...
(Aizen)
-A few moment earlier-
"Nel." I stated calmly. "The story follows Luffy's perspective yes?" I questioned, earning a rapid nod. "It's Luffy's dream to become pirate king while Ace doesn't want the title in the first place, yes?" Nel made to respond only to stop at my raised finger.
"Answer the question."
Rolling her eyes, and failing to hide the fact, she nodded her head again. The espada idly turning the rest of her body to face me. The video screen showcasing said anime continuing on in the background.
"Ok-" I started, about to bring up my third point before Nel evidently ran out of patience, having waited zero seconds, a single finger raised towards me.
"It follows Luffy because it's like a biography! You can't write your own one you know!"
I twitched, barely holding in the urge to blink. The female espada raised a second finger.
"And everyone knows the best leaders are the ones that don't want to lead!" Nel gave me triumphant grin, her arms crossed, her nose stuck up the slightest.
"...A pirate king doesn't lead anyone. It's not a political rank. They're still criminals." I deadpanned. Nel blinking bemusedly as she uncrossed her arms. A figurative lightbulb going through her head, one hand palming the other.
"Like us!"
"Ah... Well-"
"And the hollow king leads us! So the pirate king leads the pirates!" She recrossed her arms, glee practically pouring out of her expression. "Ace is like Ulquiorra! He doesn't want to lead either." Nel nodded firmly.
Poor Ulquiorra...
"... So by that logic, does that make Josh Groban a terrible leader for wanting it?" I ignored the rather obvious pitfall.
Nel's expression straightened up, her cross-legged form loosening up the slightest.
"I guess..."
"So Josh Groban's the Luffy of all hollows?"
Nel blinked, her eyebrows narrowing the slightest, before pouting towards me. "...You're going to get me in trouble." She complained, uncrossing her arms before turning her gaze away from me back towards the screen.
I couldn't help but stare, my retort rapidly deteriorating as I instead took in the utterly strange situation I'd found myself in. Nel's expression rapidly turning to joy as she took in Ace's 'appearance.' The shackles evidently a non-problem for the espada. The episode recap going through Sengoku's speech once again.
Idly looking around, I found my thoughts drifting towards the sheer level of advancement Huaco Mundo had to offer. No doubt decades ahead of the other realms. The surreal thought, that what should've been considered hell was considerably further ahead than the rest, lingering.
There was something distinctly wrong about that picture, yet figuring that out was practically a lost caus-
I am an idiot.
Agreed.
Not even going to ask?
Aizen?
The silence, in hindsight, said quite a bit.
"Nel." I, focused back on the hollow, called out, earning a wary look in return- The expression almost stopping me entirely. Almost. The realisation that Nel was a potential treasure trove of information the only thing to keep me going.
Oddly enough, I was somewhat surprised Aizen hadn't shown any interest himself.
"Yes?" She questioned.
"What do you know of this wo-"
"I know everything about this world's history!" Nel suddenly exclaimed out loud, pure joy emanating out of nowhere.
I blinked, one eyebrow raised, my earlier expression gone. Her reaction admittedly taking me back.
"Uhh. Grantz made everyone do what they hated the most learn something for one of his birthdays-"
Oi...
How long do birthdays last here?
"That was before I realised how much fun the human world was!" And yet, to my surprise, the moment Nel finished. A geniune look of fear took over her expression-
Shit. Right, not actually canon.
"Right..." I shifted my gaze the slightest, turning towards the nearest, blatant, camera watching us. Oi Aizen can you put- stupid question, really.
Indeed. Two for two in the same hour? I am impressed.
Ignoring that.
"How much do you know about the time before the soul k-" I blinked, my peripheral picking up the screen in the background. Watching as it panned to Doflamingo.
"-ing..."
I blinked again as I watched Doflamingo promptly go off-canon, my words lost in my throat as I turned my gaze towards the screen fully. Nel's bemused expression clearing up as she and I watched One Piece's Heavenly Demon break Fire-fist Ace out of his bindings.
He's not supposed to do that... Time seemed to slow it's endless stretch, the thought overtaking everything, my visual blurring the slightest.
"Aizen?" Nel's voice echoed out, ignored.
I blinked again the lingering thought ever-present as I slowly straightened myself up. My calls towards the body's real owner ignored.
