"…Joining the group?", Ginjo repeated my words, an eyebrow arched as he and Xcution dropped down to the ground floor. Tsukishima appeared to be intrigued even as his eyes narrowed while the rest of the group looked cautious as I nodded.
"Yeah. You see, in the near future, a Shinigami called Aizen and his group of Hollows and rogue Shinigami are going to come here to Karakura since it's the Jureichi for the Human World."
"Sorry for cutting you off, but what is this…Jureichi?", Yukio asked and I smiled before shaking my head.
"No need to apologize and a Jureichi is the important spiritual ground in the Human World with a radius of one spiritual ri where the most amount of concentrated spiritual energy is. I don't know what Aizen intends to do with it, but since Karakura is where most spiritual energies like to gather, I believe that is where he is going to."
"And you want our help to fight this guy? What makes you think we'll sacrifice our well-being for you and your group?", Tsukishima asked and I shook my head with a chuckle as I leaned back on my hands.
"Oh, it's not like that at all. I don't want you to risk your lives for me. I want you to risk your lives because if Aizen does win, he will come here and then every other city and country in the world until he either controls it all or has destroyed it all."
"How strong is this Aizen?"
"Strong enough to where he can challenge the entirety of the Gotei 13 with just two other Shinigami and a few Hollow, but it's not just that. The guy is smart and cunning as he has been manipulating the entirety of the Soul Society from the shadows without anyone noticing anything for a little over a century and that is what makes him truly dangerous. Therefore, I want as many people as possible to help."
"We've never had much reason to trust Shinigami, especially not after what they did," Jackie spoke with a frown, glancing at Ginjo who was oddly silent as the Fullbringer kept his gaze on me and I smiled before standing up.
"Good, I'm not a Shinigami."
"You threatened to kill Tsukishima."
"After he manipulated the woman and her son that I care for. That is why I threatened him. Now, can I ask why you all decided it would be a good idea to send him at me instead of waiting for me to call?", I asked, calling my sceptre to my hand with a raised eyebrow as Ginjo scratched the back of his head with a sigh.
"Honestly, it was a bit hasty, I'll admit that, but I wanted to be sure that you knew that we were being serious about asking you to join us."
"I wouldn't say that's the best idea considering the guy seems to be able to manipulate memories and I hate the idea of working with a guy that can manipulate my mind without me even noticing it."
"Don't worry. Tsukishima does not use his abilities on allies."
'Unless it benefits you, that is,' I know all too well of how far Ginjo was willing to go to ensure that he won at the end of the day and right now, I was not trusting that a single word is something that he would say.
"Bakudo #76: Hoyokuin (Phoenix Wing Seal)!", Letting the Reimyaku and the reishi around us flow through my body, Xcution immediately went on guard as a wave of spiritual energy erupted from my body and formed a golden dome-like shape around us.
Reddish-orange spiritual energy gathered at its top before taking the shape of a phoenix spreading its arms wide, feathers slowly raining down upon us before Tsukishima hissed as the bookmark in his book fell out and vanished.
"For the next minute, you and I are unable to use any spiritual energy and any abilities that depend on our spiritual energy."
"And why would you do that?", Ginjo asked with a frown and I smiled while placing my sceptre down as well.
"Because I wish to show you that I am willing to abandon everything that I am in order to make sure that the world lives to see another day. Now Tsukishima, do I have your word that you have not cut anyone in your group to follow your command and then reset their memories without them noticing?", I asked, keeping my gaze entirely on the man in question who met my gaze with his own before nodding.
"You have my word. I swear upon my life and the lives of everyone here," I wanted to say that he was most likely just lying and biding time until the barrier faded, but even as the barrier shattered around us, neither of us looked away from the other before I sighed and called my sceptre back to my hand.
"Considering none of you tried to attack me during the time, I still feel like you might have not been telling the full truth, but I will apologize for my rash methods."
"It's okay. We understand that you have to look out for your friends and family. As for your group, if we do this, we'll join, but we'll help when we decide we want to help. You don't have any chains or hidden deals that forces us to do so and if a single Shinigami tries to attack us, we turn around and we accept our fate."
