After confirming his suspicion, Ikkaku prepared to go easy on him.
After all, this was Captain Shiba's son.
Leave a little room today, and they could still meet peacefully in the future.
"Grow, Hōzukimaru."
Still, in order to make his restraint look less obvious, he released his Zanpakutō.
Ichigo, who was fighting evenly with Ikkaku, naively began thinking that the Shinigami of the Gotei 13 were not all that impressive.
However, he had no idea that Ikkaku was actually hiding his true strength the entire time.
Ikkaku inwardly marveled, 'This kid's pretty strong too. If he weren't Captain Shiba's son, I'd really want to fight him properly.'
As the battle continued, Ichigo gradually sensed that something was off.
He noticed that Ikkaku seemed to be slowing his attack rhythm, intentionally or not, as if he was not going all out.
'Strange… Why isn't this Shinigami using his full strength? Does he still have some trick up his sleeve?'
Ichigo was filled with confusion, but he remained alert and did not dare let his guard down.
Ikkaku, meanwhile, fought Ichigo while observing his reaction.
Seeing the puzzled look on Ichigo's face, Ikkaku's lips lifted slightly.
'This brat has some knowledge after all. As expected of Captain Shiba's son.'
In the end, after an intense exchange, Ikkaku deliberately exposed an opening and let Ichigo slash him.
That said, the price of throwing the fight was rather steep.
His chest was cut open, the wound splitting flesh and spilling blood.
'If I get cut this badly, no one should say I went easy on him, right?'
That was what Ikkaku thought, but on his face, he deliberately showed an angry expression and continued attacking Ichigo.
Then, without Ichigo noticing, he used his body to take another slash.
Ikkaku endured the pain from his wounds and thought, 'This kid really is pretty good. Looks like I can't look down on him anymore.'
Pretending to be furious, he asked, "Kid, why did you break into the Seireitei?"
Ichigo steadied his breathing.
"I came to save Rukia."
"Rukia? The Shinigami who's about to be executed by the Sōkyoku? You've got guts! But can someone like you really do it?"
Ikkaku spoke disdainfully.
"Even if you beat me, I'm only a Third Seat. After me, there are lieutenants and captains. You will die."
Ichigo had Ikkaku going easy on him, but Ganju was not nearly so lucky.
He was being chased all over the place by Yumichika Ayasegawa, who kept trying to cut him down.
Fortunately, Ganju had brought plenty of little gadgets made by Kūkaku, constantly using them to hinder Yumichika's attacks.
Yumichika was made miserable by all those strange little tools.
In the end, the two even fell into a garbage disposal pit, leaving Yumichika, who already had a severe obsession with cleanliness, so disgusted that he nearly threw up.
"Ah… disgusting!"
Yumichika could not help letting out a sharp scream.
His face turned pale, and cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
He tried to cover his mouth with one hand, but he still could not stop that intense urge to vomit from surging up.
Ganju looked at Yumichika's reaction and secretly felt proud.
He knew that although his little gadgets were strange, they were absolute torture for someone obsessed with cleanliness.
He laughed and said to Yumichika, "How is it? Can't take it, can you? This is what I'm good at!"
However, Yumichika was not angered by Ganju's words.
Instead, he calmed down.
He took a deep breath, adjusted his mindset, and continued attacking Ganju.
Although he still felt deeply uncomfortable, he would not easily give up credit that was already within reach.
Ganju also realized that Yumichika was not someone who could be defeated so easily, so he began taking the battle seriously.
He pulled out even more little gadgets to block Yumichika's attacks.
The two of them chased and fled through the Seireitei, creating quite the commotion.
On Ichigo's side, after learning the location where Rukia was being held from Ikkaku, he rushed nonstop toward the Fourth Deep Prison.
However, his good luck seemed to have run out.
Before long, he ran headfirst into a group of Eleventh Division members at an intersection.
These squad members obviously would not go easy on him the way Ikkaku had.
To them, Ichigo was practically a great achievement delivered straight to their doorstep.
Facing the enemy's encirclement, Ichigo had no choice but to go all out.
He swung the giant butcher's knife in his hand, using astonishing speed and Zanjutsu to quickly cut down one squad member after another as if he were chopping vegetables.
Even so, the enemy had too many people, and more kept coming. Ichigo gradually began to feel overwhelmed and started fighting while retreating.
"Where did all these people come from? They just keep coming! This isn't going to work if it keeps up.... i wonder where Ganju ran off to."
"Finally found it."
Ichigo looked left and right, then a delighted expression appeared on his face.
He saw fireworks blooming not far away and instantly grew excited.
Ignoring the pursuers behind him, he broke into a full sprint.
However, the blooming firework was not actually a signal.
It was Ganju's trump card.
Ganju had been chased by Yumichika the entire way and was already panting heavily, looking extremely miserable.
This had created an illusion for Yumichika, making him think Ganju had no real combat ability and was just a weakling scurrying around like a rat.
Yet it was precisely that carelessness that caused Yumichika to fall straight into Ganju's trap.
Ganju suddenly stopped and turned to face Yumichika, a sly smile appearing on his face.
When Yumichika saw this, joy rose in his heart.
He thought Ganju was finally about to admit defeat, so he unconsciously lowered his guard.
However, he had no idea what was about to happen.
At that moment, Ganju activated his special Kidō and sent Yumichika flying into the sky in one move.
Yumichika naively thought Ganju had finally decided to clash with him head-on, so he immediately tightened his grip on his blade in midair, preparing to defend against the attack that might follow.
But Ganju did not play by common sense.
He pulled a specially made firework shell from his robe and threw it hard toward Yumichika.
Yumichika had no time to react.
He only felt a sharp pain on his forehead before the firework shell struck him.
Immediately afterward, the shell exploded right against his forehead, and he happened to be directly at the center of the blast. He could not have been more unlucky.
Yumichika's expression changed drastically, his face full of horror.
He had no time to think and could only instinctively raise both arms to shield himself.
Even then, he could not withstand the terrifying impact.
He felt a tremendous force surge toward him, blasting his entire body away like a cannonball.
What shocked him even more was that this firework shell actually contained powerful Kidō energy, making the damage from the explosion far more severe.
This discovery made Yumichika realize that the enemy he was facing was a disgusting bastard who had been pretending to be weak.
When Yumichika regained consciousness, he found that he had been blown dozens of meters away.
At that moment, his clothes were torn and ragged, and his body was covered in crisscrossing wounds of varying depths. He looked utterly miserable.
Those wounds not only brought him intense pain, but also filled him with unprecedented humiliation and anger.
For Yumichika, this battle was undoubtedly a complete and utter disgrace.
He had never imagined that he would lose in such a way, and his heart was filled with fury.
"How humiliating!"
Yumichika widened his eyes and let out an enraged roar.
Originally, he had been chasing Ganju with absolute confidence, calculating how to capture him.
But reality had slapped him hard across the face.
Now he had not only lost, but lost so miserably.
How could he possibly not feel furious?
Yumichika's body was injured in multiple places, and combined with the overwhelming sense of humiliation, he could no longer endure it.
He fainted once again!