— — — — — —
"You feel like you've got a physical body now…? What exactly did you do these past two months?"
Unohana narrowed her eyes as she studied Aizen closely.
He was still a Shinigami, that much was clear—but something felt… off.
As the captain of the Fourth Division, she had deep knowledge of both Shinigami and human physiology. She couldn't quite explain it, but the Aizen standing in front of her now gave off a completely different vibe.
"You're as sharp as ever," Aizen said with a wry smile. He gently wrapped his arm around her waist. "Come on, let's go home. I'll explain everything."
Once they were home, Aizen gave her a version of the story—carefully edited, of course—that she could accept.
"So let me get this straight… You created a new body for yourself—one with far greater potential—and now you can switch between your spiritual form and a flesh-and-blood body whenever you want?"
Unohana stared at him in disbelief.
Was that even possible?
Shinigami, after all, were souls of the dead who'd entered Soul Society and accumulated spiritual particles.
In other words, they were, by nature, no longer living. Yet somehow, Aizen had managed to reconstruct a living body for himself—effectively bringing himself back to life in a way.
Sure, it made him stronger, but…
"Are you sure this is okay? I mean, are you certain this is the right path to take?" she asked, clearly concerned.
"Relax. You know how thorough I am with this sort of thing," Aizen replied with a confident smile. "If you want, I can make a body for you too. Then you'll see for yourself how powerful and complete this transformation really is."
Only after fully merging with his new body did Aizen truly understand the difference—it made him feel whole in a way he never had before.
And this was just the beginning.
Next, he planned to tap into the power of the Hōgyoku to evolve even further—but not in the crude, monstrous way he did in the original timeline.
This time, he aimed for something better. Smarter. Cleaner. A more refined form of evolution, one that emphasized perfection and limitless potential.
He was even thinking of breaking down the Hōgyoku's law-based structure and integrating it into his "Fantasy Creation" ability—possibly transforming that power into something truly divine.
After all, the Hōgyoku made people's desires a reality.
Wasn't that the perfect complement to Fantasy Creation?
Hōgyoku plus Fantasy Creation? That was like Dragon Ball-level wish cheat.
And if he crafted new bodies later for Unohana, Hinamori Momo, Rangiku, and his other girls, he could even embed unique powers into them.
Imagine giving his women the Kekkei Genkai from the Naruto world… or abilities from the Pokémon universe… even Devil Fruit powers from One Piece…
Of course, that all depended on whether other Renzos would fully analyze those power systems and bloodlines first.
"..."
Unohana thought it over for a while, then nodded slowly. She trusted Aizen—enough to go along with it, at least for now.
"Alright, I'll be the first to try it. But don't go making bodies for everyone at once. Prepare one for me, then later you can work on Rangiku and the others. If something goes wrong, at least I'll have the skill to deal with it."
She clearly didn't love how Aizen flirted around, but after all these years, she'd come to terms with his nature.
Besides, she knew he genuinely cared for them. His occasional teasing or aloofness was more a sign of affection than indifference.
"Thanks, love. But trust me—I wouldn't do any of this if I wasn't completely sure it'd work."
Aizen smiled, cupped her face, and gave her a kiss.
---
The next morning, Aizen returned to the shared mental space and left a message.
...
At night, he returned to the mental space at the appointed time to find that everyone was already there.
"Everyone… it's done. I've succeeded."
He announced it with a satisfied grin.
"Seriously?! That's amazing!"
"That's why you are the boss~"
"Share it! Come on, hurry up!"
"Touch me, please~"
Before he could say another word, the group all rushed in on him, bombarding him with requests and excitement.
Once the memory-sharing was complete, everyone quickly left to digest the information and experiment with their newly learned techniques.
Only Aizen—now slightly speechless—and the cooking fanatic Renzo remained behind.
It was obvious the others couldn't wait to test the new fusion of Reiatsu and Source Energy and see just how powerful it could get.
