The conversation continued.
"Ichigo…"
"Honestly, it's not your fault…"
"This is your first time entering your inner world in a released state, so it's normal that you wouldn't recognize me…"
He gripped with his backhand.
As the camera moved, it focused on the young Yhwach's right hand.
In the next instant, a black Tensa Zangetsu—identical in style to the one Kurosaki Ichigo usually wielded—appeared!
Then, without any extra explanation, the young Yhwach swung the blade with both hands, chopping casually.
That black edge showed no mercy as it came straight down at Ichigo's face.
And as if he had already seen through Ichigo's thoughts, he rejected him coldly:
"I don't care what you want to protect!"
"Ichigo… you need to understand something. What you want to protect is not what I want to protect!"
"So… there's no way I'm teaching you an ability like the Final Getsuga Tenshō!"
Those words—exposed through the ranking video and transmitted into the real world, especially into the Shadow Realm—made the Wandenreich's pure-blood Quincies feel like the sky was falling all over again!!!
"Huh?!"
"No, wait—this—"
"Why does it sound like the young His Majesty is confessing to Kurosaki Ichigo?!"
"Like, 'Whatever happens to the outside world, I'll submit to you alone!'"
"Damn! Was His Majesty an immigrant as a kid or something?!"
"Is his real hometown in Chengdu, in the Dragon Nation?!"
In that moment, the pure-blood Quincies felt like the sky had collapsed.
At first, just seeing the young Yhwach appear was already enough to make them want to drop to their knees on the spot.
Which basically meant they were kneeling to Kurosaki Ichigo.
But now?
He wasn't even pretending anymore!
Right in front of the entire world's audience, he was openly, warmly pouring out his heart!
That sheer contrast made the pure-blood Quincies start questioning their entire existence.
A His Majesty like this…
How could he possibly become the future "dark Soul King" who would destroy the world?
Even someone who'd been thoroughly "trained" wouldn't swing this hard into a different personality.
Or was it true…?
Was he really from Chengdu?
Was Kurosaki Ichigo his number-one pick on the must-eat list?
In any case, after that scene aired, the Wandenreich's strong fighters found their attitude toward Kurosaki Ichigo—and toward his Zanpakutō, Zangetsu—turning extremely… delicate.
Even both versions of Yhwach had outright said they'd protect him to the death.
And after being hit by that, those subordinates' thoughts scrambled to the point they couldn't even tell anymore:
Was Kurosaki Ichigo still an enemy… or not?!!!
——
Then the video fast-forwarded.
And something even more shocking happened!
"Look closely!"
"This world—look at what it's become now… the entire town has been swallowed by seawater!"
"And it's all because you, Ichigo, took a step into despair!!!"
The moment he finished speaking, the young Yhwach flickered in close.
He appeared right in front of Ichigo.
From beneath the black cloak, a blade-like arm extended—and under the crushing pressure of pure hostility, it drove forward—
Violently stabbing into Kurosaki Ichigo's body!
A perfect reenactment of what Ulquiorra once did in Hueco Mundo!
And on top of it, he said coldly:
"I won't let your condition stay like this forever… Ichigo."
"Right now. Immediately. I'm going to drag out the root of your despair!!!"
Before the stunned, disbelieving eyes of the entire world's audience…
the young Yhwach's arm pulled back with force.
And then—right before everyone—
he forcibly tore something out from inside Ichigo's body:
a white, blood-smeared shadow.
"This is…"
"Holy—!!!"
"Vasto Lorde Ichigo—an inverted-color version?!!!"
"That has to be White, right?!"
"So that battle up above… the reason Vasto Lorde Ichigo appeared was because of that thing!"
"But if you count everything so far, this is White's third form, isn't it?"
"That's terrifying!!!"
In that instant, the entire Bleach world shook.
Shinigami, Hollows, humans, and pure-blood Quincies…
almost every race—
regardless of strength—
the whole world's audience was collectively stunned, completely overwhelmed by that white, horned Ichigo image!!!
Immediately, that battle scene against the bat-winged demon came flooding back—vivid, complete, unforgettable.
That brutal, extreme violence Vasto Lorde Ichigo displayed…
and the soul-deep fear it carved into everyone…
made the audience start trembling all over again.
Their deepest fear was dragged back to the surface—again.
"Tch, tch, tch…"
"The person who least wants to see this scene is probably Ulquiorra, huh?"
"Getting your corpse whipped over and over… even thick skin can't take that forever…"
Gin Ichimaru curled his mouth into a grin and glanced back toward where Ulquiorra stood.
