Night had fallen, and the moon glowed bright in the sky.
Rosen withdrew his gaze from the heavens and turned his eyes to the two Shinigami captains standing before him. Draped in their haori, each gripped a Zanpakutō, their oppressive spiritual pressure thick enough to make the air itself heavy.
One of them Rosen had glimpsed before, during the extraordinary enlightenment when he first visualized his own Zanpakutō.
Ichimaru Gin.
The other was a white-haired boy with a piercing, cold gaze. Rosen had never seen him in person before, but he recognized him immediately.
"...Ichimaru Gin," Rosen murmured.
"And besides him—Hitsugaya Tōshirō."
A captain of the Gotei 13.
The wielder of Hyōrinmaru.
"So that's it…"
"You want me to forge this Zanpakutō with my hands? The strongest ice-and-snow type?"
Just thinking about it, Rosen felt a long-lost thrill of anticipation rise in his chest.
Having pushed the Arms-Arms Fruit to its current level and hand-forged countless Zanpakutō into existence, he hadn't felt excitement like this in ages. Even when forging the Espada's blades, even Ulquiorra Cifer's Murciélago with its overwhelming presence, he had only felt faint ripples in his heart…never this pulse of expectation.
Nothing else had managed to move him.
Partly because his own power had reached the summit of the seas—few things could still shake him.
And partly because he had already Forged so many Zanpakutō that even the most famous ones could no longer stir his blood.
But Hyōrinmaru… Hyōrinmaru was different.
This was the strongest ice-type Zanpakutō, rivaling Ryūjin Jakka itself.
A blade so mighty that even a prodigy like Hitsugaya Tōshirō struggled to wield it, able to unleash only fragments of its true strength.
Under Rosen's watchful eyes, Tōshirō suddenly leapt into the night sky, as though ascending like a dragon. He raised his Zanpakutō high, as if commanding all the heavens above Soul Society.
"Sit upon the Frozen Heavens"
His Icy shout Split the air, and the atmosphere froze over, the temperature plummeting at a speed visible to the naked eye. The Zanpakutō in his grasp blazed with a terrifying cold.
A deep, chilling roar Echoed.
The blade transformed, birthing a massive ice dragon, its body coiling with claws outstretched and fangs bared. Hovering high above Soul Society, the Dragon reigned supreme.
"Hyōrinmaru!"
With a sweeping motion of his blade, Tōshirō sent the dragon surging forward. It plunged from the heavens like a storm, its serpentine body freezing everything in its wake as its jaws snapped wide to devour Ichimaru Gin below.
Crack.
The vision shattered like glass. The scene froze the moment Hyōrinmaru was unleashed, then broke apart into countless fragments.
The world returned.
The massive Warship stretched like a steel beast across the waves.
On its deck, Borsalino and Sengoku, both clad in the cloak of justice, stood side by side. A short distance away, Douglas Bullet continued his tireless training.
Along with the vision, new information surged into Rosen's mind.
…
[Your extraordinary comprehension has borne fruit. In your battle with Douglas Bullet, you repeatedly used your Devil Fruit abilities, evolving the Arms-Arms Fruit to a higher level. By visualizing yourself and merging that power, you have gained a unique skill: Hyōrinmaru.]
Hyōrinmaru (Exclusive Skill): The strongest ice-and-snow Zanpakutō. By your extraordinary enlightenment through Hitsugaya Tōshirō's release, you can summon overwhelming frost, create colossal ice dragons, and command the weather itself to dominate the skies.
…
When Rosen finished absorbing the information, his eyes gleamed. Uncontainable joy surged in his chest.
It truly was Hyōrinmaru.
The mightiest of the ice system.
At last, his Arms-Arms Fruit had reached the point where he could forge the strongest class of Zanpakutō.
Though it was only the Shikai stage for now, unlike Hitsugaya's half-developed state, Rosen could unleash its full potential from the very start.
Just as Yamamoto Genryūsai could wield Ryūjin Jakka's Shikai to crush nearly any Bankai, so too could Rosen wield Hyōrinmaru's Shikai as though it were an ultimate technique.
In Hitsugaya's hands, Hyōrinmaru was little more than an ice dragon.
But in Rosen's hands, Hyōrinmaru could truly command the skies and bend the weather itself.
After all, Rosen was no longer the man he had been mere months ago, when he first set sail for the Grand Line and obtained the Buki-Buki no Mi.
His mastery over both his fruit and his three forms of Haki had since reached the apex of the ocean.
Even though Hyōrinmaru had only just manifested through his hands, Rosen could already control it flawlessly. He was nothing like Hitsugaya Tōshirō, struggling to rein in its might.
Back then, when Rosen first forged Senbonzakura, he had needed to gradually grow stronger to draw out its power. But now, he no longer needed such a process.
Once he hand- Forged a Zanpakutō, he could wield it perfectly.
He was simply too strong.
…
"It's happening again!"
Borsalino's head snapped toward Rosen, sunglasses glinting.
Sengoku's eyes sharpened at once. Even Bullet, mid-training, froze in place and stared wide-eyed at Rosen.
At this moment, all three of them fixed their gazes on Rosen. Their eyes burned with astonishment.
"This man…" Bullet muttered, disbelief thick in his voice. "Doesn't he have any limits?"
Even now—
Already this Strong—
Rosen still grew stronger.
"Junior… you really are terrifying."
For once, the shock in Borsalino's eyes was so great that even his shades couldn't hide it.
After all, once he himself had turned forty, no amount of training or battle had allowed his Haki, his swordsmanship, or even his Pika Pika no Mi to grow significantly. At most, the changes were negligible.
Yet Rosen's aura had grown by at least thirty percent since his duel with Douglas Bullet.
"How… is that possible?"
At Rosen's level, standing on the absolute summit of the sea, there should have been no room left to grow.
And yet..
He was still advancing.
Still climbing.
Unlike Borsalino and Zephyr, Sengoku had not been with Rosen during the entire ordeal of Impel Down's Infinite Hell, and so had not witnessed with his own eyes how Rosen's power grew day after day.
Thus, when his Observation Haki told him that Rosen's aura had surged after the clash with Bullet, he did not feel surprised.
He felt horror.
Even though Sengoku had seen it once before, when Rosen battled Patrick Redfield
The sight of it happening again left him shaken.
He knew what it meant.
When Sengoku himself was in his thirties, he had already reached the pinnacle of the seas. From there, his growth had slowed to a crawl. Over the next ten years, while he had advanced, the progress had been marginal at best.
Not because of poor talent—Sengoku was a legend, a king among Marines. But because every human had limits.
Even kings.
Every great emperor of the seas was the same.
Roger. Whitebeard. Garp. Kaidō. Big Mom.
In their youths, they had reached the pinnacle. With age, their strength no longer increased—it decayed, year by year.
Their bodies, spirits, and even their Haki weakened with time.
But Rosen…
He continued to grow, endlessly, like no one Sengoku had ever seen before.
Even in his long life, spanning eras and watching countless heroes rise and fall, Sengoku had never witnessed a phenomenon like this.
...
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