Chapter 30: The Strongest Tag-Team! Luffy and Ichigo's Hard Struggle!

"Damn it!" Rukia cursed as Yammy caught both and Nami in his hand.

"Now I've caught you!" Yammy said, tightening his grip. "You two are the only ones left. Catching you two wasn't easy since you're so tiny. But now, you're all mine." Rukia and Nami struggle to break free from Yammy's grip but couldn't. "Don't struggle. This requires a delicate touch from me. It's not easy to hold you two without crushing you."

'There's no way…' Nami thought. 'It feels like he's breaking every bone in my body. How are we supposed to defeat this guy?'

"Now then, how exactly should I kill you two?" Yammy asked. "Let me think. Squeezing you two into bloody pulp with my hand isn't that amusing." Nami was able to free one of her arms with her bo-staff. Rukia managed to free one of her arms as well.

"Thunder Ball!" Nami fired a yellow ball from her bo-staff at Yammy.

"Sokatsui!" Rukia fired a blue energy blast from her hand. The two attacks collided and hit the espada in the face, causing an explosion. The smoke cleared revealing that Yammy was unharmed.

"Ow, that stung." Yammy said, rubbing his cheek and pretending that he's hurt. "That hurts! That really, really hurt me! You two sure got me on that one!"

Nami and Rukia widen their eyes, seeing that their attack had no effect. 'We didn't do a thing to him!' Rukia thought.

"That was so painful that it made me lose my grip!" Yammy tossed Nami and Rukia to his side. Rukia tried to move to save Nami and herself but couldn't. A smirk appeared on Yammy's face.

'What an incredible power!' Rukia thought. 'I can't get back into my posture because the wind pressure is too intense.' A loud crash was heard near Yammy. The espada looked at the direction of the crash, thinking that Nami and Rukia are dead.

"That was boring." Yammy said. "That wasn't even a bit satisfying." Yammy looked up at the hole in the palace ceiling, leading to the outside. "I guess I'll go kill those guys that defeated Ulquiorra."

"And just who might that be?" a voice said, getting Yammy's attention. The smoke and dust started to clear, revealing Ichigo standing over Nami and Rukia.

"So you're here." Yammy said, glaring at Ichigo.

Ichigo returned the glare and said, "You really packed on some pounds since the last time I saw you. You looked bloated."

"Ichigo!" Rukia said, surprised to see her friend.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, you're dead!" Yammy shouted, charging up a cero. Ichigo fired a black wave from his sword, hitting Yammy in the mouth and caused a huge explosion.

"Ichigo, you came but where are the others?" Rukia asked. "I thought you headed out to save Orihime and bring her back."

Ichigo looked at Rukia, causing her to widen her eyes. "I did save her." He said. "Right now, she's above us healing Uryu. She's safer there anyway."

"Wait a minute, what about Luffy?" Nami asked, concerned about her captain. Nami felt Ichigo picking her up as he and Rukia flash stepped out of the area before Yammy's fist could hit them. Yammy looked around and saw the three on top of a pillar nearby.

"Quit your damn jumping around, you gutless loser!" Yammy roared as he charged towards them.

"Gum-Gum…" a voice shouted, causing Rukia and Nami to widen their eyes. "…Jet Pistol!" The attack came as a blur as it hit the espada, pushing him back. They looked behind them and saw a figure coming up to where they are. It was Luffy with his Second Gear activated.

"Luffy!" Nami shouted, happy to see that Luffy is still alive. Yammy looked at the pillar and saw Luffy with the group, glaring at him.

"You little bastard!" Yammy roared, charging towards them again. "You'll die first!"

"Luffy, be careful that guy…"

"Yeah, I know." Luffy said, cracking his knuckles and saw what Yammy did to the others. "Don't worry, Ichigo and I will make this bastard pay for hurting our friends!" Luffy jumped down from the pillar charged towards Yammy.

"Stay here Rukia, protect Luffy's friend." Ichigo said. "We don't have time to finish this guy off before we head back to the World of the Living. This stupid war has got to end now!" Ichigo jumped off the pillar and followed the straw hat boy.

