Isshin Appears

In the following days, peace returned to Soul Society, and the matter of Amagai was treated as if it had never happened. From him, we learned the latest news about Hueco Mundo. What we know so far is that Las Noches has become the most powerful organization in Hueco Mundo, and we only know that there are many powerful people in it, and that its master is Aizen.

Judging by the timeline Aizen should have almost finished creating the Arrancar, and he'll likely send a few to harass Soul Society.

While the Soul Society remains peaceful, the World of the Living is far from peaceful.

In Karakura Town, after Ichigo returned, he went back to school. Soon, the teacher came to the classroom, and everyone returned to their seats. The homeroom teacher came to the desk and said, "Very good, everyone is here today. Although Oshima and Sorimachi are not here, it's understandable since they are delinquents. They must be doing very well."

Those below were speechless; was this really something a teacher should say?

"Well then, I have some great news to share with everyone. We're getting a transfer student in our class. Please come in and introduce yourself."

Just then, a blond boy with shoulder-length hair and a set of straight front teeth walked in through the door. He went to the podium, picked up the chalk, and wrote four large characters on the blackboard, but the characters were written backwards.

"Flat as in flat, Ono no Imoko as in 'ko,' true as in true foreskin, and spicy as in Shinji Hirako. Nice to meet you!" Hirako introduced himself, and no one knew why he had come to this school. As for his purpose, only he knew.

At this moment, the homeroom teacher pointed to his handwriting. "Hirako, you wrote it backwards."

"You write well, don't you? I'm very good at writing in reverse. Teacher, can I sit next to a cute girl?" Hirako asked.

The homeroom teacher thought for Ichigo, "You can sit here." Hirako didn't object, but walked over and sat down next to Ichigo. He said to Ichigo, who was deep in thought, "My deskmate, let's get along well, okay, Kurosaki- kun?" Hirako's voice became unusual as he said this.

Ichigo was taken aback for a moment, but didn't think much of it and replied, "Oh. Nice to meet you."

He initially thought it was just a minor incident, but things turned out to be far more complicated than that.

When Ichigo returned home that night, he saw the Substitute Soul Reaper Badge light up again. He quickly detached himself from his physical body and transformed into his Shinigami form, leaving his body to his soul, and then hurriedly rushed out.

"I am Ichigo Kurosaki, a Substitute Shinigami. This is my Substitute Soul Reaper Badge." Ichigo produced the so-called Substitute Soul Reaper Badge, but to his surprise, the Shinigami guarding the area laughed, "What is this? Substitute Soul Reaper Badge? I've never heard of such a thing before."

Suddenly, Ichigo sensed something. He drew his Zanpakuto and turned, blocking Hirako's attack. Ichigo recognized the person opposite him and exclaimed, "You are... Hirako? Is that Zanpakuto? Who are you?"

Hirako put her index finger to her lips. "With Spiritual Pressure like that, you can't be so flustered. It'll attract a lot of attention."

By whom?

"By whom? You're such an idiot!"

Ichigo couldn't take it anymore and shoved Hirako away. Ichigo asked, "Hirako, who exactly are you?"

"You really have no manners. Are you that concerned about my status? Oh well, I'll show you then." Hirako placed his right hand on his face, and a white light flashed. Then, to Ichigo's surprise, a Hollow mask appeared in his hand.

"A mask of illusion"?

Hirako Zanpakuto over his shoulder. "Zanpakuto plus a Hollow mask, you get it?"

Ichigo suddenly remembered something, his expression changing drastically. "I'm someone who entered the Hollow Realm from the side of the Shinigami. Actually, I already told you, right? Let's get along, okay? I'm a member of the Visored, one of your kind~"

"Join us, Ichigo. You shouldn't be over there." Hirako finally revealed his purpose. He had come today mainly to recruit Ichigo into the Visoreds.

At the same time, the soul controlling Ichigo and Uryū Ishida were also attacked by Hollows. The soul was alright, after all, it was a Modified Soul and it could still dodge some attacks, but Uryū was not so easy to deal with.

While in Soul Society, he unleashed his forbidden power, nearly killing Mayuri Kurotsuchi with that single blow. However, the price was the loss of his Quincy abilities; now he is just an ordinary human who can see Hollows and Shinigami.

He struggled on, but was no match for the enemy and was about to be killed when a flash of white light saved Uryū. A man of about thirty years old with white hair walked towards him. "You look quite disheveled, Uryū."

Uryū looked at him in surprise and exclaimed, "You are... Ryūken?"

"You actually call your own father by his name? You haven't changed at all, Uryū!" At that moment, Utsu attacked again, but Uryū Ishida's father, Ryūken Ishida, was killed in a single blow. Utsu said, "High-Speed Regeneration isn't a problem at all. Just kill him before he can use High-Speed Regeneration, right?"

