According to the original work, Gin Ichimaru and Rangiku Matsumoto were both born into hardship in the Soul Society, and later became Soul Reapers due to various reasons.As for their parents, they had no special abilities and did not come from noble families.
But when it comes to Su Ye, his identity has changed—his mother is a Quincy, and he has Shinigami potential. So, needless to say, Old Su now has an additional Shinigami identity.
However, I wonder what his Zanpakutō will be. Ryūjin Jakka?
In the Bleach series, probably only Yamamoto's identity and abilities could match Old Su.
Sigh… After all that struggle, Old Su just got another buff.
But with Old Su backing him up, Su Ye doesn't need to worry about China. Plus, it helps shut up those who question why he doesn't return home.
To accommodate Su Ye's human identity, Rangiku had to be his childhood friend, leading to many changes in the setting.
For example, Rangiku accidentally arrived in the human world and met Su Ye, who could see spirits from a young age. At that time, Tifa had just left, and Su Ye was in an emotional void, so he and Rangiku quickly became close friends.
Later, Rangiku's potential to become a Shinigami was discovered, and Old Su took her to Soul Society, training her to become a qualified Shinigami.
Through her efforts, Rangiku has now become the Vice-Captain of Squad 3, one of the strongest divisions in the Gotei 13, and she is also responsible for managing its affairs.
As for the Captain position of Squad 3, it has been vacant for a long time.
In reality, this position belongs to Su Ye, but he dislikes the Soul Society's environment, so he has never taken up the role, leaving it vacant.
Well, at least the relationships have been tied together smoothly.
As Su Ye's gaze sank into the abyss, Rangiku used Shunpo to appear by his side, looking at his face with a smile.
"Long time no see, Xiao Ye!"
After saying that, Rangiku didn't care about Su Ye's expression and reached out to hug him directly.
Su Ye didn't react much.
I mean, who could refuse Rangiku's hug? Especially since, for some reason, she was floating in mid-air, a head taller than Su Ye, and crashed into him with her assets.
Hiss!
Su Ye took a sharp sip of milk tea, sighing inwardly.
No wonder people in Taiwan like to call pearl milk tea "boba milk tea."
This milk tea is truly dominant!
Rangiku didn't care about Ancient One's reaction and hugged Su Ye tightly, giving him an almost suffocating embrace.
"Xiao Ye, I missed you so much!"
"Mm... mmm…"
Su Ye stretched his arms, wanting to speak, but couldn't get a complete word out.
Beside them, the Ancient One lowered her head and looked at herself.
Ancient One understood that young people liked to be expressive, showing their emotions regardless of the occasion.
But what she didn't understand was why these two people's outfits looked better than her mage robes—and why this newcomer was so… overbearing!
What on earth did you grow up eating!?
Rangiku held Su Ye tightly for a full two minutes before finally letting him go.
The whole "suffocating" thing was just an act—they were in soul form and didn't actually need to breathe.
But when Su Ye looked up, he felt a little dizzy.
When he was a kid, he once saw an old movie called Shaolin Popey II: Messy Temple, where little Ashton Chen got drunk off drinking a woman's milk and performed "Drunken Milk Fist."
At the time, Su Ye thought the scriptwriters must have been crazy. How could anyone get drunk off milk? Was that lady living in a wine vat?
Oh, and by the way, that woman's character was portrayed by two people—her real identity was a pomegranate sister, but she had been disguised as someone else.
The disguised version was played by Ye Quanzhen—who, even without nostalgia goggles, was an undisputed goddess. Su Ye used to look at her pictures and… ahem!
Anyway, off-topic.
Su Ye still didn't know if drinking milk could make someone drunk, but he was feeling a little tipsy. If Ancient One weren't present, he might have performed a Drunken Milk Fist routine on the spot to show Rangiku his skills.
"Xiao Ye, why did you come to Soul Society? You must be here to find me! I knew you wouldn't forget about me."
Although Rangiku had just pulled Su Ye out of the abyss, she now stood beside him, linking arms with him—dragging him right back into another kind of abyss.
