Crocodile was shoved into his cell.Behind bars of seastone, Aizen met his eyes.
"Mr. Crocodile, I trust it won't be long before we meet again."
With that, he turned and left, a strange look still lingering on Crocodile's face.The moment Aizen's footsteps faded from Infinite Hell, the entire sixth floor exhaled in relief.
Good fortune. His mood seemed decent today.No one had been taken away for experiments.
"Hey, rookie, you're lucky to be alive!"
The Evil Governor, Avalo Pizarro, barked at the newcomer. But his shout drew glares from every direction.The murderous pressure they had bottled up and failed to unleash earlier now collapsed upon him like a tidal wave.
Even his strength could not withstand it. Within breaths, he blacked out, the last words he heard a blur.
"…He hadn't gone far…""…That idiot almost got us all killed…"
At the gate above, Uta blinked when she saw Aizen emerge so soon.
"You didn't conduct your experiments this time?"
Aizen strode past, and she hurried to follow. Only once they were on the lift did he reply.
"The Hōgyoku is already near completion. What remains is accumulation, not materials."
He smiled faintly, a shadow of anticipation flickering in his expression.
"Besides, a grand performance always requires enough actors and an audience."
The look on his face sent a shiver down Uta's spine.
"I can't tell if they're lucky or cursed. They probably think they escaped, never realizing you've already trapped them in your plans."
"Uta, you misunderstand." Aizen adjusted his glasses, voice soft. "I merely let what is destined flow toward its proper course."
She had heard such words many times before. With a sigh, she dropped the subject and shifted the topic.
"You mean to use this place as a base? It's so crude."
Her distaste was written all over her face. She dreamed of bringing happiness to the world as a musician, not hosting a party of pirates in a prison.
Aizen said nothing. As the lift reached the fifth level, the Freezing Hell, he raised a hand toward the glacier.
"Bakudō No. 26: Curved Light… Release."
Blue spiritual pressure rippled across the ice. Beneath the frozen surface, pale, gleaming walls were revealed.
Only a fragment of change, yet it was like stripping the corner off a forged painting, revealing the hidden masterpiece beneath.
"This is… the real Las Noches?" Uta whispered in shock. She had never known.When had he done this? Every time, she had been by his side, and still she had only seen fragments.
The more she uncovered, the more terrifying he seemed.
"I don't know how you do it. Can simple five-sense hypnosis really reach this level?"
Uta knew Aizen's control of Impel Down bordered on the horrific. In truth, Magellan had long since been reduced to a figurehead.
Over seventy percent of the prison's inmates and guards alike were already under Aizen's sway. Even the deputy warden…
She glanced at Hannyabal, who bowed reverently nearby.
"It's frightening. Is that really just hypnosis?"
She couldn't fathom it. This wasn't mere deception of the senses. It was total domination, mind and body.
"It can be."
Aizen confirmed it with calm certainty.
"What do you think hypnosis through the five senses really is?"
Uta pressed a finger to her lips, brows furrowed in thought.
"Maybe it means making someone see and hear only what you want them to. Constructing a false world to trick them."
She nodded, satisfied with her reasoning.
Aizen's faint chuckle deflated her confidence. It was the kind of indulgent amusement an adult gives a child's naive answer.
"Five-sense manipulation is far more than that."
"Human thought and action arise when the body receives information from outside, relays it to the nerves, and the nerves return signals to the body.
"When you sprint at full speed, even with nothing ahead, every cell can tell you that you've slammed into a boulder. Pain floods your mind. Hearing fades. The stench of blood fills your nose.
"And your brain concludes… you are already dead."
Without realizing it, they had reached the warden's office on the fourth level.
Aizen halted, turned, and looked her straight in the eye.
"At that moment, Uta… do you think you would die?"