The katana and claws collided, throwing off a blinding spray of sparks.
Grimmjow lashed his long tail at Muten Natsu's waist, only for the spreading ink to block the blow.
Muten Natsu shaped Spirit Ink into a blade in his left hand and thrust it toward Grimmjow's chest.
Ignoring the Spirit Ink corroding the armor over his chest, Grimmjow raked his claws across Muten Natsu's face, shattering the skull mask burning with karmic fire.
The violent impact snapped Muten Natsu's head back. His Hollowfication was forcibly undone, and weakness rushed through his body in its wake.
Grimmjow twisted in midair and spun, kicking Muten Natsu away. "After all, it's only a power imitating a Hollow. Your mask is pathetically fragile!"
Muten Natsu smashed through a round tower. He had only just regained his balance when Grimmjow's tail struck him hard, knocking him out of the air and driving him into the white sand below.
A sharp sound tore through the air. Blue spikes dropped from above, blasting the white sand into churning waves.
Muten Natsu emerged from the Spirit Ink, already gone from where he had fallen. He brushed a hand across his cheek, restoring the mask.
Brutal power filled his body once more. Veins bulged across Muten Natsu's forehead, and the opened Hell's Eye overflowed with karmic fire, burning a hollow through the skull mask.
"You're..." Grimmjow charged straight at him, his claws ripping through the air with a piercing screech. "Where do you think you're looking?!"
Muten Natsu swung his katana and released Spirit Ink, using it to shift away and evade Grimmjow's attack. The Hell's Eye on his forehead turned, taking in everything in the distance.
Ink rippled beside him, then shattered.
Muten Natsu swung his katana and knocked Grimmjow's claws aside. Grimmjow leaned back slightly, then lunged forward in an instant. The reverse-growing blades on his forearms pinned Myōki against Muten Natsu's body, and the sharp bone blade pierced Muten Natsu's shoulder.
Blood sprayed out and splashed into Grimmjow's mouth. The familiar taste made the savagery in his eyes burn even brighter.
["We can never become Vasto Lords."]
["If you're going to leave, then devour us before you go."]
["Our evolution ends here."]
["From the moment we became Hollows, we were destined to be Mid-Rank Hollows, while you were the one meant to keep moving forward. Devour us, Grimmjow."]
Grimmjow had always thought they were a disgusting bunch...
Nothing but trash.
Their only value was in being devoured by him.
Only by following the King and becoming part of his flesh and blood would trash like them have the right to see the future.
They had accepted their own future, so they offered their flesh and blood, along with that future, to Grimmjow.
As King, Grimmjow destroyed their futures and devoured their flesh, letting them see what they could never have seen on their own...
The King's future.
Whether they destroyed their own futures to offer up their flesh and blood, or Grimmjow devoured that flesh and blood and took their futures, it all rested on one shared belief.
Grimmjow would become King.
Only if he became King would the trash offering up their flesh and blood have meaning.
Only if he became King would Grimmjow's act of devouring them be justified.
That was why Grimmjow did not care about their deaths.
Shawlong Koufang, Edrad Liones, Nakeem, Yylfordt Granz, Di Roy. They were all trash, and trash dying in battle was only natural.
It was not just Grimmjow. They had understood that themselves.
But it did not matter, because long before that, their futures had already been handed over to Grimmjow along with their flesh and blood.
As long as Grimmjow became King, they would continue to exist as part of the King.
Grimmjow needed to become King, should become King, and had to become King.
For that, he had even accepted Aizen's transformation and become an Arrancar, one of the Espada.
Of course, a King should not take orders from anyone else, much less from the Hollows' mortal enemies, the Shinigami.
But as an experienced predator, Grimmjow knew when to fight with everything he had and when to bide his time.
Being taken away by Ulquiorra, being taught a lesson by Kaname Tōsen, being forced to the ground by Sōsuke Aizen's Reiatsu, obeying Sōsuke Aizen's orders. All of it was the King biding his time.
"So..." Grimmjow dragged his arm, widening the wound in Muten Natsu's shoulder bit by bit. "It's that look in your eyes that pisses me off! That look that says it isn't that you can't, but that you just don't want to!"
Grimmjow had noticed it during their very first fight.
No matter how badly Muten Natsu was disadvantaged, he carried a chilling pressure about him.
He never despaired, never yielded, as though being at a disadvantage had nothing to do with lacking strength and everything to do with having another plan.
So what was he doing?
He was... biding his time.
For the sake of a greater goal, he had chosen to accept his current disadvantage and prepare for what came next.
Once Grimmjow realized that Muten Natsu was truly biding his time, he naturally compared it to his own actions.
And after seeing what real patience looked like, Grimmjow's own actions no longer felt like patience.
They felt more like... simple submission.
Not a predator choosing to avoid conflict so it could sharpen its claws in secret for the hunt.
But a beast put in chains.
A beast with its fangs pulled out.
He was losing the future of a King.
If he did not become King, then those fools offering up their flesh and blood had been nothing but stupid.
If he did not become King, then his act of devouring their flesh and blood had been nothing more than feeding.
If he did not become King, then the fools who had become part of his body would never see the King's future...
That was why Grimmjow had to defeat Muten Natsu. He had to prove he was stronger than Muten Natsu, and prove that his current weakness was patience, not submission.
He had to prove...
"Only one person can become King!" Grimmjow's eyes flew wide as his arm blade carved from Muten Natsu's shoulder down to his waist. "And that person is me!"
Blood gushed out. Muten Natsu spread his arms wide, and surging Spirit Ink swallowed the blood as a piercing cry rang out.
"Bankai: Rin'en Bokukō!"
The Spirit Ink formed intricate characters, binding Grimmjow's arms behind his back.
A hideous monster's head burst from the waterfall of Spirit Ink, opening its enormous jaws to bite Grimmjow.
"Too slow!" Grimmjow flexed his arms and tore free of the Bakudō binding him. He used Sonído to move behind Muten Natsu, his hand raised like a blade as he thrust it toward Muten Natsu's back.
Pffft!
The surging Spirit Ink disrupted Grimmjow's attack, but his hand still pierced through Muten Natsu's shoulder.
"It's time to end this!"
"That's right..." Muten Natsu turned his head. "It's time to end this."
Cold karmic fire ignited Rin'en Bokukō's head. Pitch-black flames shot into the sky like a ferocious black dragon, charging toward Muten Natsu!