//------------------------------// // Clash of Natural Disasters! God Of Death vs God Of Destruction! // Story: The Displaced Tournament of Power // by Uncle Iroh //------------------------------// Clash of Natural Disasters! God Of Death vs God Of Destruction! 7:00:09 (Before Bullet Vs. Quill) Debris littered the arena, the explosion from the blackhole disc sent some of the debris in the air to crash down onto the arena. A few of the debris toppled onto Arkham and Berserker, who both were buried underneath it. Yet despite this, they still have enough strength to push the debris off of them. Things seem to have quieted down since the explosion, but the Commander had a sneaking suspicion it wouldn’t stay quiet for very long. Arkham groaned and pushed over a piece of katchin on him, “Ugh… Damn, Fujitora, what the Hell?” He rubbed his head, “Berserker, are you alright?” “Yeah, I’m good. Close call, though.” Berserker responded, his sergeant’s silver shield summoned to protect him from the destruction coupled with Armament Haki. The 3rd Commander let out a sigh and went to his feet, “Sorry, I didn’t foresee that asshole using a blackhole as a disc.” he shook his head, “I dragged you out here on some bullshit quest to get a few stragglers out, but that wasn’t even needed ‘cause of whatever that was. I apologize.” “Nah, I think the others need to apologize to us. Because they didn’t last long enough for us to come after them.” The Doom Marine’s rebuttal made Arkham snicker. Arkham nodded as he rolled his shoulders, “Yeah, I really wanted to punch something, but hey, at least I get a chance at punching someone else later on.” He looked around at the arena, “...Hopefully.” “Hm, I’m afraid the majority of our team members are out.” Berserker commented as he used Observation Haki. He wasn’t proficient at it, but the inclination he was getting told him only one or two remained, then it was just the leaders left to brawl it out in the grand finale. “Bullet still isn’t out yet,” Arkham noted, “That means this arena is gonna get even more damaged. That guy has no idea what property damage mitigation is.” He shook his head. “Maybe not.” Berserker knelt down and placed a hand on the ground. “Still, this might work to our advantage. Anyone of us who has an affinity for the Earth, really.” He was starting to get some ideas for the final showdown. “Considering someone turned the arena into a bushy battlefield before, I consider a fair amount of people here do,” Arkham said. “It all depends on how you use it…” 7:47:10 (Present time.) As Ichigo walked the edges of the arena, with pools of lava around him, he started to hunt for the Admiral. But as he was about to Sonido to look somewhere else, he paused for a moment, sensing his fated opponent. Coming out from a nearby river of lava, Akainu started to rise out from the depths. His lava drenched ten foot frame towering over the Displaced Soul Reaper. Chunks of molten rock dripped off of him and onto the katchin ground below. The 10th Commander glowed with heat for a while before he started to cool down, seemingly of his own wishes and not because it was cool. It was Ichigo’s first time since the start of the tournament that he had seen Akainu at his full height, Akainu was so tall that Ichigo’s head was barely above his waist. But thankfully for the both of them, Akainu stood half a dozen feet away “Woooooow!” Ichigo whistled as he looked up with the biggest shit-eating grin, “You're tall.” His face hardened quickly, “How about a let convo before we duke it out, Admiral? I have a few concerns I’d like to discuss with you so we can both fully enjoy ourselves and refrain from other distractions.” Akainu glanced down at the Displaced Soul Reaper and offered a subtle nod. “Fine,” he said and reached down to grab a cigar from a case in his shirt. He put the cigar in his mouth and without using a lighter, or his hands, he lit the cigar. Akainu took a drag on it and blew smoke in the air, “I think I know what you’re talking about, Kurosaki.” “Yeah,” Ichigo reached up and held his chin while giving a nod, “We’re way too strong for the other guys down here to survive our clashes. So what we need somewhere we can rock out and let loose. Your boss up for a change in scenario? I know we aren’t supposed to, but nothing says that he can’t and he and the other guys up there can technically make the call.” “Aye, he can,” The 10th Commander glanced up towards the stands and laid his eyes on his master and King, Katakuri. From afar, the King looked back and they made eye contact. Without communicating, he nodded and stood from his throne. With that, Akainu turned back to Ichigo and took another drag of his cigar, “It will be done.” “As long as we’re not in the vacuum of space without air,” Ichigo shrugged. Meanwhile, the King above stood tall from his throne, his hands behind his back. His wife, Elia stood up as well and looked over at him with a confused gaze. “Kata, what’s happening?” Elia asked. “Akainu and Ichigo have finally decided to fight each other,” As soon as he said that Elia wore a face of dread, but he eased her when he raised a hand. “No worries, I know a place where they can fight.” “This is going to be a good match,” Ed smirked. “I suggest you move them to the original tournament’s grounds.” “And endanger the inhabitants of our planet?” Katakuri raised a brow, “No, I have a much better place,” he put his hands behind his back. “Ryker’s Meteor.” Elia’s eyes widened, “Ryker’s Meteor? You would send them to a place a-a THING that killed so many Displaced?” “It’s the only option,” The King hummed, “It has an atmosphere and it’s big enough for these goliaths to have a fight without endangering both the safety of the people on Equus and the people fighting in the tournament.” “It really is the only option you have access to,” Ed waved off the comment. “I may not care much for humans but I don’t condone senseless slaughter either. They really need the space where they can do their own thing.” Elia sighed and folded her arms over her chest, she paused and contemplated. Considering her options, the other places they could fight, but every other option