A low sound escaped my mouth, my mind barely registering it as a snort. One hand on my face. Nel's continous calls ignored, her voice washing over me. The snort slowly escalated into a low chuckle, my head shaking.
I'd known I'd screwed canon to hell and back, on the first day no less.
I'd used that as an excuse to... For lack of a better term, take a backseat.
If only to avoid making a bigger mess of things.
"Fuck Dressrosa," Doflamingo's voice echoed through the screen, completely overtaking Nel's worried voice.
So much for that.
"Aizen!" Nel exclaimed, her hands finally registering on my shoulders. The hollow's worried gaze admittedly endearing. The sight driving another point home.
Despite how utterly wrong the world was... I found myself dreading the thought of losing it.
Because honestly where else would I ever get the chance to watch Doflamingo utterly fucking lose it with possibly the greatest (only) Nel incarnation I've ever seen?
"It's funny..." The words rolled out of my mouth, Aizen's reiatsu filling every cell in my body. Nel's worried expression softening the slightest at the sight.
And more importantly, how do I make sure said world stays that way.
"I never expected it to come from One Piece going AU..."
"Expected what?" Nel questioned, bemused. The words only earning a wistful look from me. The urge to tell the espada what I was about do dying down. Her connection to Ulquiorra could only do so much. I certainly didn't need to give Josh Groban any more of a reason.
The answer was admittedly rather obvious.
"Nothing you need to concern yourself with," Were admittedly the wrong words to use, given the sheer panic that took over her face.
I needed to take over the world. Before any of the other idiots accidentally destroyed it.
There are moments were your thought patterns simply astound me.
"Nel," I ignored Aizen's words, though I could feel the veil covering me enhance itself. The, presumably, smug captain predicting my need rather easily.
"...Yes?"
The first step to world domination for the greater good (of Animefan!Nel), of course, is further cementing- nay making certain that the next person to accuse Aizen Sosuke of anything was lynched.
By Ukitake's barracks in particular.
"You mentioned one of Groban's laws... Any shinigami deaths need his approval?"
The hollow, taken back at the question, could only nod. "Your souls can't transfer... They leave a... scar on the world And Soul Society wouldn't ignore that."
I nodded.
"Why?" Nel questioned. "I am fairly certain no shinigami has ever died in Huaco Mundo..." She blinked, confused at her own statement. "Any wanderers usually get taken over by one of the +Espada..." She scrunched her expression, the information just as surprising to her.
Evidently, Nel's other mental voices/souls were just as friendly. I couldn't help my grin from showing itself. And honestly at this point I wasn't sure what it was directed towards-
"It let's us, well the ones that bother to learn anyway, use your Kido. So it's a bit of a waste too."
"...Of course it does." The words came out almost instinctively, a deadpan look filling up my face. Still the, unnecessary in my honest opinion, buff aside, that worked rather well with what I had in mind.
If Doflamingo could somehow be inexplicably convinced to pull the rug from under his own feet and save Ace of all people, with all the bullshit that entailed, then this should frankly be a walk in the park.
I still don't see how this helps you. Just because they'd rather not kill you, does not mean they won't.
Which, admittedly is true. Though given I wasn't even thinking about my chance of survival, doesn't mean much.
What exactly are you planning? How do you hope to gain Soul Soc-
Two words, Aizen. Just two.
I grinned, reiatsu flowing through me as I made to flash step.
Kaien Shiba.
...
...
Looking back on what I've managed to live through... From accidentally labelling myself a time-traveller to accidentally rewriting Hueco Mundo's reality. It was a wonder that I could still somehow manage to outdo myself.
But in all honesty, I am putting this whole thing on Groban.
Because of all the dumbest ideas he could've come up, the fact it's taken me this long to realise of course ignored, he decided to put my cell in Grantz' Inner realm-
I raised Kyoka Suigetsu, the blade humming with power as I locked gazes with the nearby espada.
"-friendly fire," Grantz finished his reasoning. Aaroniero's pained grunts disappearing, the espada raising himself to his full height. The casing surrounding his head dwarfing me. His gaze locked onto me, even if his killing intent was directed elsewhere.
Towards the side, I idly noted two cracks in space opening up. Josh Groban, followed by Harribel quickly jumping through them.
