"Although I haven't really fought much for over twenty years, against ordinary enemies, your old man can still hold his own."
"Mhm."
Ichigo nodded.
Indeed, judging from the Reiatsu his father had emitted earlier, he was considerably stronger than the Captains of the Gotei 13.
With a powerful individual like Isshin at home, Ichigo wouldn't have to worry about Yuzu and Karin's safety.
"Oh, right, Dad..."
"How did Mom actually die?"
This question, Ichigo had already asked Kisuke back in the underground training ground of the Urahara Shop.
His mother was a powerful Quincy capable of slaying Menos.
Even if she was sneak attacked by a Hollow, had its Reiatsu invade her body, and fell into a Hollowfication crisis, later the Hollow's Reiatsu was sealed by his dad's Reiatsu.
Thus, it shouldn't have affected Masaki's strength much.
But that day, Ichigo watched helplessly as his mother shielded him and was killed by that Hollow.
"Your mother..."
Mentioning Masaki, Isshin sighed.
To think a centuries-old veteran like him was ultimately captured by a teenage girl... Isshin felt a bit embarrassed.
"Ichigo, that day, the one who died wasn't just your mother."
"Ishida Ryuken's... well, Uryu's mother, also died on the same day."
"What?"
He never imagined his mother's death would also be connected to Uryu's mother.
Ichigo was stunned. "Why is that?"
"I wanted to know why back then too."
"So, I found Ryuken. Under his guidance, I accessed all the Quincy records his family had collected."
"After frantically searching through them, we finally determined a possibility."
"That is, the cause of your mother and Ryuken's wife's deaths is related to Yhwach, the progenitor of the Quincies who led the Lichtreich's Quincy in battle against the Seireitei's Shinigami a thousand years ago."
"A thousand years ago?"
Ichigo fell silent.
Although he knew Shinigami had long lifespans.
But he himself was only sixteen years old this year.
A thousand-year time span was unimaginable to Ichigo… what kind of person could live from that era until now?
"Mhm."
"A thousand years ago, a brutal war broke out between the Quincies and the Shinigami."
"In the end, the Shinigami emerged victorious."
"Yhwach, the emperor of the Lichtreich's Quincies, was slain by Captain-Commander Yamamoto."
"Captain-Commander Yamamoto... is also from that era?"
Hearing this, Ichigo was shocked again.
In the Seireitei, he had seen Yamamoto.
That old man gave Ichigo the feeling of being strong, incredibly strong!
Even now, with Ichigo himself wielding considerable power, he didn't know if his current self could defeat the old man Yamamoto.
"Don't interrupt."
Isshin, whose carefully built-up mood was disrupted, glared at Ichigo.
"Alright, alright, go on, I'm listening."
"A prophecy?"
"Yes, a prophecy left behind by Yhwach, recorded by the Quincies a thousand years ago."
At this point, Isshin's expression turned serious.
One must know, Quincy families like the Kurosaki and Ishida who remained in the Living World and didn't invade the Seireitei with Yhwach to fight the Shinigami were, in a way, abandoned by Yhwach.
Or rather, they didn't agree with Yhwach's will and didn't join his ranks.
However, in their records, there existed the prophecy left by Yhwach.
Which means, Yhwach knew the outcome of the battle with the Shinigami a thousand years ago, yet he still led the Quincies of the Lichtreich to fight.
His goal was to fulfill the conditions for the prophecy's realization.
"The Quincy Progenitor will take nine hundred years to regain his heartbeat, ninety years to regain his intellect, nine years to regain his power, and nine days to reclaim the world."
"And according to our calculations, the year your mother died was precisely the nine hundred and ninetieth year after Yhwach's death!"
"That is, the first year of the nine years Yhwach regains his power!"
"Then, we found some more records."
"Yhwach is the progenitor of all Quincies. All Quincy abilities originate from Yhwach."
"Therefore, Yhwach also mastered the means to seize the power of Quincies, named… Auswählen!"
Here, Isshin paused.
"The day you and your mother encountered that Hollow seven years ago was precisely the first day of the nine hundred and ninety-first year."
"At that time, your mother's power was seized by Yhwach..."
