The fragments of the Soul King's power!
Clearly, this unconscious young woman was also a carrier of a spirit king fragment, which is why she could see Ginjo Kūgo in his soul state.
There are two situations in which ordinary people in the Human World can see soul bodies and Hollows.
The first is having innate spiritual pressure above the ninth level of spiritual power, which grants the ability to become a Shinigami.
The second is possessing a spirit king fragment, which grants the ability to master Fullbring.
And the combination of both, plus the accidental incorporation of some Hollow power into his body due to a Hollow attack, that is Ginjo Kūgo!
He is a Soul King Candidate!
Similar to him are Kurosaki ichigo, and the artificial human Hikone Ubuginu, whom Tokinada Tsunayashiro and Yamada Seinosuke created after the Thousand-Year Blood War.
Such unique existences only appeared three times throughout the original story.
And that young woman was clearly a carrier of a spirit king fragment; in other words, she would have the chance to master Fullbring in the future, provided the spirit king fragment within her was not stripped away.
But Ito Makoto never expected that Ginjo Kūgo could so easily strip away the spirit king fragments from others who possessed the potential for Fullbring!
"No wonder this kid could so easily take Kurosaki ichigo's Fullbring in the original story!"
Back then, when Aizen Sōsuke stripped Matsumoto Rangiku's spirit king fragment in Soul Society, he needed the assistance of special tools!
And even then, a slight mishap caused damage to Matsumoto Rangiku's soul origin, preventing her from ever mastering Bankai.
Yet this Ginjo Kūgo kid, without harming or killing, just plucked out the spirit king fragment with his bare hands, as if it were a fresh, dewy fruit!
"As expected, Soul King Candidates cannot be judged by common sense!"
Ito Makoto meticulously examined this tiny spirit king fragment, and gradually, his face revealed an expression of ecstasy.
It was extremely similar to the unstable Hōgyoku fragment he had coincidentally obtained before, but the white light it emitted was far more stable and gentle than that of the Hōgyoku fragment.
"Perhaps Aizen Sōsuke and Kisuke Urahara created the Hōgyoku by referencing the power of the Soul King as a standard?"
"Makoto-Nii, do you need this small white light spot?"
Ginjo Kūgo directly asked, seeing Ito Makoto's joyful expression.
"Yes, absolutely!"
Ito Makoto looked at the spirit king fragment in his hand, excited beyond measure.
"Hahaha, it's truly a case of searching high and low without success, only to find it effortlessly!"
Just as Ginjo Kūgo and Ito Makoto were conversing, a hideous gap suddenly tore open in a certain void in Yuhua Town, and a Hueco Mundo opened up!
A figure emerged from it, with black eyes and black hair, clad in pale, centipede-shaped armor, covered in dark gold patterns, and a mask on his face adorned with mysterious designs.
The one who arrived was Yekawa!
Yekawa had activated the invisibility ability that came with Camo beforehand in the Hueco Mundo, and thus, he arrived in the Human World silently.
Transforming into formless lightning, a Flash Lightning Sonido, he directly traversed half of Yuhua Town, arriving near the clone, and took the spirit king fragment from its hand!
The entire process was seamless; Ginjo Kūgo did not detect any abnormality.
At the same time, a small portion of the centipede armor on Yekawa's chest began to shed, falling into Ito Makoto's hand and transforming into a small white centipede, though it now had some dark gold patterns on its body.
The moment the small centipede detached, Yekawa's centipede chest armor Creep, and instantly returned to its original state.
A moment later, Yekawa reopened the Hueco Mundo, taking this one spirit king fragment back to Hueco Mundo, while Ito Makoto handed the small centipede in his hand to Ginjo Kūgo.
"Keep this centipede with you from now on; it can remind you where there are people with these small white spots inside them, so you can help more people with small white spots inside them not be troubled by Hollows!"
"Remember, find these people, help them extract the small white spots from their bodies, and then feed them to this small centipede, and those people can become ordinary people without suffering any harm!"
"Also, do not let other Shinigami discover you; in their eyes, you are an anomaly, and if discovered, you will most likely be eliminated!"
"And the most crucial point, even if you are truly discovered by other Shinigami, you must not reveal my existence to them!"
"Do you understand?"
Seeing Ito Makoto's seriousness, Ginjo Kūgo also replied earnestly:
"I understand, Makoto-Nii, don't worry, I will handle everything you've entrusted to me!"
Ginjo Kūgo looked at the small centipede in his hand, which resembled a Hollow, and felt no fear at all, calmly placing the small centipede on his shoulder.
He believed from the bottom of his heart that his Makoto-Nii would never deceive him.
Therefore, even if he realized this small centipede was a Hollow, he did not care much.
At the same time, he keenly sensed that Makoto-Nii might be leaving, and perhaps he would not see him again for many years, or perhaps never again.
Perhaps sensing the little boy's worry, Ito Makoto spoke to comfort him:
"Don't worry, we are only briefly separated; in the near future, you will fight alongside me, and during this time, you must become much stronger!"
"If anything happens, just tell it; I will know everything!"
Ito Makoto pointed to the small centipede on Ginjo Kūgo's shoulder and slowly said.
This was not a lie; this small centipede was also a clone created by Yekawa, sharing the same consciousness as Yekawa and Ito Makoto, which meant that whatever happened around Ginjo Kūgo, he would know immediately.
Furthermore, to make it easier for Ginjo Kūgo to collect spirit king fragments and avoid the attention of Soul Society, Yekawa rarely injected a trace of Camo ability into this split small centipede.
This could both mask the faint spiritual pressure of the clone itself and, to a certain extent, conceal the aura emitted by Ginjo Kūgo.
"Makoto-Nii, I will miss you!"
Ginjo Kūgo said, wiping away tears.
Large teardrops rolled down his cheeks; ever since he was sent to the orphanage, no one had treated him as well as Ito Makoto, except for the occasional care from the director.
He experienced the long-lost warmth of home through Ito Makoto.
Discovering that Ito Makoto was leaving, he burst into tears.
Seeing this, Ito Makoto could only walk over, rub his head, and softly say:
"Kugo is a man, and a man does not shed tears easily!"
Even if he would later become a wanted criminal of Soul Society and the leader of the Fullbringer organization XCUTION, he was still just a seven-year-old child now.
Therefore, Ito Makoto could only comfort him.
"Then will we… meet again?"
Ginjo Kūgo sobbed.
"Of course!"
After comforting Ginjo, Ito Makoto waved his hand, signaling him to go back to the orphanage and sleep.
Due to his brilliant performance in killing the snail Hollow just now, Ito Makoto directly judged that he had passed his assessment.
And he also unexpectedly gained a diligent spirit king fragment collector; from now on, Yekawa only needed to hide behind the scenes and regularly harvest the spirit king fragments from the small centipede!
"Am I employing child labor?"
A strange thought suddenly lingered in Ito Makoto's mind.
-------------------------------
I've already uploaded 30 chapters of this story on Patreon!
If you enjoy it, come check out the latest chapters in advance.
Here's the link:
[pat*eon*com/DaoistRoeoNQ]
Thank you so much for your support!!!
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"