Chapter 213: Wait — Is This Legendary Flesh?
With his mind made up, Matsushita Yusuke didn't linger. He moved quickly to set up the series of experiments he needed.
The bull-head had to go to Aizen. No question about that.
Whether out of personal feeling or for keeping the plot's trajectory intact, Matsushita Yusuke believed the single most overpowered stat monster in all three worlds had to exist.
From a purely personal standpoint: he had read the manga all the way through. He knew exactly how entertaining it was watching Ichigo get beaten down and grow through the experience. People always called him a numbers-only brick with no real mechanics, all raw stats.
But if you actually had to face him yourself, who wouldn't want to be the one who comes up with some impossibly cool line at exactly the right moment, and then lands a solid hit on the kid at the height of the Soul Society arc?
Hmm. Just imagining it was quite satisfying.
And beyond that, there were still Hueco Mundo and the Thousand-Year Blood War arcs to come. Even if the uprising against Aizen ended in failure, it didn't matter. Ichgo was notably magnanimous about these things.
If I apologize, he's not going to cut me down for it. Right?!
From a rational standpoint, based on his earlier analysis, Matsushita Yusuke had good reason to suspect this kid was one link in the Soul King's long-range plan.
After all, Ichigo Kurosaki's birth could only be described as the "final result" of countless coincidences stacking on top of each other.
Having arrived at a result this abnormal, this unreasonable, this genuinely baffling in the number of elements that had to converge just right — Matsushita Yusuke believed he had no grounds to obstruct this miracle from happening.
The polite framing: going with the flow.
The less polite framing?
'Who knows — if I start interfering, whether some great power doesn't suddenly decide I need dealing with.'
The Soul King had been watching the future and freely scripted it all out. If Yusuke tore those pages up...
The monk sitting in the Royal Palace, the one with the eye marking, might suddenly receive a directive from on high and come charging over with a palm strike that could level everything in its path.
Being weak right now couldn't be helped. But at least having some self-awareness about it was the bare minimum.
Having worked through these basic logical foundations, Matsushita Yusuke had more nuanced and specific thoughts about how to position himself going forward.
He would not obstruct those "coincidental" events that were about to unfold. In fact, under conditions that allowed it, Matsushita Yusuke might even actively lend a hand in one or two ways.
Because only like that could he, while keeping himself safe, extract the maximum benefit from the situation.
And right now, he was putting that principle to work.
'Analyzing blood samples...'
'Calibrating subject samples against various resistance thresholds...'
'Performing trace soul extraction, comparing against other samples...'
Considering Aizen could spend an unknowable amount of time studying the bull-head once he had it, Matsushita Yusuke needed to extract what he could first.
Figure out what needed figuring out as fast as possible, compile the results, and see what was in this for him.
As it turned out, there actually was something.
"What exactly is 'soul insolubility'?"
Staring at the results report in front of him, Matsushita Yusuke found himself scratching his head.
"Don't go coining terms from thin air. There's quite a learning curve to parsing language like that."
His researchers were sweating. They rushed to explain.
"No trouble at all, no trouble... the main intent was to emphasize this specimen's uniqueness and convey it clearly. Through our investigation and analysis, we've found that this test subject possesses an exceptionally strong quality of soul."
As generally understood: the primary method through which Hollows evolve is devouring.
"We absorb the bodies and souls of others of our kind through devouring, converting them into something like nutrients, and finally forming usable energy."
Up to that point, Matsushita Yusuke understood all of it. In fact, because his own alt had been out playing Kirby in Hueco Mundo day and night without rest, he had a rather deeper understanding of the devouring process than most.
Which was exactly why, upon seeing the conclusions the researchers had reached, his expression had shifted into something startled and genuinely surprised.
"...What is this?"
Faced with their boss's confusion, the researchers hurried to respond.
