In Hueco Mundo, within a secluded mountain cave, Yekawa looked at the spirit king fragment in his hand, which was shining with pure white light.
"Eat it! Eat it!"
A voice kept echoing in Yekawa's mind, urging him to swallow the spirit king fragment directly.
"I won't eat it!"
Yekawa roared, "Soul Eater!"
Behind him, a dark golden vortex rose, aiming at the spirit king fragment.
Yekawa did not choose the conventional method of ingesting the spirit king fragment, but instead opted to completely absorb it and transform it into his own power using Soul Eater!
Initially, the fragment was stubborn, but under the terrifying suction of Yekawa's Soul Eater, it gradually transformed into a pure white spirit particle, slowly being swallowed by the vortex.
As soon as this special spirit particle entered his body, Yekawa felt as if he was enveloped by a warm current, with strands of white light continuously flowing around his body.
"What a strange feeling!"
This feeling was as if Yekawa had returned to his mother's womb, experiencing the wonder of being nurtured once again.
Yekawa noticed a peculiar change in himself.
"This is…"
He found that although the increase in his spiritual pressure was small, the Hollow hole on his chest and the mask on his face had actually shrunk.
"Could it be that because I craved to become an Arrancar, the spirit particles formed from the spirit king fragment subtly propelled my Arrancar transformation? And it's not the kind of forced Arrancar transformation using Hōgyoku, but a truly autonomous Arrancar transformation!"
He remembered that in the original work, Starrk's mask on his face and the Hollow hole on his chest were much smaller than those of the other Espada.
"Is the most perfect Arrancar one that completely conceals the Hollow hole and mask, becoming indistinguishable from a normal person?"
At this thought, Yekawa couldn't help but feel a surge of longing, beginning to anticipate how he would look after devouring enough spirit king fragments.
Furthermore, Yekawa had a premonition that with just three more spirit king fragments of the same size as before, he would definitely succeed in becoming an Arrancar!
...
Three days later, in Yuhua Town, Human World, a resignation letter appeared on the office desk of the Yuhua Welfare Institute.
Before leaving, Ito Makoto treated Little Ginjo, the crybaby, to another hamburger, and then returned to Soul Society.
Little Ginjo looked at Ito Makoto's Gigai lying on the ground of the unfinished building.
He felt that leaving Ito Makoto's 'corpse exposed in the wilderness' was not right.
So, in the wasteland behind the welfare institute, he found an empty plot of land and buried Ito Makoto's Gigai…
Ito Makoto, who witnessed this scene through his Centipede clone, twitched his mouth.
...
Thirteenth Division reception room.
"Ito Fourth Seat, you must have had a great time playing in the Human World for these three months!"
Facing Ito Makoto, who came for the handover, Ozawa Rensaburo showed an expression that said, 'I understand you.'
Ito Makoto could only respond with a helpless smile.
After completing the mission, Ito Makoto walked straight towards the Eleventh Division Barracks.
As he approached the Eleventh Division Barracks, a graceful figure stood by the wall, and upon seeing that it was Ito Makoto, she immediately strode forward.
"Ito… Sir, you're back."
"Squad Member Tamura, so it's you. Is something wrong?"
Seeing that the person was Tamura Yao, who was in the same batch as him, Ito Makoto looked at the tall, slender beauty with round-rimmed glasses and a tear mole at the corner of her eye, and thought to himself:
"I'm not trying to provoke you, so why do you always come knocking?"
"You know, I bear that man's name…"
At this thought, Ito Makoto looked at Tamura Yao's graceful figure, a wicked smile appearing on his lips.
"That… Ito Sir, I wanted to ask you… how to get a response from my Zanpakuto. You already successfully communicated with your Zanpakuto during your time at Spiritual Arts Academy!"
Tamura Yao already had a good impression of Ito Makoto, and after he saved her life on the night of the assessment, she became even more infatuated with him.
