"They're so strong, they don't need our help, do they?" Dondochakka was clearly trying to keep his voice down, but his head was so big that even when lowered, his voice was still louder than most people's. "And besides, it looks like they're going somewhere really dangerous."
"A dangerous place?" Nell broke into a huge smile. "Then doesn't that mean they need help even more?"
Rukia Kuchiki gave a soft snort in Muten Natsu's direction. "Even a child understands that much."
Muten Natsu: "..."
"Hey, hey~" Nell hopped twice. "Where are you going?"
Orihime Inoue crouched down so Nell would not have to strain her neck looking up. "We're going to Las Noches."
"Las Noches?" Nell blinked. "Then Nell can take you there."
Pesche and Dondochakka stiffened slightly, but neither of them said anything.
Muten Natsu looked at the enormous, oddly conspicuous building rising from the distant white sand. "Do we... really need someone to take us?"
"Bawabawa is really fast. He can carry you there!" Nell patted the giant worm with her small hand. "And Nell knows the fastest way to get to Las Noches!"
The giant worm wriggled cooperatively. "Bawabawa!"
Muten Natsu and the others exchanged glances, then nodded silently.
The black Bawabawa moved like a train, racing across the white sand like a snake or a worm.
In terms of pure speed, it naturally could not compare to Muten Natsu's Shunpo, but it had the advantage of using very little energy.
With a major battle ahead, saving even a little strength was a good thing.
That was exactly why Muten Natsu decided to travel with Nell and the others.
But he had not expected...
Nell sat on Muten Natsu's lap and asked curiously, "What are you going to Las Noches for?"
"How did you just sit down here so naturally?" Muten Natsu wrapped his arms around her to keep her from falling. "We're going to Las Noches..." He paused. "Just... to visit an old friend."
"Because it's really comfortable here~" Nell took a deep breath. "Even the air smells nicer."
"It's not that exaggerated..." Muten Natsu noticed the strange looks from Rukia Kuchiki and Orihime Inoue. "What?"
"This child is so close to you..." Rukia Kuchiki looked at Muten Natsu suspiciously. "And she looks so much like you."
"Like me?" Muten Natsu looked down at Nell. "Does she?"
"Rukia means the mask," Orihime Inoue said, pointing to her face. "Your mask looks a lot like Nell's."
Now that she mentioned it... Muten Natsu carefully studied the broken skull mask on Nell's head. It really did resemble his own mask, and the willow-green cloak looked familiar too. "They're both skulls. It's normal for them to look somewhat alike."
"You have a mask too~" Nell touched the damaged skull mask on her head. "Then you're an Arrancar too. Honestly, since you're wearing black clothes and don't have a mask on your face, I thought you were a Shinigami."
Muten Natsu nodded. "I was a Shinigami for a while."
"Huh? You were... so you aren't one now?" Nell let out a sigh of relief, then turned to Rukia Kuchiki, who was also dressed in black. "Were you a Shinigami too?"
Rukia Kuchiki answered honestly, "I'm still a Shinigami."
"I see..." Nell shot out of Muten Natsu's arms and frantically patted Bawabawa. "Aaaaaah! It's a Shinigami! The bad guys are here! Bawabawa, run! Run!"
Muten Natsu: "..."
She seemed to have forgotten that they were all on Bawabawa.
"Aaaaaah!" Nell looked back and saw that Muten Natsu and the others were still there. "They caught up! Faster!"
"We're all on Bawabawa," Orihime Inoue reminded her seriously. "No matter how fast Bawabawa runs, he can't shake us off."
Tears welled up in Nell's eyes. "Th-Then what do we do?"
"This is when you make Bawabawa stop suddenly and throw us off!" Orihime Inoue came up with a surprisingly good method. "Then you can keep running. Of course, you need to hold on tight first..."
"Right!" Before Orihime Inoue could finish, Nell had already seen the light. "Bawabawa, stop right now!"
Bawabawa immediately slammed to a halt. Pesche and Dondochakka went flying, landing headfirst in the white sand with only their legs twitching above the surface.
If Muten Natsu had not reacted quickly and grabbed Nell, she would not have been much better off.
"I'm sorry! It was Nell's fault, don't hit Nell..." Nell waved her little hands and kicked her short legs in a panic. "Nell doesn't taste good... don't eat Nell..."
"It's all right." Muten Natsu pressed Nell back onto his lap. "I won't eat you."
Nell wrapped both hands over her head and curled up into a ball in Muten Natsu's arms. Only after realizing he really was not going to do anything did she cautiously stretch out again.
"Pfft, pfft, pfft!" Pesche and Dondochakka crawled out in a sorry state, desperately spitting sand from their mouths. "Pah, pah, pah!"
Seeing that her two brothers were fine, Nell asked carefully, "You really won't eat Nell?"
"I really won't."
"Then..." Nell adjusted her posture. "Can I still sit here?"
Muten Natsu wrapped his arms around her as he had before. "Aren't you already sitting here?"
Nell peeked over at Rukia Kuchiki again. "You... won't eat Nell either, right?"
Rukia Kuchiki smiled faintly. "Of course not."
"Why does Nell think Shinigami eat Hollows?" Orihime Inoue asked curiously. "Did someone tell you that?"
"We heard before that there was a Shinigami in Hueco Mundo going around catching Hollows and eating them." Pesche and Dondochakka climbed back onto Bawabawa. "Later, we even saw it ourselves."
"Hm?" Muten Natsu had thought it was just a rumor passed around among Hollows, but apparently it was true. "What kind of Shinigami was it?"
"He had a human face!" Pesche gestured wildly. "A human face with no mask at all! It was terrifying!"
Muten Natsu: "..."
What kind of ghost story was this?
"Super scary!" Nell raised her little hand and pointed beneath her eye. "Especially the eyelashes here. They were really long!"
Especially long lower lashes...
Kaien Shiba's face surfaced in Muten Natsu's mind. The Shiba family all had long lower lashes. "Did that Shinigami have short black hair? Deep smoky-blue eyes?"
"His hair was black," Dondochakka answered. "As for his eyes, I didn't see clearly."
Muten Natsu gestured to the Shiba family crest on his left wrist. "Did he have a swirl-shaped tattoo here?"
"Yes!" Nell nodded hard. "His left hand could turn into a huge, huge, huge mouth too!"