"Awoooooo—!"
As it slid through the sea of sand, Bawabawa suddenly twisted its clumsy body and let out mournful cries. Its round eyes kept glancing back at Pesche Guatiche, filled with both hope and grievance.
"Ah—aha! I haven't forgotten you, of course, Bawabawa!"
Pesche jumped up again, patting Dondochakka Birstanne's big belly as they shouted in unison:
"Once more, from the top! We are the invincible, super-cute Montessori Four Broth...ers... and Sister! Yeah!"
"Idiots! Do you think this is a sightseeing trip? Can you keep it down for once?!" Fūjin Taichi snapped with a frown.
"Hey hey, you're yelling louder than we are!" Pesche laughed, one hand on his hip, the other pointing at Taichi.
"..."
Taichi silently rose to his feet. His right hand rested on the guard of his Zanpakutō, Kujūkyū. His spirit-concealing cloak fluttered despite the still air, rustling softly.
Seeing this, Pesche and Dondochakka immediately clung to each other in terror.
"H-hey! What are you doing?!"
"Fools. Something's coming. Right—"
Before he could finish, Taichi leapt high into the air from Bawabawa's back and shouted:
"Fūjin Style: Iaido—Three Thousand Worldly Winds!!"
In an instant, a flash of cold steel burst forth from Kujūkyū. Countless green arcs of blade-light tore across the sky, engulfing the massive white Hollow that had just emerged from beneath the sand.
"Shhhhhh—"
After a few breaths, the storm of slashes vanished. Taichi sheathed his blade calmly, staring at the scattered chunks of white Hollow remains on the ground. "How shameful for the enemy—I'll strip her clothes and be gone."
"Waaaah! You—you actually attacked the Guardian of the White Sands, Lord Runuganga!!" Pesche shrieked, clutching his head in a panic.
"What? Is it strong?"
"It's not about strong or not! It's that kind of—kind of very rare kind of—" Mid-sentence, Pesche suddenly pointed behind Taichi in horror, his teeth chattering.
"Intruder... to dare launch a sneak attack on the great Runuganga... unforgivable!"
The white sand guardian, Runuganga, reformed from the scattered sand into a towering giant and swung a hill-sized fist straight at Taichi.
Facing the gale-force punch, Taichi extended his left palm and chanted:
"Hadō #51: Suidanpō!" (Water Severing Wave)
"BOOM!"
A high-pressure torrent of water blasted forward from his palm. With overwhelming cutting force, it sliced through Runuganga entirely, reducing both body and arm into lifeless sand—this time, unable to regenerate.
"T-th-that's amazing!"
Pesche covered his mouth, golden light flickering in his eyes.
"Maybe… maybe what he said was true!"
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Dondochakka asked, his large face leaning forward.
"Nothing!"
Pesche forced a strange smile, striking a dramatic pose.
"Forward, Bawabawa!"
"That's enough, Pesche."
Taichi raised a hand, stopping Bawabawa. He gazed at Las Noches, now looming close ahead.
"We'll part ways here."
"Eh?! You're just going to ditch us after using us?!" Pesche jumped down and pointed accusingly at Taichi.
"You looked decent enough—I thought you were different from other Shinigami! But in the end? In the end you're still the type to kill the donkey after it's done pulling the mill?!"
"Idiot…" Taichi adjusted his sword at his waist and turned toward Las Noches, walking away as he explained calmly:
"The moment you helped guide me, Las Noches already branded you as traitors.
You know better than I do how traitors are punished there. So while I draw all their attention… you should run. Run far away."
"But, Mr. Fūjin—"
"I said it already! What lies ahead is dangerous. Weak as you are… you'd only be a burden!"
"Uh, n-no, that's not what I meant…"
Pesche scratched the back of his head awkwardly and said sheepishly:
"Nel's still on your shoulder. Could you… give her back first?"
"Uh…"
Fūjin Taichi's body suddenly stiffened. After a brief pause, he darkly lifted Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck off his shoulder and tossed her toward Pesche Guatiche.
Grinning from ear to ear, Pesche caught Nel, jumped onto Bawabawa, and in the blink of an eye the group vanished into the desert.
"Motherf—" Taichi muttered helplessly as he watched them disappear, shaking his head with a bitter smile.
"Figures. I really don't have that Kurosaki Ichigo kind of 'everyone-bows-to-me' protagonist aura."
Then he lifted his gaze toward a dark silhouette rapidly approaching from afar—and grinned.
"Still… they were smart. The moment they sensed danger, they ran without hesitation—"
Clang!
A pair of twin crescent-shaped scythes suddenly slashed in from his side, crashing violently against his Zanpakutō, Kujūkyū.
BOOM!!
Black energy and blue spiritual pressure collided midair, intertwining before erupting outward in a massive shockwave that overturned the surrounding sands for hundreds of meters.
"Heh heh heh… As expected of the man acknowledged by Ulquiorra Cifer—you've got some skill, Fūjin Taichi."
As the shockwave faded, the wielder of the twin crescent scythes revealed himself beneath the moonlight—
Nnoitra Gilga.
Tall and lanky, with a single eyepatch over one eye, long dark hair falling down both sides of his pale, narrow face—his silhouette almost resembled that of a slender maiden from behind.
He wore a white coat with a disc-like collar and carried an enormous scythe, its chain-linked handle fastened firmly to his waist. A gloomy aura of death radiated from his entire being.
"You…" Taichi stared at him intently, brows slightly furrowed.
"You're the Eighth Espada… Nnoitres… La… Las Vegas?"
"Hah?!"
At the words "Eighth Espada," Nnoitra's brows shot upward. A surge of pitch-black spiritual pressure erupted from him, crashing toward Taichi as he roared:
"You—you've successfully pissed me off! Now die!!!"
"Holy crap, you're fierce!"
Startled, Taichi instantly used Shunpo to retreat, forcefully breaking away and widening the distance between them by dozens of meters.
But before his feet even touched the ground—
Nnoitra had already appeared behind him.
The massive crescent scythe in his hand came crashing down toward Taichi's back with brutal force.
"What?! Since when—?!"
...
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