Bleach: Brave New World - BNW: Chapter 2 Fearlessness Is Key

“Z-Zaraki freaking Kenpachi!!!”

“Hmm? Bastard, how do you know that name?” Zaraki gazed at Jan as he waved his Zanpakuto twice.

The moment the dust from the sword’s swing settled, Jan fainted. It was only out of surprise that he shouted Zaraki’s name.

There was a long silence after that.

Zaraki kept staring at him, but Jan didn’t even budge. But that only lasted until Zaraki screamed, “You know that a Plus can’t just faint out, right?”

“What?! Where Am I? Who are you?! What happened… really?!” Jan knew he screwed up the moment he shouted Kenpachi’s name so he tried to play dumb, hoping that Zaraki will just let it slide.

“Huh, you’re no ordinary human, aren’t you?” Jan’s plan didn’t work, as Zaraki’s stares became colder.

Jan’s face became solemn, and he said, “Isn’t everyone special in a way?”

“Humph!” Zaraki snorted and then looked at the chain connected to Jan’s chest, “Not everyone has a chain as long as yours.”

“My chain isn’t long anymo…” Jan suddenly widened his eyes as the realization struck him. With some anguish in his voice, he muttered, “Why?!”

“I was getting bored. I thought you’d lure some Hollows out.”

Jan felt extremely irritated. Still, he kept his composure, thinking to himself, “No wonder there were no Hollows around during these ten days. Hell, I bet he was also the one who cleared out the other towns… Ugh, this is a bit frustrating, but it would be useless to try and knock some common sense into a guy like Zaraki Kenpachi…”

Awkward silence took over again as Jan pondered for a moment. Meanwhile, Zaraki didn’t move, just continuing to watch him.

“Why are you staring at me like this?” Jan couldn’t help but ask.

“I’m waiting.”

“Aren’t you going to help me?”

“It’s too late for you, kid.”

“What do you mea…” Suddenly Jan felt unbearable pain in his chest. He looked down only to find that the chain was already gone, a hole was opened in his heart, and his words were cut abruptly and he couldn’t help but scream in pain as strange white fluid burst out of his eyes, chest-hole, and mouth, forming something that resembles a mask on his face.

As Zaraki watched, he couldn’t hide a sinister smile that slowly formed on his face.

‘That bloodthirsty bastard; he finds this amusing!’ Jan almost gave up at this moment, but an image crossed his mind, bringing hope back to his heart: “It’s not too late you monster…”

Usually, when a Plus losses their heart, a huge amount of Reaitsu would burst out of them, a hole would open in their chest, then the body would start to morph and finally, a mask would cover their face. But in Jan’s case, the order of this process was clearly off; this was closer to Hollowfication and it was purely driven by Jan’s will to live.

Hollowfication is the act of inserting a Hollow’s soul into a normal soul, then breaking the boundary between them to try and turn the original soul into something more powerful. However, one’s will is not enough to break such a boundary.

“This bastard… he’s fighting back.” Zaraki, who was eagerly waiting for him to turn into a Hollow noticed how the process was taking too long.

……..

A vast field.

“Where am I? Am I dead again…?!”

Jan’s eyes opened swiftly on a vast field full of small hills and mountains.

After he stood up, Jan sighed, “So this is my inner world, huh?”

The inner word or the Shadow is either an unconscious aspect of the personality that the conscious ego does not identify in itself or the entirety of the unconscious, that is, everything of which a person is not fully conscious. In short, the shadow is the unknown side.

This place represented his soul, everything he believes, and everything he’s uncertain about. But now, Jan’s life was coming to an end, and everything he once knew or believed in was crumbling.

“Well, I know what this place is…? But since I’m not a Shinigami…”

“Then no one should be here?” A hoarse voice suddenly echoed.

Jan was startled and immediately shouted, “Who’s there?”

A figure slowly appeared out of thin air, snickering.

“It’s me.”

A figure stood face to face with Jan; he looked exactly like him, only paler, like a ghost, wearing white clothes, sporting white hair… he was all white!

Jan’s eyes suddenly widened, and said solemnly, “Are you the Hollow that’s trying to control my body?”

White Jan released a snicker that dissolved into malicious laughter, then he stopped abruptly, “No. I’m you…”

“No way, I’m not that ugly!” Jan shook his head firmly.

White Jan snickered evilly, “Kehahaha, your fearlessness is key to this; I hope you could keep it up when you face them.”

“Face who…?”

“That’s for you to figure out.” White Jan said with an evil smile on his face, then suddenly he spread his hands wide and a massive Garganta opened in the sky. Instantly, gigantic Hollows came crawling out of it.

The moment Jan looked at them his heart sank in fear; fear that immediately caught the Hollows‘ attention. As rushed toward him; Jan, who saw this scene, instinctively ran for his life shouting, “This is bullshit! What does this even mean!! And how am I supposed to face these monsters?”

