On the day of the Hueco Mundo expedition, the departing members of each division assembled. From the Tenth Division came Jun and his adjutant, Asai Shinten, along with Fourteenth Seat Tada Shūya, Twenty-fifth Seat Shōyama Jun'ichi, Thirty-third Seat Nana Onibe, Forty-sixth Seat Shintō Kaigo, and Fifty-ninth Seat Takabu Shin'ichirō.
The divisions that could fight—the Third Division support squad, Fifth Division Rescue Squad, Sixth Division noble-exclusive squad, Seventh Division Inner Court Guard Squad, Tenth Division patrol guard squad, and 11th Division Combat Squad—were to contribute the most people to the expedition.
Jun's Tenth Division had sent seven people this time. The 11th Division sent twice that number, while the other divisions in that group sent seven each, with the same arrangement as the Tenth: a single-digit seated officer and their adjutant, followed by one person from every ten seats.
The Fourth Division medical squad sent two people, the Eighth Division intelligence squad sent three, the Thirteenth Division sent four, the Second Division sent five, the Ninth Division sent five, the Twelfth Division sent none, and the Kidō Corps sent ten.
The special personnel included the vice-captain leading the expedition, Kensei Muguruma of the Ninth Division. He was bringing his adjutant, Mizunobu Hiranami, as well. Three big shots had come from the First Division, all of whom had Bankai.
With that, the eighty-three-person expeditionary force finished assembling. The number was nothing to scoff at; it was already one-twentieth of the Gotei 13.
The assembly point was at the end of the Gotei 13's main avenue. The Senkaimon there was the one Ichigo and his companions used to enter Soul Society. It was the official gateway Soul Society used to reach everywhere—though "everywhere" really meant only the World of the Living and Hueco Mundo. Heh.
Soon, the Twelfth Division would open a passage to the Dangai for everyone, then use a special method to stop the Kōryū and Kōtotsu and keep the Dangai clear for a set period. In that short window, the expedition had to make its way through the Dangai and enter Hueco Mundo.
"Make way, make way!" Kisuke Urahara forced a path through the crowd with a sour look on his face and came to the gate. "Hurry up with your goodbyes! We're about to start!"
"I'm off, then~"
"Mm, have a safe trip."
Jun said goodbye to Aizen and went to assemble with his lover, secretary, and sister-in-law—ahem, that was Isuzu, Asai Shinten, and Nana Onibe.
Nana could no longer be called Nana Onibe. Her husband was Ichinorai Kōtarō, Sixth Seat of the Seventh Division, so she should now be called Ichinorai Nana. Likewise, Isuzu was now Mrs. Shimizu, Shimizu Isuzu.
Jun had brought Nana because he was very confident in his own strength, so this time he had brought along basically everyone he could.
Among those sent by the Eighth Division were Uncle Imari and Uncle Tōdō from long ago. Auntie hadn't come, and his younger sister Jing hadn't joined Jun's party either. Fumiyama Aizen of the Fifth Division, Aizen's father, also trusted Jun.
Jun simply felt that with him in this party, it couldn't be safer. An expert was carrying people through a dungeon, so there was nothing to worry about.
Those invited basically met the selection criteria, and Central 46 didn't care who went or stayed, so it naturally went along with Jun's wishes. For the people invited, Jun's guarantee actually made things more than a notch safer. If they didn't follow his party and were selected later, it would be even more dangerous.
Once assembled, the group automatically formed two lines. The Senkaimon wasn't very large—a stingy Japanese architectural style.
Kisuke Urahara fiddled with it for a while, and the Twelfth Division fed Spiritual Power into it. Then the Senkaimon opened, and all the Soul Reapers made their way in with Shunpo in an orderly fashion, quickly entering the Dangai.
This wasn't Jun's first time in the Dangai. It was pitch-black inside, and all he could see were a jumble of gullies. These were paths gouged out by the Kōtotsu, roads that were relatively safe within the Dangai and also the most dangerous.
