"Haha, now this is interesting."
From within the smoke, Kenpachi's Zanpakutō came slashing out once again. Aside from a little dust on his body, he showed no sign of injury at all.
Even a Number 75 spell couldn't hurt him?
Billy raised an eyebrow and acknowledged Kenpachi's strength a little more. He lowered the brim of his cap slightly and said, "A captain, huh? Your strength really is terrifying."
His slightly flippant tone made Kenpachi pause. Then the smile on Kenpachi's face became even more terrifying.
Kenpachi tore off his eyepatch, and his Reiatsu erupted wildly. He did not care whether this was the noble district or not. Right now, he wanted to fight this guy who had looked down on him.
Next came a merciless slash aimed at the guest from the West.
Billy's gaze also turned serious. Such an enormous amount of magic was truly rare. Just by suppressing opponents with sheer magical power, Kenpachi could probably crush the vast majority of enemies.
The battle was about to erupt, but someone moved even faster than them.
Pink petals flooded the shops on both sides, creating an isolated combat space.
"Bankai, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi!"
Another powerful opponent.
Billy turned his head and glanced at Byakuya, who was holding a child not far away. Then he asked Tsunayoshi, "Is today supposed to be a trap banquet?"
"Mr. Billy, I promised I would make sure you returned to the World of the Living. You can rest easy."
What Tsunayoshi meant was that he would preserve Billy's life. As for whether Billy would get injured, that depended on Billy's own strength.
"You're Billy, correct? As captain of Squad Six, it is my duty to protect the surrounding streets. As for your battle, I will not interfere," Byakuya said calmly.
As a noble squad, Squad Six did not have many duties to begin with. If they could not even protect the noble district, that would truly be humiliating.
"Enough talk. Take this!"
Kenpachi had long since grown impatient. He swung his blade at Billy.
Just like before, Billy dodged the slash. However, his expression had become much more serious.
"You're like a slippery little bug. How annoying!"
Kenpachi had always preferred straightforward battles of steel against steel. Facing such an agile opponent made him extremely displeased. He gripped his sword with both hands, ready to unleash a heavy strike on Billy.
In a certain sense, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi's space was advantageous to Kenpachi. With the area restricted, as long as Kenpachi used a powerful area-of-effect attack, his opponent would have nowhere to dodge.
Billy sighed inwardly.
It seemed that if he did not use some real skill, he really would be beaten senseless by the other party.
With that thought, he put the flute back into his pocket.
"What is he doing? He's giving up his weapon?"
Ninny asked in surprise. As her and Noel's superior, Billy was also a member of the Piper Squad. Without a flute, more than half their combat strength would be gone.
In fact, if Ninny and Noel abandoned their flutes, they would have no combat power at all.
Oh, no.
They still had the Seele Schneiders Tsunayoshi had given them, so they could at least slash people and such.
Naturally, Billy heard Ninny's exclamation.
He lowered his head halfway, hiding the excitement in his eyes.
He had transferred to the Piper Squad of his own accord. Before that, the squad he had belonged to was the Sabres!
Kenpachi's blade fell.
His overwhelming Reiatsu nearly covered the entire area of Senbonzakura Kageyoshi. Tsunayoshi and Byakuya had no choice but to act, forming a Reiatsu barrier. As for Billy, who stood in the center of the battlefield, there was absolutely no way for him to dodge this strike.
However, the imagined roar of the floor being destroyed did not appear.
The Reiatsu in Kenpachi Zaraki's Zanpakutō was not fully released. Halfway through its swing, the blade was stopped!
Two crimson fingers blocked the blade's path.
Billy had actually used only two fingers to catch Kenpachi's serious slash.
Not only that, Billy even leisurely used his other hand to take out a fresh cigarette and put it in his mouth. He leaned it toward his fingers and lit it, not minding in the slightest that the Zanpakutō was only inches away from his neck.
Kenpachi slowly withdrew his Zanpakutō.
He was not angered by Billy's provocative action. On the contrary, he grew even happier.
That was more like it.
What was the point of all that dodging earlier?
In the next instant, Kenpachi Zaraki's blade came again.
Billy calmly met it with his crimson fingers, and the two quickly clashed. For a time, neither side could gain the upper hand.
"Niiha, is this real? He's so strong—ow! That hurts!"
Ninny shouted at Noel. She had not expected Noel to actually pinch her arm.
"This is reality, Ninny-chan. Our direct superior is strong," Noel said firmly.
They were not even facing Kenpachi directly. Merely watching those unreasonable slashes from the side made both Noel and Ninny feel as if they would be cut in half with a single stroke.
Yet Billy was easily receiving every attack.
"Only defending? This is getting a little boring!"
Gradually, the delight on Kenpachi's face began to fade.
Battle maniacs were like that. Simply attacking an opponent one-sidedly was not enough to satisfy them. Wounding the opponent, or being wounded by the opponent, had to be part of the thrill.
Billy ignored Kenpachi.
He had already roughly figured out the extent of Kenpachi's strength. If the intensity rose any further, things would become troublesome for both sides.
In Billy's mind, Kenpachi could basically be placed on the same level as the captain of the Sabres. However, because the captain of the Sabres knew how to use all kinds of methods to kill enemies, he was still somewhat stronger than this Kenpachi, who only slashed wildly like a beast.
