Bleach: Reborn — Chapter 324 - Refused.. Failed (Patreon)

Yasutora Sado's request made Wayne pause.

All this time, Wayne had figured this tall, powerfully built high schooler was the type who never made demands, just fell in behind Ichigo and kept moving. On top of that, his training had always been done alongside Inoue, under Yoruichi and Urahara's supervision. Coming to find Wayne directly and asking for training was something Wayne hadn't seen coming.

"What is it?" Wayne asked, puzzled. "You're a Fullbring user. Why come to my Hollow camp to train?"

"Well..." Yasutora Sado went quiet, his eyes scanning the area around them. Wayne caught on immediately. He reached out and touched Sado's wrist, and the two of them vanished.

The next instant, they were standing inside Wayne's Tsukishiro.

"Just as I thought..." The moment he felt the Reishi in the air shift, Sado could feel countless particles of Reishi surging toward him.

"You seem to be more receptive to the Reishi energy of Hollows." Wayne studied him carefully, tracking the flow of Reishi around Sado's body.

"My power is Fullbring." Sado manifested his giant right arm as he spoke. "It awakened a long time ago. With Mr. Urahara's help, it's kept growing alongside my Reiatsu."

Wayne didn't interrupt. He just listened.

"Later, when I went to Hueco Mundo for the first time to rescue Inoue, I suddenly felt that my power seemed to share the same origin as Hollow power. In just a few days, I awakened a new power while I was there." Sado manifested his left arm, the Devil's arm. "The right arm grows with my Reiatsu. But the left arm has been growing slowly ever since I left Hueco Mundo. Coming back here, I can feel it starting to rise again. Only..." He paused. "After watching how fast Inoue has been improving, I feel like I'm falling behind. That's why I'm earnestly asking you, Mr. Wayne, to train me."

Wayne considered for a moment, then gave his answer.

"I refuse."

Sado's expression went still.

"During the battle against Aizen, I helped your group because we shared the same goal," Wayne continued. "Orihime Inoue's ability was useful to me, so we made a deal that worked for both sides. In terms of factions, when I was a Soul Reaper we were on opposing sides — and as a Hollow, even more so. I don't have any obligation to train you. And as for the battle itself, the people who can actually turn the tide won't be any of you. Not even Ichigo Kurosaki."

"I..." Sado's shoulders dropped. There was nothing to argue with. His own strength was too small, he knew it.

"Even so," Sado said, "I still want to improve as much as I can. Even if all I can do is help Ichigo pin down one obstacle along the way." He dismissed the armaments on both arms, stood up straight, and bowed to Wayne with quiet respect. "If that's how it is, then I won't trouble you any further. Please send me back, Mr. Wayne."

"Sure." Wayne said nothing else. He took Sado by the arm, and they returned to Kisuke Urahara's camp.

When Sado came back with that look on his face, Orihime seemed to put it together immediately. She took him by the arm and pulled him outside the temporary camp. Urahara didn't press for details. Instead, he turned to Wayne and asked about his plans going forward.

"Either I wait for Ichigo to come back down from the Royal Palace, wait for you to finish your analysis, wait for Soul Society to get back on its feet — or I wait for that self-righteous Quincy faction to launch another offensive. Before any of that happens, I won't be making any proactive moves. Nothing to gain from it."

"You know, sometimes I really do think you're an exceptionally practical man, Mr. Wayne." Urahara raised his folding fan to cover the lower half of his face, his expression hovering somewhere between a smile and something harder to read.

"When I was weak, no one helped me. When I got strong, I kept thinking about protecting my own people. The greater the power, the greater the responsibility — sometimes, for the sake of certain things, you have to give something up. Isn't that what balancing interests is all about?"

"So then, Captain-Commander Yamamoto's resurrection, to you, that was simply a transaction to balance the three realms?"

"Yes and no." Wayne left it there and changed the subject. "How much longer before you finish the analysis?"