Ulquiorra, Grantz behind him, stood in front of the adjacent wall. His gaze idly swapping between me and the two retreating Espada-
"+Espada's nine to six-" I blinked, surprised at the sudden echo, Groban's voice sounding through from every angle in the room. The words however put the surrounding Espada on alert, all of them readying themselves into a stance. "-give him a reason."
Well. That certainly didn't take long.
"Good luck." Grantz deadpanned, idly putting a hand on a relieved Ulquiorra. The two disapearing through another crack in space.
Taking a single step forward, my reiatsu enhanced foot leaving a crack on the table in the process. The four hollows around me circled the table. The walls around us distorting as Grantz started expanding the room.
"Well then-" I tensed, the hilt of Kyoka Suigetsu rapidly heating up, immediately sheathing the blade in one move. The reiatsu coursing through me increasing in volume, my own surprise at the lack of any fatigue from the action ignored.
I may not have been the best with the spiritual energy, but I could atleast tell if I was losing any. And right now I certainly wasn't.
Not that I was going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
I fixed an idle look on each hollow before me, their expressions wary.
"Who wants to go first?" Was apparently the right thing to say. And while I certainly believed in fate.
My luck was evidently outrageous. Given the hollow that rose to the challenge was none other then-
Aaroniero snorted, the hollow's metal casing whirling to life. "Stay out of this, he's mine," The espada warned, Nnoitra twitching at the command, the only thing to stop him from reacting been Grimmjow's blue-clad hand.
"Just as well, I'll be the last." Aaroniero took a few steps towards me, a zanpakuto flaring to life into his left hand. His right hidden behind his humanoid form-
My eyes widened the slightest as I felt a set of invisible bindings wrap themselves around me, stopping me from moving. Focusing on the espada, I watched as he stopped inches away from the table itself. His sword arm idly swinging, his hidden hand coming out from behind. A bright glow emanating out of it.
"Didn't see that coming... Did you?" Aaroniero rasped, his horrid defilement of a chuckle grating on my ears. My gaze travelled down towards the Espada's cloaked feet. Purple reiatsu pouring out from underneath- Purple sludge? rapidly building up-
I watched, the urge to throw up rapidly making itself known, as Aaroniero's resurrected form came into existence before me. Large purple tendrils formed out of the sludge-like reiatsu, Aaroniero's humanoid form slowly rising into the air as the rest of his body made itself known. Two large red eyes on a massive squid-like face. The set of giant yellow teeth on said squid skin not helping my stomach whatsoever. Ontop of the zeppelin sized purple hollow, was Kaien Shiba's starved form. His eyes closed, arms dangled useless by his side.
Hmm, he kind of looks like Gaara, pre-physical therapy, now that I think about it...
I watched, reiatsu enhancing my sight, as the hollow's form started sucking in reiatsu from the air. "Do you see the body at the top, shinigami!?" Blob-san's yellow infested mouth remarked. His spit admittedly causing me to close my eyes for a second.
Aaroniero started laughing, ignoring my lack of an answer entirely.
I watched, almost disinterested, as a few of the purple tendrils, closest to the ground, reached out towards me. My body unresponsive due to the binding still in effect. The tendrils latching onto the sandals on my feet-
"It belonged to one of your own!" Aaroniero's voice once again filled the room.
"And soon enough, you'll join him too!" Good. Kind of counting on that.
I blinked, my smile unmoving as I calmly raised my hand into a single gesture. Aaroniero's tendrils rapidly increasing their pace, the espada's gleeful expression cracking the slightest. The tendrils, it seemed, were meant to leech one's reiatsu. And unlike my earlier assumption of having a never-ending supply of reiatsu, I could actually feel it working.
Which given I wasn't exactly trying to stop him, wasn't much of a surprise. And with that thought in mind, I locked gazes with Aaroniero's giant red eyes and replied.
"I know." I poured into the espada, focusing particularly on the unmoving body, as much reiatsu as I could.
I held in the urge to wince, Aaroniero's smug expression having melted down. The espada either surprised or confused at the fact I wasn't fighting back.
Still, it didn't take long before I felt my reiatsu itself empty out, Aaroniero's voice once again growing into another chuckle.
"Did you really think that would work!? You really think you're the first to try subverting my control!?" Aaroniero exclaimed, his glee returning in full force.
