Inoue Residence, Rooftop.
'Arrancar are here again? One, two, three... six, seven, seven total. Judging by their Reiatsu, two of them should be Grimmjow and Yammy. I haven't seen the remaining five at night, but based on the intensity of their Reiatsu, one of them should be Coyote Starrk, the Primera Espada!'
Toshiro frowned.
Even before Sojiro and Ashido could notify him, Toshiro sensed the Arrancar the moment they appeared.
'Seven of them came at once this time, and even the Primera Espada, Starrk, is here. Aizen is certainly going all out. Isn't he afraid I might take action and keep them here?'
Toshiro pondered.
'But it seems Ulquiorra didn't come this time...'
Toshiro suddenly thought of Ulquiorra.
Ulquiorra always acted together with Yammy, and since he had also come to the Living World with Yammy before, he was more familiar with the situation.
Logically, even if Aizen needed to send powerful subordinates to the Living World, he should have prioritized Ulquiorra, not Starrk.
After all, although Starrk was the Primera Espada, his lazy personality made him a poor choice for handling matters.
'Could it be...'
Toshiro suddenly recalled the incident in the original work where Orihime was taken to Hueco Mundo by Ulquiorra, which seemed related to this event...
'A feint in the east, attack in the west? What a clever choice, Ulquiorra...'
In the original work, Orihime had gone to Soul Society for training. Ulquiorra couldn't possibly go to Soul Society and take her away directly.
So, Ulquiorra first had Yammy and the others attack the Living World. Upon hearing the news, Orihime would inevitably choose to return to assist in the battle, and Ulquiorra would take the opportunity to act.
'But since Aizen chose this time to take Orihime back to Hueco Mundo, that means… the final battle is coming soon!!'
In the original work, Aizen's reason for sending people to capture Orihime and take her to Hueco Mundo wasn't just simple interest in her abilities.
The most important goal was to attract Ichigo and the people from Soul Society to rescue Orihime, thereby dispersing and weakening Soul Society's military strength, allowing Aizen to then take the Espada to the Living World for the final battle against the Gotei 13.
'Well, setting aside the final battle for now, I have been living in Orihime's house for quite some time. How could I let you take my landlady away right under my nose, Aizen!'
Whether to thwart Aizen's plan or to repay Orihime for the free room and board, Toshiro intended to stop Aizen.
"I need to start moving too..."
…
"Oh, the place we came to is just right. As soon as we came out, we ran into people. And these guys seem to have pretty high Reiatsu. Why not start here!"
Yammy said excitedly, looking down at Sojiro and Ashido below.
"What are you talking about? Those people are Shinigami. They're the 'reinforcements from Soul Society' that Grimmjow mentioned, right, Sexta? Oh, sorry, I meant 'former Sexta'!"
Luppi looked provocatively at Grimmjow again.
However, Grimmjow paid no attention to Luppi.
"The guy I want to kill isn't here!"
Having said that, Grimmjow ignored Yammy and Luppi, flickered, and headed off into the distance.
"Hey! Where are you going, Grimmjow!"
Yammy shouted loudly.
But Grimmjow seemed not to hear, flickered a few times, and completely disappeared from Yammy and the others' sight.
"Tch! That Grimmjow bastard!"
Yammy said angrily.
"Don't worry about that guy anymore. He's not even an Espada anymore. He probably can't accomplish much anyway!"
Luppi said disdainfully.
"Hmph! The guy I want to kill isn't here either!"
Yammy snorted.
"Oh? The guy you want to kill? The one who cut off your arm, or Hitsugaya Toshiro, who beat the crap out of you?"
Luppi looked at Yammy with an amused expression.
"Hmph! O-of course it's both of them!"
Yammy said, somewhat lacking confidence.
"Oh ho, is that so?"
Luppi couldn't help but laugh.
Seeing Luppi's mocking expression, Yammy guiltily changed the subject, turning to Starrk behind him and saying: "Hey! Starrk, Lilynette, time to go. We need to start the operation..."
"And you two spacing out back there, don't just stand there!"
Yammy also shouted to Wonderweiss and Phoenix, who had been in a daze.
Having said that, Yammy quickly, as if fleeing, charged towards Sojiro and Ashido below.
Seeing Yammy charge, Ashido, instead of retreating, advanced, actively drawing his sword and meeting him.
Clang!
Swords clashed, sparks flew.
"Gotei 13, 10th Division, Third Seat, Ashido!"
Ashido proactively announced his identity.
"The 10th Division? What a coincidence, I'm a 'Ten' too! Arrancar, Yammy!"
Yammy also introduced himself.
"So you're what they call an Espada?"
"That's right..."
On the other side, Sojiro also confronted Luppi Antenor.
"Are you an Espada too?"
Sojiro asked.
"That's right. My name is Luppi. My rank is '6'!"
Luppi lifted the hem of his clothes at his waist, revealing the number 6.
"Is that so?"
Sojiro looked somewhat puzzled.
Compared to Yammy, Sojiro felt that this Espada named Luppi was significantly weaker.
Furthermore, Yammy ranked tenth among the Espada. Logically, he should be the weakest. But this so-called Espada seemed much weaker than Yammy.
'What was going on?' Sojiro was utterly perplexed.
'Could it be that the higher the number, the stronger the Espada? If that's the case, then that Yammy with '10' would be the strongest among them... If the Espada are only this strong, then they probably don't pose much of a threat to Soul Society...'
With a formidable enemy before him, Sojiro began to have random thoughts...
…
Vizard Hideout.
"Let me go!"
Otoribashi Rojuro and Muguruma Kensei held Ichigo down firmly, while Ichigo struggled desperately to break free from their restraint and go fight the Arrancar.
"Didn't I say this isn't the time yet!!"
Kensei shouted loudly.
When Yammy, Grimmjow, and the others came to the Living World, the Vizard and Ichigo naturally noticed them too.
Ichigo immediately wanted to rush out and fight the attacking Arrancar, but the Vizard desperately held him back.
"Ichigo! Calm down! Leave those Arrancar to Hitsugaya's Advance Team to deal with. Isn't that why they came to the Living World in the first place?"
Rojuro also tried to persuade.
"I've been training hard all this time for a situation like this! What's the point if you won't let me go now!!"
Ichigo shouted.
"Let him go!"
Shinji suddenly intervened, stopping Rojuro and Kensei from continuing to hold Ichigo back.
Ichigo took the opportunity to quickly leave.
"Hey, Shinji, what are you thinking? Ichigo's training isn't complete yet. If you let him go now, he might get killed!"
Kensei asked, puzzled.
Shinji said seriously: "No, for Ichigo, actual combat might be the best training."
"Heh! What a coincidence. I was just looking for you, Shinigami!"
Grimmjow looked at Ichigo with a cold expression.
Earlier, after leaving Yammy and the others, Grimmjow had been searching for Ichigo in Karakura Town, and ended up wandering here himself.
"Hmph! That should be my line!"
Ichigo also responded firmly: "Grimmjow, I'll show you just how much I've changed this past month!"
Having said that, Ichigo swiped his right hand across his face, and a Hollow mask immediately appeared on his face.