Chapter 69: Visión del Diablo
<span style="font-weight:400">Kazuya let out a sigh, running his hand through his silver locks. “I’d honestly prefer it if you were a busty chick sitting on my chest.” he said, the corner of his mouth pulling into a slight grin. “Well, do you have a name, or should I provide one for you?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“My name… what was my name again? ...Nami? It’s only a fraction of my name… Just call me Nami. Not the Nami from One Piece mind you.” She scrutinized Kazuya’s expression, finding it calmly unsurprised. “You already knew, didn’t you?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“It’s only logical that my Zanpakutō will get ess to my memories.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“My partner is as calcting as I’d anticipated,” Nami mused, her praise tinged with a hint of reluctant respect. “This intelligence works against you sometimes. Take, for instance, your recent incident with the Hogyoku... Your instincts were screaming at you to consume it, yet you perceived this urge as a potential trap. You suspected that the Hogyoku was tricking you… or you were scared of bing an actual monster.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Kinda. I don’t want to end up like Aizen. Harribel and others won’t like it.”
<span style="font-weight:400">He’d never cast away Harribel and the others for a surge of power, no matter how tantalizing the temptation. For a woman who’d sacrifice everything for his sake, it was a negligible price to pay.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Halting your natural growth for your women? You aren’t cold enough, Partner. You—we missed a massive opportunity to evolve to our next stage. What’s more, I burned my blood essence to awaken the Hōgyoku. My sacrifice turned out to be meaningless.”
<span style="font-weight:400">The Reiatsu that was the catalyst in Hōgyoku’s awakening — it was drawn from her life essence, the crimson drops that glistened on her feathers.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Rx. It’s not like I can’t get the Hōgyoku again.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“You absolutely can.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“So, why do I feel anger from you? Like ‘you’ll throw a punch at me if you had hands’ type of anger.”
<span style="font-weight:400">He was able to sense her emotional state, likely an effect of their deep connection. Her internal state was chaotic, a storm of conflicting emotions.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Forget it.” She tilted her head towards the unseen ceiling, eyes closed as if she was having the inner monologue of a protagonist. “It’s raining outside…”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Even though you’re a part of me and I can sense your emotions, I can’t understand you. My Zanpakutō is such a mystery.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Hmph!”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Quit being such a tsundere.” Gently, he picked her up by her sides and sat up, nestling herfortably in hisp. Like soothing a child, he patted her head. “There, there. Everything will be fine.”
<span style="font-weight:400">She stared back at him, rendered speechless by his actions.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Just out of curiosity, do I get a release form now?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“No, you don’t. Not until I finish my evolution. As things stand, I’m about the level of an Adjuchas. We both need to be on the same level to trigger a Resurrión.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“That’s sad.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Sad indeed, Partner. I could’ve hatched as a Vasto Lorde in a few weeks at max… now, I have no idea how to evolve my form.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Kazuya gradually understood the root of Nami''s anger — her premature awakening had disrupted her evolution. However, he harbored no regrets about his decision not to consume the Hōgyoku.
<span style="font-weight:400">“You are like that… Partner.” She let out a puff of fire as a sigh. “I’ll rest in your inner world and try to find a solution… Let’s forget about eating Hōgyoku until I evolve.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Sure.”
<span style="font-weight:400">With that, she vanished from sight. But Kazuya could still sense her presence nestled deep within his being. Her existence seemed to deviate from a typical Arrancar’s Zanpakutō, which remained as a physical object on Arrancar’s body. Instead, she was more akin to a Shinigami’s Zanpakutō Spirit, yet even they had a physical manifestation as a weapon.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">‘Mine is abnormal like always.’</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">Every aspect of his existence appeared to diverge from the norm. His Arrancar form, the disappearance of his Hollow holes, his unique ability to manipte Reishi, and now his Zanpakutō, all chose to tread a different path. Concern gnawed at him regarding what his future might hold for him. Would he end up being simr to the Soul King?