That was because the road was just wide enough for a Kōtotsu to pass through. With no Kōtotsu around, everything was fine. But if one came straight at you and you couldn't kill it, it was sayonara.
The Twelfth Division had black technology to monitor the Dangai, so it could temporarily guide the Kōtotsu's direction of travel and keep the passage clear. Occasionally, though, a wisp or two of Kōryū slipped through. Kōryū was a wind that annihilated Reishi, and it had to be endured head-on. Under normal circumstances, small amounts of it weren't very lethal.
This time, they encountered nothing at all. They kept running until they emerged onto a stretch of dry sand, with a deathly pale moon hanging in the distant sky. This was Hueco Mundo.
"This is Hueco Mundo's upper layer. We can't stay here. The upper layer is Adjuchas and Vasto Lorde territory, and ordinary Hollows are rare. We're going to the lower layer."
Kensei Muguruma took out something resembling a compass. It was one of Soul Society's pieces of black technology and could point the way to the Forest of Menos.
The Forest of Menos, Hueco Mundo's lower layer, had an endless supply of Gillians, but few Adjuchas and Vasto Lordes. It was the main destination for Soul Society's expeditions to Hueco Mundo. The so-called expeditions were really just efforts to reduce the number of Hollows in the Forest of Menos.
"Don't let your Spiritual Power spread. A Soul Reaper's Spiritual Power will attract Hollows. If we draw an Adjuchas or Vasto Lorde, we might not make it back!"
Kensei Muguruma continued giving instructions, and all the Soul Reapers reined in their Spiritual Power. This was Hueco Mundo; if they wanted to live, they had to follow orders. Nothing wrong with that.
The group moved quickly. The Senkaimon's landing point chosen by Soul Society was within a fixed area, not far from the Forest of Menos. Half an hour later, they entered the forest's border. Well, half an hour wasn't far.
Kensei Muguruma surveyed the surroundings, then discussed matters with the three big shots from the First Division. Jun was called over as well. With him present, there was one more person making decisions this time. Being a hero sure came in handy.
But Jun was no help when it came to making decisions. This was his first time in Hueco Mundo; what could he possibly understand? He would just let the big shots decide. And so they began setting up camp.
"Our plan is to set out from camp and hunt in the Forest of Menos every day. But remember, we're moving to the left. Every day, we'll establish a new camp on the outskirts of the Forest of Menos and repeat the process."
"Remember this! Never venture deep into the Forest of Menos! If you spot a Gillian, signal immediately! The three seniors from the First Division and I will go kill it. You are to kill any Hollows other than Gillians. Understood!?"
"Understood~!"
"Good. Rest today. In Hueco Mundo, time is measured by the Hollow moon. When the moon is in the sky, it's daytime; when it isn't, it's night. We hunt during the day and rest at night. Understood?"
"Understood~!"
"All right, rest here."
As Jun rested, he curiously studied Hueco Mundo. As its name suggested, the Forest of Menos was a vast forest. According to the original story, the place where Jun and the others were now was the outer ring of the upper layer.
But Jun had seen a diagram before. Hueco Mundo really was divided into two layers, which meant there couldn't be such an obvious point connecting them. That was interesting. Could Hueco Mundo be different from the diagram?
Jun had plenty he was curious about. Unfortunately, this wasn't Soul Society, and he couldn't use his wits to explore his curiosities. Hueco Mundo recognized only one thing: power.
With nothing to do, things got boring. Jun decided to rest and go have some fun in the forest tomorrow.
On their second day in Hueco Mundo, they got up in the morning and ate a little. They hadn't brought much in the way of rations. In fact, most Soul Reapers no longer needed to eat, and everyone knew it; they were just going through the motions.
Then they split into groups. Kensei Muguruma and the three First Division big shots took the two young ladies from the Fourth Division medical squad. This was the only mobile team, and it would rescue the others if anything went wrong. In other words, the strongest people in the whole expedition were protecting two healers.
