https://youtu.be/It0myXXPlpc

Zaraki and Cien were still engaged in battle in the Garganta. Cien was starting to catch up to Zaraki's insane strength. Cien then started laughed hysterically.

Cien:Hahaha! This is great! To think this world would be so much fun!

Zaraki: You're damn right! Nothin' beat this!

Cien: I've got a question for you. Is that eyepatch of yours some sort of seal?

Zaraki then remembered he still had on his eyepatch that suppressed his spiritual pressure.

Zaraki: Huh? Oh, that's right, I forgot I haven't taken it off yet.

Cien: Would you mind taking it off? You don't want this fight to end in an instant, do you?

Zaraki smirked in response.

Zaraki: Ha! Go on, try and make me!

Cien: You no longer need to handicap yourself against me.

Zaraki: I'll take the eyepatch off if you want, but on one condition...

Zaraki slowly took off his eyepatch, his spiritual energy rising intensely.

Zaraki: Don't go dying on me too easily!

Zaraki then decided to wield his zanpakuto with two hands, taking a kendo stance. With one swing from his sword, he made contact with one of Cien's tentacles as Cien tried to block the attack by covering himself with it. However the mighty swing from Zaraki sent Cien flying through the Garganta.

Despite blocking the attack, Cien felt his impact through his entire body. Had he not improved as much as he did in such a short amount of time, Zaaraki would've killed him right then and there.

Cien grew a sadistic smile on his face. He was enjoying the thrill of battle.

Cien: Hah! This is amazing! You're incredible, Shinigami! A man as strong as you could cut right through Baraggan's curse. Not even Starrk's fangs could pierce your exterior! I must thank you again. I may have just been born, but you've already given my life meaning.

Zaraki was confused.

Zaraki: Huh? What're you talkin' about?

Cien: What? You know what I mean. The pursuit of sharing a more splendid death. Let's keep it up. Let's kill each other more spectacularly, Kenpachi Zaraki!

Zaraki: You don't have to tell me. Just shut up and fight!

(Meanwhile) In the World of the Living

In the world of the living. Rumbling could be felt. Azashiro was confused about what was going on.

Azashiro: What's this? This spiritual pressure is from that Arrancar and Zaraki. How can that be? I can't believe this Spiritual pressure is from the same person I faced earlier.

Azashiro looked into the sky and saw a fissure starting to form. Urozakuro materialised herself to point out the obvious.

Urozakuro: Keeheehee! The sky has a crack in it! I wonder how this'll end!

Azashiro thought back at Aizen's words.

~~~~

Aizen: Would you like to hear my prediction, Kenpachi Azashiro? You may be a Kenpachi yourself, but you'll be defeated by the very same name.

~~~~

Azashiro: *thinking* He's just trying to confuse me with meaningless riddles.

Azashiro thought to himself with a concerned facial expression. Urzakuro noticed it right away.

Urozakuro: What's the matter? You've got quite the trouble look on your face! Have you accepted that you might lose? Keehahaha!

Azashiro: ...

Urozakuro: Ignoring me, eh? Anyway, it's about time you took my advice! Just be a good boy and hide yourself away in the Seireitei! You'll never lose as long as you seclude yourself there! At least, so long as good ol' Yamamoto doesn't decide to burn it all down to the ground, anyway! Keehahaha!

Azashiro: That is a distinct possibility.

Azashiro then looked towards the fissure in the sky once again.

Azashiro: That fissure must've been caused by Zaraki and that arrancar. Which means they're still fighting. Perhaps ground through there will give me access to the Garganta. If so, I'll just cosign them both to oblivion together. I will rid myself of all this waste.

As Azashiro spoke to himself, Merlin made his presence known to the Kenpachi. Azashiro, clearly sensing his spiritual pressure, looked behind him.

Azashiro: You're one of (Y/N) (L/N)'s soldiers, are you not? Why make your presence known now? Did you perhaps have a change of heart?

Merlin simply nodded no before opening a Garganta.

Azashiro: I see, you simply wanted to give me a safer way of entering the Garganta. I don't know what you have planned, but I hope you know that this act of kindness will not change my mind about taking your powers. Please relay that message to (Y/N) (L/N).

