In fact, Aizen really did use the Gotei 13 to complete several of his plans.
His subsequent exposure was only because the Gotei 13 were no longer useful, and he also needed them to oppose him so he could fully fuse with the Hōgyoku in battle.
After hanging around Aizen for so long, Yoshio found himself looking down on the Gotei 13 a bit.
Ahem, having thoughts like that isn't exactly healthy.
Despise the enemy strategically, but value them tactically! You can be dismissive of people on a personal level, but when it comes time to clash, you can't allow a shred of carelessness.
How many bosses in Bleach overturned themselves because of carelessness?
Byakuya Kuchiki, Ulquiorra, Sōsuke Aizen, Yhwach…
All of them could've killed Ichigo Kurosaki, and in the end they each got overturned and defeated by him.
I can't become like them.
Yoshio watched Mayuri raging at the side, while he himself stayed out of the way.
Thankfully, the Gotei 13 ultimately classified the incident as an accident. They did increase their focus on improving the barrier, but didn't add manpower.
And fair enough—given they had Mayuri plus three captains guarding the 11th Division's sector, the defenses were already strong enough.
After all, this is Seireitei. Even if a tremendously powerful enemy showed up, the other captains could rush to support quickly.
The funniest part is how Seireitei's systems tend to be one-size-fits-all.
For example—
If a Gotei 13 captain goes to the World of the Living, they must be branded with a limiter seal, reducing their spiritual pressure to 20%.
However, as long as you're not captain-class—meaning not a captain or a lieutenant—even if a third seat's reiatsu is stronger than a lieutenant's or even approaching captain-level, they don't need a limiter at all!
Yoshio even felt that if Yamamoto weren't the Captain-Commander but the 1st Division's third seat, then he also wouldn't need a limiter to go to the Living World.
The Soul Society's system is unsettling—borderline comedic.
So the situation here becomes: no matter the actual strength of the three assigned captains, as long as the rotation says it's their turn, that's it—no one cares whether it makes sense or whether they coordinate well.
With the great minds of Central 46 around, Yoshio felt much more at ease.
…
Soon, a few more days passed.
After the 4th, 5th, and 6th Divisions rotated out, it was the 7th, 8th, and 9th. Because Kyōraku Shunsui was among them, they weren't easy to mess with, and the Quincy still made no move.
Only when the 10th, 11th, and 13th Divisions took the field together did the Quincy finally start to stir.
They didn't act on day one. On day two, when vigilance was at its lowest, Baelz gathered several Quincy—among them the Y-brothers, Gremmy Thoumeaux, and Liltotto Lamperd.
Yoshio had Y-older transform into Starrk and Y-younger into Angra to play Arrancar.
He then had Gremmy place the previous vanishing point onto Liltotto.
By now, after days of devouring, the black hole inside Liltotto had already absorbed a lot of mass—its pull had become very strong, and the internal capacity could hold much more.
Combined with her innate ability, she could swallow wraiths in a single gulp!
Baelz handed Liltotto the Stone Mask again and said, "Next, Lloyd and Royd will lure away Captains Kurotsuchi Mayuri, Ukitake Jūshirō, and Zaraki Kenpachi. Liltotto will use the vanishing point ability to appear inside the Sekkiseki membrane, swallow the wraith, then head to Hueco Mundo.
"From Hueco Mundo, use the Gate of the Sun to return to the Empire."
After setting the plan, Baelz added, "Move fast. This is Seireitei's turf—dragging things out will draw all the captains over.
"Especially Genryūsai Yamamoto. He's definitely watching the 12th Sector. If you can't move quickly and he locks onto you, that's troublesome."
"Understood," the Lloyd brothers nodded.
In truth, their task was the toughest.
They had to fight the Shinigami head-on. If they couldn't shake them off quickly, even escaping might become impossible.
Baelz actually had some wariness about the brothers' abilities—especially the younger brother, Royd Lloyd.
