Back aboard the Rose Hunter, Robin immediately approached Cyrus.
They had all seen his brief encounter with Aizen from the ship, so naturally everyone was curious about the first person from this new world they had actually spoken to.
"Who was that?"
"Someone from this world."
"So we thought. What did he say?"
It wasn't only Robin.
Hancock and Baby 5 were equally curious.
They had barely arrived, yet Cyrus had already encountered one of the local inhabitants—and from appearances alone, he hadn't looked particularly different from an ordinary human.
"A somewhat dangerous man with a lot of ambition."
Cyrus considered it for a moment before giving Aizen that description. At this point in the timeline, it seemed fairly accurate.
"That sounds like someone who could become troublesome."
Hancock thought for a moment, then glanced meaningfully at Cyrus.
"Should we…?"
In Hancock's mind, if someone was dangerous enough to become a future threat, the simplest solution was to eliminate them before that happened.
"There's no need to go that far."
Cyrus shook his head, then looked between the three women.
"What about your own abilities? Does anything feel different when you use them here?"
The three exchanged glances before shaking their heads.
"Not really."
"I see."
Cyrus nodded thoughtfully.
"That Hollow weakened rapidly after entering our world, so the problem was probably related to the difference in energy between the two worlds. Of course, it may also have been because it was a spiritual life-form in the first place."
Robin studied him for a moment before asking the question that mattered more.
"Imu is dead, isn't she?"
"Yes."
Cyrus nodded.
"That's probably for the best," Hancock said. "Someone like her would only cause trouble if she survived."
Robin's thoughts had already moved on.
"Then how do we get home?"
"The spatial traces are gone. We'll have to wait until the two worlds overlap again before we can return."
Cyrus turned his head toward the distant desert.
"But before we worry about that, we have a few more uninvited guests."
His Observation Haki had already picked up several figures approaching at tremendous speed.
Judging by their appearances and what Cyrus knew of this world, they were likely Hollows who would eventually become members of the Espada—some already having become Arrancar on their own, while others would only complete the process later with Aizen's help.
Apparently, the sea of flames Cyrus had unleashed earlier had killed enough Menos to attract their attention.
At their level, ordinary Hollows were practically a different species from them, and few would normally care about the deaths of weaker creatures.
Cyrus, however, had wiped out so many that even these higher-level Hollows had come to investigate.
"Enemies?"
Hancock's eyes immediately lit up.
"You can try fighting them."
Cyrus nodded.
"The power system here is pretty unusual. It'll be useful to experience it yourselves."
Whoosh!
A figure appeared several hundred meters away.
He was a lean, middle-aged-looking man with a young girl perched on his shoulder.
The moment he spotted the ship and the people aboard, he groaned and scratched his hair in obvious frustration.
"I told you we shouldn't get involved in this kind of thing. You insisted on coming, and now look—we've already been noticed."
His completely unmotivated attitude immediately irritated the girl on his shoulder, who began berating him and telling him to take things seriously.
Another figure arrived almost immediately afterward.
This one was a woman whose lower body resembled that of a hoofed beast. She watched the Rose Hunter with a grave expression.
A third figure appeared nearby, a voluptuous woman whose body was heavily covered in bone-like armor.
Farther away, several smaller and more oddly shaped Hollows cautiously watched from a distance.
"Hey, if I were you, I'd leave while you still can."
Coyote Starrk scratched his head and called toward the other arrivals.
"Especially if you brought a bunch of little followers with you."
"Hey, Starrk! You're not talking about me, are you?"
The girl jumped down from his shoulder and planted her hands on her hips.
"No, no, of course not."
Starrk looked back toward the ship.
"It's just that there's a monster over there we really shouldn't mess with."
The instant those words left his mouth, his entire body tensed.
Cyrus had appeared directly in front of him.
"Relax. I'm not a Shinigami, so I have no particular reason to kill you."
Cyrus looked Starrk and Lilynette over before sweeping his gaze toward the other two women.
"So, did you all come here to avenge those Hollows?"
Starrk immediately shook his head.
"Not me. I was just curious about who caused all that."
"That wasn't a battle."
From farther away, Nelliel stared at Cyrus with a serious expression.
"It was slaughter."
"Hancock."
Cyrus didn't bother arguing.
The Rose Hunter suddenly shuddered.
A figure shot from the deck and crossed the distance in an instant.
Hancock's kick came straight at Nelliel, who raised her shielded left arm to block it.
Boom!
The impact drove Nelliel backward across the sand for a considerable distance.
Hancock used the recoil to flip back onto her feet, folding her arms beneath her chest as surprise flickered through her eyes.
She hadn't held back.
And yet the woman had taken the attack.
'She's strong.'
At almost the same moment, the bone-armored woman lunged toward Hancock.
Before she could reach her, however, countless arms suddenly bloomed from the desert and wrapped around her limbs and torso.
Robin descended from the Rose Hunter with wings formed from interlocking arms spread behind her.
Baby 5 watched with obvious envy.
Still, she wasn't about to steal someone else's opponent.
"Hmph!"
The bone-armored woman swung the blade in her hand, cutting toward the arms restraining her.
Clang!
The arms turned black with Armament Haki.
The bone blade struck them and bounced away.
"Dos Fleur!"
Robin crossed her arms before her chest, and another pair of arms bloomed directly from the woman's body.
Then Robin frowned.
'She's hard.'
The bone plating protected the joints extremely well.
Dislocating them would be difficult without first breaking through the sections of armor designed to move with her body.
Nearby, Hancock and Nelliel had already begun trading blows head-on.
Conqueror's Haki coated Hancock's attacks as the two women clashed repeatedly, each impact producing a thunderous explosion and sending shock waves rolling across the desert.
"Hey. Don't move around."
Cyrus was watching both fights, but he hadn't forgotten the person standing behind him.
The moment he sensed Starrk shift, Cyrus spoke without even turning around.
"Just stay here and enjoy the show."
His tone was light.
"Watching women fight is quite a treat, don't you think?"
"Uh…"
Starrk scratched his head.
Truthfully, he had absolutely no idea what Cyrus found so entertaining about watching women fight.
Wasn't it just fighting either way?
What exactly was supposed to be special about it?
Still, Starrk wisely kept that opinion to himself.
Arguing would mean risking a fight with the man in front of him, and Starrk had no intention of testing that.
One of his greatest natural gifts was his instinctive ability to sense danger.
And the amount of power he could feel inside Cyrus was terrifying.
The sense of danger coming from this man was unlike anything Starrk had ever experienced.
Which meant that, in all likelihood, Cyrus was the strongest being he had encountered since the moment he first became conscious.
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