12 3rd Step

"Ho, that's because I choose not to." The answer was unexpected, Shin could have imagined many possible reasons, but this one was definitely not one of them.

And he could not be blamed for that, seriously, why? He couldn't understand, why he would decide to lock away a part of his powers just like that.

"Explain." Shin's eyes narrowed, and he posed his cup of tea on the table as he asked no, he demanded an answer.

"Haa" The spirit sighed as he also posed his cup, and started his explanation. "You have no idea of what you are truly capable of, that's why."

He spoke in an exasperated tone but seeing how Shin didn't budge, he kept going.

"Let me put it this way, how strong do you think your brother could potentially become with no external help, just his raw potential?" The spirit asked.

Shin started thinking about it, he looked through his memories as he gathered all data he could, and started making some estimations.

He knew Dangai Ichigo was the most potent form of his that he saw in the series but that form was more like a secret/Ultimate technique and was just temporary, and after that, there was the fullbring version, then when he got he fused his fullbring powers and Shinigami powers with help of the spiritual power of some other captain.

That form of his was undeniably strong but this was his power level where the anime ended.

Now, in the next arc of the manga, the thousand years blood war, he didn't read it, but he still knows one thing or two about this arc either by failing upon them on the internet or straight up being spoiled by some friends.

There Ichigo got even stronger even though he doesn't know how, probably by training or some plot armor anyway, they call this version of him End Of Serie Ichigo "EOS" for short, that version of him was strong enough to either compare or be straight up stronger than his Dangai version.

"Strong enough to fight against someone like Yhwch?" He said in an uncertain tone, sure he knew they were strong and even their abilities to some extent, but not exactly how "strong" they were.

Like if they wanted how much destruction could they cause in a single attack? He didn't know.

Anyway, that was Ichigo, not him although, their power had the same root in some way, the boy got some hollow powers, plot armor and all that shit, so they were pretty different, he thought.

But in truth, were they?

"That's a fair estimation." The spirit said with a nod, he knew everything Shin knew, he has access to his memories after all. It was not a stretch to say that the spirit was part of him. "But as you know already, you two are different, his limits and yours are different, and his fortes and yours are also different, thus your respective potential may as well be the same."

"So? Althought I can see your point, it still does not explain why you would choose to restrict my powers." Shin was not buying it.

"What I mean to say is, although your potentials are different, his raw potential may not be that greater than yours. And I who am a literal manifestation of those powers can tell you that much."

"There is also the fact that you basically reincarnated, with your soul traveling through dimensions to come here, it was unusually stronger, to begin with, From my estimation, just with that if you trained hard enough, I estimated that you could have become a lieutenant... or potentially even a captain."

"Judging by how much I have been holding back your powers, your brother should be way stronger than he currently is if he was made free to use all of his as well."

"Are you telling me that..." Shin came to a realization.

"Yes, either something or someone is messing up with his powers by suppressing them or something is wrong with Ichigo himself." The spirit announced as shin started to think about everything that happened in anime and put two plus two together.

"I see." He kept his thought to himself as he nodded, since all two of them arrived at the same conclusion, there was no need for him to voice it out.

"Now back to the subject, If I decided to give you access to all of your powers at the same time, it wouldn't be a wise decision for two reasons. " The spirit raised two fingers as he spoke.

"One, the commotion that would have resulted from this action would have been... Big, really big." He withdrew one finger. "Remember what happens when someone with a significant amount of spiritual power is in presence of people with no or feeble spiritual powers?"

"Soul Crush..." Shin muttered in a low tone, Soul Crush basically means instant death.

"Exact, that's what would have happened to the several people around you it would have been impossible for you to immediately suppress it."

As the spirit said, Shin felt a shiver run through his whole spirit, sure he would kill someone if that could benefice him, but he didn't like unnecessary killing, nor did he like killing people that did nothing to him. He still considers himself a decent human being after all even if most of his actions didn't necessarily show it.

"Two, I wanted you to get more familiar with your Quincy side, much contrary to your brother whose shinigami powers are dominant, you are more attuned to your Quincy side." He dropped the other finger and took hold of his cup once again as he started sipping.

"So that was it..." So his Quincy side is the bigger one? That is interesting. Guess he and Ichigo were different even in something like that huh...

"Then, will you stop suppressing my powers or?" He asked, but he was not really asking, there is only want answer he wanted to hear and he wouldn't accept any other.

"Of course." Guess he will also accept this one. "But there is a condition though." The spirit said as his lips went upward. "And that's for you to say my name."

"Your name huh, I should have expected it." Shin shook his head, he was not annoyed, he felt like it was natural.

"Yes my name, because you see, in this world names do not only have meaning but also power. And not talking about the way people use it to hurt others. I am talking about real power. They have a conceptual weight behind them." The spirit continued educating Shin.

"There is a reason why zanpakuto have names and each of their evolutions adds something to that. And that's not only the case for zanpakuto and Shinigami... but let's not talk about that now." The spirit although, Shin didn't know, choose to deliberately hide some information from him for now.

"So, for you to gain full access to your abilities, not only shinigami but also Quincy and Fullbring, you need to say my name."

"Quicy? But I thought I already got all my Quincy abilities though?" Shin raised an eyebrow.

"And Who told you that?" As the spirit asked, it hit Shin like a tone of brick. Nobody ever said so, he was the one who assumed that it was the case. The spirit did say that he give him his Quincy abilities one by one, but he never said that he gave him all of them.

"Okay since this is getting a bit long. I will tell you everything you need to know right now." The spirit was getting a little fed up with the long explanations, the worse was that it was a little bit of his fault.

"Just like fullbringer and Shinigamies have unique abilities, some but not all, Quincy also does... meaning you also sort of do. Yes I say sort of because you see, your case is a little different, unlike others who just got powers, and perhaps different powers from the different power systems and races. Due to your shinigami inheritance have me, who should have just been a zanpakuto spirit, but because of also being a Quincy and Fullbringer I ended up as I am."

"Now although you have minor powers from all those other systems, you only have one special power, and whatever path you choose to take it wouldn't change. However, since rather than having multiple special abilities you only have one, it's much stronger than it should have originally been. Now that's it for the explanation."

After finishing speaking, the spirit refilled his cup as he drank everything in a single motion. Although it was just his imagination, he felt like his throat was a little dry.

"Fine, I am also fed up with all those long explanations." Shin said but he was still rather thankful for him to have explained everything in detail. He was the kind who liked to have all the necessary information and "knowledge" when embarking on something.

Considering how Zangestsu interacted with Ichigo, Shin found that his spirit was more likable.

Wait... Zangetsu... Zangestu... Zanget- "Your name is Zangetsuha!" Shin slowed said as his lips seemed to move by themself. It just came out on its own, he didn't even have to think about it.

"Once again, took you long enough." The spirit Zangetsuha whose name was just discovered, smiled brightly as he... snapped his fingers.

The shadow beneath Shin once again expended attempting to reproduce how he first arrived here. It almost devoured Shin when it suddenly disappeared as if nothing happened.

"Hm?" Shin looked at Zangetsuha with an intrigued gaze, he thought the spirit was going to send him back into the world of the living.

"Huh... I may have forgotten to tell you something." Zangetsu himself felt quite embarrassed as he wanted to leave it here in a cool fashion but he suddenly remembered something else.

"What is it?" Shin asked, he wouldn't mind staying a little longer as long as it was for something important.

"Well, although you are going to get a zanpakuto, it will always be in its released state." The spirit informed.

"Is that all?"

"Also... There is the fact that you might not get a Bankai."