Bleach: Reborn — Chapter 298 - China's Return
Chapter 298, China's Return
One month later.
Hueco Mundo. Las Noches. Szayelaporro's underground research laboratory.
"Mm..."
A soft feminine moan cut through the steady beeping of the lab instruments.
"Where... am I?" Inside a large glass container, a girl slowly came to, unclothed, long chestnut hair fanned around her, skin pale and delicate as a sprite's. Her eyelids, fringed with long lashes, fluttered open. Amber pupils shimmered with confusion.
"You're awake!" A voice rang out beside her ear, slightly jarring, carrying a hint of mischief. The girl startled with a cry and instinctively covered herself. "The surgery was a complete success! You're a cute girl again!"
"Huh?" The voice was so familiar. She peered through the glass. Standing outside was a tall, well-built man with long pale golden hair. A strange marking ran across his forehead, half-hidden by the loose strands falling over his brow.
"Ts... Tsuki-chan?!" She cried out. She'd recognized him.
"Long time no see, China." Wayne smiled and gave a slight nod. She hadn't caught the joke behind his words, but that bright, clear voice told him everything he needed to know. The girl named Yagami China was truly alive again.
---
Several days earlier.
Wayne had begun the plan to resurrect Yagami China. Resurrection was perhaps too simple a word for it. What he'd done was closer to reconstruction.
Yagami China had been dead for several years. Most of her brain cells had long since deteriorated. If not for the Yagami clan's sealing specialists preserving the integrity of her soul in that final moment, her bones would by now have become one with the earth.
Bringing her back meant rebuilding her body from nothing. Whether the memory cells could recover after reconstruction, no one could say. Neither Szayelaporro nor Mayuri Kurotsuchi, the two foremost scientists available to him, had been able to give a definitive answer.
On top of that, her Zanpakutō Getsururi had lost all its power along with its master's death and reverted to a plain, inert Asauchi. So Wayne chose a different path entirely.
Hollowfication.
Before China died, Wayne had removed as many of the Hollowfication Seeds from her body as he could. But at the moment of her death, traces of Hollow power had still remained inside her. Drawing on the Hōgyoku's power, Wayne first reactivated her body, then used the principles underlying Soul Candy to restore her soul to completeness. He took the Life Laws of Nel, Timd, and Starrk as the primary foundation, with his own Illusion Law as a supplement. Then he channeled pure Hollow power into her body, reshaping it and driving it toward a Hollow state. It was a further refinement built on the original foundation, one that allowed the reactivated brain cells to be preserved in an advanced form. And the Hōgyoku's most direct ability was, after all, to perceive and fulfill the desires of those around it. With that in mind, Wayne set the plan into motion.
China was ultimately transformed into a Hollow and granted power by Wayne to become an Arrancar. Her memories had been preserved within her body through the Hōgyoku's power. As for pushing her further, to the level that transcended both Soul Reaper and Hollow, Wayne decided against it. Uncontrollable things were best left alone. China's soul couldn't have withstood a power that great anyway. Keeping things as they were was the right call.
---
"So... I'm a Hollow now. An... Arrancar?" China looked down at the fist-sized Hollow Hole in her lower abdomen, then at the Hollow Mask fragment resting on her forehead. She tilted her head and looked to Wayne for confirmation.
"That's right, just as I said. You're one of us now. A high-ranking Adjuchas-class Arrancar." It took roughly a full day and night, but Wayne recounted everything that had happened from the moment of her death up to the present, weaving in his own Illusion Law and telling the whole story with genuine feeling.
Time had moved on. Decades had passed since China's resurrection. But she was still herself, only changed. From Soul Reaper to Hollow. Her power had grown, and she wore a mask now. And the one she had always admired had gone from a provisional member who'd only just obtained his Zanpakutō, fighting through every obstacle along the way, to captain-level, to Vasto Lorde, to an Arrancar on par with a Hollow King, and finally to ruler of Las Noches itself.
Listening to Wayne's account, China seemed almost to forget she had ever died. She found herself lost in the story of those decades.