Sure enough—
he was right.
The moment that white, horned Ichigo appeared, Ulquiorra's brow furrowed.
His face twitched.
Then he shut his eyes in helpless resignation.
An obvious stress reaction.
The instant he saw Vasto Lorde Ichigo, he reflexively tried to escape the sight.
He really had been beaten into a psychological shadow!!!
And around them—
the other Hollows and Arrancar had been talking plenty about the young Yhwach.
They weren't especially afraid of this "new spirit" showing up.
But the white, horned Ichigo…
was the complete opposite.
The instant he appeared, it was like he came with a built-in "mute" effect for the entire battlefield.
In less than three seconds, the Arrancar army went dead silent, barely daring to breathe.
Like mice staring at a cat—
one step away from flattening themselves to the ground, shaking as they watched.
"Damn it…"
"I thought Vasto Lorde Ichigo was just a one-time thing—like a flash in the pan—that he wouldn't show up so easily again!"
"And now… he got yanked out on purpose!!!"
Nnoitra clenched his teeth.
The pressure rolling off that white, horned Ichigo—
that overwhelming, life-ranking dominance shared only among Hollows—
made it hard for him to even speak.
If White opened his mouth next—
if that familiar voice came out—
Nnoitra honestly suspected his bones might collapse from fear.
Like his whole body would fall apart.
He simply couldn't bear the oppression of the strongest Hollow in history!!!
——
Meanwhile, under the terrified gaze of the entire Arrancar army throughout Hueco Mundo…
the white, horned Ichigo landed.
In a close-up, he reached up and pulled open his mask.
White Ichigo's face was revealed.
He grinned savagely and greeted him first:
"Yo… Ichigo. Long time no see!"
At the same time, the young Yhwach stood beside him.
With an openly hostile stance, he spoke in a low voice toward Kurosaki Ichigo:
"Ichigo… you know it yourself."
"It's because you're afraid of this form that you deliberately hold yourself back."
"That's why you refuse to take that heavy step forward."
"Am I wrong?"
Black tailcoat.
Even in the seawater, it snapped and fluttered, giving off an unmistakably distinctive aura.
The young Yhwach's voice echoed through this inner world, unusually loud.
"So?"
"What do you want me to do?"
"Fight this guy… and then defeat him?!"
Kurosaki Ichigo asked hesitantly.
Even now, he still treated White as an enemy.
He didn't understand White's existence at all—
that it represented both his Shinigami power and his Hollow power.
"No."
With a cold shake of his head, the young Yhwach's next words stunned Ichigo—
and made the entire world's audience feel blindsided.
"The opponent you must defeat isn't just him."
"Because… the two of us have always been one and the same!!!"
As those words fell—
a scene so shocking it shattered everyone's assumptions unfolded before the eyes of the entire world.
Bang!!!
Like a mirror cracking into pieces.
As the camera gave a close-up of White and the young Yhwach—
their bodies shattered at the same time, breaking into countless points of light.
Within a brilliant shimmer, those lights floated in the seawater, drifting together, blending into one.
And soon, they fused into a completely new individual!!!
"Holy…"
"What even is this…"
"Spirits can fuse?!""
"My god! A horned White and a young Yhwach were already enough to blow people's minds!"
"And now there's going to be yet another form—after they fuse?!"
"One family, three supreme beings—Kurosaki Ichigo, are you trying to break the rules of reality?!"
Shock.
Astonishment.
The whole world's audience had their worldview blown apart again.
No one imagined that the young Yhwach—representing pure-blood Quincy power—
and White—Zangetsu's original spirit, the manifestation of Shinigami power and Hollow power—
could actually fuse.
And by doing so, stack Zangetsu's power to a true peak.
A scene that had never been revealed before.
A once-in-forever spectacle!!!
"I see…"
"I think I'm starting to understand what Zangetsu's true form will look like in the future… and what kind of blade it will be."
Inside the Urahara shop—
staring at the fusion playing on screen—
Urahara Kisuke's mind spun at full speed.
High intelligence, plus the imagination that comes with cutting-edge research…
made a bold hypothesis burst into his head—
Could it be…?!
The Zanpakutō Kurosaki Ichigo has been holding all this time…
even after being released—
isn't complete at all?
And Zangetsu's true form—its real shape and appearance—
combined with the fusion of the two spirits and the merging of their powers—
everything that had just happened—
Urahara Kisuke made a decisive call.
