Chapter 364: Innate Body
Mayuri Kurotsuchi was deeply sorrowful.
The entire batch of modified souls he had painstakingly collected had been forcibly confiscated by Satoru without any compensation.
However, he wasn't entirely devastated.
Because he had secretly hidden away a small portion for future experiments.
After all, he never disclosed the exact total—such is the art of language.
Heh heh.
As for Kurotsuchi's underreporting, Satoru paid it no mind.
Right now, he only wanted to know what effects absorbing the Soul King's Power would bring.
It didn't need to be too extraordinary—just something like a Kryptonian bloodline would suffice.
Yet, even after absorbing all of Kurotsuchi's Gigai pills, the reserve of Soul King Power within was still too low to meet the minimum requirement for activating any abilities.
Satoru stroked his chin.
At this point, there was only one solution!
...
...
"Sōsuke Doraemon, please help me!!"
"?"
Watching Satoru burst into the room, Aizen felt as frustrated as if he'd been harassed by Komamura.
Not long ago, he had been relieved that his laboratory had been relatively free of Satoru's disturbances lately. How wonderful.
But how long had that lasted? Now he'd been bothered twice in a row.
Could this be the so-called "flag power" that someone once mentioned?
Under Aizen's displeased gaze, Satoru approached with a wide grin:
"Sōsuke, share some of your collected Soul King Fragments with me."
"Soul King Fragments?"
Aizen was taken aback for a moment, then his eyes turned wary.
"What dangerous scheme are you up to now?"
He knew this guy all too well.
Normally, Satoru was curious about things, but his interest usually lasted only three minutes.
He might become curious about something in the barracks and intend to seek Aizen's help, but before even reaching him, he'd forget all about it and move on to some other amusement.
For him to maintain such high enthusiasm like this, something major must have happened.
Aizen's mind raced.
Although there were many Soul King Fragments, they were actually quite difficult to find in the Soul Society.
Most of the easily discoverable ones had already been found and collected by him.
The only one Satoru could possibly have found would be the fragment within Matsumoto Rangiku.
If there were issues with Rangiku's Soul King Fragment, this guy wouldn't be so cheerful right now.
Hmm, another perspective.
Satoru asking for Soul King Fragments meant he had encountered something related to them, but the quantity was insufficient to meet his needs.
Therefore, what he came into contact with might not be Soul King Fragments themselves, but other objects containing trace amounts of Soul King Power.
Recently, the items in the Soul Society related to that would be... the Gigai pills of modified souls!
Suddenly, a scene flashed through his mind.
Satoru holding a handful of red pills, with an expression that suggested he wanted to taste one.
[If you're thinking about whether to try eating that, I advise against it.]
[How did you know what I was thinking?!]
[Because it's written all over your face.]
Remembering this, Aizen looked at Satoru.
"You ate the modified soul Gigai pills?"
Hearing this, Satoru looked at him with surprise.
"Sōsuke, you didn't really learn mind reading, did you?"
"Wait, that can't be right. If you learned mind reading, why didn't I sync with it?"
Aizen took a deep breath.
This guy actually did something so outrageous!
Seeing Aizen's unfriendly gaze, Satoru quickly waved his hands:
"I didn't eat it, I just used my Gigai power to wash out the Soul King Power from the modified soul."
"This Soul King Power is now tightly connected to me. I feel that if this power could become stronger, it should generate a new ability, so I wanted to supplement it further."
Hearing Satoru's words, Aizen raised his hand and pressed it against his chest.
Then, he closed his eyes and probed inside with his Reiatsu to examine Satoru's soul condition.
Before long, he opened his eyes in surprise.
Under Satoru's curious gaze, he frowned and pondered for a moment.
After about half a minute, he spoke:
"Come with me."
"Where to?"
"The Living World."
"Huh?"
...
...
Passing through the Dangai, they arrived in the Living World.
Along the way, Aizen explained:
"Some time ago, I noticed that the Shiba Clan's exclusive noble Senkaimon was opening very frequently, almost to the point of opening once every one or two days."
"To confirm the progress... ahem, to ensure Shiba Isshin's safety, I also went to the Living World several times."
"During one of those trips, I obtained an unexpected harvest."
Bringing Satoru along, Aizen came to an abandoned factory.