Baelz didn't care if someone copied his power; what he feared was someone copying his memories.
He had too many unspeakable secrets. Many knew pieces of those secrets, but no one knew all of them—not even the First Generation Tsunayashiro in Hell, who watched over the Three Realms.
Yet the Y-brothers' powers could directly obtain others' memories, with activation conditions that weren't even strict—just trigger the skill.
Y-older could get 70–80% of memories; Y-younger could get 100%.
Which meant that if they transformed into him, they might obtain his entire memory.
Luckily, they didn't casually transform into others. And there were counters to their peeking—like Yoshio, Angra Mainyu, and Baelz all had ways to avoid it.
Simple: stay inside safehouse.
The safehouse's effect was immunity to all prying—which included one's memories.
As long as he was inside, even the Y-brothers couldn't copy his memories.
Of course, that created another issue: they would notice they'd acquired nothing and find it strange.
So Angra wouldn't let them leave empty-handed.
Just like how the safehouse could simulate fabricated activity scenes, it could also fabricate memories—confirmed by experiments.
Seireitei had no shortage of memory-related tools, after all.
Still, the brothers' abilities were nasty. It's just that they didn't have the habit of randomly turning into others—if they suddenly transformed into him while he was off-guard, they could indeed peek into his memories.
Baelz didn't believe they could obtain his memory without limit—that would be too broken.
Likewise, Y-older's perfect power copy must have limits. Could he perfectly copy Yamamoto right now?
The Monk or the Soul King at the Royal Palace?
Impossible.
Every ability has limits.
So Royd's memory copy should have limits too—great against the weak, not so easy against the strong.
Baelz lacked more data to confirm, so, being cautious, he was inclined to eliminate them. Their soul abilities weren't that attractive to him anyway.
Y-older's soul ability: Copy—copy the target's current power.
Y-younger's soul ability: Scapegoat—designate someone with 80 Favor or higher as a scapegoat; when facing lethal danger, the damage transfers to that person.
Likely gained because he acted as Yhwach's double and was killed by Yamamoto's wrath.
Good abilities, but not irresistibly tempting to Baelz.
He could mimic with Yoshio's Appearance Mimicry, and for Scapegoat, Baelz had Liltotto's Calamity Undying.
So the brothers' threat was greater than their lure.
Baelz considered using this chance to kill them.
Yhwach had authorized him to mobilize any resources—losses would be normal, right?
The real hassle was he couldn't expose the Quincy's existence to the Shinigami. If the brothers died outside, their true forms would be revealed, exposing that Quincy still existed.
Not only Yhwach needed to stay hidden—Baelz did too.
Have Aizen move?
The brothers' abilities threatened Aizen as well. If Aizen seized the chance, would he kill them?
Baelz reviewed Aizen Psychology, compiled from Yoshio's decades of observation, and still couldn't be sure. He thought Aizen would likely act, but might also lie low; acting would expose that he knew something of the Wandenreich.
In the end, wait and see. If Aizen didn't act, forget it. If he did, Baelz could decide whether to kick them while they were down.
He glanced at Gremmy, who looked unconcerned, then turned back to the monitors.
The Y-brothers were about to begin.
…
Seireitei, outskirts of the 12th Sector.
Each rotation guarded for two days.
At such a critical time, Rangiku wasn't drinking. Her mind was a mess: the captain vanished without cause, leaving the entire 10th Division in her hands as lieutenant.
She wanted to drink to drown her sorrows, but Seireitei was tense. With her captain in trouble, she couldn't get drunk and bungle things.
"Hm?"
Suddenly, Rangiku felt a strange reiatsu.
The next moment, a black Cero blasted toward them!
?!
Rangiku's pupils dilated. A Cero here?! And the pressure—absurdly strong!
She instantly judged she couldn't block it.
Before it hit her, a flash of sword light sliced it in two.
Thud!
