On the other side, Grimmjow was caught off guard and struck squarely in the face by Yammy's heavy fist. The powerful blow shattered his bone mask, and he was sent flying like a meteor, crashing into a pile of rubble.
Yammy pressed the advantage, his massive body lunging into the ruins for a round of indiscriminate bombardment. Booming explosions rang out continuously, and dust filled the air.
Moments later, the explosions ceased, and Yammy's giant hand emerged from the deep pit, hauling Grimmjow along.
Grimmjow still clung to a sliver of consciousness, extending his claws in a futile attempt at resistance, but they only managed to kick up sparks against Yammy's hardened chest.
"Master, I finally beat this guy down." Yammy walked up to Makiya and tossed Grimmjow at his feet like a trophy.
"Mm, you did well." Makiya plunged his blade into Grimmjow's body. The familiar sight caused the three bystanders to steal glances at one another, their eyes flickering with uncertainty.
Bright red flames gradually crawled over Grimmjow's body. His Hollow power erupted continuously, only to be rapidly transformed under the stimulation of a peculiar energy.
As a reward, Makiya funneled a portion of the Phoenix Fire Hogyoku's power into Yammy's body. The latter immediately grinned widely, smiling like a five-hundred-pound child.
"Baraggan is dead. You lot will rebuild Las Noches here. I'll leave the specific scale up to you; I don't plan on staying in Hueco Mundo long-term anyway. Alright, that's it for now." Makiya gave some simple instructions, intending to go find Uhara.
This trip had met with an unexpected turn. If Aizen's shadow wasn't behind this, no Hollow would ever believe it. So, what was Aizen's intention in doing this?
Regardless, returning to the Seireitei as soon as possible couldn't be wrong.
"Oh, right." Before leaving, Makiya suddenly remembered something. He slapped his forehead and turned back to the three of them. "As far as I know, Menos Grande have their own territories, don't they? I only just started fighting Baraggan, so why were you all able to rush over so quickly?"
Makiya had already sensed the trio's internal state; there was no trace of the familiar Kyoka Suigetsu spiritual pressure.
"My two subordinates said there were top-tier powerhouses fighting here," Harribel stated truthfully.
"Same here."
Yammy scratched his head. "I was hunting at the time, and while chasing a slippery prey, I just happened to run into the neighborhood."
"Is that so? I see." Makiya mused for a moment before looking up at Harribel and Ulquiorra. "Both of you should avoid contact with your former subordinates for the time being. We'll decide once I return to Hueco Mundo next time."
"Yes."
A moment later, Grimmjow finished his evolution. Proud as ever, he claimed he had only lost to Yammy, not to Makiya, and refused to submit.
He got exactly what he asked for. The Blade of Chisato danced up and down, and the newly recovered Grimmjow was once again a corpse on the floor, injured even more severely than before.
After giving the group a few more orders, Makiya retracted the flames enveloping Las Noches. He pressed a finger to the ground, expanding his perception.
After locking onto Uhara's spiritual pressure, his figure vanished instantly.
Harribel and Ulquiorra looked at each other and chose to obey Makiya's orders, beginning the construction of Las Noches.
Yammy, meanwhile, ran over to Grimmjow's side with a look of pure schadenfreude.
Whoosh!
Makiya appeared before a collapsed house. Pulling aside the broken door, he saw a sweat-drenched Uhara.
"Yo, Makiya. You finished on your end?" Seeing Makiya, Uhara gave a smile and a greeting, reaching up to press his green hat down, shading his eyes with the brim.
Makiya wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he felt that the cold sweat on Uhara's forehead increased the moment he saw him.
"How's the modification of the positioning device going?" Makiya walked over to Uhara, glancing at the tools scattered across the floor as he spoke.
"Aha... ahaha... almost done, almost there! Why don't you go out and find another Menos to fight? I'll be finished here by then." Uhara's eyes darted around; he felt his long-standing persona as a genius scientist was on the verge of collapsing.
"So it's not done yet." Makiya picked up the positioning device to take a look. Catching Uhara's expression out of the corner of his eye, he intentionally mocked him, "Can you do this or not? It's been so long and you're still not finished?"
"Sigh, there's no helping it." Uhara let out a long sigh, giving up on appearances. "We lack the proper tools here. The precision required for the core components is too high; I can't manufacture them by hand in such a short time."
"I see. Then explain the principles to me." Makiya examined the positioning device closely, deconstructing its working mechanics in his mind.
"You?" Uhara blinked. 'You're the Captain of the 2nd Division; are you planning to steal my job as the Director of the Department of Research and Development?'
"What, don't believe me?" Makiya shot Uhara a sideways glance, knowing exactly what the man was thinking.
"No, I didn't... fine, I suppose I have a tiny bit of doubt. Whatever, I'll explain it to you once. This device is... blabber, blabber... bubble, bubble..." Uhara hesitated for a moment but eventually picked up the positioning device and drew diagrams in the sand with his Zanpakuto, Benihime, explaining the principles to Makiya.
Redrawing and re-explaining the principles also helped him organize the information; perhaps he would think of an even better modification method.
Ten minutes later, Makiya rubbed his chin with a look of realization. "I see. So that's how it's solved? Uhara, you really are a genius."
"Sigh." Uhara sighed again. "Unfortunately, the tools on hand aren't good enough. This plan still needs improvement."
"No need. I think this plan is just fine." Makiya snatched the positioning device from Uhara's hand and then produced a hammer from behind his back.
"Eh? Where did that hammer come from?"
