"AAARGH!"
The poison flared.
The cells in his arm dissolved at terrifying speed, and Kizaru let out a miserable scream. The agony of flesh being stripped away was almost unbearable.
The moment his arm had been pierced by a blade coated in Armament Haki, the outcome of this battle had already been decided.
"My arm… damn it!"
Kizaru's face twisted from the pain. His right arm had vanished completely, and blood gushed from the wound like a spring.
Even though he had elementalized his body in an instant, he had still underestimated how quickly the poison would spread. In the blink of an eye, it had ridden his bloodstream through the entire arm and dissolved every last cell.
As a guardian of justice, Kizaru had lost utterly—
and the price was one of his arms.
Losing that arm did not mean he had lost his ability to fight. If he wished, he could create a replacement out of light at any time. But that substitute would never become flesh and blood again. At best, it could only serve as a temporary weapon in battle.
And yet…
what truly suffered was Kizaru's will.
In the eyes of the world, a Marine Admiral could not be defeated.
Even Kizaru himself had once believed that.
After all, aside from the power of light itself, his mastery of hand-to-hand combat, swordsmanship, and Haki had all reached extraordinary heights.
But after crossing blades with Gin Ichimaru, Kizaru finally understood how foolish that belief had been.
The silver-haired man before him—
was stronger than an Admiral.
"Admiral, you don't look so well."
Gin Ichimaru lowered his Zanpakutō with a smiling face. He could already tell Kizaru was spent. At this point, the Admiral no longer posed a real threat to him.
"I have to admit it…" Kizaru's face had turned pale, and his breathing came in uneven bursts. Even his tall frame seemed to sag. "You're unbelievably strong. Strong enough that I can't see through you at all."
"I'm a snake." Gin's smile took on that same eerie, fox-like edge. "When I meet someone interesting, I swallow them whole. That's what I am."
He lifted Kamishini no Yari slightly.
"Admiral… I imagine you're very interested in my Zanpakutō, aren't you?"
Kizaru's eyes flickered, but he did not deny it.
He really had lost unwillingly.
"The true terror of Kamishini no Yari isn't just its speed or its length," Gin said as he raised the blade and pointed at a tiny notch in it. "Its real horror lies in the moment it extends and retracts. In that instant, a fragment of the blade can break off into dust. And once I land a hit, I can leave part of that dust inside the enemy's body."
He smiled.
"See this gap here? When I pierced your arm just now, I deliberately left behind one of those powdered fragments. Hidden inside that blade is a poison that dissolves cells."
"…A terrifying sword."
Kizaru had gone bloodless.
But compared to the pain of losing an arm, what unsettled him more was Gin Ichimaru himself.
The sudden appearance of a man strong enough to match—or even surpass—an Admiral was never good news for the Marines.
And worse still—
Ren Kuro was still standing off to the side, watching like a tiger waiting for the right moment to pounce.
The moment Kizaru thought back to the intelligence report about flames that could burn the sea itself, his expression darkened further.
Now he had only two choices:
Continue fighting—
or leave in humiliation.
The first meant gambling with his life.
The second meant shattering the legend that "a Marine Admiral cannot be defeated."
Neither option favored him.
"Admiral, do you still intend to fight?" Gin leveled his Zanpakutō at Kizaru once more. "I certainly don't mind putting a few more holes in you."
The scales had tipped completely in Gin Ichimaru's favor.
Kizaru had been pushed into a dead end.
"Who exactly are you people?"
His breathing had finally steadied, but his expression remained grave as he stared at Ren Kuro. At the same time, his Observation Haki was stretched to the limit, ready for Gin to move again at any instant.
"Ren Kuro," he answered calmly as he stepped up beside Gin. "Though you can call me… Death."
"Death…"
Kizaru frowned slightly as he considered the name.
He mistook it for the name of an organization.
And after witnessing Gin's strength, there was no way a group called Death could be weak.
"Oh my, don't look at me like that," Gin said, hands tucked inside his sleeves, smiling as always. "I'm just Ren Kuro's subordinate."
"A subordinate…?"
Kizaru was genuinely stunned.
He looked at Ren Kuro again, much more deeply this time.
For a man like Gin Ichimaru to willingly stand behind him—
whatever the reason—
Ren Kuro himself had to be even more frightening.
"Kizaru…" Ren Kuro lowered his voice, while beside him Gin's Kamishini no Yari once more lined up with Kizaru's body. "You don't have much time left."
"Ren Kuro. Gin Ichimaru. Death…"
Kizaru's expression shifted again and again.
Cornered with no good path left, he finally clenched his teeth and made his choice.
"I'll remember your names."
A brilliant flash erupted—
and Kizaru vanished.
Suppressing the rage in his heart, he chose the wisest course available to him.
"Oh my… the Admiral ran away."
Gin lowered his Zanpakutō, his smile never changing, as though the brutal battle a moment ago had never happened.
"If the people at Marine Headquarters ever find out Kizaru came to Sabaody and left missing an arm…" Ren Kuro's lips curled upward. "Their expressions should be priceless."
Perhaps Headquarters would try to cover up the truth to avoid the impact.
But from this moment on, he and Gin Ichimaru were no longer unknown figures.
They had become a true nightmare for Marine Headquarters.
Because they had just accomplished the impossible.
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