Author's note:
Thank you for all the reviews. A little note before I start on the next chapter, I know I said this takes place after the Bount arc but I'm having trouble having that fit into the story. So I'm going to do the normal Bleach filler technique where the story splits off into a completely separate story for no apparent reason. Sorry, I tried to insert it gracefully into the Bleach continuity but I think it'll be more interesting this way.
Keep reviewing, I feed off of it. [rubbing hands maniacally with evil grin]
By the way, for those of you who didn't look it up, the title is "straw hat" in Spanish.
La Sombrero de Paja
Chapter 2
Luffy and the gang were preparing to leave for the Soul Society. They could use the Garganta, and Luffy was about to open one up until Zoro stopped him. Aizen had all the Garganta routes under surveillance, if anybody found out they left Hueco Mundo Aizen would surely send someone to stop them. So they had to rely on Sunny and Merry, who had the power to travel between dimensions through their own powers. But first they had to get to a secret location.
Zoro plotted out a course on a map. "We can go through this route, it'll be deserted by this time and it's the quickest route to the outside of Las Noches."
So they decided to go as a group towards the outside of Las Noches. On the way they had to pass through a gathering hall where they saw a mummified body in a glass case.
"What the hell is that?" Nami asked.
"Oh, that was something that was talked about during the last meeting," Luffy said. "That's one of Aizen's experiments with the Hogyoku. I think he said something about using that arrancar for something."
"How unfortunate," Chopper said, examining the body, "There is a definite fluctuation of spiritual pressure. There's also some form of foreign bacteria manipulating the natural anatomy of this menos."
Everyone was puzzled at Chopper's analysis and tried to sense the anomalies as well. "What's going to happen to him?" Robin asked.
Chopper further examined the body, "It's almost as if Aizen is having this Hollow completely dismantled and reconstructed to his own specifications."
"That's so depraved it makes my skin crawl!" Brook began. "Of course, being a skeleton, I have no skin!"
Ussop immediately slapped Brook behind his head, "Remember what I told you about the skeleton jokes?"
The gang continued on to the outside walls, being careful not to run into anyone. If Ulquiorra found out where they were going he would definitely rat Luffy out to Aizen. Good news was that they didn't run into Ulquiorra anywhere, but unfortunately they did come across Gin across the hall. They were so close to getting out of Las Noches that the gate was right there to their left.
"Well hello there," Gin cheerfully said, "And where is the entire gang going right now?"
Nami just started to stutter in place, "W-W-We… uuhhm… need to… err."
"We are… going to…" Sanji tried to explain but he was drawing a blank as well. "We are… taking Ussop for his thing today, right Ussop?"
Ussop was making an infuriated face at him, "Yes. I'm… going—" Ussop was frantically looking around the room for something to help him. "Uhm… hunting!"
"Hunting?" Gin repeated.
"Yes, I just got my hunting license today and it's mandatory that we hunt," Ussop explained trying to lie as best he can. "Ya know, because it's a hunting license and we have to use it."
"Really?" Gin asked slowly with a quizzical look. "And I suppose you're hunting for something in particular."
Luffy instantly responded with "Yeah we're looking for the shinigami's to fight them—" Luffy was then instantly hit over the head to shut him up. Luckily he got the idea and responded back. "I mean, we are just hunting. Nothing suspicious about that and we are definitely not going over Aizen's head and going to the Soul Society for some fun in fighting the shinigami's," Luffy said in a monotone voice.
Everyone instantly thought "Idiot", as their Espada leader was not helping the situation. Nami and Zoro were starting to panic slightly as they both thought the same thoughts. "He's never going buy this crap now."
"Ok," Gin finally said, "Have fun."
Gin left the fifth Espada and his group with a dumbfound expression on their faces. "I can't believe we got away with that piece of crap." Franky said. Everyone agreed that they wanted to take the opportunity to leave and went through the gates. Gin looked from around the corner and laughed a little with Aizen right next to him.
"I can't believe they thought they could outsmart anyone," Gin said. "Aren't you going to do anything to stop them?"
"There's no need, let them have fun," Aizen responded.