Ichigo fell silent.
When it came down to it, he was the source of it all.
If he hadn't been lured by the bait that Hollow threw out, he wouldn't have run to the river.
Then, even if his mother lost her power, she wouldn't have been killed by that Hollow.
After all, the one in danger back then was actually himself.
His mother died protecting him.
"Wait, that's not right. If it was just losing power, how did Uryu's mother die?"
"Yhwach's Auswählen seizes everything from a Quincy."
"Of course, Auswählen can be strong or weak."
"The first Auswählen seized everything from mixed-blood Quincies."
"Your mother, although she became a target for having her power seized because she had my Reiatsu and the Hollow's Reiatsu inside her, was a rare pure-blood Quincy. So even though her power was taken, she wasn't in life-threatening danger."
"But Ryuken's wife was different. Katagiri was a mixed-blood Quincy. After being selected by Auswählen, not just her power, but her body and soul completely vanished..."
"Yhwach..."
Ichigo whispered the name.
He had a very strong premonition.
He and this guy would definitely have a battle in the future!
While Kukaku and the others went to the Living World, Kyoya wasn't idle either.
In Hueco Mundo, golden light gathered, and Kyoya's figure emerged from the light.
"Kyoya-sama, you're back!"
"Nelliel missed you so much."
A woman wearing a green top and shorts, her eyes lighting up, tried to pounce into Kyoya's arms.
"Alright, Nelliel, you're not a child anymore. Mind your appearance!"
Kyoya pressed a palm against Nelliel's head, pushing her aside.
"By the way, during the time I wasn't in Hueco Mundo, did anything happen here?"
"Hmm, let me think..."
Nelliel tapped her cheek with her finger, tilting her head as she carefully tried to recall what had happened in Hueco Mundo while Kyoya was away...
"I'm sorry, Kyoya-sama."
After a long moment, Nelliel shook her head dejectedly. "During that time, I didn't sense any changes in Hueco Mundo."
"It's fine. I've only been gone for a little over a decade. It's normal you wouldn't notice changes."
"By the way, has Las Noches attacked the City of Daylight during this period?"
The City of Daylight was the force Kyoya created over a decade ago after completing the founding of the Revolutionary Army and coming to Hueco Mundo to follow the 'pirate' route.
As Kyoya expected, Hueco Mundo corresponded to the sea of the One Piece World, and the Hollows in Hueco Mundo corresponded to the pirates of the One Piece World.
After creating the [City of Daylight] as a counterpart to Las Noches, Kyoya unlocked the pirate achievement route. (T/N: Las Noches means The Nights.)
Later, Kyoya took the City of Daylight as the center, declared the surrounding ten-spiritual mile radius as the City of Daylight's territory, and established a ban on killing within the territory.
To make the Hollows within such a large area recognize this ban, Kyoya personally stationed himself in the City of Daylight for ten years.
During those ten years, for the first few years, whenever Kyoya sensed any Hollow fighting, he would directly rain down laser beams to annihilate them.
Later, Kyoya found Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, the former Tres Espada under Aizen's command. After healing Nelliel's injuries with Kaido, he took her under his wing.
Furthermore, he had Nelliel form an order-maintenance corps to defend against attacks from other Hollows on the City of Daylight and to hunt down all Hollows who violated the ban within the City of Daylight's territory.
It took a full ten years for the City of Daylight's reputation to reach a level comparable to Las Noches, allowing Kyoya to complete the pirate route achievement of [Emperor].
He was only one step away from [Pirate King], which was taking over Las Noches.
Kyoya planned to achieve this highest pirate achievement after Aizen was imprisoned in Muken.
This time he came to Hueco Mundo was merely to prevent Aizen from conscripting Hollows from the City of Daylight to participate in the Karakura Town battle, or from directly moving to eliminate the City of Daylight, a variable outside his control.
In the One Piece Achievement System's judgment, the City of Daylight in Hueco Mundo was Kyoya's pirate ship.
Nelliel and the others were members of the Daylight Pirates.
Among them, Nelliel was the vice-captain, the so-called 'First Mate'.
Others, like Rudbornn, were squad leaders of the combat division.
