"Captain-Commander, if there's punishment, please punish us together as well," Tosen Kaname took a step forward and bowed to admit his fault as well, "At the time, Captain Sui-Feng and I were working together against the enemy. Even with both of us using Bankai, we still couldn't stand up to that woman. It's our lack of strength."
"If you two are guilty, then I, who was one-shot at the start by that No. 2, should be the greatest sinner," Komamura Sajin spoke in a deep voice and lowered his head, bowing to the Captain-Commander to apologize.
From the words of the five captains, the other captains more or less understood the situation.
Simply put, after the Hueco Mundo expedition force entered Hueco Mundo, and after a series of investigations and tracking, they finally ran into the enemy's strong ones.
And in one go, they ran into three top-level powerhouses.
Facing three top-level powerhouses plus a large group of Adjuchas-class Arrancar, the expedition force was completely crushed.
Unohana and Kyoraku Shunsui each held one enemy down, while that blonde woman who had previously fought Rosse in the World of the Living single-handedly defeated two captains with ease.
In the end, to cover the expedition force's retreat, Captain Unohana activated her Bankai and drew all the enemies into her Bankai space, buying them the time they needed to escape.
No one knew how Unohana managed to escape in the end, but when she returned, she was already in an extremely weakened state.
According to her, she had temporarily bluffed the enemy using the special nature of her Bankai, which gave her the chance to escape.
After listening to the captains' account, the other captains fell into silence.
None of them had ever imagined Hueco Mundo would have so many strong fighters, and that it would actually lead to a five-captain lineup returning in such a crushing defeat.
"Did you get any other intel?", Rosse asked softly.
Losing badly was already a done deal. The thing to do now was to gather as much information on the enemy as possible.
"We did," Kyoraku Shunsui nodded heavily, "After half a year of careful investigation, we found that Hueco Mundo has been completely unified. Right now it's ruled by a force called Las Noches, and all Hollows take joining Las Noches as their goal."
"To officially join Las Noches, the minimum requirement is Gillian-class Menos, and you have to be a Gillian with self-awareness. Those mindless Gillians, they won't even take."
"And as long as they join Las Noches, the Hollow King will grant them evolution and turn them from Hollows into Arrancar."
"Arrancar? Breaking the Hollow's mask… that's actually a pretty fitting name," Kurotsuchi Mayuri clicked his tongue in wonder.
"Within Las Noches, aside from the supreme Hollow King himself, there are ten powerhouses who stand at the very peak of Hueco Mundo, known as ten Espada under the Hollow King's throne. In other words, they're the Espada from the intel we had before," Kyoraku Shunsui explained. [T/N: Grimmjow is No.10 not 14]
"The No. 2 Captain Kyoraku mentioned would be the second-ranked fighter among the Espada, right?", Aizen chimed in at the right moment.
"That's right."
Kyoraku Shunsui nodded lightly and sighed, "All we know is her number. The one who fought Captain Unohana was a male Hollow with black wings, and the one who fought Sui-Feng and the others was the blonde woman Captain Rosse encountered before. The strength of those two is not much weaker than No. 2. Each one of them is a Vasto Lorde-class Arrancar, which means their power is beyond even ordinary Vasto Lorde."
"I believe, unless something unexpected, they should be No. 1 and No. 3."
'Vasto Lorde, huh.'
Against a Hollow of that level, even a captain had a high chance of getting overturned, let alone when it was a Vasto Lorde-class Arrancar.
From Kyoraku Shunsui's own feel, even if he went all out, the risk of getting wrecked was extremely high.
And within Soul Society, leaving Zero Division out of it, there probably were not even three people who could definitely overpower him.
Meanwhile, in Hueco Mundo, just among the Espada, there were already four known Vasto Lorde-class Arrancar.
And that did not even count the rest of the Espada. For all he knew, the weakest of the Espada might also be a Vasto Lorde-class Arrancar.
"The Arrancar also have an ability called Resurreccion, similar to our Shinigami's Bankai. They can transform themselves into something like a half-beast form, with a massive boost in spiritual pressure and all other abilities," Unohana reminded them at the right time.
Listening to Unohana's description, Sui-Feng, Tosen Kaname and the others at the side all felt a bit awkward.
When they faced Harribel, they hadn't even managed to force her to use Resurreccion.
"I see," Captain-Commander Yamamoto nodded slightly and accepted the failure of the Hueco Mundo expedition.
With Las Noches' strength, unless the entire Gotei 13 was thrown into the fight, they were simply not a match.
And given Soul Society's situation, there was no way they could commit everyone.
So the best option now was naturally to ask for outside help.
"In that case, notify Zero Division. Let them handle the follow-up."
Now that the outcome of a full-on fight was uncertain, Captain-Commander Yamamoto had no intention of forcing it.
The Gotei 13's foundation was Soul Society. There was no need to butt into Hueco Mundo's affairs. As long as the well water and river water did not mix, that was enough.
If something truly serious happened, it was only right for Zero Division to be the ones worrying about it.
"Notify Zero Division?"
Hearing this unfamiliar term, most of the captains showed confused expressions.
Only a small number of captains who had been around a hundred years or more knew a bit about Zero Division.
Of course, how many of those people were just pretending to be confused was another question.
"You don't need to worry about the follow-up on this matter. Others will handle it," Captain-Commander Yamamoto's final word settled the issue.
Though Sui-Feng and the other captains were unwilling in their hearts, they still silently accepted the idea.
They could not win anyway. Saying anything more would just be embarrassing.
"Captains Kyoraku, Ukitake, and Unohana, you three stay. The rest of you may leave," In the end, Captain-Commander Yamamoto kept the three veteran captains behind, and the others chose to disperse on the spot.
———
The other captains naturally would not ask more and left the First Division one after another.
"Captain Sui-Feng, didn't you say you were going to keep someone there? So it turns out 'keep' meant staying in Hueco Mundo, huh. Really broadened my horizons."
The moment they stepped out the door, Rosse turned to Sui-Feng with a smiling look.
Back then, Sui-Feng had not held back on her trash talk.
Now he was just returning the favor.
"You!", Sui-Feng glared at Rosse in anger, but could not get a single other word out.
The facts were right there.
Rosse, alone, had gone up against Harribel, and in the end, after a round of testing on both sides, the two of them had silently withdrawn from the fight and left.
But when she and Tosen Kaname faced Harribel, and it was also in a situation where Harribel had not gone all out, she and Tosen Kaname had both used Bankai, yet they were still slaughtered by her.
That was enough to show not only that there was a huge gap between her and Harribel, but also that there was an unbridgeable gap between her and Rosse.
"Captain Sui-Feng, next time if you don't have the strength, don't spout big words. Be careful or your mouth will get you in trouble."
Rosse finished with a bright smile and walked away without looking back.
Forcing someone's head to the ground and making them kneel was one kind of thrill. Setting them up so they trip, then pinning them down and mocking them with words, was also its own kind of pleasure.
To him, as long as something was fun, he was very happy to do it.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through P@treon.