In this chapter, Uryu's going to have a chance encounter with the dreaded Mayuri Kurotsuchi...you probably saw this one coming. Can he possibly defeat him? You might know the answer already if you've watched the Soul Society arc...but anywho...
Also, Yoruichi is going to reveal her true form to Luffy and Orihime...but you probably already knew that by the chapter title. Way for me to state the obvious! I'm Captain Obvious today!
Chapter 18: Yoruichi's True Form
"Where are we? I don't see any sign of the others..." noted Uryu. He wondered where they could have possibly gone. It appeared that they had all been separated after that cannon had gone off. Kukaku really could have designed that cannon better.
But as it was, they were all in different parts of Soul Society.
Immediately, Uryu began to scratch his head. Where were they?
"They do seem to have disappeared..." acknowledged Chad, putting his hand on his chin. Where in Soul Society could they possibly be? He hoped that they weren't in a bad situation. Soul Society seemed to be rather...dangerous for people like them. He was a bit worried about them. He had no idea if they were alright.
Of course, since the two of them had not yet had any chance encounters with Soul Reapers, it appeared that perhaps they would be alright. But he did not know for sure.
If only Soul Society was willing to compromise with Ryoka like themselves. Maybe that way they wouldn't have to fight each other. But as Uryu knew, some people simply didn't want to make peace...especially the Soul Reapers and the Quincy.
"Well, we better find them. I don't like being in hostile territory with just the two of us..." answered the teenage boy. Chances are they were going to be picked up one by one...or in this case two by two. It was in their best interest to try to regroup as soon as possible. Hopefully Luffy and Orihime would be alright since they didn't seem the brightest bulbs in the world.
If they did something stupid, they were probably going to end up paying for it...like the time where he decided to jaywalk down the street and nearly got hit by a car for his trouble.
Fortunately, it appeared that they had not attracted the attention of any Soul Reapers. Otherwise they would be in a bad spot, especially if they encountered a captain like they had been warned.
Suddenly, they noticed what appeared to be a laboratory. Chad and Uryu were a bit surprised that Soul Society had one of them...but apparently there were laboratories wherever one went.
"What kind of laboratory is this?" inquired Chad. It didn't look like a laboratory he had ever seen. There seemed to be something...evil about it. Was someone abducting people against their will and taking them to the laboratory so that he could experiment on them?
He was starting to worry.
Curious, Uryu began to examine it. For some strange reason, he couldn't help but shake the feeling of dread. Something was very wrong with this place. The laboratory in question also happened to look somehow...familiar. Had he seen it somewhere before? In his nightmares, maybe?
Of course, each and every single district in Soul Society (other than the slums) was not safe for intruders (especially Quincy) so long as the captains and lieutenants were prowling around...but he got the feeling that this was a place that he would especially not want to enter. It appeared that this was the last place that they would want to be.
"I don't think we should go in there..." noted Uryu.
Curious, Chad began to read the sign in front of the door.
"Welcome to Mayuri Kurotsuchi's Laboratory! Home of the most twisted experiments you've ever seen! We just love experimenting on Quincies!" read the sign.
"Sounds lovely..." remarked Uryu sarcastically.
"Aren't you a Quincy?" asked Chad.
"That's right...wait, Mayuri Kurotsuchi?" asked the teenage Quincy.
Uryu gasped in shock. That was the exact same man that had experimented on thousands of members of his kind!
"We can't stay here, Chad! Mayuri Kurotsuchi is a madman! If he gets his hands on me, I might as well wish for a quick death!" exclaimed Uryu, sweat protruding from his face.
Curious, Chad noticed that Uryu appeared to be completely and utterly terrified. Perhaps it would be best if they leaved the outside of the laboratory while they still had the chance.
"Mayuri Kurotsuchi sounds like a terrible person..." noted Chad. He wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley...like the one that he and Uryu were in now.
"He is, Chad, he is. And the longer we stay here, the more danger we'll be in! Let's get moving...he just might want a test subject as we speak!" exclaimed Uryu.
"Right. Let's keep moving...though I wonder if Ichigo and Rukia are in there..." acknowledged Ichigo's best friend.
"Yes, that may be a possibility. But I doubt that we could handle going in there alone. Mayuri Kurotsuchi is prepared for everything..." warned Uryu. He heard rumors that Mayuri Kurotsuchi liked to spy on Quincies before he killed them...learning their strengths and weaknesses so that he could act accordingly.
Suddenly, someone grabbed Chad's arm, much to his horror.
"Uryu!" exclaimed Chad.
As it turned out, it was Nemu Kurotsuchi, Mayuri Kurotsuchi's lieutenant.
"I think that master Mayuri will want a strong man like him as a test subject." noted Nemu. If he was lucky he might be able to create a supersoldier using one of his brand new chemicals.