"Agreed. After all, I nearly got killed by the Shinigami so I don't mind those conditions. Now, let's have you and the other group meet the rest of the team."
"Wait, other group?"
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"Isn't this lovely? The entire unit all together and working as one. It's almost enough to bring a tear to my eye," I spoke with a smile as I sat under a tree, but the others didn't seem to share my enthusiasm as they stared each other down.
Riruka, Mashiro and Yuzu were in their own world as the trio conversed off to the side, but the rest of the Visored and Xcution were full-on having a standoff as Isshin and the others sat beside me.
"You sure you're not trying to start your own war?", Isshin whispered with a frown and I shook my head with a smile before clapping my hands to draw their attention back to me.
"Okay, I understand that tensions are higher than we were expecting, but this is no time for us to try and fight, okay?"
"You said that there was a group, but you never mentioned that there were Shinigami in this group."
"Hey, we're no longer affiliated with the Gotei 13, but I'm more focused on the person beside you, Kanonji. Do you know who that is?"
"Isshin Shiba, former head of the Shiba Clan and former Captain of the Gotei 13's Tenth Division. Believe me, I know, but Isshin is no longer with the Soul Society."
"Oh, so you do? Then you understand why we can't be around the guy, right?", Love spoke with a frown and I sighed before glancing at Isshin and gesturing for him to speak.
"Listen, I do regret that we didn't give you all a chance when I was still a captain, but I've left that life behind. Now, I'm nothing more than a doctor and a father that wishes to make sure that my children has a world to live in," The Visored were silent at that as they looked at him before I smiled as Shinji sighed and palmed his face.
"Urgh, now you're making us look like the bad guys~! Fine. Fine, I guess we can work with him, but I'd still like to know who these guys are."
"Oh, that's easy. These are the Fullbringers I spoke of. They named their group Xcution. Xcution, these are Shinigami that were banished from the Soul Society, former free agents and now part of our little group. They're the Visored. Why they were banished is something you're going to have to ask them."
"…Like we said, we don't care that we're working with you or this group, but we're most definitely going to be wary around them," Ginjo spoke with a frown and the rest of Xcution nodded as Lisa and Hiyori narrowed their eyes.
"I can smell the fight wanting to start so let's not go there."
"If they want to start shit, we're finishing it," Hiyori spoke with a growl and I sighed as I saw both Lisa and Jackie already getting themselves ready for a fight.
"No one's starting any shit here, understood? This is our very first meeting and you bastards already want to kill each other. For fuck's sake, we're civilized beings, not Hollows trying to kill each other over a scrap of spiritual energy."
"…Just make sure they understand who the hell is going to be there to save their ass," Hiyori spoke with a huff and I conjured a barrier and pushed the mohawk teen known as Moe back to Xcution.
"Hiyori, stop picking fights, please. Tsukishima, I know you want to say something snarky yet cool, but not right now. Right now, neither of you two groups trust the other and that's okay, Trust has to be earned, but instead of throwing shade or flexing, maybe we should try and work together, right?", I said, watching as Shinji and Ginjo looked at each other before I palmed my face as they grinned and did a hand shake.
"Got it. Betray us and we'll tear your souls apart."
"You do that and we'll destroy you without a thought."
"…Well, at least that's a start," Karin spoke with a grin and I sighed before looking over at where Yuzu, Riruka and Mashiro were just looking at us.
"Oh god, you guys are worse than high school cliques," Riruka spoke with a huff and I smirked as Mashiro nodded.
"Right? At least in our girl squad, we talk about fun stuff, like what flavour ice cream we'd turn into if we got hit by some weird candy-themed Hollow."
"I'd be a caramel-vanilla swirl, Riruka would be a raspberry swirl and Mashiro thinks she'd be mint chocolate."
"…See, even the childish ones can get along."
"Who are you calling childish?/ Yeah, what she said," Riruka and Yuzu asked respectively with frowns on all three of their faces, but I think Mashiro was just pretending to be angry as I turned back to the two groups while gesturing towards the trio.
"See what I mean?"
"I suppose if they can, we can try and not kill each other at every corner. Ginjo, agree on being allies until the end of Aizen?"