Meanwhile outside…
The Quinta Espada and his fraccion were readying for their "undetected" departure. Sunny and Merry were just Gillian classes, but they were exceptionally powerful for their status. What also set them apart from other Gillian classes was their ability to rip open their own rifts into other dimensions, including the Soul Society. They ripped open the dimension and they leapt through to the Soul Socitey.
The Soul Society
An alarm was sounding as they sensed the sources of high spiritual pressure. In the Research Division, Captain Kurotsuchi and his lieutenant, Nemu, entered the room. The monitoring devices lit up what was a dim room. The equipment was picking up signals from eleven sources, and Kurotsuchi was getting curious.
"What are the read-outs on these intruders," Mayuri demanded.
One of the researchers was beginning to panic, "We have eleven confirmed ryokas entering Soul Society dimensional space. I'm getting abnormally strong levels of spiritual pressure! Three—four—At least five of them are of Espada class while the rest are of exceptionally high spiritual pressure!"
To this, Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi smiled, "How exciting, finally I have the chance gather some Espadas as samples! Plot out their course and keep an eye on the most powerful one. I want those samples!"
The entire Soul Society was notified of the arrival of the intruders and went around distributing the information to the 13 Court Guard Squads. Commander Genryusai, upon hearing the news, did not want to take any risks. As a precaution, the commander sent Rukia Kuchiki to the human world to retrieve Ichigo Kurosaki. Though he hoped that the help wouldn't be needed.
In time, Luffy and his fracciones came out of the portal and surveyed the Soul Society. They were fascinated by the architecture and the pressures they were sensing. "So this is the Soul Society," Luffy said, "Just look at all the strong guys run around."
"Speaking of which, I think they spotted us," Brook said. "Do you think we should greet them?"
"Don't look now, but Luffy already went," Zoro informed. Luffy was already heading down to the floor ready to fight the foot soldiers of the Soul Society. The unranked members were drawing their swords and ready to fight. Luffy however took on every one of them with his bare hands, which started stretching. Luffy took out one soldier after another with an fighting style that revolved around his strange ability to stretch.
"He's hogging all the action!" Sanji yelled, "Fine, I know where this is going. I'm going out on my own, ok guys."
"Ok," everyone said in unison. Zoro started to head off in another direction, "I'm going to head off somewhere too. Just make sure at least one of you stays with the captain." To this everyone nodded and they all split off with Chopper going down with Luffy. Chopper switched to a taller, humanoid form and started fighting. Nami stayed behind as well to watch over Luffy. After a while the unranked members stopped attacking.
"What'll we do, they're too strong," someone said.
Then, two people walked through the crowd. "Get out of the way you useless pawns," said a strange looking shinigami with face paint and a pharaoh-type headdress. The shinigami soldiers' faces all lifted with relief.
"IT'S CAPTAIN KUROTSUCHI AND LIEUTENANT NEMU!!" they all yelled.
"Captain?" Luffy asked, "Did he say 'captain'?"
"My name is Mayuri Kurotsuchi, captain of the 12th division and head of the Research and Development division," Kurotsuchi introduced. "I must know, which one of you arrancars is of the Espada." Luffy's smile turned into a somber expression as he figured out that this captain is just like Szayel Aporro.
Meanwhile…
Sanji was looking at all the female shinigamis and trying to flirt with them. Obviously to no avail as they all just attacked him. Sanji was either hitting on the girls or fighting the male shinigamis. After awhile, a towering shinigami with a captain's haori appeared. What was striking about this shinigami was that he had a dog's head.
"Woah—Hello Fido," Sanji said, reacting to the shinigami's appearance.
"You'll do well to remember my name," the shinigami said, "It's Captain Sajin Komamura, of the 7th division."
"You know, something tells me you're overdue for a neutering."
Komamura began to unsheathe his sword, "Enough of your talk. You have trespassed into the sanctity of the Soul Society, it is therefore my duty to expunge you and your comrades from this world." After Komamura took out his sword, he immediately swung it across Sanji's torso, which he dodged. More strikes from Komamura and Sanji ensued as they exchanged strikes, with either Sanji dodging or parrying with his legs and kicking at Komamura. Conversely, Komamura was able to keep up with Sanji's strikes as well.