paled in comparison. She let out an exasperated sigh, “Fine, Ryker’s Meteor.” Katakuri kneeled down and wrapped her in a half embrace, “Thank you, Elia,” he said with kind eyes. Kissing his wife’s forehead which made her giggle. “Stop it,” She punched him softly. “I won’t let the old bastard’s influence get a hold of anything,” Ed said coldly. “I’ll seal off anything with void barriers to insure it. How’s that sound?” “Ryker is gone,” Katakuri said firmly, “There’s nothing he can do to come back to this place. He’s currently enjoying his torturous stay with an old “friend” of his.” “He may be gone but that doesn't mean his influence is,” Ed warned. “I cleansed his influence in this world,” Katakuri swiftly replied. “There’s more than one world as well as planes of existence, but I’ll let you do your thing. I’m only a guest here after all,” Ed threw up a hand. “But don’t say you weren’t warned.” Katakuri shook his head and glanced over to Elia, “I made the last announcement, would you like to do the honors?” Elia smiled, “Gladly,” she cleared her throat and walked over towards a platform just a few feet away from their thrones. Said platform had a microphone engraved onto it, she cleared her throat. “DISPLACED!” She began, “SAKAZUKI “AKAINU” AND KUROSAKI ICHIGO HAVE DECIDED TO FIGHT EACH OTHER! FOR THE SAFETY OF THIS ARENA, THIS VOID OF INFINITE SPACE, AND THE SAFETY OF MY HOMEWORLD, THEIR FIGHT WILL BE ELSEWHERE!” Her message rang out across the arena and echoed off the void, seemingly into the ears of anyone who was listening. The Queen let out a sigh, “Alright it is done, now I can transport them to the meteor.” Katakuri nodded, “Good. Thank you, Elia,” he gave a respectful nod towards the Queen and she gave one back. “Now, to work my magic,” Elia popped her fingers and wrists and outstretched her hands so that her palms were facing the arena. Tribal symbols started to appear on her body as they glowed a bright and royal blue, her eyes turned the same color as her aura and her Wakfu started to increase in power. Providing an almost blinding light to shine from the stands. Back down at the arena, as Akainu dragged his cigar and as Ichigo waited patiently, a large dark blue portal would appear in front of the pair. With that, the 10th Commander let out another puff of his cigar into the air. Wordlessly, he started to make his way towards the portal, but before he left, he pointed a finger to the sky and fired something from it, but whatever it was, disappeared before anyone could identify it. With that, the Commander walked through the portal. Ichigo snorted, “Let the leftovers here fight each other off,” Ichigo remarked, “The wish would be nice to have but I honestly don’t care,” He huffed. “It wouldn’t be fun if it was all just that easy,” he snarks as he makes his way through the portal as well. When they walked out of the portal, they found themselves seeing a beautiful pinkish purple sky and if they would look around, would see a beautiful forest with trees, flowers, and other flora. There would be some rock formations here and there, but it seems to be mainly a plant dominated area of the meteor. In the sky there appears to be a distant blue star shining bright, but it was far enough to give the meteor a nice climate. Not too hot, not too cold, but just right. And the air here was fresh beyond relief. This meteor was almost too beautiful to fight on. Almost. Akainu continued to walk and didn’t stop when walking out the portal. He repeatedly took drag after drag and puff after puff of his cigar and kept moving. His Commander’s jacket swished in the wind as he made his way away from Ichigo. Once he was at a decent space away, he leaped up towards a rock formation and landed on the surface. He then turned around to look down on Ichigo, facing him with an indifferent look in his eye. Ichigo walked out of the portal on the opposite side and headed in a straight line. He cracked his knuckles then his neck via moving his head side to side. Luckily he was still in full garb and managed to get the rest of the tree sap out from the uncomfortable places before he moved around the arena too much. He jumped up and landed on the very top of a tree, right at eye level with his opponent with a smirk across his face. He didn’t know if he was going to win this fight to be honest he didn’t really care. All he really wanted to do was bash someone’s head in and meet some strong guys and right now, there was a strong guy standing right in front of him, truly right at eye level with the tall man. Within a moment, Akainu fired off his Conqueror’s Haki; something he thought of as tradition. A greeting Conqueror’s Haki blast before the fight. His willpower stretched across the entire terrain they were to fight in, and everything around Ichigo became a dark red and black as if he was surrounded by lava. He had a burning sensation around him, not enough to do any damage but enough to wince. When he looked at Akainu, all he saw was a monster of sheer mass destruction with an unshakeable will. The feeling caused a massive tremor across the Galaxy size meteorite and fissures were made in the earth. Akainu stopped before he destroyed their meteorite with his will alone. “A monster for a monster,” Ichigo smirked as he reached out with his own powers, and due to only just acquiring the ability to use Haki, it went a little out of control. Akainu was a bit more on edge due to the Shinigami having a smile and laugh at the destruction at the Admiral's expense.  “Sorry about the unwanted reach but I'm still new to this Haki thing so how about I use something more familiar to me instead?” He narrowed his eyes as a vast pressure spread rapidly from the Shinigami of the entire area. A pressure that even caused the Admiral to stagger slightly. ”Now that we’ve shook hands like good gents,” Ichigo raised a hand and a small energy in the shape of a bow formed, “how about this,” he blurred out and blurred back in a good distance away as he raised the bow and launched an energy arrow at Akainu but mid way it explode and showered the Admiral in a cluster of thousands of arrows. Akainu took a step forward on his rock and used Kamisori to shoot across the sky with speed that hasn’t been shown by any of the Commanders until now. As he sprinted across the sky, he focused on Ichigo and not on the arrows in his way. He instead used Armament Haki in a way not many people use it. Using the Emission of Armament Haki, he provided a massive shockwave to blast from his eyes and crash into the arrows, making the bolts of energy explode. Running through to the explosion, he was in front of Ichigo in no time, his fist clenched with lava glowing. And yet, his fist surrounded in a dark reddish orange color as he is using Ryuo to hit through Ichigo’s defenses and attack his organs directly. Ichigo quickly activated his Herro with his own Armament Haki to try and nullify Akainu's attack, “It's a bit tough for you to get through my spiritual pressure that covers my body like an arm. Normally I have to hold off on Hollow powers.” However, as soon as he said that, Akainu pushed through and without his fist touching Ichigo, the attack connected. Ichigo felt his lungs blasted with hellish heat as well as being crushed from the blow. The force of the punch was strong enough to send Ichigo flying through several of the large trees that were in the forest of Ryker’s Meteorite. Not letting up, Akainu teleported behind Ichigo as he crashed through a tree and punched him to the ground so hard he bounced. “That was a good one,” Ichigo coughed before puffing into a cloud of white smoke to reveal a log with Akainu’s fist imprint. “My turn,” Ichigo appeared right in front of the Admiral’s face and pointed his finger with a small red energy ball at the tip of his pointer, firing off a point blank Cero that Akainu couldn't completely get away from. The blast had carried the Admiral back, his clothes were still intact, made of a material that’s not easy to break. Akainu was on his back, lying in a trench and looking up at the sky past the trees. He still had his cigar in his mouth and with a fluid motion, he used Kamisori and appeared in front of Ichigo. This time activating Future Sight along with his Ryuo to further gain the edge over the Soul Reaper. First, he delivers a fast jab towards Ichigo’s body that burns him from the inside out. Then a swift right punch to his jaw. Grabbing him by the neck, he crushed his windpipe by strengthening the Haki around his hand and then let go of him… Only to punch this man out of the sky and back into the ground. This time, Akainu joined him and descended, walking towards Ichigo casually while taking a drag of his cigar. “We done with the playground crap yet?” Ichigo coughed out a cloud of black smoke as he stood up and dusted off his shihakusho, “Man, Rarity is gonna have a cow when she sees this. Got some nice moves out of that though. One leader to another, you're just plain awesome, top five fav characters from your origin world. Though it would be nice if you’d give me a bit more dialogue instead of the stone face badass look.” Akainu finally stopped walking after he made his way towards where he punched him. He glanced at Ichigo, then down at his cigar, then at him again… Before punching him in the face long range with Emission, not bothering to say a word. “Damn dude what is your deal?” Ichigo snarled as he spat out some blood. “Just trying to have a little bit of conversation yet you're treating me like I burned your soup and pissed in your wine. I get I’m not the most gracious of hosts but you could at least say something when someone is speaking, Christ,” he rubbed the bridge of his nose, “Serious talk time though,” he looked at the Admiral. “Why are you part of this thing? What wish do you want that you can’t have your buddy Katakuri perform?” Akainu took a drag of his cigar again, this time putting his index and middle finger on the cigar. He took it out of his mouth and blew smoke in the air, “...Do you ever shut up?” He asked bluntly, looking down at the Soul Reaper with a look of indifference. “Hmmmm..” Ichigo stroked his chin before shrugging, “no not really,” he blurred out and appeared behind Akainu, “Water Style, Grand Ocean,” Ichigio said as he spewed massive amounts of salt water everywhere, especially over the Admiral. Akainu quickly found himself losing his strength as the water swirled around him, meanwhile the Soul Reaper easily swam at high speeds. Akainu was immoble whilst surrounded by water, he looked around at the liquid. He almost felt at peace, merely drifting in water. But that was when he saw Ichigo zoom by his field of vision. With a frown, he activated his Devil Fruit and he started to burn hotter and hotter, so hot to the point that the water around him started boiling. Ichigo felt his skin getting seared by the intense heat before, the water started to boil even hotter. Akainu clenched his fists and glared at the water around him. Water wasn’t a weakness, he had overcome all his weaknesses long ago! With a mighty flex, the water exploded into steam and filled the air. The steam blasted Ichigo into the air and yet, he was still surrounded by it. Before he could detect the Admiral, he felt such an intense heat in front of him that it nearly burned through him. Akainu reared back his left fist and slammed it into Ichigo’s chest, his Ryuo Haki bypassing his skin once again to sear what was inside his body. Oddly, Ichigo felt a burning sensation and that was when it clicked; Akainu had mastered his Devil Fruit so much that he could incorporate it into his Haki. As he realized this, he felt an intense pain, the force of Akainu’s punch doubled, no wait, tripled?! No; quadrupled! NATURAL TWENTY! BRUTAL CRITICAL! Ichigo was rocketed out of the steam cloud and was sent flying back, his whole body engulfed in flames as he resembled a comet. The Soul Reaper smashed through the trees of the forest like it was nothing. When he stopped, he crashed into a lake with such speed, power, and heat that the whole lake burst into steam. And Akainu who was surrounded by steam himself, took out another cigar – his cigar case being waterproof – and took a drag on it. “You think your heat is something I haven’t dealt with before?” Ichigo gave a manic