In the night sky of the World of the Living, a slightly oversized rift split open. Six humanoid figures dressed in strange white outfits stepped out from within.
The one walking at the front had short sky-blue hair and an extremely arrogant expression. A round Hollow hole pierced his abdomen, and a white bone-like half-mask clung to his cheek.
Had Tsunayoshi been here, he would have recognized him at a glance. This was the Arrancar who survived all the way to the final arc, the Sexta Espada: Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. The five Arrancar behind him were his Fracción.
Just as in Las Noches, Grimmjow had gotten into an argument with Ulquiorra, and he had nothing but contempt for Ulquiorra's opinion.
That was why he had come to the World of the Living. He wanted to meet that troublesome Ichigo Kurosaki for himself, along with that Tsunayoshi Sawada who had dared to challenge Lord Aizen. Once he took those two down, he would return and kick that corpse-faced bastard who occupied a seat without doing anything straight out of the Fourth Espada's position.
"Grimmjow, how are we supposed to find those Shinigami?" one of the Fracción asked.
"Who cares? Release your Reiatsu. If that doesn't work, then kill everyone in the World of the Living who has Reiatsu!" Grimmjow's tone was reckless and arrogant, like a wild beast freshly released from its cage, looking down on every prey in the world.
Under Grimmjow's command, the six of them released a massive amount of Reiatsu at the same time. The sudden spiritual pressure bearing down on Karakura Town immediately affected ordinary people. Quite a few began having trouble breathing. If this continued for long, some people really would be crushed to death by the Reiatsu.
A crimson light came speeding in from the distance.
The red arrow shot straight toward Grimmjow's face. Grimmjow was just about to catch it with the Hierro on his palm when the arrow exploded.
The explosion interrupted the Arrancar's release of Reiatsu. Grimmjow's hand actually felt faintly scorched.
That feeling… it did not seem like a Shinigami's Reiatsu.
Ichigo soon appeared before Grimmjow and the others. Holding up his bow and ready to fire at any moment, he questioned them.
"Who are you? Why are you releasing such powerful Reiatsu in Karakura Town?"
Grimmjow flexed his fingers a few times. After only one exchange, he knew that Ichigo was no simple opponent. However, he did not intend to waste time on some guy with a bow.
"Hey. Do you know where that guy called Ichigo Kurosaki is?"
Seeing Grimmjow's arrogant look, Ichigo was a little stunned.
He did not recognize him, yet he was asking for him by name. No matter how he looked at it, this guy had come looking for trouble.
So Ichigo immediately raised his hand and sent a rain of light toward the Arrancar.
"This bastard…"
Ichigo's completely unreasonable opening attack made the Arrancar curse angrily. Aside from Grimmjow, the other Arrancar all drew their Zanpakutō to block. Even so, several of them were still grazed by the rain of light.
"Tch!"
Ichigo was somewhat dissatisfied with the result. He had not mastered either Vollständig or the power of a Schrift. In terms of arrow-based combat alone, he was probably still inferior to the bow formed from his Fullbring.
For Ichigo, his Quincy power was, for now, only an ultra-long-range attack method. Tonight happened to be his turn to patrol, which was why he had been the first to find trouble with Grimmjow.
"You're asking to die!"
The enraged Grimmjow raised his hand and fired a scarlet flash at Ichigo.
Ichigo neither dodged nor retreated. He faced Grimmjow's attack head-on and cut the Cero in half.
Dense Shinigami Reiatsu surged from Ichigo's body. After he gained Quincy powers, that profiteer Urahara had also sold him a portable Reishi-conversion device. Thus, the one who had cleaved through the Cero was now Shinigami Ichigo, clad in his Shihakushō and carrying Zangetsu over his shoulder.
"The Ichigo Kurosaki you're looking for is me!" Ichigo said, pointing Zangetsu at Grimmjow.
"Good."
A pleased grin appeared on Grimmjow's face. Ichigo Kurosaki did not look like some weakling who could be taken down easily.
