"Yare yare, Genryusai-sensei is really rough." Ukitake said with some helplessness.
He felt that Yamamoto today was a bit too irritable. When he suddenly attacked earlier, even he was almost affected.
"Well, it just means the old man is also angry." Kyoraku adjusted the bamboo hat on his head.
Meanwhile, inside the flame wall formed by Jokaku Enjo.
"Oh my, oh my, so hot, so hot. The Captain-Commander is really quite exaggerated!" Gin said with a teasing smile.
"But what should we do now, Captain Aizen? If we're trapped here, we won't be able to join the battle." Gin asked Aizen.
Aizen, however, just watched the scene calmly, the flames reflected in his eyes.
"Don't panic. Just wait and see how things unfold..." Aizen said calmly. "It just means... this war will end without our needing to personally take the field..."
"...that's all."
In the Espada camp.
"Well then... what should we do now?" Baraggan suddenly spoke. "The enemy has many people, and our leader is acting like that..."
"Baraggan, your words are far too disrespectful to Aizen-sama!" Harribel said in a reproachful tone.
Of course, the reason Harribel said this was not just because she wanted to defend Aizen or anything.
Ever since her last meeting with Toshiro in the Living World and learning of his current position, Harribel had decided not to make an enemy of Toshiro or the Soul Society behind him.
However, due to her current position, Harribel had no choice but to accompany the other Espada on the expedition to the Living World.
And the reason Harribel now stepped forward to scold Baraggan was simply to delay a little time. Harribel naturally knew about the commotion caused by Toshiro leading people to Hueco Mundo for a rescue operation.
However, being inside Las Noches, with Aizen's eyes and ears everywhere, it was inconvenient for her to meet Toshiro.
But not long after, Harribel heard the news that Toshiro had been trapped by Aizen and was temporarily unable to break free, and then received Aizen's order to depart for the Living World.
Harribel's current plan was to delay as much time as possible, waiting for Toshiro to break free and return. At that time, Aizen would presumably be too busy to deal with her, and she would take the opportunity to voluntarily withdraw from this battle, helping neither side. She would neither follow Aizen's orders to fight the Gotei 13 nor turn against Aizen to help Toshiro fight against the Hueco Mundo side.
Because Toshiro had saved her and her companions back then, she did not want to make an enemy of him. And although Aizen may have had ulterior motives for using her, he had still given her great power, allowing her to protect her companions.
So Harribel's plan was to withdraw from this war, helping neither side.
Of course, although it was helping neither side, Harribel still leaned slightly toward Toshiro, which was why she wanted to delay time, waiting for his arrival to make the situation more favorable for Soul Society.
After all, Toshiro's life-saving grace still outweighed Aizen's kindness in granting her power. Moreover, Harribel herself had some special feelings for Toshiro.
While Harribel was thinking about delaying as much time as possible, Baraggan, who had been scolded by her on the other side, said angrily: "Disrespectful to Aizen? Hmph! I think you're the one being disrespectful to me!"
The grudge between Baraggan and Harribel went way back. Back when Baraggan was still the King of Hueco Mundo, he wanted Harribel to submit to him, but Harribel naturally refused. This led to many conflicts between them, so the two had never gotten along. So now, seeing Harribel actively provoke him, Baraggan was also very angry.
Then the atmosphere between the two suddenly became tense, as if ready to explode at any moment.
"Hey, hey, hey, what are you two doing? The battle hasn't even started yet, and we're already having infighting? What does that look like! Give me some respect and stop arguing, alright?" Starrk, standing by, said with a headache.
"Hmph!" x2
After hearing Starrk's words, Harribel and Baraggan each snorted coldly and said nothing more.
Of course, it wasn't because Starrk ate a 'Respect-Respect Fruit' that they stopped. It was simply that with a major battle imminent, Baraggan also knew that continuing to argue would only allow the Shinigami to benefit from the conflict.
And Harribel had only used Baraggan's disrespect to Aizen as a pretext to scold him. If Baraggan didn't want to continue arguing, she also couldn't continue to pester him.
Snap! Baraggan suddenly snapped his fingers.
Then, several of Baraggan's subordinates brought out a huge scroll and spread it out in the air.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—!!
White bones flew out of the scroll, forming a 'Bone Throne' behind Baraggan.
Then Baraggan sat directly on the Bone Throne, and said arrogantly: "Since our leader is currently unable to break free, I will take command..."
"...and I don't want any objections!" Baraggan glanced at Starrk and Harribel again.
"What did you say?!" Before Harribel and Starrk could say anything, Mila Rose, Harribel's companion and subordinate, angrily stepped forward.
"Now, now, isn't this fine?" Seeing that Harribel and Baraggan were about to clash again, Starrk quickly tried to mediate, looking helpless.
Generally speaking, although the Espada have rankings, there is no rule that lower-ranked Espada must obey higher-ranked ones. So Baraggan's arrogant attitude in ordering Harribel and Starrk to obey him was simply an insult to the mostly unruly Espada. That was why Harribel's subordinate, Mila Rose, was so agitated.
Moreover, even if a commander had to be chosen while Aizen was temporarily 'trapped', it should be Starrk, the Primera Espada, not Baraggan, the Segunda.
However, Starrk, who was usually lazy and disliked conflict, had no intention of fighting Baraggan for the position of leader. First, he found it troublesome. Second, he didn't want to cause infighting over command.
Seeing Starrk actively agree with Baraggan's words, Mila Rose exchanged glances with Harribel and her two other companions, Sung-Sun and Apache.
If Starrk actively agreed to let Baraggan give orders, then Harribel really couldn't say much more. After all, Harribel was only No. 3. Both Starrk and Baraggan were ranked higher than her. It was never going to be her turn to command.
"Well... it's fine then. Baraggan taking command is fine with me." Starrk said with a look of finding it troublesome.
Bang!
Just then, Starrk's subordinate, Lilynette Gingerbuck, suddenly hit Starrk on the head.
"Ow! What was that for, Lilynette?" Starrk said helplessly.
"What's fine? It's not fine at all! All you do is grin all day..." Lilynette kicked and punched Starrk while scolding him continuously.
Starrk didn't care about leadership or command, but Lilynette did! She didn't want to be bossed around by that old geezer Baraggan!
Although Starrk was being kicked and punched by Lilynette, he looked like he wouldn't fight back or talk back. If you didn't know better, you'd think Starrk was Lilynette's subordinate.
Of course, to some extent, that statement wasn't wrong. Although on the surface, Starrk was the Primera Espada and Lilynette was the subordinate, the two shared the same soul and same body, having split from the same soul and the same body.
Moreover, Lilynette was the main body, and Starrk was the split body. However, after the split, Starrk inherited most of the power, which was why he became the Primera Espada.