Merlin nodded yes as Azashiro entered the Garganta. After safely entering the Garganta, Merlin returned to (Y/N), clearly finishing the mission he was given. The Negacion thread that was tied to him disappeared as well.

Back with Zaraki and Cien.

Cien: You're something else. No matter how much I try to kill you, you just won't die.

Zaraki: Is that a problem?

Cien: It's no problem! After all this destruction, you still won't die. You refuse to fall, you still point your blade at me with deadly intent! You're only one man, but I feel like I'm facing off against a million-man army on my own!

Zaraki: You're one noisy bastard. You keep blabbering about crap that doesn't need to be said.

Cien: Cut me some slack, will you? I was only just born, you know. I can't help but want to yell my lungs out to express the joy I'm feeling.

In the midst of Cien's sentence, a third party interfered.

Zaraki: Hey, there. Where've you been?

Azashiro: ...

Azashiro inspected Zaraki for a bit before thinking to himself.

Azashiro: *thinking* So he hasn't attained Bankai. But his Spiritual Pressure has risen, that's for sure.

Cien: I sure didn't expect a surprise attack from you. Just a few minutes ago, I would've died from that. Let me apologize for being so rude. It seems I misjudged your potential.

Azashiro: *thinking* Just a few minutes ago, huh? But now I know how strong he is. And that still means I'm at an advantage.

In that moment, Cien, Zaraki, and Azashiro's massive spiritual energy exploded and filled the Garganta. During the midst of the storm of Spiritual Pressure that the three of them were generating, the three fighters failed to notice a group of suppressed spiritual pressure sneaking their way near the fight.

"Licht Regen!"

"Getsuga Tenshou!"

Cien was bombarded with attacks from the new group entering the fray.

Cien: What?

Cien turned around and Saw Ichigo and Uryu standing behind him. He also saw gold thread tied around both of their hands.

Cien: I recognize this... It's Roka's threads.

Zaraki: Huh? What's wrong? You ain't got time to get distracted!

Cien sighed.

Cien: Sorry. This is the last thing I wanted, but I have to put off our fight to the death for now.

Zaraki: Huh?

Cien: This absolutely annoys me to no end, but you'll just have to play with Azashiro over there for now.

Zaraki: You think I'm just going to buy that? Things were just startin' to get good.

Cien: Of course not! Believe me, I am the last person to want this! That's right, I'll swear my life on it! I swear to you we'll get another chance to kill each other! That we'll share the joy of death! So listen to me, Kenpachi Zaraki. Don't let a weakling like him kill you, you hear?

Cien took off after Ichigo and Uryu, hoping to catch up to Roka.

Zaraki: Hey, wait! I'm not done with you!

Azashiro: A weakling, huh? It seems I'm being underestimated.

An invisible slash cut into Zaraki, leaving a wound in his chest.

Zaraki. Damn. I don't what Kurosaki and the Quincy kid is doing here, but i guess I'm better off cuttin' you down than killing someone who's runnin' away from me

Azashiro decided not to reply to Zaraki's comment, instead asking him a question.

Azashiro: How has your Spiritual Pressure risen so much in such a short amount of time?

Zaraki: Huh? You talking about my eyepatch?

Azashiro: I suppose it was a pointless question if you haven't noticed.

Zaraki: I guess that means it's time for more tricks again, huh? I'm sure you'll make things more fun than last time, right?

Azashiro sent more attacks at Zaraki, all invisible. Because he couldn't see them, Zaraki had problems dodging the attacks. Each attack cut into Zaraki. From his chest, to his shoulders and even into his calves.

Zaraki still couldn't cut into Azashiro. Zaraki took a lot of damage because of the invisible blades that Azashiro summoned. However, Zaraki still stood, despite his injuries and smiled in excitement.

Azashiro: You have my respect. I even envy you for your ability to raise your spiritual pressure to such a high level in such a short amount of time, despite not knowing why.

Zaraki: What? What are you blabberin' on about?

Azashiro: If I had your gift, I'd probably have been able to carry out my task even more efficiently. Then again, there's no point in me envying someone who is about to die.

