BLEACH: UNOHANA RETSU IS MY WIFE

"Pah~"

With a muffled sound, Araki carried Unohana into the captain's room of the 11th Division and disappeared from sight. The 11th Division's barracks immediately erupted into chaos.

"Was that Captain Unohana?"

"So, the unidentified object slung over our new captain's shoulder… that was our Captain Unohana? Am I seeing things?"

"I saw it too… Damn, am I dreaming? This dream feels way too real..."

"I think I just saw something unclean..."

The 11th Division barracks buzzed with chatter and disbelief.

"Anyway, what are we supposed to do now?!"

A senior officer's voice cut through the noise, and the whole barracks fell into uneasy silence. His question echoed the unspoken confusion in everyone's hearts.

"Didn't you hear what the new captain said?" a calmer officer interjected. "He told us to train on our own—until we literally can't stand anymore..."

"Do we really have to take orders from that guy?" someone muttered, still unconvinced.

The officer laughed bitterly. "What choice do we have? You saw it. Not only did we lose, even Captain Unohana was defeated. Whether we accept it or not, he's our captain now."

As his words sank in, the room went still.

"And that guy isn't just some random nobody—he's apparently got ties to Captain-Commander Yamamoto."

The barracks went quieter still. The reality was dawning on them: not only had their former leader lost, but Yamamoto himself had acknowledged Araki. What else could they do?

"Ah..."

With a collective sigh, the 11th Division's soldiers quietly picked up their wooden swords and resumed training.

They couldn't beat him, couldn't change things, and certainly couldn't complain. All that was left… was to get stronger.

Meanwhile, in the captain's quarters—

Araki opened his system interface.

Name: Araki

Title: Second Generation Kenpachi

'Genryu' Menkyo Kaiden

Fullbring: Flower of Eternal Life (Awakening Conditions Met)

Spirit Drive: Level 1 (+)

Araki's stats remained mostly unchanged, except for a new title: Second Generation Kenpachi—a result of his victory over Unohana.

But that didn't matter to Araki. What mattered was this:

His Fullbring, The Flower of Eternal Life, had now met the conditions for awakening.

"Awaken."

He gave the command without hesitation.

A quiet sense of fulfillment settled in his chest. Everything he had done for Unohana… was worth it.

[Select character to bind Fullbring to:]

(1) Unohana Yachiryu

(2) Saito Furuobushi

Araki blinked.

"Wait... Saito's favorability hit the threshold too? When did that happen?"

He was baffled. He couldn't recall doing anything in particular… it was as if this girl had just fallen for him on her own?!

Still, it didn't matter.

"I choose Unohana Yachiryu."

There was no hesitation. To hesitate would be disrespectful to Unohana. (Well… maybe if it were Shikatsu Bakunsai, he might hesitate for a second. Cough cough.)

[Binding successful]

As the prompt appeared, Araki immediately felt a link forming between him and Unohana. But since she was unconscious, he couldn't yet test out the Fullbring.

He had a few theories on how it would work—but for now, those would have to wait.

[Feedback...]

The prompt updated again. Araki's eyes sharpened—this was the part he had been waiting for.

[Note: The Flower of Eternal Life will receive a performance boost based on the spiritual pressure of the first bound character. The greater their spiritual pressure, the higher the starting levels of Fullbring and Spirit Drive.]

This meant that by choosing Unohana, one of the most formidable spiritual pressure users in Soul Society, his Fullbring was now supercharged from the start.

Weak Fullbringers can barely manipulate spiritual matter, while powerful ones—like Aura Michibane from the official novel Can't Fear Your Own World—can perform feats such as atomization, which allows their bodies to become virtually intangible, almost like elemental beings. Her mastery of Kidō was even praised by Urahara Kisuke as comparable to that of Aizen himself.

Originally, Araki's spirit drive—the foundation of Fullbring abilities—was only at LV1, the lowest tier. But after forming a contract with Unohana Yachiru, the woman whose spiritual pressure was once called one of the most terrifying by Szayelaporro Granz (after returning from Hell in the Gokui Kurenai arc), everything changed.

Thus, upon revising Araki's Fullbring classification, his spirit drive was instantly upgraded to LV10.

Character Profile: Araki

Title: Second Generation Kenpachi

Honorific: Genryū Menkyo Kaiden (Master of the Genryū School)

Fullbring: Everlasting Flower (Awakened Form)

Reigen Control (Spirit Particle Manipulation): LV10(+)

All of a sudden, Araki's stats panel updated dramatically once more.

"Incredible… I can feel it. I can now drive not just my own body, but the surrounding spirit particles at will. I don't know if I can match Aura Michibane—whose soul contains part of the Soul King's binding lock—but I'm confident I can stand toe-to-toe with anyone beneath her."

Araki stood silently, feeling the surge of power flow through him. In Soul Society, everything—from the buildings to the air—is made of spirit particles. And now, Araki could control them with precision.

Of course, even with LV10 mastery, Araki couldn't manipulate world-level reiryoku—that level of dominion lies with the true Soul King alone.

However, manipulating spirit particles at the cellular level, just as Aura once did to achieve near-intangibility, was now within Araki's grasp.

"As for using it offensively on enemies?"

"Pointless."

To Araki, such fine manipulation was unnecessary in combat. Enemies weaker than him could be defeated with a single sword stroke. Those stronger than him wouldn't be susceptible to spirit-particle manipulation anyway.

What was useful, however, was his newfound affinity for Kidō. Thanks to his precise reiryoku control, Araki could now cast spells with ease—covering a past weakness—and saving him the need to train further in the art for now.

"There's no need to raise my Kidō stats at the moment. This much is enough."

With his strength assessed, Araki turned his attention to experimentation.

"The next step… is testing."

Unohana was still unconscious—he couldn't push her to wake up just yet, no matter how tempting it was to test his powers against her.

"A headache indeed... If only a test subject would show up at my door—"

Just as Araki stood over the resting Unohana, lost in thought, a loud voice came from outside the 11th Division's head office.

"Get out of my way! I have something to say to that guy Araki—your new captain!"

The shouting voice made Araki blink, then smirk in delight.

He knew that voice all too well.

"Speak of the devil…"

"And the little lab rat arrives right on cue~"

He glanced at the contracting panel of his Fullbring. Another name had just lit up—ready to be bound.

A slow grin curled on Araki's lips.

Yes.

The voice outside belonged to none other than Saitō Furobushi.