At this moment, her Zanpakutō, Haineko, had returned to its original form.
The surrounding smoke dissipated, the three Menos Grande had been slain, and the world returned to tranquility.
"Soul Society?"
Before Su Ye could respond, Ancient One suddenly asked.
She had encountered many different dimensions, but she had no recollection of this "Soul Society." Whether it was the name, the appearance of these creatures, or the powers this woman wielded, everything was unfamiliar to her.
Ancient One had a strong curiosity for the unknown. She wanted to uncover the truth about this place and, if possible, test whether she could harness the powers of this world.
If she could, she might even be able to free herself from reliance on the Dark Dimension.
That way, she wouldn't have to die.
Previously, Ancient One had already accepted her fate, prepared to pass on the Eye of Agamotto and the title of Sorcerer Supreme, so she could face her final battle without hesitation.
But now, everything might change.
Su Ye understood Ancient One's thoughts. He wasn't sure if she could use Soul Society's powers, but he could try helping her develop Shinigami abilities.
Given Ancient One's strength, if she became a Shinigami, she probably wouldn't be any weaker than old man Yamamoto.
Maybe she could even fight that big boss, Yhwach.
Thinking of Yhwach, Su Ye couldn't help but recall how the Bleach manga had ended years ago, but the Thousand-Year Blood War anime had yet to be fully animated. He never expected that, in his lifetime, he would get to experience it firsthand.
And now, Yhwach had likely become one of Su Ye's enemies.
"This system is such a pain! Why can't it just give me abilities? Why does it have to merge all these storylines? I haven't even finished dealing with one set of enemies, and a new wave is already coming. So annoying!"
While Su Ye was complaining in his mind, Rangiku had already started explaining Soul Society to Ancient One.
She talked about Seireitei, the Gotei 13, the Captain-Commander, the division captains and vice-captains, etc. The general setting was similar to Bleach, though some names were slightly different.
Su Ye listened as well, taking the opportunity to fill in his knowledge of this DLC's world.
"Right now, our Gotei 13 is at its strongest. As for the Captain-Commander… hmm, he's pretty mysterious. Many of us have never even seen him. And as for the captain of our Squad 3…"
As she spoke, Rangiku glanced at Su Ye.
Rangiku had known since she became vice-captain that Su Ye was technically the captain of Squad 3.
She did have some complaints about a captain who never showed up to work, but since he was her childhood friend, she naturally chose to forgive him—and take care of all the squad's affairs on his behalf.
Yeah, things here were quite different from the original story.
In the original, Rangiku was the vice-captain of Squad 10 under Captain Tōshirō Hitsugaya, a white-haired shota. Teasing Hitsugaya was one of her favorite pastimes.
But now, Rangiku was Su Ye's vice-captain and acted as the squad leader in his absence.
"How about the other division captains? Are they strong? Any particularly powerful ones?"
Su Ye couldn't help but ask. He wasn't sure if Bleach's storyline here followed his memory or if it was at a different stage, so he wanted to check.
Rangiku didn't overthink it and answered directly.
"Oh, the other captains—6th Division Captain Kuchiki Byakuya is very powerful. The Kuchiki clan is a noble house, so it's no surprise he's strong."
"There's also 5th Division Captain Aizen-dye. He looks harmless, but I always feel like he's hiding something—like he's plotting something."
"And besides that…"
No need to hear more—5th Division's still Aizen (or rather, "Aizen-dye" in this localized version), and that cute nickname sounds kinda adorable.
If Aizen hasn't defected yet, then the plot's just beginning—or hasn't even started. Ichigo probably hasn't appeared yet either.
"Kuchiki clan—only Byakuya in the 13 Squads?"
Su Ye asked casually.
Rangiku shook her head. "There's also his sister, Kuchikiya—a gifted but kinda airheaded soul-painter. You wouldn't believe it—she once showed me her art, and my god!"
Maybe it was the localization, but Rangiku had slipped into a Northeastern Chinese accent.