A brief break in the fighting allowed Komamura to ask a question. "Why haven't you drawn your sword yet?"
"I don't use my zanpakuto to fight," Sanji answered, "I'm first and foremost a chef. Therefore, I adhere to a strict set of rules. First, my blade is meant for crafting food only, and second, my hands are my most important tools."
"Why would an arrancar want to be a chef?" Komamura asked with a quizzical look.
"In Hueco Mundo there are these things called televisiónes, they are visual links that let the hollows see into the human world," Sanji began. "Hollows normally use these to prey on other souls or just kill time watching the humans in their daily lives with all their drama."
"Why would you do that? That's called 'eavesdropping'."
"It's always night there, it's hard to find chicks that don't want to devour you, and there's nothing to do in Hueco Mundo! What do you want from me!?" Sanji yelled. "Anyway, before I became an arrancar, I would always watch chefs at work. And it fascinated me to watch them work. I observed the restaurant chefs, TV chefs, and even the people at home. I would then practice and copy their techniques. And since then, I have developed my cooking ability to this extent and tried to protect my hands from damage."
Nothing more was said as they continued to fight.
Back to Luffy and Kurotsuchi…
Kurotsuchi was disappointed to hear that Luffy was the only official Espada among the intruders. But he was still intent on getting Luffy as a research specimen. As he pulled out his sword another shinigami showed, this one being bald.
"Ah man, Captain Kurotsuchi," cried out the new guy, "You beat me to him."
"Calm down you idiot, I'm working right now," Kurotsuchi hissed, "If you want to fight someone that badly there's another arrancar for you to fight right there."
"WELL ALRI—" the bald shinigami began until he noticed the reindeer-arrancar, "What the hell is that thing? A raccoon?"
"I'M A FREAKIN' REINDEER!!" cried Chopper.
The bald shinigami just looked around and noticed Nami just standing in the air. "Well, if it's a choice between you and the girl, I might as well fight you first. Let me introduce myself first as a courtesy, I'm Ikkaku Madarame, third seat of the eleventh division."
"Ok, if you're going to introduce yourself then I'll introduce myself as well. I'm Tony Tony Chopper, fraccion of the Quinta Espada, Monkey D. Luffy."
"Interesting name," Ikkaku said. As he drew his sword and took his stance, Chopper took out his sword. "Say, how do you hold that damn thing with hooves?" Ikkaku asked looking perplexed as to how the reindeer was holding the sword. Though the question was put to rest as Chopper changed into a taller, heavier-set form.
"Does this form look more challenging to you?" Chopper asked.
"What the hell is this?"
"It's a special ability of mine which I call Ruidos (Rumbling). This form is called Punto Pesado (Heavy Point)."
"Things are getting interesting now," Ikkaku said with glee. Ikkaku charged in as Chopper guarded with his zanpakuto. Ikkaku was using his duel sword style with both his sword and sheathe as he used one to guard and one to attack while Chopper was able to counter with his own blade and switching between his Heavy Point and his Punto Salte (Jump Point) to avoid blows and to use the strength from Heavy Point. Eventually, Chopper proved to Ikkaku to be a proficient swordsman to release his zanpakuto. "Extend!" Ikkaku began, "Hozukimaru!"
Ikkaku's katana and sheathe turned into and naginata and he started striking at Chopper, to which he kept his guard up. "Punto de Brazo (Arm Point)!" Chopper yelled which was followed by another transformation where Chopper's arms turn bulky. With his enhanced arm-strength, Chopper swing was so powerful that the air pressure cracked the building behind Ikkaku when he dodged.
Luffy himself was fighting Kurotsuchi not too far and was having trouble with getting close enough without getting poisoned. "You catch on quick," Kurotsuchi laughed, "Don't worry, the poison of my shikai isn't meant to kill you."
"Still, I've already dealt with this sort of thing before and I know all forms of poison need to be avoided," Luffy said, remembering the poison-using hollow that he fought. Luffy struck the ground to lift a giant piece of the ground and threw it at Kurotsuchi. Kurotsuchi immediately dodged and charged at Luffy with his Ashisogi Jizo. One cut and he could inject paralysis poison into him and make him an easier target.
