Chapter 545 - 545 Three-Digit Arrancar

Tap, tap, tap...

Inside a branching path within Las Noches, Toshiro walked forward holding Nel in his arms, with Rangiku by his side. The others had each chosen a different path and were acting alone.

After walking for a while, the surroundings changed from a corridor to rows of stone pillars forming structures similar to Shinto shrine torii gates.

Then, as they continued walking, Toshiro suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong, Toshiro?" Nel, in his arms, looked up and asked.

"Enemies." Toshiro responded to Nel, then looked up at the beams atop the rows of stone pillars on either side. "You hiding up there, come out! I don't like people standing above my head!"

Hearing Toshiro's words, the person hiding above was startled. Then, stepping on the beams, they ran towards Toshiro and the others.

Crack—!!

A sound of breaking came from the beam above.

"Aaaahhh—!!!"

Bang!

A beam above snapped, and a figure fell heavily to the ground with a scream.

Seeing the other party's clumsy, pathetic performance, Toshiro's mouth twitched. He looked utterly speechless. He didn't expect that besides Pesche and Dondochakka, there would be such an oddball among the Arrancar.

Then Toshiro spoke. "Hey, Arrancar, what's your name? Do you know where the Shinigami captured by Las Noches are being held? If you confess honestly, I might spare you..."

"Yah—!!!"

Just as Toshiro was about to ask if he knew where the Expeditionary Force's Shinigami were imprisoned, the other party suddenly let out a neurotic yell, interrupting him.

"Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang— Hmph, hmph..."

After the yell, the other party started twisting their body in an eyesore-inducing dance, humming as they moved, kicking up dust that drifted towards Toshiro and the others.

Seeing this, Toshiro frowned and waved away the dust coming towards them.

"Hey! Are you done? If you want to fight, fight! If not, be honest and tell me what you know, then get lost!!" Toshiro said with a look of disgust and anger.

Not only Toshiro, but Rangiku and Nel also looked at the other party with disgust.

Seeing their expressions, the other party was displeased. He wagged a finger. "Hey hey hey! Hold on, hold on! What's with that reaction? What's with that reaction? What's with that reaction? You..."

"Shut up! How many times are you going to say the same thing?!" Toshiro said impatiently.

"What?! You saw my, Dordoni Alessandro Del Socaccio-sama's, splendid entrance and you're unmoved?! You're deliberately acting so calm to dampen my morale, aren't you?" The other party said, full of self-importance.

"We're not acting. But you, 'splendid entrance'? What's splendid about it? It was more like a clown act!" Rangiku, standing beside Toshiro, couldn't help but retort.

Hearing Rangiku's mockery, the other party closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His expression became very serious. "Well, whatever. If you can't appreciate it... it just shows the difference in taste between us... But anyway, you're about to be defeated by me, so it doesn't matter."

Then he suddenly opened his eyes wide and shouted, "Prepare yourselves, Shinigami! I, Arrancar NO.103, Dordoni Alessandro Del Socaccio-sama, will thoroughly defeat you here!!"

"No.103? That number seems pretty big?" Rangiku looked puzzled, yet somewhat eager.

Generally, the larger an Arrancar's number, the weaker they are. 103 was the largest number Rangiku had ever seen on an Arrancar. Didn't that mean he was very weak? So... it was time for her, Rangiku-sama, to step in.

Rangiku knew her strength was low, and she couldn't play a major role in Hueco Mundo. But precisely because of that, she cherished every opportunity she had to help.

"Three-digit Arrancar? How strange. Even Nel has only heard of two-digit Arrancar, never that there are three-digit ones." Nel, in Toshiro's arms, bit her finger and looked puzzled.

"Hey! What are you muttering about over there? Hmph! And what's with that pitying look?!" No.103, Dordoni, shouted, embarrassed and angry.

"I think your strength is pretty lousy." Rangiku answered, then said to Toshiro, "Captain, this Arrancar is three-digit. He doesn't seem very strong. How about letting me handle him? Don't trouble yourself."

"Ah well, although his strength is indeed lousy... yours is even worse. So stand down, Rangiku. Stop trying to steal the spotlight." Toshiro said helplessly.

The Arrancar named Dordoni's strength was indeed 'lousy', but that was relative to Toshiro. For Rangiku, it was different.

Rangiku was at the standard Lieutenant level. But Dordoni, Toshiro could see at a glance, had Captain-class strength. He was not someone Rangiku could handle.

'I remember three-digit Arrancar were once Espada, right...'

'This former Espada named Dordoni has Captain-class strength. Do the other former Espada also have Captain-class strength?'

'These are just the losers who were kicked out of the Espada, yet they have Captain-class strength. Add the current, even stronger Espada... just how many Captain-class Arrancar does Aizen have under his command?'

'Good grief, Captain-class in Hueco Mundo are becoming as common as dogs... I just can't understand Aizen. With so many Captain-class Arrancar, even if he lined them up for a head-on battle against the Gotei 13's Captains, he'd have a good chance of winning. Why all these schemes?' Toshiro thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Dordoni, hearing both Rangiku and Toshiro say his strength was lousy, became furious.

"What did you say?! My strength is lousy? Hmph! Why don't you find out for yourselves whether my strength is lousy?! Just don't come begging for mercy! Kid!" Dordoni roared.

Then, with a shout, Dordoni didn't even draw his sword. He simply charged at Toshiro, fist swinging.

…

Las Noches, Monitoring Room.

In the dark monitoring room, monitors showed the figures of Toshiro and the others.

Aside from the faint glow of the screens, which dimly illuminated a figure before them, everything else was pitch black.

Tap, tap, tap...

Footsteps suddenly sounded in the silent, dark environment.

"Oh dear, oh dear. What's this? You've come to spy too? That's not a very good hobby, is it, Tosen?" Gin leaned against the doorframe of the monitoring room, teasing Tosen standing before the screens.