Gateway 36

We instantly launched at each other, clashing in the middle of the training ground with a small shockwave, the bells in his hair ringing as if in joy.

Zaraki’s violent one-handed swing was strong. More on par with Doni than I’d like to admit. So much so that I was caught by surprise and almost let him overpower me in the first moments of the struggle.

But I held on, and after a few more moments of both of us trying to push the other’s sword back, Zaraki glanced at our interlocked blades before smiling wider and jumping back.

“You’re strong,” he said, his smile never leaving his face. “And I’ve seen how fast you learned the basics. Now, let’s see if I can push you into making this actually fun.”

He launched himself at me again, but this time, what I thought was another wild swing was anything but. His sword hit mine like before, but instead of pushing my sword into me, he angled his sword downward while stepping to the side, letting me stumble forward, his blade guiding mine away from him and leaving me completely open for attack.

The cut in my chest, while shallow, went from my left hip to my right shoulder, so it was relatively easy to fix with some healing spells, but the message was clear: improve or die.

Zaraki had stepped back, waiting for me to get ready for the next round, smile still in place as he attacked the moment I paid attention to him.

I was paying more attention to his form now, noting how my first impression that he only used brute strength to attack was a red herring. Each of his ‘wild’ swings were deathly precise while always giving me enough time to react, progressively getting faster as I got more comfortable wielding a sword.

Of course, that didn’t mean he was going easy on me; failing to react instantly meant I got cut. He just paced himself, so ‘instant’ was about how fast I could defend myself and not how fast he could actually attack, as evidenced by him easily keeping pace with me as I got better at reacting to his attacks.

I also cheated a little; his bells rang every time he attacked, so any change in their tune was a warning, although figuring out how he would attack was an entirely different matter.

But I learned, each clash a new technique, each cut a new lesson, and each surprise a new understanding of what it means to fight with a sword.

And then he backed off, letting me recuperate my breath and heal myself for a moment.

My new clothes were all cut up and covered in blood. Zaraki was a beast in a way neither Doni nor I were. Sure, we had our Authorities to even the playing field, but according to Ikkaku, Captains needed to be able to go into full release to get their position, so Zaraki still had two other levels of power before he was at his best. And although Yumichika’s spike in power from his release wasn’t impressive, I doubted the same could be said for Zaraki.

“Now that you’re decent on the defense, let’s see how you do attacking,” Zaraki said, opening his arms wide. “Attack with everything you have! Show me your strength!”

I took a deep breath, firming my resolve and angling my sword in a way I’d have an easier time changing things up in case the first attack failed. I’d think this was a trap if Zaraki hadn’t spent the last few minutes showing me exactly who he was, and making a trap like this didn’t feel like him.

So he was genuine; he wanted me to attack him with all that I had, at least when it came to the sword. I didn’t think throwing Runes around would get me anything but annoyance in return right now, although finding a way to incorporate both styles of combat would have to be one of my goals for my stay here.

I let the breath out, kicking off the ground with all of my strength, letting the sonic boom behind me as I carreened toward Zaraki with everything I had.

The air visibly rippled as my sword made its path to Zaraki’s chest.

And then everything stopped.

Both of Zaraki’s eyes were looking at me in disappointment, his intact eyepatch fluttering by the pressure wave my speed caused, his bare hand holding my sword by the blade, and the pressure of what felt like a 100-story building fell on my shoulders.

His hand was bloodied, and the cut looked like it hit bone, but he barely reacted to it. Instead, in a mirror of what I did to Yumichika, he kicked me off of him, leaving me gasping for breath on the ground.

“IS THIS WHAT YOU CALL AN ATTACK!?” He screamed at me. “WITH NO INTENT TO KILL!?”

I tried to answer, only to be kicked in the stomach again.

“The only reason your attack caused any damage is because your power compensated for your weak resolve,” he said, turning his back to me as he walked back to his previous position. “Get up! And be ready, I’ll show you what a real attack is like.”

I felt the pressure recede a little as I slowly got to my feet, mentally preparing myself for anything he could throw at me.

And then he was there, directly on top of me, his sword blocked by me instinctually raising my sword in defense, and the ground beneath me cratered.

Thankfully, I used my left hand to hold up the back of my blade, otherwise, I’d probably have been cut in two by the attack.

But Zaraki didn’t let up. On the contrary, he pushed harder, and his spiritual pressure massively increased, making my left leg buckle and leaving me with one knee on the ground.

The pull I felt from my sword increased, and with a look, I noticed my sword was cracking from Zaraki’s attack.

My assumption that the pull was the sword taking in my spiritual power was validated when I saw it slowly start to heal, but it wasn’t pulling fast enough to compete with Zaraki’s power.

So, I looked deep inside myself, found the source of my spiritual power, and opened the floodgates, pushing everything I could into the sword.

The change was instant: my sword instantly healed, the pressure coming from Zaraki reduced to a light weight, and the strength from Zaraki’s attack lightened considerably. But above all that, I felt energized like never before.

I took my left hand off the back of my sword and, with a slash, pushed Zaraki away from me.

Holding my sword, no, my Zanpakuto, at eye level, I inspected its new appearance.

The wood on the hilt changed to a reddish-brown to match my wand, and the cloth wrapping around it became a dark purple trimmed with gold, while the tsuba turned black with tiny gold and silver inscriptions in runic Norse and old Latin. The blade stayed the same while a look at the scabbard showed it turned the same reddish-brown as the hilt with details in dark purple and gold trim on the edges.