Pressing a remote control, a hidden door opened.
Inside was a decoration style very familiar to Satoru - a classic high-tech laboratory.
In one of the tanks, a man was suspended in liquid.
He looked somewhat familiar.
Aizen walked over and said:
"This man is called Kūgo Ginjō. He's a pure-blooded human who unexpectedly obtained abilities similar to a Shinigami."
"He can inject spiritual power into a necklace resembling a greatsword to summon a Zanpakutō."
"He calls his ability 'Fullbring'."
"Although I haven't studied him for long, the moment I touched the power inside you just now, I felt... this new power you obtained has a high similarity to his Fullbring."
"In fact, the power source of his Fullbring is indeed a Soul King Fragment."
As he spoke, Aizen pointed to the nearby operating table, gesturing for Satoru to lie down.
After the latter lay down, he pulled over a large number of electrode patches and attached them to various parts of Satoru's body.
"Now, I'm going to conduct a data comparison of your Reiatsu fluctuations."
"If my speculation is correct..."
Aizen murmured softly, his gaze already fixed on the screen.
Only then did Satoru blink, showing a surprised expression.
Wait, who?
Kūgo Ginjō?
Wasn't this the guy who taught Ichigo Fullbring after he lost his Shinigami powers?
As the first boss after the Aizen arc, did he really fail before even making his move... oh, no, died before even beginning his journey?
Among those captured by Aizen, aside from Shinji Hirako, none ever saw the light of day again.
Kūgo Ginjō would naturally be no exception.
Without this guy, who would Ichigo turn to for restoration if he lost his Shinigami powers in the future?
Oh... it seems such an opportunity won't exist anymore.
With me here, the Seireitei doesn't stand a chance of resistance. Once Sōsuke raises the banner of rebellion, our side can easily handle the Gotei 13.
As Satoru was pondering these random thoughts, Aizen also reached a conclusion—
The newly generated power within him was precisely Fullbring.
Although this wasn't the first time Satoru had manifested inexplicable new abilities, confirming it as Fullbring still left Aizen somewhat amused and exasperated.
Was this guy planning to gather every type of power in the world into himself?
He probably needed to start researching what consequences might arise from so many powers converging in one individual.
An inexplicably uneasy premonition surfaced.
After confirming his power was Fullbring, Satoru suddenly grew excited.
Although most Fullbring users were mediocre, some abilities among them were exceptionally overpowered.
Like Inoue Orihime's hairpins, or Shūkurō Tsukishima's Book of Memories.
Describing these two abilities as "broken" wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Their main weakness lay in their poor baseline stats.
If Tsukishima's ability were possessed by a captain-level Shinigami, it would at least qualify as arc-final boss or movie antagonist material.
Originally, Aizen had intended to wait until some research results emerged before having Satoru activate the ability.
However, he couldn't withstand the latter's incessant pestering.
Each cry of "Sōsuke" felt like pure torture.
Unable to endure this torment any longer, Aizen reluctantly brought Satoru to a secret location.
This was one of the places where he had hidden fragments of the Soul King.
Under Satoru's watchful gaze, he took out several containers.
"Take them one at a time, don't rush."
"After absorbing each fragment, you must let me examine you."
After repeating his instructions several times, he pushed the containers toward Satoru.
Under Aizen's serious gaze, Satoru opened one of the containers and without hesitation, extended his Gigai power into it.
Inside the container, a fragment glowing with Reishi quickly dimmed.
As the power of the Soul King fragment entered his body, Satoru could feel the newly formed core of power within him rapidly expanding.
A single fragment contained more power than all the energy from the previous Gigai pills combined.
After confirming that absorbing the Soul King fragment's power had no adverse effects, Aizen nodded and allowed him to absorb the second one.
After absorbing four fragments in this manner, Satoru let out a long breath and gave Aizen a thumbs-up:
"Success!"
Aizen first instinctively glanced at the nearby monitor.
After verifying that all data was being recorded, he turned to Satoru:
"Fullbring is the ability to imbue power into a specific object, using it as a medium to manifest one's abilities."
"Do you have anything you'd like to use? Preferably something you carry with you regularly and are particularly fond of."
Hearing this, Satoru hummed in thought.
