Before the end of the week, Zaraki made up his mind to face Akira and take the bull by the horn. Then he received the absurd news from Hirai that Akira had left Langford a few days ago, back to his hometown, and he was not informed about it.
Rangiku resumed her usual weekly routine of going on missions six times weekly, acting like Akira never existed. Though there were rumours that Rangiku was pregnant, they were logically dismissed given the fact that Rangiku was still functioning at her best as an operative.
Zaraki assumed that the couple had realized their relationship was a mistake and had decided to call it quits, but that assumption came to an end when he got the news that Rangiku and her sister Yuzu had gone missing. Then he realized that the ongoing rumours were true: Rangiku was pregnant, and she could no longer hide it.
Perhaps that was why she fled, as she would have to face the fatal consequences if she didn't. Her sister, out of consideration, left with her, also committing treason that was punishable by death.
In Zaraki's mind, everything added up perfectly: Akira's sudden disappearance, Rangiku's absurd reaction to that, her sudden treason a couple of months after Akira's disappearance, the mentioning of "Zion" by Yuzu to her sister during their battle in the forest, and the invasion of the city by Zion Mercenaries.
Somehow Zaraki had brilliantly figured it out and theorized that the first place Akira would head over to for Rangiku would be where he always went to get her, the dormitories, where he would likely find out about her death and the operatives responsible for it.
This was why he instructed Mia to check on her comrades, as he did not want to feel responsible should they get hurt, as Rangiku was slain by his blade and not theirs.
Akira, who had promised his loved one that he would come back for her, would come back for something else.
Had she and her sister been patient enough to wait while concealing the pregnancy somehow until he had arrived, they would have survived, and he would have been able to keep his promise.
But now the Zion Enforcer would be in for the shock of his life.
.....
The enforcers were tasked with the responsibility of spreading the rule and influence of the empire to ensure that the whole continent came under its power.
Before now they have had several victories crushing various rebellions and conquering territories, and now was the time to take on Langford.
Each of them were once convicted criminals awaiting capital punishment but were promised pardon should they carry out the task of enforcing the authority of the empire on the unconquered parts of the continent.
Hence the name "Enforcers."
Some of them, like Izuku Ai, had nothing to lose by accepting the offer, as it meant he would have the chance to kill more people with abandon and still be legally innocent. He seemed to have neither resolve nor ambition besides satisfying his impulsive urge to cut down flesh with his sword whenever he felt like it.
People like Urahara felt it wouldn't hurt to live a long time doing badass stuff and probably having some fun along the way before facing capital punishment.
So from her twisted perspective, it was a privilege, a chance to live the high life before the inevitable demise.
Drey was a convicted assassin before he was offered the chance to become an enforcer, and unlike most rogue assassins at the time, he had good resolve behind his actions, backed by a deep philosophy.
He was not the one to always carry out assassinations for the huge pay, but for the ambition of permanently keeping degenerates and corrupt people of influence off the streets, as it felt like his obligation to protect the neighborhood that brought him up.
And like the former, he also saw the chance to serve as an enforcer as a privilege, as he now had the chance to openly enforce justice without having to succumb to being a covert masked vigilante by night to avoid causing a stir in a small neighborhood, but now had the freedom to use his skills to do what he always had, even as an enforcer.
He never thought he would live long given the kind of life he was living, but perhaps this would be the best way to close the book on a mostly insignificant life such as his.
Tobirama and the twins (Enji and Genta) were also convicted criminals but had deeper and more tragic pasts.
Tobirama was convicted merely based on his desire to be just like his role model—the assassin who killed his parents, who turned out to be Drey Matsumoto, the man he adored.
As a child, he was abused by his parents due to the odd color of his skin and hair. This absurd form of racism drove his parents to turn short sessions of the average juvenile discipline into stretched-out hours of pointless beatings.
Sometimes he would get whipped by his father very severely for the trivial error of not waking up early in the morning or get verbally abused by his mother over little mistakes in housekeeping.
Once in a while, over a faultless incident outside the home due to social prejudice, both parents would gang up to give him the beating of his life.
As a sheltered yet abused 12-year-old boy, he barely developed the guts to stand against his parents, who felt like the world to him.
This was not because he loved them unconditionally, but because he felt infinitely indebted to them.
He perceived himself to be the ugly child with no right to love and affection from anybody, but he was raised by "normal" people who didn't have to keep him alive after his birth but instead chose to, despite the odd color of his hair and skin.
It was on one of those abusive nights that his life changed, as he had done something he never thought he would have the guts to do: yell back at his mother.
"It wasn't my fault, mother; stop blaming me for all your mistakes!" he yelled back after being unjustly berated by his mother.
The father heard it from where he was and came into the room, not believing what he had heard.
"What did you say, Tobirama?" asked his mother once he came into the room.
"It's said—stop blaming me for your mistakes! "It's not fair!" he yelled again, confirming the father's suspicions.
He was still yelling back with his eyes closed, not willing to look at his mother while doing so, knowing he would stop.
His father, in anger, pounded his large fist into the little boy's face, breaking his nose, and sending him flying into a wooden wall across the room.
The impact caused him to shriek in pain right before falling to the ground.
The man went to the blacksmith's shop right outside the house and came back with a glowing pot of coal.
"I see you have overgrown the beatings by my hand, and the countless whippings have not changed anything," he said as he took out a heated knife,
"Perhaps carving a permanent scar into your flesh would do the trick!"
Tobirama screamed out in pain as his father continuously pressed the glowing hot knife on his skin over and over in many places while his mother held him down with her huge body, making him helpless to move or defend himself.
Tobirama screamed out as he thought,
"If there was a hell, this had to be it."