I lowered my Zanpakuto and looked at Zaraki, the excitement clear in his eyes, signaling to me the path forward.

I kept being taught this lesson about intent, but it never seemed to stick. I always went back to just acting without actually putting any meaning into it.

Odin, Doni, and now Zaraki. The first was by accident; the second, a lecture; but for the third, it was a barrier of entry.

I knew that if I didn’t go at Zaraki with the intent to kill, he’d reject my entry into his division, and this trip would have been a waste. I could maybe get into one of the others, but it was obvious that this was the one that’d help me the most.

So I firmed my resolve; I couldn’t keep going the way I had been. Yumichika was right that relying on tricks wasn’t doing me any favors. I had developed my entire fighting style around evading and trapping, and while that would be fine as a supplementary method of attack, it was all that I had besides unrefined brute strength. It revolved around the idea that I’d always be the weaker person in a fight, always the one at a disadvantage.

Fuck. That.

I was a Campione, I murdered a fucking God as a random kid off the street.

So what if I was the underdog in a fight? I’d faced worse odds. But that’d only happen if I let it, and it was time for me to stop letting it.

I shot a thankful smile at Zaraki, and with a bit of focus, apparated behind him and slashed at his neck.

My Zanpakuto hit air as he flash-stepped away, coming right back at me with a downward slash.

I jumped back, dearly wishing that I was skilled enough to have a hand free to cast, at least so I could conjure some doors to even the playing field a little.

As I used his missed attack as an opening to go at him again, I had a feeling on what I should do.

He blocked my horizontal attack, and as we tried to push each other back, I recited the incantation of my most underutilized Authority.

"Now you know all. Was it worth, an eyeball?”

My left eye shined, prompting Zaraki to flash-step away.

“What’s that?” He asked, eyeing me warily.

“I spent a long time without figuring out. Most of my theories about what it did didn’t pan out,” I shrugged. “But whenever I ‘instinctually’ avoided something unwanted, it showed itself by making my eye shine. I’m sure that it was doing that during our fight, right?”

“It was,” Zaraki nodded. “But that incantation you just did, it did more than just make it glow brighter, it felt like a release command for a Zanpakuto…”

“That makes sense. It does function as a sort of release command.” I agreed. “And I did it because I had the feeling, the ‘instinct’ to do so. Guess I’ll finally see what it has to offer.”

“So, wanna give up?” I taunted.

With a laugh, Kenpachi flash-stepped to my side, slashing at my throat.

But with my Authority active, it was clear to see where he would attack; it was an obvious part of his pattern, although if he had positioned his feet differently for the flash-step, he could have easily taken a more ambiguous direction.

So, I blocked his attack and retaliated one of my own, enjoying the opening he left and finally scoring a proper wound on him.

He stepped back after the hit, looking at his bloodied shoulder in something I’d call giddyness if it wasn’t coming from him.

The reprieve was short-lived, as he quickly went back into the attack. But this time, my Authority could barely keep up with him, almost as if I hadn’t used it at all.

The time for experimentation was over, so I used everything I had learned up to that point to fight. I parried, dodged, attacked, and counterattacked. As fast as I could and with all of my power, but it was never enough to fully bridge the gap.

It annoyed me to no end, but now that I understood how the Authority worked, I knew that it just made clear to me knowledge that I already had. It didn’t gift me knowledge from the Heavens or inspire me into new discoveries; it just helped me use what I already knew, giving me a clear picture to work with.

That’s why it hadn’t worked when I was trying it out: I already had a clear picture of the Runes when I tried to use it, but I didn’t know how they’d react to my use, and Doni was holding back a lot during our fights, and even when using his Authority he kept to simple patterns that I only needed ‘instinct’ to help because he was faster than I’d be able to react without it.

The same could be said about Zaraki. He had been holding back the entire fight, and even when I thought I’d matched him by activating my Authority, he just became faster, stronger, and overall more skilled than before, essentially pushing back into the status quo from before.

But I wouldn’t let myself be pushed around any longer. Using one of our clashes to concentrate, I created a simple Runic Array on my fist and punched him in the face.

The effect was instant. A tornado of fire engulfed his head, pushing him away from me.

The fire went away as quickly as it had come, but the damage was done. Zaraki was laying on the ground, the right side of his face burned, with only the movement of his chest indicating that he was still alive.

I let out a sigh, stabbing my Zanpakuto into the ground to help me hold myself up.

I had won.

And then the laughter started.

Maniacal in a way I didn’t think anyone could reach, Zaraki was laughing while slowly getting back on his feet.

I prepared myself for a renewed attack from him, focused more power into my Authority, and prepared myself to apparate at the first hint of movement from him.

In a blink, I was on the ground, a pool of blood forming beneath me, with Zaraki crouched in front of my face.

“You’re strong,” he said with an appreciative nod. “But you still have a long way to go to be my equal.”

With his part said, he got up and started screaming for one of his underlings to take me to the 4th division.

I tried to pay more attention, but it was at that point that I blacked out.

___

A/N: Welcome, everyone! To the Zaraki Kenpachi school of Git. Gud.

Alex thought he could compete with Kenpachi, of all people. Little did he know that Kenny is Him.

For the Authority, I’ve had “Excavation” by Tyr playing in my mind when I think about it since I decided on it, so it felt right to use one of its lines as the incantation. Although there are some other lines of the song I could use for it for alternative uses in the future.

As an aside, my step-father decided to have a heart attack early morning on Friday. He’s fine and already back home, but things have been kind of hectic this week because of it.

As always, thank you all for your support, and see you next week!