Chapter: 02

"Shit! Shit! SHIT!" The table shook visibly by the punch thrown by the orange-haired shinigami in hope of letting out his frustration as he cursed over and over, making Orihime and his other teammates worried about him.

"Ichigo, calm down!" The black feline 'punched' his head, making the indignant youth look at her with annoyance. "Even if you willow in your inability to be played by the hands of a captain, it won't change anything! Ichimaru Gin… That cunning fox! Don't let what he did let you. He is cunning and most of the time you don't know what he is thinking. But everyone in the Soul Society who has met Gin at least once knows that he loves to play with people's psychological states."

"But that still doesn't change the fact that he played us like toddlers! If we can't even beat a single captain, how are we going to rescue Rukia in the face of 13th captains?!" Ichigo barked out angrily, making the black feline go silent.

Before long, she sighed and shook her head.

"Indeed. None of you are yet ready or strong enough to face a captain, but that doesn't mean that you can never face a captain. We still have some time on our hands, as long as we use it well, becoming strong enough to defeat a captain won't be a dream."

Of course, Yoruichi meant it only for Ichigo. In her eyes, Ichigo was special. With her training, there is a high chance that he would master Bankai in three days. As for others, she had no hope nor time to train them to reach a level where they can defeat a captain. It was a virtually impossible thing to do! That's why Ichigo was the main force of this team. If his mind becomes affected by Gin, they might never be able to save Rukia.

'And I still don't know what Gin told him or the reason why he let us go. With his powers, killing these kids wouldn't even require him to blink his eyes yet he let them go… Dammit! Only if Kisuke was here! I hate mind games!'

And even though she wanted to ask Ichigo about it, she refrained from doing so after seeing his psychological state. Right now, he needed something to take his mind off it rather than focusing on the mystery Gin threw in front of their faces.

She sighed. They have just entered the Soul Society and they were already thrown into the turbulence of schemes. She could only hope these kids somehow make it out alive.

…

Gin was in a really happy mood right now, though those who saw his face won't be able to tell otherwise due to his never changing smirking face that seemed to become a sort of mask for him that hides away his real emotions.

Why would he not be happy? Just now, he got his Essence awakened and was able to do a deal that was quite profitable to him in many ways.

One might wonder, why didn't he go for Ichigo's Hollow but Quincy's Bloodline instead? The answer to it wasn't some quantum mystery as it was quite simply—because he didn't find any purposeful use of Hollow powers or any need to have one. In the end, what Hollows could do could be replicated by Gin with some effort or if he so wanted the racial skills like [Instant Regeneration], he was always up for a deal.

The deal, yes, after all, he was a Merchant now. One whose deal can never go below 100 percent on his part.

"Really. I didn't think I would enjoy this Essence so much." Gin chuckled to himself sitting in the captain's quarters of the 3rd division while staring at his hand amusingly as the Reshi in the atmosphere gathered over it in blue particles before depressing if he so ever willed it to.

One of the skills that he REALLY wanted was the ability of Quincy able to gather the Reshi from their surroundings and to use it to their liking, unlike Shinigami who were incapable to do so. It was Quincy's racial skill after all; one of many that would aid him a lot.

Shadow allowed him to teleport undetected unlike the teleportation skill of Shinigami that required this big fanfare of creating a dome of bandages for some reason. It wasn't a bad price but way too eye-catching in Gin's eyes who would rather have his teleportation be much silent and invisible.

Blunt on the other hand was quite a versatile skill on its own capable of giving its user both offensive and defensive ability beyond the catch of even the strongest Shinigami! The only downfall of this skill was that it used two distinct mechanisms of formation for both offense and defense rendering it impossible to use both at the same time, required to switch off one before using the other.

But that was just one minor fault and something that Gin didn't mind in the least. In the face of all the abilities he gained from the bloodline, this indeed felt… insignificant.

'Though I would love to use or try Quincy's power, I would rather not do it in the presence of Shadows.' His eyes trailed by the shadows present in his office before he relaxed on the wall, staring out of the window at the Seireitei below. 'You never know if those Wandenreich people are spying on you or not.'

That indeed was a matter of concern for Gin for he didn't fear anyone in this world but those of Wandenreich and their weird powers that seemed to break the conventional laws of the world itself; one after another, absurd and overly powerful to the point where Gin found himself hard to even relax in the presence of shadows.

