Bleach: Stirring Up a Storm

”Hey, Chōzuka, have you thought it through? Right now, it’s not just a matter of us giving him time.” Sarugaki Hiyori also became uncharacteristically serious, reminding him, ”There have already been two consecutive Arrancar invasions. You haven’t forgotten that, have you?”

”If you’re worried about Aizen’s level of obsession with Ichigo, Hiyori, then there’s no need to fret. This attack should just be an individual action by the Arrancar.”

As soon as this was said, Yoruichi and Urahara didn’t have much of a reaction, but the members of the Visored clearly exchanged glances. Confidence was good, but if it was arrogance, they would definitely suffer a massive loss in the future.

Orderly dividing forces to lure away targets, having the team’s main general strike, and even arranging reinforcements to cover the retreat—none of this seemed like an individual action by the enemy. If it *was* an individual action, that individual was Aizen.

Although Hirako didn’t say it, he also cast his gaze toward Kōe. His meaning was obvious: he hoped the other party could provide a reasonable explanation, rather than blind arrogance.

”Hey, hey, hey, what’s with those expressions? This was said by Tōsen himself. Me saying ’should’ is already being quite cautious.”

”Tōsen said it himself?”

Kōe nodded and recounted the situation from his fight with Tōsen up until the other party left.

”Of course, I don’t deny the possibility of illusionary deception. But carefully sorting through the other party’s actions: they divided their forces to lure away targets, yet the main general only put pressure on Ichigo and didn’t deliver a fatal blow.”

”As for the rescue, it’s even more ridiculous. Allowing six Arrancar to act ineffectively for so long—if it wasn’t to let those brats get some training, they wouldn’t even have had the chance to be rescued. How could such a disjointed action come from Aizen’s hands?”

”However, mobilizing such a large number of top-tier combatants definitely received Aizen’s approval. Of course, Ichimaru Gin was also blunt about this.” Urahara rolled his eyes and proposed a hypothesis. ”And if his goal was to test you, Kōe, then such an arrangement makes sense.”

”That’s why when I attacked Tōsen and the others, it was also to see if he had made any arrangements. With Aizen’s control over his subordinates, although it might not be to the extent of controlling every word and action, he can still guess pretty closely what his subordinates are thinking and what they will do.”

”It would be far too abnormal if Soul Society had no reaction to two Arrancar being sent to the World of the Living yesterday. To him, the only difference is who would come to the World of the Living.” Kōe tapped his finger lightly on the table. ”If it were me, then he would probably have to put some thought into his next action. Six Arrancar wouldn’t be enough to satisfy my appetite.”

”The premise is that he actually has extra moves to make, rather than just needing to prepare for the final decisive battle,” Yoruichi added.

Urahara picked up the thread and continued, ”Now it seems he indeed has preparations for a next move. Otherwise, he would only need to issue an order to beat down any subordinates with ulterior motives.”

Hirako suddenly sat up. Wasn’t this the situation they were most worried about? But before the words could leave his mouth, Kōe raised a hand to stop him.

”We can’t control what he will do. Stay calm, Hirako.”

”This will determine our attitude towards Ichigo,” Hirako said in a deep voice. Sometimes, this kind of sudden attack that you know is coming is what gives people the biggest headache.

”If they still simply target Ichigo like that, then it’s easy to handle, Hirako.” Kōe turned his head. ”Targeting the people around Ichigo, or perhaps, their next target might change. Cutting off one’s own arm before the great battle even begins—such pre-war preparation is too hasty.”

”Finding that, or those few possible targets, is our top priority.”

The room immediately fell into silence. Kōe’s speculation was not unreasonable. The target of both attacks being Ichigo made it easy for people to fall into habitual thinking.

This didn’t mean habitual thinking was wrong. They definitely couldn’t drop their protection of Ichigo, but this naturally reduced the comprehensiveness of their protection. Even if Aizen’s target was still Ichigo, tearing an opening through the people around him would be relatively much easier.

Not to mention if the target was someone else. Everyone present protecting someone one-on-one? If they had that ability, they wouldn’t have needed to seal the Hōgyoku inside Rukia’s soul in the first place.

Since Kōe’s existence had already been probed, the worst-case scenario for the next action would be Aizen making a move. With Kyōka Suigetsu’s ability, the only one who could handle it was Kōe.

Gather Ichigo along with Inoue and the others for centralized protection? Then they would have to add Renji and the others to be safer. At this time, if the other party postured to massacre the World of the Living, should they scatter or not?

If they scattered, would they be defeated one by one?

Find the target, or...

”Just transfer them all back to Soul Society. No! Just send all the humans related to Ichigo in Karakura Town back together!” Hiyori felt a burst of irritability in her heart.

Hirako glanced at her and said mercilessly, ”Are we just going to ignore everyone else? Even if we could empty out the entire Karakura Town in the short term, could we move all the humans in the World of the Living?”

”Then just take care of those few brats. If Aizen really wants to advance the decisive battle, then we’ll just fight!” Hiyori stood up abruptly, put her hands on her hips, and muttered angrily to herself, ”Can that damn baldy Aizen really run back to Soul Society to kidnap people?!”

”Sorry, but he really does have the ability to go back to Soul Society and kidnap people,” Urahara replied helplessly, holding his head. Hiyori was instantly left speechless. Weren’t these guys boosting the enemy’s morale a bit too much?

”Although I really don’t want to admit it, use your brain to think, Hiyori. How were we driven out by that bastard Aizen back then?” Hirako grimaced. Bringing up the past made him very unhappy. ”He can appear in two places at the same time, so naturally he can also not appear in any place.”

”The only person who can see through the clues and has the ability to stop him is Chōzuka. Unfortunately, he is not in Soul Society right now, and from what I can see, he doesn’t plan on going back anytime soon.”

Kōe shook his head and smiled. ”Unfortunately, you guessed right. I wasted so much breath to get out here. How could I be willing to cower back there with the brats?”

Hiyori looked at Hirako, then at Kōe, feeling like her chest was going to explode from anger. She pointed at Kōe and cursed, ”Can you be a little more mature, you bastard!”

”It’s useless.” Kōe spread his hands, saying innocently, ”I bet you, even if I took them back, in a few days Soul Society would be begging me to come back. Those brats are just things Aizen is temporarily interested in. You guys don’t think he’s doing all this just for a few brats, do you? When he started the Hollowfication experiments, the mothers of these brats hadn’t even been born yet.”

”Then his true intention is?”

”Right under our feet.” Kōe pointed downward. ”The entirety of Karakura Town is his target.”