"Waaah!!"
"Please! Please marry me!"
"I beg you!!"
At noon.
On the bustling street, a boy's desperate cries instantly drew the attention of the surrounding crowd.
A glance.
The boy had pure black hair and wore rough hemp clothes, appearing quite poor.
Currently, he was clutching a girl's skirt, refusing to let go.
Even as he sat collapsed on the ground, letting the girl pull with all her might, he wouldn't release his hands.
The veins on his arms bulged abruptly due to intense emotional fluctuations.
Tears splattered onto the girl's clothes as he cried.
This made the girl reveal an expression of utter disgust.
She looked exactly like someone who had seen a pervert.
Although the girl's clothes were not extravagant, they were worlds apart from the boy's. Some people couldn't help but frown at the sight.
They had intended to step forward and help the girl.
But they never expected.
They suddenly heard several statements with an extremely strong contrast.
"Damn it! You good-for-nothing, get lost!"
"Agatsuma Zenitsu! I'm telling you, you have no value left, do you understand?!"
"Marry?! Look at your cowardly self! Who would marry a good-for-nothing like you! I was just playing with you!"
"If you don't let go, I'll have my man teach you a lesson!"
She said, looking towards a spot.
That was an Izakaya.
Several burly men inside heard the sound, pulled back the curtain, and walked towards the girl.
Agatsuma Zenitsu's face turned pale at this.
He still found it hard to believe.
Whether it was the girl's subconscious self-address.
Or her words that she already had a husband.
Every single thing was shattering his worldview.
His pupils trembled, and his voice wavered:
"No… impossible!!"
"Saoriko, you promised me!"
He clutched the girl's skirt, ignoring that he was tearing it from the excessive force.
"You said you would marry me! For this, I spent all my family's wealth, even bought a house!"
"I even filled out the deed with your name… But why are you treating me like this?! What did I do wrong?! I loved you so much!"
"You… you must be lying to me, right?"
He took a deep breath, forcing a smile, but tears flowed uncontrollably.
The colour drained from his face as the girl sneered.
"Lying to you?"
"You good-for-nothing… You can't even tell the difference between true love and false affection, you deserve to be deceived."
"However, I didn't lie about your money, only your feelings, so even if you report me to the authorities, they can't do anything to me."
"The money for the house, you willingly spent it on me, so I'll gladly accept it. Now, let's talk about the huge loan you took out to buy the house."
She leaned down slightly, her tone cold and mocking, like a seasoned con artist.
Her eyes swept over his tear-stained clothes, and she spat in disgust, then picked up the tattered skirt with one hand before brutally kicking Agatsuma Zenitsu.
"Disgusting fellow."
Zenitsu remained frozen in place, unable to move.
By the time the burly men reached him.
His worldview had collapsed.
He had even stopped breathing.
Until…
"Ow, ow, don't hit me, don't hit me!"
"Give me a chance!"
"I'll pay the money back!"
His cries were utterly miserable; considering his predicament, it was enough to make listeners grieve and weep.
Accompanied by the thudding sounds of being beaten, for a time, even passersby instinctively walked around the Izakaya.
"So noisy…"
At this moment.
By the roadside.
A red-haired man, who had just passed a tea shop and was about to rest and have a cup of tea, instinctively looked towards the source of the sound.
Listening to the whispers of the surrounding crowd, he had just picked up his teacup, watching the tea leaves float, but hadn't even taken a sip.
His hand unconsciously paused in mid-air.
His gaze shifted.
—Bullies?
It's already the Taisho era.
Why can't they settle down?
Bang!
Putting down the teacup, he abruptly stood up.
While feeling at his waist, where his Zanpakuto was hidden under his clothes.
He lamented how bizarre this world was.
A respectable man could be swindled out of all his family's wealth by a woman.
In the Sengoku period, not committing seppuku would be an insult to his birth parents.
Step.
Taking a step forward with his right foot, he placed a coin on the table, picked up the straw hat beside him, and walked straight towards the Izakaya.
On the way, a limping old man with a staff noticed him.
At the same time, the old man also noticed the boy being beaten inside the Izakaya.
Agatsuma Zenitsu was being stepped on by a burly man.
As the wooden door was pulled open, passersby outside saw Zenitsu's bruised and swollen face.
His eyes were swollen into slits.
At this moment, Zenitsu kept shouting that he would pay back the money, his voice had somehow become hoarse, and his tears had long dried up.
The dried blood on his face was particularly jarring.
The burly man sneered, hearing his words: "Five hundred yen (during the Taisho period, the average worker's salary was 5 yen/month), even if we sell you, you can't pay it back."
"But… the madam is willing to give you a chance."
"As long as you agree to sell yourself into servitude, your debts will be cleared."
"Consider it."
"An opportunity to repay five hundred yen all at once doesn't come around often."
Although they said it would be cleared, in reality, after Agatsuma Zenitsu agreed, they would sell him to clients with special fetishes.
After all, Saoriko knew exactly what men would do when they went crazy, so it was best to keep him out of sight. Killing him was not an option.
Otherwise, when it came to scamming money, she wouldn't have to beat around the bush.
Coincidentally, Agatsuma Zenitsu's appearance was decent, and his tendency to burst into tears at the slightest provocation increased his value by several notches.
No one was more suitable than he.
The burly man recalled the madam's words, sneering inwardly. As if hearing his thoughts, Agatsuma Zenitsu shivered.
He could discern the truthfulness of others' words just by listening.
He had avoided many dangers using this ability.
However, when facing women.
For some reason.
It never worked.
Man…
"No… no!"
With unknown strength, Agatsuma Zenitsu screamed again.
He struggled violently, his arms suddenly exerting force, pressing against the ground.
Like a god descending from heaven, he flipped the two-hundred-pound burly man behind him onto the ground!
Agatsuma Zenitsu attempted to escape.
Seeing this.
The limping old man's eyes lit up.
A prodigy!
He was worried that no one would fully inherit the Breath of Thunder, and feeling annoyed, he had decided to wander down the mountain.
As soon as he came down, he saw a prodigy in terms of explosive power.
The Breath of Thunder required strong explosive power.
He!
He was exactly the person he was looking for!
Thud!
His staff pierced the ground. Sangishima Jigorō, pretending to be an ordinary old man to avoid causing a disturbance, quickly rushed towards that spot.
About a hundred meters from Agatsuma Zenitsu.
Zenitsu was caught by the burly man's subordinates.
The burly man got up from the ground, dusted himself off, and rushed over with a furious expression, mercilessly stepping on Agatsuma Zenitsu.
He cursed: "You ungrateful wretch!"
His large fist was about to fall.
Just then.
Yoriichi, wearing a straw hat, suddenly appeared beside him, placing a hand lightly on his shoulder, his eyes calm:
"Hey."
"You fellow."
"Don't you feel ashamed of bullying a young boy?"
"Why can scum like you be found in every world?"
(Yoriichi's personality changed three times: first, when Uta died; second, when he was old; third, after living in South Rukongai for some time.
Kindness to evil people is evil to the innocent; Yoriichi learned this after letting Kibutsuji Muzan escape.)