"Actually, it's nearly done." Urahara read the room and didn't push. "The general breakdown of the Quincy's abilities is largely complete. What's left is deciphering the Schrift, and helping the captains reclaim the power of their Bankai."

"Good. I'll leave that to you." Deciphering the Schrift mattered enormously to Wayne. It was directly tied to whether he could absorb the power of Ryujinjakka. With the old man's Reiatsu in hand, using the Hōgyoku to absorb the Bankai power of Ryujinjakka wouldn't be the hard part, the hard part was getting the Schrift that had sealed Ryujinjakka away from Yhwach in the first place.

"Then I'll be going. I've still got things to take care of."

"Of course. Please, go right ahead, Mr. Wayne."

"Wait, wait a moment." A familiar voice. Not Sado this time. Inoue. "Um... Mr. Wayne, could I possibly ask you for a favor?"

Wayne's brow tightened. "Again?"

"If it's possible... could I ask you to help me and Sado train together? Reiatsu training. We want to get stronger." Orihime Inoue stepped forward and bowed deeply. Sado bowed alongside her.

"You — I —" Wayne was momentarily at a loss. Was the favor she owed him really worth so little? He'd barely settled things with Inoue a moment ago, and she was spending it already?

"Alright, alright. You two are going to be the death of me." Wayne sighed. He understood exactly what had happened, Inoue had taken Sado outside to hear what had just gone down, and then, for Sado's sake, she'd gone ahead and cashed in the favor right then and there. And he wasn't about to go back on his own word.

Besides, when the real battle came, neither of them would be at the center of it anyway. Nothing pressing right now. He might as well help, they just wanted to be able to contribute something.

"In that case, Urahara, I'll leave Grimmjow here with you. I'm taking Harribel and a few of her subordinates with me. Sado and Inoue will train on my turf until the great battle starts, I'll send them back when it's time."

"Of course. If there's any intelligence or new developments, I'll contact you through one of Mr. Timd's clones." Urahara lifted one of Timd's rat clones from his shoulder. It was hard to imagine that a creature with practically no Reiatsu at all was a clone of a Vasto Lorde-level Arrancar.

"Then that's settled." Wayne stepped forward and placed one hand on Inoue's shoulder and the other on Sado's arm. The three of them vanished at once, reappearing outside the camp where Harribel and her three were waiting.

"My King." Harribel saw Wayne coming and immediately inclined her head in respect.

"Tch." Grimmjow, standing off to the side, clicked his tongue and didn't bother bowing.

"Let's move. We're heading back to Tsukishiro." Wayne said plainly. "Grimmjow, you stay with Urahara."

"Yeah, yeah." Grimmjow turned his head to the side. He didn't like being tied down, this arrangement was fine by him.

Wayne raised his hand and slashed a spatial rift open, and the group stepped through, returning directly to Tsukishiro, Wayne's domain.

"When do you want to start training?" The moment they arrived, Wayne asked. He'd called it waiting, but his time wasn't exactly abundant, the real battle was only days away.

"As soon as possible, if that's alright." Inoue answered, then glanced over at Sado and got a quiet, low affirmative.

"Then we start now." Wayne gave a nod. "Harribel, you spar with Inoue. Focus on sharpening her combat instincts and her use of power."

"Yes, my King." Harribel bowed.

"My Lady Harribel, your injuries haven't..." Apache started.

"Since when was it your place to question my decisions?" Wayne's gaze cut to Apache, flat and displeased.

"Don't worry about me, Apache." Harribel stepped in quickly. "Orihime Inoue has healing abilities. My injuries will recover during the fight."

Apache looked like she still had something to say. Sun-Sun and Mila Rose each grabbed an arm and pulled her back.

"Off you go." Wayne gestured toward the distance. "Head over there and find Jekain, have him set you up with a place. Sado, and you three, come with me." He moved first, Sonído carrying him away in an instant. The three exchanged glances, then followed. Sado couldn't use Shunpo or Sonído, so he just ran.