"It is the result of our research. Based on our analysis of available data, we have reason to believe this special individual possesses a certain degree of digestion resistance. To put it plainly: attempting to digest this specimen through devouring is, in and of itself, an extremely difficult undertaking."
They then produced a more specific and meticulously documented report.
Dense with content from top to bottom, but Matsushita Yusuke found it easy to navigate. He had trained these researchers himself.
Documents had to be written and formatted according to a fixed structure.
Through that unified format, he could at a glance pull out the important parts and find exactly what he wanted.
Very convenient.
"We cut sections of tissue from the special individual's body and distributed them separately to ordinary Hollows and Menos Grande for devouring tests."
The results were different for each group.
"The Menos Grande showed fairly obvious physiological distress: decreased appetite, slowed reactions, and in some cases a complete cessation of activity approaching something like hibernation. Post-mortem analysis indicated the root cause was the digestion process itself."
A brief pause.
"We found undigested residual tissue in the Menos Grande's stomach, which upon analysis was confirmed to belong to the special individual..."
Digestion resistance.
The description sounded strange, but combined with the examples, Matsushita Yusuke had a rough conceptual grasp of it.
He didn't respond immediately. He stared at the report quietly for a moment, rubbing his chin.
Then spoke slowly.
"So what you're saying is, the Menos Grande had to devote most of its energy to processing the tissue in its body, to the point of entering something like a hibernation state..."
And in the end, the Menos Grande only managed to digest about a third of it?
The researcher fell silent, briefly at a loss, then slowly nodded.
"Yes... based on the sample, it was roughly this much tissue."
Matsushita Yusuke looked.
A piece no wider than a finger and no thicker than a bottle cap.
Hard to say exactly which part of the body it had been cut from, but clearly nothing critical.
This tiny piece of flesh had nearly "digested" a Menos Grande to death?
Matsushita Yusuke rubbed his head, looking exactly like Tom the Cat after running into something he completely couldn't explain, and dropped back into his chair.
When something exceeded ordinary understanding this drastically, it tended to produce a kind of mental paralysis in the people trying to process it.
Fine. For now, let's grudgingly accept that this is just something that exists in the world.
And thinking about it carefully...
'Could it be that because it's itself so impossible to deal with — impossible to absorb, impossible to remove — that it causes such trouble for anything that tries to take it in?'
After all, this was something that had given even Urahara Kisuke a genuine headache. Explaining it through that lens seemed to hold together.
Having thought it through from every angle, Matsushita Yusuke gave a slight nod and redirected his attention back to the report.
Then...
He couldn't hold it in.
"An ordinary Hollow ate it and just exploded?!"
Hang on. This isn't some kind of legendary power-up. This is literally TNT?!
The researchers apparently also found the result too absurd to fully process, and spoke with thoroughly pained expressions:
"That is the case... we tried cutting the tissue into even finer pieces, and have currently subdivided down to roughly the size of a pinky fingernail."
But even then.
"Ordinary Hollows still die, struggling and suffering, because they cannot digest it."
Well. This is actual poison.
Matsushita Yusuke scratched his head and flipped through the report without looking up.
"Is there any case where something successfully digested it?"
Yes, boss, there is.
"You need to flip from the back... this page, yes, that one!"
Matsushita Yusuke stopped at that page.
What came into view was a black-and-white photograph.
In it was what appeared to be an Adjuchas awaiting experimentation — a giraffe-like body with a snake's head sitting on top.
Hollows came in endlessly bizarre shapes with a genuinely alien quality. Matsushita Yusuke had developed something like immunity to this by now and accepted the sight without slowing down.
At the same time, a number of relevant thoughts surfaced.
'Adjuchas can be called Hueco Mundo's core fighting force. Without serious development, their raw power is roughly equivalent to seated officers and vice-captain-level figures...'
Of course, theoretically there were also individuals among them who could match captain level.
But in general, those kinds of Hollows tended to break through directly and enter the Vasto Lorde tier.