The bifurcated Cero shot to both sides and detonated among the streets, collapsing buildings and sending flames sky-high. The crushing reiatsu stimulated every cell in the nearby Shinigami.
"Captain… Zaraki."
Rangiku, startled, swallowed as Kenpachi appeared before her.
Kenpachi ignored her, grinning bloodthirstily. "Finally, something interesting."
"Ken-chan, charge!" Yachiru perched on his shoulder, pointing excitedly.
Kenpachi launched like a missile, his passage cleaving a path through the fire as he locked onto a figure ahead.
"Ah, I think I've seen you!"
Seeing the figure, Kenpachi roared with laughter. "I've been wanting to fight you again!"
Y-older, disguised as Starrk, felt surprised. This guy had seen him?
He could copy only 70–80% of memories, and copied memories didn't auto-play in his head—more like a server he could query as needed.
On seeing Kenpachi recognize him, he fetched that memory: back in Hueco Mundo, Kenpachi and Isshin formed a team and had crossed paths with Starrk. Starrk played defensive and kited with speed.
He said nothing, per Baelz's orders. He copied power; memory came attached, but he couldn't flawlessly impersonate someone. Speaking risked exposure.
So he raised his gun and fired dozens of Ceros at once—among them several Gran Rey Ceros and black Ceros, since he had copied a Resurrección Segunda Etapa Starrk.
Boom!
Kenpachi dodged aside, still catching several blasts, but tanked them with his body and charged on. He had already torn off his eyepatch—he knew this man was strong.
This Kenpachi was far stronger than his early manga debut version. Over these years, Seireitei hadn't been peaceful: Starrk, Isshin, Arrancar, and wraith incidents—Kenpachi grew each battle, lifting parts of his self-imposed seal.
Otherwise, his earliest state would be insta-gibbed by a Segunda Etapa Starrk copy.
Y-older didn't need to defeat Kenpachi—just lure him away. With Kenpachi gone, only Ukitake and Mayuri posed threats outside the 12th Sector.
So Y-younger, disguised as Angra Mainyu, entered.
"Ken—pachi!"
Ukitake shouted after the departing Kenpachi to no avail. He couldn't chase too; someone had to stay and guard.
He felt uneasy, as if something had set sights on them.
He twitched an ear—heard a flow.
A pooling black sludge streamed toward the 12th Sector.
"Hadō #31. Shakkahō!"
He didn't know what it was, but he couldn't let it slip in. A fireball shot into the sludge—only to be smothered and absorbed.
"Hm?"
Mayuri sensed it too. He'd had contact with Angra Mainyu in Hueco Mundo—Angra had once proposed exchanging research for help. While publicly refusing, Mayuri had privately traded: Angra delivered a few Arrancar; Mayuri provided tech data.
He had some understanding of Angra's ability. The black sludge—wasn't this Angra? Or… a kin?
Hollows occasionally form species, but Mayuri denied that idea. The reiatsu matched Angra's exactly.
What did this guy want in Seireitei? Interested in the wraith?
Mayuri had already lost interest in the wraith—he'd recorded almost all the data. Born of coincidence, it wasn't interesting once parsed.
But for others, it was a novelty. A science-curious Hollow like Angra being interested made sense.
He smiled. He wouldn't go easy because someone had been his partner. In fact, Angra's body intrigued him—seemingly liquid, a rarity among Hollows, akin to a natural type.
Yet after multiple contacts, seeing this true body, Mayuri felt sure: Angra wasn't liquid, but far rarer—the first emotion-type Hollow in history.
His essence might be a creature's emotion—so viscous it condensed into matter: that black sludge. Neither liquid nor solid—condensation.
Fascinating.
Mayuri's eyes burned with zeal. He fully abandoned the wraith—what's fun about that, when there's this?
When Ukitake moved to use Hadō, Mayuri stepped forward with a cruel smile.
"Don't ruin my precious specimen."