"Aiya, you wouldn't believe it! That girl's drawings look like they were done by a kindergarten kid!"
"Haha."
Su Ye just chuckled without saying a word.
Kuchikiya was obviously Kuchiki Rukia—the heroine of Bleach, the one who jumpstarted Ichigo's Soul Reaper career and drove the main plot forward, sharing countless emotional scenes with him.
And in the human world, they lived in the same house, even if she stayed in the closet. Still, man and woman alone together…
By the way, why do Japanese characters love sleeping in closets? Doraemon slept in one too.
Also, Japan has one of the world's most bizarre hotel concepts—capsule hotels.
Those things are even smaller than closets—just tiny compartments stacked in two levels. You can only sit up inside, and there's barely enough room to ahem do anything. From a distance, they look eerily like a hospital morgue.
Staying in one of those, if someone gets up to use the bathroom at night, it feels like a zombie just crawled out of a grave.
Anyway, Rukia and Ichigo lived together as a single man and woman for so long, yet in the end, she returned to Soul Society and married someone else.
That plot development was weird as hell and hard to comprehend.
But since Rangiku talked about Kuchikiya so casually, they probably hadn't met in the human world yet. Naturally, that meant…
Wait a minute.
Su Ye suddenly raised an eyebrow. Ichigo—aka Kurosaki Ichigo—was Japanese. But Japan was now a wasteland. Did that mean the Bleach main storyline was completely gone?
Or… had Ichigo been localized too? Was he now in a high school in China, drowning in an ocean of exam papers?
This was the annoying thing about this system. It gave you DLCs but didn't provide any patch notes. You had to figure everything out on your own.
It was just… seriously messed up.
After finishing the explanation for Su Ye, Rangiku's eyes sparkled with excitement.
"So, Xiao Ye, are you coming back to Seireitei with me?"
Su Ye shook his head. "Nope, not interested. I don't want to work, and I don't care about that Seireitei place. Whoever wants to deal with it can do it, but I'm not going back."
Whether it was the original Japanese setting or this localized version, Su Ye never liked the whole "royal court" theme—unless they made him the king.
But the concept of the Soul King? Not only did Su Ye not want the position, but he was outright disgusted by it.
Being the "pillar of stability for the three realms," sacrificing oneself for the world, being controlled, sealed, or even turned into a limbless husk—what difference was there between that and being dead?
And once you reached that position, everyone would be gunning for you.
They either wanted him to go mad or be utterly alone?
Either way, it was just a pile of bullshit.
He much preferred his current lifestyle—having a bunch of people with him, doing whatever he wanted, messing with whoever he pleased, taking orders from no one, and having no responsibilities.
No matter what happened, someone else would always handle it for him.
Old Su might be old, but he wasn't dead yet.
"But… but…"
Rangiku stammered for a long time but couldn't find the right words.
Of course, she wanted Su Ye to come to Soul Society and officially take his position as Squad 3 Captain. That way, she could offload a lot of responsibility and spend more time with him.
At that point, being together day and night, deepening their bond, and developing feelings for each other would be completely natural.
Unlike now—where they hadn't seen each other for years, and even when they did, there were outsiders present, making it impossible for her to make any bold moves.
You think a "face-hugging embrace" is already bold?
Wrong!
For Rangiku, that was nothing—she still had plenty more "positions" she hadn't had a chance to use yet!
As a vice-captain-level Shinigami, Rangiku's physical fitness was on par with—or even superior to—any member of the current Great Wall Guardians female squad!
Su Ye understood Rangiku's intentions, but giving up an entire forest for a single cup of boba milk tea? That was something he could never do.
Even if this milk tea had extra pearls and premium milk!
Meanwhile, Ancient One didn't see anything unusual. Though she was quite old, her romantic experiences were lacking, so she wasn't particularly affected by their interaction.
"Um, can I… visit your so-called 'Squad 13'?"
The moment she heard that, Rangiku's eyes lit up instantly.
"Of course, you can visit! Or better yet, why don't you just become a captain?"