Jun was strong too, but nobody knew it. Basically everyone who had seen his true strength was dead, and in the eyes of Soul Reapers, Zanpakuto were the only real power. Kidō didn't count.
So Jun, who only had Shikai, naturally wasn't considered a strong fighter. He needed to form a normal team to explore. The remaining seventy-seven people were divided into eleven groups.
Aside from Jun himself, his group included Asai Shinten, Shōyama Jun'ichi, and Shintō Kaigo, all three from the Tenth Division. Joining them were Kuma Hiroshi of the Fifth Division, Sanzen'in Yūsai of the Sixth Division, and Yamanaka Terasuke of the Kidō Corps.
Jun looked over his teammates and felt there was no problem.
"Let's go."
Jun led the group straight toward the Forest of Menos. Once they entered, they found that only the very edge still had those small trees with visible branches and twigs. Two or three hundred meters in, everything suddenly changed.
The surrounding trees were immensely huge. The paths they walked were actually tree roots, with not a single inch of ground anywhere. The trees were so enormous that neither their tops nor their bottoms could be seen. Looking up, they saw countless massive branches forming a platform high, high above. Looking down, there was nothing but endless, deep darkness.
After traveling some distance through this environment, Jun stopped and looked back. Behind them were the Ichinorai Squad, led by Ichinorai Kōtarō, Sixth Seat of the Seventh Division, and the Katakura Squad, led by Katakura Teppei, Fifth Seat of the Third Division. Those two squads could still see the other groups.
They confirmed the signals for stopping to rest and setting out again. All the groups were present, so they continued forward. Before long, Jun spotted a Hollow wandering on a tree root. He pointed it out, and after two steps of Shunpo from Asai Shinten, the Hollow was gone.
Asai Shinten had, after all, once been a Ninth Seat. Jun's group actually had one more single-digit seated officer than the other groups. Very good.
Killing a Hollow had to be reported, also by a signal. The other two groups would respond, and then all three would record the kill for verification when they returned. The only difference was that Jun's group had to record who had made the kill.
Before long, the other groups also sent reports, and Jun's group began recording them. Then, after another set distance, they stopped to rest and sent the rest signal. A flurry of confirmation signals followed.
Since they had fought, they rested for five minutes before setting out again. After another flurry of confirmation signals, they continued forward, followed by another bout of rhythmic killing.
After two more rest signals, they set out for the fifth time. Jun noticed there were fewer Hollows. They had been moving forward for a while without seeing a single one when an emergency signal suddenly came from the Ichinorai Squad. Jun's group hurriedly sent an emergency signal too. It was used only when a Menos Grande had been spotted.
Once this signal appeared, the distant groups were to converge on the group that had sent it. Jun's group wasn't the farthest away, so it had to wait for the farthest group to reach it before moving together. Soon, four groups joined up, then met with the Ichinorai Squad and continued converging to the left.
Then Jun saw the first Gillian of his life.
The group was positioned at the Gillian's feet. It stood some distance away on a tree root higher than the level Jun and the others were on. The root also bulged upward, making it higher still. From their position, they could only see the Gillian's black, robe-like exterior and the pitch-black Spiritual Power beneath it.
The mobile team led by Kensei Muguruma soon arrived and sent the retreat signal. Every group except the mobile team began falling back, and Jun watched that side as he retreated.
One of the First Division big shots used Shunpo to reach the area near the Gillian's waist in an instant. A golden light flashed, and a huge gap appeared in both the Gillian and the tree trunk beside it.
The Gillian fell, but it couldn't die right away. It was simply too enormous. As it lay dying, it made a nauseating sound. The mobile team sent an emergency retreat signal, and everyone sped up.
They retreated all the way back to camp.
"A very fine hunt. We successfully killed a Gillian. Gillians summon Hollows when they die, so countless Hollows will appear there. It's become a danger zone. Now we'll move around the perimeter and begin our second hunt of the day from another direction. Let's go~~"