The True Nature Of A Zanpakutō [Rangiku, Ranma]

She managed to manifest a barrier of ash tough enough to clash with his Zanpakutō’s new technique. That had to be some of the densest clouds of ash ever… and she manipulated each and every particle with precision and mastery. It was fucking terrifying! But Ranma had already committed to the swing, so he had no choice but to put all of his weight into Hōkamaru and force himself even further through… if he could.

It all happened so quickly – a bit faster than he could follow himself – but he managed to actually cut through the ash shield she made! Better yet, she flickered back in order to avoid getting hit too – in his almost crying eyes, that was leaps and bounds beyond his achievements in their previous spar. He actually… pushed her, even if for a brief moment. “Holy shit… holy shit, holy shit, holy shit! I-I actually cut through, no no no, that- oh, that’s sick!”

Although, his hands were sore… but he thought he could still try it one more time. Ranny, however, quelled his increasing hype spirit by mentioning that she’d already come up with a countermeasure for such an attack after seeing it. That was when she blinked forward towards him, and Hōkamaru responded with a brief instance of its blue spiritual aura concentrating entirely on the short radius around Ranma.

OH SHIT, MY BE-

He only had an instant to instinctively move back, arcing his belly and torso away from Ranny’s punch. The ashes spreading out from her in the meantime still managed to approach him, and it felt like he was still in slowmotion… but not because of Hōkamaru. Because of adrenaline, paranoia, fear of the unknown repercussions of her ashes spreading out.

Again, Hōkamaru! Again!

Tightening his grip on Hōkamaru, he attempted to commit a horizontal slash with the same method he used earlier – slow down the blade itself, then pull… pull, pull, pull! And the blade came flying across his front, attempting to push the ashes away.

But if she could control every particle… then he ought to realize he was still in trouble. It was hard to hit a cloud, after all.

It worked! He could still scatter the ashes that came his way, especially when they were dispersed enough to be see-through. Problem was, he completely missed Ranny – by the time he realized her absence, she yoinked him by the back of his Shihakushō and tossed him at a rack of wooden swords.

*CRASH!*

“Owwwwwwww… ‘m okay,” he groaned from the pile of swords, pushing them off of himself upon standing back up, “What do you mean by that? I cut right thro- oh…” It was intentional – the ash from earlier was thinned out to lure him in, she tricked him! With her prehensile, ambidextrous capabilities!

“… It’s like splitting your sword up in a million bees!” he sobbed in frustration, “How am I supposed to deal with that? I’m not the fastest around, and Hōkamar- what in shithalls happened to Hōkamaru?!”

He’d raised Hōkamaru up in a defensive stance, and upon his eyes glancing over it, he noticed the sheerly different shape it had. Instead of a wavy jian, it looked more like a khopesh now – a brilliant khopesh in lavender colors. “RANNY! RANNY, IT CHANGED SHAPE! OH MY GOD, I DIDN’T EVEN MEAN TO- IS THIS GOOD NEWS?!” Ranma leapt around like he overdosed on toon force, his sparkling eyes glistening glitter once he found himself pleading for a favorable answer from the Vice-Captain, all the way up in front of her. “Is this… ohhhhhhhhhh, ohhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHH! Is this Bankai?! Did I just unlock a Bankai?!”

He did not unlock Bankai.

“This has to be-“

It was not Bankai. His Spiritual Pressure hadn’t changed since he started the bout – but one thing was clear as day for any experienced Shinigami like Ranny. His bond with his Shikai was far stronger than normal, and it showed itself.

The notion that this might be his Shikai’s real appearance… that Hōkamaru finally expressed himself in some way… made Ranma gasp. Sharply. “*KKKKKKKKKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH*”

Like a balloon flying around after opening its bottom up. “H-H-H-H-Hōkamaru does care! I knew he had my back, in the end!” Ranma jubilated, snuggling his face all over the side of his Zanpakutō, “I’m right here, Hōkamaru. I’m with you, pal… thanks for the heads-up-“

Oh, Ranny seemed more fired up now. Since his Zanpakutō changed appearance, she pondered that it might grant him a few new tricks too – Ranma wasn’t exactly in the right headspace to come up with a new technique, however… he just got help with that- that- that-

What was he going to call that technique? The big hit… the heavy smasher… argh, he could worry about that later. As long as it was short.

New… new, new, new, new, new- I don’t feel anything different? So uh… still slowing down things, eh? I mean, it’s a sick ability, why change it? If ONLY IT WORKED ON RANNY- wait…

Since he’d gotten fanatically used to casting Shakkahō at this rate… he manifested one above his open palm. “Ya wanna see something new, Ranny? Then feast on this…” Ranma teased the revelation of a new, little trick he wanted to try again… did he try this back when Armina was trying to rip him apart? Or was it against Shura? He couldn’t remember, but it popped up in his head when thinking of Shakkahō.

His Zanpakutō’s ability… it affected Kidō a little differently than when it slowed down actual Shinigami or Hollows. He wanted to see where he could go with that.

