Gateway 35

I stood in the middle of the training ground, the shining sun and clear blue sky making for a pleasant morning as I waited for the minor scuffle between the three men who were apparently competing for the 20th seat position to finish deciding who would fight me, noticing Zaraki had laid down sideways on the ground to watch the fight, with the little girl sitting on his side as she ate some candy.

According to Ikkaku, ‘The Gauntlet’ was a tradition of the 11th that happened whenever a seated officer from another division transferred in. He didn’t explain more than that, but it wasn’t hard to understand that it was a mix of finding the newcomer’s position in the ranks and deciding on the pecking order, which, going from how no one cared about the scuffle happening in front of all of the superior officers of the division, seemed to be the same thing.

I wasn’t worried. After our initial clash, Zaraki’s ‘presence’ lessened to a degree, and while I was changing, I noticed that I could still feel it clearly.

From that, it didn’t take long for me to realize that everyone here had a ‘presence’ to them, although the strength of it varied a lot.

Zaraki’s was obviously the strongest, with Ikkaku a little ways behind him, and the little girl somewhere in the middle of the two.

The three guys fighting for the 20th seat? Weak.

It was simple logic to see that the ‘presence’ someone put out was related to their power, which made me a little bit excited to know how I compared to the people here.

Finally, one of the men emerged victorious and moved to stand before me.

“I am Ryouichirou Terasawa, 20th seat of the 11th division! And you’re going down!” He exclaimed while pointing his sword at me.

He looked to be in his 30s, with a receding hairline and a topknot.

“I’m Alex Lupi, some dude that wandered in. Can we get a move on?” I replied impatiently. This guy had taken 5 minutes to come out on top, so I hoped he at least had something to make this fight interesting.

“As you wish,” he said before attacking.

And then he came at me.

Without even the movement technique Zaraki used.

Just, some dude, running at me with his sword held high to slash at me.

Like a normal fucking human.

My initial disappointment turned to anger. I knew this guy was weak, but the fact that he took his sweet time dealing with those two bozos just to attack like any random person off the street would if I had given them a sword pissed me off.

So I grabbed his word mid-swing in my hand and backhanded him away, throwing his sword in the general direction of his unconscious body before screaming, “NEXT!”

Thankfully, I managed to control myself enough that I didn’t use my full strength, as I didn’t want to kill one of my host’s subordinates for just being weak. Although, from the small scratch I had on my palm, I wondered if they could take it.

The 19th seat was a little bit younger, and thanks to my previous fight, he approached with wariness.

“I’m Yuunosuke Ookuma, 19th seat,” he said with a nod.

“I already introduced myself, so just come at me already,” I said in a bored tone.

When Ikkaku had mentioned the duties of Shinigami, I expected something more than ‘guy runs at you with a sword,’ and from the strength of this one’s presence, he wouldn’t be that different from the whatshisname 20th seat.

With a nod, he started his approach, slower than the last, and sword ready to attack at any moment.

I sighed and started walking towards him. Better to speed it up, or I’d be there all day.

As I closed the distance, he launched his attack, but it was still so slow I kicked him in the stomach, sending him skipping through the training ground into an unprepared group of his comrades.

“Huh, I think you took out the 18th and 17th seats with that one,” Zaraki said, glancing at the unconscious group of Shinigami.

With a shrug, I called for the next.

After that, I didn’t bother paying too much attention to the next fights; they were all a variation of ‘get close, swing sword,’ and they all ended with a negligent attack from me.

Instead, I focused on the presences surrounding me, trying to pinpoint who would finally show me something new.

Apart from the three top ones, there was only one worth mentioning, the man Zaraki ordered to gather everyone, Yumichika, who, together with the other three, had a gulf of difference in power between himself and the rest of the members of the division.

I wondered why that was. After the 10th seat, my opponent’s swords started showing more changes from the standard Asauchi, maybe-

I stopped what I was thinking when Yumichika stepped into the field.

He had a memorable appearance: jaw-length black hair, purple eyes, and colorful feathers in his eyelashes and eyebrow, with some orange additions to the standard shihakusho.

“Well, now that the uglies are dealt with, we can finally let you show your beauty to the world!” Yumichika said as he walked toward the middle of the training ground.

I cocked my head to the side, parsing through his choice of words before shrugging and nodding in agreement.

“Yeah, it’d be nice to finally see something new,” I said, side-eyeing the rest of the division. “Because up to this point, it has been disappointing.”

“The tradition is rather unfortunate in these circumstances,” he agreed, taking his position and getting ready for the fight.

“I am Yumichika Ayasegawa, 5th seat of the 11th division,” he formally introduced himself.

"Wait, did you say 5th seat? Then who's the 4th?"

"He's the 4th! He just doesn't like the number 4!" Came Ikkaku's voice from the crowd.

"SHUT UP!" Yumichika screamed at him before composing himself and turning back to me.

"Where were we?" He said, getting back into position.

“Alexander Lupi, and we’ll see where I fall once this is over,” I replied in kind, preparing to take this fight seriously.

The fight with the 20th seat had been eye-opening to the level of the people here. Even the ones low on the totem pole were more powerful than what any normal human could hope to achieve.

A small scratch, one that didn’t even break skin, just slightly marked it, was leagues above what was possible for anyone who wasn’t a Campione or a God back home. And while the one who caused it was a seated officer, from what I could feel, he wasn’t much stronger than most other non-seated division members. But from the 19th seat and above, there was a steady and noticeable increase in power before the gulf between 5th to 4th seat.

