"Of course I know you've both been working hard..." Muten Natsu took the stunned Nell from Orihime Inoue and sat back down with her in his arms. "But improving this much really did catch me off guard."
"Wait..." Rukia Kuchiki noticed the problem. "In your mind, how strong am I supposed to be?"
"Hmm... an ordinary squad member?"
"I'm at least at Seated Officer level!" Rukia Kuchiki realized that her performance when they first reunited had given Muten Natsu the wrong idea. "It's been so long already. Did you really think my strength was still stuck where it used to be? I've grown too!"
Yes! Ririn's eyes lit up. Keep going, just like that.
It was not only her strength. She had matured emotionally too. She was no longer the child she used to be.
Make Muten Natsu realize that, and then...
"That's right," Orihime Inoue said earnestly in Rukia Kuchiki's defense. "Rukia has always been amazing. She trains hard during the day, and at night she even sleeps with you..."
Rukia Kuchiki's face went bright red. She hurriedly tried to stop her. "Th-there are children here!"
"Muten..." Bawabawa started moving toward Las Noches again, and Nell, finally coming back to her senses, looked up from Muten Natsu's arms. "You..."
"We're just sleeping!" Rukia Kuchiki explained in a panic. "Just normal sleeping."
Ririn: "..." If you had not said that, the kid might not even have thought anything strange.
"Sleeping?" Nell tilted her head in confusion. "No... Nell wanted to ask... you're not actually going to visit friends, are you?"
"Someone we know is doing some very bad things," Muten Natsu explained. "We're going to stop him."
"But the Arrancar in Las Noches are all really strong..." Worry showed in Nell's eyes. "Can you... win?"
"This isn't about whether we can win," Rukia Kuchiki said after calming herself. "Some things have to be done. If you act, you might fail. But if you do nothing, you'll definitely never succeed."
"Something that has to be done?" Nell's large eyes were full of confusion.
Muten Natsu reminded her, "That might be a little too complicated."
"Ah... then how about this?" Orihime Inoue thought of a more straightforward way to put it. "Hueco Mundo is so big. By coming here, we might not necessarily have met Nell. But if we hadn't come to Hueco Mundo, we definitely wouldn't have met you."
Nell blinked. She had not completely understood it yet, but she was no longer as confused as she had been at first.
Muten Natsu judged the distance, then patted Bawabawa. "Stopping here is fine. Thanks, Bawabawa."
The closer they got to Las Noches, the more likely a battle would break out.
With the Desert Trio's strength, it would probably be hard for them to survive under powerful Reiatsu.
So it was better for Muten Natsu and the others to walk the rest of the way on their own.
"Bawa~!" Bawabawa gradually slowed and stopped.
Muten Natsu set the still-dazed Nell on the ground and patted her head. "Thank you. Let's meet again when we get the chance."
Rukia Kuchiki and Orihime Inoue stepped onto the Spirit Ink released by Muten Natsu and waved goodbye.
Watching their figures grow smaller and smaller, Pesche and Dondochakka exchanged a look, then let out a sigh of relief at the same time.
"Nell gets it now!" Nell suddenly snapped back to herself. "Something that has to be done is something you still want to do even when you don't know what will happen. If you don't do it because you're scared, you'll keep thinking and thinking until you don't know what to do anymore. Nell finally understands, Muten, I..."
She blinked her large eyes. "Where's Muten?"
Pesche answered, "They already left."
Dondochakka added, "They even said goodbye to you just now."
Nell's expression froze. The bright sparkle in her eyes from moments ago vanished all at once, leaving only tears spilling unconsciously from her eyes and reflecting the cold moonlight.
Pesche immediately panicked. "They're going to Las Noches! It's really dangerous there!"
Dondochakka quickly tried to persuade her too. "Right now, we can still pretend nothing happened. But if we keep acting with them, we'll be treated as traitors."
"Aizen-sama will kill us... and even if Aizen-sama doesn't do it himself, the Espada won't let us off either." Pesche made the seriousness of the situation clear. "If we keep going with them..."
"Nell knows it's scary..." Nell sniffled pitifully. "But Nell is even more scared of not knowing anything!"
Dondochakka had a bad feeling. "Nell..."
"Nell has something she has to do too... Nell is going to Las Noches! Nell is going to find them! Nell is going to find what she really wants to do!" Nell clenched her little fists, as if making a declaration, and also as if cheering herself on. "Nell has always been afraid of Las Noches. Not afraid of Aizen-sama, and not afraid of the Espada. Nell doesn't know what she's afraid of. Nell wants to know what she's afraid of... so even if Nell is scared, Nell has to go!"
Pesche was just about to stop her when a faint glow lit up in the eye sockets of the broken skull mask on Nell's head.
"Chōkasoku!" Spiritual light burst out, and Nell suddenly accelerated, shooting forward.
"Wait... Nell!" Dondochakka's outstretched hand froze in midair.
Pesche and Dondochakka exchanged another look.
"In that case..."
"We'd better catch up."
"Bawabawa!"
...
"Waaaaaaah!" A helpless ghost girl screamed as she fled for her life through an alley, several savage Hollows chasing close behind her.
One of them opened its huge mouth and bit toward the girl.
Pfft!
Before its bone-white teeth could snap shut, the Hollow suddenly burst apart.
The girl jumped in fright. A moment later, she saw another Hollow collapse.
The third Hollow trembled as it raised its head and looked toward the distant sky. In the end, it too exploded into fragments and quickly scattered away.
"What on earth..." The ghost girl, having narrowly escaped death, looked in the direction the third Hollow had been staring before it died. "Is there... something over there?"
Sōsuke Aizen walked forward slowly, followed by Kaname Tōsen and Gin Ichimaru, along with three Espada. Even if they did nothing, the Reiatsu they released alone was enough to kill Hollows with relatively unstable souls on the spot.
"Tsk..." Cold sweat broke out on 2nd Division Lieutenant Marechiyo Ōmaeda's forehead. "The Reiatsu coming off those people is monstrous!"
"If you're scared, then run." 2nd Division Captain Suì-Fēng glanced at him in disgust. "Coward."