"Mr. Sawada, where should we start?" Renji Abarai asked respectfully, bowing slightly to Tsunayoshi.
After the Captain's Meeting ended, Renji was the first person Tsunayoshi sought out for training. The reason was simple—before the battle at Sōkyoku Hill, Tsunayoshi had already promised Renji guidance. Various matters had delayed it until now.
Before Renji came, his captain, Byakuya Kuchiki, had specifically reminded him to take the training seriously. His meaning was simple: Tsunayoshi's strength was extraordinary, so Renji must not treat the session lightly.
Coupled with the way Tsunayoshi had spoken to Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto during the Captain's Meeting, Renji had subconsciously begun placing Tsunayoshi on the same level as the Captain-Commander himself.
"Huh? Let's just talk first. Your Bankai—Hihiō Zabimaru."
Caught off guard by Renji's respect, Tsunayoshi looked slightly flustered.
"How has your Jinzen been going these past few days?"
"No progress." Renji sighed. "Whenever I enter Jinzen, I only see a baboon in a thick fog. When I try to chase after it, it retreats and disappears into the mist."
"Ever since I learned Bankai, my Zanpakutō hasn't communicated with me again. I have a vague feeling it's deliberately avoiding me… but I can't prove it."
Tsunayoshi immediately understood the problem.
Renji had even gotten the name wrong—if the Zanpakutō spirit still bothered speaking to him, that would be a miracle.
"Have you ever wondered," Tsunayoshi asked, "why your Zanpakutō was originally called Zabimaru, but later gained the name Hihiō—'Baboon King'?"
"Well obviously!" Renji said confidently. "When I trained to achieve Bankai, I saw the baboon spirit and forced it to submit!"
Tsunayoshi nearly lost the ability to respond.
He couldn't exactly say Renji was wrong—because that was what Renji had experienced during his Bankai training.
"Your Zabimaru's form clearly resembles a snake far more than a baboon," Tsunayoshi continued patiently. "Yet somehow it was renamed 'Baboon King.' Don't you find that strange?"
"It's called Hihiō Zabimaru, but the way it attacks is exactly like a giant snake."
"That so-called 'Baboon King'… isn't it basically just the fur cloak on your shoulder?"
Renji had already reached lieutenant level; his brain wasn't completely useless. With that hint, a flash of realization flickered through his mind.
"You mean… my Bankai should actually be related to a snake?" Renji frowned. "But that's impossible. The spirit I saw was definitely a baboon."
"Your Zanpakutō spirit… looked like this, right?"
Tsunayoshi knew his drawing skills were terrible, so instead he used his Mist-attribute spiritual power to condense an image of the baboon spirit.
Fortunately, he understood Renji's power well enough to recreate it. With other Shinigami, this trick would have been impossible.
Renji's eyes widened.
The baboon Tsunayoshi created looked exactly like the one he had seen.
The only strange thing was that the baboon's tail was actually a snake.
Only then did Renji realize something.
He had never seen the baboon's tail before.
Thinking back to how the baboon always retreated into the fog… could it be that the snake was controlling it?
"Mr. Sawada… this snake and the baboon…" Renji said hesitantly. He felt like he had grasped something important but couldn't quite put it into words.
"As you can see," Tsunayoshi explained, "your Zanpakutō spirit is a baboon with a snake tail."
"Your Shikai uses the snake's power. When you desperately sought strength to achieve Bankai, the baboon released its portion of power to you. That's why your Bankai became Hihiō Zabimaru."
"A dual-spirit Zanpakutō. Both halves have their own consciousness."
"Right now, your Bankai is only half-complete. The snake side hasn't acknowledged you yet."
He pointed toward the snake tail.
Renji stared blankly.
This was the Chief Instructor of the Shinigami, personally appointed by Captain-Commander Yamamoto?
Why did he seem to understand Renji's Zanpakutō better than Renji himself?
Zabimaru… whose sword was it really?
"Well? Any thoughts?" Tsunayoshi asked with a smile.
"You want me to enter Jinzen so I can meet that snake, right?"
"Exactly. You've already earned the Baboon King's recognition. Now you still need the Snake King's recognition."
"Though from what you described… the snake king doesn't seem very fond of you."
"Yeah… I noticed that too."
Renji scratched his head awkwardly. Suddenly, he remembered something Ichigo had mentioned before—the Tenshintai.
His eyes lit up.
"Mr. Sawada! Ichigo told me that the Tenshintai at Urahara's shop can help a Shinigami train their Bankai. Could I use it to perfect mine?"
"Not a bad idea," Tsunayoshi replied calmly. "But Ichigo probably forgot to mention one thing."
"The Tenshintai can only be used once."
"If you fail… you'll never be able to achieve Bankai."
Renji instantly broke into a cold sweat.
He cursed Ichigo's unreliable explanations. Without the Tenshintai he still had his Bankai—but if it went wrong, he might lose it entirely.
"…I'll take it step by step," Renji said awkwardly.
"Thank you for the guidance, Mr. Sawada. I'll begin Jinzen training right away."
