At the entrance to the Military Police building, Aizen felt ten thousand sentences jammed in his chest, yet he couldn't spit out a single one.
It was suffocating.
Before coming to the Wandenreich, he had wondered whether the two "Cole"s might be the same person.
But after thinking it through, he felt it wasn't very likely.
After all—Cole had caused such a massive stir in Soul Society. No matter what, the Wandenreich should've known who he was, right?
And yet…
They really didn't know.
This Cole had actually mixed his way into the Wandenreich and climbed all the way to the position of Military Police Corps Commander.
He'd even nearly usurped Yhwach's authority.
Are you Quincy blind or what?!
On the throne, Cole curled his lips in interest as he looked at Aizen and asked with a smile:
"Aizen, what do you think of Yhwach?"
Aizen didn't act like an outsider at all. He walked into the hall, casually found a seat, and sat down.
Smiling, he said:
"Strong, but also stupid. And the latter is usually worse than the former—so I don't think much of him."
Cole nodded in deep agreement.
"You could've just said he's arrogant."
Aizen smiled.
"Arrogance is simply another expression of pride, and pride is just stupidity at a different level—so what I said wasn't wrong."
Back when he targeted Seireitei, even after making thorough preparations, he still acted with extreme caution.
Because he feared everything collapsing at the last moment.
In the end, he still failed—but it wasn't because he was careless or arrogant.
It was simply fate.
Who could've predicted a monster like Cole would appear?
Watching those two chat like old friends, Yoruichi and the others couldn't take it anymore.
Yoruichi stormed out, furious, glaring straight at Aizen.
"Aizen! What the hell are you doing here?! Are you trying to team up with Yhwach against Soul Society?! I'm telling you"
"Yoruichi-san?!"
"And Captain Rukia, Captain Soi fong, Captain Retsu… and this is…"
Aizen cut her off mid-sentence, looking at them with clear surprise.
He quickly regained himself, shook his head, and said:
"The Quincy's arrogance has exceeded even my imagination again. Who would've thought the Wandenreich was hiding this many Shinigami?"
If his Las Noches had let five Shinigami sneak in and hide inside…
He felt like he might actually kill himself on the spot.
Because that was the most basic, lowest-level mistake imaginable.
Cole couldn't help but laugh—he completely agreed.
Because he also couldn't understand why, after all this time, the Quincy side still hadn't realized his identity.
Sure, he had been obstructing them…
But if they truly wanted to investigate, they absolutely could've found out.
They simply didn't.
And the only reason was their arrogance—they didn't even take Seireitei seriously.
As for the "Five Special War Powers" in the original story, Cole finally understood it now.
It wasn't the Quincy intelligence network's achievement at all.
It was simply because Yhwach saw the future and marked them.
Yoruichi and the others were seething.
But with Cole stopping them, all they could do was glare angrily at Aizen.
Cole then looked back to Aizen and smiled.
"Aizen, if you think Yhwach is that arrogant, then why did you come to the Wandenreich anyway?"
Aizen pushed up his glasses and answered calmly:
"I wasn't planning to come. But I heard your name… and it piqued my interest."
"Me?"
Cole raised an eyebrow slightly.
Aizen nodded.
"What I'm curious about is this—why haven't you dealt with the Wandenreich yet?"
As he spoke, he glanced at the pure-white but extravagantly luxurious Military Police building and continued in a flat tone:
"In my view, with your strength, you could bulldoze the Wandenreich. The fact you haven't means there's a more important reason."
Aizen had a very clear sense of his own position.
With his strength, defeating Yhwach—who gave him an extreme sense of danger—would be very difficult.
But Cole?
Cole absolutely had that ability.
Yet he would rather play house here than make a move on Yhwach.
That meant there had to be another factor.
And that was exactly why Aizen came—he wanted to know what could make Cole tolerate the Wandenreich openly declaring war.
Hearing this, Yoruichi and the others instinctively swallowed.
They stared at Aizen with even greater wariness.
They hadn't expected that with nothing but a name, Aizen could infer this much.
Truly…
Aizen, huh.
If Cole answered that question, he'd have to explain the Soul King's condition, the artificial Soul King, and everything else.
And that might lead to an even worse situation.
Because in their eyes, Aizen's danger was no less than Yhwach's.
So their gazes all turned toward Cole, waiting to see what he would do.
Cole, however, clapped lightly with a look of admiration.
"As expected of you, Aizen. A freak who dumped almost all his stat points into intelligence—honestly the most perfect villain."
If Aizen was a "mechanics-type monster," then Yhwach was a "numbers-type monster"—and aside from numbers, he had nothing.