smile. Ichigo blurred out and appeared at the Admiral’s side and landed a hard punch right to his face, knocking the cigar out if his mouth as a surge of power proceeded to run through Akainu’s body. He tried to activate his Devil Fruit powers but quickly found he couldn’t as every time he tried to move a surge of electricity ran throughout his entire body. This wasn't Haki; he thought this was something much more closely related to the Shinigami’s original powers. Ichigo didn’t let up as he landed several harder blows and jabs across Akainu’s body, systemically striking pressure points to further hinder movements while his body was stuck in his human form due to the the soul pulse he used on his first strike. He finished up his assault with a roundhouse kick straight to the rib cage, cracking several in the process, the Admiral finally coughing up blood as he bounced across the floor of the meteor. Once more was the Red Dog on his back and staring at the sky, he reached into his pocket and took out his cigar case. He popped it open and inspected it; yup, he still had a few. He took one of his cigars and stuck it in his mouth. He put his case back in his pocket and reached for his lighter, a silver lighter that had flowers that matched his undershirt. Akainu lit his cigar with the lighter and put the piece of metal back where it came from. There, he looked back up to the sky and took a drag. Akainu sat up and pushed himself to his feet. He contemplated saying something, but he knew he shouldn’t waste words here when they can be used for something more useful. He glanced over at where Ichigo was, who was a decent ways away, ten meters give or take. Instead of lunging, he instead started a casual walk towards his foe. Adjusting his sleeves and wiping some dust off his body, he coated his fists in Ryuo and decided he’ll be keeping them permanently on. Akainu stood about two feet apr now before both of them reeled back with their right fists and struck at each other, Haki and spiritual pressure crackling in an outpouring of raw power. Both fighters knew that neither had gotten completely serious in the previous confrontation. To them they were more akin to a couple of playground scuffles or handshakes. Now that they’d had their fun, they finally felt it was time to get serious. The duo broke their stances allowing the power to die down and a stillness to fill the air, neither having moved from their respective places as the two foot gap remained just that, two feet. “Now that we’re ready, how about we just exchange common courtesies as fighters and men?” Ichigo suggested. “Final requests for either of us should the others lose.” Akainu didn’t say anything; what he wanted was quite obvious should either of them win. So, instead he started to hum a tune to himself, that tune sounding similar to: “It's Been A Long, Long Time”. As he hummed, he briefly sang the lyrics. “Kiss me once, then kiss me twice. Then kiss me once again…”   Akainu performed a spinning backfist to Ichigo’s jaw, his Ryuo Haki passing through his skin and other layers of protection to cause a fracture on his jaw. “...It’s been a long, long time~” With that, he sent an Emission Fist at Ichigo to knock him back. He didn’t follow the attack up with anything, instead he just gazed on at Ichigo, subtly humming the song. “Try to appeal to a man’s sense of respect and decency and he knocks your block off with humming a nice tune,” Ichigo growled as he pulled his hand down his face and looked at Akainu with his brown eyes having shifted to a red with the tama around the pupil. “How about this, should either of us win, we have to give the other fighters a decent shot at that wish?” Akainu glanced down at Ichigo, not at his eyes but at his hair, wary of the sharingan. “...That’s pretty obvious, Kurosaki.” The Marine kicked Ichigo’s legs from under him and delivered a swift uppercut that knocked him up but not out of his reach. Rearing his fist back, he prepared for a right cross, and that was when black sparks emanated from his fist. BLACK FLASH! The Soul Reaper was hit with a powerful punch that sent shocks across his body. Somehow, the damage and strength behind the punch had been multiplied. He felt the black sparks of Cursed Energy spread all over his body; there was so much negativity shocking his body that he felt like he was having a seizure. As Ichigo was blasted away, Akainu quickly caught up to him with Soru and reared back his fist, going for a Reckless Attack and landing another punch. This time, a Jugon. He had hoped that this attack was a Natural Twenty, but he wasn’t so lucky, as Ichigo skipped across the meteor like a rock. Ichigo quickly. Quicker up and jumped to his feet and then jumped right at the Admiral, shattering the ground as he left it. A whitish aura covered his body and manifested into a partial rib cage and right arm that became covered in black flames. The Shinigami slammed his construct down at Akainu, the Admiral narrowly dodging the black flames as the meteor shattered under where he’d been standing.  Ichigo then used his arm to grab a handful of rubble and chunk it a wide spread in Akainu’s general direction, the Admiral having to revert to his Magma to make sure he wasn’t hit as he knew those flames didn’t go out so easily. This had all been calculated by the Shinigami as he used his firebending. to rapidly pull the heat from Akainu’s lava state and turn it to stone.  