The Alchemist in Bleach

Narrowing his eyes, Ichiro tightened his grip on the dragon's hand, remaining silent. What if it had some insidious tricks up its sleeve? He had to be careful, especially since he had just learned a few treacherous sword techniques from the captain a couple of days ago.

However, this time Ichiro was judging a gentleman by his own petty standards. His words contained no trap. Amakusa simply put his left index and middle fingers together and gently brushed them across the Zanpakuto. A gray light then spread across his body.

'Old coward! Bah!' He cursed inwardly. Some Zanpakuto abilities do require some action to take effect, but clearly, Amakusa's is not one of them. Through the previous exchange, Ichiro had already analyzed Amakusa's Kido fluctuations quite thoroughly.

Now is the time to accelerate oneself to the maximum extent. The ghostly fluctuations did change with his movements, but these changes were unrelated to his actions and could be triggered in an instant!

Anyone who actually tries to interrupt this "transformation"... hehe~ the consequences will definitely be quite something!

Of course, not interrupting the transformation didn't mean Ichiro did nothing. With a thought, the frequency of the electric flashes in the corners of his eyes increased, and at the same time, he stacked all the buffs that could increase his physique, so that his body wouldn't be unable to keep up with his mind, although he was already starting to struggle a bit...

The next moment, without a sound, the two disappeared from the spot!

In a darker-toned interface, the two are engaged in a fierce battle!

Swords flashed like rain, and blades gleamed terrifyingly!

On the vast training ground, only the sound of their swords clashing echoed continuously!

"Ta-da!"

Amakusa, now at full power, was slightly faster than Ichiro; the power of time was truly unreasonable!

However, Ichiro is not without his advantages. His advantage lies in his strength, which far surpasses Amakusa's. Amakusa's speed is an illusion of time, and the "speed is power" principle that some working-class people believe in does not apply to him.

This is why, despite his speed far surpassing many captain-level warriors, he could only serve as a seated officer; the difference in spiritual pressure was too great, making it impossible to break through his defenses...

Even if the defenses are breached, it's only a minor injury and doesn't matter at all.

So, in many situations, is the Zanpakuto's ability important?

important.

But is it absolutely necessary?

Not necessarily.

Even without Kyoka Suigetsu, Aizen is still Aizen. Kyoka Suigetsu is just an added bonus for him. Without Kyoka Suigetsu, his plans are simply more complicated.

Just like in the Traveler's Disaster arc, did his method of restraining Yamamoto-sama use the Mirror Flower Water Moon technique?

At this moment, Amakusa is like an infinitely weakened version of Aizen; his Zanpakuto abilities are extremely excellent, but that's all...

Therefore, even a casual counterattack from Ichiro during the battle could cause Ichiro's hand to tremble for a moment, and the more he fought, the more his hand trembled...

With another sideways turn of his head, Ichiro dodged Amakusa's thrusting sword. With a flick of his left wrist, a short sword fell to the ground. He reversed his grip and slashed fiercely at Amakusa's neck!

"call out!"

Under the influence of the power of time, Amakusa's vision is slightly different. Although Ichiro's speed is very fast, in his eyes it is just normal speed, and a normal sword swing can be dodged with just a Shunpo.

This made Ichiro sigh again. This ability was just too overpowered. He had tried several assassination sword techniques, but all of them had failed.

It must be said that, technically speaking, Amakusa was the most troublesome opponent Ichiro had ever encountered; his abilities were simply too overpowered!

As mentioned earlier, he and Urahara are tactical players. Tactics can be roughly categorized into a few types: trap-style tactics with underhanded tricks, coercive tactics with overt strategies, setup tactics with ultimate moves, insidious counter-attack tactics, and multi-layered tactics with countless trump cards.

These are the most commonly used tactics, but they all have one thing in common: they can't stand scrutiny. Give him enough time to think and observe, and he can find flaws in them. After all, they are just temporary ideas conceived during battle, and they are not perfect.

Of course, under normal circumstances, given the complexity of combat, the enemy doesn't have much time to observe, so it's not so easy to figure it out. Unfortunately, time is a powerful force...

This is the Kido that Ichiro is currently researching, a Kido he hasn't even figured out yet, and someone else has already obtained its Shikai...

This made Ichiro even more determined to figure out the principles of Fullbring, and he started stacking buffs like crazy!