Only when Aizen mentioned it did he remember that Fullbring required a specific object.
Ichigo Kurosaki used his Substitute Shinigami Badge.
Satoru didn't possess anything like that. If he had to name something he always carried with him and cherished deeply, it would probably be his Zanpakutō.
But the Zanpakutō was itself a form of power - how could it accommodate new energy?
Crossing his arms, various Fullbring users quickly flashed through his mind as potential references.
Ginjō, Orihime, Tsukishima, the pink-haired one, the young boy, the old man, the bald one...
Ah.
Satoru suddenly paused.
Speaking of Fullbring users, wasn't Chad Sado also a Fullbringer?
That guy's Fullbring wasn't attached to any particular object.
Chad Sado's Fullbring was manifested through "the skin of his arms."
This meant that his own body could also serve as material for Fullbring!
Realizing this, Satoru grinned widely.
Under Aizen's watchful gaze, blue Reiatsu began to glow around his body.
The light flickered several times before erupting violently!
Satoru's entire body seemed to be undergoing transformation by some unknown power.
The various indicators on the nearby equipment began changing rapidly.
Had he not witnessed it with his own eyes, Aizen might have thought the data was malfunctioning.
After about ten seconds, the Reiatsu around Satoru gradually subsided.
He slowly opened his eyes and looked at Aizen:
"Sōsuke, my Fullbring... is complete."
Aizen looked puzzled.
"Complete? Where have you attached your Fullbring?"
Satoru chuckled.
Standing up with electrodes still attached all over his body, he patted his chest:
"I've integrated the power of Fullbring into all the muscles of my body."
"The name of this Fullbring... is 'Natural Body'!"
Aizen first examined Satoru's physique.
Judging by the name, it sounded like an ability that would turn him into a muscle-bound brute.
However, there were no visible changes in his appearance.
He still looked ordinarily fit, with well-defined muscles that were streamlined rather than bulky.
But when he glanced at the data on the nearby screen, he felt a bit unsettled.
Satoru's physique had always been stronger than that of an average Shinigami. Through countless battles where he pushed past his limits, his body had been torn apart time and again.
Especially when using Multiple Forces, his body endured terrifying levels of strain.
Under such devastation—or rather, such rigorous training—Satoru's physique had long surpassed what ordinary Shinigami could even conceive of.
And now, this guy's physical strength had skyrocketed once more!
According to the instrument readings, the Reishi density of his body had reached the absolute limit of its current physical state.
Even without a Reiatsu coating, his body could effortlessly withstand slashes from a Zanpakutō.
Aizen even suspected that not even Risō Jakumetsu, which could ignore defenses, would be able to cleave through this unimaginable physique in a single strike.
As these thoughts crossed his mind, Satoru raised his hand nearby, clenching his fist.
The Fullbring "Innate Physique" gave him an inexplicable sensation, as if he could now punch a hole through the entire Seireitei with a single blow.
Just as he was contemplating whether to test this idea, the scene before him abruptly shifted.
All around was a profound, deep darkness.
In front of him, a man lay quietly.
The man had long hair and a beard, with pale, bloodless skin.
If not for the steady heartbeat emanating from his chest, Satoru would have suspected the man was already dead.
As he pondered the man's identity, a figure suddenly descended into this darkness.
Seeing this person, Satoru's pupils contracted.
Golden long hair, a cold and stern face.
He had seen this man before, within the rift of the Wandenreich.
The leader of the Quincy, the second-in-command of the Wandenreich—Haschwalth!
In truth, even if he hadn't seen this man back then, he wouldn't have mistaken him.
To prevent Satoru from being ambushed by the Quincy, Bambietta had long ago drawn portraits of every Sternritter she knew, making sure Satoru memorized their appearances.
Without the slightest hesitation, Satoru reached for the Zanpakutō at his waist.
But he grasped nothing.
It was then that he realized—not only was his Zanpakutō missing, but he didn't even have a physical form at the moment.
Under his gaze, the golden-haired man slowly knelt on one knee:
"Your Majesty, it has been too long since I last paid my respects."
"How are you feeling today?"
Hearing Haschwalth's address for the man, Satoru's breath hitched.
Your Majesty?
He turned his gaze to the man lying on the stone bed.
The man slowly opened his eyes…