Immediately, she dragged Chad into Mayuri Kurotsuchi's laboratory.
Uryu sighed. He didn't want to have to go in there...but it appeared that he had no choice. Chad desperately needed his help.
Still, he wondered if he was going to make it out of there alive...or even in one piece.
However, he knew that Chad would likely not survive if he left him alone. Mayuri Kurotsuchi would probably cut him open and then donate his organs to science...or in other words himself.
Taking a deep breath, he stepped inside the laboratory. Hopefully he wouldn't end up like all the other Quincy that had been brought here.
Meanwhile...
"Thanks for helping us feel better!" exclaimed Luffy.
"You're welcome...you're going to need all your strength if you want to rescue your friends..." acknowledged Yoruichi.
"I sure am...wait, if you're a cat, then why can you talk?" asked the pirate. That was really...peculiar. Maybe Yoruichi was some sort of magical cat?
"Oh, that...well, you see, I'm not really a cat...I just like to transform into them...they're my favorite animal..." noted the black cat.
"Really? I wonder what your true form is like..." stated Luffy. All of a sudden he felt rather intrigued.
"Alright then...allow me to show you." answered Yoruichi.
Suddenly, she began to transform back into her human form.
Also, she was...naked. It appeared that Tite Kubo loved seeing Yoruichi in her birthday suit.
"Wow! That was a really impressive transformation!" exclaimed the pirate. He wished that he could do something like that.
"Thank you. To be honest, I haven't transformed back into my human self for a long time...I suppose I felt a lot more comfortable as an animal..." noted Yoruichi.
Immediately, Yoruichi began to approach him.
"Right then...let's go rescue your friends, shall we? I think I might know where two of them are...mind you, it's going to be a nightmarish experience..." noted the lady.
"I'm not afraid of anything!" exclaimed Luffy.
Suddenly, Orihime walked in.
"Hello, Luffy...I just wanted to see if you're all r-are you having sex?!" bellowed Orihime.
Luffy raised an eyebrow.
"Why do you think I'm having sex?" asked Luffy.
"There's a naked lady in the same room as you!" exclaimed the teenage girl.
"Oh...that's because she's a pervert..." answered the pirate.
"Put some clothes on! You're going to scar Luffy for life!" bellowed Orihime.
"He doesn't mind..." stated Yoruichi. She had to admit, Luffy was surprisingly chaste...though it appeared that he had a crush on Orihime. It wasn't much of a surprise considering that they were fairly alike.
"You're going to get arrested!" exclaimed Orihime. Of course, that was an odd thing for her to say since she was a Ryoka. Apparently she felt like being a hypocrite today.
"I did get in trouble for streaking once..." noted the lady.
"Please, I'm begging you!" bellowed the teenage girl.
"Alright, alright. Don't panic..." answered Yoruichi. She did admit that Orihime did seem to be rather high-strung.
Immediately, Yoruichi put some clothes on for the sake of the poor girl's sanity.
"Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" exclaimed Orihime. Now she wouldn't have to worry about going blind.
Fortunately, it appeared that Yoruichi had not traumatized Luffy too much. She didn't want Luffy to die from bleeding to death from his nose.
"Now can we go help your friends? Their lives are probably in mortal peril...especially Uryu and Chad..." noted Yoruichi.
"Uryu and Chad?" asked Luffy.
"Yes, they're in the clutches of Mayuri Kurotsuchi as we speak...he's the craziest scientist ever..." acknowledged the lady. Personally she wondered if Mayuri would want to experiment on her to see if he could get nine lives...though she wasn't sure if she actually had nine lives herself, though admittedly she did always land on her feet.
"He is? We have to save them!" exclaimed Orihime.
"Of course, we could also try looking for Nami and Ganji...but it appears they're not in such a bad situation in the moment..." noted Yoruichi.
"How do you know? You haven't seen them!" bellowed the teenage girl.
"I have a rough idea where each of them landed..." answered the cat lady.
"Maybe she's looking for money?" questioned Luffy.
"What makes you think she's looking for money?" inquired Orihime.
"Well..." answered the pirate captain.
On the Going Merry, Nami was taking a bath...in money.
"Yay! I love making money! And taking baths!" exclaimed Nami.
"Where are your clothes, Nami?" asked Luffy. Did Nami decide that she didn't want to wear clothes anymore? That might explain why she wore skimpy clothing occasionally.
Nami began to blush.
"I...left them outside?" asked Nami.
"Maybe you got attacked by a giant moth..." answered Luffy.
"Yeah...let's go with that..." stated the navigator girl.