Zaraki: All right, enough with the rambling. Can we get down to business now?

Azashiro: I am well aware that there is no point giving you a warning. Farewell, Zaraki. As a man who doesn't even respect what it means to be a Shinigami, the Kenpachi name was always too much for you.

Zaraki: What?

Azashiro: Hadō #96. Ittō Kasō

Out of nowhere, multiple Gigai held onto Zaraki, casting the same forbidden kido technique that Yamamoto used against Aizen. The explosion lit up the Garganta as Zaraki was engulfed in the massive pillar of reishi.

Azashiro: It's done.

Azashiro: *thinking* The only problem left now is that Cien Hollow. He seemed to be chasing after the female Hollow. I'm sure (Y/N) (L/N) is with her. But first things first, I need to find my way out of the Garganta.

Azashiro then turned to Yachiru, who he now noticed after the explosion was starting to simmer down.

Azashiro: What will you do? Do you wish to cross blades with me?

Yachiru: No thanks.

Azashiro: Don't worry. Now that Zaraki is dead, I have no plans to do anything to the rest of you in Squad 11.

Yachiru: Huh? Hey, um, you seem to be mistaken. Kenny's just fine, y'know?

Azashiro was confused.

Azashiro: *thinking* There's no way. His Spiritual Pressure is gone. He should be dead.

Azashiro then started to turn towards the explosion caused by the gigai and saw a figure standing in the smoke of the attack.

Azashiro: *thinking* Wait, what's this? What am I looking at right now?

Zaraki walked out of the smoke, bloodied and scorched, but still standing tall with a wide grin on his face.

Zaraki: I'm all warmed up now, thanks to you.

Azashiro: How is this possible?

Zaraki: All right. How about we continue, eh, Azashiro?!

Azashiro's frustration started to grow and swell. Nothing was going how it was supposed to go. None of his predictions were going according to plan. Setback after setback. Azashiro let out an uncharacteristic yell in anger before sending out more attacks towards Zaraki.

...

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In Muken

Aizen: Can you hear me, Kenpachi Azashiro? I sense your fear around me, you see. If I have predicted things correctly, you must be terrified of Kenpachi Zaraki by now, scrambling desperately to turn your rage into a counterattack, right? There is one thing I did not tell you, Kenpachi Azashiro. Kenpachi Zaraki did in fact lose to Ichigo Kurosaki. However, there is something else. There is one specific factor that gave Ichigo an edge over Kenpachi Zaraki. By sharing his heart and soul with his Zanpakuto, Ichigo Kurosaki achieved extraordinary growth in an instant. And Kenpachi Zaraki's instinct had failed to deduce just how much Ichigo had grown. That's all there was to it. Now... knowing what you know now, how will you approach (Y/N) (L/N)?

...

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Back in the Garganta

Azashiro fused himself with air of the Garganta to avoid Zaraki's attack.

Azashiro: *thinking* I thought his eye patch was the only thing holding him back, but does that mean that Zaraki's instinct itself was limiting his Spiritual Pressure?! Ridiculous. What if Aizen was right about Zaraki's nature? That he simply didn't release his power in time to counter Ichigo Kurosaki's explosive growth? It seems that his spiritual pressure has grown even higher since fighting that Cien hollow. That would mean that his current Spiritual Pressure is...

In the middle of Azashiro's thoughts, Kenpachi swung his sword directly at Azashiro, cutting right into his shoulder.

Azashiro: *thinking* What?! But I'm sure I fused with the air to avoid that!

Zaraki: That one felt like it landed! I thought it'd just be an empty space, but cuttin' the air's not such a bad feeling, actually.

Azashiro coughed up blood.

Azashiro: *thinking* This is bad. I need to leave his line of sight for now.

Azashiro then became invisible, fleeing the battlefield. Zaraki then turned to Yachiru.

Zaraki: Huh? Hey, Yachiru, do you know where he is?

Yachiru: Umm, I think this whole area is him, Kenny!

Zaraki: Oh, well. I'll just have to cut down the entire area. Make sure you get outta the way, Yachiru!

Yachiru: Okay!

Zaraki then swung wildly in the Garganta, hoping to find Azashiro.

To be continued.