"How could that be..."
Gaoyu ruffled Lilinette's hair and said softly, "He's the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki. How could he just be killed like that?"
Lilinette slipped free of Gaoyu's grasp, then asked a question:
"Can... a Hollow really be made into a Zanpakuto?"
"Well..."
Gaoyu fell silent for a moment. Then he thought of the ancient Menos Grande who had once invaded Soul Society, only to be sealed away by the Monk and Ōetsu. He couldn't help saying, "I suppose so. After all, once a Hollow becomes an Arrancar, it possesses a Zanpakuto."
"Come to think of it..."
He paused again, then said, "It's about time we started experimenting with Arrancarization."
"Experiments with Arrancarization?" Lilinette asked in surprise. "Are you going to turn other Hollows into beings like us, Gaoyu?"
At first, they hadn't known what had happened to them, either. All the other Hollows had masks, but the masks on her and Stark's faces had broken open.
They still had a small piece of their masks left, but the other Hollows had masks covering their entire faces.
Later, Gaoyu kept calling it "Arrancarization," and the term stuck.
"Here's what we'll do..."
Gaoyu thought for a moment, then said, "You go back with Stark first. I have something to take care of in Soul Society. By the time I return, you'll have more companions."
"You're going back to Soul Society?" Stark had heard Gaoyu from behind them. He said, "I thought Shinigami couldn't travel between Hueco Mundo and Soul Society. Do you need help?"
At that, Gaoyu smiled. "That's true of ordinary Shinigami. Don't forget, Captain Aizen can travel between Hueco Mundo and Soul Society. As his Vice-Captain, how could I be like an ordinary Shinigami?"
As he spoke, the aura around Gaoyu changed abruptly.
A spiritual pressure utterly unlike his