31 Meeting the Strawhats
The group had left Shimotsuki village a few weeks ago. The crew had just been coasting along the open sea. They had some bit of information about their surroundings right now.
They started in east blue, the "weakest" of the seas.
They had begun to make a name for themselves. A lot of pirates thought them easy targets when they flew neither a pirate flag nor a Marine flag. They would quite easily take out the pirates and collect any bounties at the next town they went to.
When Ichigo had been training his swordsmanship he pretty much ignored everything around him. He barely cast a glance at the groups training in haki.
He was surprised at the abilities. Busoshoku haki, the user could use their "spirit" to coat themselves or an object in an "armor". It was similar to Shirou's reinforcement but a good amount stronger. He didn't feel the need to train this, he wasn't lacking in raw power and for defense, he had Blut Vene and Hierro.
He heard about Haoshoku Haki, it was similar to when he released his reiatsu. The user basically exerts their will at the target. He chose to forgo any training in this one.
He was excited when the non shinigami of the group learned soru. It was a movement technique were the user kicked off the ground several times in a split second to move at high speeds. It was less versatile and not as quick as Shunpo, but it was a godsend for his members who could not use it.
The Ability that caught his attention the most was Kenbunshoku haki. It enhanced ones instincts, concentration and senses. At the higher levels, one can even predict several seconds into the future. He would focus on this and his swordsmanship.
The group had fun throwing random items around the ship at him for "training" while he kept his eyes closed.
"Another group of pirates" Ichigo said, his eyes closed as he meditated.
A bit in the distance there was a pirate ship, its flag was marked black, the "key" pirates. Honestly, they all had a good chuckle at the stupid names that some of these people came up with. They were practically random at times. At the last town they visited, they picked up a bounty book for east blue, it was easy enough to cross check them.
"Let me have them" Ichigo said to the group.
He hadn't been able to put his training into practice much.
He walked to the edge of their ship and drew Zangetsu. He had much more of a link with Zangetsu than his practice blade. Sword intent was easier to use now as Zangetsu was an extension of himself.
The group felt Ichigo's aura change. It became much sharper, just being by him made them feel like they were about to be cut.
He raised his blade above his head and swiftly slashed down. There were no wasted movements, it was quick and precise.
He fired off a nameless Getsuga Tenshō, it was different than before. It was much more condensed, the energy didn't fluctuate wildly. It split the water as it traveled to the pirates ship and promptly cut it in half without any resistance.
The ship had sunk into the ocean.
"A bit overkill there Ichigo?" Yoruichi said with a smile.
"No such thing!" Sarah quickly said. For a sniper and assassin she liked to make things go boom.
The group looked at their sniper…they had been introduced to her habits the fast few weeks. She did not like to hold back. Everyone was afraid to raise an objection, they could only look away.
"RIGHT?" She said, looking towards the man she was sitting with.
"…yes…." Sasuke barely squeaked out.
"Cough…whipped….cough" Naruto jokingly said as he dodged a kunai thrown by a certain Uchiha.
"I must congratulate you Ichigo, you have shown much improvement in your sword skills these fast months" Saber said.
Ichigo could feel it better than them. He did feel more powerful, it felt like he could utilize his power more easily, before he just channeled his reiatsu into a Getsuga tenshō and waived his blade. It felt more natural now, it was easier to use and he could increase the intensity and sharpness with ease.
He had come a long way in not just these few months, but these past few years. He was much more refined as a person in general. As the blade reflects the user, it only made sense that he would grow stronger. Zangetsu was happy, his user pulled his head out of his ass and finally decided to become a real swordsman.
"Thanks sabers" Ichigo said, finally breaking out of his thoughts.
"I guess we should grab their flag and turn in the bounty?" He said to his peerage.
"Do you really think there is a flag left after that?" Rukia said with a sigh.
As the duo argued, they didn't notice off in the distance. Very far away, almost a spec on the horizon, they were being watched. It was a marine vessel. There was a rather large telescope on it that was watching the group. They had been watched since they started their journey at the behest of the captain they initially met.