And honestly, no one could blame them.
Among everyone in the group, Aizen had always been the strongest—and had contributed the most.
Right after him? That title belonged to Uchiha Renzo, then Eevee.
Previously, because Reiatsu hadn't fully fused with source energy, everyone had serious limitations. In their physical bodies, they could barely use any of their Shinigami powers. At best, they could access just a sliver of it.
Unless they exited their bodies and operated in full Shinigami form, they couldn't properly tap into those abilities. But the moment they switched, they lost access to everything that depended on their physical body—like bloodline powers, magic, haki, and so on.
But now, things had changed. Finally, Shinigami powers had been successfully integrated into source energy.
That was the real turning point. For the first time, their full strength had been unshackled.
Sure, powers like haki and other abilities hadn't been integrated yet, but even so, the Renzo crew's strength had already reached a whole new level.
"…Hm?"
Aizen noticed that Chef Renzo hadn't left like the others. "Aren't you going to test it out?" he asked, raising a brow.
"I'm not in that much of a hurry," Chef Renzo replied, shaking his head. "My world hasn't really shown any signs of supernatural power yet. At best, the legendary cooking utensils have some mysterious effects."
"So, there's not much pressure on me to get stronger right now."
He leaned back, looking thoughtful. "Actually, what I've been focusing on recently is some weird stuff I picked up using the satellite I launched. I found a few things that felt… off about my world. I wanted to ask you about it, Aizen."
He hadn't just been improving his cooking skills or learning under Master Pai these past few months. He'd also been replicating recipes collected by other Renzos. On top of that, he taught Master Pai and others body training and meditation techniques.
But most of his energy had gone into building a base and launching satellites using shadow clones—laying the groundwork for a future technological foundation.
"Oh?" Aizen looked intrigued. "I didn't really pay attention to that earlier—let me take a look."
He closed his eyes and browsed through the memories he had just shared with Chef Renzo. A moment later, his eyes snapped open, a glimmer of surprise flashing in them.
"Well, well… it looks like your world isn't just a simple '(Chūka Ichiban) Cooking Master Boy' world after all. It's already starting to merge with another one."
"That's right," Chef Renzo nodded. "I only noticed the spatial abnormalities thanks to the spatial abilities shared by others in the group."
"The first world to overlap with mine will merge completely in three years," he added, looking a little anxious. "But I have no idea what kind of world it'll be—or what kind of changes the merge will cause."
None of them had experienced something like this before, not even the most seasoned veterans in the group. So while Renzo was curious, he was also nervous.
Aizen caught on immediately and gave him a reassuring smile. "There's no need to worry. As long as you're strong enough, nothing that happens can really threaten you—or anyone you care about."
"Worst case scenario, you can just bring your family and friends into the Takamagahara dimension before the merge, then let them back out afterward."
"That said, I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing."
"In fact, I'd say this could be a huge opportunity."
"A chance for individuals, for lifeforms, even for entire worlds to evolve."
"Unfortunately, yours is the first case we've seen of a world merge, so we don't have any data to compare. Naturally, that makes things a bit more nerve-wracking."
"But the most important thing right now is to make good use of those three years. Train yourself. Train the people close to you."
"If you're strong enough, you'll be ready for anything."
"And who knows? With three full years ahead of us, we might all become ridiculously powerful by then."
"Remember—Uchiha Renzo and Eevee, who first entered this shared mental space, have only been here for about two years. Imagine what kind of monsters we'll become in three."
"Yeah…" Chef Renzo finally relaxed and chuckled. "Guess I was overthinking things."
"That's more like it!" Aizen smiled and patted his shoulder. "But just in case the world merge causes any wild changes, I suggest you use those three years to collect all eight of the legendary cooking utensils."
"They're probably the most valuable artifacts your world has to offer."
"Already on it," Chef Renzo nodded seriously.
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(A/N:
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