Every time she finished her squad duties, she would try to find an excuse to come to the Eleventh Division. Not long ago, she learned that Ito Makoto had actually taken on a mission to be stationed in the Human World, and she was sad for a long time. Now that she knew Ito Makoto was returning to the squad today after handing over his mission, she rushed to the Eleventh Division to intercept him.
"Squad Member Tamura, when it comes to communicating with your Zanpakuto, haste makes waste. Take your time…"
Upon hearing this, Tamura Yao's eyes immediately dimmed.
But the next second, Ito Makoto changed the subject:
"However, since I have already skillfully mastered Shikai, I can certainly offer you some guidance in certain areas!"
As soon as Ito Makoto finished speaking, Tamura Yao's face immediately flushed red.
Seeing this, Ito Makoto inwardly complained:
"Why are you blushing, you bubble tea kettle!"
After another round of pleasantries, Ito Makoto and Tamura Yao parted ways, and he continued on to the barracks.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he approached the barracks, he felt two familiar spiritual pressures colliding!
"This is…"
The moment he felt these two spiritual pressures, Ito Makoto rushed towards their source!
By the time Ito Makoto arrived at the Eleventh Division's Training Grounds, Ayasegawa Yumichika and Kusajishi Yachiru were both observing the battle from the edge of the Training Grounds.
"Yo, Little Ito, long time no see!"
"You're back, Makoto!"
The two greeted Ito Makoto the moment they saw him.
"Long time no see, Vice-Captain, and Ayasegawa Yumichika-senpai!"
Ito Makoto replied to them verbally, but his attention was entirely focused on the two combatants on the Training Grounds.
One person in the field wore an eyepatch over his right eye, was burly, and wielded a chipped Zanpakuto. It was the Eleventh Division Captain, Zaraki Kenpachi.
The other was a muscular bald man, none other than Madarame Ikkaku, the Eleventh Division's Third Seat, who had been in seclusion for many days.
At this moment, Madarame Ikkaku smiled, holding Hozukimaru, and was locked in combat with Zaraki Kenpachi. Both sides had many wounds of varying depths on their bodies, but it seemed Madarame Ikkaku's were much more severe!
"Hmph, Ikkaku, after all this time training, you've only gotten a tiny bit stronger! Your progress isn't even as great as Little Ito's!"
Zaraki Kenpachi held his sword with one hand, casually swinging it to bat away Hozukimaru, which had split into three sections and attacked from the side, then said nonchalantly.
"Heh, Captain, don't underestimate me. I'll give you a big surprise!"
Ikkaku replied with a smile.
Below the stage, Ito Makoto looked at Madarame Ikkaku's confident expression.
"Ikkaku-senpai is so confident, could it be…"
Ikkaku grinned and charged towards Zaraki Kenpachi, Hozukimaru in his hand once again transforming into a spear, thrusting towards Zaraki Kenpachi's chest!
Zaraki Kenpachi, seeing the fierce thrust, did not dodge but instead sneered, grasping the spearhead with his right hand at the opportune moment, then with his sword-wielding left hand, he directly brought down his blade, cutting Hozukimaru in two. Then he casually flung it away!
"Clang!"
The spearhead of Hozukimaru rolled to the ground.
"Hmph, is this all the progress you've made?"
Zaraki Kenpachi looked at Madarame Ikkaku with dissatisfaction, seemingly displeased with the combat power he displayed after a period of training.
However, facing Zaraki Kenpachi's dissatisfaction, Madarame Ikkaku still confidently picked up the broken Hozukimaru from the ground, then grinned at Zaraki Kenpachi:
"Heh, Captain, don't blink next!"
Madarame Ikkaku picked up the broken Hozukimaru from the ground, then roughly forced the two broken sections together.
"Bank…!"
"Wait, Ikkaku!"
Seeing this, Ayasegawa Yumichika, who was observing from the side, immediately spoke up to stop him.
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