We Could've Just Taken It by Force, Yet We're Sitting Here Negotiating with You / Central 46's Greatest Shame in a Thousand Years

We Could Have Robbed You Outright, Yet Here We Are Negotiating Terms

Tsunayashiro Fūka's legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed. He had seen the power of the Blazing Fire Sword before. One slash, and the entire Seireitei would be reduced to ash!

What Five Noble Clans? What Central 46?

Before absolute power, they were nothing but paper walls!

The Sages of Central 46 were utterly dumbfounded.

"What are you doing?! What are you doing?! This is the core of power in Soul Society! Are you challenging the rules Soul Society has maintained for a million years?!" Great Sage rose in panic and shouted sternly.

"You're so clever! You saw right through us at a glance!" Yamabuki Chidori clapped sarcastically. "Since this dog won't obey, we'll just replace it! And as for disobedient dogs, guess what happens to them? Hmm? Rules? Our rules are the rules."

Damn it!

Why weren't these bandits playing by the rules?

You barbarians!

You... wait, don't draw your swords!

Ryūjin Jakka left its sheath, and the temperature of the air around them instantly soared.

Only then did Tsunayashiro Fūka understand the philosophy of those lunatics in the Gotei 13.

The Soul King was number one, and they were number two. Central 46? Who the hell did they think they were? If they had the guts, they could fight him one-on-one! If they won, they could be whatever number they wanted!

That was why Yamabuki Chidori dared to be so arrogant.

The Gotei 13 was the only organization in all of Soul Society that possessed "nuclear weapons." Shouldn't they be this arrogant? Shouldn't they be this domineering?

As for all the tedious etiquette left behind by the nobles...

Sorry, he didn't acknowledge any of it. He was a bandit!

They could have robbed them outright, yet they were still sitting here negotiating! How could they be so gentle? He was practically moved to tears! Another day of being touched by his own kindness!

At that moment, the Great Sages were like a bunch of monkeys about to be executed, leaping and scrambling about. Where had their lofty arrogance gone?

They might have been stubborn and old-fashioned, but they definitely were not stupid.

They had seen Ryūjin Jakka's power yesterday.

Forget Central 46—even all of Soul Society had no one capable of withstanding a single blow.

"Wait! Wait a moment! Don't get so worked up. Aren't we here to negotiate... Why did you draw your sword? Calm down!"

"Exactly! Calm down! If you don't agree with the conditions we proposed, we can revise them slowly. Young people shouldn't be so hot-tempered!"

"Easy, easy! If we did something wrong, we'll change it, all right? Don't draw your sword yet! Calm down!"

"We're negotiating! Let's keep negotiating! Drawing a sword is such bad form! Let's keep talking!"

The forty-six Sages descended into chaos.

Yamamoto barely managed to suppress his laughter. Yamabuki Chidori gave him a look, and the Captain Commander sheathed his sword.

Seeing Yamamoto put away his sword, the forty-six Sages finally sat down in peace.

Tsunayashiro Fūka's eyes nearly popped out of his head. Using absolute military force to coerce Central 46! Nothing like this had happened in Soul Society for thousands of years!

So absolute force was what shattered power!

Force was much more useful than power!

Tsunayashiro Fūka thought back to all the political games he had played in the past. Why did they suddenly seem so vulgar? True high-level figures disdained playing power games with others. You refused to submit? Then he would cut you down with one slash!

What? Your whole family refused to submit? Then he would kill your whole family!

What? Your entire clan refused to submit? Then he would wipe out the clan!

In this high-powered world of Soul Reapers, one person's strength could easily crush thousands of troops. There was no need to worry about military rebellion. Perhaps every army in Soul Society combined could not block a single slash from Old Man's Bankai.

It was as though Tsunayashiro Fūka had opened the door to a new world!

The Sages immediately came up with a new proposal.

"How about we drop the matter of jurisdiction and change it to supervision instead?"

Yamamoto gave an "Mm" and placed his hand on Ryūjin Jakka's hilt.

The Sage who had suggested "supervision" was pinned to the ground and beaten viciously by the others.

"What nonsense! They were established to protect Soul Society. Does an organization like that need our supervision?"