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<span style="font-weight:400">[Racial Ability: Resurrión (Partial Mode) unlocked.]
<span style="font-weight:400">[Current Mastery Level: Yet to learn.]
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<span style="font-weight:400">The System’s notification presented a stark contrast to Nami’s earlier assertion about their Resurrión form being unattainable at the moment. Was Nami, his Zanpakutō, more knowledgeable than his System? Who was speaking the truth?
<span style="font-weight:400">Intrigued, he decided to put Nami to the test to determine if she shared his maniptive tendencies.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Nami, I feel like I can use your Resurrión.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Huh? How?” she asked, shock apparent in her voice. “It’s impossible!”
<span style="font-weight:400">Closing his eyes, he sought to tap into the primal instincts that knew his body better than his conscious mind. Suddenly, a surge of dark red me, akin to Nami''s own, erupted from him before disappearing. He opened his status, finding no discernable change except for a ck blindfold materializing over his eyes and a blood-red gem embedded in the center of his forehead. Interestingly, the blindfold seemed to be of a spiritual nature, as it brought no impairment to his vision.
<span style="font-weight:400">The blindfold twitched as Nami made her presence known. “You did it. I remember our original ability now.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“What is it?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Focus, Partner. Let your eyes breathe the world around you.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Don’t talk like me!”
<span style="font-weight:400">With a yful retort, he focused his gaze over his surroundings. The world seemed to plunge into darkness, with only the white outlines of his room giving it form. His gaze fell on the low table before him, and suddenly a torrent of knowledge gushed into his consciousness — its physical structure,ponents, density, mass, dimensions, volume, temperature, and a multitude of other properties.
<span style="font-weight:400">Overwhelmed by the flood of information, he reeled back, eyes mped shut.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">‘This ability is gonna explode my brains.’</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">“You can analyze an object to gain an abundance of information. It should take away the weakness of your Aspect of Death: Oppression.”
<span style="font-weight:400">His Resurrión ability allowed him to adapt in fights on the fly. It also took away his biggest gripe with the Oppression ability, which was digesting countless books.
<span style="font-weight:400">“This is honestly creepy how well my wish came true. Is it an effect of Hōgyoku?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Don’t ze over minor matters, Partner. Shouldn’t we name this ability?” asked Nami in an upbeat voice. “Something Spanish like other Hollow abilities… how about Visión del Diablo (Vision of Devil)?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“What does the devil have to do with it?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Who cares?! It sounds cool. That’s what matters the most.”
<span style="font-weight:400">It seemed like his Zanpakutō became fond of hobbies often associated with the ‘edgy phase.’ One of those struck with the 8th grade syndrome.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Visión del Diablo is only a fraction of our power. It’s not even connected to our original ability. You’ll be surprised when you wield a full hundred percent.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Damn. What’s our true ability?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“The power of life and death. That’s all I’ll say for now,” she said cheerfully. “I’m canceling the release. Adiós!”
<span style="font-weight:400">She retreated to his inner world, where she could rest without any disturbance.
<span style="font-weight:400">Sitting there in silence, he processed everything that happened for a couple of moments.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">‘No point stressing over it now. I’ll see when Nami’s powers fully awaken.’</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">He called out to Nami to withdraw her barrier of mes and opened the door. Kisuke and Yoruichi, who were waiting at the end of the hallway, approached him.
<span style="font-weight:400">Yoruichi burst intoughter. “Sneaky brat, you put a barrier kidō.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Kisuke gently hit her head with his paper fan. “We agreed to give him privacy, Yoruichi-san. Kazuya-san, let’s talk inside.”
<span style="font-weight:400">…
<span style="font-weight:400">Once they were seated, Kisuke unfolded his paper fan to cover his mouth. “Kazuya-san, I want you to enter the Gotei 13 and be a Shinigami.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Kisuke dropped a bomb out of nowhere.