In Hueco Mundo, in the Great Hollow Forest, Ronan, who had been meditating with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them.
He and Ito Makoto in the Soul Society were of one mind, so he was aware in real-time of what was happening in the Soul Society.
"If the clone can reach Five Points Reiatsu, then the main body's spiritual pressure is more than five times that of the clone. According to the Soul Society's spiritual pressure divisions, my current spiritual pressure seems to just touch the edge of Third Class Reiatsu."
In other words, Ronan's main body's total spiritual pressure seemed to have reached the threshold of a Squad Captain, but his offensive methods were weaker than an average Squad Captain.
In terms of overall combat power, Ronan's main body could be called a quasi-Squad Captain. But at this moment, he was merely a Gillian who had not yet become an Arrancar.
He had not yet reached the limit of a Hollow, and becoming an Arrancar was still too early.
However, improvements in techniques like Zanjutsu could lead to a short-term surge in his strength. After all, while other Adjuchas were still using claws and teeth, Ronan had already started playing with swords.
This was why he decided to let his clone join the Eleventh Division; what could hone one's Zanjutsu more than endless bloody battles?
...
"Roar!"
Looking at the Gillians roaring at the sky before him, Ronan merely nodded slightly. At this moment, his entire spiritual pressure was released.
His aura had already reached its peak. Although they were both Gillian-class, with Ronan's current spiritual pressure, even an Adjuchas was far inferior.
And the only reason these unintelligent Gillians could stare at his spiritual pressure without scattering and fleeing was that someone was controlling them from behind.
"You're not coming out, are you!"
Ronan simply waved his right hand, and a lightning whip, as thick as an adult's arm and about a hundred meters long, formed in his hand. He then swung it down fiercely, twisting it several times in the air, directly shredding the many Gillians.
Immediately, Soul Eater activated, absorbing all the remains of these Gillians. Just as Ronan was enjoying the refreshing sensation of spiritual pressure flowing into his body, his expression suddenly changed, as if he had sensed something.
"Found you!"
Ronan grinned savagely and rushed into the depths of the dense forest. Arriving at a certain spot, he directly held his sword and slashed down at the air.
"Splash!"
As a slight sensation of resistance passed through the blade, Ronan felt as if this slash had hit the surface of water. Immediately after, the calm space, like a water surface, began to ripple. At first, it was very slow, but then it became increasingly rapid.
Suddenly, a strange fish, only about a meter long, entirely dark blue, and covered in bone spikes, darted out from the water ripples.
"Thwack!"
Clearly, the one controlling the Gillian group earlier was this Adjuchas.
Its body was small, making it extremely agile. As soon as it appeared, it whipped Ronan with its tail. Although Ronan dodged with Sonido, he found that this strange fish had burrowed into another set of water ripples.
"Interesting!"
This strange fish's spiritual pressure was not strong, not even comparable to the half-horse Hollow Ronan used to create his clone, but its attack method was particularly intriguing.
"Whoosh!"
The water ripples reappeared behind Ronan. Just as the strange fish was about to rush out and open Ronan's back with its bone-spiked head, Ronan moved, sweeping the long blade behind him.
"Clang!"
A sound of impact rang out. Ronan, just as he was about to be ambushed, thwarted the attack at the moment it was about to succeed.
After several rounds of fighting with it, Ronan judged that this strange, fish-like Adjuchas probably couldn't hide behind the water ripples for long, which was why it had to come out and harass him occasionally.
"The interval between each attack is five seconds! And the location of each appearance can never be the same as the last."
After a period of calm analysis, Ronan had completely grasped the strange fish's attack rhythm. He simply stood in the center of the field, stopping all movements, responding to all changes with no change.
"Whoosh!"
Water ripples reappeared, above Ronan's head.
"Flash Lightning!"
"Crack!"
Without even lifting his head, after a soft exclamation, arcs of lightning erupted around him, stunning the strange fish that had just tried to attack.
Since he had mastered that it could only stay behind the water ripples for five seconds each time, Ronan only needed to time it correctly, releasing Flash Lightning around himself every five seconds. This way, no matter where it appeared around Ronan, it would be injured by the lightning!
Below, the battle between Ronan and this strange fish suddenly took a dramatic turn.
"Whoosh!"
"Crack!"
"Whoosh!"
"Crack!"
Like a game of whack-a-mole, as soon as the strange fish poked its head out, it was struck by Flash Lightning. After several such cycles, the strange fish was so electrocuted that it emitted a burnt smell.
Suddenly, the water ripples began to retreat far away. Clearly, this strange fish no longer intended to entangle with Ronan and planned to make a run for it.
"Want to leave? Not so easy!"
Ronan gave a strange laugh, and a lightning whip instantly appeared in his hand. Aiming at the right moment, he flicked it forward fiercely.
As a result, just as the strange fish was about to poke its head out, it was firmly bound by the lightning whip and pulled directly back.
Ronan didn't waste any words, immediately preparing to draw his sword and finish off this Adjuchas that had wasted a lot of his time.
"My King, spare me! Jiwa Barnes is willing to surrender, please don't kill me!"
A tender voice came from the strange fish's mouth, forming a huge contrast with the fish's rather ugly appearance.
"Oh, you can speak. Give me a reason not to kill you!"
Ronan held the lightning whip in his left hand and his sword in his right, looking with interest at the strange fish holding the sword before him.
Jiwa Barnes looked depressed at the two-meter-tall, pitch-black humanoid Hollow before him, muttering in his heart:
"How dare you, a dignified Vasto Lord, come here to bully me, an Adjuchas? If you're so capable, why don't you go to Las Noches and challenge Baraggan!"
Clearly, Jiwa Barnes also mistook Ronan for a Vasto Lord. If he were to know that the 'Vasto Lord' before him was actually just a Gillian, it would probably make his jaw drop.
While muttering in his heart, Jiwa Barnes's mouth was very honest:
"Great Vasto Lord. I know a gathering place for a group of Adjuchas. I can take you there; there are at least five or more Adjuchas, as long as you promise not to eat me."
"Hmm? Are you sure?"
Hearing Jiwa Barnes's words, Ronan was somewhat skeptical.
Because ever since he had advanced, the Adjuchas he encountered were pitifully few. Including Jiwa Barnes before him, there were only three.
Suddenly, five appeared, and Ronan naturally found it a bit hard to believe.
"Of course, my great Lord, how could the lowly Jiwa Barnes dare to deceive the powerful Vasto Lord?"
This strange fish lowered its posture considerably, clearly truly afraid that Ronan would eat him like sashimi if he disagreed.
"Alright, I'll tentatively believe you, but..."
Ronan put down his Asauchi, gathered spiritual pressure in his hand, and soon it transformed into a crackling ball of lightning.
Ronan roughly pried open Jiwa Barnes's mouth and directly stuffed the lightning ball inside.
This was a completely new application of his Flash Lightning, placing the highly compressed lightning into the target's body. As long as he wished, even from a hundred thousand li away, he could detonate this lightning ball at any time.
The lightning ball would directly explode Jiwa Barnes, tearing his guts apart.
After doing all this, he released the lightning whip's restraint and let Jiwa Barnes go.