Ichigo proceeded to grab and of the Admiral’s stone form and chuck him halfway across the entire field. “He has enough control to choose the material he’s cooled into,” Ichigo scowled, “Bastard can even change into crystal to keep from shattering.” “Say… Kurosaki…” Ichigo suddenly heard his name echoed across the meteorite. “What do you get when you subtract a thousand from infinity?” Akainu’s voice echoed in Ichigo’s mind. “Infinite,” Ichigo said, “And if you think Infinite Void is going to overwhelm me then think again. The portal of truth did first.” “Oh, you mistake me…” The meteorite started to shake, “When you subtract heat from a man made of heat, who can constantly give off heat…” The earth beneath Ichigo started to burn, “...Who can constantly use heat…” The trees around him started to catch fire and the rocks melted, “...What do you get…?” The entire floor started to glow so bright it was blinding. “Heat.” From below, Ichigo was seized by the neck by Akainu whose body was covered in white magma. The heat from his body started to actually burn through Ichigo’s spiritual protection and started to sear his neck like a steak. Akainu reared back his fist and slammed it into Ichigo’s gut. The blow was so hot it burnt through his skin and almost through his body. BLACK FLASH! NATURAL TWENTY! BRUTAL CRITICAL! The force behind the attack sent Ichigo off world, slamming through multiple planets like he was a comet moving at the speed of light. Akainu watched as he went with his cap still over his eyes. He then took another drag of his cigar to puff out smoke, but when he inhaled, the entire cigar was burnt to a crisp. “EVEN IF HE WAS JUST COPY MADE OF REISHI I STILL FELT THAT!” Ichigo’s voice rang out. “If it hadn’t been for my body mods done by Kisuke i would've been dead had that been the real me. Luckily combining substation with reishi still has its perks even with that bs future predicting shit. Still didn't get out unscathed from your fire punches though.” “Susanoo was badly damaged,'' Ichigo scowled with blood running down his face as the cracks on his manifestation showed having taken most of the hits. Ichigo finally drew his zanpakuto from its sheath, Akainu knowing that this was the reaper’s true ace. “Never Been a true blue martial artist like Asta. Always preferred guns and knives, swords weren’t even an idea I looked into until I got into cosplay,” he took the blade in both hands and lifted it above his head, “Cleave the heaven! Zangetsu!” He called out and the katana transformed into a massive khyber knife, “Getsuga,” he called out as red reishi gathered on the blade, “Tensho!” He yelled as he sent the reishi slash at the Admiral, who jumped out of the way of the attack to clear the stage behind him of most of the fodder. Ichigo blurred right in front of the Admiral again and the two started to clash in a flurry of fists and slashes. Akainu noted the drop in Ichgio’s speed but his destructive power drastically increased. The Admiral ducked under an attack and performed an uppercut to Ichigo’s chin, sending him to space, but as he crashed through the upper atmosphere, he saw Akainu in front of him. He reared back a fist and performed a Dai Funka, slamming a colossal fist of white hot magma into Ichigo’s body. The punch sent the Soul Reaper back down into the meteor. When he landed, it wasn’t on solid rock but in hot lava that was also burning white hot. Ichigo was submerged within it but he quickly got out of the molten rock before it could do any more harm. Ichigo was back on the surface and everything around him was nothing but white lava and igneous rock. Looking up, he detected Akainu and saw him coming down, but at a distance. Akainu stared at Ichigo – once more not at his eyes but at his hair. He remembered what he told Arkham all those hours ago… 00:39:12 (A little bit after Cipher arrived.) Arkham and Kyle kept running, chasing after Team B while their ally, Noel, fought against Prince Sol of Equestria, the male counterpart to Celestia. Kyle was using portals to keep pace with Arkham as the 3rd Commander sprinted. The heat vision behind his helmet spotting the enemy team a decent ways away from them. “How close are we to them?” Kyle asked as he kept up his portal making. “Not too close, but not too far either, but we’re getting there.” Arkham replied, his focus solely on getting the enemy team out of the tournament. But as he went ahead, there was something on his mind. Arkham put his ear on his ear piece and engaged in a private call with their strongest. “Hey, Sakazuki.” At first, Arkham was met with silence, but after a few seconds, the Admiral replied: “Yes, Michael?” Arkham flinched at his name being said but he toughed it out, silently thanking they were on a private line, “I’ve heard that there’s someone here that can rival you, matter of fact, I’ve felt it.” “You’re right about that, there is someone who poses a threat to me.” Akainu said, “The Soul Reaper.” Arkham nodded, not that Akainu could see it, “He’s pretty strong.” “Mm.” There was a pause between the two of them. Arkham was struggling to find the words to say, and Akainu patiently waited for the 3rd Commander to speak his mind. While this was happening, Kyle kept portalling and noticed that Arkham was slowing down, but he didn’t say anything about it, Arkham looked like he was busy after all. “If you and Ichigo were to fight…” Arkham finally began, “...Who would win?” Another moment of silence passed between them, and Akainu continued to have his arms folded on his chair. “Well, if he were to activate his Bankai, he might cause me a little trouble.” “But… Would you lose?” The Knight asked another question. And to that, Akainu finally managed a smirk for the first time in a long time. “Nah, I’d Win.” “I promise.” 8:03:07 (Present time) Akainu looked at Ichigo with a serious gaze, “You see, Kurosaki, I can’t allow myself to lose to the likes of you,” the Admiral clenched his fists, “...Because I made a promise that I’d win.” Ichigo gave a wide grin, “I already said I didn't really care about winning. I just wanted a decent fight!” He kept smiling as his left eye started to blacken and his hollow mask completely formed on the left side of his head. “Your bad habit is showing again, King,” the mask said on its own, slightly throwing the Admiral for a loop. He didn't know that the hollow could speak on its own, and if Ichigo could manifest it without using Bankai like this he was going to have to redo some of his thinking on the Shinigami's power. Akainu already knew his opponent was still holding out thanks to his unknown powers. Powers that the Admiral knew would force the soul repair power to sky rocket but would most likely cost him a substantial loss in stamina. The Man of Lava clenched his fists and took upon a fighting stance, merely doing that caused the meteorite to shake and groan with