Chapter Thirty-Six: Beyond the White Tower
Chapter 36: Beyond the White Tower
[Seireitei, White Tower]
“First-degree capital offense... Xiusite Kuchiki will be executed at the Central Underground Execution Site five days from now...” Kuchiki Byakuya stood before Xiusite and said calmly, “That is the final decision of the Soul Society...”
“Is that so? Then have a safe trip, Brother! This is a gift I brought back for you from the World of the Living. Consider it a parting present.”
Xiusite’s voice came from inside. A strange, irregular, elongated doll with wavy edges flew toward Byakuya. It had a white laborer’s knot tied atop its head, a dark green seaweed-like body, two black-bean-sized eyes, a wide smiling mouth, and two pairs of thin, utterly mismatched limbs posed in greeting. Its whole appearance was bizarre beyond words.
Byakuya’s usually impassive face twitched—astonishingly, the iceberg had cracked! ☆_☆—before he accepted the doll and fell silent.
“The Wakame Ambassador. Surely the finest gift of all, right? Hey, Lolita, see our guest out!”
As Xiusite’s voice faded, Lolita walked out.
“Please, Big Brother Byakuya.”
After escorting Byakuya outside, Lolita returned to the White Tower.
Tap, tap, tap.
Byakuya slowly walked away from the tower, the seaweed doll tucked beneath his arm. Suddenly, he stopped.
“How calm you are! Captain of the Sixth Division... Truly admirable, truly admirable. Your own younger brother is about to be executed, yet you remain so composed. As expected of the Captain of the Sixth Division—the model of a Soul Reaper...”
A frivolous voice came from behind him, a voice that always brought a fox to mind.
“Stop joking around! The only Soul Reapers afraid of death are you and the Captain of the Ninth Division.”
A coarse voice followed, in complete contrast to the fox-like tone.
“Oh? Is that so?” the fox-like voice replied in feigned surprise.
“You two captains came without your lieutenants. What do you want?”
Byakuya turned and looked coldly at the two men before him: Gin Ichimaru, Captain of the Third Division, and Kenpachi Zaraki, Captain of the Eleventh Division.
“Nothing at all! We merely heard that your younger brother is about to be executed, so we were wondering whether the Captain of the Sixth Division might be feeling sad and dejected.”
Ichimaru spoke with narrowed eyes, looking every bit like a fox.
“How could he not be dejected? How could a noble family tolerate the appearance of a criminal?”
Zaraki had, for once, managed to say something clever.
“Oh? I never expected a commoner like you to understand the feelings of the nobility,” Byakuya said in surprise.
“That isn’t quite fair! I’ve always been clever... So, since I’m being so clever, how about letting me chop off that criminal’s head before he’s executed?”
All right, I was wrong. Kenpachi Zaraki was not clever in the slightest. Now I finally understand why Gin Ichimaru came here. Zaraki, you hopelessly directionless idiot!
“I never knew someone of your caliber could even chop off a person’s head,” Byakuya said, pretending to be astonished.
“Would you like to find out?”
Zaraki’s face brimmed with fighting spirit.
“Do you really want to try?”
Byakuya met his gaze head-on.
The two men’s eyes sparked with violent tension. Then a flash of white streaked past them.
On a rooftop some distance away, Ichimaru had used Binding Spell to wrap Zaraki up like a mummy. Maintaining his foxlike smile, he said to Byakuya, “Hey, hey! Gin Ichimaru, let me cut him! Let me go! ...Sorry about this, Captain of the Sixth Division. I hope you’ll be understanding. At least I have no desire to make an enemy of you... Oh, and the thing your brother gave you is adorable! Farewell!”
Ichimaru used Flash Step to leave while dragging the bound Zaraki along. Let us all pretend we did not see Zaraki’s head slam into the chimney jutting from the roof. Otherwise, if he comes to your house tonight to cut you down, do not blame the coffee table—or me.
“...”
Byakuya watched the two men depart in silence, glanced at the doll beneath his arm, and turned away.
...
Inside the White Tower...
“Have they all left?”
Xiusite’s voice drifted out.
“Yes. Even the two who were eavesdropping have gone,” Lolita replied.
“Is that so? Then let us begin the final preparations.”
“Yes!”
...
Boom!
“They’re here?”
Xiusite shook his head. His smile contained a trace of helplessness and distress, along with a hint of relief.
‘Energy and courage, combined with the spiritual pressure transformed from my demonic power, and the memories Lolita bestowed upon them... Sigh. It seems Jidanbo has really suffered. Still, raising the Child of Destiny is incredibly satisfying!’
...
Outside the White Road Gate, six figures fell from the black passage that had appeared in the sky earlier.
“Is everyone all right?” Inoue Orihime stood up and called to the others.
“Wow.”
Inoue looked at Ichigo, who had landed with both legs beside his ears in a position resembling something from an island film. Rest assured, Coffee Table, I absolutely have never seen one. I know nothing about island art films. [Defensive crouch.]
Putting on an expression of artistic appreciation, she said, “Kurosaki’s landing pose is truly a work of art!”
“You’re so noisy...” Ichigo said, his face covered in black lines.