"My King, if I may ask, what do you need from us?" It was Mila Rose who spoke first, after trailing Wayne via Sonído for a short while. Something had been nagging at her. Apache had been running her mouth one too many times, and this king's patience with the three of them had probably run dry long ago. Now he'd sent Harribel away and brought them out here alone. Was he planning to find a quiet spot to deal with them?

She turned it over in her head. Then again, if Wayne wanted to crush the three of them, he didn't need a reason. He could just do it.

"I need to confirm something." Wayne stopped abruptly. "Call out Yaon."

"Yaon?" Sun-Sun and Mila Rose both stiffened. Ever since Quilge absorbed Yaon's power last time, the three of them still hadn't fully recovered. They could manage a summons with effort, but the strain on all three of them would be significant, and the result would be uncontrollable.

"My King, Yaon attacks indiscriminately by nature. We can barely command him, let alone control him." Sun-Sun moved forward quickly. "If we summon him in our current state... he may well attack you."

"Summon him." Nothing more. Wayne had been able to trounce Yaon since long ago. As for now, Yaon couldn't break through his defenses.

"Yes, my King." Sun-Sun said nothing else. She pushed up her sleeve and prepared to tear off her newly regrown arm.

Mila Rose followed without hesitation. Apache was reluctant, but she made the same motion as the other two, though somewhere in the back of her mind, she might have been hoping Yaon would smash Wayne flat with a single blow.

"Beast God Fusion!"

All three called out together. Their separate left arms fused into one, and a creature dozens of meters tall erupted into existence before Wayne's eyes.

Urrrrr...

A low, strange rumble. Yaon came to a stop, looming over Wayne.

Wayne studied the enormous creature, watching. Then, to everyone's surprise, he crooked a single finger and beckoned.

Come at me.

ROAR!

Yaon could sense the power radiating off Wayne. It didn't matter. Instinct overrode everything. Faced with the provocation, Yaon let out a furious roar and charged. The massive fist came crashing down. White sand erupted beneath his feet, dust clouds billowing up in every direction.

"My King!" Mila Rose called out in alarm. If Wayne took even a scratch because of this, every Hollow in the territory would tear the three of them apart. She pushed the thought about a pretext out of her head again, Wayne didn't need one.

"I'm fine." Wayne's voice came from inside the dust cloud. When it cleared, Yaon's fist rested against a pale golden Reiatsu barrier. Wayne hadn't moved. Not a scratch on him. Both Mila Rose and Sun-Sun exhaled at the same time.

Wayne kept watching Yaon. Still searching for something.

ROAR!

Seeing that the first strike had done nothing, Yaon went into a frenzy, swinging left and right, hammering fist after fist into the barrier, as though he could tear through it by sheer brute force.

The collisions rang out one after another. The ground trembled with each blow. By the time Sado followed the noise and came running, Yaon's assault hadn't let up for a moment.

"Just as I thought." Wayne finally reached his conclusion. "I've been trying to understand what the Law of Power actually looks like. Now I can see a corner of it."

He had been watching the attribution of Yaon's power. As far back as the battle with Quilge, something had stirred in him, a faint, strange resonance sensed within Yaon's Reiatsu. Laws responding to each other. Barely perceptible, but there. He just hadn't been certain what it was. Now he was.

It was a fragment of the Law of Power.

Yaon's entire fighting style was pure, unadorned brute force, no technique, no tricks, just physical power crashing headlong into its target. And even that simple, unrefined strength had been enough to snap Quilge's neck. If Quilge's ability hadn't been so terrifyingly potent, if he hadn't dismantled and absorbed Yaon outright, a straight contest of Reiatsu and raw power would have left Quilge pulped. And what Wayne could sense from those blows just now confirmed it: Yaon's power wasn't diminishing with each punch. If anything, his Reiatsu was slowly rising. That was the Law of Power at work.

"Not much to collect yet, but I'll start gathering it now."

Wayne turned his hand over and produced the Hōgyoku. He brought it to rest against the center of Yaon's brow.

➤ Next: Fragments of the Laws