At this moment, a certain artifact concealed within Shihouin Yoruichi's attire produced a strange fluctuation—a subtle pulse of energy that manifested and disappeared almost instantly. Her golden eyes narrowed, and her expression darkened with suspicion.
"Someone was watching us just now," she stated firmly, her voice dropping to a cautious whisper. "It was an extremely sophisticated surveillance method—so advanced that even my family's artifact couldn't fully detect its source or nature." Her brows furrowed in concentration. "Could it be a backup plan left by Aizen?"
The possibility seemed logical. Hueco Mundo was Aizen's territory, after all, and Uehara Shiroha represented the single greatest threat to the traitor's ambitions. It would be entirely reasonable for Aizen to have implemented contingency measures here—hidden surveillance systems designed to monitor his most dangerous potential adversaries.
What troubled Yoruichi most, however, was the sheer sophistication of the surveillance technique. The detection capabilities of the Shihouin family artifacts were legendary, developed and refined over thousands of years. For something to evade them so completely spoke to a level of power that exceeded even Aizen's known capabilities.
"It's just some noise, nothing to worry about," Uehara Shiroha replied with casual dismissal. As he spoke, he subtly increased the strength of his observation Haki, extending its reach and potency to suppress the sight of a certain "peeping Tom" who had dared intrude upon his privacy.
Hyosube Ichibei, are you peeping at me? Shiroha thought to himself, his mental tone laced with irritation.
This monk is really a piece of shit! His internal monologue continued with increasing contempt. He neglects his actual duties but is brimming with malicious intentions. The man is ungrateful—a pure white-eyed wolf! He doesn't care about anything that doesn't directly involve the Soul King, and he wouldn't hesitate to throw even innocent bystanders under the bus if it served his precious master.
Shiroha's disdain for the monk was palpable even in his private thoughts. What can he really do besides aspiring to be the "Soul King's Wife"? That's all he's ever wanted—to remain in that privileged position beside the throne, wielding power without responsibility.
A grim smile crossed Shiroha's face as he contemplated his next move. Soon, I'll launch an assault on the Soul King's Palace and give that collection of self-important Zero Division captains a proper shock. It's time they learned that their vaunted position doesn't make them untouchable.
Miles away, in the Zero Division Hall under the jurisdiction of Ichibei Hyosube within the Soul King Palace, all the captains of the Zero Division had gathered once more. Their attention was fixed on an array of sophisticated surveillance equipment arrayed before them.
Several translucent screens floated in the air, each displaying different angles of the ongoing battle between Aizen and the Gotei 13. Some of these surveillance feeds were the product of advanced Kidō techniques, while others were directly connected to the unique abilities of Hyosube Ichibei, the Eye Monk.
As his title suggested, Ichibei's clairvoyance abilities were extraordinary—capable of seeing through the barriers between the three realms and even penetrating into the spiritual world of individual beings. Such comprehensive surveillance methods were terrifying in their scope and precision, second only to the all-knowing and all-powerful eyes of Yhwach himself.
As Ichibei Hyosube activated the full extent of his abilities, one of the screens shifted to display a majestic, breathtakingly magnificent crystal structure—an ice palace of incomparable beauty and complexity. Within its frozen halls stood a gorgeous throne crafted entirely of ice, the craftsmanship so exquisite that it seemed to have been shaped by divine hands rather than mortal ones.
Upon this majestic throne sat a tall, straight-backed, and remarkably handsome young man. As if sensing their observation, he suddenly looked up—looking directly at them across the impossible distance, his gaze somehow penetrating the one-way nature of Ichibei's surveillance.
The young man's demeanor remained perfectly calm and composed, but his eyes flashed like lightning, containing a hidden divine light that spoke of power beyond mortal comprehension. The next second, his mouth curled upward in a knowing smirk, and the screen monitoring him instantly exploded into countless fragments of spiritual energy, the connection severed completely.