To Renji, that meant enduring long hours of dull meditation, hoping somehow to earn the snake king's approval.
"True enough. Your own Zanpakutō is something only you can deal with yourself…"
At that moment, Tsunayoshi suddenly had an idea.
"…Though speaking of which…"
"Is there another way?" Renji asked eagerly. Sitting still for Jinzen training was torture for someone like him.
"Do you want to see what your perfected Bankai looks like?"
A mischievous grin appeared on Tsunayoshi's face.
"Huh?"
Renji didn't understand at all.
His perfected Bankai…?
No—that wasn't right.
Even he himself didn't know what it would look like.
"Looks like you're interested."
Before Renji could react, Tsunayoshi kicked him away with blinding speed.
"You'd better release Bankai quickly," Tsunayoshi said lightly.
"Otherwise… you might die."
Renji flipped through the air and landed steadily. The kick hadn't injured him—it had only created distance.
Without hesitation, he drew his sword.
"Bankai—Hihiō Zabimaru!"
A massive skeletal serpent coiled around him as he waited for Tsunayoshi's next move.
Tsunayoshi drew a white blade symbolizing Hollow power and thrust it directly into his chest.
"Open your eyes… moth."
Hollow Reiatsu burst outward.
Behind Tsunayoshi appeared enormous black-and-white moth wings, each patterned with eye-like markings. This was the Resurrección of his Mist-attribute Hollow power.
With the moth form active, Tsunayoshi's mastery of illusions reached an extraordinary level.
Shinigami Mist-type power specialized in mental illusions.
But Hollow power could distort the boundary between mind and reality, giving those illusions physical presence.
The "eyes" on the wings flashed.
A mass of white substance wrapped around Tsunayoshi. Under the molding pressure of Hollow Reiatsu, his appearance changed.
Black Shihakushō.
Long red ponytail and headband.
Light bone armor covering his body.
A rope of bone segments wrapped around his waist.
A massive fur-covered arm hung from his left shoulder.
His right arm was encased in a skeletal snake head, with a blade extending from its mouth.
"Sōō Zabimaru — Twin Kings Zabimaru."
Seeing that face identical to his own, Renji froze.
Why did that version of himself look so unbelievably cool?
Twin Kings…?
Baboon King… Snake King…
Renji suddenly understood what his Bankai lacked.
His eyes hardened with determination.
He would earn the Snake King's recognition.
The next moment, the "future Renji" charged straight at him.
So Tsunayoshi wasn't bluffing.
Then he would test the power of Sōō Zabimaru!
Renji swung his arm, sending the giant skeletal serpent lashing toward Tsunayoshi. It was his usual probing attack—if things went wrong, he could immediately retract it.
Facing the serpent's gaping jaws, Tsunayoshi showed no fear.
The monstrous arm on his left shoulder suddenly expanded, grabbing the snake's jaws and forcing them shut.
Then the giant hand lifted the entire serpent and swung it like a whip.
This was the power of the Baboon King—pure brute strength.
Startled, Renji quickly severed the Reiatsu connecting the snake segments, sacrificing one head to regain control of most of the body.
But that was only the beginning.
The true Snake King—the blade-bearing serpent—hadn't even been used yet. Renji had already sacrificed the snake head required for Hikotsu Taihō.
Tsunayoshi tossed aside the snake head and continued charging.
Renji immediately scattered all the bone segments, linking them together with Reiatsu so that the fanged spikes all pointed toward Tsunayoshi.
This was Higa Zekkō.
Dozens of spiked bone segments surged forward as one. The moment Tsunayoshi discarded the snake head, he had already stepped into Renji's attack range.
But Tsunayoshi showed no fear.
The smooth blade in his right hand suddenly became serrated.
As he thrust forward, an overwhelming wave of Reiatsu engulfed Renji and every bone segment.
The spiritual pressure took the shape of a massive serpent's jaws—identical to the skeletal snake head Tsunayoshi had just thrown away.
This was Snake Fang Cannon — Sōō Zabimaru.
The jaws snapped shut.
The terrifying Reiatsu seemed capable of devouring everything. The collision triggered a blinding explosion of white light.
When the light faded, Renji knelt on the ground, eyes empty.
The pieces of Hihiō Zabimaru lay scattered around him.
He had been completely overwhelmed by the spectacle of that Snake Fang Cannon. In his mind, he had witnessed the overwhelming magnificence of its explosion.
Behind him, Tsunayoshi knelt on one knee, still holding the posture of his forward thrust.
Of course, he didn't actually know any Snake Fang Cannon.
Everything had been an illusion.
Although his Hollow form allowed minor alterations to reality, the essence of Mist-attribute power still lay in illusion.
The moment the moth wings emitted their light, Renji had already fallen under Tsunayoshi's illusion.
Everything afterward had been Tsunayoshi's carefully staged performance.
By combining subtle physical changes with Renji's own imagination, Tsunayoshi created a seamless illusionary world—
One where Renji fought his future self.
Tsunayoshi released his Resurrección and looked down at the collapsed Renji.
Hopefully, this experience would awaken Renji's true power.
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