seat Madarame to the most ordinary rank-and-file member, had their expressions instantly shift from shock to a mixture of instinctive reverence and fervor.

They all straightened their backs in unison and turned their gazes toward the entrance.

Liu Chuan's senses were the sharpest. The "quality" of this Spiritual Pressure differed from that of any Soul Reaper he knew.

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It brimmed with the purest desire for battle and destruction. It barely seemed cultivated; it was more like an inborn instinct, tempered into shape through endless slaughter.

"Yaha~ Looks like something fun's happening! Kenny, look!"

A sweet, crisp child's voice rang out first. A petite, doll-like girl with pink hair was sitting leisurely on a tall man's shoulder.

Her little legs swung back and forth, half a string of konpeito still clutched in her hand. Her large amber eyes swept curiously across the grounds, lingering especially on Liu Chuan, this unfamiliar face.

The man carrying her—Kenpachi Zaraki, captain of the Eleventh Division—strode in without a care.

Wild hair, a scar running across his eye, Soul Reaper Robes hanging open to reveal his sturdy chest—his entire body radiated a lazy yet dangerous pressure that seemed to say, "I'm the strongest bastard alive."

His single eye barely spared his own division members a glance. Like a beast that had caught the scent of blood, it locked directly onto Liu Chuan in the center of the grounds, as well as Renji, who had just regained his footing across from him and looked somewhat battered.

"Oh?" Kenpachi grinned, exposing his stark white teeth. His smile held nothing but excitement at discovering potential prey. "Renji, who beat you into that state?"

Renji hurriedly stood straight. Though disheveled, he still tried to keep up appearances before his captain. "Reporting, Captain! He's an old classmate of mine, now a member of the Kido Corps! We were... sparring!"

"Sparring? And you ended up like that?" Kenpachi's lone eye swept over Liu Chuan. That gaze was as sharp as a blade, as though he were weighing whether Liu Chuan's bones were hard enough to withstand a cut.

"Anyone who can beat you into that state is a little interesting. Hey, you." He jerked his chin at Liu Chuan. "What's your name? Come fight me."

The invitation came as naturally as breathing, with no attempt to conceal his battle intent.

Before Liu Chuan could respond, however, Renji instinctively added, his tone still carrying the shock of being blasted by Kido earlier, "Captain! Liu Chuan specializes in Kido!"

"Kido?"

That word was like a basin of ice water, instantly dousing most of the blazing light in Kenpachi Zaraki's eye.

The corner of his mouth dropped, and his brow furrowed impatiently. The interest in his lone eye visibly faded, replaced by undisguised disdain.

"Kido?" he repeated, his tone practically saying, That's it? as though he had heard something unbearably boring.

Carrying Yachiru Kusajishi, he strolled two steps closer to Liu Chuan. Yet much of that oppressive battle intent had already dissipated, replaced by a critical gaze as though he were assessing useless trash.

"So after all that, you just play with those lightning-and-fire tricks?"

He clearly had no interest in Kido, which required incantations and emphasized skill and control rather than pure strength and the clash of blades. He even held it in considerable contempt.

In his eyes, battle should be a savage fight with every slash drawing blood and every punch landing flesh-first. Any method that "cut corners" was utterly tasteless.

Yachiru Kusajishi tilted her head on his shoulder, looking from Liu Chuan to Kenpachi. In a small voice, she said, "But Kenny, that little 'trick' just now made a really big boom. Renji was bleeding."

"That only proves Renji's too weak," Kenpachi said bluntly, having completely lost any interest in fighting Liu Chuan.

Renji had actually been puzzled for a moment himself. Now that his captain had pointed it out, he couldn't help looking at Liu Chuan and asking the question many Eleventh Division members present—including Madarame and Yumichika—had been quietly wondering about.

"Yeah, Liu Chuan!" Renji asked directly.

