In an unknown small town in the Kingdom of Fiore.
The warm sunlight gently illuminated the land, and the soft, pleasant breeze blew lightly, bringing a refreshing coolness.
"Ah, another boring day…" The young man mumbled to himself, a small, unknown blade of grass dangling from his mouth as he lay on the soft lawn. "Never mind, I should just go back to eat, so that strange woman doesn't come looking for trouble again…" At this, a cute, mischievous smiling face flashed in his mind. He sighed involuntarily. That strange person gave him both a sense of resignation and a massive headache.
Getting up, he dusted the dirt off his clothes. The young man stretched leisurely and then swaggered back to his dwelling.
He was dressed in a moon-white robe. The long hem not only completely concealed his feet but also trailed along the ground behind him. The top of the voluminous robe featured a large hood. Judging by the young man's size, if he put it on, his entire head would probably be covered? Haha~
It wasn't just the hem and the hood; even the cuffs were abnormally wide! If he let his arms hang straight down, the excess fabric was easily the length of his forearm. If he wore the hood, dragged the hem, raised his hands, and went out at night, people might mistake him for a ghost…
Of course, one must not assume the young man wanted to wear this outfit. In his words, wandering around in such an eccentric get-up was utterly mortifying! Outsiders who saw him might think he couldn't afford clothes and was wearing his parents' old robes~
In reality, the young man wore these clothes purely out of duress. If that strange person hadn't insisted he wear it, using her status as his lifesaver to pressure him, he wouldn't have subjected himself to such discomfort even if you killed him!
Although he had tried to resist in the beginning, each time he was ruthlessly suppressed by that strange person using incredibly bloody and cruel methods…
Now, although he occasionally found the clothes a bit cumbersome, he had gradually grown used to them.
Reaching the hillside, he looked at the strangely styled small manor before him. The young man couldn't help but mutter to himself. The person might be strange, but I have to admit, she does have an extraordinary artistic sense… Hmm, or maybe non-human would be more appropriate!
The manor wasn't large; calling it a courtyard felt more accurate than a manor. Of course, the young man himself had internally griped about this countless times. However, that person insisted on calling the small courtyard a manor and even gave it a name that, in the young man's opinion, was utterly incongruous: The Dancing Manor!
Despite his endless complaints, the young man had no deeper opinions on the matter. At most, he just complained about it when he was bored.
Pushing open the wooden gate, which was covered in climbing vines, the young man slowly entered the courtyard—ahem, the manor. Looking at the three-story wooden villa standing at the far end of the property, he couldn't help but take a deep breath. Although he had seen it countless times, every time he looked at the small villa, the young man couldn't help but feel a deep sense of admiration. It's truly beautiful!
Yes, too beautiful! The entire small villa was built using a kind of wood that emitted a fresh scent, so it constantly radiated a faint fragrance. Smelling it instantly refreshed the spirit, as if all worries and anxieties had vanished!
Not only that, the entire wooden villa was covered and intertwined with numerous emerald-green branches, vines, and various colorful, beautiful small flowers. Combined with the backdrop of the other flora in the courtyard, the whole place was simply a hidden paradise, a fairy realm!
"What a beautiful scene. Why didn't that strange person inherit any of her mother's fine talents…" the young man mumbled again.
Lost in thought, the young man prepared to walk toward the villa. Just as he reached the halfway point, a gigantic Man-Eating Flower suddenly burst out of the ground!
"Aaarrgh—" The Man-Eating Flower let out an incredibly harsh shriek, then aggressively lunged at the prey who dared to disturb its peaceful sleep, its enormous mouth dripping with disgusting saliva!
"Hmph—" Snorting softly, he looked calmly at the Man-Eating Flower's huge, drooling mouth, which was already right in front of him. Without rushing, he casually flipped the left side of his long robe back with his left hand. As the wind gently blew, a wholly moon-white, gorgeous longsword appeared at his left hip. Tilting his body slightly, he gripped the sword's sheath with his left hand, and gently rested his right hand on the beautifully sculpted hilt.
"Clink—" Following a clear, pleasant sound produced by the collision of the two silver, hollow, elongated wind chimes attached to the pommel of the hilt, the young man drew his sword!
"Clang—" Standing behind the Man-Eating Flower, the young man slowly sheathed the longsword, his eyes slightly closed, making a subtle sound of metal friction.
