Chapter 4: Nature Reserve
The moment Watanabe Mizuma stepped through the Garganta, his lungs seized.
The reishi density in the air was so thick it felt like he'd plunged underwater.
Overhead hung a massive crescent moon, scattering pale light across an endless white desert.
Hueco Mundo — a world of eternal night, built from dunes of bleached sand and silence.
Exhaling slowly, Mizuma buried his hands in his pockets and rolled his shoulders, feeling the suffocating reiatsu around him.
Once his body adjusted to the pressure, he began the job he'd come here to do.
"Oi, can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear."
Kisuke Urahara's voice crackled through the communicator by his ear.
"Watanabe Fifth Seat, I'm getting your signal. You've made it to Hueco Mundo?"
"Just like the textbooks," Mizuma said, scanning the barren landscape.
"No abnormal readings. Not even a single Hollow nearby."
It was his first time standing in Hueco Mundo with his own two feet.
Seeing it firsthand — the quiet, the lifeless horizon — was a whole different experience than reading about it.
By the tenth second, he understood why every creature here fought to the death.
There was nothing else to do.
No food. No water. No light.
Only endless hunger and instinct.
Honestly, the fact that Hollows could survive here without going mad was practically a miracle.
He smirked faintly.
He might be lazy, but even laziness needed a minimum standard of living.
He could barely stand Rukongai's conditions — let alone this hellscape.
Hueco Mundo… what a miserable place.
"That's not surprising," Urahara replied, unbothered.
"The Hollows that came through the Garganta did so at random intervals and numbers.
It's likely whoever's behind this is gathering them elsewhere, then sending them through."
"Hold on. I've found something."
Landing lightly on the sand, Mizuma approached the area directly beneath the Garganta.
There, two small, shriveled trees stood side by side.
Extending his reiatsu chikaku, he immediately sensed the anomaly — their reiryoku was intertwined with the Garganta itself.
They weren't plants at all, but conduits — absorbing reishi from the environment to feed the portal.
So these are the anchors keeping it open…
He reported the finding.
On the other end, Urahara's tone brightened with excitement.
"Excellent! Watanabe Fifth Seat, press the second button on your helmet's side," he said, followed by a rustle of papers and muffled voices.
"I integrated a portable reiatsu analyzer into your comm unit. That should activate it."
Mizuma blinked, impressed despite himself.
"For a guy who never leaves backup plans behind, your gadgets are dangerously efficient," he muttered.
Even Aizen had once been outsmarted by Urahara — a terrifying thought.
Honestly, he's like Soul Society's version of that blue earless robot cat…
He followed instructions.
Immediately, a flurry of technical chatter came through the line — researchers working in organized chaos.
He waited, tapping his foot on the sand.
After a few minutes, Urahara's voice returned.
"Analysis complete! The Bureau detected multiple reiatsu residues in the area over the past month — "
"Time's short, Captain. Skip to the conclusion," Mizuma cut in, catching the telltale tone of a scientist about to start lecturing.
"Ah — right." Urahara cleared his throat.
"In short: nearly all residual reiatsu leads back into the Garganta, belonging to the Hollows that invaded Soul Society.
But one signature stands out — it's been here several times, directly interacting with the anchors.
It follows a consistent arrival and retreat pattern."
"The mastermind, then," Mizuma said flatly.
"If I track that reiatsu, I'll find whoever's responsible."
"Theoretically, yes."
"Then that settles it."
He flexed his fingers, feeling reiryoku flow.
"Give me the coordinates, and I'll handle it."
The sooner he was done, the sooner he could go home — not that he'd ever admit it aloud.
"Southwest by thirty degrees," Urahara said.
"But be careful — that signature's powerful.
Our analysis puts it at the level of a high-tier Hollow."
"Got it."
Mizuma shrugged.
When using his Zanpakutō's ability, death wasn't really something that bothered him.
If this body got torn apart — oh well. He'd just file a report and come back later with reinforcements.
High emotional intelligence version:
Hueco Mundo continuously produces existential threats to both the World of the Living and Soul Society, making it one of the most perilous realms in existence.
Low emotional intelligence version:
It's basically a natural reserve for extremely dangerous animals.
Across the history of Bleach, everyone had trampled this place —
Shinigami for "balance," Quincies for "vengeance."
Neither side ever cared what happened to the Hollows themselves.
No wonder Hueco Mundo was the weakest of the three realms.
Mizuma sighed.
"Man, am I glad I wasn't born here."
He lifted off the ground, flying low, and silently mourned Hueco Mundo's tragic fate.
He kept a steady pace for several kilometers when the air suddenly chilled.
Multiple hostile reiatsu signatures flared in his senses — hungry, violent, closing fast.
The white dunes stretched in every direction, yet he could already spot the shadows moving over the ridges —
Hollows, masked and howling, rushing straight for him.
"You guys seriously have no sense of self-preservation…"
He sighed and rolled his eyes.
"But fine — I do need ten kills for the quest."
His hand slid to his Zanpakutō.
"Come on, then."
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TL: This is me after ch 40+ tled, reiryoku and reiatsu is almost so similar that it is hard to differentiate which is used where so I give up. TT_TT
(NOTE: FUTURE NOTES CAME BEFORE THIS)