Setsuna arrived at the training ground, and sure enough, Zaraki was there.
Setsuna said concisely, "Zaraki, fight."
For Zaraki, these few words were enough to explain everything.
"Haha, come!" Zaraki wasted no words either, drawing his blade and striking.
His form shot forward like a crimson lightning bolt. His slash descended with no flourish, nothing but pure power and speed.
In the 'thousand years per second' perception, this strike, swift as a thunderclap, appeared to Setsuna as slow as a falling feather.
He could see every minute muscle twitch, every ripple as the blade edge cut through reiatsu. He could even 'read' all subsequent possible variations.
But what he wanted was not to 'see clearly', but to act without thinking!
The moment the blade was about to touch him, the combat imprints deep within Setsuna's soul, catalyzed by the million-fold perception, reacted autonomously.
His body shifted sideways with a hair's breadth, as naturally as swaying in the wind. That ferocious slash grazed precisely past the edge of his Shihakusho, leaving him unharmed.
"Huh?" Zaraki's eyes blazed with light.
This dodge by Setsuna, seeming both prescient and utterly unintentional, instantly ignited his full interest.
"Interesting, again!" Zaraki laughed wildly, his slashing then poured down like a violent storm.
Each strike was wilder and more unpredictable, completely abandoning form, leaving only the most primal instinct to kill and battle intuition.
And Setsuna, eyes closed within the thousand years per second temporal prison, completely relinquished conscious control, entrusting everything to his body's instinct under extreme duress!
His form began to perform all kinds of unimaginable movements.
Sometimes slippery as a fish, sometimes like willow fluff in the wind, sometimes flickering like a ghost.
Sometimes he even seemed to actively meet the attack, only to evade by the slimmest margin at the last instant.
This was not skill, but the ultimate reaction evolved by survival instinct under infinite information and high-frequency mortal threats!
The prototype of Ultra Instinct was being frantically nurtured and refined in this training, extreme to the point of self-abuse.
Zaraki's excitement grew with every clash, and so did his amazement.
He was already heavily reliant on instinct… his swordsmanship was an extension of 'intuition'. And what Setsuna was now demonstrating was pushing 'instinct' to the supreme realm beyond conscious control!
"Hey! Setsuna!" After a fierce exchange, Zaraki leaped back to pause, his eyes burning with intense curiosity and desire. "What's this method of letting your body move on its own called? How do you practice it? Teach me!"
Setsuna naturally understood Zaraki's desire. Although both fought relying on instinctive consciousness, Zaraki achieved it through combat talent and animal intuition. Setsuna, however, had honed skill into his physical instinct… the ultimate form of returning to simplicity.
Setsuna smiled and said, "This is Ultra Instinct. It's not about dodging, but letting the physical body itself respond to myriad changes. The consciousness relaxes, Reiatsu flows naturally, entrusting battle to the instinct and experience etched into soul and flesh. You want to learn?"
Zaraki nodded heavily, like a child discovering treasure. "Learn, of course I want to learn! This thing suits me perfectly. How do I start?"
Setsuna said, "First, you need to learn to control your emotions, especially during battle. You must maintain extreme calm and clarity. Anger, ecstasy, impatience… these will all interfere with the purest feedback of instinct."
Zaraki: "..."
The excitement on his face instantly froze, slowly transforming into a near-blank daze.
Control emotions? Maintain calm? At the peak moment of slashing? This requirement sounded more absurd to him than memorizing the entire Seireitei Codex.
The fuel for his battles was that unbridled, boiling ferocity and fighting spirit. Take that away, would he still be Zaraki Kenpachi?
He felt he couldn't do it. Just thinking about it made him feel utterly awkward.
Before Zaraki could digest this bad news, Setsuna threw out a second requirement. "Secondly, you need to systematically strengthen, or rather, re-examine and construct your own swordsmanship foundation."
"Your combat experience has long been piled high, a treasure trove of instinctive reactions. But it lacks an effective way to integrate, refine, and guide this vast 'raw material'… your own core concept and framework."
Zaraki: "(╯°□°)╯︵┻━┻"
This requirement directly triggered his PTSD!
After he joined the 11th Division, the Captain-Commander had specially guided his swordsmanship.
And the result? Those exquisite technique breakdowns, those treatises on the balance of 'heart, technique, body', those tempered fixed forms... he only felt dizzy and completely restrained.
He barely lasted one day before fleeing with his head in his hands, and from then on, he kept his distance from any systematic swordsmanship teaching.
In his view, those things were just restraints on his wild instinct. Learning them would mean his sword was no longer his sword!
As if knowing what Zaraki was thinking, Setsuna added, "Learning swordsmanship concepts isn't to bind you, but to let you jump out of the frame, to break the mold. The ultimate goal is for you to induct and refine, from your chaotic surging battle instinct, a swordsmanship uniquely your own."
Zaraki was stunned, 'After understanding those annoying rules, then smashing them all in my own way, and building something solely my own from the ruins?'
'This way of putting it... seemed... a bit interesting?'
His simple, direct thinking began to turn.
If it were merely mechanical learning, he definitely couldn't stand it.
But if the goal was 'learn, then better break', to see the whole picture from a higher place and build his own kingdom... this sounded like it carried a bit of the thrill of challenge and destruction?
His furrowed brow relaxed slightly. A rare gleam of contemplation flashed in his fierce eyes. He scratched his messy hair. "Hmm, if that's the case..."
It seemed... maybe not completely out of the question?
At least, it sounded much more exciting than simply learning rules.
And it was for the ultimate goal of mastering that powerful skill where the body fights on its own.
After a moment's hesitation, Zaraki finally nodded firmly. "Alright. You teach me swordsmanship."
Setsuna couldn't help but laugh. "I don't know any swordsmanship. You should go to Captain Unohana to learn swordsmanship. After you've mastered it, I'll teach you Ultra Instinct."
"Unohana, huh..." Zaraki scratched his head, feeling troubled.
His feelings towards Unohana were quite complex. In his youth, his battle with her was the first time he experienced the joy and thrill of combat.
To be able to fight her again, he had even unconsciously limited his own power.
But when he encountered her again, he found Unohana had become the Captain of the 4th Division, specializing in healing.
This made him feel somewhat guilty. He thought it was because he was too weak that Unohana had lost her joy in battle, to the point where he didn't really want to face her.
Setsuna perceived Zaraki's inner thoughts and felt quite speechless, 'So these two both thought it was because they themselves were too weak that the other couldn't enjoy battle?'
'The result? One switched careers to medicine, the other sealed his own power?'
Setsuna shook his head helplessly. Regarding Zaraki's rare moment of sentimentality, he simply said, "I'm planning a hunting operation for Vasto Lorde-class Menos. If you don't get stronger quickly, I won't be taking you along."
Zaraki was indeed riled up. "What? How can you not take me on something like that? I'm going to find Unohana right now."