Chapter 655 The Two Great Show-Offs Meet

Clearly, they hadn't yet acted against Shinji and the others. The tragedy of the Vizard hadn't happened yet.

Aizen surveyed the surroundings of Hueco Mundo. "It's been a while since I've been here. Let's find out what the current situation is in Hueco Mundo."

"Yes, Aizen-sama."

Tosen, as Aizen's number one sycophant, quickly nodded in agreement and without hesitation used Shunpo to disappear from the spot.

Gin just stood beside Aizen, smiling, saying nothing.

Before long, Tosen returned from gathering information.

His Shunpo landing was noticeably more hurried than when he left, with a layer of cold sweat on his forehead.

"A-Aizen-sama, the King of Hueco Mundo has changed. Baraggan Louisenbairn... is dead. He has been replaced by a Vasto Lorde-class Hollow named Nishikawa Makoto."

Hearing this, even someone as composed as Aizen couldn't help but frown in surprise.

Baraggan Louisenbairn... of course he knew that name.

In terms of personality and methods, Aizen thought the guy was an idiot.

But when it came to strength, he was willing to give Baraggan high praise.

Honestly, without using Kyoka Suigetsu, in a direct fight against Baraggan, Aizen wasn't even a hundred percent sure of victory.

He hadn't expected Baraggan to be dead.

Tosen caught his breath and continued his report, his fear only growing: "It is said that Nishikawa Makoto has several Vasto Lorde-level Menos Grandes following him. The entire structure of Hueco Mundo has now been rewritten."

'Several Vasto Lorde?!'

Hearing this, even Gin, who had been standing beside Aizen smiling like a fox, lost his composure.

He had learned in the Shin'o Academy that the total number of Vasto Lorde currently existing in all of Hueco Mundo probably didn't exceed five.

'How had so many suddenly appeared?'

'And now someone had managed to gather all these monsters under their command?'

Aizen himself, however, after a brief moment of surprise, showed an extremely interested smile.

This showed the gap between them.

Aizen's excitement made sense.

His goal had originally been to gather ten Vasto Lorde to form his main military force in Hueco Mundo... the Espada.

But unfortunately, even by the time of the Karakura Town battle a hundred years later, Aizen still hadn't fulfilled that wish.

There was no help for it. Vasto Lorde-class Hollows were just too rare. Even searching the entire Hueco Mundo couldn't fill ten slots, and there was also Nel, who had been ambushed by Nnoitra, had her mask broken, and lost her power, reducing the already scarce number of Vasto Lorde by one.

And now, before his Espada plan had even formally begun, this Vasto Lorde named Nishikawa Makoto had already gathered so many powerful Vasto Lorde-class Hollows.

From another angle, all he needed was to get Makoto to submit, and he'd effectively have the entire Espada lineup at his disposal.

"Let's go, Gin, Kaname."

Aizen stepped forward, his voice carrying the pleasure of a hunter discovering a rare prey. "Let's go pay a visit to this new King of Hueco Mundo."

…

Inside Las Noches.

"I need to wash my hands."

Harribel stood up from the sofa angrily, the temperature beneath her mask frighteningly high.

Nel, meanwhile, swallowed everything in her mouth with a gulp. Watching Harribel's hurried retreating figure, she tilted her head in confusion and asked, "Why is Tia-chan so angry?"

Under Makoto's careful guidance, Nel thought doing such things with someone she liked was perfectly normal.

She couldn't understand what Harribel was upset about. Did she not like Makoto?

Makoto just smiled without answering.

Although their ways of doing things were similar, when it came to this kind of thing, these two beautiful Hollows were worlds apart.

But that was fine. He had plenty of time.

Suddenly, everyone inside Las Noches stopped what they were doing at the same time.

They sensed it... the Reiatsu of Shinigami.

And they were already very close to Las Noches.

"Woof! Woof! Woof!"

Pochi, who had been napping at the entrance of Las Noches, let out a series of threatening growls, all six eyes locking onto the direction outside the main gate.

Well, since Pochi was a dog, Makoto had assigned him the job of guarding the door.