If you've already leveled up, why would you stick around in the low-level zone messing around with the small fry? Playing the game that way is going to get you looked down on.
Matsushita Yusuke skimmed through the specifics.
This Adjuchas had systematically ingested a five-gram piece of flesh. After a period of digestion and recovery, it had indeed regained full activity.
The bull-head's flesh still posed a digestion difficulty, but for an Adjuchas it apparently wasn't particularly "hard to handle."
From the results, it had mostly just extended the digestion time.
At the same time...
"This individual Adjuchas showed considerable excitement in a short period of time. We suppressed it, analyzed blood samples, cross-referenced various data points, and arrived at a conclusion..."
Brief pause.
"We believe this Adjuchas's condition was roughly equivalent to having absorbed a large quantity of energy in a very short time. In terms of scale, it was basically equivalent to one full large-scale hunt."
Matsushita Yusuke narrowed his eyes slightly, settling back in his chair with quiet satisfaction.
He had a fairly good grasp of it now.
"The special individual can have its tissue absorbed and digested. It just comes with a digestion threshold. But as long as something can clear that threshold, the energy conversion from absorbing the tissue is quite remarkable?"
The researchers visibly exhaled.
When their boss understood the substance without needing every last detail spelled out, the whole process moved so much faster.
"Exactly right!"
Matsushita Yusuke closed the materials and gave a small nod.
Between this and everything else he had gathered, he already had a rough directional plan taking shape.
"You're all dismissed. Oh, right: everyone gets three days off. Rest up. I'll be waiting for you when you come back."
Everyone filed out looking visibly relieved.
The researchers' work was genuinely demanding. Under normal circumstances, something like this only came during major holidays. Hueco Mundo didn't observe them, but Aizen cared about the New Year.
Once the room was clear, Matsushita Yusuke stepped into the inner lab. He looked at the bull-head, thoroughly trussed up, and let an amused expression settle across his face.
"Your flesh is turning out to be quite valuable, friend."
So.
"My deepest apologies."
He smiled, drew his Zanpakuto, and made a few light practice motions.
Years of experimental work had given Matsushita Yusuke a thorough understanding of Hollows' tolerance thresholds, physical resilience, and the baseline conditions required to keep one alive.
In other words.
Nobody knew better than him exactly how to hurt a Hollow without finishing it off.
Shall I begin?
The bull-head, previously sunk in a heavy groggy haze, seemed to sense something. Fighting against the deep sedation, it struggled to raise its head and screamed at the ceiling.
"GAAAH!!!"
Don't come near me!!!
...
Three days later.
Aizen Sosuke sat in his chair, looking over the document Matsushita Yusuke had sent, wearing a distinctly complicated expression.
"Matsushita-kun. What exactly is this?"
Having made all his preparations and obtained more than enough in the way of personal gains, Matsushita Yusuke was in excellent spirits, laughing easily.
"Aizen-sensei, this is a special individual I collected from another area. Based on the experimental data and various parameters... I believe it has quite meaningful research value."
Like a star salesman, he walked Aizen through the bull-head's various strengths and characteristics via a carefully prepared table.
Aizen's eyes grew visibly brighter as he listened. By the end, a slightly surprised expression had appeared on his face.
"There's actually a subject with this much experimental value? That really is..."
Even Aizen, who normally had no shortage of things to say, showed a brief moment of being completely at a loss for words. He blinked, considered it, and then smiled.
"Quite interesting indeed."
Right?!
Having successfully sold the bull-head, Matsushita Yusuke was already planning to head back.
But Aizen called him to stop.
"Matsushita-kun, hold on a moment. There are a few other things I'd like to discuss."
Nothing particularly complicated. The main subject was Squad 13's activity in Hueco Mundo.
"Squad 13's movements are becoming increasingly frequent. We also need to reduce our own activity levels for a while. Additionally... your subordinates' range of activity in Hueco Mundo keeps expanding. I'd like you to rein them in to some extent, when you can."