I, on the other hand, simply sighed. Shaking my head in the process before simply reaching down and unsheathing Kyoka Suigetsu. The espada's binding long disabled behind the scenes. Aaroniero's tendrils, currently wrapped, rather snugly at that, just below my knees. The hollow's expression twisting as he watched me raise my zanpakuto.
Fun fact that I'd just learned now, having expected a world of pain otherwise, Groban's hilt-hack didn't work if one doesn't have any reiatsu for it to burn. Which thanks to Aaroniero, was rather easy to achieve.
"...Why are you still calm..?" Aaroniero's voice had died down, his bemusement clear. "In a matter of moments you will be naught but a prisoner in my realm!"
I kept the smile on my face, my voice low as I replied. "In a matter of seconds you will cease to exist."
Aaroniero's eyes narrowed, anger filling up his face, his purple skin creasing.
"I've taken your reiatsu! And soon your soul-"
"Exactly," My word froze the espada before me, his eyes momentarily widening. His wrapped tendrils loosening the slightest. The ground under the table shaking at the sudden pressure in the air.
"You've taken my reiatsu." I pointed my zanpakuto.
"Reflect Kyoka Suigetsu," And promptly sent Aaroniero's soul into Aizen Sosuke's inner realm.
I watched, entirely disinterested, the smile long gone as Aaroniero started screaming. Aizen already working his magic.
The solution in the end, was admittedly rather simple once one takes in the locale.
-Grantz Inner Realm, on a fundamental level, was an open sandbox. A programmable world so to speak. The reason he could recreate advancements never before seen... The reason he could, theoretically, cut off ones ability to use a bankai was due to that singular fact. And while Shinigami were, more or less, foreign entities to it-
Grantz could cut someone off from their Zanpakuto spirit but not, say, their reiatsu-
Hollow's weren't.
He could, theoretically, modify any hollow any way he wanted.
And Groban thought it was a good idea to imprison me(Aizen freaking Sosuke!) here.
All I had to do to get Kaien back, was force Aaroniero to modify himself.
I watched, my face as passive as ever, as Aaroniero's screeching halted. The red distant eyes rapidly closing. The hollows body shifting impossibly, the tendrils receding by the second. Grantz inner realm rapidly fixating on Aaroniero's remaining main personality. Using it as the foundation for the 'hollow.'
Which meant that yes, while he would have the mannerisms, appearance, memories and downright personality of Kaien Shiba.
He was still, technically, made of hollows.
A lot of hollows at that.
The previously starved body rapidly started regaining nutrients. Kaien's skin turning a healthier colour by the second. The rest of the purple form sucked in through the shinigami's feet.
Grantz' realm even had the decency to give him a set of shinigami clothing.
The moment the body seemingly calmed down, Kaien's form slumbering. I watched as a crack opened in the space before me. My surprise overtaking me for a second, my gaze lingering on it, the visual of the other side shown was- Soul Society?
"Grantz! Gods' dammit! What do you think you're doing!?" Taking Groban's exhausted irritation as evidence enough, I promptly grabbed Kaien's hollow-made shinigami-looking form and threw him into the crack in space. Kaiens body disappearing within the blink of an eye.
The crack, to my further surprise, lingered quite a bit after the body had supposedly made it through. Eventually disappearing when nothing else was likely to happen. Even the espada around me were completely still.
Though I still wasn't prepared for Grantz's echoing laughter, every third second, the word 'remix' filtering it's way through. Sincere utter joy filling up the realm in the process.
There was something genuinely wrong with this place.
"So," I idly raised my sword again, turning towards the remaining espada. "Whose next?"
Grimmjow, Nnoitra and Zommari looked each other over- A flash of white light encasing each one in turn- before they promptly turned on the spot. Space cracking just behind each of them, the espada not wasting a beat as they jumped through.
...
...
(Ukitake)
"Kyoraku," Jushiro released a sigh, the captain stopping on his feet as he turned to face his long time friend. "We've gone over this," He remarked, the urge to shake his head rising.
The 8th Division captain, pausing on his feet, rolled his eyes. A fish jumping in and out of the pond beside them. The calm wind refreshing to the two captains.
"No we haven't, and Yama-jii hasn't bothered to tell me anything-"
Ukitake released a wistful smile at the name, "Yama-jii is currently indisposed, with the captain of the Zero squad no less."
Shunsui gave him a deadpan look.