"Good! Maybe now we can find them!" exclaimed Luffy. He was worried that his friends were in trouble. He was unlucky enough to have a chance encounter with a Gotei 13 captain, after all...even if he had managed to come out on top in the end.
"Let's get going! I want to see my friends again!" exclaimed Orihime. It was killing her to be separated from Ichigo and Rukia...and it was going to kill Ichigo and Rukia if they simply sat there and allowed them to be executed. They had about two weeks left...about half as much as when they first went to rescue them.
Meanwhile...
Uryu reluctantly followed Chad inside Mayuri Kurotsuchi's laboratory, trying to find him by listening to the sound of his screaming...which was pretty easy since he was screaming at the top of his lungs. Hopefully he would be able to get to Chad before he got to Mayuri Kurotsuchi.
Judging from the corpses he found strapped to operating tables, Chad was not going to be Mayuri Kurotsuchi's first victim...and unfortunately he probably wasn't going to be the last.
He had to save him pronto.
Curious, he began to hear noises, and began to wonder what was going on.
"I brought you a test subject, Master Mayuri." stated Nemu.
"Yes! Show him to me!" exclaimed Mayuri.
Sure enough, Chad was terrified out of his wits. He had never seen a Soul Reaper so terrifying...of course, he hadn't really seen any Soul Reapers other than Ichigo and Nami.
Immediately, Nemu showed Chad to Mayuri Kurotsuchi.
"What's this? It appears that we have one of the five Ryoka...good find, Nemu. Maybe I should applaud you..." stated the Gotei 13 captain.
Nemu bowed to her master in retrospect as she proceeded to strap Chad to an operating table.
"Now then...what shall I do with you?" asked the mad scientist.
"I'm starting to see how the frogs in a biology class feel..." thought Chad.
Suddenly, Uryu shot an arrow at Mayuri Kurotsuchi, who quickly moved out of the way.
"Nemu, how many times have I told you not to interfere with my research?" scolded Mayuri Kurotsuchi.
"That wasn't me..." answered Nemu. She was rather confused.
"Hmm?" inquired the Gotei 13 captain.
Sure enough, he noticed Uryu.
"You're not using him as a guinea pig! Let him go!" bellowed Uryu. After all the other people that Mayuri Kurotsuchi clearly experimented on, why should he let him have another chew toy?
"I'm sorry I got you into this..." apologized Chad. He was feeling rather guilty. If only he and Uryu had left a few minutes earlier. But there was nothing that either of them could do about it now.
"I never thought that a Quincy would break into my laboratory one day...oh well! I haven't experimented on one in quite some time now...it looks like I've finally gotten my opportunity!" cheered Mayuri Kurotsuchi. He was very much looking forward to this.
Immediately, he pulled out his zanpakuto.
Uryu began to worry. Was he going to end up like all the other victims? He was starting to realize what it was like to be a character in a horror movie...and he was probably going to have nightmares after this.
"The things I do to my friends..." thought Uryu as he got ready to fight.
Meanwhile...
Luffy and Orihime followed their way back to Soul Society. This time, Yoruichi would be able to help them get around.
"So...how did it feel to be alone together?" asked Yoruichi.
"It felt rather...interesting." noted Orihime. Now that she thought of it...they hadn't really been alone together before.
"I don't like being separated from my friends...we do everything together..." complained Luffy. But at least he got to be with Orihime. She and Luffy were fairly close.
Unfortunately, it appeared that Jidanbo was not the only guard in Soul Society. There was another guard as well...in this case it was Jirobo. And it appeared that he was not going to let them pass so easily...since he wasn't hungry.
"Isn't that the name of a Naruto villain? Are you going to trap us in an Earth Dome Prison?" inquired Orihime.
"What? No no no. I'm not going to do that...I am going to take you to jail for trespassing though...you better not have killed Sosuke Aizen..." answered Jirobo.
"You're going to have to get through me first..." stated Yoruichi.
"A little lady like yourself is going to fight me? Don't be silly!" exclaimed the giant.
"Oh dear...it appears that you're underestimating me. Let's see if I can make you question your ways..." answered the cat lady.
Suddenly, she moved out of the way before Jirobo's eyes could react.
"Huh?" asked Jirobo.
Quickly, he found himself being kicked in the face by Yoruichi.
"Oof!" exclaimed the man. Yoruichi was a lot stronger than she looked.
Yoruichi smirked in satisfaction. It appeared that she had gotten the first strike...which wasn't too shabby considering that Jirobo was much faster than his size would suggest.
Luffy and Orihime were surprised that Yoruichi was able to make Jirobo collapse with one kick, to say the very least.
"Wow! You're really strong!" exclaimed Orihime.
However, Jirobo got back up shortly afterwards.
"Alright, now you've made me angry!" bellowed Jirobo.
