Among the Arrancar, especially the stronger ones among the Espada, there were still those unwilling to accept defeat yet they had no choice.
Ulquiorra remained expressionless, but his heart was shaken all the same, particularly after witnessing Aizen's downfall. Still, he didn't believe Aizen would truly die just like that. And sure enough, perseverance paid off—he finally found Aizen amid the ruins.
At this point, the Arrancar had no will left to keep fighting.
Ulquiorra spoke coldly to his companions, "All units return to Hueco Mundo. Any objections? Continuing is meaningless."
"Old man doesn't care. If they want to fight, I sure as hell won't just stand by," Barragan said stubbornly.
"Ay ay, what a pain… is it finally over? Let's go back." Starrk was still lazy and listless.
"Then, people of the Hokage world—especially you, Namikaze Shinju. The next time we meet will be your end."
Ulquiorra carried his unwillingness as he gradually returned toward the black Garganta in the sky—the spatial rift.
"Ulquiorra, huh? I hope you can find your heart. When we meet again, I hope we won't be enemies. Otherwise… I'm honestly afraid I'll wipe you all out."
Shinju first smiled faintly, then his expression turned cold.
The remaining Arrancar quickly followed.
After the Arrancar left, the pitch-black rift over Konoha slowly began to shrink under Shinju's control.
He intended to completely end this passage connecting to another world, and drag everything back onto its proper track.
But at the instant the rift was about to close completely, a mutation erupted.
That black gash didn't continue shrinking—instead it began violently trembling.
A never-before-seen berserk energy burst out from within, forcibly tearing open the nearly healed space once more.
The edges of the rift flickered with ominous blood-red lightning, screeching sharply.
Shinju could feel it—this newly emerged energy was completely different from the spiritual pressure of the Shinigami world.
Almost at the same time, cold mechanical prompt tones issued rapid warnings.
[Emergency system alert: Unknown rules detected! Parsing in progress…]
[Parsing complete! New world-rule fragment detected: Devil Fruits]
[Warning! High-density Haki energy reaction detected! Reassessing energy tier…]
[New world coordinates locked. World codename: ONEPIECE]
The information contained in this chain of prompts was massive.
Shinju's expression turned grave. Even though he had just upgraded, whether these unknown rules would bring new effects was still uncertain.
Maybe another hard fight was coming. Battling Aizen had already been hell-level difficulty.
Now there was an unknown power on top of that.
Inside the temporary command center, Senju Tobirama was staring intently at the spatial observation instrument.
Its needle swung crazily all the way to the far right of the scale, like it was about to smoke itself out.
"Th-this… another new world again?"
Tobirama pressed down hard on the console, trying to stabilize the shaking equipment.
But the machine had started to disobey, vibrating nonstop. Worse news followed one after another.
Tobirama frowned.
"Shinju, something's wrong! On the other side of the rift, a physical world with an extremely high energy tier has appeared."
"Its rules are completely different from any world we know. That energy is directly interfering with our physical space."
Tobirama's voice came through the communicator to Shinju, and it matched exactly what Shinju had just sensed.
But Shinju wasn't panicked at all. Instead, he showed a hint of interest.
"Haki? Devil Fruits?"
"Looks like there's a new trick in town. I'm actually kind of looking forward to this."
He muttered to himself, rapidly processing the new terms the system had delivered.
"Interesting. The fragments of that 'Main God Space'… are scattered even farther than I thought."
In Konoha, countless ninja were jolted so hard by the sudden shaking that they struggled to stay on their feet.
Everyone sighed—one wave hadn't settled before another rose. Was space itself breaking down?
Or had the sky been torn open?
They stared up in horror, only to see ripples forming around the rift again, like waves in water.
"What is that?"
"Is the sky going to collapse?"
"This pressure is terrifying—I can't move!"
Some weaker-willed ninja, under the impact of that force, rolled their eyes back and passed out on the spot.
Energy attack? No—not that.
This was a kind of willpower crushing down.
A system entirely different from the existing power systems.
"You people really can't let me rest, can you? This is just a gauntlet—one after another."
Shinju complained.
His body remained motionless in the air—not because that willpower affected him, but because he was thinking.
He felt this power called Haki, analyzing its composition.
Then suddenly, an object that didn't belong to this world was forcibly squeezed out of the rift—along with what looked like people falling with it.
First came a strange prow plated with grass, topped by an adorably goofy lion figurehead.
Then the massive hull, two towering masts, and a flag snapping in the wind.
On the flag was a skull wearing a straw hat.
All the Konoha ninja who saw this couldn't help thinking—
No rain today. Instead, boats were falling from the sky?
But after just witnessing visitors from another world, they were almost numb to weirdness by now.
Once the Thousand Sunny broke free of the dimensional rift's pull, it plunged straight toward the forest outside Konoha.
In the next second, a world-shaking boom erupted.
The entire forest looked like it had been hit by a meteor. The ground surged and buckled violently, and countless towering trees snapped in half.
The tremor shook Konoha several times over—like the village had just endured a major earthquake.
Everyone struggled to steady themselves. They'd seen big scenes before—especially the ninja, who immediately snapped into full alert.
After spitting out the ship, the dimensional rift rapidly shrank, then vanished from the sky as if it had never existed.
The sky returned to calm, leaving only that forest—flattened into wasteland.
"Enemy attack! It's an enemy attack!"
"Quick! Medical unit to the forest edge!"
"ANBU! Lock down the scene. Everyone prepare for battle!"
Ninja mobilized in an emergency. The entire village plunged back into a high-tension war footing.
Shinju slowly descended from the sky and stood atop the Hokage Rock, looking down at everything below.
His gaze pierced through the chaotic crowd, crossed over the village walls, and finally landed on the new visitors from another world.
The new guests had arrived.
What kind of even more violent variables would they bring to this world—already thrown into chaos by his existence?
He could feel it: aboard that ship, there were several life signatures that were extremely strong.
They were waking up from the impact of the crash.
(End of Chapter)
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