Watching the two of them still finding the leisure to pass the credit back and forth, Askin found it truly baffling.
Askin knew perfectly well just how destructive the toxins he released were.
"There's one thing I still can't figure out."
Askin studied the white-haired Soul Reaper standing nearby with his sword in hand and raised an eyebrow. "Back in the outer streets, you clearly took a direct hit from my ability."
Gin Ichimaru stood quietly at the edge of the poisonous mist, showing no intention of offering an explanation first.
Askin pointed at the back of his own hand and continued working through his reasoning.
"After that extremely concentrated toxin tailored to your spiritual power completely ate into your nerves, your ability to move should have been shut down entirely."
He tilted his head in deep puzzlement. "How could you possibly have recovered so quickly from that near-death paralysis, and even wandered over here to launch an ambush on that scale?"
Faced with this heavily probing question, Gin Ichimaru had no intention of hiding the truth.
"Well, that was all thanks to a little help Captain Urahara gave me when he passed by."
Gin Ichimaru opened his eyes a sliver and pointed at the middle-aged man lying half-paralyzed on the ground. "If he hadn't slipped me something useful on his way past, I'd probably still be lying obediently in those ruins right now."
Following the direction of his finger, Askin immediately looked down.
With great difficulty, Kisuke Urahara adjusted his nearly shattered frame to keep his entire upper body from pitching straight into the pool of blackened poison.
"No need to be so polite."
Kisuke Urahara tugged at the corners of his mouth, forcing an incredibly weak smile. "I only happened to offer a tiny, insignificant bit of help."