That suited him perfectly.
"All of you, scatter. I'll take this Ichigo Kurosaki myself."
Grimmjow waved his hand and ordered his Fracción back. His fingers cracked audibly. He was already getting excited.
However, before the Fracción could move, another shower of blue light rained down over them.
This time, it was Uryū's rain of arrows.
The Arrancar cursed under their breath while blocking the arrows. Meanwhile, Uryū and the others had already arrived at Ichigo's side.
"You all right, Kurosaki?" Uryū asked, standing beside Ichigo with his bow raised.
"Enemies, Ichigo?" Tatsuki had already changed into her Fullbring combat outfit, her Kidō-like Reiatsu ready to wrap around her body at any moment.
Chad remained silent. Both of his arms had already changed color. Behind him were Isshin Kurosaki and Orihime Inoue, who had just arrived.
As a support fighter, Orihime did not stand in the air like the others. Instead, she hid in the streets and alleys below.
"Didn't expect to run into some bedtime entertainment," Isshin said easily, arms crossed.
"It likely won't take much time," a calm, emotionless voice sounded beside Isshin.
Even Ryūken had arrived.
It had to be said that Grimmjow's decision to provoke Karakura Town was unbelievably stupid. Attracting Ichigo and the others was one thing, but he had even drawn out these two powerful fathers.
"Everyone, the blue-haired one came looking for me!" Ichigo had only exchanged a few blows, so that was the only information he could share.
"One each, then. Let's finish this quickly. I still have to go back and coax my daughter to sleep."
Isshin picked his ear and casually made the decision. Masaki, with her lively personality, had originally wanted to come too, but Isshin had temporarily restrained her at home in the name of their daughter.
"No problem. Leave the blue-haired one to me. Bankai!"
Ichigo raised Tensa Zangetsu and charged at Grimmjow. The two instantly clashed.
"Huh? Looks like I'm not needed."
Yoruichi, who had arrived a step late, lazily stretched her back.
"The fastest in Soul Society, yet you still came late?" Isshin teased.
"It takes time to get out of the underground training area, all right?" Yoruichi snapped back irritably. From the moment she sensed the Arrancar's Reiatsu, she had already started rushing over. She had only been slightly delayed because of the extra distance.
"Enough. Kids, finish this early so we can all rest."
Isshin took the lead and attacked an Arrancar who looked like a small leader. With Isshin making the first move, the others also sprang into action, each choosing an opponent they found passable.
This time, the Fracción's enemies were not under any Reiatsu restriction. On top of that, Uryū and the others all possessed captain-class strength. The state of the battlefield was completely one-sided. There was no need to waste ink describing it. The defeat of the Fracción was only a matter of time.
The only battle on the field worth watching was Ichigo versus Grimmjow.
After exchanging blows with Ichigo, Grimmjow realized that he had been far too arrogant. This reckless action could very well end with all of them being wiped out.
After knocking aside one of Ichigo's attacks, Grimmjow immediately drew his blade and released his Zanpakutō.
"Grind, Pantera!"
Grimmjow's entire body was covered in tight white armor. His form transformed into that of a white panther. His sky-blue hair fell to his waist, and panther-like fangs, claws, and a long tail appeared on his body.
In response to Grimmjow's power, Ichigo put on his horned Hollow Mask. Black-red Reiatsu and blue Reiatsu instantly became the dominant colors of the sky.
Seeing that she had nothing to do, Yoruichi simply crouched beside Orihime, pulled out her phone, and began livestreaming the battle in the World of the Living to Kisuke Urahara.
Yasutora Sado failed to hold back his strength for a moment. While leaving a massive devil-shaped imprint on the concrete ground, he directly blasted his opponent to pieces.
As for Uryū Ishida, just as his opponent smugly drove an attack into his heart, Uryū activated the power of The Antithesis, reflecting all the damage from his own body back onto the Arrancar. He won without shedding a drop of blood.
