Tsunayoshi's words pierced straight through Gin Ichimaru's defenses.
Someone was waiting for him to return.
Was he worthy of that?
Had he not long since resolved himself to throw away this life if it meant taking back the vital piece of Rangiku's soul from Aizen's hands? Could it truly be obtained this easily?
As long as Aizen agreed to the deal, Gin Ichimaru's centuries of effort would instantly turn into nothing.
Was that bad?
It seemed there was nothing bad about it. He would no longer have to endure Aizen's suspicion. He could return to the side of the person who cared about him most.
It was just that the goal he had poured everything into was suddenly being obtained so easily. That left Gin Ichimaru feeling lost. At this moment, he even wondered whether he had fallen under Kyōka Suigetsu's illusion.
He did not speak. Silence—doing nothing at all—was Gin Ichimaru's method of resisting illusions. Aizen had never given anyone the opportunity to touch Kyōka Suigetsu, so Gin could only assume by default that he had been caught in Complete Hypnosis.
That had to be it. Sawada Tsunayoshi, someone he had never even known, had actually come all the way to Hueco Mundo for his sake to make a deal with Aizen. No matter how he thought about it, it was far too absurd.
This had to be an illusion!
"Sawada-kun, the fox suspects he's under an illusion."
Just as Tsunayoshi was finding it strange that there was not the slightest fluctuation on Gin Ichimaru's face, Aizen explained it to him with amusement.
As one of Aizen's regular assistants, Aizen understood Gin Ichimaru's thoughts quite well. It was only because Gin Ichimaru had entered Shin'ō Spiritual Arts Academy alone, and because he had always concealed his past relationship with Rangiku very well, that Aizen had failed to see Gin Ichimaru's true objective.
He should have simply said earlier that it was for the Soul King's fingertip. After obtaining the complete Hōgyoku, Aizen did not care about that small thing at all. Handing it to Gin Ichimaru as compensation for all his years of diligent service was not impossible.
Given Gin Ichimaru's personality, he would never have told Aizen his final goal. That was why Aizen had always kept one hand guarded against Gin, and why his trust in Gin could never reach the same level as his trust in Kaname Tōsen.
After hearing Aizen's explanation, Tsunayoshi gave up on continuing to persuade Gin Ichimaru. He would simply let Gin listen slowly and judge for himself.
"That's the situation. A Jūreichi in exchange for two conditions. Deal?" Tsunayoshi turned and asked Aizen.
"No matter how I think about it, these terms still aren't fair to me. Two for two would be true fairness, would it not?" Aizen was not so easy to fool. He raised a condition at the right moment. "The Jūreichi, plus your help once. What do you think?"
"I'm not free enough to keep waiting for your request."
Tsunayoshi rejected Aizen's condition without the slightest hesitation. He did not even need to think about it. With Aizen's strength, any situation that required Tsunayoshi to act would involve an opponent at least on Old Man Yamamoto's level. Just thinking about opponents like that was troublesome.
"Change the condition. I can help you with the progress of your fusion with the Hōgyoku."
"Oh? Sawada-kun understands Hōgyoku research as well?" Once the topic shifted to the Hōgyoku, Aizen immediately became interested.
"I don't." Tsunayoshi immediately poured cold water on him. "But I do understand fusion."
"Your current fusion state with the Hōgyoku has already stabilized. If you want to go one step further, there are only two methods. The first is to rely on time and slowly grind away at it. The second is powerful external pressure. A life-and-death battle will always be the best catalyst for increasing strength."
"With your current strength, no one in Hueco Mundo can give you that pressure. I may not be much, but I can barely serve as your opponent." Tsunayoshi pointed at himself with his thumb, showing not the slightest hint of modesty.
"Barely, is it?"
Aizen muttered to himself. He would not believe everything Tsunayoshi said, but he had to admit that the current him did indeed need some external assistance. Deeper fusion with the Hōgyoku sounded extremely tempting.
Most importantly, compared to going to make trouble for Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, Sawada Tsunayoshi was still more trustworthy as a transaction partner.
"However, I want to know this. Was this additional condition something you prepared beforehand, or did you only come up with it just now?" Aizen probed once again.
"What does that matter? Weren't you the one who gave me the chance to raise a second condition?"
Aizen could feel that Tsunayoshi's fingertip was pointing precisely at the Hōgyoku embedded in his chest. No wonder Tsunayoshi had tested the state of his fusion with the Hōgyoku from the very beginning. It seemed he had been set up.
But precisely because of that, the condition Tsunayoshi proposed—helping him fuse with the Hōgyoku—seemed even more genuine and reliable. If this condition had been proposed by Kisuke Urahara, Aizen would never have believed it. He would have assumed Urahara had planned it long ago.
Aizen stood up and walked down from the high platform step by step. From the moment Tsunayoshi proposed this other condition, Aizen had already regarded his strength as being on equal footing with his own.
"Deal. The fox, the Soul King's fingertip, and Las Noches in exchange for the Jūreichi and one chance to fight you." Aizen's gaze was not calm. There was even a faint trace of fervor in it. He could hardly wait to increase his strength.
"Before that, shouldn't you show some sincerity? At the very least, we've already shown ours." Tsunayoshi pointed at the clump of soil still floating in front of Aizen.
Aizen knew this was Tsunayoshi asking for the benefits in advance. With a cold laugh, he lightly touched the Hōgyoku in his chest. A strange ripple spread out from the Hōgyoku, and a pale fingertip surfaced in front of Aizen's chest.
Tsunayoshi narrowed his eyes slightly. This was the first time he had seen such a complete part of the Soul King. As for the Soul King fragments inside the Fullbringers in the World of the Living, those were merely tiny flakes of skin. They were far less important than this fingertip.
