"My, my. Lord Aizen is truly heartless, isn't he?" Gin Ichimaru said with his perpetual smile as he sauntered towards Miyako, his voice a lazy drawl. "To discard the Arrancar he worked so hard to create… as if they were nothing but trash."
"Having followed him for over a century, shouldn't you be the one who knows that best?" Miyako retorted.
This was the moment his long-term plan had finally come to fruition. From the Sōkyoku Hill in Soul Society, where he deliberately allowed himself to be wounded by Gin's Shinsō, to his first, targeted attack on Gin in Las Noches—both actions were carefully staged performances for Aizen's benefit. They were messages, designed to convince the master strategist that Amamiya Miyako feared the speed of Gin's Zanpakuto above all else.
And Aizen, as predicted, had taken the bait, assigning Gin to deal with him while he handled the rest.
"Hmm? It sounds like you understand Captain Aizen even better than I do."
"Probably," Miyako admitted. He let his spiritual bow dissolve back into his twin blades, leveling them at Gin. "Enough chatter, Captain Ichimaru. If you don't make a move, I'm going after Aizen!"
"That just won't do," Gin sighed, his posture shifting imperceptibly. He bent slightly at the waist, his hand resting on the hilt of his Zanpakuto. His eyes, narrowed to slits, focused on Miyako with the intensity of a coiled serpent. "Captain Aizen gave me a direct order. I have to see it through."
"Sting all enemies to death… Shinsō!"
In the space between a heartbeat, Gin drew and thrust. There was no warning, only a silver streak that extended to impossible lengths, the tip of his blade appearing before Miyako's eye as if it had always been there.
Miyako jerked his head to the side. A searing line of pain scored his cheek, and several strands of his black hair drifted to the ground, neatly severed. Shinsō's reputation was well-earned; its extension speed was a lethal surprise. Only his preemptive high alertness had saved him.
Aizen's deduction was correct, but incomplete. The sealing ability of Shingetsu Zetsunèn indeed couldn't track Shinsō's blinding speed, making a direct seal impossible. And while his Shikai's defensive barrier was potent, he didn't know if it could activate faster than Gin's thrust. He couldn't afford to test it.
'But neither of us truly wants this fight,' Miyako thought, parrying a series of rapid, dagger-length thrusts from Gin's shortened blade. 'We both have our own agendas.'
Miyako understood the two traitors perfectly. Aizen possessed the raw power to defeat everyone present single-handedly, barring perhaps the Captain-Commander. And Gin would never reveal his Bankai's true ability—that was his trump card, reserved solely for Aizen.
What Miyako needed was the enhanced sealing power of his Bankai. His Shikai's seal worked by coating a Zanpakuto with his reiryoku, blocking the owner's connection. His Bankai evolved this ability—he could now fire an arrow that enveloped an entire person in a spiritual membrane, isolating them from external reiatsu.
This was the ultimate counter to Kyōka Suigetsu. And Gin had felt its power firsthand. That was why Miyako had engineered this confrontation—to negotiate an alliance and plan a betrayal.
"They're so naive, thinking numbers alone can stop Sōsuke Aizen," Gin commented idly, effortlessly deflecting Miyako's twin blades with his own.
"What's truly terrifying about Aizen isn't just Kyōka Suigetsu," Gin said, his smile never wavering.
"It's his own strength, which far surpasses everyone else's. Isn't that right?" Miyako finished, while deliberately steering their fight away from the main battlefield.
Gin cooperated perfectly, their clash creating a significant commotion as they moved further and further from the central conflict.
"Oh my? You're quite well-informed."
"I am. In a way, I believe even more strongly than you that Aizen can defeat everyone here except Yamamoto-Genryūsai," Miyako stated calmly.
Gin's smile tightened. Why would he say such a thing?
"Hadō #26: Hokōtai (Flickering Stance)!" Miyako ceased his swordplay, and his form seemed to waver and fade from sight.
"Now, now. Sōsuke Aizen used that trick before. But for anyone with decent sensory skills, your spiritual pressure still shines like a firefly in the night," Gin chided, though he kept his guard up. Even invisible, Miyako's reiatsu should be detectable.
But then, Gin froze, his Shinsō halting mid-extension.
He could no longer sense Amamiya Miyako's spiritual pressure at all.
"A cloaking device? How troublesome," Gin murmured, his smile turning wry. "I didn't expect that little trinket to be such a nuisance in an opponent's hands. Kisuke Urahara really does give out the most problematic gifts." He had quickly deduced the source of the concealment.
Suddenly, a ripple of energy came from behind him. Gin spun, his blade retracting as he dodged an arrow that materialized from empty air. He was careful not to let it touch Shinsō.
Immediately, five more arrows shot from different,刁钻 angles, forcing Gin to use a low-level Bakudō barrier to deflect them.
'The arrows didn't dissipate? And they lack the penetrative force mentioned in the reports?' Gin noted, his mind racing.
As the final arrow struck his fan and was "deflected" high into the air, he realized all six had landed in a precise formation around him.
Then, the arrows changed. A faint, white luminescence spread from each one, merging to form a dome of light that flickered once and then vanished, leaving the area looking utterly normal.
This was a hidden application of his Bankai's power—a "Sanctuary Cage" fused with the concealing properties of Urahara's cloak. Its defensive power was lesser than a full barrier, but it was utterly undetectable and isolated all sight and sound from within.
When Gin tried to step past the invisible boundary, he found his path blocked by solid, unseen energy.
Miyako chose that moment to drop his invisibility, his form shimmering back into view within the cage.
"Ichimaru Gin," Miyako said, his voice low and serious, one of his blades resting against the shortened length of Shinsō. "What we say now, Aizen will not hear. Kyōka Suigetsu has no effect on me. The Aizen I see fighting over there is the real one."
Gin Ichimaru's eyes opened fully for the first time, their light blue irises sharp and focused, boring into Miyako.
Both of them knew the real battle—the battle of words and allegiances—had just begun.