Tatsuki, who had activated Shunkō, fought with much more elegance. Considering that the enemy might possess useful information, she did not kill him outright.
Instead, she used Shunkō's speed to cripple all four of the Arrancar's limbs, leaving only a barely breathing Hollow bastard lying on the ground.
Compared to Tatsuki's elegance, Ryūken was elegance itself. With one hand in his pocket, every Heilig Pfeil he fired struck the crucial points where the Arrancar circulated his Reiatsu.
As Ryūken Ishida's opponent, that Fracción could not even use his Resurrección. He was forcibly pinned to the ground by Ryūken.
Ryūken had already precisely integrated his Schrift into his everyday combat. His opponent was destined to suffer a frustrating defeat.
The battle on Isshin Kurosaki's side was the most intense one aside from Ichigo's. That was because his opponent was Arrancar No. 11, Shawlong Koufang. His Resurrección, Tijereta, gave him insect-like armor, while his hands and braid transformed into scissor-like blades.
Shawlong, who had nearly reached the level of the Espada, did indeed cause Isshin some trouble. However, during their tenth exchange, he was still swallowed by the fireworks Kidō that Isshin unleashed after quickly activating his Bankai.
The firework shell that suddenly appeared in Shawlong's arms left him no chance to escape. With the blooming of a brilliant flower, his life was taken.
Seeing his subordinates either dead or crippled one after another, Grimmjow's anger reached its peak. His hands tore out two huge blue trails of light, and he poured all his Reiatsu into this attack.
Desgarrón.
Grimmjow's all-or-nothing strike.
Ichigo responded seriously. However, the only Zanjutsu technique he knew was still that one move.
Getsuga Tenshō.
A black-red crescent moon mixed with Shinigami and Hollow power instantly devoured the blue grid of Desgarrón. The remaining force chased straight after Grimmjow.
Left with no choice, Grimmjow spat a mouthful of blood onto his hand. The blood mixed with his Reiatsu and fired out together. Blue-green light tore through the black-red Reiatsu.
This was Gran Rey Cero.
Just as Grimmjow thought he could finally catch his breath, a pillar of black light threaded with blue patterns blasted through his Gran Rey Cero from the opposite direction.
With no follow-up move left, Grimmjow could only shift his body slightly in a hurry. The terrifying blue-black pillar of light swallowed the left half of his body.
Only after paying the price of an arm and a leg did Grimmjow barely manage to see that the pillar of light was actually an arrow.
No matter how unwilling Grimmjow was to believe it, after losing an arm and a leg, he was completely no match for Ichigo. Only now did he finally see clearly that his opponent, Ichigo Kurosaki, had changed outfits at some point.
Ichigo held a black bow in his left hand, while blue blood-like patterns gradually faded from his right hand. During his training, he had not had time to deeply study the main abilities of a Quincy. Instead, he had fused the power of Blut Arterie with his Fullbring.
The blue patterns covering that massive black arrow were the manifestation of Blut Arterie's power. The arrow enhanced by Blut Arterie was more than ten times thicker, and its power had likewise increased tremendously.
During the clash with Desgarrón, Ichigo had keenly noticed Grimmjow's deep, hidden expression. Realizing that Grimmjow still had another move in reserve, he decisively switched to the Fullbring form with the strongest long-range attack.
That was how the Blut Arterie-enhanced arrow had broken through Gran Rey Cero.
Author's Note:
I believe that when Ichigo first met Grimmjow in the original story, his true combat strength was not inferior to Grimmjow's. At that time, however, Ichigo was too afraid of the power of his Hollow Mask, which prevented him from bringing out his real strength.
Ichigo's combat power is highly dependent on his emotions. Ichigo when he wants to fight and Ichigo when he does not want to fight are completely different.
The current Ichigo has accepted the existence of White Ichigo, so dealing with Grimmjow is not much of a problem for him. It cannot even really be considered difficult.
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