Starting as a pirate, he rose to become the strongest Shinigami in Soul Society.

Chapter 473 The Vanished Zanpakuto?

Squad 9.

Bane was fast asleep on a deck chair under the shade of a tree in the courtyard.

Meanwhile, in the captain's office, the vice-captain, Shinji Hirako, was sitting at the captain's desk, working on a pile of documents.

His behavior was somewhat presumptuous, but the Ninth Division members standing in the office ignored it, clearly already used to this situation.

"Vice-Captain, this is the graduating roster of Shin'o Academy of Spiritual Arts this year," a team member said, handing the document to Shinji Hirako.

After taking the document, Hirako Shinji casually flipped through it and asked, "Has the recruitment process already begun?"

"It started half a month ago. In fact, many promising talents have already been captured by various squads," the squad member immediately replied.

As expected, Hirako Shinji saw that many people had been crossed off the list, including Aizen Sousuke's name.

After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Is our Ninth Division still at full strength?"

"The official membership is full, but it seems we're a few people short for miscellaneous tasks," the team member replied.

"Then just pick a few that look good and add them to the miscellaneous tasks. We don't need to worry about the rest." Hirako Shinji made the decision immediately and casually handed the list, which he hadn't finished looking at, back to the squad member.

The Shinigami Academy graduates a considerable number of students each year, but in reality, only the top-ranking and outstanding students are directly recruited into the Gotei 13 as official members, or even seated officers.

The vast majority of people will be eliminated. After graduation, if they are not selected, they will either be lucky enough to become miscellaneous staff in various squads, which is considered as joining the squad, and they will have more opportunities to fill in later. Or they will become substitute members at the next lower level.

They wait for a vacancy to appear and then fill that vacancy.

If you don't even make it to the substitutes, you'll be directly transferred into the Seireitei 'society' and become one of the masses in various professions, such as the Kido-shu.

Some merchant guilds would also give priority to recruiting these people as guards, and some lucky ones could become private soldiers of nobles, and so on.

In short, the job market is extremely competitive, and more than 80 percent of graduates will gradually fade into obscurity, becoming just another cog in the massive Seireitei machine.

As a popular squad, the Ninth Division is known for its easy work, excellent benefits, and safe and stable position within the court.

Therefore, whenever there is a vacancy, it's like a thousand troops crossing a single-plank bridge, scrambling to get in. Unless a recent graduate is exceptionally outstanding or has some inside connections, they have no chance of joining; otherwise, it's impossible to get one even if they fight for it.

Go ahead and wait in line.

"This is the schedule for this quarter." Another team member stepped forward and handed a document to Shinji Hirako.

Hirako Shinji took it and asked, "Is there anything wrong with it?"

"As usual, nothing has changed," the soldier replied quickly.

"Then so be it." Hirako Shinji didn't even look at it, turned directly to the last page, and signed his name.

"Is Kensei still busy?" Shinji Hirako asked casually.

"The Third Seat of Kensei is leading a team on a routine patrol of the Grand Prison," the member replied.

Bane simply stuck his knife into the entrance of the Great Prison and that was it. As the captain, he was incredibly idle every day, while Hirako Shinji, as the vice-captain, had to shoulder the daily work of the Ninth Division, so naturally he didn't have much time to patrol the Great Prison.

Genjiro Okiga had done the same thing before.

Therefore, this responsibility can only be shouldered by Kensei Muguruma, the third seat holder.

"Where's Zaraki? Didn't he go?" Hirako Shinji asked casually.

"I went out this morning and haven't seen Fourth Seat Zaraki since," the squad member said after thinking for a moment.

"Have you come back for dinner?" Hirako Shinji suddenly looked up at the soldier and asked.

"No, I didn't see Zaraki Shisuke and Kusajika Gosuke at dinner today," the team member immediately replied.

As soon as he finished speaking, Hirako Shinji slapped his forehead and exclaimed, "Damn it! He didn't even come back for dinner, something must have happened!!!"

Thinking about her situation during this period, Hirako Shinji couldn't help but want to wail, "Mr. Genjiro, why did you leave?"

It's one thing for you to leave, but that captain inexplicably brought back a wild beast from Rukongai, which has greatly increased his workload!

Sure enough, before Hirako Shinji could even recover, another member of the Ninth Division rushed into the office, frantically saying, "Something terrible has happened, Lieutenant-Captain! Fourth Seat Zaraki and Fifth Seat Kusashi have been captured and imprisoned by the Tenth Division. Lieutenant-Captain Renzan of the Tenth Division wants you to go to the Seventh Division as soon as possible to reach a settlement with the victims and use the settlement agreement to get them released."

"What the hell?!" Shinji Hirako cursed, then asked, "What the hell happened?"

As he said this, he stood up, took his Shinigami uniform off the hanger, and started putting it on as he walked out.

Because the matter was not complicated, the whole story was already told when we entered the courtyard.

Just then, Bane yawned, sat up from the sun lounger, and greeted Hirako Shinji with sleepy eyes, "Oh, Shinji, are you still busy? You must be tired."