He had originally thought about having the Teddy Devil take shifts with him, since they were both dogs.

But that guy was a veteran cadre, so it wouldn't be appropriate to make him guard the door.

"Wah... this is a Vasto Lorde too? It's actually kind of cute."

Gin bent down, studying this little dog that looked like a Soul Society version of Cubone with great interest.

Gin tilted his head, his smile deepening slightly, thinking that Rangiku would really like this.

Despite his dark and poisonous tongue demeanor, he was actually a complete romantic at heart.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have spent over a hundred years as a spy beside Aizen for Matsumoto Rangiku.

"This Vasto Lorde, there's no need to be tense."

Aizen said with a smile, his tone gentle and polite. "We just want to have a talk with your master."

There was no hint of arrogance in Aizen's tone, but that unruffled confidence was more alerting than any threat.

Compared to the still-calm Aizen and Ichimaru, Tosen was warily staring at this stray dog that dared to bark at Aizen, his right hand already on the hilt of his Zanpakuto.

In his view, any disrespect toward Aizen was unforgivable.

Seeing that these people had no intention of leaving, Pochi stopped being polite.

His six eyes widened simultaneously. He opened his small mouth, a bright white light glowing in the depths of his throat... Multi Heat Blast!

Several blazing energy balls, trailing light, shot toward the three Shinigami. Each one was powerful enough to blow a large crater in the ground.

The three of them used Shunpo to dodge almost simultaneously.

The heat blasts grazed the edges of their clothes. The closest one was less than a palm's width from Gin's sleeve.

The blazing energy balls flew past them, landing on the distant eternal white sand desert, triggering a series of violent explosions.

Several small mushroom clouds rose from the sand, the blast of fire even overshadowing the light of the crescent moon above.

'What a great power!'

Gin, who had only recently graduated from the Shin'o Academy, had his expression changed slightly.

His Shunpo was already among the top of his class, but he'd almost failed to react just now.

'So this was the power of a Vasto Lorde-class Hollow?'

'Even a guard dog had this kind of destructive power...'

'How strong were the other Vasto Lorde inside?'

'Excellent. Truly excellent.'

Aizen's smile, however, deepened. A flash of undisguised approval passed through his eyes behind his glasses.

For him, the stronger his subordinates, the better it served his future goals of seizing the Oken, assaulting the Royal Palace, and creating a new world.

This Vasto Lorde-class little dog was already an unexpected bonus. Its master would only be stronger.

He was growing more and more looking forward to meeting the new King of Hueco Mundo.

But the moment Aizen finished his internal evaluation, a blurry afterimage had already shot from a hundred meters away to in front of him.

Pochi's four short legs left a trail of still-smoking scorch marks on the sand. His little mouth opened again, the heat blast inside already fully charged.

This time, it wasn't long-range bombardment. It was a point-blank, zero-distance shot!

"Stop, you dog!"

Tosen shouted from the other side.

The moment Pochi moved, Tosen had already completed his incantation.

"Bakudo #63, Raikoho!"

He raised his hand, palm open. Golden lightning surged from his palm, forming a violent lightning pillar that slammed directly into Pochi.

The lightning illuminated the entrance of Las Noches. Arcs crackled in the air.

But when the lightning passed and slowly dissipated, the three of them saw a sight that surprised them to varying degrees.

Pochi stood there, shaking his fur, shaking off the residual arcs like a dog just out of a bath.

"How is this possible?!"

Although Tosen couldn't see, his Reiatsu Perception clearly captured Pochi's completely unharmed state.

"He blocked my #63 Kido without a scratch?!"

Tosen's proficiency in Kido, though not as otherworldly as Aizen's, was still ranked among the Gotei 13.

And he had opened with a #63 Raikoho, yet hadn't even singed a single dog hair.

Even for a Vasto Lorde, that was too exaggerated.

Aizen smiled without commenting, thinking that this new Vasto Lorde's level was higher than he'd anticipated.

'This guard dog's Hierro defense had already exceeded my existing understanding of Vasto Lorde.'

'It seemed the new King of Hueco Mundo, Nishikawa Makoto, had far more surprises in store for me.'