pressure from his aura and heat. He seemed to be waiting for Ichigo to make the first move as he remained stationary. ”Let me guess why you let out that sudden war cry,” Ichigo smirked, “Someone you hold close or at least have some modem of respect for asked you who’d when between us, and you’d said you’d win even if I used my Bankai.” ”But you were guessing based solely on what you know about him from the anime or other yada-yada bullshit,” the hollow mask said. “But you’re wrong. This Ichigo isn’t the one from either sources. His basic abilities far exceed that of the original.” “In a nutshell, I can do a lot more stuff,” Ichigo continued. “Like the fact I have more than one Bankai.” ”Not to mention the Resurrecion,” The hollow laughed. As Ichigo and his hollow were about to speak more, Akainu interrupted, “Blah, blah, blah, are you done?” He shook his head, staring at the two of them with a deadpan stare, “...With this?” “One more explanation,” Ichigo shrugged. “You're a jujutsu sorcerer. My job as a Soul Reaper is to purify hollows which are evil spirits that were at one point human who either become hollows due to their evil deeds or regrets and or other negative emotions. In other words, I’d advise against using your curse techniques against me.” “I use Cursed Energy but I’m not a Jujutsu Sorcerer. There’s a difference between the two,” Akainu said firmly, “You and your variety of techniques may be great, but there is one difference between you and me that separates us. You talk and talk, I do and do,” The Admiral took upon a fighting stance, “So, do me and you a favor and shut up, and fight me.” Ichigo smiled and pointed his sword at Akainu while the bandage swirled around his right arm and he placed his left hand on his arm “Bankai!” Sher outed and his spiritual pressure and power exploded. The air was cleared as Ichigo swung his sword to reveal his standard Bankai. “Tessa Zangetsu,” he said as he eyed the Admiral. In a flash Ichigo blurred into several after images surrounding Akainu, even with his Haki he was having a hard time following the flow of Ichgio’s movements. All the images charged at the lava human with many of them just being nothing but mere images while others when hit would explode or be knocked away before fading into white spirit particles. The clones and explosions were more and an annoyance for Akainu than anything, they disrupted his tracking of the Soul Reaper to the point he sent out a ring of lava whipping them out in a single blow. Though this proved to be something Ichigo planned out as he came down and landed his signature technique right on top of the Admiral's head. They were both locked in place, Ichigo Tensa Zangetsu crackling with his spiritual power against Akainu’s Haki empowered magma fist. For a brief moment, Akainu was pushed back, the unexpected power jump along with his newfound speed took a time for him to readjust. But as he was starting to get shoved back, he remembered his promise and narrowed his eyes. He started to heat up again, his white magma glowing into a more brighter white as he started to shine like a star. Akainu clenched his other fist and threw a punch, however, Ichigo dodged the attack completely. The Soul Reaper had moved so fast he was behind the Admiral in an instant, but what he didn’t expect was a fist to grow out of Akainu’s back to slam into the Soul Reaper. Using Divergent Fist in addition to Ryuo and Advanced Conqueror’s Coating, the punch was significantly stronger than his more casual punches. Ichigo was sent back, and Akainu turned back around and lunged at the swordsman. Fist clashed against blade once again as they danced around the hellish meteorite. It seemed that the longer Akainu was on the planet, the hotter it became. Fumes, smoke, and smog filled the air. The forests that once decorated the planet were starting to catch fire and crumble to ash, leaving smog in the air. Though Akainu wasn’t phased, it appears Ichigo might, although much to the Admiral’s surprise, the Soul Reaper didn’t seem to be too bothered by it. Ichigo smirked as a golden aura covered the right side of his body and it coalesced into a medred of golden glowing armor of sorts. “HELL’S A LOT HARSHER PLACE THAN YOU THINK!” He yelled as he reached out with his left hand and grabbed on to something that sounded like a chain. In a split second the Soul Reaper vanished again, “I’ve turned in hell on numerous occasions Admiral. This heat is nothing,” Ichigo said as he was now darting around on the somewhat invisible chains. His speed and force increased with each rebound. Akainu soon found himself trapped by these somewhat invisible chains that not even his magma or Haki could affect. Suddenly Ichigo was coming at the Admiral right from below, his blade crackling with his spiritual power and a trailing white wave of reiatsu behind him. ”Heaven's Piercer!” Ichigo yelled as he rocketed straight up with a heavy thump of thunder, cutting Akainu’s hat just as the Admiral returned to his lava form to take the brunt of the reishi wave. “Hell,” Ichigo panted as he landed opposite opponents while his hell armor broke away, both panting. “Damn it all. Awakened users are no joke… your one tough bastard…” Akainu turned towards Ichigo; this was the perfect moment to end it all.  