"Hey, Zaraki Kenpachi, you're not dead yet, are you?" Toshiro asked from the ground.
"Of course not. I haven't had enough of the joy of battle yet," Zaraki's voice came from not far away, where he lay fallen.
"Why? My Reiatsu was clearly stronger than yours. Why did you win?" Kenpachi suddenly asked.
"Because Hyorinmaru was helping me. I wasn't fighting alone," Toshiro said, glancing at the Zanpakuto lying beside him.
The human-form Hyorinmaru who had helped Toshiro unleash his ultimate attack had already vanished.
"There you go again," Zaraki said, still sounding unconvinced.
"Zaraki Kenpachi, what is your Zanpakuto's name?" Toshiro suddenly asked.
"Tch, I don't know. That sort of thing," Kenpachi said.
"Then, let me ask differently. Zaraki Kenpachi, what is your name?" Toshiro continued.
"Ah... Did you get your head knocked around, Hitsugaya Toshiro? My name is Zaraki Kenpachi."
Kenpachi shot Toshiro a look as if he were an idiot.
"Zaraki is the name of the 80th District of the Rukongai. Kenpachi is a title bestowed upon the strongest Shinigami generation after generation. So, that's just a name you gave yourself, right? What about before that?" Toshiro said, ignoring Kenpachi's look.
"You're right. The name Zaraki Kenpachi is one I gave myself later. Before that, I didn't have a name," Zaraki said, a rare trace of sorrow in his expression.
"It must have been painful, seeing others have names to be called by, while you had none. So, Kenpachi, your Zanpakuto is also in pain," Toshiro said.
Hearing this, Zaraki's hand gripping his sword trembled slightly.
Then, he raised his broken Zanpakuto, which is now only half its length, before his eyes.
"So you were in pain? Sorry. After I gave myself a name, I forgot the pain of having no name," Zaraki said, looking at the broken sword.
"Though it's a bit late, can you tell me your name now?" Zaraki stared at the Zanpakuto.
"Tch, still not possible, huh?"
Zaraki concentrated for a long while but didn't hear his Zanpakuto's voice.
Clatter!
Suddenly, Zaraki's grip loosened. The Zanpakuto fell to the ground, and his arm dropped limply, like the motion of someone dying in a drama.
"Ken-chan, Ken-chan..." Yachiru called out sorrowfully.
"Hey! Stop yelling. He's not dead. He just passed out," Toshiro quickly said to Yachiru.
"Really?" Yachiru said, on the verge of tears.
"Yeah. I didn't aim for a vital spot. He probably just lost too much blood and fainted. After all those injuries earlier, if he were really completely fine, he'd be truly immortal," Toshiro explained.
"Thank you, Shiro-chan. You're such a good person," Yachiru said, thanking him again.
"I don't mind the 'good person' card, but can you please not call me Shiro-chan?" Toshiro frowned.
'Shiro-chan' really wasn't a good nickname. Momo calling him that was one thing, as she'd always done so. But now Yachiru was doing it too. At this rate, the whole Soul Society would start using it.
"But Shiro-chan is Shiro-chan," Yachiru said as if it were obvious.
Toshiro showed a helpless expression. Getting Yachiru to change her way of addressing him seemed like a long and difficult task.
Then, Toshiro subtly glanced in a certain direction, revealing a meaningful expression.
'Aizen?'
…
At that moment, Aizen, hidden in the shadows observing everything, was frowning and pondering his next move, unaware that Toshiro had already sensed him.
Zaraki wanted to fight Toshiro and coincidentally ran into him? That was too much of a coincidence, so Toshiro suspected Aizen's involvement.
Thus, earlier, Toshiro had activated his [Dragon's True Eye] to survey the surroundings and indeed discovered Aizen.
As Toshiro's Reiatsu increased and he gradually mastered its use, the activation time for [Dragon's True Eye] had increased to over a minute. Using it briefly to locate Aizen didn't add much burden.
Just then, Aizen suddenly turned his head to look behind him, then instantly vanished.
Not long after Aizen disappeared, a figure swiftly passed by the area. It was Yamamoto.
'I never expected Captain-Commander Yamamoto to value Toshiro Hitsugaya so highly, to personally rush over. To avoid drawing attention, it seems I can't move against him easily for now. Well, he's already under Kyoka Suigetsu's influence anyway. He can't cause any major trouble.'
After Yamamoto passed, Aizen's figure reappeared.
…
Swish!
Yamamoto's figure instantly appeared at the scene.
"Kenpachi, you-"
As soon as he appeared, Yamamoto intended to reprimand Zaraki for disobeying his order, only to see Zaraki severely injured and unconscious on the ground.
Toshiro, although lying on the ground, seemed relatively unharmed.
"What happened?" Yamamoto asked, puzzled.
Was the one who fought Zaraki not Toshiro? But the Reiatsu he sensed was definitely Toshiro's.
The scene around them, looking as if a typhoon had passed through, confirmed that a fierce battle had indeed taken place here.
"Captain-Commander, you're here! Just now, Ken-chan and Shiro-chan had a really fun fight. But I have to clarify, Ken-chan didn't actively seek out Shiro-chan… they just happened to meet. So this doesn't count as disobeying orders, right?" Yachiru explained on Zaraki's behalf.
"Shiro-chan? You mean Hitsugaya Toshiro? So, you're the one who defeated Kenpachi?"
"Yes, Captain-Commander."
This was Toshiro's first time actually meeting Yamamoto in person.
He had two intersecting scars on his forehead, and his long, waist-length white beard was tied with a purple cord. Though advanced in years, he gave off a sense of indomitable strength.
"You truly keep surprising me, Hitsugaya Toshiro," Yamamoto remarked with a sigh.