Witnessing this unprecedented occurrence, Wang Yue and the other members of the Zero Division visibly tensed, their expressions shifting from shock to solemnity as they processed the implications of what they had just witnessed.
"Oh my, we were discovered!" The leader of the Zero Squad, Hyosube Ichibei, stroked his black beard thoughtfully as he exclaimed with a mixture of surprise and grudging admiration. "This young man is becoming more and more terrifying by the day. He can not only detect but completely neutralize my abilities. Fortunately," he added with calculated optimism, "he is on our side of the Shinigami."
The current Hyosube Ichibei had conveniently forgotten his previous assessment of Uehara Shiroha. When they had first encountered the young Shinigami, Ichibei had noted with alarm that Shiroha demonstrated no respect for the five noble families, the Soul King Palace, the Zero Squad, or even the Soul King himself. At that time, Ichibei had bluntly stated that "this kid is not the same kind of person as us"—but since his existence did not seem to immediately threaten the established order, they had reluctantly decided to tolerate his presence.
Now, however, Hyosube Ichibei appeared to have completely forgotten those words of caution, choosing instead to claim Uehara Shiroha as "one of their own"—a convenient fiction that allowed him to avoid confronting the potential threat the young man represented.
Oetsu Nimaiya, however, was not so easily convinced by Ichibei's sudden change of heart. The Zanpakutō creator raised an eyebrow and responded in his characteristically exaggerated tone, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"What? You said you were merely discovered?" he questioned incredulously. "Let's be honest—you were completely suppressed! Is this real? Did this actually happen? Is it the power of some unknown Zanpakutō?" The flamboyant man clutched his chest dramatically. "As the sword god himself, even I don't understand it. What a humiliating failure!"
His expression shifted suddenly to one of genuine admiration. "I must say, I really want to compose a song to praise this remarkable youngster for achieving what no one else has managed to do."
As an ancient monster who had lived for untold tens of thousands of years, and as the second-in-command of the Zero Division, Oetsu Nimaiya understood better than most just how abnormal and formidable Hyosube Ichibei's abilities truly were. It was no exaggeration to say that the monk's Thousand Miles Sky-Seeing Eyes possessed the ability to penetrate the very fabric of heaven and earth, observing all things across vast distances with perfect clarity.
Legend held that this extraordinary power had been personally bestowed by the Soul King himself. Combined with the amplifying effects of the Ōken—the King's Key that granted the Zero Division their enhanced abilities—even the other captains of the Zero Division could not hope to resist or suppress such surveillance techniques.
And yet, a Shinigami who had existed for less than two centuries had effortlessly neutralized their leader's signature ability—a feat that should have been utterly impossible. It was akin to a minnow defeating a leviathan—neither reasonable nor comprehensible within their understanding of spiritual power.
Wangyue racked his brain trying to determine how Uehara Shiroha had accomplished such a feat. This mystery paralleled his ongoing confusion regarding how the young man's Zanpakutō had somehow managed to escape their influence and control.
Even Yhwach, the son of the Soul King himself, had ultimately been dealt with by the Zero Division's combined might. How then could a mere Shinigami prove so inexplicably resilient to their power?
"King of the Valley" Kirio Hikifune, her brow furrowed in concentration, voiced the confusion that gripped them all:
"It's genuinely perplexing!" she exclaimed, her scientific curiosity piqued. "But we've confirmed it through multiple examinations. This young man's flesh and blood are fundamentally different from our own, yet he doesn't possess any identifiable special powers that would explain his abilities. By all measurable standards, he possesses the ordinary body of a Shinigami."
She shook her head, growing increasingly frustrated by the contradiction. "There is no trace of any external entity or influence within his physical form. So where exactly does his extraordinary ability originate? What kind of existence could possibly provide such tremendous power? And why," she added with growing unease, "do we know absolutely nothing about the nature of his abilities despite our collective millennia of experience?"