The Marines take it seriously at first, and upon each display of power it got escalated more and more. Though the group never showed anything too absurd, until this point, they were classified as potentially dangerous for having just left East blue.
This little incident though really set of alarms. That was not the power level a group should have on this side of the grand line. If they were to give a bounty, it would easily be in the hundreds of millions. Thankfully the group did not break any laws thus far.
"Contact the headquarters, I need to speak to the Fleet Admiral." The man said.
The man wore a mask with horns on the side, and long red hair. His jacket read "Vice Admiral" on the back. He was Vice Admiral Bastille.
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The group had been cruising along, they had made amazing time and traveled a great distance by the eyes of the world. Their ship was a bit of a cheat. Zelretch installed motors on the bottom. One of the "surprises" they had discovered.
Much to Jaina's dismay, her sway over the crew was waning after this discovery. There were more individuals tied to the mast this time.
Apparently, Ichigo had somehow convinced the other guys to mutiny with him. Jaina though had a stranglehold over the females in the group.
They never stood a chance.
They were a bit preoccupied when the sky suddenly turned dark. It had an ominous feeling.
"What's going on?" Ichigo asked towards Jaina, who was taken back how he was somehow free from his bindings.
"This isn't natural" Jaina replied.
They saw two ships in the distance, one was rundown and looked like the cliché "ghost ship" the other…was a pirate ship with a lion/sun on the front. It had a familiar flag.
Ichigo smiled as he saw it.
"Lets go say hi" he said happily.
They pulled up to the other side of the "ghost ship", opposite of the pirate ship.
"Hey" Ichigo said to the group of pirates.
Both groups just stared at each other for a moment.
Ichigo ignored the awkward silence and walked on board the ghost ship to meet the individuals, the walking-talking skeleton was interesting.
"Are you alive?" He asked towards the skeleton.
"I feel alive" The skeleton said.
"OH" The skeleton suddenly shouted.
Everyone quickly turned towards the skeleton, they thought something may be wrong.
"I can't feel anything I have no skin!" He said with an emotionless "face".
Some eye rolling later, the groups finally introduced themselves.
"Hi I'm luffy" Luffy said towards the orange haired guy who introduced himself as "strawberry".
"Nice to meet you luffy" Ichigo said after the whole debacle with explaining his name.
"Do you want to move on?" Ichigo said towards the skeleton who introduced himself as brook.
Apparently he had eaten a devil fruit that did something to his soul, it was bound to his body even in death.
Brook took on a serious expression as best as he could. "Are you going to kill me?" He asked hesitantly. He felt something weird from Ichigo and several other members of his crew. Like they were his natural predators. The feeling of death crept around them.
His words caused the Strawhats to start being vigilant to the new comers.
"HEY DON'T TOUCH HIM" Luffy yelled in response.
"I'm not going to hurt him" Ichigo said waiving off his concerns.
"I can put your soul to rest if you desire" He said, which settled down the pirates.
"If I may ask…what are you? You give off a weird feeling, it's…like I'm standing before the reaper…" Brook said with a bit of fear in his voice. This caught the attention of the pirates.
"I'm a Shinigami" Ichigo said bluntly while looking at the shocked expressions of the Strawhat's faces.
"I help wayward souls pass on, I can perform a Konsō on you" He explained to those present.
"I thank you for the offer…but I don't want to pass on just yet…" Brook hesitantly said towards the Shinigami.
"Oi, are you really a Shinigami?" the green haired swordsman asked. He was Roronoa Zoro.
"Yup" Ichigo replied without any hint of lying.
"SO COOL" Luffy interjected
'WHAT KINDS OF THINGS CAN YOU DO?" He excitedly said.
Ichigo pointed his finger at luffy.
"Shō" he said. An invisible force pushed luffy back and made him tumble.
"What was that?" The oranged haired navigator asked. She was surprised to see someone with a brighter color of orange than her.
"Kido, its like magic that Shinigami use." Ichigo said.
"Magic isn't real" The blonde cook named Sanji interjected.
Jaina was the one to respond.
She pointed towards the cook, "Polymorph" She said. And he turned into a sheep.
Luffy started laughing along with Zoro.
Nami and the others were a bit taken back.