……..

The outside world, two hours later.

Zaraki was sitting crossed-legged with his Zanpakuto leaning on his shoulder. His head bowed and his eyes closed, he seemed calm; but deep inside he was extremely excited.

In front of him was Jan, or what used to be him.

Half of Jan’s body was covered in white fluid, and the other half was struggling to keep that thing away from it; ripping it off and roaring simultaneously. The hole in Jan’s chest was now deeper, and during the last two hours, the hilt of a white sword started coming out of it. It was pretty clear that he was in great pain, and while he was completely unconscious, his pure instinct kept fighting.

Suddenly, a voice came from behind, “Ken-Chan!”

A young girl with pink hair suddenly jumped over Zaraki’s shoulder like a monkey.

“What took you so long?” Zaraki said calmly.

“What is that?” Yachiru asked while pointing her finger at Jan.

“I don’t know yet,” Zaraki said while smirking.

…………

Inner World.

“AAAAAAAH!!!”

Jan ran with all of what he got the entire time. He hid, he flew, he begged his white version to help, but nothing stopped the terrifying Hollows from chasing him.

“What should I do? I can’t fight them, and I won’t be able to run from them forever…” Jan mumbled twice, “Being fearless is the key he said,” then suddenly shouted, “I can’t fight back if I don’t, wait… Face them!!”

Suddenly, Jan’s eyes widened and he stopped running, and then turned around with a stern look on his face and started walking toward the Hollows step by step, which made White Jan in the sky smirk.

……….

The Outside World, one minute later.

“Ken-Chaaan, I’m bored!” Yachiru sighed, “I’m a bit grateful that he finally shut up, but I’m boooored!”

Zaraki stood up all of a sudden, which almost threw Yashiru off, “Let’s go.” He said calmly.

“But we can’t go and leave him like this; the Captain will get mad at us!”

Zaraki groaned, “I can’t kill him while he’s like this, don’t I? This was your idea in the first place!”

Yachiru pouted, “Eeeh?! Ken-Chan you’re the one who said that you wanted a stronger Hollow to fight!”

“But, you’re right… I don’t think he would fight back like this.” Yachiru looked at Jan, who seemed to be getting calmer and calmer.

Zaraki got a bit irritated; the state that Jan was currently in was unknown to him and Yachiru. When the Hollowfication began, Zaraki got a bit excited. But quickly, things got a bit troublesome when Jan lost his unconscious and began to fight back. Zaraki observed his transformation for more than two hours, and it just kept going back and forth countless times. Even with the hilt of a sword beginning to emerge from his chest, Jan never gave up and fought against it until it completely stopped.

The Hollowfication was stopped, but it wasn’t undone. The white fluid was covering half of his body, the other half was kept as it is, and the hilt was still thrust deep into his chest-hole. What was different now is that the white fluid was no longer trying to possess his other half, nor was his intact side trying to rip it off.

Zaraki looked at Jan for a while and then said in a deep voice, “He’s neither a Plus nor a hollow. He fought back well. And it doesn’t look like he’s going to give up anytime soon.”

Yachiru looked at Jan again, “He’s not going to give up, and you don’t like losing. But I don’t mind giving up. This is taking too long, so I’m gonna purify him!”

“What?!”

“Accept it Ken-Chan, the kid won!” Yachiru said while casually walking forward to Jan, her eyes on Zaraki with a sweet smile on her face.

When she almost reached him, the white fluid abruptly moved, then transformed into claws that almost grasped her. Zaraki, who noticed its sudden movement quickly reacted and pulled Yashiru from the back of her collar, throwing her to the ground.

Yachiru’s butt hit the ground hard, “Hey, what are you doing you asshole! I was going to help you!”

Yachiru looked at Jan and then noticed how Zaraki was motionless. She looked at him in awe, stunned at the sight of his blood dripping to the ground.

Zaraki’s forehead was cut vertically from the top of his face down to the side of his chin.

“KEN-CHAAN!” Yachiru cried out loud, letting her Reiatsu burst out madly.

“Yachiru, stop!” Zaraki shouted, and he smirked as he tasted the blood dripping towards his chin.

“I deserved that.”

As he said those words, Zaraki pulled out his Zanpakuto and raised it to the sky; bright light flashed on the bottom of its hilt as he swiftly tapped it on Jan’s forehead, saying, “You won.”

Immediately, Jan’s body was shrouded in blue light and his figure started to slowly fade away into a butterfly that flew into the sky.

Zaraki looked at it for a while and then turned to Yachiru, “Let’s go back. We’re not doing this shit anymore.”

Yachiru hopped on his shoulder, then said, “But didn’t you take this job because you were bored?”

Zaraki smirked and slashed the void opening a channel, “I just found something way more interesting.”