The moment that thought appeared, Kenpachi's sword suddenly changed.
His previously straightforward slashes abruptly became elusive. For a moment, Billy could no longer grasp where Kenpachi's blade would land.
This was bad.
Billy had been using his fingers to clash against the Zanpakutō. In other words, his body was also within Kenpachi's attack range. Once he could no longer predict the landing point, it meant the Zanpakutō would strike his body.
He was about to lose face badly.
Billy immediately realized the seriousness of the problem. Getting injured himself did not matter, but what he would lose was the face of the West Branch.
No. He could not take this slash for nothing.
Billy was extremely decisive.
If he could not catch the blade, then he simply would not catch it.
He allowed Kenpachi Zaraki's slash to land, while his two fingers became one. Dazzling golden light radiated from the tip of that finger, aimed straight at Kenpachi.
Swish!
Pew!
Two sounds rang out at the same time.
Blood sprayed from Billy's chest.
Kenpachi did not fare well either. His shoulder was pierced by a beam of golden light. Strictly speaking, one of his arms had been disabled on the spot.
Seeing one of her own people injured, Ninny immediately panicked and wanted to rush over to help. However, Tsunayoshi held her shoulder down.
Before Ninny could get angry, Tsunayoshi explained first.
"Don't worry. It's only a flesh wound. Besides, the doctor is already here."
Kenpachi Zaraki was a battle maniac, but that did not mean he had no brain. His slash had not landed fully. It had merely cut open some of Billy's flesh and was not fatal at all.
On the contrary, Kenpachi, whose shoulder had been pierced through, was the one with the more serious injury.
After realizing that he was fine, Billy hurriedly said to Kenpachi, "Sorry. I lost control for a moment."
"Tch. Once you're done with the old man, come fight me again."
To Kenpachi, a temporarily unusable shoulder was only a minor injury. He did not care at all.
Seeing the other party look so relaxed, Billy also breathed a sigh of relief.
At least he had not caused a diplomatic incident.
"There's one more thing. Your sword suddenly changed just now. What was that?"
This was what Billy cared about the most.
After only a brief exchange, he had already understood that Kenpachi's beast-like wild slashing was his usual style. That sudden change in sword technique was not something someone with Kenpachi's personality would normally use.
Kenpachi shot Tsunayoshi a displeased look.
"Nothing much. Get beaten enough, and you naturally learn it."
Kenpachi's sudden change in technique was inseparable from Tsunayoshi.
During their previous training, Tsunayoshi had often beaten him using Shigure Sōen-ryū. Even though Kenpachi did not know swordsmanship, his strikes had still picked up a little of Shigure Sōen-ryū's flavor.
"I see. Mr. Sawada, you are the true powerhouse here."
Billy felt that he had gained more intelligence.
After Noel's report, he knew the fairy-tale dragon had been killed by Tsunayoshi, but he had never had a proper standard for Tsunayoshi's strength.
Now that he had fought Kenpachi Zaraki, Tsunayoshi's strength had become much clearer in Billy's mind.
Someone capable of beating a captain-level fighter was certainly worth taking seriously.
Thinking of this, Billy glanced discreetly at Noel and Ninny.
He had already heard that the couple Noel was monitoring had begun to obtain supernatural powers. Logically speaking, if there was no need to worry about their safety, Noel could be withdrawn.
But considering Sawada Tsunayoshi's strength, Billy decided to continue leaving Noel by the Sawada couple's side, maintaining a friendly relationship with the Sawada family.
They were only two lowest-ranking witches. WB could afford the cost.
"Hey, Uncle, what are you spacing out for? Hurry up and bandage that wound!"
Seeing that Billy and Kenpachi were no longer continuing the fight, Tsunayoshi released Ninny, allowing her to rush over to Billy's side and complain.
"If it's treatment you need, leave it to me."
Ninny turned her head and saw a gentle older woman.
Tsunayoshi introduced her naturally.
"Captain of Squad Four, Retsu Unohana. The best healer in the Seireitei."
Hearing this, Retsu Unohana gave Tsunayoshi an imperceptible glare.
Before seeing Beyond Bankai, she might have believed that her own healing ability was the strongest. But it was hard to say whether a Sun-attribute Beyond Bankai might possess heaven-defying healing power.
Byakuya Kuchiki had already released the domain of Senbonzakura Kageyoshi.
He did not move closer to watch the commotion. Instead, his gaze was fixed blankly into the distance, in the direction Billy's golden beam had fired.
Billy's attack had not merely pierced Kenpachi Zaraki's shoulder. It had also pierced through Senbonzakura Kageyoshi and continued far into the distance, leaving a finger-sized hole in a wall.
"What terrifying power."
A frivolous voice appeared beside Byakuya.
It was Shunsui Kyōraku.
"That finger-sized beam even pierced through the White Road Gate," Kyōraku added.
When he sensed Kenpachi Zaraki's abnormal Reiatsu, Kyōraku had already set out. The reason he arrived later than Retsu Unohana was that he had specifically gone to inspect the power of the beam Billy had fired.
Just that inspection alone confirmed one thing for Kyōraku: the West Branch had indeed sent someone with considerable strength.
Billy understood very well that strength was the foundation for dialogue between both sides.
That finger attack just now had been intentional.
Only by displaying sufficient strength could the negotiations between the two sides return to relatively equal footing.
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