"How about cooperation? We'll have a cooperative relationship!"

"But the selection of personnel..."

"And the handling of criminals..."

Central 46 was essentially Soul Society's highest court. No one could overturn the judgments they issued.

What troubled them most was that if members of the Gotei 13 committed crimes, the authority to handle them would have to be handed over to the Gotei 13. That severely weakened their power, and they were very unhappy about it!

Yamabuki Chidori viciously struck the floor with his sword. "Everyone, we've stated our terms. If you agree, stamp this document, and from now on the Gotei 13 will be an official organization. We'll also take responsibility for protecting your personal safety. If you disagree... Captain Commander, draw your sword!"

"Wait, wait, wait... Don't draw your sword yet, don't draw it! Can't you give us some time to think?" Great Sage said with terror written all over his face.

"Fine, I'll give you five..."

"Five days! Fine, fine, fine! We'll definitely give you a satisfactory answer in five days."

"Four!"

"???"

"Three!"

Wait, did he mean five seconds?

Five seconds were not even enough time to use the toilet!

Were they here to rob them or negotiate with them?

"Two!"

Stop counting, stop counting! Couldn't he see that none of them had even processed this yet? They were all old people! Didn't he understand respecting the elderly? Old people's minds did not turn that quickly!

"One! Captain Commander, draw your sword and silence them all!"

"Stop!!!!! We agree!" Great Sage howled with more force than he had ever used in his life. "We agree to every demand you made! Is that enough now?!"

"You won't regret it? You agree willingly?" Yamabuki Chidori asked.

"Willingly! Willingly!"

"Then stamp this document. Every head of every Great Noble family in Soul Society is watching. It'll be too late if you try to go back on your word!" Yamabuki Chidori pulled out a document he had prepared long ago.

"We wouldn't dare go back on our word! We wouldn't dare! We'll stamp it right now!"

"That's wonderful! From now on, we're one of our own. If anyone bullies you, just invoke the name of the Gotei 13. We've got your backs!" Yamabuki Chidori said.

"Fine, fine, fine! Where's the seal? Hurry up and bring it here! What are you useless lot standing around for?" Great Sage furiously berated the Soul Reaper who had failed to use Flash Step to bring the seal over.

Then, beneath the humiliated gazes of all forty-six members, they helplessly stamped the document!

With this document and Central 46's recognition, the Gotei 13 officially became an organization of the Seireitei. They could now openly recruit members from among the nobles!

Tsunayashiro Fūka felt as though he had hit the jackpot!

His greatest ambition had once been to become a member of Central 46 and wield supreme power.

But now...

"I'm a Reserve Captain of the Gotei 13 now. What the hell is Central 46 compared to that?!"

Central 46's Greatest Humiliation in a Thousand Years

After the Gotei 13 and the heads of the noble families left, Central 46 fell into dead silence.

After a long while, Great Sage slammed his fist down on the table.

"Humiliation! This is humiliation! In all the thousands of years Central 46 has existed, we have never suffered such humiliation! Don't think I'll let this go!"

"That's right, we absolutely cannot let this go! We have to let those brutes know how formidable we are! We must resist to the bitter end!"

In response, a large group of people cast disdainful looks at him.

Why hadn't he been so tough just now?

Great Sage snorted coldly. "Resist? With what? When Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto brings down Ryūjin Jakka, should I throw you in front of it to block the blade? We definitely can't beat them head-on. Looking across all of Soul Society, no one can defeat Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto right now! Unless some mighty warrior falls from the sky, there's probably no one like that within the Seireitei. We can only search Rukongai! Starting today, send some people into Rukongai to look for strong fighters. Also, we can't beat them head-on, but can't we take a softer approach?"

"We hold most of the resources. The Gotei 13 has just been established, and they need to expand and build an academy. They'll definitely require vast amounts of resources. I have an idea—we'll stall them. Stall until they yield to us!" Just as Great Sage finished speaking, the doors of Central 46 opened again, and Yamabuki Chidori walked in with a cheerful grin.

"I forgot to mention something earlier. While the Gotei 13 prepares to expand and build a school, we'll need a great deal of resources. When will those resources arrive? You wouldn't default on your debt, would you?" Yamabuki Chidori asked with a smile that did not reach his eyes.