“Good grief, what a mess. That was completely unexpected... I never imagined I would have to ruin my replacement cloak so soon!”
Ishida Uryu pushed up his glasses, then pulled another cloak from inside his clothes—one exactly like the one that had been damaged inside the Senkaimon.
Ichigo and Chad, standing nearby, both complained with black lines across their faces.
“Hey, Sasuke... You even brought a replacement?”
“It’s Uryu, damn it!” Ishida shouted in frustration.
“But thank goodness. It looks as though no one was hurt.”
Orihime smiled with her usual innocent air.
“What’s so good about it, you idiot!”
With a heavy thump, a purple-haired beauty in a maple-colored combat uniform rapped Orihime sharply on the head.
“Did you even listen to a word I said? Luckily, only the shield came into contact with the Dangai. If it had been the main body of the Six Flowers, you would have died! Pay attention next time, you idiot!”
“I’m... I’m sorry...”
“Come on, Inoue didn’t do it on purpose. Besides, what does it matter? In the end, everyone is safe because of her...”
Ichigo turned toward the purple-haired beauty, though he was somewhat bewildered as to why the black cat with a male voice had turned into a purple-haired woman.
“Exactly!”
Rukia nodded from the side.
“Thank you, Rukia... Kurosaki...”
Orihime spoke to the two of them.
“Damn it! You still haven’t understood how serious this is, have you?”
Yoruichi Shihoin shouted at the group of youngsters.
...
“They’ve arrived...”
Inside the Fifth Division barracks, Aizen calmly adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose and looked toward the White Road Gate.
Every captain-level fighter in the Seireitei turned toward the west in the same instant.
Intruders?
...
Outside the White Road Gate.
“All right! Let’s charge through together!”
With that, Ichigo rushed forward.
“Idiot! You can’t just approach that place! You’ll die!” Yoruichi shouted.
“Damn it! You’d be better off letting me go in first and check on my brother and sister!”
Rukia shouted as she followed him.
Just as Ichigo was about to reach the White Road Gate, he heard Yoruichi’s warning. Then he felt a rush of air press down from above. His heart tightened. Spiritual pressure exploded beneath his feet, propelling his body to the side. He rolled away in a sorry heap.
The next instant, a massive body nearly ten meters tall crashed down from the sky into the place where he had been heading.
“It has been a long time since I’ve encountered anyone without a Court Guard permit trying to enter the Seireitei...”
As the smoke gradually cleared, a giant clad in armor and wielding an enormous axe appeared before them. Opening his wide mouth, he said, “At last, I have something to do. I’ll give you a proper welcome, boy... Heh.”
“He’s huge!”
Ishida stared at the figure before him.
“Who exactly is this guy?”
“Jidanbo. He is a renowned strongman of the Soul Society, a hero carefully selected from among its finest by the Seireitei. He guards the White Road Gate, the western gate of the four great Seireitei gates. That gate behind him is the one he protects.”
Yoruichi’s eyes seemed to carry a trace of anger.
“He has held this post for three hundred years, and no one has ever managed to force their way through the White Road Gate under his watch. He is a legendary strongman. Although he is not a Soul Reaper, his axe is equivalent to a Zanpakuto. Once, he killed thirty Hollows with a single swing. That is precisely why he became the guardian of the western gate.”
‘Damn it. It looks like we have no choice but to defeat this guy and get through quickly. The alarm from the White Road Gate has already sounded. If we delay too long, the area beyond the gate will be surrounded. By then, even if we make it inside, we will only be walking into an ambush...’
Yoruichi frowned and shouted toward Ichigo.
“Ichigo! Come back! I’ll handle this guy—”
(⊙０⊙)
“Hey! Chad! Orihime! Come back! Get back here right now!”
“Kurosaki, you have to hold out!”
Orihime and Chad thought the same thing.
“Huh? ...Hmph!”
Jidanbo raised his enormous axe and slammed it into the ground. Then he dragged it sideways.
Rumble!
A wall nearly five meters high rose from the earth, constructed from the ground itself. It was practically faster than Sakuya’s alchemy.
“(⊙_⊙) That’s ridiculous!”
Ishida stared in astonishment.
“You’re right, Ishida...”
Although she was a Soul Reaper, this was also Rukia’s first time seeing Jidanbo in action. She, too, was stunned.
“How many times do I have to tell you? It’s Sasuke! No, wait!! @#￥%...”
A certain Ishida had completely broken down. Let us ignore him.
“You people clearly don’t understand the rules! You must be from the countryside, right? Listen carefully. The city has its own rules. First: wash your hands when you come in from outside. Second: never pick up anything that has fallen on the ground and eat it. Third: a duel must be one-on-one! Therefore... my first opponent will be you, boy with the head shaped like a candy ball.”
Jidanbo proudly recited things even kindergarten children knew. Well, except for the third rule. Only an idiot, a delusional adolescent, or some other hopeless fool would insist on fighting one-on-one. If you can gang up on someone, why fight alone?
“Tch. I’ll finish you in five minutes! You guys stay out of this. I’ll handle him myself!”
Never mind. With someone like Ichigo, there was no telling which of those categories he belonged to.
P.S. I think the writing may have fallen apart. Has it? I have no idea...