CH 38: 3RD AND 5TH SEAT OF THE 11TH DIVISION
[Seireitei, 11th division]
In the corner of a wine shop, a few shinigami from the 11th division could be seen discussing in hushed voices.
“Hey, did you hear, it seems like there is some amazing new guy in the 4th division?”
“Yeah! I heard he took on more than 20 members of our division and won without a scratch.”
“I have heard he followed us during a mission in the 80th district and killed hollows like they were trash.”
“But doesn’t he use Kido? Isn’t it just some fancy spells for pansy?”
“Shhh! What do you know? You should have seen it. Even though he looks like a boytoy, he is the real deal.”
“Damn!”
“And you know what is the casualty rate in the mission he participated in?”
“Don’t tell me…?”
“Yeah. Zero. In Three weeks he participated in more than 20 short missions but no one following died, hell they weren’t even wounded.”
“Doesn't that just mean he does everything alone?”
“Nah! He lets us fight and intervene every time we are about to get wounded or worse. I can’t even begin to describe how exhilarating it feels to fight like this.”
“What does a guy like that is doing with the pansies of the 4th division?”
“You can’t understand. Gojo-dono must be a man of deep virtues. He can’t help but try to help the weak.”
“Ohhh!”
“Indeed!”
“It must be so!”
Discussions like this one could be heard in nearly every corner of the soul society.
The 4th division was the healing department while the 11th division was known as the combat division.
Because of this, those two divisions constantly interacted and most of the mission of the 11th always had few members of the 4th following them to ensure a lower casualty rate.
You could say that those two divisions had a love hate relationship.
The 11th looked down on the 4th but couldn’t do without them. The 4th hated the 11th but their conscience as healers made them unable to ignore them.
Since the day Gojo scared off the ten shinigami, he became a sort of respected figure in their hearts.
After all, the 11th division was the kind of division where you could only become captain by killing the previous one. It went to show just how brutal and battle-hungry they were.
At the same time, it showed their respect and adoration toward absolute strength.
The fact that Gojo began to participate in more missions and showed off his might made them worship him even more.
When adding his appearance and natural charisma, there were even signs of a fan club being formed, not only in the 11th but in some other division whose members had been healed or protected by him.
As it was, it wouldn’t be a mistake to say that, if before only the higher ups knew about him, now even those on the lower levels were beginning to know who he was.
“Say, should we go visit the 4th?”
“But… Wouldn’t the 3rd lieutenant be angry?”
“Oh? Pray to tell me… Why should I become angry?”
Silence fell as a ghastly expression showed on the faces of the shinigami prattling on.
Turning their heads toward the source of the voice, they could see two men looking at them with predatory smiles.
One was a black-haired man wearing the standard uniform except for an orange piece of clothing around his neck. He also had colorful feathers on his right eyelashes and eyebrows giving him a rather flamboyant appearance.
The other one… The shinigami immediately squinted their eyes when the reflection of the sunlight entered their eyes.
‘What a beautiful light.’
It was like seeing the halo of a Buddha. His crane was so polished, so spotless, that light seemingly bounced from it like a mirror.
“So? Is no one going to answer me?”
Immediately waking up from the blinding light, they stood up and saluted respectfully.
“3rd seat Madarame, 5th seat Ayasegawa. We are sorry, we were just talking idly.”
“Hum…”
Ikkaku Madarame, the bald one, sneered a little, “Forget it. It isn’t like I hadn’t heard about what is going on.”
Immediately addressing his friend, he asked, “Yumichika, what do you think we should do? Inform the captain?”
Yumichika Ayasegawa tilted his head in a feminine way and put a finger under his chin, “You know the captain. Shouldn’t we meet that guy first? After all, if he isn’t really strong then the captain will have our skin.”
“Hahaha! Indeed. Let’s go! Let’s meet that newbie.”
“Oh my, such a brutish way. I have heard he was very handsome? I wonder if he is more beautiful than me.”
At those words, the two of them immediately began to walk towards the 4th division leaving a group of dumbfounded shinigami.
“Ohh. Is what I think is going to happen!?”
“The 3rd or the 5th seat is going to fight Gojo-dono!?”
“Immediately call the others! We can’t miss it, this is going to be so epic!”
They immediately stumbled and began to run wildly.
For the 11th division, fighting was a job as well as an enjoyment.
----
Somewhere else, on the rooftop of a building not far from the previous scene, a tall muscular man wearing a white cloak over his shinigami uniform with spiky hair was observing the scene.
He was Zaraki Kenpachi, the captain of the 11th division
“Ken-chan, are you going to watch?”
On his shoulder, a small pink-haired girl, Yachiru Kusaki, asked with happiness in her voice.
She knew how bored Zaraki had been lately so she was happy now that something interesting might happen.
“Heh. Nah--! I'll wait. If that Gojo guy loses to Ikkaku then that's it.”
“But what if he wins?”
“If he wins?”
A smile full of madness and battle thirst formed on his lips.
“If he wins then that means I will finally have an interesting fight.”
He couldn’t wait.
He wanted to fight so badly!
He didn’t care about victory or defeat. Neither did he care about life or death.
All he wanted was to fight, again and again, until his very last breath.
-----
[4th division]
Meanwhile, on Gojo side,
“Achoo!”
He sniffed and looked around suspiciously in his office.
“Why do I feel like something bothersome will happen today?”