"Mayuri?" Ukitake was surprised. "Why are you here? Your research?"
"I'm done." Mayuri cackled. "That thing is irrelevant now. I'm very interested in this dark organism. Don't disturb my research."
"…If the wraith explodes…" Ukitake fretted.
"I said I'm not interested!" Mayuri snapped. "If you don't want it causing trouble, go babysit it."
Ukitake stared at the sludge, then flash-stepped away.
"Long time no see," Mayuri said after Ukitake left. "I'm touched—you heard the R&D Bureau was destroyed and rushed to bring me material?"
The black sludge writhed into Angra's shape. Royd said, "You want to kill me?"
"No, no, I won't kill you," Mayuri said. "I'll just make you a test subject. You're an exceedingly rare type."
Royd raised a hand—fired a Cero.
Mayuri blocked it with his Zanpakutō. "I said I won't kill you. But if a test subject resists, I'll have to bestow some pain."
"You think you can kill me?" Royd sneered. "Your Tech Development Bureau's gone. Coming to the field without gear—have you lost it, scientist?"
"Oh?" Mayuri feigned surprise. "Can't recall saying I brought no tools. You're a newbie who only grows by leeching others' research.
Tools are external. A scientist's real power is the brain. As long as the brain remains, we can create any tool at any time—including the drugs now in your body."
Royd's face changed. "In my body? When…"
"From the start." Mayuri giggled. "Guess what I dosed you with?"
Royd frowned—then thought of something. "You drugged the 12th Sector's surroundings?"
"You're not entirely stupid," Mayuri said. "If I know someone's eyeing my pet, why wouldn't I prepare? Especially with that woman who ambushed me around."
Others could deduce the fourth rotation was thinnest; so could Mayuri.
Though the wraith breaching the membrane was an accident, Mayuri, as a scientist, believes in no accidents. If someone tried something, the fourth rotation was their best chance—thus also the best time to defend.
"When did you…" Royd couldn't figure it out—under their surveillance, Mayuri hadn't done anything. How?
Mayuri laughed, voice chilling. "A layman asking foolish questions. Curiosity good; stupidity, not.
You didn't forget the wraith trapped there is my experimental product, right?"
In that instant, with some of Angra's thinking, Royd understood. "You monster…"
The wraith was an amalgam of Mayuri's test subjects, drugs, and tools. Its outward attacks spread parts of itself—spiritual pressure that Mayuri could revert to past drugs, even new ones.
Meaning: the entire 12th Sector, and all places the wraith attacked, was laced with Mayuri's drugs. One thought, they activate.
And Royd, appearing as Angra's sludge, had absorbed the ground as he writhed—his body packed with a cocktail.
Royd tried to move—but couldn't.
So… what drug?
Baelz had briefed them: among the three captains, Ukitake and Kenpachi weren't as terrifying as Kurotsuchi Mayuri—the most dangerous. Mayuri used drugs to make you unwittingly fall.
They hadn't taken it seriously—until now. Baelz hadn't exaggerated.
What did he do to me?
Seeing Angra seemingly comprehend, Mayuri looked gratified, as if a student had graduated.
"I'm researching a drug that lets one muster courage. Do you know what courage is?"
"What…"
"Ah, you don't. Let me explain," Mayuri said. "To be able to advance is courage; to possess power is courage."
"?!"
"Do you feel infinite power in your body right now—like you could tear the sky, shatter the earth? With such power, you should be able to do anything. Yet why can't you take a single step? I don't think I need to spell it out."
"Each of my drugs offers a novel experience—superhuman thought, power, realm, courage, vision. Enjoy this feeling of courage—though you've clearly failed."
Mayuri walked up to Royd and whispered, "The feeling of infinite power is wonderful, but you dare not take a step—for you think that step will destroy everything. Isn't that right… impostor?"
"?!"
Royd's pupils shrank. Mayuri continued, "Oh-ho, I guessed right. I only wanted to test if you were really Angra Mainyu—but it seems I was spot-on."
