If there was one thing Beltz desired most in the world of Bleach, it was definitely the Hōgyoku!
However, he was a Quincy, not a Shinigami, so he had no way to contact Rukia in the outside world.
Now that he had finally left the Wandenreich, how could he pass up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?
Knowing that Yhwach would cause chaos in the Seireitei, he only needed to wait for the moment of greatest confusion to seize the chance to kidnap Rukia!
Many people believed that the Hōgyoku inside Rukia was implanted by Urahara when he swapped her Gigai after she arrived in the Human World.
In reality, this was a misconception.
The Hōgyoku had actually been implanted in Rukia's body long ago.
Aizen had also long since confirmed that the Hōgyoku was inside Rukia; he just wasn't in a hurry to extract it.
Rukia's trip to Karakura Town was arranged by Aizen, and the fact that she transferred all her Reiatsu to Ichigo was due to the Hōgyoku's influence.
Therefore, Beltz had always been keeping an eye on Rukia.
There were two Hōgyokus in total; one was in Aizen's hands, created by himself.
The other was inside Rukia, created by Urahara.
Later, Aizen obtained the Hōgyoku from Rukia's body and fused it with his own into one; that was the final Hōgyoku that helped Aizen evolve continuously.
So, strictly speaking, the Hōgyoku inside Rukia could only be called half of the true Hōgyoku.
According to Aizen, both his and Urahara's Hōgyokus were incomplete.
But whether complete or not, this thing was a sacred relic of the world of Bleach!
If he had the chance, he would definitely get his hands on it!
If he missed this chance, who knew when he would ever get another.
Fortunately, the Gorosei had indeed attracted the attention of the Shinigami, and most importantly, they had actually merged to create Imu!
Imu's Conqueror's Haki and Domi Reversi had turned the Seireitei into a mess, giving Beltz the perfect opportunity to break in by transforming into a giant dragon!
Furthermore, Beltz used his ability of The Subconscious to give everyone who saw him a psychological cue, making them perceive him as a Hollow.
Although the Reiatsu on him wasn't that of a Hollow, what kind of Reiatsu he actually had didn't matter, as long as others perceived it that way.
Therefore, afterward, the Shinigami would only focus their attention on Hollows.
Even if the empire within the shadows discovered this Azure Dragon, they wouldn't find it strange.
After all, it was a Hollow; what was so strange about one coming to the Seireitei during the chaos to eat a Shinigami?
Even if big figures like Haschwalth were monitoring the Seireitei, their perspective would certainly be fixed on the merged Imu.
Currently, he was carrying Rukia toward the Rukongai, rapidly moving away from the Seireitei. Once he felt he was far enough, he hid in the depths of a mountain range.
He opened his mouth and spat Rukia out.
Because she had been in his mouth for a while, Rukia was covered in Beltz's saliva, though in more mystical terms, it could be considered Dragon Spit.
She was currently hypnotized by Beltz's ability and was in a deep sleep.
Then, Beltz grabbed Rukia's hand and, in the next moment, activated a Spatial Teleportation to enter One Piece.
Meanwhile, within the Wandenreich.
—
Haschwalth was reporting the events in the Seireitei to Yhwach.
"This experiment was very successful."
Yhwach commented. Sending the Gorosei to cause destruction in the Seireitei was not only to use the Shinigami's power to investigate the abyss but, more importantly, to test the Gorosei's abilities.
After all, the previous month-long Sternritter Selection couldn't test the current capabilities of the Gorosei.
That month was for them to grow; once they had finished growing, it was natural to test them.
And the Seireitei was the best place for it.
And as for the result, Yhwach was very satisfied.
The Gorosei's own combat power was secondary; most importantly, as the Soul King, Yhwach saw Imu deep within the souls of the five of them.
Just because others couldn't see it didn't mean Yhwach couldn't.
Yhwach knew at a glance that the Gorosei, who had come to the Wandenreich to cause destruction, had the souls of others within them.
The Gorosei were just puppets, much like his Sternritter, or rather, his Schutzstaffel.
The true culprit was the dark shadow hidden deep within the Gorosei's souls!
He used his own soul to activate the Imu Power within the Gorosei and then had the five of them merge, successfully creating this Imu.
The Schrift 'Imu' can actually only exert a portion of its power at the moment.
After all, the Gorosei were still "too young"; only when they fully matured would the merged Imu be able to exert its full strength.
Very good, Yhwach was also very satisfied with this experiment.
The Domi Reversi displayed would certainly be of great use in the war.
And that Immortality—
If there was an opportunity, it could even be spread to more people.
If every Sternritter had Immortality, they would not only be further under his control but would also exhibit even stronger and more terrifying combat power in battle.
Just as Beltz had thought, the Wandenreich's primary focus was Imu.
The Azure Dragon Beltz had transformed into went to a very remote corner, and no one noticed.
Even if noticed, it would only be thought of as a Hollow, which indeed wasn't strange.
After all, it just ate a Shinigami and left; it wasn't like any major incident had occurred.
At this moment, the Seireitei had also not yet realized Rukia's disappearance; they were busy dealing with the Shinigami who had undergone the Domi Reversi.
The speed at which the Domi Reversi Shinigami spread was very fast, because this thing didn't convert one by one; the more black pieces there were, the faster the white pieces were converted.
So in just this short amount of time, the number of demons had already grown from hundreds to nearly a thousand.
The Captains wouldn't kill these Demon Shinigami but would capture them alive, then either send them to Prison or to Mayuri's Laboratory.
Actually, according to Mayuri's wishes, all the Demon Shinigami should be sent to the Research and Development Bureau, but the other Captains were worried that Mayuri might be played to death by these Demon Shinigami, so they still kept some in Prison.
And so, Beltz arrived in One Piece with Rukia.
At this moment, he was getting closer and closer to the Sabaody Archipelago.
Besides the technology he had copied from Mayuri, the Hōgyoku inside Rukia also had to be analyzed by Vegapunk.
If Vegapunk could copy another Hōgyoku, it would be a goldmine!
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