“Hadō #31: Shakkahō…” he summoned, manifesting a red orb of burning light on his palm. Despite being one of the first Hadō spells in the thirties, Ranma had… spent so much time and energy spamming it – much to the chagrin of a few of his colleagues. Ranny herself might just frown at the sight – this was what kept people up at night. The sound of him turning the sky red with orbs after orbs after orbs after- anyway.

Instead of firing it off, he did a rapid spin and split the orb in half with his Zanpakutō before dashing to the side and sprinting towards Ranny, his form flickering as he attempted to push his Shunpō to its upmost limit. Just the kind of ankle-aching mania that he hated, but… when he split the Shakkahō in half, it’d turned lavender. The same color as his sword. And the fiery outburst slooooooooooowly approached her…

It was slowed down! It looked like Ranma used it as a feint attack, with his own advance being the real assault! That was when he stepped to the side upon closing in on Ranny, from behind him the fiery Shakkahō wave charged at high speed towards her all of a sudden. A double feint attack – the Shakkahō was the real, real assault! Get side-tracked!

… Oh. Thinking about it, it couldn’t have been simpler – Ranma was too focused on her front to notice that she had other options such as literal ascension. Henceforth, his 500 IQ play ended up being just another child’s play to her… AGAIN!

“Ngghaaaarrrgh! I was so close, though…!” Ranma groaned, throwing his arms in a small tantrum. Did she have any idea how stressful it was to churn his brain’s wrinkles this frequently? It hurt his skull! And to top it off, she just casually launched her own attack at him – a wave of definitely painfully tough ash clouds flew down to his location like an arc ready to slice him up!

Mimicking her awfully simple strategy, he leapt up in the air with a Shunpo, propelling fast enough to blur out of the ash arc’s way! With a backflip, he orientated himself midair and planted his achy feet on the ground once more, feeling the physical stress of moving so fast starting to make itself known. No, no, no, no, no, shit, fuck, fuck, no, fuck, shit, hell, NO! I forgot how annoying this feels!!!

He raised his left palm forward and gathered his focus once more, figuring that he could still apply that same technique earlier… but in a different fashion. “Ye lord, Mask of Blood and Flesh, All Creation, Flutter of Wings, Ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and Pandemonium, the Sea Barrier surges, march on to the south!”

Once again, that damn Shakkahō…

"Hadō #31: Shakkahō!"

And what an awfully large one he was generating. It soon held half his height in diameter, emitting heat in all directions. He wasn’t going for a chantless, underpowered surprise anymore – he was making a bigger red ball… and then, he cut into it with Hōkamaru! Multiple times, in fact!

After a few cuts, the red flares turned lavender, sharp and contrasting! He kept aiming his front towards Ranny’s position should she try to move away, but none of his attacks were meant to reach her yet. He just kept cutting into the large Shakkahō he’d generated, which floated in place and didn’t budge…

*FWOOOOOOOOOOOSH!*

Like a screeching radio, a multitude of burning sword slashes burst out from the exploding Shakkahō, first hitting Ranny’s first position atop the raft, then shooting all her positions as the slashes neared in on her. Like trying to aim an active minigun at a target, watching all the bullets weave through the air as their collected wave of assault closed in on the target. “H-Haha… hahaha- HAHAHAHAAAAH! THIS IS AWESOME, HŌKAMARU! I HAVEN’T EVEN SCRATCHED THE SURFACE OF YOUR GENIUS YET!!!”

Ranma marveled at the Shakka-arcs flying towards Ranny, resulted from cutting into the large Shakkahō with his Zanpakutō’s ability. It’s crazy how much utility you have… I oughta listen to you more- wait, you… still don’t talk, eh? Shy guy, gotcha. At least, I’m just glad you don’t spite me or anything, he relieved, content from Hōkamaru’s last word only. Seriously, if that was the case – shyness to a crippling degree – then Ranma could live with that. He was a tolerant person! And his Zanpakutō, despite its shortcomings, still reached out to him with that one word… it must’ve been a cringing hell for Hōkamaru. Spoke volumes of his feelings.

If Hōkamaru was brave enough to step out of his comfort zone like that, then why wouldn’t Ranma be?

Ranny fucking blocked his Shakkarcs with her ash! Maybe he didn’t cut hard enough- wait, she gave him a hint! He caught on to it, with his hair bristling up and all – there was a lot of ash, right? That meant… her barrier, for now, was tougher than before. He probably wouldn’t be able to break it down with that… that technique, yeah, without a name. Buuuuuuuuuuuuut-

He ran up to her, running in the air and flickering forward with another Shunpo – he wouldn’t be able to cover much of the distance with that Shunpo, but his free palm was facing her barrier. “Bakudō #21: Sekienton!” he revealed, popping out a cloudburst from his palm made of red, thick smoke that covered a small area in front of him.

It wasn’t meant to touch her ash barrier, but… he’d fly over it in an arc, attempting to strike Ranny with a somersault kick from behind! Thought I’d try to break it again?! I’m just taking your advice now!