"Why?" Royd asked.
"Why?" Mayuri laughed. "You ask why? Your shapeshifting is impressive—power, memory, behavior patterns. But you can't change your own memory and thoughts. Even if you become me, you can't get my wisdom—the stupidity of your self drags 'me' down.
If you were the real Angra Mainyu, you'd step forward without hesitation and destroy this world.
But you don't dare—because in your heart there is something above you. Even if you die, you won't destroy it. A person? A thing? Whatever it is, placing others above yourself dooms you to mediocrity.
"A pity—if you were the real 'Angra,' I could test the next drug.
"But now, I still want to know what you really are. Not a loss."
He raised his blade. "Ashisogi Jizō."
He released and stabbed Royd's neck.
Royd's pupils widened—and he collapsed.
"For those who can't resist, I'm always bored," Mayuri crouched. "Now, let me see your true face."
He reached out to touch Royd—then his expression changed. Bad! He leapt back.
Boom!
Royd's body exploded in a blazing fireball, the blast engulfing Mayuri.
…
In the Wandenreich, Baelz pressed a button.
Royd had become a human bomb.
Well done, Mayuri. He'd thought Aizen would need to move—turns out Mayuri alone forced Royd to the brink.
Heh—this Sternritter who would one day fight Bankai Yamamoto to a standstill—felled so easily by Mayuri?
Impressive. No wonder he almost soloed the Soul King's left hand.
Don't mess with scientists. Get toyed to death.
Good thing I'm a scientist now. But I still have to learn Mayuri and Urahara's way of scientific combat.
Definitely not Aizen's. He's a scientist who wants to respec into berserker—once he gets power, he goes brain-off.
Understandable: you toil with gadgets only to win. If you already have power, who needs gadgets?
But be careful—your power might not be as absolute as you think.
Absorb the lessons of Aizen's defeat.
"Oh, you're decisive," Gremmy said, watching the feed as Baelz pressed the detonator.
"All for the Empire," Baelz said. "The Empire must not be exposed. If there's a risk of exposure, eliminate the risk. Simple."
He'd wanted to kill the brothers anyway—especially Royd. Mayuri gave him a chance.
Even if a Sternritter died here, Haschwalth and Yhwach wouldn't object—they'd told him to mobilize all resources, at all costs, without exposing the Empire.
Sacrificing Royd for the wraith wasn't a loss. Yhwach hadn't fully awakened; they wouldn't foresee needing Royd to impersonate Yhwach later to cover the real one meeting Aizen.
Even in canon, Y-brothers were expendable. And their abilities didn't endear them to others. Royd himself wouldn't object.
As for Lloyd, indoctrinated as they were, they wouldn't fear sacrifice. If Yhwach still needed a body double, Lloyd could serve.
As the explosion bloomed, Liltotto entered the Sekkiseki membrane.
She eyed the wraith in the sky with distaste. "Looks nasty."
Still, she opened wide. A dim black radiance pulsed in her throat—strange, but real.
Her mouth twisted, stretching like a snake up into the sky, and in one gulp swallowed the wraith. Then it recoiled back to her face.
She touched her belly, face constipated. Disgusting. Worse than Hollows.
She whipped out a badge and stepped into Hueco Mundo.
As for Ukitake—he lay outside the barrier. With her strength and Gremmy's vanishing-point boost, ambushing him was trivial.
She heard the blast, but didn't care. The Sternritter had thin bonds and loved infighting. A day without infighting wasn't a day.
She returned to the Wandenreich via the Gate of the Sun.
Y-older, after luring Kenpachi, sensed more Shinigami converging and slipped through a membrane gap Baelz had identified, opened a Garganta to Hueco Mundo, then returned via the Gate of the Sun.
Though his twin died, he felt only slight sadness—more anger at Royd's incompetence.
Such a small task, and he botched it?!