Growing Stronger

After leaving the cave, he found Mila Rose sitting atop a mountain.

She was scanning her surroundings warily, on guard against any approaching threats.

He flew above her and playfully fired a tiny ball of Reiatsu at her head.

"Hello, my little kitty."

Mila Rose let out a low growl, making him chuckle.

He quickly flew away, with an angry Mila Rose close behind. Cangya landed on the ground and turned to face her.

"Want to train?"

Mila Rose's angry expression instantly turned to excitement.

She took off her top and assumed the stance of a predator preparing to pounce on her prey.

"That guy Dordoni didn't let me use my full potential. Bite her to pieces, Golden Lion King!"

With an eruption of Reiatsu, she released her Resurrección form. It was just as wild and alluring as he remembered.

Her green eyes fixed on him. "Cangya, here I come. Don't let me beat you to a pulp."

Dordoni had given her no chance to fully demonstrate her strength, making Cangya the ideal opponent for her to unleash her full power against.

He strengthened his arms with Pressure and released Reiatsu to bolster his defense.

Mila Rose closed the distance between them in an instant, swinging her Greatsword. "Die!"

He tilted his head, narrowly avoiding the huge arc of her blade, then drove his knee toward her abdomen.

He forced her into a range where she had difficulty wielding her weapon.

She quickly raised her knee to block his attack, then drove her elbow hard toward his face.

He deftly dodged her attack, slipped an arm between her legs, and hoisted her onto his shoulder with surprising agility.

Mila Rose squirmed on his shoulder, smashing the hilt of her weapon against his ribs and striking him with her knee.

"What the hell are you trying to do?"

Cangya gritted his teeth against the pain, seized the back of her neck, and hurled her into the air.

Mila Rose crashed heavily to the ground, raising a cloud of white sand.

She was buried several inches deep in the sands of Hueco Mundo.

"You bastard!" She jumped out and glared at him furiously, angry at having been tossed around like a sack of potatoes.

"You're despicable. How can you treat a woman like that?"

"All's fair in love and war. I treat every fight as a war, and I love you too. So everything I'm doing here is fair."

Mila Rose stared at him, dumbfounded. "You love me? Since when?"

Aside from their kiss and some moments they had spent together, their relationship was somewhere between acquaintances and friends, leaning more toward friends after the kiss.

Hearing him suddenly confess his love left her at a loss.

Cangya threw a punch at her.

Mila Rose blocked his attack with her Greatsword, then pushed him back.

"Focus on training first. Don't get distracted."

"Don't ignore my question, damn it. What did I do to deserve your love?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's because you're sexy."

"So you're just lusting after my body." Mila Rose's expression darkened. She seemed to hate the idea of being lusted after solely for her body.

Golden Reiatsu crackled around her, and a powerful killing intent swept toward Cangya.

"All men are the same. I thought you were different, but you're no different from the rest."

Cangya knew, of course, that he couldn't dispel her prejudice against men in a single conversation.

It would take more time to dispel her prejudice.

Before he could clear up the misunderstanding, Mila Rose charged at him as fiercely as a lioness, slashing at his chest.

Mila Rose's attack was lethal, intended to kill him.

Cangya wrapped his hand in Reiatsu and caught her Zanpakuto barehanded.

Mila Rose's Reiatsu sliced through his skin like a hot knife through butter, but her blade failed to pierce his flesh.

Seeing Cangya bleed instantly doused Mila Rose's impulsive fury.

Mila Rose withdrew her Zanpakuto and stared at his rapidly healing wound.

Though she regretted hurting Cangya, he had another thought.

"If my Hollow mask breaks, can it regenerate?"

He decided to test the idea later. "Rose, that's not what I meant. Don't try to kill your man over a misunderstanding, bro."

"Then what did you mean by that?"

"You completely overlooked the word 'maybe'... Your body is only one part of my love equation. I'm still trying to figure out the other parts."

Cangya wasn't completely in love with her yet, but he did like her a lot.

Mila Rose sighed, her shoulders drooping.

She ran a hand through her hair, hoping her impulsive words hadn't hurt him. "When you said that, I lost my temper... I'm sorry."

"You hurt me. This is emotional damage..."

"Is that so?" She tossed her Zanpakuto to the ground and wrapped her arms around his waist, seemingly trying to hold him tight.

"Forgive me, or I'll crush you with a Bear Hug."

"Oh—hey, stop. That really hurts."

He hadn't used Pressure to strengthen his waist, instead focusing on strengthening his limbs to increase his explosive power.

Mila Rose's embrace was really close to squeezing him to death.

"Say you forgive me."

"Fine! I forgive you! Stop!"

Mila Rose laughed, gave him another tight squeeze, then lifted him up and spun him around several times.

After more than a dozen spins, she put him down and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"You barbarian..."

She kept laughing. "Oh, Cangya, I don't hate the relationship we have now. Let's defeat Baraggan first, then deal with these things... I want to focus on training and getting stronger."

"I understand."

She stepped back and put her hands on her hips, drawing Cangya's gaze involuntarily to her abs. "What I'm trying to say is—"

"You love me and can't live without me, but that bastard Baraggan won't let you sleep peacefully. So we have to deal with him first."

"You got it completely wrong!"

Cangya chuckled and dodged her Greatsword attack.

They continued training, engaging in a fierce battle.

Cangya found it increasingly difficult to withstand her devastating attacks.

She displayed far greater strength and agility than she had in her fight with Dordoni.

Had she grown stronger in a few hours, or had she held back in the earlier fight? It had to be the former, since she was still adjusting to her Arrancar form.

"Was she this strong in the story? No way."

Cangya crossed his arms, his gaze drifting over Mila Rose's naked body. "You're one scary little exhibitionist kitty."

She snorted, picked her shirt up off the ground, and put it on. "You're no better. When are you going to break your mask?"

She couldn't imagine how she would face Cangya if he became an Arrancar and gained the same boost in power she had.

But that was fine. She was determined to hone her skills and become even stronger.

"I was wondering the same thing," Tirutī said as she jumped down from the mountain.

"For a Menos Grande of Hueco Mundo, a Vasto Lorde, it's the greatest power boost you can get. I did it, and so did she. Why are you backing down when we're in such desperate need of power?"