"I never imagined Tsuki-chan had gone through so much. And I never imagined Captain Aizen would turn out like this." A trace of sorrow crossed her face. She had never idolized Aizen the way Momo did, nor held him in the same regard as Kitagawa Sawa. Her mission had always been to become a member of the Kidō Corps and bring strength to her clan. And Tsukishiro Hinamori, in those days, had been the perfect piece on her board.
But somewhere along the way, through that process of drawing close to him, China had genuinely fallen for him.
And then, as fate would have it, a single Hollowfication Seed had destroyed everything.
Still... he hadn't given up on her.
"Can I go back and see the Yagami clan?" She looked at the figure before her, a stranger and someone deeply familiar all at once, with quiet hope in her eyes.
"You can, but I'll need to put in a request to Soul Society first. That said, I don't expect the Yagami clan to accept a resurrection like yours. Even though I allied with Soul Society to deal with Aizen, that cooperation only extended within the Seireitei itself. Whether the Yagami clan was involved in any of that, I honestly don't know. But as one of the old established families, certain rigid and outdated rules..." He left it there. "You understand."
"Well... then let's try." China had sorted through her thoughts. She understood Wayne's position well enough. Storming back into the Yagami clan by force would be trivially easy for him. Getting the clan to actually accept her back was a different matter entirely.
Even if Wayne used his overwhelming power to install her directly as clan head, what he'd get in return would be the entire family rising against her. Think about it, however outmatched, what clan would ever accept a Hollow as its leader?
Wayne didn't argue or refuse. He simply had Timd reach out to Shiro-chan and asked him to pass the message along. A response would come soon enough.
He could have slipped China into the Seireitei without anyone noticing. But inviting unnecessary trouble was pointless. Flashing in and out of the Seireitei on a whim would put anyone on edge, and Old Man Yamamoto had already grown wary of Wayne now that he'd risen to the rank of a king. One careless move could spark another full-scale battle.
In Wayne's own words: not worth it.
---
Three days later, Wayne received permission from the Seireitei.
He brought China to the designated transfer point in Soul Society, and when they arrived, the Captain-Commander, Captain Unohana, Shiro-chan, Rangiku, and other captain-level figures Wayne was close to were already waiting. It was clearly a precautionary measure, but more than that, it was an attempt to use those connected to Wayne to keep him in check, to prevent anything unexpected. To that end, Captain Unohana had specifically brought Yui Mizusue along as well.
"Old man, I've brought her back." Wayne greeted the Captain-Commander, then nodded to the familiar faces around him.
"Mm." The old man gave a low grunt and a slight nod, then gestured for the Yagami clan members on his side to step forward.
"Father! Mother!" The moment China saw her parents, she lost control of her tears. She crossed the distance in a Sonído and threw herself into their arms, and they wept together. Not wanting to intrude on the family's reunion, Wayne tactfully moved away with the Captain-Commander and the others to talk elsewhere.
"Tsuki-chan, how has life in Hueco Mundo been?" Once they'd relocated to the meeting room, Yui Mizusue stepped forward first.
"Not bad at all. I'm well used to it by now." Wayne settled into a chair without ceremony and began briefing Mizusue on recent developments. In truth, most of it was for Old Man Yamamoto's ears.
"Baraggan is an ally as ever. I've handed full management of Las Noches over to him. I hold the title of lord in name, but I've given him complete administrative authority — he's the king in all but name. To support that arrangement, I've left Szayelaporro and Starrk with him. Oh, and I've already started discussions with Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi of the 12th Division about sharing some technology between Hueco Mundo and the Seireitei. No issues with that, I take it?"
"Mm..." The old man was quiet for a long moment, then nodded slowly. A mutual exchange of technology as a gesture of goodwill, that much could be seen as a step in a constructive direction.
"The Arrancar who previously clashed with captain-level fighters, along with some of the scattered remnant units, have been largely dealt with over the past month. The entire eastern region is now within Las Noches's sphere of control. Baraggan has his forces stationed there to manage it, while I'm taking Nel and the others back west to oversee things. Once both areas are stable, we'll push toward the central and northern regions — take as much ground as we can."
"That sounds like no small undertaking." Mizusue hesitated. She wanted to offer help, but glanced at Captain Unohana beside her and held her tongue.