'Ichigo…what happened to you while you were up there?' Rukia thought, watching the two fighting the espada. 'Unlike Luffy, who looks like he's ready for another fight, you don't have the look of someone who just been victorious in battle. I mean you don't look like someone who ready to fight again. Something has changed in you. What happened…Ichigo?'

"I told you stop moving around so much!" Yammy shouted, trying to hit Ichigo but Ichigo continues to dodge. "Is your plan is to have me chase you?!" Ichigo disappeared and reappeared behind Yammy. "Stop running away!" Yammy threw his fist back towards Ichigo, who used his sword to block it.

"Damn, you're loud." Ichigo said, looking down and saw Luffy still running towards them. "We may be moving around but we're definitely not running away. I'm just to get you an area that far away from the others. Now that it's just us and you…" Luffy stretched his arms towards one of Yammy's and launched himself in the air so that he's near Ichigo. Ichigo put his hand near his face, revealing a new hollow mask. This mask is like his old mask but the design is two red lines running down the top of the mask through the eyes holes to the bottom. "We can crush you with force!"

"Gum-Gum…" Luffy fired a sound punch towards the espada.

"Getsua…" Black waves of spirit energy wrap around Ichigo's blade as he fired a black energy wave at Yammy.

"…Jet Pistol!" Ichigo's getsuga wrapped around Luffy's arm and hand as it hit Yammy in the face, causing the espada to fall to the ground. Ichigo put his hand over his mask and it disappeared.

Rukia and Nami watched what just happened with widen eyes. 'What was that?!' Rukia thought. 'Am I seeing things? I didn't see anything clearly but…it looked like…the markings on Ichigo's mask were different. I'm almost positive that Ichigo's mask has been changing. I've never seen a mask with markings like the one he just used. What's going on, Ichigo?'

'That's weird.' Ichigo thought as he and Luffy landed on a wall next to one of the towers. 'Something doesn't feel right. My hollowification…there was something really different about it. My mask…it seems to be heavier.' Then Ichigo remembered the hollowified form he used to defeat Ulquiorra. 'Is it because of that? That battle…did it somehow affect my hollowification?'

"That hurts!" Luffy shouted, blowing on his hand. His hand showed his signs that it was burnt from the attack. "My hand feel like it's on fire!"

"Are you ok, Luffy?" Ichigo asked, looking at Luffy's hand.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Luffy said still tending to his poor hand. Yammy appeared behind him and head-butted the wall they were standing on, making them jump off of it. Yammy turned towards them, spitting the pieces of the wall that was in his mouth mixed with some of his blood.

"Damn it!" Yammy cursed, showing the damage their attack did. "Your attack actually hurt me a little, you pests!"

'Hurt him a little?' Ichigo thought. 'We hit him with our best attack and it did a little bit of damage!'

"What's up?!" Yammy said. "You look surprised! Take a good look at my number! It's a zero. I'm Yammy Llargo, Espada number zero. None of those other espadas that you two fought before me even come close to be as strong as I am. I'm stronger than Grimmjow, Nnoitra, and Ulquiorra combined. Those others are worthless garbage compare to me!" Yammy fired a bala at Ichigo, pushing him several feet.

"Ichigo!" Luffy shouted. Yammy fired another bala at Luffy, creating an explosion.

"You like that?!" Yammy taunted. "I do! That's not a cero! It's a bala and that's real power! So tell me, do either one of you have a way to defend against that?!"

"You mean, do we have a defense?" Ichigo repeated. "I don't know about Luffy but I never really have any plan against any attacks. I just knew I had to win so I did. That's my plan."

"The same goes for me." Luffy said, getting back up. "I don't care how strong the enemy was. I knew I had to do one thing and that's to win. I don't if you're at a higher rank than everyone else, it's all the same."

"That's right, we have to defeat so we'll find a way to do it." Ichigo said. "It's simple!"

To be continued…

Next Chapter: The Captains Are Back! Mayuri Begins the Breakout Plan!