To win. Within a flash, Ichigo got punched into the sky, far but not far enough Akainu couldn’t reach him. Without wasting another second he was in front of Ichigo, slowly, his white aura started to get a hint of purple. And then… Red? “KAIO-KEN TIMES FIFTY!” A large spiky red aura burst from the Admiral as his power was multiplied to beyond. Another punch slammed into Ichigo, this one far more powerful than the last, he was now coating Ki into his attacks among other things. The purple aura started to build up over time with each and every punch. His own punchest started to burn and break apart the Admiral’s clothes as his shirt couldn’t hold the power he was putting out. Leaving him shirtless. Ichigo caught a glimpse of what appeared to be symbols on his chest and that was when he realized; Akainu was a God of Destruction in training. And he just got into his Destroyer Form. Akainu continued his onslaught of fists, refusing to let Ichigo even breathe for a second, “FUJI!” a punch landed onto the Soul Reaper’s gut. “BROMO!” Another punch was directed at his jaw, “ETNA! LOA! ST. HELENS! SEMURU!” With each punch, he started to build more and more power. Finally, he started to use his Reckless and with each punch, started to improve his odds on landing a Black Flash, Natural Twenty, and Brutal Critical. He needed Ichigo out and he needed it now. Akainu started to sweat as he landed his onslaughts of crits, his skin was starting to crack. Akainu started to think, “Every time I do a physical attack, I store potential energy equivalent to the kinetic energy I push out. I stockpile it within my body and I can release that potential energy I have built up in bursts. But I haven’t done that yet, this is the perfect opportunity to release it all. If I don’t, then all of the potential energy within me will go critical and explode me; it won’t kill me, but if I lose all of that, I’ll have no chance of victory.” Akainu continued to land his onslaughts of crits and flashes, and his skin started to crack more as he built more potential. “Should I do it…? Aw fuck it,” Akainu snarled as his eyes turned white with a purple outline around his eyes, “KAIO-KEN TIMES ONE HUNDRED!” He yelled and punched Ichigo into deep space. Akainu shot after him with a roar so powerful, the universe started to crack. “You’re not the only one with god ki…” Ichigo gave a smirk as his body erupted in blue ki. “I honestly can’t control myself while using it so i think I’ll let it all loose” he raised his finger and a small cero appeared above as he pointed right as his heart “Devour my enemies and protect what's mine… Zangetsu,” he fired his cero right through himself leaving a hole. Chained erupted from the pommel of the Soul Reaper's sword and covered him in a black ball. The chains hardened and started to shrink onto the inside and soon emerged Vasto Lord Zangetsu holding a white Tensa Zangetsu. The hollow let out its own roar that matched the Admiral’s in intensity. Ed watched the intensity of the fight with his hosts from their box back in the origin arena via holo-viewer. ”This is odd,” Ed spoke up as he held his chin. “Ichigo transformed into his Vasto Lorde form but his sword is white and black instead of the black and red. He’s not using his bankai in this state. Why? What exactly are you up to?” The alchemist smirked. “He’s still not fighting at full strength but at the same time he’s going all out.” His comment caught Katakuri’s ear. “Ichigo is one of two unique beings in the world of bleach that possess attributes of the four races,” Ed explained. “Hollows, Shinigami, quincies, and humans,” he listed on his fingers. “Technically he is a Quincy with soul reapers powers with a hollow as a zanpakuto spirit as with a flesh and blood human which also allows him access to fullbring powers to. Short story being, it means he can tap into all of those abilities as he pleases. You’ve already seen him doing this on some occasions during the tournament. The real kicker is he can also flawlessly stack the powers of his base origin on top of each other similar to what Akainu has done. The thing is, in base mode when he’s nearly completely hollowfied he still has his zanpakuto even in shikai. In Vasto Lorde form he still has it using bankai. That sword in his hand is White Zangetsu’s bankai. Two things I can think of, first being that the hollow has completely taken over, but if that was true then the sword wouldn’t be there at all, two is a fake and he has some sort of trick up his sleeve.” Katakuri said nothing in reply and sat on his throne, staring down at the arena. He kept whatever Ed said in mind, but his main focus was more on Akainu than anything. Curious as to what he would do. Back to the fight, from afar, Akainu let out a burst of his Cursed Technique with a punch. Infusing that with his various techniques, the force of the attack slammed into Ichigo’s gut and blasted him lightyears away through a star. As he was carried through the fiery gas, he was met with Akainu who had appeared behind him with his fists in the air. He slammed his fists down, performing a sledgehammer and landing a Black Flash, sending Ichigo below him and through a planet. Akainu was suddenly hit with several balas in rapid succession which also sent a soul wave throughout his body momentarily paralyzing the Admiral due to motor function loss. As he regained his senses he saw the hollowfied Shinigami holding his sword’s hilt with his right hand, tripe pointed downward, and his left hand seemingly holding the blade in a familiar stance that had been used earlier. The blade itself was covered in a cero as Ichigo blurred out of sight and behind the Admiral caused a large gash to appear across his chest. Akainu recalled the base ability of the sharingan, copying techniques.  Ichigo hadn’t been merely watching all the fights from above; he'd been doing so using his sharingan, and thus gaining every single move and form used in them. The hollow suddenly spun around and appeared right in front of Akainu’s face with a cero already charged in its horns and unleashed it point blank sending the Admirals flying to the other end of the asteroid field, and threw several meteorites as well. Akainu watched as the asteroids approached, as they came into range, they heated up and melted down the magma. With the surrounding magma, he turned them into fists and sent an army of punches down upon Ichigo. But Akainu appeared behind Ichigo to grab his head and flew through the magma fists, each punch coated in his Conqueror’s. When he flew through all of it, he landed a left uppercut direction onto Ichigo’s spine, and twisted it. With that punch, he let out a more stronger burst of his Cursed Technique and forced the Shinigami to cough up blood as he was sent back out of the galaxy. Akainu glanced down and took out his cigar case  to put another cigar – or replace his current one, he wasn’t really sure. Regardless, he put a cigar in his mouth and took a drag. Ichigo flew through space, his mind nearly blank, only