"Honestly, if it's at all possible, I really could use Soul Society's help." Wayne said it plainly.
"The reason Hueco Mundo is so desolate comes down to a lack of vital resources and energy. There's no daylight — only a single moon. Most plants can't photosynthesize. The trees of the Forest of Menos in the inner circle can't be transplanted. White sand stretches in every direction, and there's nothing living in any of it. But during my years in Soul Society, I came across quite a few plants that can survive on moonlight alone. So..."
"You want to transform Hueco Mundo into an environment that living things can actually adapt to?" Unohana's surprise was plain. Hueco Mundo was vast beyond measure. Building a home there comparable to the Seireitei would be an enormous undertaking, even with Soul Reaper assistance.
Las Noches as Aizen left it was already a rough prototype. Completing a portion of that work now, well. If Soul Society was willing.
"This matter... cannot be decided rashly." The old man spoke. "I will consult with the captains. The final decision rests with the Central 46."
"Sure." Wayne shrugged. He already knew this was a dead end. But he said nothing more. This was essentially a request to indirectly strengthen what they considered the enemy. Even if the old man were inclined to accommodate their history, the Central 46 would never give it a second thought.
"In any case, that's everything on our end for now. In roughly half a year, I'll launch a campaign against the central region of Hueco Mundo. When that happens, the number of Adjuchas-class Hollows invading Soul Society will drop. Anything below Adjuchas-class is beyond my ability to manage — there are simply too many of them."
"Agreed." The old man nodded. "Peace is something we both desire. So is maintaining stability across the Three Worlds. I hope this peace lasts a little longer."
"Mm." Wayne nodded on the surface. Inwardly, he couldn't help a dry thought. About a year, old man. After that, what's coming for you will arrive right on schedule.
The Thousand-Year Blood War. Yhwach. The Quincy assault. Wayne could tell Old Man Yamamoto right now, warn him of the catastrophic war that would break out in a year's time. But there was nothing to be gained by it. The Central 46's existence alone meant Soul Society couldn't even be moved to help repair Hueco Mundo. Once the war erupted, everything would shift on its own anyway.
And even if he said all this now and the old man believed him, the Central 46 would simply scoff. Why bring that headache on himself.
As for the Wandenreich's future assault on Hueco Mundo,
Wayne had already taken precautions. He'd set out bait. He was waiting for them to bite.
---
"Well then, I won't overstay my welcome. I have plenty waiting for me back home. Let China stay with the Yagami clan for now — once she's had enough time with her family, let me know and I'll come take her back to Hueco Mundo. I went through a great deal to bring her back, Captain, so please keep her safe. If she gets cut down by a Zanpakutō, there's no saving her a second time."
"Of course." Unohana gave a slight nod. In truth Wayne's concern was unnecessary. Against a high-ranking Adjuchas-class Arrancar, there were fewer than 5 individuals in all of Soul Society who could eliminate her outright. And if China ever came into conflict with a Soul Reaper, the eruption of her Reiatsu would propagate through the entire Seireitei, and every captain would come running. Cutting her down instantly, the difficulty of that was genuinely extreme.
"I'm off, then. Yui, come visit me in Hueco Mundo sometime." Wayne grinned at Mizusue.
"You never stop talking." Mizusue laughed and gave him a light knock on the head. "Go on, get back. Otherwise Captain Zaraki is going to track your Reiatsu here and then you really won't be getting away."
"Ha — looks like I'll need the captain to handle that one." And indeed, the moment Wayne had arrived, Kenpachi Zaraki's Reiatsu had surged and was already bearing down on his location at speed. They'd barely had a few minutes to talk and he already had to leave. Otherwise he'd spend a good while shaking Zaraki off, and a fight like that would draw Shunsui Kyōraku, Jushiro Ukitake, and the other veteran captains over to watch. Then it would turn into a whole night of drinking. That would eat up far too much time. The old man wouldn't sanction his captains sharing drinks with the lord of Hueco Mundo anyway, it would be beneath their station. Though honestly, it was mainly the Central 46 and the clan elders who would object the loudest.
"Leaving." Wayne didn't linger another second. He snapped his fingers and vanished.
➤ Next: Spatial Fortress