Great Sage hurriedly stood and explained, flustered. "No, no! Of course not! How could we possibly default on our debt? At most, it'll take two or three days to deliver the resources!"

"Isn't two or three days a bit too long?" Yamabuki Chidori narrowed his eyes.

"...Then tomorrow. Tomorrow!"

"It's settled, then. Have all the resources on this list ready this afternoon. If I don't see them delivered before sunset, I'll have to trouble our Captain Commander to make the trip himself." Yamabuki Chidori casually tossed out a list, then smiled. "The Captain Commander is extremely busy. You wouldn't want to trouble him, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes! Fine, fine, fine! This afternoon, this very afternoon! Please take care!" Great Sage sent the plague god off with a smile on his face, only relaxing once he was gone.

Then he realized all his colleagues were staring at him.

"What are you looking at? Didn't you hear him? If we don't deliver the supplies this afternoon, Yamamoto will come himself! Why are you all standing here looking at me? Hurry up and prepare the supplies!" Great Sage shouted.

Great Sage had finally realized that the truly difficult person in the Gotei 13 was not Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto.

Indeed, Yamamoto's strength was invincible, but his way of thinking had not broken free of the restraints of this era. If Yamabuki Chidori had not been there to egg him on, Yamamoto probably would not have drawn his sword to threaten Central 46.

"In other words, the truly difficult one is that man named Yamabuki Chidori. He's the brain of the Gotei 13. It seems we must find a way to deal with him first." Great Sage wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Why had he run into someone so troublesome?

The two sides had spoken for less than twenty minutes, and Central 46 had nearly lost its pants!

They could not afford to provoke them. Until they found someone who could contend with Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, they had better behave themselves.

Tsunayashiro Fūka followed behind the members of the Gotei 13 with his head held high, feeling as though even his walk had a breeze to it.

He was immensely grateful for his own foresight!

If he had opposed the Gotei 13 from the beginning, his corpse might already be cold by now.

Those lunatics did not care whether someone was a noble. Which member of Central 46 did not come from a Great Noble family? And what happened to them? They had been scared into acting like grandsons!

Tsunayashiro Fūka jogged up to Yamabuki Chidori and said with a smile, "Chief Strategist, about that Captain position of mine... when do you think it can..."

How could Yamabuki Chidori fail to understand what he meant?

But sorry!

The Captain positions in the First-generation Gotei 13 had already been decided internally!

There was no place for him!

Still, he could not say that outright. Wouldn't that break the man's heart? He had to dangle a promise first!

"The Gotei 13 doesn't have enough people right now. The Captain Commander's intention is to first make sure everyone understands the Gotei 13's ideals. We need to build up the force first, then assign duties afterward. Do you understand what I mean?" Yamabuki Chidori asked.

"I understand. I understand what you mean, Chief Strategist," Tsunayashiro Fūka hurriedly said.

They had already agreed in Central 46 that Captain positions had to be decided by strength. It would not look good for him to openly pull strings now. As for the strength of the current Gotei 13 members...

Yamamoto needed no further explanation.

Shunshun Shidō was the head of one of the Five Noble Clans, just like him, but Shunshun Shidō's strength far surpassed his own. Competing with him for a Captain position was basically hopeless.

Then there was Saitō Fubōfu.

He felt somewhat embarrassed about competing with a young girl for a Captain position. Besides, she looked rather fierce. If they really fought, she would not bite him, would she?

Yamamoto looked at the sun in the sky and felt that the sunlight had never seemed so brilliant. The thing he had exhausted every scheme to achieve had been completed by Yamabuki Chidori in less than half a month. It seemed this boy not only possessed astonishing talent, but also had the potential to become a brilliant strategist.

"I didn't expect you to actually dare do something like this." Shunshun Shidō felt a cold sweat form in his heart.

"Small matter! Shouldn't we have a good drink once we get back? To celebrate the founding of the Gotei 13. Oh, right, Tenjirō Kirinji took those two children out to gather medicinal herbs. Why aren't they back yet?" Yamabuki Chidori muttered quietly.