Episode 133: Ichigo vs. Chojiro

The scene shifted back to the place where Chojiro and the Hollowfied Ichigo were facing each other.

“This is a real headache. The original plan never included this little exchange between you and me...”

Scratching his head in frustration, Chojiro let out a helpless sigh.

Ichigo, in this form, should have been fighting Second-Stage Resurrección Ulquiorra high above Hueco Mundo, destroying him before returning to normal.

But the two of them had suddenly burst out of Hueco Mundo and into the World of the Living, sending Chojiro’s previously tranquil mind into turmoil.

Chojiro had no clear measure of how powerful Ichigo had become after Hollowfication—or, more accurately, after transforming into a Hollow. But judging from the way Ichigo had toyed with Second-Stage Ulquiorra as though he were playing with a child, his current strength was unquestionably several times greater than that of any of the Espada.

“...”

Contrary to Chojiro’s expectations, however, Ichigo—who should have been extremely belligerent—had remained calm for an unusually long time despite the spiritual pressure Chojiro was releasing. He had not even moved a finger.

If not for the occasional wisp of white vapor escaping through the mouth of his mask, Chojiro might have thought he was facing a corpse.

“Crack...”

It’s coming—!

At last, Ichigo stirred from his silence. Yet the movement was somewhat beyond Chojiro’s expectations. Hollowfied Ichigo merely hurled Tensa Zangetsu straight at him, without the slightest curve in its trajectory.

He really thinks that little of me...

Chojiro sidestepped the attack, then drew his zanpakuto, sheath and all, from his waist and drove it forcefully into the ground.

“Boom, boom, boom, boom!”

Before Chojiro could make his next move, a succession of piercing impacts came from behind him. He could not help turning to see what had happened.

The zanpakuto Ichigo had thrown had pierced through several enormous heaps of rubble one after another, and it showed no sign of stopping.

“Hey, hey, that thing’s a bit excessive...”

Aside from Yamamoto Shigekuni, Yasudamoto Shizukazu, and Mohammed, Chojiro had never seen such a tyrannical attack before. Sweat still began to bead across his forehead.

As expected of the protagonist. Even Lord Genryusai himself probably couldn’t receive that head-on without batting an eye.

“Bzzzt—”

“!”

While Chojiro’s attention was drawn toward Tensa Zangetsu, Ichigo behind him lowered the twin horns on his head toward Chojiro’s back. A small red sphere of light slowly condensed between the horns, until the fluctuations of spirit particles could no longer be concealed.

“What...?”

“Boom!”

By the time Chojiro realized what was happening, it was already too late. Ichigo unleashed a Cero without hesitation, instantly engulfing the ground where Chojiro had been standing.

“Damn... That’s not fair. You could at least give me some warning.”

Chojiro emerged awkwardly from the Cero’s blast and tore away the left sleeve, which had been shredded by Ichigo’s attack, tossing it aside.

“...”

Now a Hollow, Ichigo naturally gave no response. He merely turned his head and calmly fixed his gaze on Chojiro once more.

“Though I was the one who came looking for you, you don’t have to look at me with quite so much hostility.”

Pouting somewhat childishly, Chojiro exhaled and extended his heavily muscled left arm.

He flexed his stiff fingers a few times, then clenched his fist.

“I’ll use hand-to-hand combat against you. At this level, it should be enough.”

“Crack...”

Ichigo moved his mouth but still made no sound. Instead, he once again prepared to fire a Cero.

“You’re doing it again? To be honest, I really have no answer for this thing...!”

Chojiro had been making the remark in a leisurely tone, but he suddenly sensed something wrong. This Cero seemed far more powerful than the one before it.

Trusting his instincts, Chojiro immediately used flash step to leave Ichigo’s field of vision. What surprised him even more was that Ichigo fired the Cero at the place where Chojiro had originally been standing, then turned his head at the same time. The Cero swept across the entire stretch of earth like a whip, showing no mercy.

“You can use a Cero like that...?”

Throwing out those words in haste, Chojiro vanished again. This time he appeared in the air, only for Ichigo, who was pursuing him relentlessly, to sweep the Cero toward the sky as well.

“Huh?”

Kyoraku, who had been locked in fierce combat with Ulquiorra, was startled when a deep-red Cero suddenly streaked toward him. He hurriedly dodged to the side.

“That was that fellow’s...”

Ulquiorra glanced downward and paused. Then he spread one hand, and an absurdly massive spear appeared in his grasp.

“Looks like I can’t waste any more time on you.”

“Oh, come on. Don’t say that, Espada. Weren’t we having such a good time just now?”

“Lanza del Relámpago.”

Without any intention of wasting words on Kyoraku, Ulquiorra hurled the spear in his hand. Kyoraku dodged it, but the force unleashed when the spear exploded made even him change color, despite the fact that he had not yet fought with complete seriousness.

“I’ll say this only once...”

Another spear of lightning condensed in Ulquiorra’s hand, and his voice sank into a low growl.

“Move aside, Soul Reaper.”

“Bang!”

Ichigo’s power seemed inexhaustible. The Cero continued without pause. Yet constantly firing Ceros made it easy to expose an opening. Since Chojiro had vanished from Ichigo’s sight, Ichigo intended to force him out with another attack.

Chojiro, however, took advantage of the opportunity to close in. He drove a punch directly into Ichigo’s head, smashing him face-first into the ground.

“If you keep going all out like that, be careful not to exhaust yourself.”

Chojiro had just breathed a sigh of relief and was about to say something more when an object came hurtling toward him from the other side. He had no choice but to abandon his thought and leap aside.

Clack.

Ichigo raised a hand and caught the returning Tensa Zangetsu. Then he rose straight up from the ground, as stiffly as a zombie that could not bend its knees.

“Hierro...”

Chojiro frowned. From their brief exchange, he had gained some understanding of the hardness of the Hierro covering Ichigo’s body. Given that level of toughness, using the technique known as “Single Bone” would indeed be troublesome. At the very least, that layer of Hierro could keep most of his spiritual pressure from penetrating.

“Can’t be helped. This is going to make things troublesome...”

Chojiro swung his right arm in a circle, loosening it with several exaggerated rotations. Then he drew a deep breath, and the violently fluctuating spiritual pressure around him gradually settled.

“Then let’s give it a try.”

“Though it’s nothing more than a little trick I created a thousand years ago...”