"You seem to have phenomenal strength for having a slender body. I'll need to take a special note in examining your muscle structure."
Elsewhere…
Kenpachi caught wind of the invaders and was already on his way to find whoever he could fight. Unfortunately, he was following directions from his lieutenant, Yachiru. The two were facing a dead end when he started talking to Yachiru. "Alright, so where do we go now?"
Yachiru popped her up and started looking around. "I think we should go… THAT WAY!!" she yelled out, pointing to their right.
"Ok, are you absolutely sure?" Kenpachi asked.
"Of course I am," Yachiru said. Of course she wasn't, she pointed in the opposite direction of where Luffy, Chopper, Kurotsuchi, and Ikkaku were fighting. Which were only a few blocks away from Kenpachi's position. "Are you doubting me after all we've been through?"
"Actually, considering your track record of guiding, that's exactly what I should be doing," Kenpachi said, finally figuring out Yachiru is no GPS.
"Well if you think that way then you can try finding your own way!" Yachiru yelled and then stormed off in the other direction that she wasn't pointing towards.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"I'm going home!"
Yachiru left in tears, leaving Kenpachi on his own. "Great, now I gotta come home to that."
Kenpachi lamented and left off on his own.
Back to Yachiru, unbeknownst to her, Yachiru was heading right towards Ikkaku and Chopper's fight. As she was jumping from roof to roof, she accidentally tripped slid right off the roof. Meanwhile, Chopper was parrying Ikkaku's attacks with his own sword. Eventually, Chopper accidentally left himself open for an attack, which Ikkaku took. The point of the naginata was about to stab Chopper until…
"Proteja Punto (Guard Point)!" Chopper yelled. At that moment Chopper shrunk back to his original small form and then his hair grew out and blocked the blade. "Nice try, but nothing can get through my Proteja Punto." With that Chopper returned to his original form and put his hooves together.
"What are you doing now? It's going to be hard to fight me in that form," Ikkaku scoffed
"This form is called Cerebro Punto (Brain Point), and its purpose is for me to examine either my patients or opponents with my Envergadura (Scope)," Chopper said. A second later, Chopper smirked as he finished his scan and found Ikkaku's weak point. Unfortunately, Chopper wouldn't get the chance to use it because…
BOOM!!!
"Lieutenant!?" Ikkaku yelled.
Yachiru fell right on top of Chopper, sending up a huge dust storm. When it cleared, Yachiru was sitting on top of Chopper. "GET THE HELL OF ME!!" Chopper screamed from underneath Yachiru. Yachiru got off of Chopper and just started staring at him. "What are you looking at kid?" Chopper asked.
Yachiru started drooling as she hungrily said in a deranged voice "Venison!" and proceeded to biting Chopper. In seconds, Chopper was running around screaming "I'M NOT YOUR FREAKIN' FOOD! GET OFF OF ME!"
"Hey! Lieutenant Yachiru, I'm supposed to be fighting him!" Ikkaku yelled.
Nearby, Luffy was hearing Chopper's screams. "Ha ha ha! Hey Chopper, having trouble there?" Luffy asked, at the same time he dodged an attack from Kurotsuchi.
Chopper was just pointlessly running around in a frantic manner with Yachiru on her head. Chopper, in a desperate move, raised his sword. "Heal!"
Luffy's smile instantly turned into an ominous expression as he tried to yell out to Chopper. "Wait! Chopper! Not while you're that distraught!"
"Reno (Reindeer)!" Chopper yelled. As soon as he yelled the name of his resurreccion an explosion of smoke appeared which catapulted Yachiru in the air. After Ikkaku caught Yachiru, they saw a giant figure in the smoke as it cleared. Chopper had turned into a giant, anthropomorphic reindeer monster. Chopper let out a thunderous roar as he started to attack Ikkaku and Yachiru.
"Crap! This isn't good!" Luffy yelled. Luffy started running over to Chopper, forgetting that he was still fighting Kurotsuchi who blocked his path. "Out of my way," Luffy warned. Chopper had no signs of intelligent conscious in his attacks and just rampaged in a mindless flurry.
