"Come on! Come! Let me cut you apart!"
Zaraki Kenpachi laughed wildly, eyes blazing as the colossal flaming sword filled his vision and descended toward him. There was no fear, no hesitation. Gripping his Zanpakutō with both hands, he swung upward the moment the blade of fire fell.
The two strikes met, then endless flames swallowed Kenpachi whole.
The firestorm didn't stop there. It expanded outward, devouring everything in its path.
Before long, the surging sea of fire spread and engulfed Yachiru Kusajishi, who had been watching from the sidelines.
Yet on her face there was no fear, no panic, only a faint expression of joy, almost relief, as the flames covered her completely.
Unohana, hidden a short distance away, was not spared either, the fire washed over her too.
But for her, these flames posed no threat. A pulse of reiatsu flared from her body, effortlessly pushing them back.
Frowning, Unohana watched the inferno with a troubled expression. She wondered whether she should release her Bankai now.
She also wanted to warn Natsuro, her Bankai wasn't omnipotent. If he burned Kenpachi completely to ashes, not even her Bankai could bring him back.
After a moment's hesitation, Unohana chose to wait. She decided to believe in Natsuro, and in Kenpachi.
These two would not disappoint her. Never.
High above, Natsuro hovered in the "sky" of Muken, gazing down at the sea of fire with a furrowed brow. He felt no change within the flames, no shift in reiatsu.
Had Kenpachi been defeated by this attack again?
Natsuro frowned deeper. If so, it would be disappointing.
But then, a beastlike roar erupted from within the flames.
"Devour, Nozarashi!"
In the next instant, a slash of energy tore through the sea of fire.
Where the blade passed, the flames were split cleanly in two.
Natsuro's lips curved upward as he listened to that familiar roar, sensing the rising storm of reiatsu from below.
So… he had done it.
As the firestorm split apart, Kenpachi's figure came into view. His entire body was shrouded in white smoke, as if he'd just been roasted alive.
But Natsuro's gaze fell not on Kenpachi himself, but on the weapon in his hand.
What kind of Zanpakutō was that?It was enormous, its blade thick and broad, the hilt ending in curved lines, with a tassel dangling from a hole near the end. It looked… like a giant cleaver.
And indeed, it was one.
Natsuro also noticed Yachiru's disappearance. As expected, she had vanished at the moment Kenpachi released his Zanpakutō.
So it was true, she must have returned to the sword.
He didn't know that Yachiru's return wasn't actually required for Shikai, it was only for Bankai that her power was essential.
But Yachiru herself knew.
Seeing Kenpachi in this monstrous form, she understood that her time outside was over.
Because once this Kenpachi, the one who fought like a demon, had awakened his Shikai, the coming of Bankai would be inevitable.
Before vanishing, Yachiru's last sight had been of Kenpachi, fearless even before the sky-consuming flames, striking upward with everything he had.
She had always thought, Kenpachi was most handsome, most alive, when he fought like this.
Even though he had lost to Natsuro before, she had never stopped believing he would win one day.
With that belief, Yachiru returned to the blade, Nozarashi.
Kenpachi himself didn't notice. He simply slung the enormous weapon across his shoulder, grinning madly as he looked at Natsuro and roared:
"Natsuro! Now it's round two!"
"Yeah… round two," Natsuro replied softly.
He could sense it now, an unmistakable danger radiating from Kenpachi. After releasing his Shikai, his presence had risen to an entirely new level.
Even Natsuro wasn't sure just how powerful his strikes would be now. It was time to find out.
Raising Meikyō Shisui, Natsuro sent a slash of pure white sword pressure down from the air toward Kenpachi.
"It's useless!"
Kenpachi laughed wildly and swung Nozarashi. With a single, casual motion, he cleaved Natsuro's sword pressure apart as though it were nothing.
"So he's truly crossed a threshold in offensive power…" Natsuro murmured, impressed. Before releasing Shikai, Kenpachi couldn't have done that.
He would've needed to match Natsuro's attack with his own golden reiatsu slash, and even then, follow up with another strike to break through completely.
But now, with Shikai, he'd crushed it with one effortless swing.
No wonder Kenpachi's Shikai was so hard to unlock, its power was staggering.
Still, sword pressure was nothing but a casual strike to Natsuro, a simple "light attack" that cost him almost nothing.
Seeing it fail to work, he stopped wasting time with it.
Now he studied Kenpachi intently, thinking about how to approach him.
The Third Form (Zandanshi no Ame) would be useless here, Kenpachi's condensed reiatsu armor couldn't be pierced by it.
So Natsuro smiled. If that was the case, there was only one thing to do, test Kenpachi's new strength up close.
Lightning exploded around him.
"First Form: Thunderclap and Flash (Hekireki Issen)"
Thunder roared. Natsuro's body barely seemed to move, but in Kenpachi's eyes, he was suddenly right in front of him, blade wreathed in lightning as it came down.
Kenpachi laughed uproariously. Yes, this was Natsuro. This was why he loved fighting him, because Natsuro never ran, never dodged.
Even after witnessing his Shikai, he still chose to meet him head-on.
If Natsuro wouldn't back down, then neither would he.
Kenpachi's eyes gleamed like a beast's as he swung Nozarashi down to meet the strike.
BOOM!