"Splash—" Behind him, accompanied by the sound of gushing liquid, the gigantic Man-Eating Flower slowly split into two halves from top to bottom!
Turning his head, he looked at the corpse of the Man-Eating Flower that he had sliced in two on the ground, and the green fluid streaming everywhere. The young man felt both disgusted and exasperated. No need to ask, this must be that person's handiwork again! Last time it was the Bloodthirsty Vine, the time before that was the Flesh-Eating Tree, and the time before that was the Biting Grass. Now she even brought out a Man-Eating Flower?! What the hell! If this keeps up, who knows what monstrosity she'll conjure up next?!
Listen, if you want to make them, fine. As long as it doesn't involve me, I don't care what dangerous things you create. But—
The young man's face twitched at the thought. He hissed angrily in his mind: Why must you use me to test the power of these bizarre creations?!!
Yes, the main reason for the young man's deep resentment was that every time that strange person mastered a new magic, she loved to use him as her test subject! In the year since he was rescued by her, he had lost count of how many times he had been attacked by these inexplicably strange Wood-type magics…
This had led to the young man developing a habit of sneaking out to pass the time whenever he wasn't eating or sleeping. In his view, anywhere that person was located was essentially a danger zone! So, staying home when nothing was happening was simply too dangerous! While he was confident in his own strength, there was always the risk of being careless, and he could unexpectedly fail at any time. Therefore, it was relatively safer to stay outside!
After strengthening his crucial decision to wander around when nothing was going on, the young man dramatically tossed his messy black hair, then sauntered toward the small villa.
"Creak—" Gently pushing open the villa door, he poked his head in and cautiously looked around. After confirming there was no danger, the young man finally stepped inside.
"Whew—Looks like she's not here~" He exhaled softly. Having reached this conclusion, the young man walked into the hall with a sense of relief and slumped onto the soft, fur-covered sofa.
The young man was thirteen years old this year. He had been staying here for a full year since he was rescued on the beach by that person a year ago.
He didn't know why he had been severely injured and unconscious on the beach, nor did he remember his past identity or background. Because he had amnesia…
That's right, ever since he woke up that day, he discovered he had lost his memory. Although it sounded cliché, it was an undeniable fact! You ask: if he lost his memory, why does he still remember his age? Please, have you ever met someone with amnesia so complete? If a person had total amnesia, wouldn't they lose language, knowledge, and everything, reverting entirely to an infant state?!
In fact, almost everyone with amnesia remembers some basic common sense, and many even remember much of their prior knowledge! So, what we usually refer to as amnesia is actually only partial amnesia. People with total amnesia reverting to an infant state are rare, though not nonexistent.
The main point of all this is that, aside from basic common sense, the young man still remembers some details about his past self! Such as his age, his magic, and his gender (Duh!!!)…
Since he didn't know his former identity or remember his past memories, he had remained in this spot for an entire year.
It could be said that besides knowing his magic was "a bit" unique, he had virtually no useful information connecting him to his former identity. Even his current magic, which he had studied for over a year, still offered no definitive clues! The only thing he knew was that his Requip Magic, besides being able to equip weapons placed in his Requip Space, seemed to have a strange summoning function—namely, summoning weapons called Zanpakutō from some unknown dimension? Although this bizarre summoning had only succeeded a few times, and each time under specific circumstances…
He didn't know why he called these weapons Zanpakutō. Whenever he saw these weapons, an inexplicable urge surged within him, as if a voice inside him was constantly yelling to call these weapons by the name Zanpakutō! And so, he called them Zanpakutō…
Not only that, but each of these Zanpakutō seemed to have its own unique name. The moment he grasped them, their names would surface in his mind. He didn't know why, but he knew that whenever he called out their names, they would undergo a strange transformation. After this change, they would possess distinct, unique abilities, making them much stronger than before!
He called this transformation "Shikai." This term, too, was not something he thought up, but a term that spontaneously surfaced in his mind.
"Speaking of which…" Lying on the soft sofa, the young man stared blankly at the ceiling, whispering to himself, "Who exactly am I?…" As he pondered, the young man slowly drifted off to sleep.
In his dream, a hazy figure seemed to be talking to him constantly, but strangely, he couldn't hear a single word…