Uryū asked in surprise, "What's going on? How do you have Quincy abilities? Didn't you always hate Quincy? Didn't you look down on Quincy? So I thought you should have abandoned Quincy abilities."

Ryūken adjusted his glasses. "That's why I said you're stupid. I've said it before, I have no interest in Quincy abilities, and you have no talent!"

He then casually dealt with one of the Hollows behind Uryū. "Uryū, you're not mature enough. If it were me, I could restore your lost power. Don't doubt me, but I have one condition."

"What?"

"You must swear that from this day forward you will never have anything to do with death again..."

Meanwhile, the Hollow carrying Ichigo's body frantically escapes, pursued by the same Menos Grande that killed Ichigo's mother years ago. It seems that Hollow is now even more powerful and has come specifically to kill Ichigo, to avenge the stab he suffered a few months ago.

Although Hun was Modified Soul, and had other Modified Souls to help him, his strength had greatly increased, and Hun ultimately could not escape being caught in Xu's grasp.

Just as Hollow was about to deliver the fatal blow, a flash of white light appeared, and the talisman that Hollow had Isshin sewn onto Ichigo rose into the air and blocked Hollow's attack.

Just then, a familiar voice came from afar, "Hey hey hey, didn't I tell you to always carry this with you? Mr. Hollow, Ichigo isn't here right now, how about I keep you company for a bit?"

Soul turned to look at the person approaching, and to his astonishment, he realized that he actually knew this person. The person who came was none other Ichigo Ichigo's seemingly slovenly father, Isshin Kurosaki.

Xu seemed to hate being disturbed. "What are you?"

Isshin picked up the amulet from the ground and tossed it to Kon. "Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Isshin Kurosaki, Ichigo Kurosaki's father." Then he turned to Kon: "Take this, Kon. This amulet was originally prepared for you."

Soul stared at Isshin in astonishment. "You... when did you realize I wasn't Ichigo?"

"Of course it's from the very beginning. Ever since the day you first entered Ichigo's body at the gravesite, think carefully, when did I ever call you Ichigo when you entered Ichigo body?"

At this moment, Hollow was unhappy. He had been ignored, and he punched the ground, creating a crater. "You're Ichigo Kurosaki's father? I see. If your father is a Shinigami, then Ichigo Kurosaki has true blood. Now I can finally understand why I lost to him back then."

"But that guy named Isshin, I have absolutely no interest in you. I'm here to kill Ichigo Kurosaki. Since you're Father, you should know where he is, right? Hand him over now."

Isshin shrugged. "How should I know? He's not a child anymore. Besides, my family has always been laissez-faire. And even if you're not interested in me, I came here specifically to kill you. If you don't consider me a rival, I'll be in a lot of trouble."

Isshin's goal wasn't just to protect Kon and Ichigo's bodies; more importantly, he wanted to kill this Hollow. This Hollow had killed his wife, so how could Isshin not hate it? However, Isshin's power hadn't recovered back then, so he could only choose to remain silent.

Later, during the grave-sweeping trip, Isshin's power had recovered, but in order to train Ichigo, he still chose to let Ichigo handle the matter himself. Unexpectedly, Ichigo only managed to wound him, and Ichigo took the opportunity to escape. Isshin to chase after him, but Ichigo had already fled to Hueco Mundo, so Isshin had no choice but to give up.

Now that he has reappeared, Isshin is naturally not going to let him go.

However, Isshin's words only made the Hollow burst into laughter. He laughed arrogantly and said, "To kill me? A mere Grim Reaper dares to be so arrogant. Let me show you my true form!"

As he spoke, his body continued to grow larger, and the mask on his head shattered, leaving only the mask on his jaw. Soul opened his eyes wide and murmured, "It's ridiculously big! It's as big as Menos Grande! No, it's going to be even bigger!"

Isshin said, "It's the Arrancar, the Hollows who gain Shinigami powers by removing their masks, right?"

"I didn't expect you to be so knowledgeable. Well then, you should understand that you can't defeat this Zanpakuto, right?" The Hollow drew his enormous Zanpakuto from behind him, practically the size of a house. "The size of Zanpakuto signifies the magnitude of its Spiritual Pressure. You can't win with your branch-like Zanpakuto, you brat!"

"Is that so? Then let's try it." Completely ignoring the Hollow's words and the enormous Zanpakuto, he drew his Zanpakuto and charged forward. However, the result was that Isshin's single strike instantly killed the Hollow.

"Let me teach you from the basics. Captain-level Shinigami can control the size of their Zanpakuto; otherwise, everyone would be wielding Zanpakuto the size of a building. Remember this: you can't measure an opponent's strength by the size of their Zanpakuto!"