"Where's your Zanpakuto? You never drew your sword from beginning to end! Even if you're good at Kido, isn't a Zanpakuto a Soul Reaper's other half? Your sword... don't tell me it's rusting away in the Kido Corps?"

That question hit the mark. In the Soul Society, a Zanpakuto symbolized a Soul Reaper's power, identity, and even soul. The vast majority of Soul Reapers regarded cultivating their Zanpakuto as fundamental.

For someone like Liu Chuan, who was clearly quite strong yet had not even drawn his blade while sparring against an officer-level opponent, it was truly unusual.

For a moment, everyone's gazes focused on Liu Chuan once more. Even Kenpachi Zaraki, who had already lost interest, looked over with a trace of amusement, wanting to hear what explanation this "Kido player" could offer.

Facing everyone's stares, Liu Chuan remained calm as he answered evenly.

"Of course I have a Zanpakuto. I simply haven't used it in quite some time."

He paused, seemingly organizing his thoughts, but what he said left those familiar with the Soul Reaper combat system somewhat astonished.

"To me, Kido is 'understanding,' 'construction,' and the exploration and application of Spiritual Power's essence. A Zanpakuto, on the other hand, leans more toward 'bestowal' and 'resonance.' I prefer the former."

He glanced at his empty waist. "As for my Zanpakuto, it's very powerful—a continuation of the soul, an amplifier of strength."

"But relying on it also means, to some extent, being constrained by its 'form' and 'nature.' I prefer to directly command Spiritual Power itself and use it in whatever way best suits the situation, rather than letting a fixed 'Zanpakuto ability' define my combat style."

To Soul Reapers who revered the power of Zanpakuto—and many of whom regarded Shikai and Bankai as lifelong pursuits—those words were practically heretical.

Even Third Seat Madarame couldn't help muttering, "This kid's got a big mouth... Is he looking down on Zanpakuto?"

Kenpachi Zaraki merely snorted through his nose after hearing that, completely losing the last trace of interest. Even that faint amusement vanished.

He turned around and headed toward the barracks with Yachiru Kusajishi still on his shoulder. His lazy voice drifted back, "What's the damn point of a fight if you can't cut loose? Renji, if you lost, get your ass off to extra training. Don't embarrass yourself here." He couldn't even be bothered to turn around again, merely waving a hand.

Yachiru Kusajishi lay draped over Kenpachi's shoulder and waved her tiny hand at Liu Chuan. Smiling brightly, she said, "Bye-bye, lightning-shooting big brother~" Then Kenpachi carried her off into the shadows deep within the training grounds.

As Kenpachi left, that suffocatingly terrifying Spiritual Pressure receded like the tide.

The atmosphere in the training grounds suddenly eased, but the gazes everyone directed at Liu Chuan became even more complicated.

There was wariness toward the strength that had allowed him to defeat Renji, as well as a faint, hard-to-detect and strange sort of "admiration" that he had dared say such things in front of Captain Kenpachi.

Renji, however, didn't think that much about it. He walked over to Liu Chuan and slapped him hard on the shoulder. "You're still the same as before, always filling your head with principles nobody else understands!"

Zanpakuto... It wasn't as if he had truly abandoned it altogether.

It was simply that his experience as a mage in his previous life had instilled in him a deeply rooted preference for "directly manipulating energy through his own understanding and calculations."

The Zanpakuto power system was more like a "convenient interface" and a "power multiplier" granted by the rules of this world. It was certainly powerful, but its tendency toward relatively fixed forms of power left him somewhat unenthused.

He had invested more of his energy into researching the essence of Spiritual Power, the principles of Kido, and attempts to combine certain energy theories from his previous life with the rules of the Living World.

His Zanpakuto was more like a backup, a "special Spiritual Power phenomenon sample" worth studying.

The most important reason, actually, was that Liu Chuan's own Zanpakuto was a little hot-tempered, not easy to communicate with, and rather loud and destructive when used.

So in the vast majority of cases, it could only gather dust in a corner of the house.

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