Inside Seireitei, the Shinigami who had rushed over stared at the towering wall, faint traces of regret visible on their faces.
"The Ryoka fell outside the Seireitei Gate…"
"In that case, there's nothing for us to worry about…"
"After all, Jidanbō is stationed outside the gate."
Souls who entered Soul Society without permission or by unofficial means were deemed by the Shinigami to bring disaster. For that reason, they were labeled Ryoka.
A slightly disheveled, yellow-haired Shinigami spoke up.
"Brother Hisagi, did you see those Ryoka?"
"I only saw one with orange hair, along with some others." Shūhei Hisagi's face looked fierce. Three scars ran from his forehead down to his chin, the number 69 was tattooed on his left cheek, and his short black hair stuck up like a hedgehog's spines. Despite that, his voice was calm and dependable. "What's wrong, Kira?"
Izuru Kira shook his head. The bangs covering his left eye swayed lightly, and his sky-blue eyes flickered faintly.
"Nothing. I just sensed a familiar Reiatsu for a moment… It was probably my imagination."
...
Outside Hakutōmon.
"Finally, I can stretch my muscles a bit."
Jidanbō's towering body stood squarely in front of the gate. His massive arms hung almost to the ground, the muscles on his right arm bulging high, while his left arm was covered in thick, silver armor.
"Ryoka, let me keep you company for a few rounds."
"He's huge…"
Uryū Ishida stared at Jidanbō.
"Who is that guy… He can't be human, can he?"
"That's Jidanbō," Black Cat Yoruichi explained. "He's one of the elite warriors personally selected by Soul Society, and the guardian of the West Gate, Hakutōmon, among the four Seireitei gates. He's been stationed here for at least three hundred years. No one has ever passed through without permission. They say he's monstrously strong. One swing of his axe can wipe out thirty Hollows."
"A guardian…"
Uryū Ishida frowned.
"So if we want to get inside, we have to defeat him first…"
But that massive figure did not look like someone who could be taken down easily.
"Finished scheming yet?"
Jidanbō rolled his axe in his hand.
"So, who's going first…?"
"Jidanbō."
Muten Natsu stepped forward at an unhurried pace.
"Open the gate."
"Hahahahaha!"
Jidanbō burst into booming laughter.
"You want me to open the gate? Then you'll have to beat me first. Just you—"
At last, he got a clear look at Muten Natsu's face.
His voice cut off abruptly, followed by an unnaturally shrill scream.
"Muten Natsu!!!"
It was as if he had seen a ghost.
Uryū Ishida and Ichigo Kurosaki stared at each other in shock. They never imagined that the fierce-looking Jidanbō would react to Muten Natsu as though he had encountered something supernatural.
In a sense, that wasn't entirely wrong.
Jidanbō lowered his massive body and leaned in for a closer look. After getting a clear look, he suddenly stumbled back a step, his huge frame slamming against the gate behind him.
"It really is you! Weren't you already dead?!"
"Some debts still haven't been settled," Muten Natsu said. His left hand spread slightly, and the ring-handled katana hilt sprang into his palm. "That's why I came back."
"A cruel, lawless criminal has appeared in West Rukongai!" Jidanbō roared himself hoarse as he turned and grabbed the lower edge of the enormous wooden gate behind him. With a thunderous shout, he lifted it up. "It's Muten Natsu! He's returned from Hell!"
All eyes focused on Muten Natsu. No one expected him to scare a hulking brute like Jidanbō to this extent.
Muten Natsu hadn't expected it either, but an open gate was still good news.
The gate slowly rose, and the Shinigami inside Seireitei heard Jidanbō's warning.
"Muten Natsu?"
"Wasn't he dead?"
"That monster…"
"No way…"
"That flesh-eating monster revived outside Hakutōmon?"
"The Ryoka is him?!"
"How is that possible?"
That earlier sensation hadn't been wrong. It really was Muten Natsu.
Izuru Kira reacted instantly, reaching for the Zanpakutō at his waist.
"Raise your head—"
A hand pressed down on his sword hilt. Gin Ichimaru stopped him with a smiling expression.
"That's your classmate from the same batch. I'll handle this."
The term "classmate from the same batch" referred to those who attended the academy during the same period, essentially classmates.
Izuru Kira's gaze dimmed with unease.
"But Captain Ichimaru…"
"Step back, Izuru." Gin Ichimaru's lips curved upward. "You don't want to die just yet, do you?"
"Everyone retreat!"
Before Izuru Kira could react, Shūhei Hisagi had already grasped how serious the situation was.
"Don't interfere with Captain Ichimaru's battle!"
Right… Izuru Kira obediently sheathed his sword. A captain-level battle was not something ordinary Shinigami could stand around and watch. Anyone staying here might only become a burden to Captain Ichimaru.
With that thought, Izuru Kira immediately retreated.
Like the others, he couldn't help but glance toward the other side of Hakutōmon.
Then… he saw the storm.
The dense Reishi in the air was seized by an invisible force, forming a raging tornado that descended with a deafening howl.
Within the storm, a blurred figure spread deep-blue wings, as though the sky itself had been torn down and draped over his shoulders.
The wings looked bright and ethereal, as if light were spilling from them.
But on closer inspection, it wasn't the wings themselves that shone. They were drawing in even more Reishi, turning it into countless points of brilliant light.
Two figures emerged from the storm. The massive Reishi wings folded inward and disappeared back into the tempest.
Then came a deathly silence.
Izuru Kira felt a terrifying Reiatsu like an abyss, the kind of stillness that came just before a violent storm.
There was no mistaking it. He remembered this sensation clearly. That scalp-tingling silence, that bone-chilling pressure, that terrifying technique one dreaded facing yet had to confront with absolute focus—
Flash God Muten Natsu's Sword Drawing Art.
No wonder Hakutōmon had already opened, yet the Ryoka hadn't rushed in immediately.
Muten Natsu was planning to finish off the Shinigami inside Seireitei in one charged draw-and-slash, then escape before reinforcements could arrive.
Cold fear surged through Izuru Kira. If Captain Gin Ichimaru hadn't stopped him, he would likely have been caught within the strike as well.
His sky-blue eyes involuntarily shrank as he saw the light.
Against that radiance, everything else seemed to fade into darkness.
Just looking at it made his eyes sting with pain.
In an instant, the blinding light stretched into thin lines, piercing straight through Hakutōmon and racing toward Gin Ichimaru.
A violent surge of Reiatsu exploded outward, whipping up a massive shockwave that swept across the area. Several Shinigami who reacted too slowly were blown straight off their feet. Only when they hit the ground did they hear the sharp, piercing scream of a blade tearing through the air.