"If you could just share a little of my workload, I wouldn't be going bald at such a young age," Hirako Shinji complained, slowing her pace. "The one you brought back has caused trouble again; I'm on my way to ransom him."

"Huh?" Bane was clearly not fully awake yet, and mumbled, "I thought you were going on a date with this strangely dressed but very charming lady next to you."

Hirako Shinji was taken aback. He looked around and saw that he only had two soldiers with him. Where were the beauties?

However, considering that Bane looked like he hadn't woken up yet, he assumed that his Lord Spirit was still confused and said grumbling, "If I had the chance, I would really like to switch teams. I'm not talking to you anymore, I'm going to go and bring back the Fourth Seat of Zaraki."

"Oh, have a safe trip," Bane replied haphazardly, then looked somewhat strangely at the beautiful woman's back as she drifted away like a ghost beside Hirako Shinji.

"Am I seeing things? Or am I still half asleep? Why does this person look so familiar?" Bane muttered, not paying much attention. He stood up, stretched, and called out like a lord, "Someone, bring me a cup of tea."

The latest novel is first published here!

Soon, a quick-handed squad member came with a teapot and teacups, helping Benn satisfy his master's needs.

Before Bane could even take a couple of sips of tea, Genjiro Okabe walked in from outside with a smile.

"Huh?" Bane sat up abruptly, greeting him with a smile, "Mr. Genjiro, is it because you feel more fulfilled here that you're planning to come back? You're welcome anytime; Mako has been thinking about you day and night."

"Seeing how relaxed you are, I can probably understand how he feels," Genjiro Oki joked with a chuckle.

"Hahaha, now that you're not making me your vice-captain, you're starting to tease me." Bane laughed nonchalantly.

After exchanging a few words of catching up, Genjiro Okiga said, "Lord Genryusai wanted to ask if you have time this afternoon. If you are free, he would like to invite you to have a simple meal at the headquarters."

"It's such a small matter, why bother you to make the trip yourself?" Bane said with a smile. "You know better than anyone how relaxed I am here. I'll be there on time."

"I mainly missed you after not seeing you for a few days, so I took this opportunity to visit you," said Genjiro Okiga.

There was no rush to leave. Bane even poured him a cup of tea himself. The two sat under the apple tree and chatted for the first time in a long time, talking about fertilization. From time to time, hearty laughter could be heard.

The two of them chatted idly here, while at the same time, in the underground prison, Kensei Muguruma was also carrying out his work.

From the first floor to the eighth floor, all the prisoners behaved well and there were no problems.

In fact, in the hundred years since the reorganization of the Ninth Division, the Great Prison has not been without its disturbances. There were once some prisoners who planned to escape, but before they could even leave the gate, they were blasted to pieces by the Azure Dragon Heart. In the end, the matter was dropped.

Usually, Bann and Hirako Mako would finish their work after inspecting the prison.

However, Kensei Muguruma is a serious person, so he will strictly follow the procedures. After inspecting all the cells, he will go to inspect the rest of the facilities in the Great Prison.

He had to inspect everything, from the supplies management office and monitoring room to the guards' rest room, before he could feel at ease.

Inside the supplies depot, Kensei Muguruma frowned, staring at the list in his hand, and asked in a deep voice, "Only one Zanpakuto is missing?"

The squad member in charge of managing the supplies was sweating profusely and said nervously, "Yes, Third Seat Kensei. Three months ago, we conducted a cleanup, transporting two hundred Zanpakuto that were originally stored here to the Twelfth Division's R&D Bureau. So, there aren't many Zanpakuto left here, only seventy-seven. Adding the criminals imprisoned since then, up until the last prisoner was brought in, our supplies management office should have held a total of eighty-two Zanpakuto. But today, during the count, there are only eighty-one left. There's one we can't find anywhere!"

"Have you checked the surveillance footage?" Kensei Rokusha asked in a deep voice.

"We've checked. From the last check to this check, no one has entered or left the supplies management warehouse, so it's very strange!" the team member quickly said.

"If it was for theft, they wouldn't have only stolen one." Kensei Muguruma frowned, clearly puzzled. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Whose Zanpakuto is this, named Ame-dō Zhōrū?"

"It's the Zanpakuto of Sōya Azumajō, who recently caused a massacre in the noble district and was sentenced to 120 years in the Black Rope Hell by the Central 46 Chambers of Justice." The squad member had obviously done his homework and answered immediately.

"Souya Mochijo," Kensei Rokugurashi said with a serious look in his eyes, "It's said that the massacre was caused by a Zanpakuto going berserk, which proves that this Zanpakuto is extremely dangerous. Could it be that some villain wanted to use this sword to commit crimes? Did they specifically steal it?"

But that doesn't make sense. When he was on his rounds just now, he clearly saw that Shi Cheng Shuang was still in prison.

If the master is not dead, a Zanpakuto cannot be awakened by a second person, right?

(End of this chapter)