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Time slipped past like a white horse crossing a gap. Ten days were gone in an instant.
Inside the dojo of the Fourth Division, Abarai Renji panted heavily, his robes soaked in sweat. The floor was littered with shredded scraps of paper.
"Damn it… with a wooden sword, there's no way to cut clean through these papers…" His voice cracked with frustration. For ten days he had practiced, and for ten days he had failed. Every swing only crushed the paper into jagged shreds. Not once had he managed a clean cut, let alone anything resembling the flawless display Su Li had shown on the first day, when a sky full of sheets had all been split into identical halves.
Renji clenched his teeth, eyes clouded with unwillingness. Subconsciously his gaze shifted toward the youth lying nearby.
"Focus, Renji." Su Li's tone was calm, lazy, as he sprawled on the floor without lifting his head.
"Yes, Captain Su Li!" Renji snapped back into form, grabbed another stack of paper, and resumed his practice. The sound of paper tearing echoed again and again.
"Captain Su Li, what exactly is Vice-Captain Abarai doing?" A soft voice broke the rhythm. Unohana Retsu knelt beside Su Li, curiosity flickering in her eyes.
"Basic skills," Su Li answered without opening his eyes.
For ten days she had come, every day, to observe. And for ten days, Renji had only cut paper. Su Li never moved, only basked in the sun like some indolent snake. To her, it looked like nothing was being taught at all.
"Didn't you say Renji was likely to be injured during the training?" she asked gently, a note of complaint in her voice. "You've had me worried, coming here every day, yet all I see is him shredding paper. Sometimes I wonder if you're simply lying to me."
"I'm not lying," Su Li said lazily. "He just hasn't reached that stage yet."
Unohana sighed softly, falling silent. Renji, meanwhile, went through another stack until nothing but confetti remained. He looked up at Su Li, despair plain on his face.
"There's no love in your blade."
Renji froze at the words. His palms were raw, tiger's mouth wrapped in bandages. Unohana had healed him several times already. Even so, the skin kept splitting from the relentless drills. He had poured his soul into this practice—and still, nothing.
"Oh, you really are stupid," Su Li sighed, finally opening his eyes.
Renji bowed his head, shame burning across his face.
"Captain Su Li, that's too harsh. Not everyone has your talent." Unohana chuckled behind her hand.
Su Li's lips pressed together. She was right. He had forgotten. His own path had been forged across countless disciplines, every art, every form of combat devoured and mastered until comprehension had become second nature. What was simple to him might take others a lifetime to grasp. Even Renji, a prodigy in his own right, could not keep pace with expectations that were no longer human.
"Fine…" He stretched, then rose slowly to his feet.
Renji straightened like a soldier before inspection.
"Renji, have you ever learned to write the character 'one'?" Su Li asked, taking the wooden sword from his hand.
Renji flushed. Even a child could write that character. "Y-Yes, Captain! Of course!"
"Whether swordplay or cutting, to me it's the same—writing on the opponent's body." Su Li took a sheet of paper from the basket. Unohana leaned forward, curiosity sharpening her gaze.
"A thrust is a dot. A cut is a line. Before you can inscribe complex characters, you must first master those two fundamentals."
His calm voice filled the quiet dojo. Renji listened, body rigid, while Unohana tilted her head thoughtfully.
"It's the first time I've heard swordplay described this way," she murmured. "But it does make sense."
"So think of it as writing the character 'one' on paper." Su Li flicked a sheet into the air. His wooden blade sliced through with a whisper. The paper drifted down, split into two perfect halves.
Renji swallowed hard, eyes bulging. Even knowing what was coming did not soften the impact.
"Since it is writing, the strength must remain the same from beginning to end. From start to finish, the stroke is one." Su Li tossed a stack into the air. His voice was soft, steady. "Until every sheet bears the mark you intend to write."
The blade flashed once.
Papers fell in a silent storm, each cleaved into two identical halves.
Renji's breath stopped. He had seen it once before, yet the second time still froze his blood.
Unohana's eyes shone, her body leaning forward without realizing. The papers on the floor were flawless, equal, impossibly precise. She knew she could cut through a hundred sheets with ease. But to cut them all into identical halves? Not even she could achieve such perfection.
Her gaze locked on Su Li, bright and unreadable. When he fought me… he never even used his full strength.
In her long life, she had only ever seen this level of mastery from one man—Yamamoto Genryūsai. Now, Su Li stood as the second. With swordsmanship alone, he eclipsed both herself and Zaraki Kenpachi. Perhaps… he truly was the rightful bearer of the title Kenpachi.
"Follow my words. Build your foundation properly, and we'll proceed," Su Li said at last, handing the sword back before walking out of the dojo.
"Yes!!" Renji's voice cracked with emotion, trembling as he watched him go.
But before he could move, the wooden sword was snatched from his hands.
Whoosh—
Sheets of paper scattered into the air.
The blade swept.
"...No, wrong."
Unohana frowned faintly, eyes fixed on the falling halves.
Again she flicked paper into the air. Again the cut came down.
"Still wrong. How did he do it?"
Her murmurs filled the silent dojo. Renji's eyes darted, torn between awe and panic as more and more sheets disappeared into ruin.
Finally he shouted, unable to hold back. "Hey! Captain Unohana! Stop messing around! You're wasting all my paper!!"
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