Chapter 671 Obtaining Hogyoku

Makoto and his group returned to Hueco Mundo through the Garganta.

The Garganta's exit slowly opened on the plaza in front of Las Noches's main hall.

Just then, many in the group noticed that a small orange-yellow dog had appeared at Makoto's feet without anyone seeing when.

A round body, short limbs, and the particularly eye-catching white chainsaw on its head.

It was Pochita.

Compared to the familiar form everyone knew, the iconic chainsaw on Pochita's head had now changed from its original metallic color to pure white, symbolizing the power of a Hollow.

"Wah! So cute!"

Nel's eyes lit up. She used Sonído to dash over, scooped Pochita up from the ground, and hugged him tight, rubbing her cheek against his soft orange-yellow fur.

Pochita let out a comfortable 'woof' as she rubbed him, his tail wagging even more happily.

"Senpai, this is?"

Yu and the others looked curiously at Pochita, whom they hadn't seen in a while.

"My Zanpakuto." Makoto explained with a light laugh.

When he achieved Arrancarization, the power that belonged to Pochita within him naturally separated and condensed into an independent, physical form outside his body.

Arrancarization seals a Hollow's power within a Zanpakuto, and as the core component of his soul, Pochita also gained new power.

Harribel's emerald eyes beneath her mask widened slightly, her tone carrying a hint of surprise: "A relationship similar to Starrk and Lilynette's?"

Makoto nodded. "Something like that. But we were always one before."

Pochita poked his head out from Nel's arms and barked at Makoto, as if responding to his words.

"Woof woof woof!" Pochi barked happily and scampered over to Pochita, his six eyes curiously studying this new companion with a name so similar to his own.

Pochita also tilted his head, studying Pochi. The two dogs sniffed each other's rear ends, circled around on the sand, and let out a series of rumbling growls.

Makoto looked on, speechless.

It was a pity that Bocchi hadn't been transported here this time. Otherwise, with 'Pochi', 'Pochita', and 'Bocchi' all together in Las Noches, they could have completed an unprecedented epic gathering of the Pocchi Clan.

"Senpai sure is collecting a lot of dogs lately."

Yu glanced at the Teddy Devil walking on the other side of the group and commented expressionlessly.

The Teddy Devil turned his head and glared at him, the bone armor on his genital area glinting under the moonlight. Yu looked away without changing his expression.

The group crossed the plaza and entered Las Noches's main hall.

On a stretch of open stone floor lay the barely alive Quincies, sprawled haphazardly.

These were all the Quincies that Makoto's group had stolen from the Technology Development Bureau's underground cells during the chaos.

These Quincy prisoners, who had been secretly held by the Soul Society for a hundred years, were now seeing the light of day again in such a pathetic state.

Yoruichi, who had also been brought along, saw the miserable condition of the Quincies, and her wheat-colored pupils contracted sharply.

As the Captain of the 2nd Division and the head of the Shihoin Clan, one of the Four Great Noble Families, she naturally knew that the Soul Society had been secretly using the survivors captured in the Quincy Extermination War a hundred years ago as experimental material.

But she hadn't expected these Hollows to have come all the way to the 12th Division, causing such a commotion, just to steal these Quincies.

'What did they want with so many Quincies?'

Beam dispelled the Water Prison Technique holding Yoruichi.

The water sphere splashed open with a crash. Yoruichi fell to the sand, soaked to the bone, her purple hair plastered to her cheeks. She spat out water and gasped for air, her cat-like golden eyes glaring fiercely at Makoto.

"Senpai, how should we deal with this woman?"

Yu turned to Makoto and asked.

Makoto stroked his chin, looking this spiky wildcat up and down.

After a few seconds, Makoto asked, "Hey~ wanna join us?"

"Are you kidding?!"

Yoruichi was furious, her golden eyes nearly spitting fire.

'These bastards had framed Urahara, thrown him into the underground prison, and now they had the nerve to ask me to betray the Soul Society and join Hueco Mundo?'

Makoto saw through Yoruichi's thoughts at a glance and said innocently, "Hey hey, don't go around accusing people. That childhood friend of yours has nothing to do with me. Someone else is behind it."

"Who?!"

Yoruichi blurted out.

Her voice was full of urgency.

"I'm not telling you."

A smug, punchable smile tugged at Makoto's lips.

Yoruichi was furious, her golden cat eyes glaring at Makoto.

But she also knew that even if she knew who the real culprit was, there was nothing she could do about it now.

Makoto's smile faded, his tone turning serious. "What can you do if you go back to the Soul Society? Keep being the 2nd Division's Captain? Do you think the Gotei 13 and Central 46 will still trust you?"

Hearing this, the anger on Yoruichi's face froze.

Without her intervention to break him out, Kisuke was almost certainly already locked away in the underground prison.

With just her own strength, trying to break someone out of there was pure fantasy.

And in the battle just now, when Yamamoto had used Tenteikura to order her to support the 2nd Division, she hadn't been there. If she went back, the Captain-Commander would definitely question her about it.

What would she say then?

That she was looking for a cloak to break someone out of prison?

A quick investigation of her movements would confirm her intention to commit jailbreak.

No matter how she calculated it, her position as 2nd Division's Captain and head of the Shihoin Clan was lost.

But staying here, she at least had a glimmer of hope.

The Shihoin Clan wouldn't be implicated because of the head's defection. Her younger brother, Yushiro could smoothly inherit the headship. The 2nd Division could be restored under Sui-Feng's leadership.

As long as she didn't go back, the situation wouldn't worsen.

"Urahara, I'm sorry..." Yoruichi lowered her gaze and muttered to herself.

Although this choice was extremely cruel to Kisuke, she truly had no other option.

Makoto glanced at this dark-skinned girl, a random thought popping into his mind...

'There were so many different abilities in the Soul Society World, was there really not a single mind-reading one?'

If there was a Dojutsu like the Sharingan or the Glare-Glare Fruit that could directly read memories, wouldn't the truth come to light?

'But then again, given the Seireitei's current state, the truth didn't matter anymore. The key was that someone had to take the blame.'

"Makoto, did you get what you wanted?"

Nel walked over, holding Pochita, tilting her head curiously.

Pochita turned over comfortably in her arms, showing his orange-yellow belly.

"Yeah."

Makoto smiled slightly, reaching into his robes and pulling out a small object.

The thing emitted an unusual Reiatsu Fluctuation under the moonlight.

Reishi slowly revolved around it in visible trajectories, forming a tiny vortex of Reishi.

It was the Hogyoku that Kisuke had developed using countless Hollow's souls.

In the original work, Kisuke had been about to use this Hogyoku to stop the Hollowfication of Shinji and the others when he urgently brought them back to the 12th Division from the Sixth District of the Rukongai.

And now, this seed of hope had been intercepted early by Makoto.