Looking at the hammer that had mysteriously appeared in his hand, Makiya suddenly fell into thought. The minimalist style of the hammer made it look like a cheap item just bought from a hardware store, definitely not something he would carry on his person.
'Forget it, whatever.' Makiya shook his head. When it came to the matters of the Great Tabby Cat, it was best not to overthink things. If you took it too seriously, you'd already lost. As long as it worked, it was fine.
*Clang!*
A heavy blow struck the positioning device, causing Uhara's heart to skip a beat. "Wait, don't! It took me so long to get it to this stage! You, wait—"
Unfortunately, the branch couldn't overcome the trunk. Uhara's spiritual pressure was more than a little weaker than Makiya's. Even though he wrapped both arms around Makiya's arm and used every ounce of strength he had, he couldn't stop Makiya's hammer from falling.
*Clang! Clang! Clang! Clatter! Clatter!*
Under Uhara's despairing gaze, Makiya hammered away at his life's work. Their hopes of returning to the Soul Society seemed to drift further away with every loud bang.
The noise, reminiscent of a renovation site, made Uhara's heart tremble. He watched Makiya's actions with bared teeth, unable to fathom what this guy was thinking. Did he even want to go back to the Seireitei? Wasn't he worried about his own Vice-Captain getting anxious?
It was common knowledge that if the Captain of the 2nd Division ever stayed out all night, they would inevitably get a foot to the face from their Vice-Captain the next day. This was no secret among the captains.
'Could he be doing this on purpose?' Uhara thought he had discovered a blind spot. 'Is he intentionally delaying our return just so he can be stepped on by his Vice-Captain?'
But they were currently stranded in Hueco Mundo, and there was clearly a conspiracy afoot. Uhara believed Makiya couldn't possibly have missed that. Their information was synchronized; anyone with a brain could figure out that today's "accident" was Aizen's handiwork.
'Then why was Makiya still—'
"Hey, wake up! Snap out of it!" Makiya's voice interrupted Uhara's wild thoughts. Just as his vision refocused, he saw Makiya holding up the modified positioning device right in front of him.
"I've finished it. I modified it exactly according to your logic. Take a look; how is it?" Makiya casually tucked the hammer back behind him and shoved the device into Uhara's arms.
"Oh, oh, okay, let me see..." Uhara blankly took the device, and then a question mark appeared over his head. "Wait, what did you say? You finished the modification?"
He looked at the device in front of him, then at Makiya's expression. The other man didn't look like he was joking.
You modified it with just a broken hammer?
'Wait, where was the hammer?' Uhara frowned and circled Makiya but couldn't find any sign of the tool.
He felt the situation was a bit bizarre, but his intuition told him not to delve deeper. Thus, he turned his gaze to the positioning device in his arms.
After checking it three times, inside and out, Uhara was shocked to find that the structure Makiya had hammered out was exactly the same as the one he had envisioned. Even the internal components that required high-precision instruments to manufacture were flawless under his spiritual pressure scan.
"I must be seeing ghosts!" Uhara was stunned and looked at Makiya in disbelief. "How on earth did you knock this out with a broken hammer?"
"Don't ask about that. Just tell me, does it work?"
"It works. It works perfectly." Uhara nodded. He was very confident in his own design. He immediately walked out of the ruined hut and onto the open ground in front of the entrance.
His spiritual pressure erupted, surging into the positioning device under his control. A moment later, a familiar voice drifted out from it: "Mmh... haah... is that you, Captain?"
"Akane... did you just wake up?" Uhara listened to Akane's movements and exchanged a look with Makiya.
Their minds were in sync. With just a glance, they confirmed: Aizen had made his move on the well-endowed girl.
"Cap... tain? Strange, how... how did I suddenly fall asleep?" Akane's voice came through intermittently; the signal seemed poor.
Uhara asked around and found that no one was hurt, the underground space was normal, and no emergency situation had arisen in the Gotei 13, so he ended the communication.
Since Aizen had made a move, the Senkaimon in the underground space was no longer safe. Neither the department nor the Gotei 13 was in trouble, so the two were no longer in such a hurry to return.
They could travel from Hueco Mundo to the World of the Living, then find the Soul Reaper stationed in that area and use the official Senkaimon to return to the Seireitei. This was safer but would take more time.
Opening a Dangai passage from Hueco Mundo required another device. While not difficult to make, it was time-consuming and required gathering materials.
The two chose the steady approach. Watching Uhara bustle about, Makiya originally intended to lend a hand but was rejected. The Director intended to clear his own name and insisted on completing it independently.
Makiya let him be. Taking advantage of the free time, he went to a deserted, remote spot and surrounded himself with the Blade of Chisato to digest Baraggan's power of Senescencia.
Six hours later, Uhara's device was complete. Makiya injected a massive amount of spiritual pressure in one go to keep the passage open.
Bright red flames enveloped the device in the center. Makiya and Uhara stepped into the Dangai, their spiritual pressure paving a wide road beneath their feet. Their figures quickly vanished into the darkness.
They arrived safely in the World of the Living and immediately expanded their perception to find the resident Soul Reaper.
Meanwhile, at the main gate of the 12th Division, Aizen walked down the street alone. The passing Soul Reapers seemed unable to see him, walking right through his path.
"I see. So that was Captain Uhara's line of thinking. It truly has its merits." Aizen pulled out his own Hogyoku. Under the sunlight, the blue-violet Hogyoku radiated a brilliant light. "I hope Captain Makiya can provide me with some surprises on his end."