But that's all in the future. Right now... it's time to end this battle!

Having tried everything they wanted to, continuing the fight wouldn't yield much benefit, and Amakusa's spiritual pressure was probably about to give out.

However, coincidentally, Amakusa thought the same thing!

As Ichiro looked on in confusion, Amakusa, who had retreated with Shunpo, did not attack again as before. Instead, he swung his Zanpakuto and stared at Ichiro with a sharp look.

next moment......

Countless slashes swept across the entire training ground!

Apart from the three-tenths of the land beneath Amakusa's feet, everywhere one looked was filled with slashes and sword energy!

"Hiss hiss hiss~~"

"Pfft pfft!"

The sounds of clothes tearing and flesh being torn were incessant!

A large amount of blood foam splattered everywhere!

------------

Chapter 89: Taking Three Seats! (1/2)

"Ichiro!" Seinosuke's eyes widened, and he was about to rush forward to save Ichiro, but was stopped by the captain beside him. He asked in confusion, "Captain?"

"Don't worry, Ichiro is alright. Sensing carefully... Amakusa's Zanpakuto is reversing the slashes from that period of time, but Amakusa's slashes can't hurt Ichiro. Don't forget the Kido on his body. What hurts him is his own slashes. But have you forgotten? Ichiro's swordsmanship is terrible..." The captain looked at the situation on the field, a smile on his lips, and spoke slowly and deliberately.

Hearing this, Seinosuke calmed down and sensed the situation on the training ground. Indeed, Ichiro's aura was still strong; nothing serious had happened, only the scene was rather frightening. However, something bad might be about to happen...

Thinking this, Kiyonosuke glanced furtively at the smiling captain, and couldn't help but feel sorry for Ichiro. He'd studied swordsmanship with the captain for so long, and this was how it turned out...

Good luck to you!

However, they remained calm, but the others were not. Seeing the horrifying scene on the field, the entire audience instantly erupted in cheers!

A jumble of voices erupted instantly, some concerned about Ichiro's situation, some cursing Amakusa, and even some of the team members who had received the most guidance from Ichiro had drawn their Zanpakuto!

If it weren't for the barrier around the training ground, they would have already rushed up by now.

However, it wasn't just them; Amakusa on the field was also panicking!

As one of the few in the team who knew Ichiro's strength, he had assumed Ichiro could withstand such an attack, but who knew...

Fortunately, sensing the panic among the crowd, Ichiro, amidst the flashing sword, let out a helpless smile and unleashed his full spiritual pressure!

"call!!!"

A gust of wind swept by, the sky full of sword light disappeared, and the blood mist dissipated, revealing Ichiro, who was at the center of the storm of swords.

Ichiro, his upper body bare with a huge scar across his waist, slowly sheathed his sword. The attack had indeed injured him, but that was all. The amount of bleeding looked alarming, but it was actually just a superficial wound that he could easily heal himself without needing any help.

At this point, there's no need to fight anymore, because Amakusa's spiritual pressure is gone, while he has only used up a little bit of it; the outcome is already decided.

On the other side, although everyone was surprised by the huge knife wound on Ichiro's body that ran from his right shoulder to his left abdomen, it was clear that it was not caused at this time. Apart from his upper clothes being completely shredded and his lower pants being somewhat torn, Ichiro's breathing was still normal and he had not suffered any serious injuries, which put everyone's minds at ease.

The head referee breathed a sigh of relief and quickly announced Ichiro's victory, thus concluding the battle for the seat.

"Amakusa-senpai's swordsmanship is truly astonishing. I never expected him to have such a powerful sword technique at the end. If your slash had been just one level stronger, the outcome might have been quite different." Ichiro said with a smile after putting the demonic dragon back into his waistband.

Amakusa shook his head: "It's not that easy. Your spiritual pressure training is still lacking. As for your swordsmanship, Lord Ichiro, it seems a bit... a bit..." After hesitating for a moment, Amakusa was too embarrassed to say it. After thinking for a while, he advised with slight hesitation, "I think it would be better for Lord Ichiro not to learn so many swordsmanship techniques. Specializing in one style might lead to greater achievements."

Ichiro paused for a moment, understanding Amakusa's unspoken meaning: with such poor talent, there's no point in learning so much; it was just a more tactful way of putting it...