'Though not that it would matter for long.' He internally thought before closing his eyes and started to go through the information provided to him by Essence and how it worked. Though he had read it before, with Essence now in his hand, he could see more than ever he could have without it. 'Hm. Nothing much of concern. Let's make the first trade then.'

The moment he thought so, Ichimaru Gin vanished from the world within a blink as what appeared in front of him was a massive person whose body was filled with different tubes and dozens of scars—big and small. Other than being HUGE, the person's most prominent thing would be a that huge mustache.

Gin was, by no means, small at all as he stood at 185 cm or 6'1" which was above average height in his world. But in front of the person in front of him who easily was taller than 20 feet or so, he could only be described as a small kid.

While the Gin was staring at the giant in front of him with interest, everyone also perceived the sudden entrance of the shinigami on their ship unnoticed, something that shouldn't have been possible knowing the people present on the ship currently.

So when they perceived his presence, the whole Moby Dick was sent into abrupt chaos as everyone ran towards their father to apprehend the intruder to make sure he didn't hurt their father in any way.

Ignoring the sudden movement of people around him, with his usual expression, Gin stared at the giant of a man in front of him, and much to his amusement, Whitebeard was doing the same, staring at the sudden intruder with interest in his eyes.

"Gurararara! How interesting!" Gulping down the sake from his large plate, Whitebeard looked down at Gin with a fearless smirk and asked. "Kid! Are you from Wano Country?"

Gin's smile enlarged by a small margin as he tried to stop himself from laughing at Whitebeard calling him a kid when Gin was older than him by a hundred times. Of course, he barely cared about the formalities of age. He would rather call himself eighteen years old rather than some old man in the body of a young person.

"It is my honor to be able to meet the legendary pirate known as the strongest man with power enough to destroy the world—"

"—Stop with your flattery and state the obvious."

"Well," Gin nodded his head and—with his hand over the right side of his chest—he bowed slightly. "I am Ichimaru Gin, a Merchant."

"A Merchant?" Whitebeard raised a brow as he observed Gin with apparent interest. "Gurararara! For a mere merchant to appear undetected in front of me, how interesting!" He laughed heartily as he lowered his massive frame slightly. With one of his hands over his knee, he smashed his other leg on the ship causing it to sway violently in the sea. "Then what goods did you bring for a trade?"

"Seeing your body, it seems that old age has got you and you will soon die."

"Bastard!" Marco shouted hearing what Gin said and was about to attack him when he was stopped by Whitebeard as he laughed off what Gin just said.

"Gurarara! Has it become so apparent that even a kid like you can see through it? But I don't see why you would bring up my death unless you have something related to the said topic?"

"As expected of the strongest man, to be able to see me so easily. I am ashamed to call myself a merchant." Gin dramatically shook his head sadly before he raised his hand and pointed two fingers towards Whitebeard. "Twenty years. That is the amount of lifespan I am willing to trade with you."

As if he didn't care about the wide eyes of the people present on the dock who all looked towards him like he was some ghost, Gin continued.

"In return, I shall take all of your experience in Observation Haki."

Silence.

The whole Mody Dick descended into a deep silence that even the waves around it were afraid to disrupt as a mighty presence erupted out of Whitebeard, causing lightning to appear around him and the sky to rumble in horror.

Gin seemed undisturbed by the pressure that was trying to push his mind to the limit. But how could he be affected by the Will of someone who hasn't even lived a tenth of his life and doesn't even possess one percent of his Spiritual Energy? For someone like Gin who had lived hundreds of years and was an expert in psychological welfare, Whitebeard's Will was the same as fart to him; too insignificant to even notice.

And it seemed that Whitebeard also noticed the nonchalance of Gin from his expression as he retracted his Conqueror's Haki back into his body before gulping down every drop of sake within the plate in his hand—he needed it more than anything else right now.

"And how are you going to prove that you can do such a thing? Is this some unknown Devil Fruit?"

"Does it matter?" Gin inquired. "All you need to know is that I can give you what you require the most right now."

He turned to look at Whitebeard's Crew and continued.

