Chapter 25: Finally Time to Go! Goodbye, Ichigo!

Wealth, fame, power…Gold Roger, the king of the pirates obtained this and everything else the world had to offer. And his dying words drove countless souls to the seas.

"You want my treasure? You can have it! I left everything I've gathered together in one place! Now you just have to find it!"

These words lured men into the Grand Line in pursuit of dreams greater than they've ever dared to imagine. This is the time known as 'The Great Pirate Era'.

The sound of wood against wood was heard in a dark room as a light shined down on the criminal below. "We will pass judgment!" one of the judges shouted. "Former squad five captain, Sosuke Aizen! We sentenced you to the lower level of underground prison eight, Muken, where you will remain for eighteen thousand eight hundred years!"

Aizen was sitting on a chair with black restraints wrapped over his body expect his right eye and mouth. A smirk appeared on his face when he heard his sentence. "Oh really?" he asked. "Interesting that the likes of you passing judgment on me. It strikes me as a bit comical."

"Incredible! You believe you can sit there and push your luck just because you're immortal!" another judge shouted.

"We don't have to listen to this!" a third judge shouted. "Restrain his mouth and eyes!"

"The years of your sentence has increased to twenty thousand!" The judge that sentenced Aizen shouted in anger. Aizen's eyes tightened as they covered his other eye, leaving him to see nothing but darkness.

"You idiots!" The squad one barracks shook at Head Captain Yamamoto's booming voice. In front the head captain stood Kenpachi with an annoyed look on his face, Byakuya with his eyes closed, not caring about the Head Captain's scolding and Shunsui with an idiotic look on his face.

"Each of you is telling that you lost your captain's coat!?" Yamamoto exclaimed. "Damaging is one thing but losing it is outrageous! How could the three of you just looking so nonchalant about it!?"

"Really Head Captain, you make too much of the situation." Byakuya said. "In the end, they were just cheap coats. We will pay for them to be replaced."

"You think that's going to resolve the situation!?" Yamamoto knocked his cane on the wooden floor in anger. "That's not even the primary thing I'm concern about here! And by the way, for your information you know-it-all, those coat were anything but cheap! Battles are not just about winning! What do you think a Captain's coat is anyway!?"

"A royal pain." Kenpachi answered.

"A cheap garment." Byakuya said.

"A fashion statement?" Shunsui questioned.

Those answers struck a nerve as the head captain yelled, "You all are nothing but a bunch of ignorant buffoons!"

From the outside, Jushiro watched on with Miyako and Sentaro as the head captains scolded the other captains.

"The head captain seems to be in good spirits." Sentaro said.

"You're right." Jushiro said. "It's been ten day since he lost left arm in battle. I was worried that he would see himself as crippled and lose his spiritual vitality. But his strength seems to be back, so it's a relief. There's no Soul Reaper who would be able to take his place."

Ichigo's eyes opened immediately and saw Rukia, Orihime, Chad, and Uryu looking down on him.

"Ichigo!" Orihime said happily.

Ichigo looked around, seeing that the surrounds are different than before. "Where am I?" he asked.

"We've brought you to my house." Rukia said. Ichigo sat up and looked at his friends, noticing that their injuries are gone.

"What happened to your injuries?" Ichigo asked.

"We all were healed a long time ago." Uryu said, pushing his glasses.

"What are you talking about?" Ichigo asked confused.

"You've been unconscious for the pass ten days, Ichigo." Rukia said.

"You've got to be kidding." Ichigo said. Then he touched his chest. "My powers…are they gone?"

"Don't worry, they haven't faded away yet." Rukia answered.

"So you already know?"

"Yes." Rukia nodded. "Kisuke told us everything."

"I see."

"Are you alright, Ichigo?" Orihime asked worried.

"It was very strange." Rukia said. "At the moment when everyone was reunited, you collapsed and we had no idea what happened."

(Flashback)

As Ichigo took a step towards Orihime, he slowly fell to the ground with wide and pained filled eyes.

"Ichigo!" Everyone shouted as they ran to Ichigo's aid.

"Ichigo, are you ok?!" Orihime asked worried.

"Ichigo, can you talk?!" Renji exclaimed. "Open your talk!" Chopper quickly grabbed his medical supplies, doing whatever he could to get Ichigo to wake up.

"Mr. Urahara, did you know what happened to Ichigo?" Robin asked Kisuke.

"If you do know, please tell us." Rukia said. "Is he going to be alright?" Kisuke closed his eyes as the town next to him started to glow as it returns to the World of the Living.

(End of Flashback)

"According to what Kisuke said, there are several stages you can expect to go through in the course of losing your spirit energy."

Ichigo looked at Rukia. "What did he tell you?"

"Everything." Rukia said. "First you'll lose consciousness and the time that your body spent inside the precise world immediately begins to flow in reverse. Did you notice that your hair is shorter? Your height is returned to what it used to be and your spirit energy is stable now. And of course, you still retain your Soul Reaper powers. Eventually however, it will move to the next stage."

(Flashback)

"…and when that happens, there will be no question that he will black out once more." Kisuke said. "This time, it will be accompanied by intense pain. When he regains consciousness, he would lose all of his Soul Reaper powers. That could next week, next month, or a year of now. Even I didn't know how long his current state of instability will continue."

(End of Flashback)

Ichigo looked out of the shoji screen doors, taking the new information about his Soul Reaper power. He gave his friends a smile and said, "Oh well…when that time comes, it comes."

"Ichigo, are you…" Orihime asked.

"Don't worry, I'll be ok Orihime." Ichigo said. "More importantly, I'm glad that all of you are ok."

"Wait a minute…"

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Uryu exclaimed. "How can you act like it's nothing?! You're about to lose your spirit energy, you know!"

"Come on, Uryu." Chad said, trying to calm Uryu down.

"I got into this knowing all of the consequences." Ichigo said with a smile. "I have no regret about what I did."

Rukia smiled and said, "Ok then…"

"Anyway now that we're all healed up, I guess there's no reason for us to hang around here, right?" Ichigo said, standing up. He opened the shoji doors. "We should head on back to Karakura Town. Everyone there is probably waiting for us."

At the senkaimon, Ichigo and his friends gathered around to say good-bye to the Straw Hats.

"Are you guys sure that you don't want to join my crew?" Luffy asked, trying to convince them to join. "It'll be fun."

"We appreciate the offer, Luffy." Rukia said. "But I'm afraid we have to refuse."

"It's ok." Luffy said.

"Hey, Luffy…" Ichigo said, getting the captain's attention. "Thanks for helping me out against Aizen. I couldn't defeat without your help."

Luffy gave Ichigo one of his trademark grin and said, "It's no problem. After all, what are friends for?" Ichigo smiled and nodded at what Luffy said. "Hey Ichigo! Next time we see each other, we should fight to see which one of us is stronger."

"You're on…"

The end…for now

There you have it. I've enjoyed bring you the Strawhats vs Arrancars series. So I've decide to change the format of "One Piece: The Lost Episode - Karakura Town" and make it a spin-off from this series. The change will take effect December 7th. I hope you guys will enjoy it. Thanks for reading Strawhats vs. Arrancars.