The fingertip emitted a Reiatsu that clearly did not belong to a Shinigami. This power, however, felt somewhat familiar to Tsunayoshi.
It carried the scent of the Quincies.
It seemed the Soul King's original body truly had been that of a Quincy.
With a flick of Aizen's finger, the fingertip floated toward Tsunayoshi, carried by Reiatsu. Tsunayoshi proactively took a jar from Urahara and sealed the Soul King's fingertip inside. Then he tossed the jar to Gin Ichimaru, who still wore an expressionless face.
This time, Gin Ichimaru could no longer keep his expression steady. Even though he suspected it was an illusion, he still opened his eyes and reached out to catch the jar containing Rangiku's precious missing piece.
This… was not an illusion.
Whether it was an illusion or not, how could Gin Ichimaru himself not know? After spending so many years under Aizen, he naturally had his own small methods to judge whether he was trapped in an illusion. It was just that, for a moment, he could not accept that the thing he had struggled for all his life had been resolved so simply.
"All right, Gin-san. I know you're very moved, but could I trouble you and the manager to step aside for a bit and clear the field?" Tsunayoshi asked.
Gin Ichimaru raised his head. His eyes were still open. With incomparable seriousness, he said two words to Tsunayoshi.
"Thank you."
"No need to thank me. Later, hand over your work properly. Afterward, we'll return to Soul Society together." Tsunayoshi turned and called to Kisuke Urahara, "Manager…"
"I know. We'll hide in that corner by the entrance. That should be fine, right?" Urahara asked, pointing in the direction they had come from.
"More or less. The aftershocks of the fight shouldn't reach there." Tsunayoshi looked over the palace as he spoke. In any case, there was nothing here in Aizen's hall. Presumably, Aizen would not mind him using it directly as a battlefield.
"What do you mean, Sawada Tsunayoshi? Are you planning to fulfill your condition here?" Aizen narrowed his eyes at Tsunayoshi as a dangerous aura spread from his body.
Although Aizen himself did not care much about Las Noches, it was still his temporary base. He did not want the entire palace destroyed.
"You know, we still have to deal with the Jūreichi afterward. Our schedule is fairly tight. You don't want Old Man Yamamoto leading an assault on Las Noches right now, do you?"
After that light threat, Tsunayoshi added, "So I think we shouldn't waste time. This place is empty and spacious. It's very suitable as a battlefield."
The moment his words fell, a powerful Reiatsu immediately erupted from Tsunayoshi's body. As Tsunayoshi's sharp gaze pressed toward Aizen, Aizen smiled calmly. Without even using the Hōgyoku, he directly used his own Reiatsu to clash against Tsunayoshi's.
The instant Tsunayoshi's Reiatsu appeared, the Arrancar in Las Noches thought that the powerful enemy from earlier had caused a conflict and were preparing to move out in support. But then they sensed Aizen's deeply unforgettable Reiatsu.
All of the Arrancar returned to their positions and did not dare move.
It would be enough to leave things to Lord Aizen.
Lord Aizen was invincible.
"Is that all? This won't give me any pressure," Aizen said lightly.
"That was just a greeting. I didn't want to scare you." At some point, the black and white twin blades had already appeared in Tsunayoshi's hands. He crossed the two blades and gave a cold snort.
"Power Beyond Bankai!"
A Reiatsu more powerful than anything Hueco Mundo had ever seen suddenly appeared. It overturned the palace roof and shot straight into the sky, allowing the moonlight of the night to spill into the palace.
Every Arrancar in Las Noches felt an urge to prostrate themselves and submit.
What kind of Reiatsu was this?
It was far too powerful. It was utterly impossible to defeat.
Even the Arrancar ranked among the Espada released their own Reiatsu one after another to resist this terrifying pressure. As for some weaker Fracción, they even entered Resurrección directly. Otherwise, just existing within this Reiatsu would have crushed them to powder.
Mist covered the entirety of Las Noches. This mist contained such dense Reiatsu that merely breathing it in made one's lungs ache. If this continued, before long, there would be very few living Arrancar left in Las Noches.
Fortunately, Tsunayoshi himself knew this as well. The mist quickly withdrew back toward his body and condensed into a white robe. The robe was covered in dense horizontal lines, resembling the mist pattern on a Mist-attribute ring.
What Tsunayoshi held in his hand was a long-handled Bankai khakkhara. Combined with his white clerical robe, he looked exactly like a white-robed archmage.
"Dimensional Construction: Mist!"
Aizen's gaze did not linger on the bright moonlight for even half a moment. All of his attention was drawn to Tsunayoshi in the air.
Strong.
Too strong.
This level of power was not something any Shinigami within Aizen's understanding should be able to reach. Without needing Tsunayoshi to explain, Aizen knew that this was Zanpakutō fusion. Only this kind of power, surpassing his current Hōgyoku fusion state, could be worthy of the name Zanpakutō fusion.
"Good. Very good, Sawada Tsunayoshi!"
Aizen's suppressed voice was filled with excitement and unease. He was excited because Tsunayoshi's power could indeed suppress him, and uneasy because Tsunayoshi might use this opportunity to kill him outright.
No!
The power of the Hōgyoku is the strongest!
The next moment, Aizen denied his own unease. He would believe in the Hōgyoku. Only it could lead him toward evolution. Sawada Tsunayoshi would simply become nourishment for his evolution!
"Bankai! Kyōkan Chōmei!"
Aizen also released his strongest power. Unlike Tsunayoshi, who had directed most of his Reiatsu into the sky, Aizen released his power without restraint, using it to declare that he was the strongest king in Hueco Mundo.
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