This made me wary. How much more damage could Yumichika do than the 20th seat? Zaraki managed to cut me deep, even through my hastily applied defensive Runes. And while there was a gulf between Yumichika and him, I didn’t want to leave it to chance.

So I fully applied my Runes on my arms and legs and waited for him to make his move.

It didn’t take long, he curiously observed my Runes for a moment before launching himself at me, disappearing midway through his charge to attack me from behind.

He only cut air as I instinctually jumped away and activated the Lightning Rune I had left where I stood.

The Lightning washed over him for a moment before, with a swing of his sword and an increase of his presence, the Rune broke, leaving him with only minor wounds, although his hair was up due to the static.

“Quite an interesting attack, although relying on tricks isn’t something very beautiful to do,” he said, glaring at me. “Draw your sword. Let’s see what you can really do.”

“Why would I use a weapon I just got, of which I have no training in using, in a fight like this?” I asked.

“Because your goal here is to learn to use it, not to show off your tricks! Why should you be positioned based on unrelated skills to what you came here to achieve?” He heatedly replied before flicking his hair back and giving me a smug smile. “Besides, if you want to bond with your Zampakuto, you have to actually use it. And from the amount of spiritual pressure you have, I know it won’t take you long. So the sooner you start, the more you can get out of it.”

“You’re right,” I sighed, conceding his point. There was no point in not using my sword at every opportunity while I was here. I had limited time to learn everything I could, so I should use it in full. It’s not like the result of the test even mattered to me; I’d be gone in 6 months anyway.

As I slowly drew my sword, I noticed Yumichika’s eyes start to shine in excitement.

Thanks to the multiple examples I had that day, I knew roughly how to hold a sword, and as I copied the basic stance I’d seen most use, Yumichika launched himself at me again.

He used the movement technique again, this time appearing right in front of me.

It was a trivial matter to hold up my sword in the path of his, but upon clashing, I noticed my hold wasn’t as firm as I thought it was, making me jump back so I could adjust it.

But he kept coming, always attacking from the front, and always giving me a moment to change something in either my grip or stance before coming back in.

By the third clash, I realized what he was doing: he was training me. Giving me enough space to fix whatever problems I had but still attacking fast enough that I was pressured into doing it fast.

I used the opportunity for all that it was worth until, a few clashes later, I figured I had enough of a base to hold my ground.

He gave me a vicious grin when it happened, but, unfortunately for him, while his speed using the movement technique could equal Doni in our spars, his strength didn’t come close to matching a Campione, so with a simple push from my sword, he was forced to jump back.

“Well, that’s interesting,” he said, eyeing me warily. “You can keep up with my speed if you’re paying attention. But the way you pushed me off? That seemed almost negligent.”

“It… kinda was?” I said sheepishly. “Don’t take me wrong, you’re fast and I’m sure pretty damn strong to be in your position. But compared to the standard I’m used to, your physical strength is just not that good.”

“Oh? Then let’s see you deal with this!” He exclaimed, holding his sword horizontally in front of himself before slowly passing his hand over it, making it glow white as its form changed. “Bloom, Fuji Kujaku!”

Left in his hand was now a long, sickle-shaped blade. But more important was the spike in his presence upon calling on its name.

With a flick of his wrist, his blade spread out like a fan from its base, leaving four identical blades coming out of the hilt.

There was no point in talking anymore, so with a burst of his movement technique, he slashed at my back.

But I was expecting it, blocking with my sword as I kicked him in the stomach, sending him tumbling away.

“What the hell was that!?” He muttered, holding his stomach while trying to get up.

“Like I said, your physical strength is just not that good,” I said, shaking my head. “Couple that with the fact I can follow your speed even when you’re using that movement technique, and the result of this fight is pretty obvious unless you have another trick up your sleeve.”

“Fuck,” he said, slowly getting to his feet. “I can’t just accept that! I’ll-”

I heard a slight sound of bells.

“Go sit down, Yumichika,” came Zaraki’s voice from the side.

“But Cap-” Yumichika started to say, turning towards his captain before stopping himself and gulping. “Yes, sir!” He said instead, quickly moving out of the way.

I could understand why. Zaraki looked positively gleeful as he stood, holding his chipped blade, ready to attack.

“You weren’t this good when I attacked you earlier,” he stated.

“You just caught me off guard with that movement technique you used,” I replied with a shrug. “I had never seen anything like that before.”

“Get someone to teach you Shunpo later, but now it’s my turn,” he said, moving to stand in front of me.

“You? What about the whole tradition thing? Shouldn’t I fight the 3rd and 2nd seats first?” I asked.

“Who gives a fuck about tradition? Fighting you looks like fun, and I’m not letting those two tire you out before I have mine!” He exclaimed.

“Are you telling me I could have skipped fighting all those weaklings?” I asked, not even trying to mask my annoyance at the waste of time I had been subjected to.

“Yeah, I am,” Zaraki said, leaning forward with a vicious grin on his face. “What you’re gonna do about it?”

“I… am going to kick your fucking ass!” I exclaimed, holding up my sword as I felt it pull on what I could only assume was my spiritual power.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Zaraki laughed maniacally.

___

A/N: I've had the basic idea of how Shinigami would stack to Campione for a while now, but putting it into practice was a bit tougher than I thought.

Mainly speed and strength. I decided to go with how it went here as the base after getting into Bleach again these past few weeks. Shinigami being generally faster, and Campione being generally stronger.

Of course, this will apply differently to different characters, as we’ll see in the next chapter.

As always, thank you all for your support. I couldn’t do this without y’all.

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Next week: The Happy Fun Times with Zaraki Kenpachi!