"You will soon die. What do you think will happen to your children? Surely, Mister Whitebeard doesn't think that Marines would be merciful enough to let the crew members of the Whitebeard live freely in the seas? Roger was the best example of it."

Whitebeard remained silent while staring at Gin who pointed one of the sourest parts of his and laid it right in front of him to see.

As Gin said, Whitebeard, though regretful, didn't care much about his impending death. He had lived enough and the only thing stopping him from directly attacking the Marījoa and fuck those people of the World Government and dying the death of a warrior was his children.

"Wait!" Marco suddenly shouted, gaining everyone's attention. "If you want Observation Haki, I can trade mine!"

"Regretfully." Gin shook his head as if he regretted the very inability of him not being able to do it. "The trade must be between the affected party. If it is between you and me, then you would be the one to receive the lifespan and not Mister Whitebeard."

It was bullshit. But did Gin care? Obviously not. He was a merchant and merchant scam! Why would he go for the Observation Haki of a crewmate, though no matter how powerful, instead of the person known as the Strongest Man? Gin was sure that he could probably also see Future. Just that it was never mentioned in the show.

But something that was never mentioned doesn't make it so that it will never exist. Oda probably didn't see any reason for mentioning such a thing. After all, Whitebeard was meant to die in the war. There was no point in adding such information to his character page.

"Tell me, Merchant, what do you mean by 'in exchange for the experience of my Observation Haki'?" After contemplating deeply, Whitebeard inquired.

"All of your experience in Observation Haki will be given to me. In simple terms, Mister Whitebeard won't be able to use Observation Haki any longer. Though you can train in it again and rebuild your experience once more."

Whitebeard closed his eyes as Moby Dick once again descended into deep silence as everyone stared at him with bated breath, waiting for his decision. The only person who relaxed was Gin as he calmly waited without showing impatience in the least.

He didn't care much if Whitebeard declined his offer. There were many people in the sea who would happily accept it. So he was rather calm and patient in this matter.

"Gurarara!" Soon, the silence was broken by the loud laugh of Whitebeard as he looked toward Gin. "I like you kid! How about it? Do you want to be my child?"

"I appreciate the offer. But I rather like my freedom."

"Is that so? Well, that is rather sad indeed." Whitebeard sighed in regret before taking a mouthful of sake intake and continued. "Very well. I accept your deal!"

Gin's lips curled up and he bowed slightly.

"Thank you for your patronage, dear customer."

The moment he finished, his senses were suddenly bombarded by a huge amount of information as the experience of Observation Haki dived into his consciousness. As if he was given another organ to sense things, everything within tens of miles around him became as clear as water.

While Gin experienced Observation Haki for the first time, the complete opposite was happening to Edward as he felt his connection with his Observation Haki completely cut off and all his experience in it literally vanished from his mind leaving him no idea of how to use Observation Haki.

Though with his talent, he could easily train himself in it again.

Right now, he was busy feeling the euphoric feeling of his body filled with a huge life force as he felt some form of restraint lifted off his body. He could physically feel his body returning in time.

As for his crew members, they could feel their heartbeat rising with excitement as they saw their father getting younger and younger with time. They really couldn't believe that such a thing was possible yet they were the first ones to witness it!

"Gurarara! I would love to see the face of Sengoku when he finds out that I have returned to my peak!" Though some injuries were still there, as he had gotten younger, his bodily systems have also improved a lot. It won't take him long to heal those injuries! "Are you sure you don't want to be my child?"

Gin shook his head before waving his hand at everyone.

"Though I would love to stay and chat with everyone, I will take my leave then. If I have something to trade in the future, I will make sure to contact you once again."

Before anyone could say anything, just as he appeared on the ship, he vanished as if he was never there to begin with.

"What a weird brat." Whitebeard happily drank sake as he sighed. "And he was quite strong too. I wanted to fight him to see who among us was the strongest."

Everyone's eyes widened knowing that the person that looked like a harmless kid who has never even hurt an insect was someone their father wanted to fight with and see who was the strongest between them. They made sure to remember his appearance to not make an enemy out of him.

If he can come and go unhindered by anything, doesn't that mean he can literally kill them and they won't even realize how? That really scared them.

"Gurarara! Let's have a party!"

And just like that, they completely forgot the existence of the mysterious merchant. The life of a pirate really was quite simple.

...

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