"I just met you today, but I already like the way you think. Alright, agreed," Ginjo nodded as he shook Shinji's hand, the blond in question nodding in agreement as I smiled.
"It is good to see that even arrogant Shinigami can be persuaded to be friendly."
'Oh, Macy, not now~', I thought while palming my face as the Visored turned to Macy, who didn't look the slightest bit apologetic for her words as Shinji raised an eyebrow.
"You talk like you know us, lady."
"Shinji, this is another member of the team. Her name is Macy Baljure and she is a witch and a former resident of Reverse London, right?"
"That's correct, yes," Macy said without looking away from the Shinigami and I hid my smirk as I saw the wince Shinji gave while the other former captains in the Visored looked away as fast as they could.
"Ah, you're…you're a Dragon Tamer?"
"Considering you helped my ancestors kill off the dragons and then killed off all but one of my ancestors, it's safe to say that I am but a simple witch who now has to save your behinds."
"I…Ahem, I see."
"Shinji, right? Were you part of the Gotei 13 over three centuries ago?"
"I was."
"Who else?"
"Everyone except for Mashiro, Hiyori and Lisa. It was only the captains that were allowed to take part in the culling. All Shinigami ranked Lieutenant and below never found out about it."
"Wait, wait, wait! You're telling me…that you guys…just wiped out an entire race…just like that?", Hiyori asked with a frown and Shinji sighed while Kensei nodded with a frown.
"We did. At the time-"
"I don't give a shit about at the time. Why the hell would you do that?"
"The same reason why you helped in reducing the number of Quincies 150 years ago. They were a potential threat that we could not allow. Granted, the Quincy were a lot more in quantity compared to the witches and wizards of Reverse London, but even the weakest witch and/ or wizard was on the level of a 5th Seat Shinigami. That was a risk we could not allow at the time, especially if they decided to band together with the Quincy."
"Which is why I think most Shinigami are dumb, but that's neither here nor there. We are now a band of merry rogues working together to beat up the bastard that has ruined our lives and/ or will ruin our lives. So, let's work together here, eh?", I spoke with a grin, watching as Macy just shrugged while Shinji looked at me and nodded.
"Got it. We work together, we take out Aizen and his group of bastards and then we go back to our original lives. Is that a deal?"
"Deal./ Deal," Ginjo and Macy agreed and I smiled as the three groups finally relaxed and sat back down.
"Hah, was that so hard? Now then, let us first figure out how the hell we're going to fight Aizen and his group. Any ideas?"
"Ooh~ Ooh! Wait for it…a Hollow…but it's made out of chocolate," Mashiro spoke with a grin and all of us turned to her while Yuzu nodded in agreement.
"And how exactly would that help us?"
"It won't. I just want chocolates."
'…Oh, this is about to be a long day.'
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"You sure this is a good idea, Mr. Kanonji? I mean, I can train on my own in the Soul Society," Orihime said with a nervous smile and I snorted as I continued to walk onwards, Rukia shaking her head from where she was walking at Orihime's other side.
"Nonsense. Besides, the Soul Society is more rich in spiritual energy so it would be the best place for me to train as well."
"Even though you were warned to not step on Soul Society grounds again?", Rukia asked and Orihime giggled as I wagged my finger.
"I was warned to watch my back when I came back to the Soul Society, not told to not step on Soul Society grounds again. The only thing I have to worry about is zealots of Mayuri that want to kill me."
"I have to ask. How in the hell were you able to kill a captain?"
"Oh, I have no idea either. There was a shit-ton of luck involved," I answered with a smirk, chuckling as Rukia just shook her head before I looked forward as the air in front of us opened.
Walking through, I hummed at the sight of the First Division, smiling and waving at the Kido Corps' members who just kept their stoic glares on me before I turned to Orihime and Rukia with a grin.
"I'll meet you two at the 13th Division's training ground."
"Where are you going?", Rukia asked with a frown, to which I just waved before turning around and walking towards the first building I saw.
Time for Yama and I to have a little chat.
A/N: And we're finally starting off the Hueco Mundo arc~! The Don is in the Soul Society with Orihime and if you know what happens when she comes back, you're in for a treat.
Next chapter: Nothing.
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