Sanji turned back to normal "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" He yelled.
"Polymorph, a spell" Jaina said smugly.
"I'm a mage" She declared to the pirates who looked at her in awe.
The groups started to settle down after this and got to know one another. They actually got along pretty well all things considered. Saber immediately took hold of chopper and refused to let go.
Shirou talked to sanji about cooking and their mutual experience with the bottomless pits they had to feed. Luffy, franky and Usopp were busy being amazed by the ninja. Naruto took it upon himself to display some of his more flashy abilities.
The girls were getting along great as well. Jaina was giving a basic lecture on how her magic worked.
When Usopp had calmed down, him and Sarah talked about various sniping abilities. Inbetween Saber's "hugs", chopper was able to talk to Orihime and learn about her healing abilities. They hit if off easily.
Sanji learned early on not to flirt with the girls. Overall, they were becoming fast friends.
"Hey zoro…." Ichigo said to the swordsman.
"What?" He said bluntly.
"Sensei asked me to pass something on if I saw you" He replied.
'Sensei?" Zoro asked in confusion.
Ichigo unsheathed his blade and entered a battle stance.
"Oh…you want to fight?" Zoro said excitedly. He never fought a Shinigami before.
Zoro drew his favorite blade.
Ichigo slashed downwards toward the pirated hunter. It was different than his time with Koushirou. It was with his intent behind it. It was sharp, it was heavy, yet it was oddly gentle. As his blade met Zoro's he quickly shifted it and changed his angle of attack. There was no need for his previous flailing, he could control his movements much better now.
Zoro felt like a mountain was crashing down on him. As he blocked the first strike by holding his blade horizontially above him, Ichigo quickly shifted it after barely any contact, he slid his blade off Zoro's and spun around in a horizontal slash aiming at Zoro's side. Zoro quickly moved his blade to defend against the strike. Their blades connected once again only for a fist to meet Zoro's face which sent him back several feet.
When he regained his composure, he saw that Ichigo had put his blade away.
"What was that for?" Zoro said angrily.
"Sensei said that I should deliver his dissatisfaction about recent events for him." Ichigo said with a smile.
"Who's your sensei?" Zoro asked, calming down a bit.
"Koushirou" Ichigo replied.
A smile crept onto Zoro's face. "How's the old man doing?"
"He's...happy" Ichigo said. He knew about the history between the two.
"He's glad you found somewhere to call home" Ichigo told his senior disciple.
The strawhats didn't intervene, they could guess what was happening based on the conversation.
"So you're my junior?" Zoro asked.
"Yup" Ichigo replied.
"We need to celebrate, where's the booze?" Zoro said excitedly.
Just as Zoro said this, all of Ichigo's peerage looked towards a location on the the ghost ship.
"Identify yourself" Rukia called out towards a spot on the ship.
The strawhats looked on in confusion.
Saber had let go of Chopper for the first time since they met.
There was no answer from the "thing" that appeared. They all felt it, someone was invisible.
Rukia pointed towards the space "Bakudō no 63, Sajo Sabaku" she chanted. Energy chains materialized and shot around the target.
The Pirates saw it, the chains were wrapped around a person that was invisible.
It was moments later that they noticed something very large moving around them in the fog. It was an extremely large island/ship. It had a large gate that opened up as it sucked in the surrounding water and forced all three ships inside before abruptly closing.
The invisible person tried to escape, still wrapped in chains but he could move his legs.
Shirou was the one to step up, the Strawhats all watched in silence.
"Trace on" They heard him say.
A large black bow materialized in his hands, he had mentioned earlier that he was a "magus" which was some sort of magic user.
He created a nameless noble phantasm blade and turned it into an arrow.
He aimed up and shot towards the fleeing individual. It pierced what appeared to be his lower stomach. He started to bleed and his invisibility wore off. It was some sort of….creature. It was a man that had animal parts sown on.
He was about to fire another shot until his spectators got in the way.
"THAT WAS SO COOOOOOL" Some of the straws yelled with stars in their eyes as they jumped on the magus.
"We should probably check this place out…." Rukia said towards the more level headed members of the strawhats.