"You seem to forget that you still have to finish your fight with me," Kurotsuchi reminded. Kurotsuchi looked at Luffy with a sadistic look and raised his sword in front of himself, "I'll just take care of you both at the same time! Bankai!" Kurotsuchi's trident blade grew to a massive baby with and halo, a caterpillar body, and a cape, "Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo!"
Nami, feeling concerned for Chopper, ran down to Chopper to try to calm him down. "Chopper, stop! You need to calm down or you'll lose yourself—" Nami was cut short as she was swapped away by Chopper. Franky, who didn't run off very far and sensed Chopper's irregular spiritual pressure, came and helped Nami up.
"Franky? Where were you?" Nami dizzily asked.
"I was just a block away when I felt Chopper release his power," Franky responded. Ikkaku, with Yachiru asleep in his arms, appeared in a flash step in front of Franky and Nami.
"What's wrong with him? There's no thought in his attacks," Ikkaku said.
"Chopper just recently ascended to the level of adjuchas, he's inexperienced with his new powers," Franky responded.
Nami finished off the explanation, "And when Chopper released his powers while his mind was in a confused state, he didn't have the focused consciousness needed to suppress the myriad of hollows that make up a menos."
Luffy was pushed right beside Chopper and Kurotsuchi's bankai was headed right for him and the evolved Chopper. Chopper saw the bankai as a bigger threat then Luffy and ran relentlessly towards the bankai and held Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo back.
"That's a bad idea right there," the minute Kurotsuchi said that, the bankai breathed a huge blast of poison fog right in Chopper's face. Luffy and Nami screamed out Chopper's name while Chopper reeled back and start tossing and turning around until he started falling towards Nami, Franky, Ikkaku, and Yachiru. Suddenly, before Chopper could hit the ground, a tall figure which Ikkaku recognized as his captain's leapt into the air and hit Chopper out of the way.
"Captain Zaraki!" Ikkaku yelled, "What are you doing here?"
"I finally found some action, but I didn't even see you there until you spoke up."
"But why did you hit that thing out of the way?"
"I thought it was heading right for me."
"So you didn't do it to save us?" Ikkaku asked.
"No," Kenpachi responded.
"That's some captain you got there," Nami said.
Chopper lied on the ground motionless. Luffy was able to shake off Kurotsuchi and make it to Chopper's side. Chopper slightly moved his head but nothing more as the poison was working its way. Nami and Franky reached Luffy and Chopper.
Luffy had a sad look on his face, "You idiot, you still haven't completed your training. We should have left you back at Las Noches."
"Relax Luffy, we should focus on curing Chopper of the poison that's in his system," Nami said.
Chopper's head began to move in a way that was trying to signal Luffy to listen to him. Luffy looked at him and asked "Chopper? Have you come back to your senses?" Chopper was trying to say something but was too quiet, which prompted Luffy to lean closer. Chopper was giving, what sounded like to Nami, directions. Luffy turned to Nami, "Nami, where's Chopper's backpack?!"
Nami looked around and spotted it on the ground a few feet away and ran over to it. "Over here," Nami said.
"Take out the serums numbered—" Luffy began, when he leaned closer to hear Chopper he repeated the numbers, "46, 58, and 21!"
Nami took out those serums, which were in shot form and brought them over. Kurotsuchi was curious and just watched from his current place. Nami took one shot while Luffy and Franky took the other two and administered the serums by injecting it from the neck and Chopper's shoulders. The physical effects of the poison started to vanish.
Kurotsuchi was starting to feel enraged at the fact that his poison was countered, "Unbelievable! That arrancar deciphered the symptoms of the poison and administered the right treatment. What's more, he had those injections prepared in advanced! Who is that creature?!"
After Chopper was cured, he passed out while still in his resurreccion form. Luffy produced a cube of energy and put it in Chopper's hollow hole and the Caja Negacion took effect, but instead of disappearing completely the cube which contained Chopper remained.
Luffy tossed the cube over to Nami, "Take Chopper and get far away from here."
"What are you going to do?" Nami asked.
Luffy just adjusted his hat, "Swing."
To be continued… is that foreboding enough for ya?
Ichigo and the gang should come next chapter.