Immediately, he summoned several blades to attack Yoruichi.
"Careful, Yoruichi...I wouldn't want you to get stabbed!" warned Luffy.
"I'm going to try to avoid that, thank you." answered Yoruichi.
Fortunately, as it turned out, Yoruichi was simply too agile for the blades to hit her.
"Wow...not only is she strong, but she's fast too!" exclaimed Orihime. Yoruichi would be a real role model if she wouldn't stop taking her clothes off.
Jerboa could not believe it, to say the very least.
Yoruichi punched Jirobo in the face, and this time he was down for the count.
"You're awfully tough, Yoruichi!" exclaimed Luffy. He sure wished that he could be that strong.
"Thank you...just don't expect me to win all your battles. I need to take a catnap every now and then..." pointed out Yoruichi.
Luffy shrugged. He was just glad that he had someone so powerful on his side.
"Maybe we can get through the gate now?" asked Orihime.
"Yes, we can. But stay together!" exclaimed Yoruichi. She wanted to be able to keep an eye on the two in case they did something ditzy...which they inevitably would.
Orihime and Luffy nodded. They had a much better chance while Yoruichi was around, to say the very least. At this rate they would be able to find Ichigo and Rukia for sure.
"Wait, couldn't you have simply transformed and taken out the guard?" inquired Luffy.
"You seemed to have everything under control..." answered Yoruichi...though admittedly she wasn't expecting Chuck Norris and Gin Ichimaru to show up.
"Oh, that's right. I gave him a sandwich and he let us through...too bad Chuck Norris showed up..." noted Orihime.
"Yeah...I don't think even I could defeat him..." acknowledged the lady.
Orihime and Luffy gasped in shock. Yoruichi couldn't defeat Chuck Norris?! If so they were in big trouble.
Fortunately it appeared that Chuck Norris was not patrolling this part of Soul Society...so it appeared to be safe.
"Let's keep looking for Ichigo and Rukia, shall we?" asked Yoruichi.
"I thought we were looking for our friends...we were separated from them when that cannon went off..." explained Orihime.
"We're looking for them too..." stated the lady. Of course, Uryu and Chad were probably in more danger of being executed than Ichigo and Rukia were...so it might in their best interest to find them first.
Meanwhile...
"Did you hear the news?" asked one of the guards standing outside the shrine keeping Ichigo and Rukia prisoner.
"About Sosuke Aizen being dead? Everyone in Soul Society knows that at this point..." answered another guard.
"I was talking about other news..." stated the first guard.
"Oh..." answered the second guard.
"Apparently, the Ryoka invading Soul Society managed to take down a captain!" exclaimed the first guard.
"What? They did?" questioned the second guard.
"Yeah...these Ryoka are not like most of the criminals that we've been seeing throughout Soul Society...how could they even pull it off?" asked the first guard.
"Your guess is as good as mine." answered the second.
Rukia was rather surprised at the occurrence.
"Your friends are really impressive, Ichigo...I didn't think that they would be able to do such a thing considering that they were inexperienced...but apparently I thought wrong." answered Rukia.
"They took out a captain? Sounds impressive..." acknowledged Ichigo.
"Unfortunately, he wasn't the only captain in Soul Society...there are at least a dozen more out there...and a few of them are probably still hunting down your friends as we speak..." noted the female prisoner.
"That does present a problem..." agreed the male Soul Reaper. "At least my sisters aren't in danger of being executed..."
Meanwhile...
"Yuzu, wake up!" bellowed Karin.
"What?" asked Yuzu as she woke up from her nap.
"There's an angry mob outside! They're trying to kill us!" exclaimed the soccer player.
"OK...I'm not going to eat the last cookie in the cookie jar in the future..." noted Ichigo's younger sister.
"Run! Run, Yuzu! And get the others too!" exclaimed Yuzu's more tomboyish sister.
Yuzu immediately went to do just that.
"Wake up!" screamed Yuzu at the top of her lungs.
Sanji and Usopp woke up from their slumbers, wondered what was happening.
Back at the shrine...
"Huh. I think there was a cutaway gag there..." noted Ichigo.
"Did it involve your sisters?" asked Rukia.
"I believe so...wait, does this mean my sisters are in danger? Sheesh...even they can't seem to catch a break..." answered the male Soul Reaper.
"Yeah...I know." nodded the female Soul Reaper. It must be difficult having to always protect them from danger...though admittedly they seemed to have gotten better at defending themselves as of late.
Hopefully they would be fine...and so would their friends.
It appears that Yoruichi was not a cat as she claimed she was. In fact, she's actually a young woman. I guess you learn something new every day.
In the next chapter, we're going to see what happened to Nami and Ganji. And yes, there's going to be more fighting Soul Reapers. Isn't that nice?