Long before coming to the World of the Living, Renji Abarai had gone to Ikkaku Madarame and asked him to become a Captain.
But Ikkaku Madarame refused.
"I'm sorry. Please find someone else."
"Ikkaku-san, don't leave!" Seeing Ikkaku Madarame turn away, Renji Abarai, who had been bowing with his head lowered, raised his head and shouted, "You're the only one who can do it now. None of the other Lieutenants can use Bankai... no, even if they could, it wouldn't matter! I've chosen you! Whether it's the 3rd, 5th, or 9th Division, only you can fill the vacancies Aizen and the others left behind. You should be the next Captain, Ikkaku-san!"
"Damn it. I should've told you this back when I was training you. Aside from you and Yumichika, I'm not teaching Bankai to anyone else." Ikkaku Madarame scratched his bald head with a rasping sound. "If anyone besides you two found out I could use Bankai, they'd definitely make me a Captain. I don't want to be a Captain. If I became one, I wouldn't be able to keep fighting under Captain Zaraki."
"Ikkaku-san..."
"If your wish is to live with Muten and the others like you used to, then my wish is to keep living the way I do now." In Ikkaku Madarame's mind appeared Kenpachi Zaraki's fierce, expectant gaze. "I want to keep fighting under him until I die in battle. That's all."
That was precisely why, during his earlier fight with Yammy, he had deliberately released his Bankai somewhere no one else could see.
In a situation like this, the moment he used Bankai, everyone would learn that Ikkaku Madarame could use it, and his wish would naturally become impossible.
So he absolutely would not use Bankai...
That was how it should have been.
...
"I really am lucky..." Ikkaku Madarame struggled up from the ground. "To have direct contact with three Captains before the battle..."
There were three ways to become a Captain of the Gotei 13.
First, pass the Captain's Proficiency Test in the presence of at least three Captains, including the Captain-Commander.
As long as he did not pass, he would not become a Captain.
Second, receive recommendations from at least six Captains, as well as approval from at least three of the remaining seven Captains.
Now that three Captains had defected, only ten Captains remained.
As long as he made an agreement with at least two Captains that they would refuse to approve him, Ikkaku Madarame would not become a Captain.
Third was the method exclusive to the 11th Division: challenge the current Captain to a duel in front of at least two hundred squad members and defeat him.
That method required him to issue the challenge himself. Ikkaku Madarame did want to try it someday, but not now.
In short, even if his Bankai was exposed, he would not become a Captain.
Most importantly...
Ikkaku Madarame did not want Yumichika Ayasegawa to be dragged into his battles again.
"Hm?" Hearing Ikkaku Madarame's voice, Poww turned his head. "You'd be better off playing dead. At least that way, you get to keep your life."
"My life... wasn't meant for playing dead!" A violent surge of Reiatsu blasted everything around Ikkaku Madarame away. "Bankai. Ryūmon Hōzukimaru!"
Shhk!
Blood sprayed from Poww's raised fist in the next instant. Ikkaku Madarame twisted his body and swung the broad cleaver in his left hand toward the back of Poww's neck.
Poww's arm whipped out from the side like a lash, striking at Ikkaku Madarame.
The massive shovel in Ikkaku Madarame's right hand, as broad as a door panel, caught Poww's arm. With a savage roar, Ikkaku Madarame drove the cleaver through Poww's neck.
"Looks like..." Ikkaku Madarame grabbed the huge axe behind him and swung it, sending the connected cleaver and shovel spinning with it, whipping up a shrieking gale. "Your neck isn't as flexible as your arm!"
"Does a tiny wound like this give you the confidence to challenge me?" Poww drew a Zanpakutō from his sleeve, no longer than one of his fingers. "Breathe. Calderón."
Poww's head swelled violently and slammed into the ground. Veins throbbed along his neck, and blood sprayed from the wound, which then grew smaller and smaller... no, his body was growing larger and larger.
By the time the wound fully healed through his Resurrección, Poww had swollen into a Great Whale dozens of meters tall. From his lower jaw to his entire upper body ran patterns like the belly of a whale, and his already massive arms now looked like two high-rise buildings.
"Huuuuuuuu..."
The Great Whale let out a long, thunderous groan. "So heavy... so tiring... but there's no helping it. These are His Majesty Baraggan's... orders!"
The Giant-Armed Whale swung his fist. It was like a mountain crashing down as it smashed toward Ikkaku Madarame.
"Come on, then!" Ikkaku Madarame twisted aside, dodging the Giant-Armed Whale's attack, then swung the cleaver down onto his wrist.
"Like I said..." The Giant-Armed Whale looked at his wrist, where the cut looked no worse than a small knife mark, then shifted his massive body and moved his arm. "The wounds you make... are pitifully tiny, you little insect!"
"Looks like you still don't see it..." Ikkaku Madarame's eyes flew wide open. "This is a dragon!"
Ikkaku Madarame charged straight into the Giant-Armed Whale's attack, swinging the cleaver and massive shovel one after another. The enormous weapons moved as smoothly as his own limbs, unleashing several strikes in the blink of an eye.
"So..." The Giant-Armed Whale raised his other fist. "So itchy!"
The giant fist came down from above, smashing toward Ikkaku Madarame as if to crush a bug.
"If the whole thing turns red, you should be able to see it!" The dragon pattern on the huge axe turned completely crimson. Ikkaku Madarame leapt into the air, and Reiatsu pushed to its limit erupted from the axe blade, punching through the Giant-Armed Whale's wrist. "And if you still can't see it... then take a closer look!"
The air exploded beneath his feet as Ikkaku Madarame shot upward through the wound in the Giant-Armed Whale's wrist, soaring into the sky drenched in blood.
Compared to the Giant-Armed Whale's enormous body, Ikkaku Madarame looked like a tiny flying insect.
Yet that tiny insect unleashed terrifying power beyond compare, cleaving the Giant-Armed Whale's head in two.
With no strength left to stay in the air, Ikkaku Madarame fell from the sky and crashed through the water tank on the rooftop.
Behind him, the Giant-Armed Whale collapsed to the ground with a deafening crash and fell silent.
"Sorry about that..." Ikkaku Madarame clenched the shattered giant axe. "I got a little too close."
"Whoa!" Marechiyo Ōmaeda stared in disbelief. "He can actually use Bankai!"
"As the Captain of the Patrol Corps of the Second Onmitsukidō Division, you didn't even know that?" Suì-Fēng scolded him on reflex, then tilted her head.
Hmm... she had only just found out herself.
"Even if it's only a replica, it was still made in Soul Society." Rangiku Matsumoto sighed. "The 11th Division is going to run a deficit now."