"Aizen is currently in Hueco Mundo-" Shunsui restarted his main argument.
Ukitake promptly started walking again, Shunsui not missing a beat as he followed him.
"I am rather certain that single-minded attitude is why Yama-jii left me in charge," Ukitake mused, earning a twitch out of the other captain.
"...All I am saying is, we've got enough captains-"
"Kyoraku..." Ukitake sighed, stopping on his feet once again. The distant sound of fish splashing around reaching them all the same. "The truth is, we're stretched thin as it is."
Shunsui, of course, narrowed his eyes. Stopping beside him again.
"We have 13- 11 captains-"
"Given our guests, two of them are indefinitely indisposed-" He answered, picturing Komamura and Tosen's likely expressions.
"Ok fine-"
"And as you've seen yourself, Yama-jii and by extension the head of the Zero squad are currently indisposed with the ryoka, Unohana-taicho included."
Shunsui rubbed the back of his head.
"That alone puts us at a very vulnerable position."
"... I still think you can afford-"
"And with the lone Espada in the human world, currently keeping two captains busy-" His words however only earned an irritated expression out of Shunsui, the man promptly interrupting him without missing a beat.
"That's on Byakuya. Kenpachi I understand, but his insistence on winning that fight without releasing his zanpakuto is on him," Which was, admittedly enough, a fair enough point. This was hardly the time for a show of bravado.
"All the same, it would mean another captain would need be sent, given anyone lower is likely to be crushed by the spiritual pressure alone-" A wince flickered across Shunsui's face. "Which puts us at less then half strength as it is."
"...You said it yourself," Shunsui's shoulders sagged. "It's taking atleast two captains to keep that Espada at bay." Shunsui's eyes locked to his own. "And Aizen's facing nine of them."
Ukitake's mask, for a moment, almost broke. His guilt rapidly surfacing.
"Just the same, even Aizen didn't believe you to be ready-"
"You of all shinigami should know that isn't-"
"Kyoraku, you're asking me to send, of six remaining captains, in the best of scenarios-"
"Three-" Shunsui actually gave him a number. The action of doing so somehow even more irritating then before.
"...On a suicide mission..."
"...So we just leave him? And hope for the best? Is that your answer?" Oddly enough, the last question seemed the heaviest in his mind. Ukitake took a moment to answer, his body shifting the slightest.
"...No, I am saying we wait until atleast one of our problems clears up-"
"Then atleast let me go deal with one of them myself-"
"You're needed here-"
"Why!?" Shunsui's voice pitched up in volume, his reiatsu flaring, pouring out in waves.
"...A drink perhaps," Ukitake stated, a serious look on his face.
Shunsui took a moment to process the answer, his eyes blinking for a moment before a snort escaped him.
"We owe him... You more then anyone else." Shunsui felt the need to point out.
Ukitake closed his eyes for a moment, his relief at the reaction hidden. "I know. And I doubt I'll ever be able to thank him enough for what he's done for my barracks- But you have to understand my position too."
"We don't have the manpower for it-" That was of course the moment the space, above and surrounding the pond from earlier, suddenly crackled. Creasing in on itself. Ukitake and Shunsui didn't miss a beat, flash stepped towards it immediately, Zanpakutos raised-
His eyes widened the sight of a body falling through the temporary short-lived crack. One dressed in a shinigami's garbs. The falling body, narrowly missing the pond, crashed into the nearby tree. Eliciting a loud thud in response. Though Ukitake failed to notice near anything, his widened eyes locked onto his former lieutenants.
His shell-socked state went as far as missing the note stuck to his head.
...
"...I am not sure whether to take that as a insult or not..." Shunsui eventually stated, a tired look on his face. His hands shaking as he stared at the former Espada. The recognisable reiatsu a dead giveaway. The only thing freezing him, been the slowly burning note. Whiffs of fire replacing each word, the flames evidently harmless to the Espada?
Shinigami?
"Kaien?" Ukitake's whisper almost didn't reach his ears.
Shunsui blinked, his mind connecting the odds, he thought he'd seen that face before.
(Do not execute this one! -Aizen, I heard you were having trouble with the Espada, Sosuke)
...
Hope you enjoyed! Don't forget feedback!
Also yes, the note -Everything between brackets- at the end was an illusion; Aizen pretending to be N!Aizen.