thinking of fighting. His eyes finally opened in his mask to reveal his burning flame pattern mangekyo pattern sharingan. He stopped himself with a sudden burst of ki. Now that his hollowfication had stabilized he was once again in complete control of his body. His eye drifted down to his sword, tightening his grip and the false zanpakuto shattered to pieces. He flicked his hand and the shards ignited into black and red reishi before forming several cero lances. “Luz de la Luna,” he spoke in a raspy tone and with a flick off his claw, sent the lances straight at the Admiral. Ichigo then concentrated on himself and activated his own red god ki while coating himself in his Armament Haki. He started to hathern his power in a black ball in front of him. Stretching his arm out the ball stretched as well, from into another but more weaponisc looking javelin. ”Lanza del Relámpago,” the hollow said as he rocketed toward the Admiral, starting off with his shunpo he broke Mach 6 with lightning sparking over his body before adding on his Sonido to top that at Mach 16. Tapping into his Quincy abilities, blue Blut circuits appeared all over his body both strengthening and hardening it to allow him to tap into Hirenkyaku ro all but become a white line as he and. Akainu’s collide, his lance buried in the Admiral's chest as the duo shot through the universe even through stars as if they were more balloons until the weapon broke and caught them both in a massive outpouring of dense reishi, dealing significant damage to foe and wielder alike. ”He did what the other did,” Ed thought out loud. “He used Haki to further protect himself knowing the speed would tear him apart, but still… where’s the sword…”   Akainu and Ichigo floated across from one another badly damaged and severely drained of power, one of Ichigo’s horns was nowhere to be seen while cracks covered his mask. His hollow form greatly increased his strength and durability by leaps and bounds but there was still only so much it could handle, though hollow fixation also allowed his healing factor to increase, though instant regen was still out of the question due to tournament rules. “Might I ask you why you decided to fight in this tournament?” Ichigo asked out of genuine curiosity. Akainu at first remained silent, the hole in his body from the javelin slowly refilled itself with magma until the hole was no more. His cigar was still in his mouth, he took a long drag and exhaled a puff of smoke. “...Because I’m a Commander,” he simply responded. “I can respect that,” Ichigo nods. “Those in command must show they are worthy to be in charge from time to time. I’m just a fight-happy fool who was roped into it by my best friend.” “You’re wrong about being ‘worthy to be in charge’. We Commanders don’t really command anything. We are protectors; we protect this world,” Responded the 10th Commander, “There are still people stronger than even I out there, and it is our jobs as Commanders to fight opponents who will help us grow stronger. So we can better protect what is ours. Every life here, from a rose to a dragon, matters to me. I won’t allow anything to harm the people of this world’s smile. The relationships, their love, their hate, their grief. As the 10th Commander, as the strongest, I carry all their dreams and nightmares on my shoulders. Which is why I must stand strong.” “Hehehe…” Ichigo chuckled, “Yes, get that. As the Head captain of the Shinigami for the Black Clover Kingdom, I guess I stand for that as well, or more for the souls of the departed than of the living but both sides are all the same really. Honestly, I think you would’ve preferred Asta as an opponent over the guy that shoots his mouth off. He lets his actions speak for him and his voice is heard when needed.” For the first time, Akainu cracked a subtle, subtle smile, “Heh… Sounds like a great guy.” “He’s the bestest friend a guy could ask for,” Ichigo reached up and pulled his horn off and it transformed into his red and black zanpakuto. The Admiral let out a deep sigh despite being in space, “Well, I guess we should finish this up, Kurosaki…” From his right fist, every single ability he has fired up as his aura spikes up. His Kaio-Ken, his Cursed Energy, Chakra, all the nine yards and more. He went into a fighting stance with his fist cocked back, intent on finishing this all in one punch. “It's been an honor to fight against you Admiral,” Ichigo said as he activated all his remaining powers. Blut once more cored his body as his mask began to crack and fall apart as he covered himself in his Armament Haki his Sharingan in mangekyo state as reishi gathered and poured off his blood like a tourney of water. Both fighters activated their Conqueror's Haki and Spiritual Pressure straight at the other causing a clash of power and lighting to flash. “Dog of Hell Style…” Akainu’s right fist started to crackle with energy and glowing cracks started to form across his skin. “Gran Ray…” Ichigo pulled his sword above his head as his reishi pooled into the weapon and started to blacken his hands with burns. “Krakatoa Fist.” “Meido SANGESTSHA!” With that, Akainu unleashed all the stored energy he built up with one strike, getting a Natural Twenty, Brutal Critical, and a Black Flash. Ichigo’s attack, while it hasn’t been multiplied, still performed on par with Akainu’s attack and with the sheer force of the two attacks colliding… …In the Void a small bloop could be heard outside the universe. Katakuri sat on the throne with a fist resting on his chin, looking past the hologram as it turned static, and instead looked back at the arena. Elia raised a brow and looked around. “What? What happened?” Katakuri raised a finger, “...Wait for it.” “Here they come,” Ed crossed his arms while nodding his head. “Best fight.” A huge tear ripped through reality above the dimension where the tournament was being held and black lightning and spiritual energy struck down from above like lightning. It didn’t hit the arena, but it made such a loud sound and a large shockwave that some debris shot away at the speed of light. Leaving the audience in awe and the remaining fighters in shock.