If they had equal strength, Aizen could sell Yhwach out and Yhwach would probably help count the money afterward.
Aizen merely smiled faintly.
Cole thought for a moment, then asked:
"How much do you know about the Soul King's state?"
Aizen frowned.
"The Soul King's state? What do you mean?"
Even as he spoke, an instinctive sense of danger rose in his heart.
If the Soul King's condition were fine, Cole wouldn't be asking this.
Which meant…
The Soul King had a problem.
Cole shook his head.
"Urahara already knew the Soul King's condition a hundred years ago. And you still don't know the truth of the Soul King, yet you dared talk about ascending the throne?"
Aizen's face darkened.
If there was anyone in the world he hated the most…
It was Kisuke Urahara—that bastard.
He always knew things, but always hid them.
And he always wore that "everything is under control" expression.
Just looking at him made Aizen angry.
If he'd told Aizen the truth earlier, Aizen wouldn't have needed to storm the Royal Palace
No.
Even if he had told him, Aizen wouldn't have believed it without seeing it for himself.
Could it be…
Urahara…
You even anticipated that?
Aizen's expression darkened further. He didn't want to admit that his mind was inferior to Urahara's.
At the same time
In the Human World, Karakura Town.
Inside Urahara's shop, Urahara suddenly sneezed, then looked around with a strange expression.
"What… why again?"
He remembered sneezing a lot last time too, and later confirmed it was because Cole had been slandering him all over Soul Society.
Could it be the same this time?
Watching Aizen's face constantly shift, Cole wore a weird expression.
He had absolutely no idea what Aizen was thinking.
Still, he laughed inwardly.
Aizen was like this, and so was Mayuri—those two seemed to go feral the moment they heard Urahara's name.
Had it become a conditioned stress reaction?
After that little tease, Cole's expression turned serious, and he explained the Soul King's condition to Aizen in detail.
During the explanation, Yoruichi tried giving Cole meaningful looks…
But Cole ignored her completely.
After hearing everything, Aizen slowly nodded, a trace of heaviness appearing beneath his glasses.
"So that's how it is…"
He finally understood why Cole hadn't dealt with Yhwach.
So Cole was raising a gu.
He planned to fatten Yhwach up, then turn him into a new linchpin of the Three Realms—like the current Soul King.
In that case, he truly couldn't act early.
But Aizen quickly grasped the key point and said in a deep voice:
"That means Yhwach must seize the Soul King's power. Only then can you make a move against him completely."
"Correct."
Cole snapped his fingers.
Talking with smart people really was effortless.
Aizen knitted his brows.
"Seizing the Soul King's power… that means he'll become a new Soul King."
"But the Soul King's power isn't something you can just control instantly. He'll need time to adapt."
"In other words—if you want to eliminate Yhwach, you must strike after he takes the Soul King's power, but before he fully masters it."
Even Aizen himself felt how harsh that timing was.
Too early wouldn't work.
Too late wouldn't work.
It had to be that exact moment.
If you missed it, then you wouldn't be facing Yhwach anymore…
You'd be facing a brand-new Soul King.
Even with Aizen's current strength, he had no interest in challenging the Soul King in a complete state.
That was a godlike existence—one who created the Three Realms and maintained them for endless ages.
Calling it "power" was almost insulting.
It was an existence of omnipotence.
Aizen looked at Cole.
"So you already have a plan, then?"
Cole nodded.
"More or less. After he takes the Soul King's power, I'll just use absolute strength and kill him."
Aizen's mouth twitched—rarely.
He truly couldn't understand how, with his intelligence, he had lost to this brute.
This guy's brain was only slightly better than Ichigo's…
Aizen exhaled slowly.
"Your opponent will be an existence with the Soul King's power. Do you think raw combat strength alone can crush that so-called Soul King?"
"More or less."
Cole didn't say much more.
Because he also didn't know exactly what level he'd reach after absorbing the Wandenreich's spiritual power.
But thinking about it, it should be enough to match that state of Yhwach—especially since he'd already weakened him.
Aizen shook his head again.
"What a foolish idea. When facing the Soul King—even a half-finished Soul King—you must be ten thousand times more cautious."
With that, he stood up, preparing to leave.
The longer he stayed here, the more suspicious Yhwach would become.
As for killing Yhwach… he needed to calculate it carefully.
He couldn't place all his hopes on a reckless brute like Cole.
Just then, Aizen suddenly showed a hint of surprise and looked toward a white-robed figure walking in.
"Ishida Ryuken?!"
(End of Chapter)
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