He narrowed his eyes and spoke slowly, word by word, daring to guess:
"I think the true Zangetsu might actually be… a pair of swords."
His gaze swept around.
Across Yoruichi, Tessai, Isshin Kurosaki, and the others beside him.
Then Urahara continued:
"Yes… you heard me right. Just like Katen Kyōkotsu and Sōgyo no Kotowari—paired Zanpakutō."
"The difference is… Ichigo's Zangetsu should be able to overlap into one blade—or lock together as one."
Just from that one scene alone,
Urahara seemed to flip on a god's-eye view—like he'd been spoiled in advance—
becoming the first to step out and make a prophecy!!!
And when the others heard that, their shock intensified.
Their thoughts took an even harder hit.
"Zangetsu is dual blades?!" Tessai blurted, stunned, half-disbelieving. "Shopkeeper… I have to say, your thinking really is… wild."
"You can tell that from this?"
It wasn't that Tessai wanted to doubt him.
It was just that dual-blade Zanpakutō were extremely rare in the Gotei 13.
Even across Soul Society's entire history, they were few and far between.
Katen Kyōkotsu didn't even need to be discussed—
its terrifying combat power had already been shown in full in the earlier ranking.
As for Sōgyo no Kotowari…
it hadn't made the top ten and wasn't fully revealed by the ranking video.
But relying only on Ukitake Jūshirō's standing—
one of the rare captains at the very top tier, and possibly even the vessel for the Soul King's right arm—
was more than enough to prove Sōgyo no Kotowari's uniqueness.
It wouldn't be weak. Not remotely.
But the problem was—
since this round of rankings began, ever since Ichigo became a Shinigami…
his Zangetsu had always been a single cleaver-like blade.
And every time he fought, Ichigo held it with both hands.
That was something the audience had long since gotten used to.
So how could it possibly—
in the future—
suddenly become dual blades?
It was absurdly hard to believe!!!
"Heh."
Urahara Kisuke swayed his folding fan.
After taking in the doubt on everyone's faces, he smiled lazily.
"Don't believe me? Then keep watching."
"I can say this for sure: even the current released Tensa Zangetsu cannot be the final form."
"As for when it'll be revealed… that depends on how the story progresses."
Not knowing the future—
not knowing everything that would happen to Ichigo during the Thousand-Year Blood War—
Urahara's imagination still had no ceiling.
He couldn't precisely say that Zangetsu might later be reforged again.
But even guessing the dual-blade form…
already showed his genius in full.
Back in the video—
under the audience's stunned gaze—
after the spirits fused and were rebuilt, the new form finally shone into view.
A tall body remained crouched, then slowly stood.
A wide white outer robe, black inner garments.
The horn on the helmet was reduced to a single horn—and it was black.
Even stranger—
after the fusion, the spirit's eyes were different.
One eye gleamed a bright golden yellow.
The other was a darker, amber-brown.
A clear symbol:
Shinigami power, Hollow power, and pure-blood Quincy power…
had now completely fused into one.
And only at this moment—
did Zangetsu reach its true peak.
A full, unconstrained state—
with no shackles, no limits!!!
"This new spirit…"
"It should have power on the level of the Soul King, shouldn't it?"
"Four-in-one power… no wonder he can crush Hōgyoku Aizen later!!!"
Inside Squad One,
Kyōraku Shunsui wiped at sweat.
Just from one glance, he felt a crushing pressure at the level of the soul coming from Zangetsu's spirit.
It was horrifying.
As he couldn't help looking up in awe—
he also felt a certain despair he couldn't even put into words.
And that sensation…
was something he had never felt during the previous ranking—or any time after.
Neither Hōgyoku Aizen nor any blood-marked monster had ever brought that feeling.
"Heh."
"Defeat something that invincible? Don't make me laugh."
Across from him, Kurotsuchi Mayuri sneered.
With awe—and a good dose of envy—he mocked:
"If this were anyone else, any strong fighter who isn't beyond the limits… one slash and they'd die to this fused spirit."
"Only Kurosaki Ichigo…"
"I'd bet the fight won't even be intense."
"Most likely, the spirit itself will take the initiative—offering up its own power as a sacrifice—so Ichigo can withstand and unleash the fully realized Final Getsuga Tenshō head-on."
"That's why he can crush Hōgyoku Aizen afterward."
And then Mayuri added at the end:
"That kind of VIP treatment… only Kurosaki Ichigo, as the protagonist…"
"gets to enjoy it so easily."
(End of Chapter)
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