Their blades collided, and the air itself seemed to split apart. Waves of distorted space rippled outward from the impact point.
The "Natsuro" still standing in the air faded away, it had only been an afterimage.
The real Natsuro staggered backward several steps, while Kenpachi stood unmoved.
In this direct contest of raw power, he had lost ground.
"As expected," Natsuro murmured, smiling faintly.
He really is incredible.
Thunderclap and Flash (Hekireki Issen) was meant for speed, not brute strength, and clashing head-on with Kenpachi was hardly wise.
But Natsuro had wanted to feel it, to measure Kenpachi's power for himself.
And now that he had, the formula for victory was clear.
That massive blade of Nozarashi gave Kenpachi immense power, but it also made him slow.
And that… was exactly what a speed-type fighter like Natsuro wanted.
Lightning flared again.
Another afterimage lingered in place as Natsuro vanished, reappearing before Kenpachi in an instant.
But Kenpachi had only just finished his previous swing. The huge cleaver-like blade made quick follow-ups difficult, no matter how skilled the wielder.
And Kenpachi's "technique"… was his instinct.
Even so, he hauled Nozarashi back up in front of him just in time to block.
At least the weapon's sheer size gave it one advantage, it could guard a wide area.
Natsuro smiled as his lightning-charged blade slammed into Kenpachi's. Before Kenpachi could even react, Natsuro was gone again, reappearing at another angle to strike once more.
Kenpachi frowned, forced to keep blocking, again and again.
It was frustrating. For someone who loved endless offense, being forced to defend felt suffocating.
Even with his Shikai active, he didn't dare take Natsuro's blade directly on his body, so he had no choice but to guard, unrelenting.
Before long, Kenpachi was seething with frustration. He could only watch Natsuro flicker from one direction to another, launching attacks nonstop, while he had landed only a single strike so far.
Natsuro, meanwhile, observed Kenpachi's defense with calm appreciation. Indeed, such a massive sword had both strengths and weaknesses.
Its defensive coverage was excellent… but its speed was another matter.
And though Natsuro was expending more stamina by maintaining constant offense, for fighters like these two, stamina was nearly irrelevant.
Unless they fought for days on end, neither would ever truly run out of strength.
Both of their stamina levels were monstrous. Even if Natsuro's raw strength was slightly inferior, that didn't mean his endurance lagged behind Kenpachi's.
Moreover, Natsuro's previous attacks hadn't been meaningless. With each Thunderclap Flash he unleashed, he had left traces of lightning scattered throughout the surrounding space, threads of electricity quietly lingering in the air.
Finally, Natsuro's relentless barrage came to an end. His figure withdrew just beyond Kenpachi's attack range, and the two locked eyes once more.
"So, you've finally stopped?" Kenpachi exhaled in relief. For a moment, he had thought Natsuro would keep up that ceaseless assault forever, and that would have been truly maddening.
"There's no point in continuing like that," Natsuro replied evenly. He knew Thunderclap Flash was fast, but after Kenpachi's Shikai release, his instincts had evolved to the point of reacting to such speed.
Maybe not consciously, but that beastlike intuition of his could move that massive blade into position almost automatically.
"So what will you do next?" Kenpachi asked, half to Natsuro, half to himself.
Even now, with his Shikai unleashed, he still couldn't imagine how to defeat Natsuro. He knew that if his blade could ever land a clean strike, victory would be his, of that there was no doubt.
But the problem was: how could he possibly land that strike?
Even Kenpachi found the idea of cutting Natsuro head-on almost laughable.
Natsuro wouldn't give him that chance.
"What will I do? The answer's obvious…" Natsuro suddenly smiled.
A prickle of unease shot through Kenpachi's instincts... then, in the next moment, blinding white light filled the endless space around them.
Bolts of lightning flared everywhere, flashing wildly in every direction.
"What—?" Kenpachi's eyes widened. Then realization struck. "These… these are the lightning traces you left behind earlier?"
"That's right, Kenpachi," Natsuro said with a quiet chuckle. "Now, take this next strike, head-on."
In the next instant, all the scattered lightning in the air surged toward Natsuro's blade, Meikyō Shisui.
The sword blazed brighter and brighter, until it shone like a miniature sun in his hands.
"An attack like your Futen (Burning Heaven), huh?" Kenpachi muttered, licking his lips, his eyes full of feverish excitement. He remembered that strike, Futen, the one he hadn't managed to cut apart last time, the one he'd only barely stopped after awakening his Shikai.
And now, he had another chance.
This time, he would cleave it, he would show Natsuro!
"More or less," Natsuro replied with a nod. The two attacks were indeed similar, both sword techniques derived from kidō principles.
In truth, both the Fourth and Fifth Forms could be cast instantly, Natsuro had demonstrated that before, against the Visoreds.
But that had been against the Visored Corps. Even an entire group of them couldn't compare to Zaraki Kenpachi.
Just like high-level kidō needed incantations to release their full power, the Fourth and Fifth Forms also required focus and preparation to reach their true might.
Now, all the lightning gathered completely onto Meikyō Shisui, condensing into pure, blinding energy.
And in that moment, Natsuro's voice resounded through the whole of Muken...
"Fifth Form: Shōmetsu (Annihilation)!"
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Currently on Chapter 512 - The Sun That Burns the World