From what Yoshio knew, there were currently three Vasto Lorde in Las Noches.
First, of course, was Baraggan, the King of Hueco Mundo; as the future Segunda Espada, his strength was beyond doubt.
Second was Las Noches' scientist, the future Octava Espada, Szayelaporro Granz.
Szayelaporro had once been a powerful Vasto Lorde, even stronger than Baraggan, but his ambition wasn't in battle—it was in pursuing a perfect life.
Thus, in Las Noches he served only as a scientist.
When Aizen formed the Espada, he was among the earliest Zero Espada.
However, Szayelaporro cared nothing for combat power; in fact, he was ideologically averse to it.
So he split from his warlike brother, Yylfordt Granz, whom he had previously devoured.
Because of the split, both saw a massive drop in power, falling directly from the strongest Zero Espada to the point of not even qualifying for the Espada.
Later, Szayelaporro returned to the Espada as the Eighth, while Yylfordt served as Grimmjow's Fracción until his death.
At this time, Szayelaporro had not yet split and still possessed the terrifying combat power of a Vasto Lorde.
The third Vasto Lorde was Picaro, the "102" among the three-digit ranks—a group of kids. Aizen deemed these children unfit to be part of the Espada, so he booted them out into the "three digits."
Still, no matter how unruly they were, they were ultimately among the higher-tier Menos Grande.
So…
How to put it—Aizen actually had plenty of hidden cards in the original story; he simply chose not to use them.
While the Espada were indeed his ten strongest Arrancar, they weren't without equals.
For example…
Loly Aivirrne, who replaced Grimmjow.
And besides Loly Aivirrne, Picaro clearly counted too. As a Vasto Lorde, even after being relegated to the three digits, becoming Espada again was obviously no problem.
But Aizen probably didn't care much about the Espada from the start—what he cared about most was his own evolution.
If he truly let his subordinates flatten Soul Society, how would he push himself to the limit in battle so the Hōgyoku would submit to him?
Starrk followed Yoshio, came to the Hollow realm with Shinigami, and helped Shinigami seize the King of Hueco Mundo's rule—no matter how you looked at it, it was odd.
Yet a sliver of yearning rose in Starrk's heart.
So much powerful spiritual pressure was here; perhaps…
He wouldn't be alone anymore.
"Who goes there?"
Suddenly, a massive presence appeared before the group and roared at them.
"I am Cacameal, under the King of Hueco Mundo—"
Slash!
Before he could finish, Tōsen Kaname sliced him in two with a single stroke, cleaving the massive Menos Grande cleanly apart.
In the next instant, the party used Shunpo to enter the palace.
Inside, a dozen or so Hollows seemed to be in a meeting. At the head was a skull-shaped Menos Grande wearing a crown, seated upon Hueco Mundo's throne, with a faint crescent moon overhead.
Yoshio looked and saw that Baraggan's Souls Ability was ["Aging."]
["Aging: Release the breath of death to cause aging."]
Isn't that just Baraggan's ability?
Baraggan's inherent power—his Souls Ability?
How perfunctory…
This was the first time Yoshio had encountered such a Souls Ability.
Souls Abilities correlate with a person's inherent powers, but also consider the person's traits, past, present, and future experiences—even impressions and judgments from higher-dimensional beings—blended together into what Yoshio could perceive as a "Souls Ability."
But thinking it through, Baraggan had only two labels.
One: King of Hueco Mundo. The other: his Resurrección, Arrogante.
Sigh—he was the Segunda Espada, yet had almost no personal story.
Yoshio grumbled inwardly. He actually thought this was fine, because aging as a power was already strong.
In any world, time-related abilities aren't weak, and this one was a direct offensive type to boot.
If he could obtain it, that'd be great.
However…
Yoshio felt that, if he wanted to raise Baraggan's favorability to eighty, he might as well try to raise Yhwach's.
Forget it—these things depend on fate. If he could get it, great; if not, he couldn't force it.
Yoshio kept an open mind; it wasn't like he had no other options.
Sometimes, because of his status, it was impossible to gain certain people's favor.
But if he became friends with Starrk, it would be different.
He could use Starrk's Spirit Split… to split off clone after clone, then use the clones to earn others' favor.
He couldn't change his own identity, but a clone was different. A clone could approach whomever he wanted to win over with a different identity and stance.
For example, Baraggan—he could split off a clone and have it help Baraggan to gain his favor…
Mm, still sounds too hard.
You can't expect someone like Baraggan to ever like you.
But he could use it on the Quincy!
Once he permanently obtained Ishida Sōken's [Quincy Heir], he could fully forge a Quincy clone to enter the Wandenreich and use that clone to gain the Quincies' favor.
And precisely because of this, he absolutely had to show up before Starrk—otherwise, if he missed this chance, who knew when he'd ever get Spirit Split.
Yoshio drifted into thought; when he came back to himself, Aizen was already close to finishing Baraggan.
So fast…
Looking at the somewhat aggrieved Baraggan, Yoshio almost wanted to laugh.
"And then…"
Aizen glanced at Yoshio, seemingly perceiving his mood, and couldn't help saying, "Yoshio-kun, you'll stay in Las Noches."
"?"
Yoshio blinked. "What do you mean?"
Aizen smiled. "We still need to return to Soul Society. So naturally, Las Noches will be your responsibility."
You're kidding me, right?
You want to leave me alone in Las Noches?
You just beat up Baraggan—are you sure he won't bite back the moment you leave?!