However, do you think Ichiro would want that? If he could master just one sword technique, would he need to play around with this?

So she smiled and brushed it off, then glanced at the smiling captain, a chill creeping into her heart. After a moment's hesitation, she walked over anyway; some things, after all, couldn't be avoided...

'World, help me rebuild my Shinigami armor.'

'Okay, Ichiro-sama. '

A faint spiritual light rose, and a brand-new set of Shinigami uniform appeared on his body, covering the knife wound on his chest caused by the captain. At the same time, the world thoughtfully added a sleeve with the Three Seats insignia to his right arm.

"Captain... I won..." Walking up to the captain, Ichiro reported to the captain with some trepidation, amidst the surprised gazes of Suzuran and Mob's best friend.

"Hmm, not bad, you didn't disappoint me. But you can't neglect your training. Practice ten extra sets of sword techniques every day! Put the other training aside for now." With that, the captain turned and left.

Seeing this, Ichiro breathed a sigh of relief. Although the plan with Urahara and the others would be delayed for a while, overall it was alright. At least the captain wasn't angry because of his mistake in swordsmanship!

However......

Just as Ichiro was secretly delighted, the captain in front paused, turned his head slightly to look at Ichiro, and said, "Every day, we'll practice swordsmanship together in the special training ground, in my All Extinction."

"!!!" Ichiro's face turned pale instantly as he watched his captain's departing figure!

Practicing in the All-Ending Realm means that the opponent he is practicing against is the captain... But given the difference in swordsmanship between him and the captain, calling it practice is somewhat insulting to the captain. In reality, he is just there to be a human wooden stake for the captain to chop down, passively absorbing the essence of swordsmanship!

Although the effect was indeed remarkable, with his swordsmanship improving after each cut, it was worse than death!

But would he dare to refuse?

The extra's best friend looked curiously at the slowly departing captain, then at Ichiro, and asked, "The captain personally gave you pointers, aren't you happy?"

"Hehe~ I'm happy, how could I not be happy~"

Despite this, neither Mob's best friend nor Suzuran saw any joy on Ichiro's face. They exchanged a glance, somewhat puzzled. After thinking for a moment, Mob's best friend decided to distract Ichiro and quickly said, "By the way, the people in my class have made plans to get together tonight. Let's go together! Everyone must want to see Yue too."

Receiving a knowing look from her friend, Linglan cleverly replied, "Yes, I miss them too. Let's go now, it wouldn't be good to keep them waiting."

Ichiro glanced at Suzuran. Suzuran was a minor character whose best friend wanted to meet them. Ichiro thought, "Suzuran? She didn't talk much to her classmates during her school years. After all, she couldn't speak back then. The only people she interacted with the most were Ichiro and his friends."

However, Ichiro didn't expose her, after all, it was for his own good, and he did have something to tell Urahara and the others. Plans can't keep up with changes, and that matter had to be postponed.

So, after exchanging a few words, the three of them began to walk outside.

"Ichiro, what's that scar on your chest? It looks scary. Can't you get it removed?"

"That one? That was from when the captain cut me. It was the first time I practiced swordsmanship with the captain. I used it to motivate myself. There were no lasting effects. All the other wounds have been removed."

"..." From Ichiro's casual words, Mob's best friend could sense the bitterness in them, but her attention was quickly diverted. She noticed a key piece of information in Ichiro's words, "Is the captain's swordsmanship very strong?"

"Well, don't let the captain's appearance fool you. When it comes to swordsmanship, she's the strongest in Soul Society! It's just that she's focused on medicine in recent years, so not many people know that."

"Amazing..."

------------

Chapter 90 Expedition Plan (2/2)

On the way there, Ichiro gradually adjusted his mindset. No matter how hard or tiring it was, it was a matter for tomorrow and had nothing to do with today!

Or rather, precisely because we're going to have a tough time starting tomorrow, we should make the most of what we have now!

.......

And so, after the three of them parted ways, they went straight to an izakaya (Japanese pub). The battle for seats lasted for almost a whole day. This was only the Fourth Division. In most other divisions, all seats could be taken by force, and the fighters were much stronger. Some of them could fight for several days without any problem.

Overall, there were quite a few people on the first evening, some celebrating, some comforting, and others just stopping by for a drink. Everyone gathered together, making it quite difficult to reserve a table.

But...