If they were annihilated by Las Noches, the One Piece Achievement System would likely judge that Kyoya's pirate crew was destroyed.
Undoubtedly, this would cause Kyoya to miss out on reaching the highest achievement of the pirate route, [Pirate King].
This was unacceptable to Kyoya.
The final achievement reward of a route was undoubtedly the most powerful ability on that path.
For example, the [World's Strongest Swordsman] achievement Kyoya had already completed granted him the sword mastery and techniques of Mihawk, the World's Strongest Swordsman from the One Piece World.
This allowed Kyoya to integrate the Zanjutsu of the Bleach World and elevate his own swordsmanship to a higher dimension.
If Kyoya completed the highest pirate series achievement, he might possibly obtain the Haki mastery level of Pirate King, Gol D. Roger.
"Nope, Kyoya-sama."
Nelliel shook her head. "Previously, I did sense Szayelaporro's Reiatsu, but he left without approaching the City of Daylight."
"That guy, huh..."
"Probably didn't dare to come after sensing your Reiatsu."
Decades ago, Nelliel was already the Tres Espada under Aizen in Las Noches.
However, she was ambushed by Nnoitra and Szayelaporro, who broke her Hollow mask, causing her to lose her power and memories, and was thrown out of Las Noches.
If not for meeting Kyoya, Nelliel would have only regained part of her memories and power when Ichigo and the others entered Hueco Mundo.
Over the years, under Kyoya's command, Nelliel's strength had also improved significantly.
Even if she couldn't compare to the Segunda Espada, Baraggan Louisenbairn, and the Primera Espada, Coyote Stark, she was not someone the current Tres Espada, Tier Harribel, could match.
She probably could even fight against the Segunda Etapa Ulquiorra.
Well, Segunda Etapa Ulquiorra was too fast, and Nelliel's Gamuza was a power-type Menos, not matching Ulquiorra's speed in Segunda Etapa. In a life-or-death battle, it might be a 40-60 split.
"I think so too."
"Oh, Nelliel, for this period of time, I'll be staying in the City of Daylight."
"If there's any movement from Las Noches that you can't handle, you can come directly to me."
"Mhm, I understand, Kyoya-sama."
After sending Nelliel away, Kyoya sat on the throne in the main hall of the City of Daylight.
Closing his eyes, Kyoya extended his perception outward.
Hueco Mundo also had 'light'.
However, compared to the Living World and the Soul Society, the light in Hueco Mundo wasn't as bright.
It even felt somewhat eerie.
This imposed significant limitations on Kyoya's [Light Perception] in Hueco Mundo.
Although Kyoya could still perceive the entire Hueco Mundo, it couldn't be as detailed as in the Living World and Soul Society.
Furthermore, the special space beneath the ground of Hueco Mundo, the Forest of Menos, couldn't be perceived by Kyoya through light.
After all, there was no light in the Forest of Menos. Like the Quincies' Wahrwelt hidden in the Seireitei's shadow, it couldn't be directly perceived by Kyoya.
…
"Aizen-sama."
In Las Noches, Ulquiorra approached Aizen respectfully.
"Ulquiorra, is something the matter?"
Aizen leaned sideways on his throne, his right elbow resting on the armrest, his fist pressed against his cheek.
His current strength had reached a peak, not something that could be improved through mere training.
Therefore, after coming to Hueco Mundo, aside from constantly monitoring the Hogyoku's fusion, Aizen spent most of his time sitting on his throne.
As for Tosen, he managed Las Noches on Aizen's behalf… even the Espada were under his jurisdiction.
As for Gin, he had little interest in the Espada or management. Every day, he stood with his arms crossed, gazing into the distance as if reminiscing about something.
Indeed, Gin was reminiscing.
But what he reminisced about was the feeling of being held by Rangiku back in the Seireitei.
Perhaps, to others, it was Rangiku who caught Gin.
But for Gin, that was the first time he held hands with Rangiku after so many years.
Pity that it was only Rangiku who held his hand, and he couldn't hold onto hers.
'But, it's almost time...'
Gin narrowed his eyes, his pupils looking towards Aizen within Las Noches.